Behind the Bleeding Veil

Sore didn't begin to describe how Regina felt. Being consumed in the fires of Hell couldn't be any worse than this. She was pretty sure that this was EXACTLY what being engulfed in Hell fire felt like. Faustine had assured her that this was only going to be a short, light workout. Which, while she believed Faustine had been honest, the fact that her body hurt this much afterwards made her grimace in sheer terror at what one of her full on workouts must be like.

As they walked back, Fluttershy noticed with some grim amusement how stiffly and slow Regina was moving. She did try to take it as light as possible on the girl, but it was more than apparent that she was woefully out off shape. The way she shuffled and hobbled beside Fluttershy made her look like some grade z movie zombie or someone who was leaving the scene of a really bad accident they were in. She chuckled to herself and smiled a bit. This new girl might be strange, but she was also highly entertaining.

Then again, who was she to call anyone strange?

The walk back was much warmer and sunnier than it had been that morning. Even though she was still a bit hot from her workout; Fluttershy enjoyed the warmth of the newly exposed sun beating down on her. She new evolutionarily she was programmed to respond favorably to sunny days, but, also, she liked the fact that it helped disguise the eternal, infinite, darkness which surrounded and would eventually consume all.

Going up the steps was a bit more of a chore for Regina. Each step allected it's own prayer for strength to overcome. While the journey up the steps took twice as long as normal, Regina was more than satisfied with her progress and gave a prayer of thanksgiving once she made it to their floor. A small, deep breath before opening the door to the hallway; she made the final leg of the journey in a somewhat reasonable time. As soon as she got inside, she collapsed on to her bed.

"You alright?" Fluttershy asked with thinly veiled humor.

"In Christ, all things are possible," Regina replied in a tired, yet happy voice.

Fluttershy laughed out loud. Her delivery was too perfect to try and fight off any laughter. She sat down on her bed and said, "Hey, listen - you don't have to come with me anymore to the gym," with great humor and sympathy.

"No, no. It's fine. The body is a temple unto the Lord and apparently I haven't been taking good care of mine," Regina responded in the same tone as before.

"Well, just don't kill yourself preacher girl; you got sinners to save," Fluttershy said back in a manner which she hoped didn't sound to mocking. She then said in a much more sympathetic and compassionate tone, "Hey, if it helps, we've all been there. Throughout grade and high school, I was naturally thin. My first semester here I put on five pounds. Not a lot by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to scare me. So I dieted and started working out. The first couple weeks I felt exactly the way you do now. You'll be fine. Besides, a nice, warm shower will do wonders to take the soreness out."

It was at that Regina sat straight up with a fear awash all over her face. This was the moment she had dreading. The moment she went out of her way to forget. Now here it was. No one had ever seen her naked except her mother and that was when she was a baby and she had never seen another person naked. The idea of being naked around a bunch of other naked girls made her feel sick and disgusting.

"So there really aren't any private showers are there?" she asked quietly.

"Not in this dorm. Some of the newer ones have them but all the old ones like this don't. It's no big deal," Fluttershy tried to reassure her.

"It is! I mean, maybe not to you since you're fallen; but I know better. Being unclothed, exposing your body to others, is just plain wrong. It's a sin," Regina answered back in a state of frustrated panic.

While Fluttershy just wanted to go over to Regina and punch her in the face for being stupid; she held her temper. Getting angry (let alone violent) would solve nothing. So she quietly, patiently, and with all the sympathy she could muster explained, "Listen, I get it. I understand where you're coming from. I remember how scared I was when I first had to take a shower after gym class when I was in high school. It's not fun. Eventually, though, I learned it wasn't really that big of a deal. No one is going to assault you. Trust me. I've used the shower with out lesbians before and was perfectly safe. No one is there to check anybody out or do them harm. Yes, you will see other people naked, but, honestly, it's just visual white noise - like wallpaper. By the second or third time, you don't even notice them. Just go in, pick a locker, put your stuff in, wrap a towel around you, go to a stall, pull the curtain, do what you need to, shut the water off, you can dry off in the stall if you want, wrap yourself back up, go to your locker, get dressed, come back here, and it's all over with. Simple as that." As she spoke, Fluttershy gently took Regina's hands in hers.

Regina looked down and debated with herself. Being nude, in public was a sin. Still, she needed to be clean physically. Maybe God would intervene and divinely clean her as to keep her from sinning. This could be a test as well to see how devoted she was. It really wasn't public, public though (not the way Faustine described it at least). And she knew going in that somethings were going to be unavoidable in the fallen world.

She looked back up to Faustine and asked, "Well what do you do when you have your monthly blood?"

"Mon . . . what? You're really calling it that? Wow that's old school. Um, pretty much the same except you bring your underwear with you and a pad or tampon, whatever you use, and make a quick stop at the toilet first. I mean, that's how I do it. Wait, are you . . ." Fluttershy started to ask but was cut off almost immediately.

"No, no, no, no. I was just asking for later. I've never done this before, so I don't know what is proper to do."

