Valerie woke slowly. She sighed gently as her arms tightened around… Nothing?

She groaned, confused. She was sure Eris had come to sleep with her last night. She’d done that three or four times now. And she’d needed to last night, after the absurdity with their parents. With Father especially. Gods he’d been awful to Eris. Hopefully she was okay.

Valerie sighed. It was nice, sharing a bed with Eris. Waking up next to her. Presumably she’d just gotten out of bed early, but still, Valerie sort of missed it.

Valerie scooted forward onto Eris’s half of the bed, yearning for the closeness of her sister. Her head lay on the pillow Eris had been using. It smelled like her shampoo.

As Valerie smelled that scent, her head grew foggy. It was comforting, as it always was. But it made her feel something more. She took a deep whiff of the pillow. As she did, she felt a tightening sensation in her underwear.

Wait, what?

She sniffed again, feeling blood rushing into her dick. Oh. Oh, no. That wasn’t good. But she couldn’t help taking another whiff of the lovely smell.

She moaned softly. She really shouldn’t do this. This was so bad. But, surely it couldn’t hurt to just…

Instincts taking over, she rolled over on to her stomach, burying her face in the pillow. As she did, she started to gently hump against the bed. The movement caused her girldick to pop out of her panties, and she moaned again as she felt the friction from the sheets stimulating her.

She inhaled her sister’s intoxicating scent again, and whimpered. “Oh gods,” Valerie whispered. “E-Eris. F-fuck, I love you.” She let out another moan, imagining Eris was there with her, beneath her.

Her hand was shortly wrapped around her girldick as she clutched the pillow with her other arm. “Eris,” she whispered, “Erisss,” over and over, stroking herself in time with her verbalizations. A high-pitched whine escaped her.

A knock came at her door. Valerie froze, suddenly holding her breath. “Hey, Valie?” came her sister’s muffled voice. “Are you okay in there?”

Valerie’s heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest. She paused, trying to level her voice before answering. “U-uh. Y-yeah. Yeah I’m fine. W-why?” Her voice came out much breathier than intended.

“Oh, I just—. You sounded like you were in pain or something.”

Valerie flushed, realizing Eris must have heard her moans. Hopefully she hadn’t heard anything else she’d said. Oh gods. “U-uh. No. Just, uhm. Taking care of something,” she stammered out.

“What? … Oh. OH! Oh my gods I’m so sorry okay have fun bye,” Eris rushed the words out, and Valerie heard her hurry off as she did.

Fuck. That was way too close.

Though, a really stupid part of Valerie’s brain couldn’t help but imagine Eris actually walking in on her. Who knows what might have happened?

What? No, don’t be stupid, nothing would have happened. But…

That didn’t stop her from imagining it. She started pleasuring herself again, trying to make sure her moans were directed into the pillow to dampen them. “Eris,” she moaned, “Erisss.” Over and over, until the word came out almost pleading.

Pleasure built as she fucked into her hand. “Gods I love youuuu,” her last muffled moan escaped her lips as an orgasm overtook her, her body convulsing, small spurts of cum dripping out of her.

She collapsed face-down onto the bed, panting. The shame quickly caught up with her. Oh gods, why had she done that? That was so wrong. She inhaled, and found that, despite everything, the smell of Eris’s shampoo was still comforting. That was messed up, wasn’t it? That this scent could make her feel better after what she’d just done. Ugh. Why was this so fucking complicated?

After Valerie had showered and gotten dressed, she went downstairs to eat breakfast. She blushed as Eris glanced up at her from the couch.

“Oh. Hi, Valie. Uhm. Sorry about earlier. Probably should’ve been obvious what you were doing,” Eris said sheepishly. She seemed to be blushing as well.

Valerie turned even redder. “What? Oh, no. It’s fine. I uh. I should’ve been quieter.”

“I mean, don’t worry about it. I get it. It’s hard sometimes. Hahah. Hard, get it?” Eris chuckled.

“I… What?” Valerie looked at her. Then understood. Then laughed. “Wait. That’s awful, hahahaha.”

Eris laughed harder. “Sorry,” she said. “I just feel a kinda awkward and I’m making stupid jokes about it, apparently.”

Valerie giggled, “It’s fine. I felt a bit awkward about it too, but the joke kinda helps. Hehehehe.”

Eris smiled at her, and Valerie couldn’t help but smile back. After a slightly awkward silence between the two, Eris’s face grew serious. “Are you okay? After last night?” she asked.

“Hmm? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I mean. Normally you’re super anxious about stuff. But you stood up to Father somehow. I doubt that was easy for you.”

