Heartthrob

Once the custard and sugar were dealt with, sloppily and with much tongue usage (given EJ's proclivity to not use her spoon for the dish), the women left their dishes there for the cleanup crew to deal with. They made their way towards the door, Esthrielle leading, and Esper James purposefully lagging behind a bit so that Purity was in the middle. If the pinkette noticed the intentional bit of positioning, she said nothing - still bearing naught but her smile from the conversation with Lulu. She did reach back for EJ's hand, though, and the blonde couldn't deny her.

Purity's hand was warm. Everything about her was often oh so very warm, the juxtaposition to how EJ was so very cool more often than not, lest she drank blood... and Est, in the middle of the spectrum, was lukewarm in arms and legs, though her flesh still held that fiery blood which gave her an organic temperature. Esper James squeezed Purity's hand, trying to shut out thoughts from dinner that would ruin the moment.

Those thoughts clawed at the closed door of her mind all the same, of course. She couldn't simply turn them off... just deny them the attention they craved. That would have to do, of course - the nuns, in their unnatural silence, gave her nothing to distract her. Esthrielle herself was only barely more human in her motions and predisposition, making only a slight bit more sound than her conventional counterparts. In turn, it would seem to all the world that only Esper James and Purity were truly alive - the others could have just as easily been automated.

Then out into the hallway the trio did abscond, back towards their bedroom. Purity reached forwards and snatched one of Esthrielle's hands as well, making of herself the link which forged a chain of lovers, three-ringed though it may be. Est thought nothing of it, and happily took Purity's palm in her own - even turning back her head, momentarily, to give Puri a tender smile and glance. Purity blew her a kiss in return.

Down hallway after hallway they went, wreathed in silence and still, only broken by footsteps, fabric swishes, and the pseudo-crackling of pseudo-sconces which lined the wall, bathing everything in simulated firelight. Within EJ, the welling pressure of dangerous, frightening speculation pushed her heart to the seams, threatening to burst her. She was... god, she wasn't sure, really. Wasn't sure how to describe it, how to put words to this feeling of unease and turmoil which she was now feeling.

She needed to talk with Purity - there was nothing else to say, no two ways about it. She needed to talk to Purity, because Purity was both the catalyst for their departure, and the fly in that very same departure's ointment. EJ reminded herself of their agreement, hers and Purity's: to be open and honest, and not keep secrets anymore, from one another. It was an agreement they had both spurned at least once.

And yet, now, after both of them had made their mistakes and talked it through... she couldn't help but cling to their pact as a life preserver on a stormy sea. Purity had seemed to have put real emotional weight on it... real hope into it, and her whole heart inside it. She had seemed so fucking hurt when EJ had... Well. Of course she had been hurt. EJ had only gone and got herself killed. As a second-living, death was more like an inconvenience, but... still. To Purity, to all first-living in a way, death meant something else.

To them, death was a great and impassable wall, from which return was scant allowed. The death of a person was a permanent, destructive, damning thing. It was traumatic. It was painful. And, for Esper James, it was those last two... but, not in the same way as it would have been for Purity, or Est. EJ would have laughed, had she not been so tense already - to think, life was sacred, but unlife was expendable.

She wanted to pull Purity aside right then and there, even with Est there - no, especially with Est there. Then, perhaps, Purity would realize she wasn't being as subtle as she thought she was. Though, of course, to make accusations without knowing what you were accusing someone of was pointless. Just pulling Purity aside, saying that EJ was having a bad feeling about whatever she was doing, and that she should come clean? Laughable. There was no way it would work.

EJ bit her cheek and chewed gently as they walked, distracting herself from her own mental anguish. Finally, finally, their bedroom was in sight... and when the door to it was opened, Esper James rushed in past Purity to throw herself to the bed, as she oft did. Flopping on a bed was a cathartic thing for the little ghoul; it made her feel free, and reminded her body of the sort of things humans did before modern conveniences came about. Though, if recent days were any proof, the innate need to pounce yet held some use...

Est snickered at EJ's eagerness, rushing to join her after only a moment's time - she threw herself onto the bed, over top of Esper James's supine form, bodies layered upon one another without delay. EJ squawked at the sudden snuggle-tackle, kicking her legs impotently in a display of feigned distress. It did feel nice, she couldn't lie, having Est pressed to her. Especially now, with her heart steeling itself for a confrontation with Purity - a confrontation that she had no idea what would even entail.

