Heartthrob

Through the convent they marched, footsteps soft yet meaningful upon the scarlet fabric below. Three ladies venturing together towards an unknown inevitability - only Est would have had anything close to an idea what lay in store for them, and she didn't seem particularly keen on sharing. Or, it could have been the density of the nuns in the hallways... they were stuffed to the gills with Waywards, women of all shapes and sizes, each of them lingering in little cliques and pods though remaining eerily silent.

Their silence remained as the trio passed them by, ducking and weaving between each cluster of holy women... though while soundless, they were not immobile. Legs pivoted atop ankles, and torsos upon hips - nearly every woman whom they passed turned to look at them, considering the outsiders like the watchful, impassive eyes of sacred idols. Their eyes flickered and flashed with the gleam of digital activity, data streaming in and out to wherever it was intended to be, binary pigeons carrying messages to new, unknown roosts.

It was unnerving, to say the least. At least, EJ felt it was - so many people, each of them watching without blinking, without emotion nor expression, barely a movement from their respiratory functions... For a woman who was a genetic anomaly, resurrected from complete termination by some arcane chemical slurry, the mechanized maidens about her set the ghoul ill at ease.

After a harrying trek through the valley of the dolls, the three finally arrived at a new pair of doors. These, unlike those of the rest of the convent, were not wood - rather, they were composed entirely of polished, thick-looking stainless steel. Also unlike the other doors in the convent, these were met at the middle by an archaic-looking lock of sorts: a diamond-shaped protrusion, with the shape of a hand in its centre. There was doubtlessly some sort of sensor, EJ figured... but it must've been quite diminutive, seeing as it was completely hidden from view.

Esthrielle took a deep breath, looking briefly to her companions. "Alright, girlies... This is it, yeah? This is the... convent research lab. Zofia's little playground. Whatever you see in here, that's.... all her. Guh, sorry, I'll shut up. I'm just scarin' you, I'm sure..." Est brushed her hands clean of guilt upon her thighs, that wasted emotion sprinkling to the ground in minute shrapnel. EJ looked up to Purity as Esthrielle steeled herself; the blonde wanted to try and gauge how her bubblegum beauty was doing.

Purity was pale as a ghost - sure, she was normally fairly pale (not ghoulishly pale, but still a sharp shade of snow), but in this moment she could've concealed herself with a printer paper sheet. She was putting on a brave face, though; her fraying nerves were only shown through the pallor of her face. And, of course, her hands: they were white-knuckled and trembling ever so slightly, all earlier confidence and bravado having melted immediately upon seeing the steely door before them.

EJ could only guess at why Purity was so nervous - after all, she wasn't gonna be the one subjected to testing. She'd be safe and sound in some kind of observational booth or something. They'd have one of those, right? Est had spoken as though they did... and frankly, EJ wanted her lovers to watch. She wanted them to watch so that they'd know what happened, but also so they could intervene if something, anything went awry. This was the sort of situation that always went awry in the movies and manga and stuff.

Est pushed her right hand, palm down, into the darkened slot on the doors' convergence. There was a tiny metallic whir and the sound of electronics for one, two, three seconds, and then a soft hiss as pneumatics released and gears began to shift and turn. The twin doors split then, receding into the wall at a respectable but just a step from startling pace. On the other side, the lab was revealed.

There was no foyer, no waiting area, no reception; it was straight into the meat of things, and what meat there was. Tiled floors and walls of riveted alloy plating composed the place - there was no shortage of flat slabs of metal in the Waywards' warehouses, it seemed. Off-white tiled with black grout between them evoked both a mad scientist's workshop, and the work floor of a butcher shop's back rooms. That felt more and more appropriate as EJ's red-flecked emeralds painted the room with her vision.

It was a long room - a side hallway broke off to the east after entering through the steel doors, but the main room was rectangular in shape. A variety of lab equipment lined the eastern and northern wall, either perched atop white-surfaced countertops or built into the floor and wall, flush with the counters themselves. The stereotypical accoutrements were quick to see: a centrifuge, microscopes, an enormous fridge beside a slightly smaller freezer... but more than just these, there were exotic assemblies that didn't quite fit into EJ's fictional fantasies.

It was less than worth considering, though - the three women weren't the only ones in the lab, and those who were already present demanded attention. Namely, Zofia and Angelien, and surprisingly, Luca. The first and last of that troupe were peering through the long window that lined the western wall of the lab, silent as stone and yet still moving, nodding, or gesturing; Angelien, however, seemed like she couldn't care less. She was the first to see EJ and her gal pals, and so, she was the first to greet them.

"Hello, hello. Welcome to Sister Zofia's testing grounds. We've been eagerly expecting you. These two are... embroiled in something at the moment. In the meantime, Est, take our test subject to get ready." And thus ended Angelien's greeting, capped off with an order for her peer. The disinterest in her tone made it hard to believe she was here voluntarily... but also, it was hardly the first time Angelien had taken the tone of a woman who would rather be anywhere else.

In fact, it was doubtful there was anywhere on earth she'd want to be in a general sense.