“Well. Yeah. You’re right, I was very nervous about it. And… I mean his reaction really sucked. It did feel kinda bad. But, also empowering I guess, that I didn’t just let him get away with his bullshit.” Valerie shrugged and sighed. “I dunno.”

Eris nodded. “I was impressed, honestly. I… It’s so hard for me to talk to him. And now I’m really worried that I’ve fucked everything up.”

“The way he treats you is not your fault,” Valerie said forcefully.

“Yeah… I know. But it’s still my problem. I still have to figure out how to deal with it.”

Valerie walked over and squeezed Eris’s shoulder. “Yeah. We’ll figure it out. Together. And like… I dunno. He doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Maybe the best way to deal with it is to move on from him.”

Eris grimaced and shook her head. “There has to be some way to fix it.”

Valerie wasn’t so sure. But she did want to help. “If there is, we’ll find it.”

Eris nodded. “Yeah.”

“Let me know if you need anything,” Valerie said.

“I will.” Eris sighed, and looked at Valerie. “At the very least, we should probably do what Father said. Have me attune the Ley Lines, instead of you.”

Valerie tilted her head uncertainly. “I mean. Yeah. We wanted to specifically not do that, because it would be easier for you to defend me if we get attacked. But. I mean, we’ve only been attacked the one time. It’s been all quiet the past few runs. So maybe it’s fine?”

“Yeah. It’s that, or lie on the reports, and I’d sorta rather not do that.”

Valerie acquiesced. “Alright, I said I’d do what I can to help, so, let’s do it.” She looked at her watch. “Ah, fuck, I should eat. I’ve gotta meet Danni soon.”

Eris perked up a bit. “Oh. Cool. Can I come with?”

“Ah… Uhm. It was more of a just-us thing. Like. Just me and them,” Valerie said. She felt a little bad to have to leave Eris out, but she really couldn’t bring her along on this one.

“Oh…” Valerie’s heart twisted a bit at Eris’s look of disappointment, the sight of her swishing tail slowing down. “Yeah. That’s fair. Are you two like… Seeing each other, then?”

“What? Oh, no. We’re not like dating or anything. It’s just uh. You know. Been a while since we caught up properly,” Valerie lied. It wasn’t a huge lie. But obviously Valerie couldn’t tell her the actual reason they were meeting up.

“Oh. Cool. Yeah, that makes sense.” Despite still not being able to come along, Eris’s disappointment seemed to dissipate. That was… odd. Was Eris jealous of the idea of Valerie having a relationship with someone? Valerie almost dismissed the idea, but it sorta made sense. Even though Eris obviously wasn’t jealous in that way, they still spent a lot of time together, and Valerie being in a relationship with someone else would cut into that quite a lot. Plus, well, it would make it harder for them to share a bed when Eris had nightmares.

Valerie busied herself making breakfast. Before leaving, she said goodbye to Eris, who gave her an extra tight hug.

Valerie ran along the rooftop of a downtown apartment building. Danni had heard about Valerie’s training, and thought it would be fun for them to meet up at one of the higher buildings in the area. The hot summer sun beat down on Valerie, but she had to admit she was having fun. The vibes were different, doing this in the day instead of at night. And she didn’t have to worry about efficiency, since it wasn’t her job right now. She could just do what felt enjoyable.

There was a building thirty meters ahead of her, its roof four stories up. She Augmented her legs and leapt into the air. At nearly the apex of her jump, she formed a platform of static air armor under her foot, pushing off it to increase her upward momentum. She barely didn’t have enough height to clear the roof, so she did this again, intentionally leaping high into the air and landing in the roof’s center with an armored roll, fluidly transferring her momentum back into a run.

She smiled as she ran. Maybe she and Eris could do this as a date sometime.

Well. Not a date. Ugh, she was starting to do it too. She really ought to know better than to think of things as a date, considering how complicated her emotions were making things.

Up ahead, she thought she saw the building Danni had indicated. A tall office building, covered by glass windows on all sides. She ran forward, jumping from building to building, and leapt up to it, laughing gleefully as she looked down at the street far below her.

Then she realized she’d misjudged her jump. She managed to shield herself and use a platform to jump upwards just as she collided with a solid thunk. She managed to clear the roof level, but she was tumbling, and had bounced the wrong direction. She formed a rod of static air armor right in front of her, grabbed it, and swung herself down onto the building.

“Graceful,” came the sarcastic comment of a voice Valerie recognized. Dammit. Of course Danni would be here to witness that.

Valerie dusted herself. “Shut up,” she said.

Danni smirked back. Then they walked over to the edge of the building. “Nice view, huh?”

