Round 21 Transcript

I trace the seam on the sybian frame again, aware of Jeane leaning closer, her shoulder brushing mine. "If we're all going to be on this thing together," I say, keeping my tone practical, "we need to ensure it won't come apart under the weight and movement. Last thing we need is a mechanical failure mid—" I pause, choosing my words carefully. "Mid-session."

Jeane's fingers reach past mine to touch the gear mechanism. Her skin is warm against my cooler elven flesh. "You're right, of course," she muses, spinning one of the smaller gears with surprising gentleness. "It needs reinforcement. And a stress test before we all climb aboard." She looks up at me, her eyes gleaming with an intensity that might be purely mechanical interest or something more. I choose to believe it's just the challenge of the engineering problem. Hera speaks from behind us. "I can help with that. My human strength might provide a decent baseline stress test." She flexes her arms slightly, as if demonstrating. It's a good offer—a practical one—and I find myself nodding. "Alright," I say, moving to gather the tools we'll need. "Let's reinforce these joints first, then you can climb on and... test it out." The words come out more clinically than intended, though part of me wishes they were laced with more heat. Jeane catches my eye again, a small smirk playing at her lips. Abby's comment about cameras reminds me—we still need to set up the surveillance properly. I glance around the room again, cataloging potential positions for the equipment we have. The building wants us to do this together, on camera, but there has to be a way to make it private-ish. Maybe we can angle the shots so only our silhouettes are visible? I focus back on the sybian frame in my hands, feeling the cool metal and the familiar comfort of focusing on a tangible problem. "We'll need to use some of that lube for this," I mutter, mostly to myself. "Not just... you know." Jeane chuckles softly behind me. "Of course," she says, her voice carrying amusement and something else—maybe agreement or understanding. Either way, it settles something in my chest, a small tension I didn't realize was there.

I approach Silra where she's working on the sybian frame, my steps measured despite the heat pooling in my groin. "Testing seems prudent," I concede, voice cool but betraying a trace of impatience. "But we need that device functional for multiple users soon." I crouch beside her, careful to keep my weight balanced—the arousal makes me dizzy with want—and examine the gears she's inspecting. My gaze traces the lines of her face as she focuses on the mechanical puzzle; there's something intriguing about this elf woman, a competence that intrigues me beyond mere physical lust. "What exactly do you need to test it?" I ask, already calculating how we can accomplish this without Halie dissolving into anxiety or Hera feeling pressured.