Purity lingered at the doorway, smiling with that same sinister, superior smugness as before - the face of many a self-assured dominatrix from Esper James's favorite media. She took a few steps, slowly but surely, towards the other two women... but then turned about on a heel, facing the door but not approaching it.

"Hmm~ Girls... I love you two, but I told Lulu I'd be around after dinner to chat. I'm gonna go wait outside for her, look like I'm getting some fresh air; you two? Have fun snuggling. When I get back, eheh... Heheheh...~ Well, maybe one more for the road, eh? If we're gonna be leaving soon?" She winked at her lovers, licking her now-bared teeth like a hungry carnivore preparing itself for meat.

Esthrielle shivered in unspoken anticipation and nodded, rapidly and enthusiastically. She really seemed caught up in the sway of all this - and after their inaugural lovemaking session when the three had first arrived at the convent, she was steadily growing more and more accustomed (and excited) about the prospect of any sexual liaison. Purity had the Wayward wrapped around her tongue, in that sense... Finger, perhaps, but tongue most assuredly. EJ allowed herself a brief smirk at her own joke.

The blonde was not so excited as Est, but she still gave a thumbs up and a wink, mimicking the licking of teeth. "Go, then! Hurry up with Lulu, so we can have our turn with you~!" EJ took that moment to use her non-thumbs up hand to take a generous handful of Esthrielle's ass through her habit, digging her fingers into supple, still-living flesh. The point was to provide emphasis, and God above, what emphasis it gave.

Est yelped as if struck, but didn't shy away - rather, she pushed her rear back into EJ's hand, head bowing low as all that confident, brusque nature was pruned from her by the touch of another. She whined gently, eyes flicking over to Esper James's. They caught her gaze and kept it for a few seconds, but she quickly became embarrassed by both the shared touch, and the new heat that bloomed between her thighs. Est turned away after a few moments of peering longingly into Esper James's pupils, losing her way within their inky blackness.

Across the room, Purity giggled mischievously at the display - a hand over her mouth as she did, adding more fuel to the fictional villainess fire. "Ufufufufufu~ Well, don't you two wear yourselves out while I'm gone... I'll be so sad if I come back and you've already burnt your libidos down to the nub! But, enough of that. I've got an infiltrator I need to speak with... a great many things to discuss, you know? Heheheh... Okay, bye girls! Love yo-u-u!" Purity blew the pair a kiss before returning to the hallway, sure to shake her hips with extra vigor as she strutted off.

The blown kiss and goodbye were returned in kind by Esper James, but Est could only manage to get out the kiss; words seemed to be failing her, and Esper James realized that she hadn't released her grip on Est's cake quite yet. Hmm, how worrisome... and yet, she couldn't deny that there was something enticing about the moment they had, right there, just the two of them.

Est seemed way more ready to go than initially anticipated, but EJ couldn't press the advantage on the battlefield of lust; she had something far more important to bring up with Esthrielle than just a quickie, much as she would've enjoyed one. EJ's hand left Est's behind and moved to take a more comfortable, and comforting, hold of the Italian's hip. Est, by contrast, leaned her head over and nuzzled at Esper James's neck, giving her a few soft pecks as she did.

"Ooh, EJ... I, aha, I rarely get to talk to you alone, y'know? It's usually the three of us... but, uh. I just wanted to say? I love you. I really do. I know it, uh... I know it all happened so fast, but sometimes you just know, y'know? Meeting you that first night... Snuggling with you at your apartment... You were so nice to me, even if I was a shit to you. Even though I was a bitch." Est sniffled, nuzzling in even deeper to the crook of EJ's neck. She awkwardly moved her arms, trying to hug the ghoulette as best she could from this position - her mechanized limbs finding their place beneath the ex-Tsang employee after some moments of struggle.

Esper James was taken aback; the whole topic of conversation seemed a sudden shift, and took her wholly unawares. She turned her own head to place loving pecks upon the white-haired woman's temple and forehead, but there was a lot to think about now, seeing as Esthrielle had brought this all up without warning. Hell, the very fact that Est had brought it up in a vacuum at all meant she had been thinking on it for some time - and now, she was choosing to release the pent up emotion.

