Shear and Ingram worked together on the opposite side of the base, since it was our squad’s day to do the grunt work. It was nothing but a joke of security, theater and busy work. Even if something attacked the base right now, there were enough high-rank espers that they wouldn’t get more than a few feet past the boundaries before not even healers could save ’em.
Though the walk was rather nice. Maybe Yun really needed the time and exercise? The space and freedom of the open desert to make her feel less trapped?
We’d spent weeks in dungeons, had spent time holed up in the worst sort of places, so it didn’t bother me. Yun was different, though.
“I was thinking manicotti for dinner,” I declared, like we were already mid-conversation.
“Do you ever think about anything except food?” Carter answered, not missing a beat to draw Yun into conversation. No doubt he’d picked up on her strange mood as well.
“We haven’t eaten a vegetable in weeks,” Yun countered. “I’m going to start gaining weight, you know?”
“So? Pretty sure I don’t give a damn,” Carter answered easily.
“You might when I die of a giant heart attack.” Even as she spoke as though put out, a tired playfulness had crept into the words.
“Don’t worry, I can handle those,” I reminded her. “In fact, if I need to, I’ll just make keeping your heart beating my full-time job.”
“What if I get hurt?” Carter asked.
“You’re on your own, then.”
“This is how you treat me after all our years together?” Carter put his arm to his head as though he might faint from the shock of it all.
And our shenanigans helped, because Yun laughed. It wasn’t a full laugh, not a belly laugh that comes from deep down, but it was something, and I’d happily take it.
Carter and I kept going with our antics as we walked, taking our time, stretching our legs, picking strange topics just to throw Yun off.
“So there’s this website, and it sells esper dildos,” Carter said.
“Why do you know that?” Yun asked.
“Ingram keeps sending me links and pictures. Hesaysit’s to laugh at, but I don’t know…feels like he wants me to buy him one for Christmas or something.”
“You don’t buy dildos for Christmas presents,” I argued. “That’s more of a New Year’s gift.”
“Dildos are for New Years?” Carter asked.
“New Year, new dick,” Yun muttered almost absently until Carter and I paused.
It was then Yun seemed to notice what she’d said because she slapped her hand over her mouth.
Still shy?The fact she could be afterallwe’d done, I found downright charming.
We could have tortured her a bit more, but I wanted her to keep chiming in, so I moved the conversation along. “What are they like?”
“Dildos? They feel good from what I’ve heard, but I wouldn’t personally know.”
“No, the esper ones. Like, are they designed after specific espers? Because there’s this car I was looking at, and if it’s that easy to make some money…”
“No, they aren’t specific, at least they don’tsaythat. It’s more like…tentacle-shaped ones, or ones with inflatable knots, or shadows. Stuff like that.”
I shuddered at the thought of any of those things going anywhere near my precious ass. As a healer, I understood better than most just how much the body could enjoy sensation, that there was no real taboo when it came to that, but that didn’t mean I was too keen to try it myself, especially with things so out there.
“Shadow?” Yun asked despite a flush on her cheeks.
“Yeah—like Ingram.”
“He uses shadows, but that’s not sexy.”