Valerie joined them, looking out over the bay. “Yeah. It is.” Unfortunately, she couldn’t see to the other side of the bay. Too much fog. But it was pretty, she had to admit. She could see the near coastline, curving out far in both directions. So many buildings, so tiny from here.

“Very beautiful at sunset,” Danni continued. “Romantic, even, if you’re into that sorta thing.”

Valerie found herself wondering if Eris would enjoy seeing that. Then sighed at herself. What the hell.

Danni sat down on the edge of the building, legs kicking off over the side. They looked at Valerie. “So, Val. What’s up? You said you wanted to talk about something, but you were very cryptic about it.”

Valerie remained standing, looking out over the bay. She felt too nervous to sit. She took a deep breath before talking. “… Fuck. Hard to even talk about, honestly.”

Danni nodded. “Fair,” they said.

Valerie took another deep breath. “I have a crush on someone.”

Danni giggled a little. “What is this, high school all over again? Ohhh, or is it Raine? Me? Both? You wanna throuple up with us again?” They made it sound like a joke, though Valerie could tell they were being slightly serious.

“No, no. Not you two. It’s… More complicated. Kinda messed up, honestly.”

Danni raised their eyebrows. “Messed up? How do you mean?”

Valerie shifted uncomfortably. “Like. You’re gonna judge me for it.”

Danni nodded slowly. “Okay. Look,” they said, as they drew a box with their fingers around their general area. “This is a judgement-free zone. I won’t judge, I promise. What’s up?”

Valerie took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, as though somehow that would make it easier, and whispered, “I… I have a crush on Eris.”

Danni was silent for a moment. “Okay. Still not judging, I just wanna make sure I heard you correctly. You have a crush on Eris?”

Valerie nodded.

“To be clear, you mean like, your sister?”

Valerie closed her eyes tighter, grimacing. “Yeah…”

“Hey. It’s okay,” Danni said. “But like. Yeah. I feel like I can kinda understand why you wanted to talk to someone about this. I mean. How are you feeling about it?”

“You’re really not judging me?” Valerie opened her eyes hesitantly. A wave of relief flowed through her.

“I promised I wouldn’t. And I don’t think I would even if I hadn’t promised. But come on. How do you feel about it? That’s more important than how I feel.”

Valerie sighed, finally sitting down next to Danni. “I feel like it’s pretty fucked up of me,” she said.

Danni hummed thoughtfully. “I mean. I can understand you feeling that way. But like. It’s okay to have crushes on people. You’re not hurting anyone.”

“But she’s my sister.” And also, the thing she’d done this morning… But, there was no way she was telling Danni about that. Though, she had to admit, it wasn’t the first time she’d fantasized about a crush like that.’

“I mean, okay. So obviously most people wouldn’t be cool with that. But does that make it wrong?” Danni asked.

“I mean… At the very least, it’s illegal. Like. A relationship between us would be, at least.”

Danni snorted. “Since when have queer people cared about what’s illegal? Do you think the people at Stonewall or whatever thought what they were doing was wrong, just because it was illegal?”

Valerie thought about this. “I mean, probably some of them yeah.”

“Okay, fair point. But like. Do you think it’s wrong? For consenting queers to do what they want with each other?”

“Well. I mean obviously not.” Valerie kinda saw where Danni was going with this. But…

“Let me put it this way,” they continued. “If it wasn’t illegal, and society didn’t judge you for it, and Eris was interested… Would you wanna date her?”

Did Valerie want that? She considered what she’d been thinking about over the past week or so. And. Well. The conclusion was obvious. “… Yeah. Yeah I would wanna date her. Honestly… I still kinda do. Even though, … y’know.”

“Well then. If you want it. And she, hypothetically, wanted it. Then I don’t think it’s wrong. I don’t think it’s wrong for two consenting adults to date each other, even if you are… y’know. Sisters.”

Valerie nodded slowly. She had to admit, it made sense. “I mean. Yeah. I guess. That’s a wild hypothetical, though. Like there’s no way she wants that.”

“Are you sure?” Danni asked.

“Well. I guess I don’t know for sure. But like. There’s no way for me to know. And she probably doesn’t,” Valerie said.

“I mean, you could talk to her about it.”

Valerie frowned. She did kinda want that. But… “That could ruin our relationship. Who knows how she’d react?”

Danni shrugged. “I mean, as long as you’re not forcing anything on her, just telling her your feelings, I think it’s possible she’d be understanding.”

“It’s also possible she’d freak the fuck out.” Valerie sighed heavily. “It’s way too risky.”

