The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I will give this review the attention it deserves when I'm off work and can respond with similar fervor.
I need a bit to process it anyway.
Contact with the Enemy (NSFW) [MGE] - LGBT Themes - Complete
- Thread starter The_Letter_K
- Start date
- Mature Romance
I will give this review the attention it deserves when I'm off work and can respond with similar fervor.
I need a bit to process it anyway.
- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Waaah!
Someone posted a review while I was typing this!
Well. Well!
Um.
Mine has a bit where I go off on a rant about triangles.
So there.
So often, especially in amateur fiction, there's just pages and pages of setup and explanation and prologue and who cares, cut to chase.
Above anything else, the first page; and better yet, the first paragraph; and ideally the first sentence need to grab a passing reader's attention and make them want more.
This establishes the characters, the situation, and even sneaks in a bit of themata, in that this standoff has been in the works for a while and Lyle is just now noticing. Guns and/or spooky undead magicks have been drawn, relations are strained, and it is therefore the ideal time to maybe start trying to understand why and how things got to this point - to make a go at understanding one another, because clearly a lot has gone unsaid prior to this point in these peoples' relationship.
The zero-sum love triangle is really uncomfortable. "Who's going to win the girl/boy/enby?" is bizarrely adversarial. And it's creepy! You can't "win" or "steal" someone's affections. Both because people are not objects, and because everything I know about human beings suggests to me that love flat out doesn't even work like that. It is, astonishingly, not all that hard to love more than one person. That's why love triangles even exist! If A didn't have feelings for both B and C, there'd be no reason for B and C to be fighting!
But if you accept that people can love more than one person - which oughtn't be hard, since it is literally the foundation of all love triangles; and that there's no reason why a relationship must be a pair, which is a pretty easy extension ... all of those perverse incentives for B and C to fight vanish like smoke.
And so, because love isn't a zero-sum game, because there doesn't have to be a 'loser', not really ... I don't see why Faust's solution doesn't happen more. Faust doesn't like Beepatrice! But she acknowledges that Beeps has feelings that are as valid and as meaningful as her own, and that Lyle reciprocates them; and so her only option is to try to negotiate. To treat Beeps and Lyle as adults and actually talk to them like they are people. To find a way for all of them to be happy.
She's, um, not good at it. That's okay, though. She's making an attempt, flawed as it is. She's trying.
Frankly, I would much rather read a story about "Okay, is it possible for all of us to be happy together? And if so, how?" than yet another story about "Who wins the girl/boy/enby and who gets to be sad and alone forever?"
One of those stories is about being people together, about communication, about understandings and misunderstandings. About love.
The other is about treating people like objects, romance like violence, and love like it should be hoarded jealously rather than shared.
I really don't get mainstream romantic fiction! It's honestly low-key terrifying.
Just saying.
Letting things like this fester is how you end up with your childhood friend becoming a Lich so she can kill you and resurrect you as a skeleton.
Poor communication kills and then rises from the grave, deathless and immortal, to strike terror into the hearts of the living and I think this metaphor went off the rails a bit never mind.
once she's gotten Beepatrice on-side and there is no further need for grandiose displays of necromantic power -
Faust immediately reverts to these comfortable, friendly mannerisms. These are patterns of familiarity. These are in-jokes, habits, the little markers of long friendship that can't be faked.
Because these two are friends, and it's important to show that; but we also don't need six chapters of them being friends before we get to the actual story. The little touches, and the way Faust and Lyle play off each other, make it work even without laboriously providing a bunch of context.
It would have been so easy to have Beeps be ... basically an accessory, you know? To reduce her to being the loyal, emotionless robot girl who has no preferences or desires of her own other than service.
But she isn't. She has opinions, she has feelings, she has goals that do not always match 1:1 with Lyle's. That's been evident throughout the chapter, but this is my favorite example: because it's also a good Faust moment - reaching out and trying to be inclusive and otherwise do right by her rival; and because it demonstrates that Beepatrice is at least in potentia attracted to people other than Lyle - again, reinforcing the idea that she is a person, not an accessory.
... and, sigh, because having the stoic robot girl go "Tits" is funny.
Someone posted a review while I was typing this!
Well. Well!
Um.
Mine has a bit where I go off on a rant about triangles.
So there.
This is such a good opening line.
So often, especially in amateur fiction, there's just pages and pages of setup and explanation and prologue and who cares, cut to chase.