As Est led her lovers into the lab, the steel door moved itself shut with automated precision. Gears once again ground and clockwork spun, digital discretion allowing the steel airlock of a portal to lock them all in. No going back now. Esthrielle turned to EJ, nodding curtly - and grimly - to her. "Angelien's right, EJ. Follow me. The testing area is, uh... Well, if they're starting with it, then it's probably a good sign. That means that the rest of Zofi's tests won't be too demanding."

No further elaboration was provided; instead, Est took EJ by the wrist and pulled her along, taking her through the doorframe to the side room. Before they had fully entered, however, Est turned back to address Purity. "Oh, shit, Puri... Just go chill with Luca, okay? I'll be right back... it'll just be a sec. The door's right down the hallway." Purity seemed shocked to have been addressed in the first place; once she had managed to process what Est had actually said, however, she nodded rapidly. Too rapidly, in fact - movements too jerky, neck too tense. She was still fucked up about all this, it seemed.

EJ was ready to just follow Est and not think about what she was going to be doing, but seeing how bent out of shape Purity was over it, she couldn't help but feel poorly about the whole endeavor. Plus, the sudden introduction of a 'testing chamber' was even more foreboding, EJ felt - what the hell sort of things would they be doing that they needed a whole separate chamber for? There was a very real thought, for a split second, that maybe they'd hurt her to test the second-living's regeneration. That would be... less than enjoyable.

A deep breath in, a gathering of courage, and then a great, desperate release. This was for her girlfriends. This was for Purity and Est, for their safety, their happiness, their comfort... their future. As long as EJ went through with this, she and her lovers would be taken care of, theoretically indefinitely, by Luca himself. It was a necessary evil, to work with the Waywards... to go through with whatever the Knights wanted of her, regardless of how horrible it may turn out to be.

She could only hope it wouldn't be too horrible. EJ nodded to Est as Purity made to join Luca. "Est... Est, you'll really step in if they do anything fucked up, right? And like, I mean really fucked up. H-Here, uh... Let's... let's have a safe word, okay? Like... Y'know. A safe word like for sex. A 'stop hurting me' word, a red light. Sound good?" EJ cast a trepidation-laden glance up at Esthrielle, who could only nod, before leaning down for a brief moment to plant a kiss on EJ's forehead.

"Aight. Safe word, let's do it. If you say it, that's my cue to step in and stop things. What... what would you want it to be? Something easy, something simple." Est may not have been familiar with the concept of safe words, EJ didn't know what her experience level was, but she hit the nail on the head with what it was supposed to be. Something simple... something easy to say, and something EJ would never say under normal circumstances...

Esper James could only smile with a wry sort of amusement as her brain stumbled upon the one thing she knew would stand out to not only Est, but also to Purity. "Taxes. No one likes 'em, y'know?" The recitation of a line from over a week ago brought cynical laughter to Esper James's lips. Est looked confused for a split second, but she ended up deciding to just shrug her shoulders and accept what she was given. "Okay, yeah, sure. Taxes. No one likes 'em. Got it. Do you want me to tell Puri, too, or just...?"

EJ shook her head, the laughter fading but the smile yet lingering. "No, no... she knows. And besides, it'll just worry her. She's already dancing on a razor's edge with her nerves; telling her we think there might be need for a safe word will only rile her up more. Not in the fun way, either. Okay... Take me to the door, or whatever. Let's do this. " Her earlier unease had drained itself from her mind, apprehension remaining but all nausea and fear having dribbled down into the ghoul's mental gutter. She was as ready for this as she'd ever be.

Est took EJ's wrist again and began to lead her through the surprisingly cluttered side-room; the room itself wasn't as large as the main one, but it was still fairly sizable, and was chock full of different apparatuses that could theoretically be used for practical testing. A treadmill... A medical bed, hooked up to a variety of machinery... A suspiciously home-gym looking thing that was similarly attached to observational readouts. There were other things, of course, but they were too obscure to be discerned at a moment's notice.

The Wayward led her lover to a door at the far side, a steel airlock just like the doors to the lab had been. Instead of a hand-activated lock, though, this one had a scanner of some sort placed directly beside it - Est leaned down, planting her spare hand on the wall to steady herself, and looked straight into the scanner. There was that mechanical whir and electric hum yet again, before the door slid into the wall to provide the pair egress. This time, however, it would be a journey for only one.

The other side of this door led to a small, straight staircase, angled downwards to end up about eight to ten feet below where they currently stood. And then... presumably, out into the observation chamber. Esper James gulped down the last bit of protest she may have had to give, and stepped through the airlock. The door shut behind her. She was alone, once again.

It was odd, and it immediately struck her so: to be separated from Est and Purity, after having spent all hours of wakefulness with them for days on end. Even if it was only for a brief bit, and they would still be there but distantly... It had an isolating feeling, one that made EJ's deadened flesh stand on end. She knew it was better this way, not having either of her ladies join her, but... but still, it felt odd, and lonely in its own little way. She hoped there'd at least be some kisses in her future, once this was all said and done.

