Round 17

Hera circled the sybian with careful steps, her fingers tracing its metal framework as if in prayer. The mechanical innards looked far more complex than she'd anticipated—far too intricate for something meant purely for pleasure. "If we're going to do this together," she said slowly, her voice measured and firm despite the intimate nature of their task, "we need to make sure it's safe first." Her blue-grey eyes met Silra's teal ones across the frame.

Silra knelt by the sybian, dismantling its cover plate with nimble fingers. She pulled out a small toolkit from her jacket pocket—standard rogue equipment for bypassing locks and disabling traps—and began inspecting the internal mechanisms. "Functional test sounds sensible," she said evenly, looking up to meet Hera's gaze. "But before you hop on, consider: this thing needs to support not just your weight but my weight too, in addition to whatever… extra friction the building wants." Her tone stayed neutral, businesslike even, though they both knew what she meant by 'extra friction.' "And while you're testing it, maybe we should discuss exactly what kind of 'together' the building has in mind? Because I'm all for teamwork, but there's a difference between mutual support and… whatever that thing wants us to do."

The mechanical guts of the sybian looked far more complex than Silra had anticipated—far too intricate for something meant purely for pleasure. She began reinforcing key stress points with applied lube, using it as a makeshift epoxy for this situation. The last thing they needed was for the frame to fail mid-use due to excessive… friction.

Hera watched Silra work on the sybian frame with wide-eyed fascination, her petite form barely visible behind the taller elf woman. The tools moved in Silra's hands with practiced ease, and Hera found herself smiling despite the tension in the room. "She's really good at this," she murmured to no one in particular, more of a statement than a question. Her gaze drifted from Silra's deft fingers to the now-exposed machinery of the toy itself. It looked so different without its covering, less an object of shame and more a puzzle waiting to be solved.

The building's demands echoed through the room again—louder this time—and Hera felt a fresh wave of heat wash over her. She bit her lip, trying to focus on the technical aspects rather than the implications. "So… what exactly are you doing there?" she asked, her voice coming out higher than intended.

Silra glanced up from her work, meeting Hera's eyes with an expression that mixed professional focus and underlying amusement. "Reinforcing key stress points," she explained calmly. "The frame looks solid enough for solo use, but adding my weight plus… extra friction… could potentially cause failure at these junctions." She tapped a specific joint with her tool. "I'm using the lube as a makeshift epoxy—it's not ideal, but it'll have to do for now."

Hera nodded slowly, processing this information. Her eyes lingered on Silra's fingers as they moved over the metal components, tracing their path almost hypnotically. She swallowed hard, trying to maintain her composure despite the building's insistent demands and her own growing arousal. "Makes sense," she managed finally. "But… what happens next? Once you're done with the reinforcement?"

Silra set down her tool and met Hera's gaze directly. "Next, we need a functional test," she said, her tone carefully neutral despite the implications. "To ensure everything holds up under… load." She paused, then added with a touch of dry humor, "Though I have to say, this is not how I imagined my engineering skills being put to use when I signed up for this job."

Hera felt a rush of heat at Silra's words, her mind immediately jumping to the implications. She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again, unsure what to say. After a moment, she managed a small laugh. "Yeah… not quite what I expected either," she admitted. "But… I guess we have to do what we have to do, right? For the team?"

Silra nodded slowly, her expression unreadable. "For the team," she agreed, though something in her tone suggested she wasn't entirely convinced by that particular justification. She turned back to the sybian, focusing on the final adjustments. "Alright then. Let's get this thing ready for… testing."