Side Story: Eterna Is as Eterna Does

Side Story:
Eterna Is as Eterna Does

 

FLUM SLOWLY REMOVED Milkit’s bandages and praised her young companion’s beauty, causing Milkit to break out into a deep blush yet again.

They put on their pajamas, picked a bed to curl up in, and cheerfully chatted away well into the night.

This was their nightly ritual. Though it carried no special meaning in particular, it was still a high point of their day.

From time to time, however, there was a brief break in their routine.

“You know, I found this in the dresser the other day.” Milkit picked a wooden stick up off the desk. It was curved slightly on one end and had a soft cotton ball on the other—an ear pick.

“Now that you mention it, I totally forgot to buy one of those.”

“I’m always trying to think of ways about how I can be a good slave to you, Master, and make sure you’re as content as you can be.”

“I’d say things are just about perfect as is, Milkit.”

“No, not at all, Master. It’s a slave’s job to make sure their master is as happy as possible.”

“I dunno, Milkit. I’m pretty happy, y’know.”

Flum propped herself up on an elbow and reached out to Milkit’s place at the edge of the bed to stroke her cheek. Milkit’s expression softened ever so slightly at her master’s touch.

“You’re too kind, Master.”

“That’s what Eterna says, too. But honestly, I’d love to spoil you even more, Milkit.”

“I think I feel much the same, Master. I wish that there was more that I could do for you. So…so I was thinking this might help.”

“An ear pick?”

“Right, I was thinking that cleaning your ears is an appropriate way to serve one’s master.”

“And where’d you hear something like that?”

“It’s just my own impression, really.” Milkit looked down, an embarrassed expression on her face.

As far as Flum could figure, Milkit was just looking for an in to clean her ears.

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve had someone clean my ears for me.”

“You’ve had it done before?”

“By my mom, when I was a really little kid. Y’know, now that I think about it, you have to rest your head in someone’s lap when you get your ears cleaned, yeah?”

“That’s right. Any time you’re ready, Master.” Milkit gently patted her lap.

Flum slowly laid down on her side and rested her head in Milkit’s lap. It was about as embarrassing as she thought it would be.

I can feel my cheeks burning…

Were Eterna to see them now, she’d no doubt make some flippant remark about how they were usually doing much more than this.

This was the first time that Flum actually used someone’s thighs for a pillow. There was just no way she could do this and not be embarrassed.

Milkit seemed to be feeling much the same way.

There was a fine distinction between their ideas of a slave’s duty to their master. All the same, it was only a minor problem for Milkit: she enjoyed the feeling of Flum’s head on her lap and the ability to tilt her face around and inspect her master from every angle.

“Can you see anything?”

“Yes, I can. Your ears are quite clean already, Master.”

“Oh yeah? It’s been quite a while since I actually paid them any attention…”

“No need to worry, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Flum laughed. “Well, I guess I’m lucky to see what you’re really made of, Milkit.”

Milkit gently slid the tip of the ear pick into Flum’s ear.

“Nng…”

“Did I hurt you, Mas…”

SLAM!

“…ter?”

Milkit was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the other room.

“That was pretty loud. I wonder if Eterna dropped something.”

“I suppose so.”

“Anyway, I was just surprised by the sound, Milkit. You can get back to it.”

“I’ve never done this before, though. I’m not sure how deep to go…”

“You can keep going deeper.”

“All right then, I’ll go a little further.”

Milkit was still being far too cautious. It felt a lot more like she was tickling Flum’s inner ear than doing any form of cleaning.

Milkit giggled lightly to herself. “This is actually pretty fun.”

“I’m enjoying it, too, but you could be a little rougher, ya know? It just kinda tickles, really.”

“Are you sure? I’m a little scared…”

“I know, but we won’t get anywhere like that.”

“Hmm, it’s hard to make sure I’m using the right amount of pressure…”

Slowly but surely, Milkit seemed to get the technique down and started to scrape away all the wax from Flum’s ear.

Flum narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Mmm, that feels great.”

“Am I doing all right? It’s hard for me to tell how it feels for you, Master.”

“Oh, yeah, it feels really good. But I think it’d be even better if you’d just go a little deeper…”

SLAM!

There was another loud bang from Eterna’s room.

Flum and Milkit both tensed up immediately. It was a miracle that Flum’s ear wasn’t hurt from the sudden movement.

“Whoa, that was close!”

“Are you okay, Master??”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wonder what’s going on with Eterna.”

“Should we go check on her?”

“Nah, she’d let us know if she needed any help. She’s probably just carrying out an experiment.”

“At such a late hour, while Ink’s sleeping nearby?”

“Hmm, let’s give it a bit longer and see if anything else happens.”

The two put aside Eterna’s odd noises for the moment and went back to the ear cleaning.

Milkit turned the ear pick in her hand and brought the fluffy cotton ball near Flum’s ear. “All right now, time to clean it out.”

Flum tried to stifle her giggles. “Th-that…hee…that tickles. Especially when someone else is doing it.”