Above anything else, the first page; and better yet, the first paragraph; and ideally the first sentence need to grab a passing reader's attention and make them want more.
This establishes the characters, the situation, and even sneaks in a bit of themata, in that this standoff has been in the works for a while and Lyle is just now noticing. Guns and/or spooky undead magicks have been drawn, relations are strained, and it is therefore the ideal time to maybe start trying to understand why and how things got to this point - to make a go at understanding one another, because clearly a lot has gone unsaid prior to this point in these peoples' relationship.
I understand that any romantic advice I offer is kinda backseat handholding and all, since I'm aro; but I really don't get why this conclusion is so rare.
The zero-sum love triangle is really uncomfortable. "Who's going to win the girl/boy/enby?" is bizarrely adversarial. And it's creepy! You can't "win" or "steal" someone's affections. Both because people are not objects, and because everything I know about human beings suggests to me that love flat out doesn't even work like that. It is, astonishingly, not all that hard to love more than one person. That's why love triangles even exist! If A didn't have feelings for both B and C, there'd be no reason for B and C to be fighting!
But if you accept that people can love more than one person - which oughtn't be hard, since it is literally the foundation of all love triangles; and that there's no reason why a relationship must be a pair, which is a pretty easy extension ... all of those perverse incentives for B and C to fight vanish like smoke.
And so, because love isn't a zero-sum game, because there doesn't have to be a 'loser', not really ... I don't see why Faust's solution doesn't happen more. Faust doesn't like Beepatrice! But she acknowledges that Beeps has feelings that are as valid and as meaningful as her own, and that Lyle reciprocates them; and so her only option is to try to negotiate. To treat Beeps and Lyle as adults and actually talk to them like they are people. To find a way for all of them to be happy.
She's, um, not good at it. That's okay, though. She's making an attempt, flawed as it is. She's trying.
Frankly, I would much rather read a story about "Okay, is it possible for all of us to be happy together? And if so, how?" than yet another story about "Who wins the girl/boy/enby and who gets to be sad and alone forever?"
One of those stories is about being people together, about communication, about understandings and misunderstandings. About love.
The other is about treating people like objects, romance like violence, and love like it should be hoarded jealously rather than shared.
I really don't get mainstream romantic fiction! It's honestly low-key terrifying.
You know, if you saw this coming, you could have, I don't know, talked to her about your relationship, Lyle?
Just saying.
Letting things like this fester is how you end up with your childhood friend becoming a Lich so she can kill you and resurrect you as a skeleton.
Poor communication kills and then rises from the grave, deathless and immortal, to strike terror into the hearts of the living and I think this metaphor went off the rails a bit never mind.
Please stop being adorable, you two dorks. You'll make my teeth rot.
Faust is not my favorite mad scientist but she's in the top three, just from chapter one. She has this wonderfully distinct style - very matter-of-fact, very why-are-you-people-screaming-the-numbers-back-me-up ... with the occasional giddy, giggly fit.
💕
I love that -
once she's gotten Beepatrice on-side and there is no further need for grandiose displays of necromantic power -
Faust immediately reverts to these comfortable, friendly mannerisms. These are patterns of familiarity. These are in-jokes, habits, the little markers of long friendship that can't be faked.
Because these two are friends, and it's important to show that; but we also don't need six chapters of them being friends before we get to the actual story. The little touches, and the way Faust and Lyle play off each other, make it work even without laboriously providing a bunch of context.
Having Faust solicit opinions from Beepatrice is great.
It would have been so easy to have Beeps be ... basically an accessory, you know? To reduce her to being the loyal, emotionless robot girl who has no preferences or desires of her own other than service.
But she isn't. She has opinions, she has feelings, she has goals that do not always match 1:1 with Lyle's. That's been evident throughout the chapter, but this is my favorite example: because it's also a good Faust moment - reaching out and trying to be inclusive and otherwise do right by her rival; and because it demonstrates that Beepatrice is at least in potentia attracted to people other than Lyle - again, reinforcing the idea that she is a person, not an accessory.
... and, sigh, because having the stoic robot girl go "Tits" is funny.
Poor, poor harem decoy Lyle.
Or, Lyle, maybe Faust missed you, you big dummy.
- Pronouns
- Chad
Ooh, now I can review a review next to my review. Wow. Say that ten-times-fast.