Regina was red with embarrassment while Fluttershy just looked at her in stunned silence. This girl was beyond sheltered, Fluttershy thought to herself and wondered if she was even worth it but quickly remembered she was.

"Well, we, um, we better get going now," was all Fluttershy could say.

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Regina was trembling with fear as she entered the shower room. Luckily there were only a few girls there and not as crowded as it could have been. All were in various states of undress, a couple talked to each other as they disrobed. Regina quickly turned around to face the lockers, Faustine standing right beside her. She removed her towel, soap, and shampoo from the bag Faustine had given her to use into the one locker. She placed them neatly on the bench, sat down, removed her shoes and socks and placed them in the locker as well. She looked over to Faustine for strength. Fluttershy nodded sympathetically, turned to face the lockers and began to take her sweater off.

Regina quickly looked away, prayed for guidance and forgiveness, stood up, and slowly removed the sweater she was wearing. She quickly placed it in the locker, sighed, removed her bra, and put it inside with the same speed as she had done with the sweater. With one final prayer, she stuck her thumbs inside the waist of her underwear, grabbed both the sweat pants and underwear and pulled them down as quickly as she could. As she stood back up to step out of the pants, she heard Faustine gasp. She quickly spun to see why and gasped herself as soon as she did.

Fluttershy had glanced over just to see how Regina was doing and gasped. Regina was completely unshaven. She had seen some gender queer, gender non conforming, girls on campus who didn't shave, but most of them were really masculine looking. Regina, while not girly or femmie by any stretch of the imagination, still presented as female so even though she didn't wear make-up or shaper eyebrows, she still assumed she shaved her legs and arm pits at least.

For Regina, her gasp was two fold. One, seeing Faustine naked, the perfection that was only hinted at through her clothes was now made fully manifest. She was literally a living statue. The second part was that while Regina knew women in the fallen world shaved their legs and arm pits, she had no idea the did anything to their genital hair. Yet there was Faustine with a small, well defined, triangle of pubic fuzz that could be no way natural. Removing leg and armpit hair seemed ridiculous to her; but down there as well? It was too much.

Both girls turned away quickly.

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy said first, full of real regret and embarrassment. "I just looked over to see how you were doing and, well I just assumed you shaved."

"No, it's ok," Regina replied with equal embarrassment. "If God put hair on our bodies, then He had a reason to so it's a sin to remove it. I was just surprised as well. I knew that girls shaved their legs and arm pits, but I didn't realize they did anything other than that." Regina stopped for a second before quickly adding, "Not that I was intentionally looking down there!"

Fluttershy was now calming down a bit. It wasn't that she had been appalled by Regina's body, just taken by surprise plus she was embarrassed by her own reaction to it.

"Yeah. Well, I used to be completely clean shaven down there but decided I'd go with a little love triangle as I call it." Fluttershy said feeling even better and less embarrassed.

"Why?" Regina asked. Her mind was completely blown. The concept of anyone doing anything down there just seemed beyond ridiculous; it was almost perverse.

"What can I say. Hair styles come and go - for both ends." Fluttershy ended with a slight laugh, hoping it would lighten the mood.

Regina shook her head. "I don't get it. I just don't."

Fluttershy went to respond but stopped. She was struck by a sudden sense of deja-vu. It was like this conversation had happened twice before but yet not with Regina; or even her for that matter. It was like having someone else's memories. She shook her head to try and get rid of the feeling.

"Well, you wear long dresses so you don't really have to worry about it," Fluttershy tersely said.

Regina knew something was wrong with Faustine. Maybe she overreacted or just spoke up too soon. She didn't know but she decided it was best to let the subject drop for now.

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As soon as they got back to their room, the put the dirty clothes in the basket, Regina sat on her bed and read the Bible while Fluttershy went to the bathroom and put her make-up on. As soon as she came out; Regina got up and said, "Faustine, I am truly sorry if I said anything to offend you awhile ago. I thought I knew what to expect but I didn't know everything. I have my mission and message but I also believe there is a time and place, and that was neither. I really like you and want to be your friend as much as anything. Will you please forgive me."

Fluttershy gave a sweet smile and hugged Regina. She was taken aback by Faustine's action. One because she didn't expect it and two, because there was a strange feeling when she did. She couldn't explain it, but having Faustine hug her, feeling her body next to hers, it made her feel calm, happy, safe even. There was a peace and comfort there that when she pulled away; made Regina almost empty.

"It's ok. I was out of line as well. Truth be told, I really like you too. You're weird as . . . flick; but you're still a good person and I enjoy being around you."

Once again, Regina felt something she had never felt before and couldn't explain, other than calling it some new type of happiness.

"Well," Fluttershy started, "it looked like you were reading, so I'll let you get back to it. I want to read some more of my book as well. Maybe we can get something to eat then?"

"Sure, I'd like that." Regina replied in a somewhat goofy voice, her face feeling flush for some reason. She then asked, "You know what I'm reading, but what are you reading?"

A strange, wicked smile came across Fluttershy's face. "That is a very interesting story. Slightly disturbing as well. Wanna hear it?"