My soul was tugged through time and space towards the far north of the village. The sun shone down on three people as they milled around the outside of the bath house, each busying themselves with their own tasks. Linus was walking along the train tracks, straining his eyes and ears as he waited for the three o'clock train to roll past. Harvey was gathering berries in a small straw basket, a green bow tied around its handle. Demetrius held a clipboard on his arm, occasionally jotting down notes about the clouds. One soul waited inside, radiating uncertainty and determination in alternating waves. Maru was kneeling in a changing stall on the men's side of the bathhouse, a hole saw in her hand.

Curious…

I landed on top of the stall and reached out a feeler, linking her soul with mine. I tapped into her thoughts and immediately withdrew, overwhelmed.

How can one mortal have so many concurrent streams of consciousness?

I took a moment to gather my powers, doubling the energy I projected into my astral form. I breathed deeply, cleared my mind, and reconnected. Her thoughts were organized into several concurrent threads, each twisting around the next in a thick, complicated rope of intertwined conceptions. I followed these gleaming threads carefully along before steeling myself and sinking into them. Her thoughts rang through my head as three distinct, layered voices.

The average width of a man's penis as according to Harvey's textbooks is…

My hole saw can drill a hole two and a half inches in diameter, but if it's too wide they could see…

My experiment cannot fail, I'm out of ideas…

I latched onto the last voice, unlinking from the first two.

I can't understand why my patients keep coming into the clinic for such silly reasons. Marnie hurt herself climbing out of Mayor Lewis's window last month. Haley has a standing prescription for birth control that she hates taking just so she can keep meeting with Sebastian at night. Even outside of my clinic, Robin sounds like she's dying every Saturday night when she and my dad disappear together. And why? It all seems so inconvenient.

She blew the dust off the hole in the plastic wall beside her, setting the drill aside. She took a piece of sandpaper out of her pocket and unfolded it, rubbing the edges of the hole.

And Sebastian just keeps saying "Oh, you'll get it when you're older" like we aren't almost the same age. I can't stand it. Sex simply can't be that important, and yet so many people seem to base their lives around it. There has to be something I'm missing.

She blew the hole clean again and rubbed her finger around the smooth edge, smiling at her handiwork. She folded the sandpaper in half and tucked it back into her pocket, then glanced down at her watch.

Perfect, right on time. Let's see who shows up. I left a flier in the men's room at Gus's, so someone should be along shortly to meet the "Anonymous Miss in the Fourth Stall".

Harvey's alarm went off on his phone at the same time Demetrius's watch beeped. The three o'clock train was rolling in from the west, horn sounding loudly as Linus hopped down from the tracks. Harvey jumped and coughed loudly as he silenced his phone, a blush spreading over his features. He stared down at the berries in front of him as if each one needed to be personally inspected before he dropped them into the basket at his feet. Demetrius looked fixedly at the cloud over the cliff, suddenly feeling the need to write several very detailed notes about its shape and size. Linus clapped his hands together loudly, rolled his shoulders back, and walked between them into the bath house. Harvey sighed and slid to the side, keeping the door to the bath house in his peripheral vision, while Demetrius began to tap his foot.

I felt Maru's tension start to build as she waited, leaning against the wall with her hand on her heart. The sound of footsteps approached. I glanced over at Linus, who was entering the adjacent stall. He stared at the hole in the wall and licked his lips as he pulled his leafy garment aside with one hand. He started pumping himself hastily with his other hand. Maru bit her lip as she heard him grunting, pulling a condom from her overall's chest pocket. She opened it and dropped the wrapper on the floor as he slid himself through the hole.

Fascinating. So that's what they look like in person.

She rolled the condom over him just as she had practiced with a cucumber the night before. He shivered as the lubricated nitrile slid around him, squeezing him gently from all sides. Maru tilted her head from side to side, her face twisted in disbelief as she settled on a position.

Is this really going to fit?

