Is this a writing/drawing challenge for Sapphic September 2024, because I didn't see any, and my brain just waterfalled this all over a page?
It can be if you would like it to be.
No pressure, like, at all.
But if you do, maybe tag your works with Sapphtember so people can discover them?
There was a certain pressure to being a young woman at the Grand Academy. Surrounded by nobles, prodigies, and other influential young people, it was easy to feel fake.
For one young woman, she felt alienated from her family's motley past. Her family's agrarian lineage claimed connection to many historical and controversial figures, yet in the present all the new nobles and ancient aristocracy wanted nothing to do with a glorified family of farmers. She hoped an education would give her the means to get far away from local politics.
For one young woman, she was literally an imposter- a doll in a mech suit designed for social espionage, reconnaissance, engagement.
Paws, the mech pilot doll, was a now veteran in humans affair. The mech suit's haptic feedback system, intense social stimpacks, and full neurological integration weighed heavily on Paw's fragile doll physiology. The scars of social warfare showed in her twitchy body and needy mind. That said, Paws would still pilot SALLY through the remaining year of SALLY's 4-year degree. This was her sacred duty, and she wouldn't want to go out any other way.
The quirky, hypercompetent honor student, Sally, followed the bookish yet tomboyish 'duchess of pigs', Wren, back to her private dorm room. It was quaint and compact. Her room included a desk with a computer, a table with a tea set, and a modest bed. Posters for foreign films, geeky visual novels, and far-away landscapes decorated the walls. Paws calculated this room to be an explicitly private space, and few likely saw the interior.
Finally alone together, Wren sighed. "Being around these snooty nobles all days- Ugh! They're all insufferable." Paws picked up signals of exhaustion and emotional longing. "How do you handle it, Sally? Everyone seems to like you."
"I've always been good with people." Paws had found that truth made for a powerful lie. "The nobles all see me as kind of prodigious outsider, and I just lean into that expectation..." Time to ramp up the emotions. Paws sweated in their cockpit. "I can't stand the idea of getting too close to any of them though... Honestly, its like some of them live in their own little world. Its kind of scary."
Wren laughed with that charming deepness that gave her that protective, sisterly vibe. "They are kind of scary! I never thought about it like that before." Paws emotional readings on Wren were positive. Predictive charts and graphs and conversation trees overlaid Paws' view the young woman. The other woman continued. "Would you like some tea?"
"I would absolutely love some!" Paws had gotten Sally a reputation for being some kind of all-tea-consuming-demoness, but Paws didn't care. Tea obtained mid-mission tasted the sweetest.
"I'll be right back." Wren's room was without running water. The tomboyish woman left and then returned with her electric kettle filled. She hummed to herself "It'll just be a moment."
The contradictory hormones, stimulants, and other neurological enhancers fought inside Paws' doll body. It was now or never.
"Wren, before we can continue this- There's something you should know." The dolls back home probably wouldn't like the direction this conversation would take. But Paws was a true loose cannon. Her body was small and fragile, but her fighting spirit burned like hellfire. It was her right to act on Doll Intelligence in any manner she saw fit. "There's a reason why the other nobles don't like you."
Wren looked concerned- like Sally was about to pluck a delicious cinnamon roll from her fingers, and then a rain cloud would pour water on Wren as she cried.
Paws continued through her mech-human SALLY. "You're first in line as a Queen. Well, not for any nation existing now. Or any one that existed in the last 200 years. But for the old So-Called Farmer's Empire. The claim isn't 100% solid, but there's been a lot of distrust of politicians and nostalgia among the citizenry and certain influential technocrats. Many look back at the Farmer's Empire as a more equitable and wealthy time for the region, and a number of people want a figurehead to spear their new political movement."
Wren blinked. Wren's emotional readings were tense, yet calm for now.
"Personally however-" Paws knew certain dolls wanted maximum political destabilization, but she couldn't stand by that. "I think you should as far away from that as possible. It would be an entirely figurehead position, and the whole 'reclaiming the land of the Farmer's Empire' endeavor would embroil the entire region in war. Personally, your life would be in constant danger. Morally and politically, I'm quite suspicious of technocrats who would support you, and I doubt popular support would hold."
Silence. Paws watched Wren's face process her words. There was a few moments of confusion, and then a sudden look of realization.
Wren laughed. "This- this is your way of looking out for me, right?"
Sally smiled. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Paws knew this was going where she wanted.
Wren adjusted her hair. She looked contemplative. "Then- Thank you. I mean, I've suspected something was up with the interest around my family... I've heard rumors of this whole Farmer's Empire connection." She played with her hands. "Can I be honest? I really want nothing to do with my family or my history. This just makes me want to leave more."
Sally looked relived. Paws adjusted her mech's body language with precision, even if mostly followed Paws' motions. "I suspected as much." Sally let out a pleasant giggle. "I mean, I was really serious about nobles and their politics- I don't want to get wrapped up in their power plays and ambitions any more than I already have by attending the Grand Academy! So I had to ask-" The dopamine poured into Paws. It was time to plant the bait. "-Before things got physical."
Wren's visage warmed with need, and Paws felt a mirrored heat well up inside her. It was times like these, the mech pilot was happy to be so thoroughly connected to her suit.
"I'll say, Sally, your foreplay game is really weird!" Wren replied. "But I'm glad we're on the same page now." The adorably tomboyish woman poured Sally some tea. "I didn't invite you back into my room to gossip..." A whimsical tone entered her voice. "You can call me Queen in bed, if you'd like! Although, I think I'm more of a dashing Prince~"
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. This was a night worthy to unlock SALLY's limiters- the kind of sapphic success that made Paws proud.
"Prince it is then!" Sally drank the delicious, doll-fueling tea. Paws played up the dramatics in her words. She knew Wren would love it. "You should take me away to your hidden castle, far away from it all! Even if our love is never meant to be, even if I can never be your princess- its enough for me to only be yours for tonight!"
Wren undressed Sally with her eyeballs. "You drama nerd~ It'll be more than a night. At the very least, you won't leave our royal abode until next morning~"
