Walther's heels made a soft tapping sound that was almost equine as they struck the linoleum floor. Reaching one of the doors along the corridor of the girls' dormitory, he gave it a sharp knock and opened it. In the room there were five girls lounging around making small talk. This wasn't very surprising, for though the rooms were allocated to two girls per room the girls were free to move between rooms. Naturally that meant that they would gather in each other's rooms like a herd of animals. That was a little reassuring to Walther, for humans are social animals and this told him that at least some vestiges of humanity still remained even though physically they were so artificial that if you looked in the right place it wouldn't be strange to find the words "Made in Italy. Some assembly required. Batteries not included." in raised print.
"Here comes Walther, like a schoolboy asking his sweetheart if he could accompany her to class. Well, she's in the bath. Go look for her there," one of the girls piped up as they turned to look at him.
"Triela, is it? You know full well I can't do that. Anyway don't you have class soon? You'd better get going."
"Ok then. We'll leave the couple alone," Triela replied, giving him a sly wink. Suddenly the girls started to giggle and Triela started to grin broadly from ear to ear. "She was right. You are fun to harass. I can't wait to see what happens when she decides to use your lap as her personal armchair."
"Of all people she should know better."
"But she also knows that doing that gets a bigger reaction from you than screaming at you."
Just then he saw Daniela appear at the other end of the corridor. "HAVE THE DECENCY TO COVER UP BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE BATH," Walther hollered. She was standing there stark naked towelling the moisture out of her hair.
"What an insult. I thought you would want a good long stare. Isn't that why you came unannounced to the girls' dorm?" Daniela slowly wrapped the towel around herself. For some reason this drew a peal of girlish laughter from the room and he saw that they were rolling about on the floor or bed, in stitches. So, the girls derive the same kind of pleasure from all this as a schoolboy gets from pouring glue on his teacher's chair, Walther thought to himself. How childish. Then again, the girls were children.
"Completely wrong on that count. I got you the rest of the day off to take you around Rome, so get changed. And wear something decent this time," Walther said to Daniela, making sure that he was audible the five girls in the room. Then, he turned to them and flashed them a winning smile. "Enjoy your classes. I heard today's reading is 'As You Like It' by William Shakespeare," he said as he walked away. He could have sworn that Triela's blue eyes turned green with envy.