Chapter 2

Unless Ariel sought out one of the trainees, they would next be live in a few days time. The trainees had a significant tick budget in the intervening time to remember back story and pre-live the upcoming training. No scene involving Ariel could be fixed until the live take of course. Still, where the meta minds had a good idea of how Ariel would respond, they could pre-live scenes involving her. They would re-live those experiences as part of fixing them in reality in order to take her actual reactions into account. Sometimes the total resources would be higher than just having their experiential selves live the scene for the first time in the live take. Even so, unless Ariel or some other immortal went significantly off-script, pre-living led to better compression in the live take.

There was a lot of work to do. Several quest lines were on everyone’s mind. The big quest was Ariel’s Becoming a Whore Quest. To succeed at becoming a whore, Ariel needed to guide the trainees together into a cohesive group ready to support her in her training. The other big item was Princess Aubrielle’s quest line: how was she going to interact with the commoners? Nora definitely had ideas about the princess. However it looked like she would get to discuss those with Aubrielle’s meta mind soon enough. They had actually scheduled a planning session for the first training brothel scene. It was important enough both for the quest lines and as Ariel’s first introduction to the intimate aspects of her training that simply exchanging requests and proposed back story wasn’t enough.

Nora had some time before that meeting. The next scene required she have a much better understanding of who she was. She would interact with each of the trainees including Ariel—she could do whatever she liked to them, at least until they told her to stop. She needed to figure out how she reacted to intimacy: how assertive would she be, what would she like? She also needed to figure out how her fear of being disregarded as stupid had shaped her life and how her worries about being taken as no more than a sex object had developed. She knew that she liked sex and was considering whether she liked it dirty. That was not much to go on.

She decided to go back to her first sexual encounter and try to remember what had happened that night before she first started thinking about all the great things whores did. She felt a little self conscious spending time indulging her experiential self that way, but logically it made sense. That would be a key moment in how she faced intimacy.

Scene first_coupling Take 1

Needed Approvals: Nora Smith

Action!

His hand stroked across her breast as he filled her. Her legs wrapped around him, drawing him closer. He stroked inside her; she thrust her hips up to meet him. Their panting filled the room.

But who was he? Who was it that made her feel so good?

When was this?

* Cut and Flush!*

That was no good. Oh, the sensations had been pure pleasure for her experiential. She knew where her memories wanted to take her for sure, and confirming that had been worth a little time. But she needed to plan more. When might be the easiest question. It couldn’t have happened before she fully became an adult, and for humans that was when they turned eighteen as they returned from their final round of childhood fostering. Nora had a bit of flexibility in when that happened: immortals hadn’t fixed her at the forge that often. She could be as much as nineteen and a half or as young as a few months past her eighteenth birthday. She suspected she was on the older side of that range.

So how long had she waited before sex? Not long at all.

* Scene first_coupling Take 2*

Action!

Her parents meant well, and it was great to finally be back from fostering. There were so many people who wanted to see her though and to look at her work. She was proud of how far she came as a smith over this last fostering, but as far as she was concerned all that could wait for another day.

Today, Nora Smith was an adult, and she knew exactly what she wanted to do about it.

At last, dinner was over, and she was done cleaning and preparing for the next day. She could drag Frank back to her room and actually get on with things. He had been patient while she took care of everything.

As the door closed, her excitement faded to nervousness. “How’s this like to go?” she asked. “Not like I’ve done this before.”

Frank guided her to her bed and sat next to her. Slowly his hands roamed her body. His gentle touch was relaxing. Her nerves calmed. “What comes next?” she asked.

He smiled at her and began fumbling with her clothes. “If that’s what ya’s wantin,” she said, and quickly stripped. But the nerves were back. He was embarrassed for some reason. She was standing before him naked. Stripping wasn’t a big deal; she did it all the time. Stripping in front of others wasn’t even much: apprentices often cleaned up together. This was different. What did Frank think of her? The kids sometimes had teased her because she was so big and strong. They said she wasn’t pretty. Was he embarrassed because it turned out he didn’t like how she looked?

Cut!

That had been better, although Nora didn’t see how she was going to get from that nervous version of herself to the lover urging her partner on with her heels in one evening. That would be okay; she had flushed the first take after all. It didn’t need to happen that way. If Frank was more experienced, he could help her over her nervousness. But how could he be more experienced? Would she get together with an older man? That would make things easier, but her meta mind doubted she would do that at least initially. Especially while she was fostered, there had been a gap between the adults and kids. The adults were there to take care of the fosterlings; the divide between adult and fosterling had been a key feature of her life. At least Initially Nora was going to pick someone near her age. Which meant Frank wouldn’t have much more experience than she did. Somehow, Nora was going to need to face her nervousness about how people saw her on her own. She’d face it head on just like everything else in her life.

* Scene first_coupling Take 3*

Action!

Nora had finally gotten away from her parents and the apprentices at the forge. Some of the senior apprentices and young artisans were getting together to welcome the fosterlings back to Berg’s Keep. It wouldn’t just be smiths; crafters from all over were getting together.

Nora was one of the last to arrive.

“Look here! If it ain’t our favorite smith. Ya like to have made artisan?” Bill asked. He joked like the rest, but somehow from him, it never quite stung as much.