Danni didn’t seem entirely convinced, but they nodded. “That’s fair. Your choice, ultimately. Whatever you do, I hope it works out for you.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

Danni’s head tilted as they looked out over the bay. “Honestly, you two have a really sweet relationship, however you wanna label it or grow it. I understand not wanting to lose that.”

Valerie smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I guess we do.”

The two sat in silence for a minute before Danni spoke up again. “I wanted to talk to you about something to, actually.”

Valerie looked over at them. “Mm? What’s up?”

“I wasn’t being entirely hypothetical, like a month ago. When I mentioned I’d rather be working for a magecraft org that was more egalitarian.”

“Oh?” Valerie raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah. I mean. Honestly it feels weird telling you this, considering you’re working for your parents. But we do have an org. Me, and… some others.” Understandably, they were a bit cagey on the details.

“Huh. Michael had mentioned there was an upstart org, in the university area. That was you?” And, Michael had suggested that org might have been responsible for Eris and her getting attacked. Valerie found her eyes narrowing slightly. Would Danni really do something like that? Unlikely. But maybe someone else in the org would.

It was Danni’s turn to look surprised. “Oh, they know about us? Hell. Good to know, I guess. Guess we couldn’t fly under the radar forever.”

Valerie just nodded in response.

“Anyway,” Danni continued, “I’d like to think we’re better than the other orgs. Everyone who works for us gets a personal Mana receiver.” They rolled up their sleeve to show it off: a metallic bracelet with Resonant crystals embedded in it. “And with the excess Mana, we’ve been training students who don’t have the resources to enroll in the university.”

“Wait, for real? But. How do you have that much Mana income? Even as rich as our family is, Michael said we didn’t have the Mana budget for personal receivers.”

Danni snorted. “Yeah. Turns out, you don’t need that many Ley Lines to produce wayyy more than enough Mana for a handful of people. But most orgs are continually siphoning almost all that Mana into rituals for…” They shook their head and shrugged, “… gods know what, honestly.”

“Wow. Really?” Valerie had never seen any of the accounting for her parents’ org. That stuff was obviously kept quite secret. And. Well, okay, maybe that kinda explained why, if almost all of it was being used for rituals. It still felt odd, though.

“Yeah. Seriously.” Danni pulled another receiver from their pocket. “So. You wanna work with us?”

“Oh.” Valerie hesitated. “Well…”

“I know it’s complicated with your parents. I mean, for all I know you’d be giving up your inheritance or whatever. But. We’d give you a salary, too, of course.” Danni tilted their head. “Whaddaya say?”

Sighing, Valerie shook her head. “I mean. It sounds better than working for my parents, honestly. But. I can’t commit to it unless Eris is onboard too. And… Well. She still really wants to get on our parents’ good side.”

Danni smirked. “Damn, you’re already making decisions like you’re a couple.”

Valerie blushed. “Hey…”

“Naw, I get it. Like I said. I hope things work out for you. And hey, Eris is welcome to join too, if she changes her mind.”

“I… Okay. Fair.” Valerie shrugged. “I’ll let you know. But it seems unlikely.”

Danni chewed their lip. “I mean. She can make her own choices, obviously. But honestly. It sounds like your parents treat her like shit, at least from what you and her have told me. Kinda seems like she’d be better off without them.”

Valerie sighed. “Yeah. I know. But. I guess she has to reach that conclusion herself.”

“Guess it took me a while, too,” Danni said somewhat morosely. “It’s not an easy choice. Giving up on your parents.”

“Yeah. I know.”

The two sat in silence for a while, looking out over the water. Eventually they turned to small talk. Danni and Raine were still going strong, from the sound of things, and apparently they (Danni) had a new girlfriend as well. Another student from the university.

It made Valerie wonder if things really could work out, between her and Eris. It seemed so impossible. But… What if. Valerie found herself imagining it. Her and Eris… Girlfriends?? She found herself giddy at the thought. It was so stupid to feel that way. She shouldn’t. But… What if?

Danni checked a buzz on their phone. “Ah. I should go. I told Raine I’d train with them soon.”

Valerie nodded. “Alright. Thanks, Danni. For talking.”

“Yeah. No worries. See you ‘round.” With those parting words, Danni dropped off the building.

Valerie startled as she watched them plummet almost two stories before suddenly arcing away in a graceful curve, in the direction of the university. It almost looked like they were surfing. As Valerie looked closer, she could see a vague shimmer apparating ahead of Danni’s path, beneath their feet, and dissipating behind. Were they literally surfing on air armor? Fuck, that was cool. Unfortunately, it seemed like that would take too much Mana for Valerie to try it. Unless she were very near a Ley Line, perhaps.

Ah, well. Valerie’s way was fun too. She ran and leapt to the nearest building, heading towards home.