Est sniffled again, kissing Esper James one more time on the lower jaw - this one lasting longer, and holding more passion, and sorrow, than any of the others. "I was such a bitch to you, a-and yet... and yet, here we are. We got our second chance, you know? That... that night, at Judas's place. The first night. I'm... I'm sorry I shot at you. It was my only w-way out, and..." She took a deep breath, choking back tears that had yet to form. A brief fight with herself began, but was brought to a close within moments.

"...and I'm so thankful you didn't kill me, h-haha! What kind of love story is ours, you know? I kill a dude who was beating you up, then I almost get killed and you save me, then you spare me even when your boss t-tells you to kill me... I... Oh, God, I'm so sorry for all of it. Really. Please, please forgive me... or, at least, tell me how I can make it up to you." She seemed serious about everything, every last word. That scared Esper James, bringing in a freeze that ate down to the ghoulette's unliving core.

Why was Est getting so emotional all of a sudden? Why the fuck was Purity acting so weird? What was up with either of them? Was it something in their food - or just the drinking water? Esper James considered, momentarily, that it very well may have been something in the food. It wouldn't have been hard at all for the nuns to slip something into Purity and Est's meals, slowly but surely driving them to delirium, or worse. Poisoning could take place in a slow but sure way, never needing to be outright instantaneous death or destruction.

Hmm. She had no proof... and she would never get proof, she knew, but this was one more mark against the convent. One more reason for the three of them to leave - because they had all been acting normally, or whatever their individual approximation of 'normalcy' was, until they had come here. Then, they had each begun to act oddly. At least, that's what EJ was going to tell herself - and it was what she would believe.

She returned Est's hug, giving the Italian woman a big, strong squeeze, snuggling their bodies together until they may as well be glued to one another. Esthrielle didn't mind at all; frankly, she seemed like she was loving the touch and affection, even as her sniffles grew louder and more insistent. She began to speak again, voice cracking and warbling with the impending onset of tears. "EJ... What did I ever do to deserve you and Purity? Is this my reward? They always talk about good things coming to those who wait, and I've waited so long. Do I get you and Puri as my prize? Th-That'd be nice, I think... That would be cool..."

The tears came forth then, and Esper James held back a silent curse. She needed to respond, needed to say something to Esthrielle to try and snap her out of whatever bizarre, depressive fugue she was fighting through. Est began to sob openly while Esper James considered what to even say to the other woman, eventually deciding that the best option was to speak from the heart. She wasn't sure what that really entailed when people said it, but there was no time like the present to try, right?

"Ah, Est... Don't be sorry. I love you, too... We both love you. Purity and I, we're so fucking glad to have you. So very glad, and more lucky than words can describe... God, I love you, Est. You are sweet, and protective, and you genuinely do care about us. That's... That's hard to find nowadays, y'know? You're one of a kind. And I'm glad you're all mine, and Purity's. All ours, haha."

EJ meant every word of that, though she wasn't sure she could've said it so plainly in any other moment. She knew she loved her girlfriends... she knew that they meant the world to her, and that without them, she'd be going nowhere fast. She'd still be back at Tsang; hell, she might even be locked up in a cage at Judas's mansion right now. There was a time, she knew, that she would have liked nothing more than that. If the opportunity presented itself, she would've been weak.

But saying these things aloud was hard. It was always hard when a relationship was new... and while they had rushed things along to a degree, the expedience of their headlong sprint towards outright love was bolstered by their situation. Being in a life-or-death scenario so often... hiding together from an oppressive enemy who would have seen them dead? Esper James was sure, without a doubt, that she would've already been caught if it wasn't for them.

Ugh. No, no, no. EJ didn't have time to think on this, the minutiae of their relationship - she had a crying woman in her arms who desperately needed some ghoulish love. Esper James would be all too happy to provide. She used her shoulder to gently, very gently, coax Est to look up at her - and once the tear-afflicted Wayward did, Esper James leaned down to kiss her on the lips. It was tender, but also steeped in passion like a fine tea: fragrant, layered, and sweet without too much sugar. It was a kiss to get lost in.

The kiss led itself onwards, every moment where it may have been cut off finding it renewed instead. Time began to while away, with Esper James being distracted from her own conspiratorial ponderings by the touch of Esthrielle's lips, and Esthrielle being distracted from her tears by EJ's insistence and physical love. The two fell into one another time and time again, lips soon parting so that tongues could dance, and after some time, the earlier lust returned. Nothing so overt as was implied then, but certainly, there was exploration.

Esper James didn't even have the presence of mind to wonder where Purity was, or how her chat with Lulu was going. It was for the best.