The Laptop - Ch.36 - Under the Stars (Patreon)

"This has been one hell of a day," Chelsea commented quietly as she poked at the dying campfire with a stick.

Gwen had a gulp of her vodka cooler then nodded, "It sure has."

She was relaxing to my right while Chels sat crosslegged on my left, and all three of us had stripped down to our undies. They'd changed to suit this world as well, so instead of sports bras and panties we were all wearing cotton wraps around our chests and plain linen under-pants. The rest of our adventuring clothes were folded up in our packs for now, while our weapons all lay within easy reach.

I stifled a yawn then added, "It's been a long one too."

"You sound like you're ready for bed Lisa," the little catgirl teased quietly.

"Pretty much," I agreed, then had a sip of my cherry vodka drink.

The three of us were currently sharing one of the bedrolls that our blankets and Chelsea's sleeping bag turned into earlier, although we had all three of them laid out next to each other. They were basically just rugged wool blankets on the bottom with softer wool blankets on top. Fortunately the weather stayed nice even after the sun went down a half hour earlier.

We'd be sleeping under the stars tonight, and there were a heck of a lot of them. More than I'd ever seen before anyways. That was nothing compared to the moons though.

The big shattered moon set about an hour before the sun went down, but two smaller moons rose not long after to take their place. One was about the same size as what we were familiar with back home, except it had a faint pink hue. And the other was even smaller, only about half the size of the moon back home. It had the right colour though, kind of a light greyish white.

"I hope you girls don't mind bacon sandwiches again for breakfast tomorrow?" Chelsea asked after a few minutes of silence. "That'll be the last of it, but we want to use it all up before it goes bad."

We'd already had that for both breakfast and dinner today, but I didn't mind.

Gwyneth didn't either. The cute elf girl replied softly, "That's fine Chels. Thanks for looking after the cooking for us. I'm lost without a stove or microwave."

"You'll get used to it," the catgirl replied with a shrug. She drained the last of her cooler then poked at the fire again, "Depending on how long we're here and what we end up doing, I'm sure we'll all get used to this sort of thing."

I sighed as I leaned my head against Gwen's shoulder, "I'll try and contact Annie in the morning, to see if she has any more information about that. How long we have to stay here, I mean."

My best friend wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me against her side as she asked quietly, "Do you want to try and get some sleep now Lisa?"

Chels shifted closer so she was right up against my left side. Then her ears perked as she teased, "Aren't we going to have any sexy fun times tonight?"

"Actually it might be safer if we don't," she added a moment later. Her expression shifted to a frown while her ears folded back and she clarified, "I vaguely remember being told the sounds and smells of sex can attract predators."

"I was thinking we might even want to take turns on watch," Gwen commented. "I know Vix said there was nothing out there, but that was a long time ago. I guess the fire might keep wild animals away? On the other hand it might attract other kinds of attention. And the scent of the bacon we've been eating might draw some interest too."

I suppressed a little groan, "I don't want to have to sleep in shifts. I'm not even ready to think about that sort of thing. It's all too much, too fast. My life wasn't great five days ago, but at least it was predictable. And I didn't have to worry about dying, just getting bullied now and then."

My best friend held me a little closer as she apologized, "Sorry Lisa. I'm probably being paranoid, thinking about stories and games and stuff like that. Vix said we were safe here, I'm sure she's right."

Chelsea slipped an arm around my waist and gave me a little squeeze then added, "You'll be ok. We all will. I know it's a lot, but you've been doing amazing. You're a strong brave clever girl, but you can take breaks you know? It's not all on you. So why don't you try and get some sleep, while Gwen and I figure out whether or not we need to be on guard tonight."

"Thanks you two," I mumbled. Then with a sigh I straightened up and got to my feet. I asked softly, "I don't suppose we have a flashlight or something? I uh, need to visit 'the tree' before I go to bed."

Somehow 'the tree' had already become our euphemism for the washroom, since there was no room and nowhere to wash up. We were using a secluded spot a couple meters beyond the edge of the meadow, where some trees and bushes offered a bit of privacy. That was yet another adjustment, at least for me. I got the impression Chelsea had no problem going in the woods, and even Gwen seemed ok with it.