“Ah, she’s like to make master right soon,” Lisa said. Silence fell; everyone, including Nora, wondered what had gotten into the leather worker’s head. Nora was over twenty levels from any hope at master smith. Nora wondered if Lisa’s last fostering had improved her personality. Perhaps this was a round-about apology for all the things Lisa said the last time they were both in Berg’s Keep together.

Lisa smirked. “I mean all ya gotta do to be a smith is pound hunks of metal. Nora’s got that down right sure.”

One of the other smiths glared. “Smithing ain’t just strength ya know. There’s art in what we do, an understanding the metal an making it strong right sure.”

Lisa shook her head. “Well then, reckon Nora’s got a lifetime apprenticing. Shouldn’t be so bad spending a life pumping bellows.” There were a few chuckles and many awkward looks. Nora had often been the butt of Lisa’s jokes. Even so, the idea that Nora wouldn’t follow in her father’s footsteps was far-fetched.

Nora spent a moment imagining grabbing Lisa and pounding the other girl into paste. However, pa always said “When ya have power, ya need to be right careful in how ya use it.” Her fostering taught much the same. She smiled at Bill. “I’m gonna make artisan within a week. Wanted to finish my artisan sword at pa’s forge.”

Nora realized she did have a bit of a response for Lisa. She carried her latest dagger. The handle was ornate, displaying the best of her skill at fine metalwork. The blade was quite functional. She showed Bill.

“Ah, yeah, that’s right nice.”

She turned to Lisa. “Here, ya can see it’s a right bit more than just pounding a hunk of metal. I’ve been practicing with this.” She offered the dagger point first. “Be careful, wouldn’t want ya to get yourself cut.”

“Oh, Nora”—-Lisa sighed—”that’s not how ya hand someone a knife. Ya put it down, or if ya must hand it, give them the handle as ya hold the blade.”

Nora smiled. “Right so. I reckon if I was half as dumb as ya like to think I am, I might not know that already.” She took back her dagger.

“It’s good to be back home and done with fostering,” Frank said. Frank was smartly dressed in a new suit. Nora guessed it was his artisan work and that he was now an artisan tailor.

“Aye, true enough,” Nora said. “An good to finally be an adult.” She struggled to remember why that was important to her. Doubtless her hormones were a factor, but there had to be more.

“Not like ya have had enough experience to talk about that,” Frank said.

“An look whose talkin there,” Nora retorted. “Ya came back from fostering today, just like me. Tell us all, have ya got anything other than a date with your hand ya might judge by?

“An as for me,” Nora continued,” I’ve seen what love and a lover who knows their business can bring, right so. My first fostering, they were so happy”—Nora smiled—”an right busy they were too.” Yes! That felt right. She could remember the details later—well, the few details she would have been exposed to at that age—but a couple who found happiness in each other and who weren’t ashamed of the time they found together could have made an impression. She could easily remember how thin the walls were at that first fostering. Soon enough she would find that joy for herself.

Frank glared. “Ya know right so I’m not like to have had time.”

“An ya got a special person lined up?” Nora asked.

Frank looked down. “Well, see—”

“Right then. I know ya want it after all the things ya said last time we was in town. I ain’t like to mind getting on with things none. So how about we grab us a room an see what it’s all about?” She licked her lips, “Assumin ya’s man enough, right sure.”

Frank worked his jaw. Nora figured he was looking for a way to tear into her. He didn’t have good options though. Last time all he could talk about was what he was going to do when he was finally an adult. He might try to get out of it by claiming she was beneath his desire. But Nora figured with a challenge to his manhood on the line, he wouldn’t risk it.

She was right. “I’m gonna call your bluff right sure,” Frank said. He tossed a silver down onto the table.

“An here I was gonna spring for the room,” Nora said. “Be back quick like with the key.”

After, Nora was pleased. They had fumbled around for sure. Frank came in convinced that he had to be the strong man and know exactly what to do. She didn’t mind too much: some of what he tried at the beginning had managed to get her turned on. When it came time to work past Frank’s bluster, Nora knew what to do. She had plenty of experience with junior apprentices whose confidence exceeded their skill. This was sex and that was smithing, but how different could human nature be?

“Neither of us’s like to know what we’re doing. Ya can talk about how much a man ya are, an I’m willing to admit all that. But ya ain’t done this neither, an it’s right natural we fumble around for a bit.”

“How hard can it be?”

Nora smiled. “Aye, an how hard can it be to pound out a nail? An let me tell ya I was proud when I finally got my first nail, crooked as it was an everything.” That was the plain truth. Things took practice, and this was going to be no different. Nora bet Frank’s first garment wasn’t much to look at, but she sure wasn’t going to bring that up now.

Frank wasn’t entirely convinced, but he got over nervous enough to get on to other things. Soon enough, he finished his part. He was surprised when she reached a hand between them. She was going to enjoy herself too. He was confused, but he couldn’t complain too much about the show.

If Nora had gone in expecting she could find the kind of mind blowing sex that would keep her occupied night after night with Frank, she would have been disappointed. She knew the world didn’t work that way. You had to work up to things. That first nail was nothing compared to the deadly beauty of her artisan sword. They made a good start. Both of them found something to enjoy. Toward the end things were working better. Oh, that initial tumble had been nice, with his hands on her as they stripped off clothes. But who could have guessed that getting everything to fit together would have been so difficult? Given how embarrassed guys got about being hard, it was amazing how slippery and floppy Frank’s cock was when she wanted it. Not that she had a particularly easy time getting him lined up with her end of things. The idea that a baby could come out of anything that small was incredible.