How many times do we have to tell you this, X??? It's a really good first line.
I gotta say. This is a quality review and it's full of great lines and tidbits.
Same.
And I agree with everything you said.
How many times do we have to tell you this, X??? It's a really good first line.
I gotta say. This is a quality review and it's full of great lines and tidbits.
Same.
And I agree with everything you said.
Reply Three
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It does! It really, really does.
And it worked so very well for you. I still remember it fondly!
I can never get enough of those!
Speaking of which...
I'm really glad you like the opening line, the syntax always reads as slightly 'off' to me, but I can never bring myself to change it. Something about the sheer bombast of the opening really does it for me.
I've mentioned before, I think, that I considered writing the story entirely from Sally's perspective, instead of Lyle's, but ultimately I took a page from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Lyle is simultaneously the Watson to both Beeps and Faust at the same time. Each of them is a different aspect of Holmes, almost diametrically opposed, and they each need something opposite from their Watson, and Lyle provides for both. Just one of the many parallels between the two. They've very much been two sides of a coin since I began designing them.
I remain so completely smug about Beeps' style of speech, because it really lets me flex my vocabulary, but it an entirely different way to Faust. Whereas Faust gets to be flowery and build menace up like a steam train, each word associating with each other until this titan of a thought takes shape, Beeps is all about timing, and perfect, deadly clarity. She very succinctly rips into Faust in the forest scene with just one word, and it drives Faust all the way up the wall while still making complete sense in context, and you can see how Lyle might have ignored or missed it all this time, because even when she says "virgin", and she obviously means "haha I fucked him first" she also is referring to well-known folklore very deniably.
It is so much fun to write.
The early subversion of the harem archetype was super important to me, because I knew I didn't have long before people assumed this was just another "guy collects girls like pokemon" story, and I needed to set myself apart straight away. I'm pleased to hear that for you at least, it worked.
This is basically the building block of the entire fic, tbh. Let characters interact believably. If I've done a good enough job designing them and their problems, the story basically writes itself, because they always have an action they'll naturally take, and a reaction from the others that will follow on into infinity.
Thank you so much, GivveAK, it means a lot to me that you would take the time to do this. I know it's not easy, but it means everything, really.
I'm really glad this opening line resonates so strongly. I've had a lot of complaints that the opening chapters are rough to get through, and that you find so much to like in just the first sentence is a huge balm to that worry.
She sure does try, doesn't she? It's hard to balance that kind of relationship IRL, but Sally never once doubts she can do it. "Can't" is for other people.
I'm afraid it's impossible. I've tried talking to them but they never listen. We'll just have to endure it.
That is excellent news! She's very special to me, they all are, to be sure, but it's fair to say that Sally's why I wrote this fic and it doesn't happen without her at all.
See, I think this is down to my character design process, which I can detail for you if you're interested? But basically you're right. It feels like this because that's what it is like, in a very real way.
It really, really, really is. Beeps is probably the most fun person to write in these early chapters. Having to nail that precision every time is a really fun challenge, and the way the room can shift after a single word feels so powerful to me.
Thank you very much, Thelxiope, I'm flattered that you'd bother to do something like this. It means basically everything to me, and makes posting here absolutely worth it all on its own. Thank you sincerely.
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Chapter Seven - The First Bath
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
She was, of course, insufferable.
"-and Lyle, do you remember when I told you that that dirty kitchen knife did not possess, and here I quote, 'the soul of the sword of a hero'?" In my defense, it did have jewels in the handle. Fake ones, it turned out, but I was like seven years old. "I was right then, as well, Lyle. You really should listen to me more. I am only trying to help you."
I turned and looked at Faust, as she scoured her brain for another example. "You're right, Faust, I really should listen to you more." After all, this whole harem thing was your brain-child, and look how smoothly it's turning out.
She frowned. "You always say that, Lyle, but you never change your behavior." Technically, since you changed your name, I've never actually said that before.
I put on my best empty-eyed expression, "Wow, Faust, you're right. I guess I must just be too dumb to know when you're being smarter than me. Can you ever forgive me?" I used my tongue to push a large glob of saliva down my chin, intentionally drooling on myself. I had started out sincerely trying to apologize, and she sincerely accepting, but somewhere along the line we wound up back here again. Like always.