That line of thought ended as Chelsea replied, "Even if we had a flashlight you're better off without Lisa. All they do is wreck your night vision. Trust me, just stop staring into the fire and you'll be fine."

"I don't have night vision, remember?" I frowned. "You're the one with the feline senses, and Gwen's got her elf dark-sight. I'm a boring run of the mill human."

My best friend immediately disagreed, "You're an amazing human, there's nothing boring or run of the mill about you. You've made all my dreams come true, you've done everything you can to look after Chelsea and me. And you got us here and kept us safe."

"I can't take credit for getting us here," I grimaced. "Annie's the one who warned me about the danger, and she's the one who suggested we should come here. For that matter we wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if I'd been more careful."

I'd already told Gwen and Chels about that whole 'canary' thing, or at least I told them what I knew about it. Which wasn't much, apart from the fact that helping those four trans classmates Tuesday night triggered the security routine. That was just one of a dozen things I needed to talk with Annie about.

"That wasn't your fault," Chelsea insisted. "We already said that. You were trying to help people, we all were. Both Gwen and I wanted to help our friends as much as you did."

Then she added, "And I know you can't 'see in the dark' like we can, but you still don't need a flashlight. I wasn't a catgirl last time I went camping. All a light will do is let everyone else know where you are, and make it even harder for you to see anything other than the little spot where the light is pointing. Give your eyes a minute to adjust to the dark and you'll be fine."

"Alright Chels," I mumbled as I dug a few sheets of paper from one of the packs before heading towards the woods.

The air was a lot cooler only a few paces away from the fire, and the grass almost felt damp under my bare feet. I suddenly felt very naked and vulnerable as I slowly made my way further from my companions and closer to what looked like a wall of darkness that was the forest.

When I found a good spot I slipped my linen underpants down, before deciding to just step out of them completely. Then after I was done I cleaned up with the paper, and left that at the base of the tree. Which felt weird, like equal parts because I was used to flushing stuff like that away and because I really didn't like the idea of leaving garbage on the ground.

Chelsea said it was biodegradable though, so as long as we weren't using the same spot over and over it shouldn't be a problem. And if we did end up staying in this meadow for several days then she also said we should try and dig ourselves a little latrine. That way we could bury it again afterwards. Something else to worry about tomorrow.

The last thing I had yet to get used to was not washing up afterwards. Until we found a steady source of fresh water we had to keep what we brought for drinking and cooking. I could always use the laptop to get us more water skins, but without a guaranteed source of electricity I didn't want to run the thing's batteries down too far. Maybe after I knew for sure the solar panel was enough I'd be more willing to use the laptop again.

Finally I picked up my linen underpants, but didn't bother putting them on. In fact as I made my way back towards camp I removed the cotton wrap from my chest as well. It felt good to get that off, and by that point I was too tired to care about being naked outside.

Gwen and Chels had moved closer together while I was gone, they were cuddling when I returned. I decided not to disturb them, instead I tried to get comfortable in one of the bedrolls next to my companions. The bottom blanket was thick, but it didn't do anything to disguise the fact that I was basically laying on the ground. I was tired enough not to care, and it wasn't much longer before I drifted off entirely.

I woke the following morning to bright warm sunlight in my face, and despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements I actually felt surprisingly well rested. I chalked that up to being so tired last night I was ready to sleep anywhere, which in turn meant I actually managed to get some pretty decent rest.

Gwen and Chels were cuddled up next to me, with the tall hot elf in the middle and the short cuddly catgirl on the far side. They were both still asleep, so I tried not to disturb them as I quietly slipped out of my bedroll. I kept the noise down as I pulled my clothes out of my pack, then got myself dressed.

I ended up sitting crosslegged on the ground next to our improvised fire pit, although the fire itself had long since gone out. Then with the laptop balanced on one knee I booted it up, and opened the Connections app. There was no pending conversation this time, and no waiting messages either. I tried to initiate a chat with Annie, but instead I got an alert that she was unavailable.

