"The opposite," she confesses, making a joke that only she will find funny, but she smiles, laughs, imagines first 'Sister Bismillah' and then Patience, who did wear the habit, and then took it off like a courtesan unrobing. She presses into Joan's grope, pinches and rolls her nipple, and then goes back to her neck, because Joan liked that. Her hand fits on top of Joan's, and she directs it under the waistband of Joan's pants, hoping for a tutorial before she takes over.

"Would you like me in stockings?" Beta asks. She likes the feeling of the heat on her fingers once she gets her hand into Joan's underwear, likes the damp that means Joan likes this. "The Battle Sisters, they dress more provocatively, though to say as much would be heresy-- but still, you look."