She shrugged her shoulders and leaned forward, slowly taking him into her mouth. Her eyes widened in surprise as he pressed towards the wall, his girth stretching her lips apart. She held herself still as he moved, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. She was hit by the scent of rain water, pine needles, and mild musk. She inhaled it deeply before gagging and pulling her head back slightly. The man on the other side of the wall paused as she coughed and swallowed him again. Her eyes closed as she focused on controlling her breath. The nitrile of the condom squeaked against the sides of her teeth, and she felt a chuckle rising through her. The vibration of her laugh passed from her lips to his length, and he threw his head back and groaned.

See, this is just inconvenient. It's hard to breathe, and now I'm going to have to wash my face. Maybe if I try involving some part of myself?

Maru moved her hands over her chest, massaging her breasts with her hands the way she did when she was alone at night.

Good, but not any better because of him. Perhaps…

She swallowed her spit, dragging him deeper into her mouth in the process. He groaned as he rolled his hips forwards, his desperation growing. Her hand moved down between her legs, rubbing herself through the denim of her overalls.

This is a bit better, I suppose.

Linus wrapped his fingers around his base, flattening the rest of his hand against his skin. He thrust his hips forwards as far as he could, a moan escaping every time his hand hit the wall in a steady "Ah~, ahh~ ahhn~!" Maru bobbed her head on him, matching her pace to his. He moaned loudly as he finished, his body flattening against the wall. Hot fluid filled the end of the condom. Maru pulled her head back and waited, unimpressed with her experience. Linus rolled the condom off, dropped it into the trash can as he passed, and rinsed himself in the sink before leaving. Maru slipped her overalls down as she waited in silence for another visitor.

Results…inconclusive. But I feel no need to repeat that particular test.

Harvey jumped up as Linus exited, scurrying towards the door with his eyes fixed on the ground. Demetrius sighed and shifted to watch the door as Harvey disappeared within the bath house. Harvey's pants were down as soon as the stall door closed behind him. His erection sprang free in his hands, already throbbing with need. He snatched a condom out of his pocket and rolled it down over himself before shoving himself through the hole in the wall. Maru inspected his length, massaging it with a relaxed hand.

Oh, this one came prepared. That's good, I could only steal a handful of condoms from the clinic without Harvey noticing. But are dicks supposed to curve like that?

Maru turned, pulling her lips apart with her fingers. She rubbed his tip against herself, slowly backing herself onto it. Harvey rocked his hips forwards, his arm curling beneath his head on the wall. Maru bit her lip as she wiggled herself onto him, gasping as the cold plastic wall behind her met her flesh. Harvey started thrusting into her, his body gently slapping against the wall as he moved. He flattened his free hand beside the hole, as if holding on to the person in front of him. Maru stretched her arms out in front of her to steady herself against the far wall, holding herself against the hole as the unrecognized man fucked her as deeply as their constrained positions would allow. The slapping of flesh against plastic began to grow louder as Harvey started to unravel, his hips shooting forward with abandon. The sound was almost loud enough to muffle his moans of pleasure as he drove into the waiting warmth on the other side of the wall. His nails scraped along the plastic, his hands shaking as they failed to find something soft to sink into.

The curve is nice~. But he's not as big as my toys. And all that noise…I wouldn't be willing to take birth control for this. This can't be what Haley was talking about.

Slickness dripped down her legs, coating her in her own juices. Harvey slammed forwards again hard enough to make the wall creak. He slammed his hand against the wall as he released into her, hitting the plastic and over and over again as he came. Maru collapsed on the floor, panting quietly as she waited for him to leave.

My toys last longer, too. If that's all there is, I'm really not sure what the big deal is. Like, it's fine, but…why bother?

Harvey disposed of his condom and cleaned himself. He straightened his clothes and his hair in the mirror before leaving, walking past the man waiting outside with a bounce in his step. The area outside the bath house was empty…except for Demetrius. Demetrius looked furtively around himself before slinking into the bathhouse, closing the door quietly behind him. He stepped into the stall the other men had just occupied and sighed, staring down at where a hole in the wall had been covered with a piece of paper that simply read "Closed". Maru had already dressed and retreated to the women's room, scrawling notes about her experiences into her pocket notebook.

Maybe if I altered my machines a bit…

I withdrew from her mind and flew away, hoping that my next encounter would be draining.