So I wrote her a short message instead, "Hello Annie. My friends and I made it safely to Daearen. We seem to be in the middle of nowhere though, and we're not sure if it's safe to stay here or if we should be trying to reach civilization?"

"Also, how will we know when it's safe to return home?" I added after a moment. "You told me about 'canaries', are there any here I should know about? Or is there a way to find them so I can avoid them in the future? Or a way to bypass them?"

I figured that was enough for now. I had plenty more questions, but I didn't want to get too carried away. So I left it at that and sent off the message, before putting the laptop to sleep and closing the lid. Finally I plugged it into the large solar panel, to try and top up the battery while I had the chance.

The sun was still fairly low in the sky so I was just angling the solar panel to get the best light on it when I heard someone moving behind me.

"G'morning Lisa," Chelsea said quietly as she slipped out of the bedroll.

She was still naked, in fact I was pretty sure she and Gwen had a little fun together after I fell asleep last night. My best friend was stirring as well, she sat up and stretched a moment later, giving both Chels and I a good view of the elf girl's bare chest.

"Good morning Chelsea, Gwyneth," I responded. "How'd you two sleep last night?"

The catgirl's ears perked up and her tail flicked back and forth as she smiled, "Pretty good actually! It didn't take long for Gwen and I to tire each other out, then I think we were both out like a light after that."

Gwyneth nodded as she began pulling on some clothes, "I had a good night as well. What's the plan for this morning?"

"If you want to magic up some more fire I'll get started on our breakfast," Chels offered.

I added, "I just messaged Annie a few minutes ago. Other than breakfast the only thing I had in mind was waiting around to see if she writes back."

It wasn't much of a plan, but it was enough. Both my companions got dressed, then the catgirl moved some of our firewood into the fire pit and our mage used her magic to get it burning. And Chels finally got to work fixing up the last of the bacon. She also boiled up some water so we could have coffee with our breakfast sandwiches.

Both Gwen and Chels complained about the lack of cream again, but apart from that it was another good meal. And by the time we were all done eating I realized that yellow status LED on the laptop had started blinking, so I woke it up to check the messaging app.

"I got a reply from Annie," I announced. Then after reading the short text I frowned, "She didn't answer my questions though. Or, she kind of answered one I guess."

Chelsea asked, "What did she say?"

I read out the text, "Hi Lisa, I'm glad you and your girlfriends are safe on Daearen. You're close to a village called Hoag's Hole, it's only sixty-three klicks away from where you landed. That should be an easy seven or eight day's walk. No rush, but I think you'll really want to be there before ten days have passed."

When I got to the end I realized Gwen was blushing a little, while Chels had a little smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes.

"What?" I asked warily.

"You and your girlfriends?" Chelsea responded, quoting that part of Annie's message. Her smile got wider as she asked, "Are we all girlfriends? Is it official? Not just friends or lovers or sex buddies?"

My own cheeks started heating up too and I hesitated as those same thoughts I had the first time Annie used that word flashed through my mind.

I finally admitted, "I didn't want to make any assumptions. And I was afraid to bring it up with you two, incase you weren't comfortable with it? I didn't want to upset either of you, or risk ruining what we've got going on between us..."

"I get it Lisa," Gwen nodded slowly. "Everything's happened pretty fast, like it's only been a few days. And maybe it's weird, because we've been best friends for so long."

Chels gave me a sad look as she added, "Or because we used to be more like enemies."

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Still," the little catgirl added as her ears stood up and her tail flicked back and forth, "I've been saying all along how a lesbian polycule would be nice. So if both of you want to give it a try, I think I'd be really happy if all three of us were girlfriends with each other."

Gwen's cheeks were still pink as she smiled, "I think I'd like that too. How about you Lisa?"

My eyes widened and my heart raced slightly, but I felt my lips starting to curl up into a grin too. I nodded, "Yeah. That sounds kind of nice actually? I'd like being girlfriends with both of you."

The three of us ended up coming together in a three-way hug. Then as we all held each other Chelsea commented, "So girlfriends, it sounds like we've got a bit of a journey to prepare for."

"Yeah," I sighed. "We do."