Like a good little girl, eager at the prospect of praise and adoration, EJ set forth those handful of feet down the stairs. As she reached the last step, the testing chamber loomed before her: whereas the lab had been steel-walled and tile floored, this room was composed of large white slabs with black segmentation between them. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor were all the same in this way; the floor had a large central segmentation slashed right down the center, from end to end.

It made EJ think of a blood gutter at an abattoir.

She took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders and neck to loosen herself up just that much more, and stepped forth into the fluorescent light of the chamber proper. She naturally gravitated towards the center of it, and once she was about there, she looked up towards the only feature in the room: the large window, twelve or so odd feet in the air, tinted so as to be one-way. That was ominous.

Suddenly, a voice crackled in through an unseen speaker. "Hello~! I'm so glad to have you, dearest guest, sister Esper James. There are a variety of things we would like to be testing today, of course... But we don't have time for all of them. Of course, the majority of the testing we have in mind here will be done in the practical observation room - the room you passed by while entering the test chamber - but... Well-ll-ll...~" Zofi's voice trailed off, and was replaced by a sinister giggle posthaste. A chill dragged itself from the tip of EJ's tailbone all the way up her spine.

"Some of our tests can get messy! And, with someone like yourself at our disposal... A real, genuine second-living... We have some very crucial, very messy things in mind. Firstly, a question for you - and don't worry, I'll be able to hear you if you speak normally. The question is this..." There was a pause; a silence, brief but lingering just long enough that it seemed to take an eternity. EJ shuddered despite herself. Off to the side of the chamber, at the foot of the stair she had arrived in, another steel airlock slowly shifted itself into place.

"How long can you hold your breath? Hahahaha~!" The segmentation on the floor of the room split apart right down the middle, that thicker, darker line now revealing itself to be a genuine meeting of two mobile portions, rather than just some kind of gutter. A trio of slotted circles were set in the floor, reminiscent of drains but with their slots filled with further metal. Near the roof of the room, four (one on each corner) small, hidden compartments made themselves known.

Black nozzles poked from each of them. These nozzles began to, without further ado, release water into the room. It was far from a flash flood, but the deluge began quickly and in earnest regardless, the waters up to Esper James's waist in only a handful of minutes. EJ didn't know what to say; it wasn't obvious if Zofi was actually expecting an answer, and if she was, she wouldn't be pleased with the answer EJ had to give. That answer, of course, being 'I dunno'.

As the water reached a height that set EJ to begin to float, Zofia piped in again. "Oh, Esper James... It seems that your partners are very worried about you. I assure you, this is not a practical test of such things - you will be free to end it at any time. I won't subject you to drowning for my own amusement. Plus, I know that the second-living aren't exactly immune to drowning in the same way they're immune to gunshots or grenades. So, calm down if you're stressed. We won't be drowning you to death.

That was a little reassuring - but a little reassuring was better than less-than-reassuring, EJ supposed. She sat there, treading water, until finally the flow stopped - still about four feet from hitting the ceiling, so she wasn't in great danger of being forced into a tight spot. Not yet, at least. They'd stop her if she tried to fill it much more, right? Right? She had to believe it.

Drowning was one of the few evils that ate away at a second-living moreso than any other death - other deaths were temporary, for the most part, and while drowning didn't lead to true-death... it was worse. If you drowned, and there was nowhere for your body to float to? If you stayed beneath the waterline, starved of oxygen and light and life, condemned to a watery death? Sure, the regenerative properties of a second-living's body would keep restarting them, never fully letting them die... but that was exactly the issue.

If you drowned in such a state, then you'd awaken, find yourself deprived utterly of air to breathe, and then drown all over again. The cycle would repeat ad infinitum, until something put a halt to it. Over and over, again and again... The painful process of drowning, sucking in water as you did, your life fading from you, only to be jump-started by your regenerative abilities to begin the process anew. It was purgatory; it was Hell. There was no avoiding it once it began, and no salvation in sight.

Second-living daredevils who liked to deep-dive into the forbidden, winding caves deep beneath inland ponds and lakes or the ocean itself often carried silvered knives for exactly that reason. Tsang had once made silver 'poppers', little contraptions a bit bigger than a pill that would fire a single, silver-pellet .22 into the brain when triggered by the tongue. These had been the popular choice of desperate last resorts, but they had become vogue for suicides, and so production stopped. Silver blades were left as the only way out.

All these concepts, unavoidable truths, flashed through EJ's mind as she considered what came next. She wouldn't drown, no... but she'd hold her breath for as long as she could, and she was worried that it would feel like drowning. She never wanted to know what that felt like... Even when she was living, she had been deathly afraid of dying at sea. Lots of bad dreams in her youth, lots of nightmares of being a pirate and having some great sea monster smash her vessel, condemning her to a watery grave. Too many pirate video games, she figured.

Well, whatever. She had to do what she had to do. A single deep breath, the biggest breath she could ever remember taking, and then below the water she went. At least it was warm.