“I think she really bought into it,” Roxy murmured, kissing Kate underneath her jaw. “She thinks I’m some kind of lazy, stupid ditz.”

“You are exactly that,” Kate said pointedly, tilting her head to give Roxy better access to her neck – to which Roxy took advantage of. “None of those words are remotely misplaced on you, Rox.”

“That’s fair,” she said with a laugh. “But I really dialed it to ten, is what I mean. Way oversold it … and she bought.”

“Hoping to get fired?”

“Yeah, initially. But I’unno, she doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe I won’t mind being rep as much as I did last year.”

Kate blinked, pulled back from Roxy. Roxy pouted at suddenly not having a girl to pester with kisses – to which Kate rolled her eyes.

“Doesn’t seem bad?” she quoted, eyebrows raised. “You, Roxy, being fine with someone in a position of authority? Has the vishata hacked into your brain? Assimilated you?”

Roxy rolled her eyes, scooted closer and pulled Kate back in. “Better than Miss Tance is all I’m saying. I didn’t say good; that I like her. Just, she doesn’t have a massive stick up her ass.”

“Just a small one?”

“Comfortably sized.”

A brief silence; Roxy returned to kissing Kate, who continued to pretend it wasn’t happening, focusing on the notebook in her lap.

“Well, I’m glad you like her,” Kate said after a second scribbling something down. “With how much you complained last year, it’ll be a salve on my ears.”

“She’s hot, too.”

“R-Roxy.”

“What? She is. You’ll see what I mean … she’s got these blue eyes that go right through you. And her suit is so tight-hugging, and she’s got so much up top,” Roxy made a crude gesture, pretending to cup her breasts, “that nothing is left to the imagination.” She shivered. “God, I want her to step on me.”

Back in the camera room, Ivy coughed. 

Well, that’s good to know.

Kate pushed Roxy away, playfully, and stood in a false huff. “You’re disgusting. A pervert. That’s our headmaster you’re talking about, and more than that, Iverius Drovelia.”

“Pervert? Isn’t that why you keep me around?” Roxy wiggled her eyebrows, even though Kate had her back turned. “For my skills?”

Kate turned pink, didn’t dignify the teasing with a response. “I have homework,” she announced loudly. “I think it’s time you head back. It’s getting late, and you’ve been here too long. You’re starting to get ideas.”

“The semester doesn’t start till tomorrow,” Roxy said amusedly, not budging from her seat on Kate’s bed. “How could you possibly have homework?”

“Self-appointed. Preparatory. See, I actually care about my grades, unlike a certain someone.”

“Hmm.” Roxy slunk out of the bed, wrapped her arms around Kate’s waist and pulled her in. “That sounds boring. I have some ideas for what we could do instead.” Nuzzled her chin into Kate’s neck. “I’ll even let you go first, if you want,” she mumbled,  “you’ll take care of me after.”

“Roxy …” Kata glanced at her door. Fended off Roxy’s wandering hands, pulling down the hem of her shirt, to which Roxy’s hands slipped underneath, unheeding of the small rejection. She gasped at the cold fingers against her skin. “M-My roommates could hear. Not at school. You know that.”

Kate squeaked as Roxy, presumably, pinched something sensitive. She shoved Roxy’s hands down, out of her shirt, and wiggled out of her embrace.

Roxy frowned, but didn’t pursue – that, apparently, was a strong enough ‘no’ to convince her.

“I can be quiet?” Roxy offered. “But if you’re not in the mood …”

Kate seemed vaguely apologetic. “It’s not that. Just, not today, Rox. I-I just met these girls. I don’t want them thinking I’m … loose, or something. We aren’t even girlfriends, and they know it.”

“We’ll be quiet.”

“You’re too skilled for your own good,” Kate said pointedly. “You said it yourself. I know myself, and you, too; you’ll try your best, and so I won’t be quiet.”

Roxy seemed vaguely proud at that – even if she deflated a second later, disappointed it meant they wouldn’t be having any fun.

“Okay, okay,” Roxy lamented. “I guess I’ll have to take care of myself, tonight. But I’ll be using you to do it.” – Kata blushed – “that time at the beach, I think. Beneath the towel, remember? The one where we got caught, and you had me finish you anyway? God … you almost hurt my fingers with how hard you clenched.” 

Kate turned crimson and started sputtering.

The interaction fizzled out, there, turned to more mundane matters, bland talk. So Ivy pulled her eyes away from the monitor.

(She’d be checking in on Roxy’s room later, to see if she’d be following through with her ‘taking care of herself’.)

Flicking through the different cameras, Ivy couldn’t help but stop when it landed on one of the showers. The night winding down, only a few girls were still getting cleaned.

Ivy zoomed in, blew up the image of the tomboyish girl scrubbing her short brown hair with shampoo. Water cascade down her body, across defined muscles, a stomach with six sharp abs even when relaxed. 

Ravenwood, being an academy for supernaturally-gifted warriors, was filled with, to borrow Amy’s crude phrasing from earlier, ‘tight, nubile bodies’ in plenty. Though some figures were softer than others, none were remotely out of shape – like a survey of an Olympic village would look, Ivy figured.

The showers themselves were a funny thing. Public, but with dividing stalls with open backs. So the girls got plenty sight of each other – for having such strict uniform and modesty policies, they weren’t afforded much privacy. Ivy had seen on more than a few occasions some of the girls sneaking looks; so despite the rigid rules, their libidos were certainly healthy. And persuasion to the same sex seemed more common than usual too; she supposed that was natural, considering the function of the Valkyrie, how much time they spent with their battlesisters. They were the only ones who could understand each other. Easy to form emotional bonds – and resulting physical – because of that.

She had to tear her eyes away from the brown-haired tomboy, lathering herself with slippery shampoo, up and down her tight stomach, her chest, between her thighs. 

If Ivy got herself too worked up, she’d have to call Amy to relieve her. And she had things to do.

Fun eye candy, but don’t get distracted, Ivy. Do your job, and soon enough, these girls will be yours for a lot more than viewing pleasure.

It was getting pretty late – and because she was surveilling her different representatives, she knew Avril had gone to sleep. Perhaps it was time to practice.

Ivy wandered out of the surveillance room, re-secured the hidden door behind her. Sat down at her desk and pulled out the dreaming focus.

The memory of Avril's crash and burn, their first meeting, flickered to mind. Sure to have prompted interesting dreams – or nightmares.

She sank into the focus, questing out for the haughty flat-chested blonde, letting instinct guide her.

Hands on the smooth crystal ball, the blackness behind her eyelids shimmered, then resolved. 

Light and sound trickled in –