“It seems like your ears are a bit of a weak point for you, Master.”

“Yeah, my friends always used to tease me by playing with them.”

“I think I can see where they were coming from.”

“Now don’t tell me that you’re coming to find your naughty side, Milkit…”

“I-I don’t mean to tease you, of course.”

“You’re a good kid, Milkit. It couldn’t hurt to tease people a bit. I’d let you do it, at least.”

“Well, I won’t.”

Flum instantly broke out in a fit of laughter as Milkit started to delicately rotate the cotton ball against her inner ear. “C-cut it out! Th-that tickles!!”

Milkit’s skillful attack reduced her to a fit of giggles. She could barely get a word out between her laughs.

“Hey! Hehee… Y-you’re…hee…you’re doing this on…tee hee…purpose!”

“Of course not. This is just what I have to do in order to properly clean your ears, Master. I’m absolutely not enjoying the sight of you…” Milkit’s cheeks were a bright pink and her breathing ragged.

There was something impish about the look in her eyes as she lost herself in relentlessly teasing her master.

THUD!

More clamor from elsewhere in the house finally brought her back to reality.

“Gaaah…!”

Flum sat up in an instant. Obviously they couldn’t ignore the commotion any more.

The two sat tensely on the bed for a moment as they stared at the door. They turned to exchange a curious glance.

“That was Eterna just now, right?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“It sounded like she dropped something and then cried out in pain.”

“That’s what I heard, too. Maybe we should go check it out.”

“I think that might be best.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll go with you!”

“You can’t leave the room without your bandages, though, remember? I know Eterna’s seen you before, but…well, I don’t want other people to see you.”

“Master…” Milkit clenched her hands tightly in front of her chest. The feeling rushing through her was beyond anything she’d ever felt before, something that couldn’t fit into her familiar slave-and-master framework.

“Understood. I’ll wait here, then.”

Flum shot a smile Milkit’s way before going to check in on Eterna.

She stood outside the door for a moment to listen for any other noises but heard nothing from inside. It was almost too quiet.

Putting her ear up against the door, she listened closely for the sound of Ink snoring, or Eterna flipping the pages of one of her books, but all she was met with was silence.

Which could only mean one thing: that they were being intentionally quiet.

“What kind of stupid games are they up to…” She figured it’d be faster to just ask and knocked.

“Eternaaaa!”

No reply. But no matter, she already knew they were awake.

“I’m coming in!” She didn’t bother to wait for a reply before stepping inside.

Inside, she found Eterna with a pained expression on her face and her hand clasped tightly over Ink’s mouth.

“Just what are you up to, Eterna?”

“Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing.” Eterna’s face was flushed. “Listen, I knew you two were way too close at times, and I’m not going to say there’s anything wrong with what you were doing, but you really should think twice about being so loud when Ink’s still awake.”

“Mmph! Mmmmphmmm!”

Ink’s response was unintelligible. Finally Eterna took her hand away, realizing just how tightly it was clasped over Ink’s mouth.

“Haaaaah! Finally, free. Why’d you do that? You scared me! ’Sides, I was still asleep until you dropped your book.”

“That’s…well, that’s irrelevant right now. In any case, I really don’t want to hear that kinda thing.”

“What are you going on about, Eterna?”

“You know…that! The things that slaves do with their masters! That stuff!”

“That stuff…?” Milkit had been cleaning Flum’s ears. It seemed a bit odd for that to be what people thought slaves and masters did together. Flum thought it over but kept coming up blank. “I’m sorry, Eterna, but I have absolutely no clue what you’re going on about. Could you just tell me?”

“Tell you?! Right here, in front of Ink? I can’t do that! And I figured you’d at least know that, Flum!”

“Is it so bad you can’t say it in front of Ink?”

“She’s a ten-year-old girl! It’s a tad early for that kinda thing!”

“Really? I think it’s a pretty common thing to do with kids. My mom and I used to do it all the time.”

“Your mother??!”

“What’s so surprising?”

“Ohmygod… Well, I guess that explains how your morals ended up so out of whack.”

“Look, this has nothing to do with morals. Milkit and I were just…”

Eterna quickly slapped her hands over Ink’s ears before Flum could finish her sentence.

“I can’t heeeear agaaaaain.” Ink looked surprised but didn’t object.

“Listen, I get that Milkit has a slightly…skewed outlook on the world—that’s just because of the environment she grew up in—but I figured you’d have a little common sense, Flum. Was that some sort of custom back in your village?”

“No, I think that’s pretty normal for most people, to be honest.”

“Of course someone who was raised in an environment like that would feel that way.”

“I think you’re blowing this just a tad out of proportion, no?”

“You need to show some self-control, Flum. I mean, I guess I get it at your age, but Milkit’s so young.”

“I don’t think age has anything to do with it, really. Besides, it wasn’t me doing it, it was Milkit.”

“You mean Milkit was the one being assertive here? And you were taking it?”

