"Um, Director Jewel–"
"Lanolin, what did I say about – oh, never mind. Yes, dear?"
"Sorry, um… uh… it's just… well…"
The beetle looks up from her paperwork, docile, patient.
The sheep is flushed, flustered, fumbling her words unintelligibly at this point. She's very cute, the poor darling. And she has an oddly sly little smile.
"I'm sorry," Jewel interjects in her gentle, motherly undertone, ever so polite, "I don't quite understand?" Quirks a brow at said smile. It is odd for mischief to be afoot between them, in this cramped little office of theirs.
"Y-your wing," Lanolin stammers, like she's nervous. Then looks away sharply, her face reddening further. God, she's such a wimp.
"My wing?"
"Yes, um…" Smile turns crooked, half hidden behind the metallic clip of her board. "It's your wing, ma'am."
"My wing." The smaller woman sits up straighter. "What about it?" Suddenly unamused.
"It's got a… uh… m-mark on the…"
"My scar?"
"Oh, n-no, ma'am, not–"
The beetle frowns.
The sheep flinches.
Jewel is, admittedly, a little sensitive about the scar Storm gave to her.
"No, ma'am." Lanolin isn't smiling anymore. Just some lame gesticulation, as if to illustrate with pitiful impotency. "Your left, um, wing sheath? It's… got a mark."
Jewel turns, trying to look over her shoulder whilst sitting in a high-backed chair that rather obfuscates her efforts. Doesn't help that she is rather shapely and snappily dressed little woman, bundled up in another of those handsomely constricting suits. She unsheaths her wings, raising the armoured caps for closer inspection.
"A l-lipstick mark, ma'am."
Silence.
The sheep sighs, collects herself, a clipboard pinned to her ample breasts and her trembling chin like a shield, like she might hide in plain sight. She is no coward. But for the love of god, she is awkward. And afraid. "You've got a mark on your left wing, ma'am. The, um… sheath, I think. And it looks like…"
She is met with more silence.
"I noticed it this morning, um… I wanted to tell you… before things get too busy, and... uh, before anyone else… sees it."
Silence, still.
"It's just that to me, um, it looks like… I mean, maybe it's…"
Jewel slowly turns and faces Lanolin once more, expression utterly blank, cheeks powder blue.
The sheep bites her tongue behind her useless shield.
"Shit."
Then gasps. "Director?!"
The beetle lets out a soft, disbelieving laugh before she dramatically buries her face in her hands, groaning. "Ohh, by the gods." For her soft, pretty little lips to curse? The world must surely be ending.
"Ma'am?" Lanolin is very concerned, now, laying a hoof on Jewel's shoulder.
"How unprofessional."
"Director…"
"And so dreadfully embarrassing, you realise."
"I'm sorry, ma'am. It's not… a big deal. Not really. I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."
"Is it obvious?"
"No, no, I only just noticed it. Um. A few minutes ago. You'd been rummaging about in the file cabinet and your back was toward me, so…" Lanolin was having a look at Jewel's ass, naturally, when she saw puckered lipstick on an iridescent wing sheath.
"Do you suppose… anyone else…?"
"I don't think so. Like I said, ma'am, it's still quiet out."
"Uuuugh."
The sheep gently runs her hard keratin thumb over the beetle's shoulder, massaging a supple layer of plump, scrumptious fat with very little muscle definition beneath, yet somehow so tense that it feels like plump iron.
Jewel takes a few silent, painful seconds before she looks up from her cupped hands, smiling tiredly up at Lanolin's concerned and classically gorgeous face.
"…Ma'am?"
"I apologise," the beetle says levelly.
"What?" The sheep frowns. "You didn't… do anything…"
Wrong.
Nothing's wrong.
"It obviously didn't wash off with my shower this morning. I'll go… attend to myself. One moment, please." Surely, Jewel has worked in customer service.
Lanolin feels like she simply must repair this, somehow, by saying something.
The beetle pushes back her chair and rises gracefully.
The sheep flounders, watching her go. "…Y-you had a fun night?"
Jewel stops.
Lanolin actually covers her face with her clipboard. Idiot. Fucking fool.
"…It was alright, I suppose."
The sheep peeps over the edge.
The beetle doesn't meet those blue eyes.
"...Director, um…"
"Just Jewel, dear."
"Can I help? Wash it off, I mean. It… might be a little tricky for you to reach, so…"
They lock eyes familiarly, now. Forgiving. Fondness overall.
And whatever brand of lipstick this is, it is designed to degrade with a mark. The stuff is rather hard to wipe off of chitin, as Jewel's surface is more porous than Lanolin, a mammal, might expect, harder to erase than crude marks cluttering the edges of wine glasses.
Indeed, the beetle cannot quite reach the mark a lover left, so the sheep kindly obliges.
"It's almost gone," Lanolin murmurs softly, carefully rubbing out the evidence with a fine, soft cloth and some solution. She gives the scar a wide berth.
"Thank you." Jewel sits on a wooden stool, nursing a cup of tea in her lap.
"I'm not… hurting you, am I?"
"Not one bit."
Lanolin smiles into her tender work. "Good, good."
Jewel sips her tea with modest silence. She's very kind, like that.
It's all one can think about.
There's the shower, an oppressive place of thought and angrily scrubbed flesh and guilty jerk-off sessions alone. It's a hot, steamy downpour upon womanly shoulders, a burdened conscience. Supposed to be a communal space, but Lanolin knows the times to avoid people, and people tend to avoid her anyway.
Jewel took a lover last night.
The sheep is trying to picture her, or him, or them, ravishing the Director like she deserves. Except…
It was alright, she supposed.
Just alright?
Jewel is good. She's so very good, to everyone. Why not get fucked hard and fast, for once? Or does she prefer it slow and tender? She just deserves great sex.
When did Lanolin last get laid? But still. Good for her, she thinks, lathering soap over her breasts. Is this a jealous thought, or is it admiration? My director took a lover last night.
And it was alright.
The sheep seethes.
Was the beetle just being modest?
Lanolin wishes it were her. To be fucked hard and fast and slow and tender, for once. To fuck… her.
Jewel. Fuck her.