I felt my hot breath swirling around over my face, threatening to suffocate me if not for the crack between my neck and the metal frame. The sound of my own heavy breathing excited me, causing a feedback loop as my breathing deepened ever more. I could see only through thin slits, obscuring most of my field of vision and blurring what was leftover. At this moment, though, it did not matter. The room was dark. Almost black. The silhouette above me blended in almost perfectly to the background. Touching myself, I could feel my mask on my fingers and I did not distinguish this sensation from feeling my fingers on my mask, but when she caressed my cheek, I did not feel it, and this made my heart ache softly. I could hear her planting wet lips on my face, but I could not feel them. Still, it ignited a fire between my legs, which she stoked again and again with each audible kiss. It went down my chin to my clavicle, down my chest, lower, lower. I felt her through the fabric of my clothes, which were soft and warm unlike my cold, stiff face. And I was indeed clothed.

Under the mask, I felt momentarily that I could hide my humanity, that she might believe this is who I really am. That I am something else. Humanoid. Not human. Sentient. Nonverbal. To aid in my fantasy, I was wearing a thick jacket with a hood pulled up over my forehead, so that no skin would be visible above my waist, except for my hands. Below, I wore a skirt of moderate size which usually came down to my knees, and socks that came up to my knees, so that ordinarily there would be no skin at all visible below my waist. At this moment, my skirt was bunched up around my thighs, because I had shifted and squirmed as I made myself comfortable on my back. My face was unmoving, unresponsive. But I let her know how I felt with my body language and the intensity of my breaths. I even tried to reciprocate her kisses, though I was not yet totally familiar with where each part of my new face was, and I couldn't feel what I was doing. But now I felt her, moving down. The fire burned now red hot and glowing embers lapped at the fabric of my clothes.