“Well, she found this item in the closet and suggested we try it out.”

“And now you guys are using items, too? And you found it right here in this house, no less!”

“Are you serious right now? I have no idea what you’re even talking about!” The more Flum tried to explain, the more bent out of shape Eterna seemed to get. “I think you’re misunderstanding something here.”

“Me? Misunderstanding? Oh no, I heard it all, Flum.”

“I guess the conversation carried down the hall. But I still think you misunderstood what we were talking about.”

Flum quickly ran over what she and Milkit discussed in her mind, but nothing seemed to stand out. She had absolutely no idea what bizarre story Eterna was making up in her head.

“Well, first Milkit took a look at your…well, you know, and said how pretty it was,” Eterna said.

“I think she was just being polite. Besides, I haven’t really been paying much attention to it lately. I really should do these things regularly.”

“Regularly??”

“Is it really that surprising? I mean, I guess you could just do it from time to time, too.”

“It’s like we’re from different worlds here, Flum! But I guess you did say something about it being awhile. I don’t remember anything about you not doing it often, though.”

“You don’t do it at all, Eterna?”

“I, well… I’ve no one to do it with.”

“Can’t you do it alone?”

“W-well, of course you can.”

“I mean, why don’t you help Ink out and do it for her?”

“Are you trying to get me arrested, Flum??”

“Why would they do that?!”

For the first time since they met, Eterna felt honestly afraid of Flum. She could only imagine the bizarre, twisted rituals conducted in her small village of Patolia, off to the south of the capital.

“Well, after that, Milkit was worried about not having any experience and I heard you telling her to put it in deeper.”

“I mean, it’s tough to do it for someone else. You don’t really know where’s the right spot or how much pressure to use. Everyone’s different, y’know.”

“How should I know? I don’t have any experience with stuff like that!”

“Well then, why don’t you try it on me sometime?”

“Whoa, hey, now that’s a pretty sudden offer.”

“With how skillful you are with magic, I’m sure you’d be good at it.”

“I don’t know how you got that impression.”

“With your water magic, you could probably finish pretty quick, too.”

“I don’t want to know where that idea came from.” Eterna gave Flum a long look, halfway between astonishment and horror.

As far as Flum was concerned, she was having a completely normal conversation. She couldn’t figure out why Eterna was looking at her like that.

“Hmm, it might be a bit hard to do anything for you this late in the game, but as the only resident adult here, I can’t just turn my back on you, Flum. With the right medicine and some light counseling, I might be able to set you on the right path…”

“Just what’re you talking about, Eterna?? You’ve been going on like this for a while now!”

“I’d like to say the same, I’d think! I don’t know what kind of environment you grew up in, Flum, but none of this is right. You’ve gotta show a little bit of moderation—the tiniest sense of virtue—here, ya know.”

“Sense of virtue?” Flum cocked her head to the side at the sudden change in topic. Where did that come from?

Finally Ink butted in. Even with her ears covered, she was still able to pick out what everyone had been talking about. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting to ear cleaning just a bit, Eterna?”

“Ear…cleaning?”

“Yup. I have no idea why you’re going on about virtue and all that, but I don’t think it has anything to do with ears, at least not last I checked.”

“Oh…oh! Ears, right.” Eterna mumbled the words over and over to herself as she tried to put the whole conversation back into perspective. “Cleaning ears…yeah…I guess if you put it that way it makes sense…but still, it seems off… Nah, must’ve been. They had to’ve been talking about that…and yet I took it differently…”

She continued to mutter for some time, trying to convince herself. In time, her expression once again went blank, and her gaze fixed on something in the distance. Eterna let go of Ink and walked uneasily past Flum before diving into her bed and curling up.

In a matter of seconds, she was apparently asleep.

“Eterna?”

Eterna only replied with a loud, exaggerated snore. Flum wasn’t about to give up that easily. She leaned in close and called her name several times. “Eteeeeeerna?”

Eterna kept up her dramatic snoring.

“Listen, I don’t know what you thought was going on, but I promise I’m just going to let it drop and pretend nothing happened, okay?” Flum’s face flushed red as it finally dawned on her what Eterna had been thinking. “Milkit and I haven’t done anything like that yet, okay?!”

Her face covered in a mix of embarrassment and indignation, Flum stepped angrily out of the room.

Ink still wasn’t exactly sure what happened. With a loud yawn, she crawled into bed next to Eterna. This was the first time they’d shared a bed in quite some time.

“Hey, Eterna…”

Eterna had given up on pretending to be asleep by now. “Yes?”

“I don’t really know what Flum meant by ‘haven’t done anything like that,’ but what do you think the ‘yet’ part meant? Do you think they plan to?”

It was an innocent, and yet very perceptive, question.

“I don’t know if they realize it or not, but I think it’s just a matter of time.”

“Huh. Well, I guess I’ll figure out what it means eventually, then.”

Eterna slowly closed her eyes again. Perhaps it was best that Ink not figure it out for some time.