Beepatrice reached out and wiped my chin with her hand. …Then stuck the saliva in her mouth. Faust had the gall to look jealous. Maybe this tactic doesn't work on girls you've kissed? Or monsters in general? It certainly used to. Does that mean I can't lick things to mark them as mine anymore, either? I hadn't done that since I was very young, but the potential loss of the option made me regret wasting it while it still might have worked.
"Anyway," I said, artfully ignoring the women lusting over what amounted to my spit, "Blackberry should be able fit inside now," and I'd covered up some of the lustier statues along the path there with Beeps' assistance, "so we should be good to head that way."
"Thanks, Beeps!" Blackberry wrapped Beeps up in a hug, and while she might have normally stood stoically, with her recent… expressiveness, she actually leaned in a little and seemed to enjoy it, that is until Blackberry lifted her up to her level to deepen the hug. That was when she started squirming.
After she was set back down, Beeps wandered back over to me. I, in turn, started towards the cave before she could try lifting me up like that. Given how she was acting; it wasn't out of the question.
It was a short walk back to the cave, and once we arrived, Faust immediately entered to fuss over her belongings, something I might have teased her for in another situation. As it was, I was just happy she was there to deal with them. I took the time to look over what Beeps had accomplished while she was here.
Aside from the floor having been carved deeper, to about nine feet of clearance, there were a few more changes. The cave looked much more uniform, for one thing. Less like a cave and more like a great stone room. The floor sloped downward towards the mouth of the cave, only slightly, but enough to prevent flooding. A corner had been carved out for Faust's equipment, and an area was set aside for the cart, as well, close to the entrance. I looked at the cart, then at Blackberry, considering. A thought for later.
The rest of the cave was even more ridiculous. There was a small pool, for one thing. The water slowly leaked from a small hole in the wall, and, when the pool overfilled, it further ran down a channel out to the front of the cave. How had she even found that? The same technique that let her carve those statues? Either way, it was cold water, but I knew from experience Beeps could warm it quickly by stepping in and simply heating herself. Near the bed Faust had mentioned was a strangely carved stone chair, padded with vegetation, designed to fit between Blackberry's legs, support her horse torso, the barrel, I think, and allow her to also rest her human torso by leaning forward. Like sitting in a regular chair backwards, almost. Probably the best solution, without enough space for Blackberry to actually lay down.
As I was looking around, Beepatrice moved to stand in front of me. "Is it satisfactory, Master?"
"Of course, Beeps." She smiled and leaned in for a hug. Was it getting steamy again? Or did she just still smell that way, after spending so much time in it? Her hair, maybe? "It might be a little much for just one night, though."
She frowned up at me, that same pouty look as before, and I brought my forehead to hers before I could stop myself. "Nothing is too much for you, Master. You can have anything you want." As she said the word 'want', she pressed herself against me, leaning back slightly so I was lifted off the ground. She was only a little taller than me, but it was an admirable attempt to replicate Blackberry's hold on her. More importantly, the motion closed the rest of the distance between our lips, which I wasn't expecting.
I lost myself in that for a moment, taking the initiative, Beeps never pushing, always responding and reacting to my movements, to my tongue, but her responses also always enticing me to some new action, leading by following, in some strange way. We only stopped when I heard Faust cough loudly, and I opened my eyes… to see Blackberry less than a foot from our faces, watching with undisguised interest.
I sputtered and leapt back, breaking out of Beeps' hold.
"Uh, hi there."
"Hello, husband." The word husband, yet again, dripping with desire. It was honestly unnerving to be wanted that badly by someone who was otherwise kind of harmless-seeming. "Why did you stop? You two are cute together."
Well, you had the best view, so I'll have to trust your judgement I guess.
"I, uh," I stammered, as I looked around the room for an escape, "it's time for my bath!" I shouted. Immediately, I realized that was the wrong response, but of course, it was much too late by then.
'Why aren't you kissing her,' she asks, 'I want to watch you kiss her,' she says. 'Oh,' I say, 'it's because it's time for me to get naked. Hopefully that doesn't interest you in any way.' Right. Great job. Nailed it.
Beepatrice had started for the pool right away, abandoning me to my fate, and was already getting out the soap, and beginning to heat the water with her body. Actually, given that she steams when she's embarrassed and, apparently, aroused… what have I been bathing in all my life? No, no, we're not thinking about that. I'm in enough trouble already.
Luckily for me, I had been looking away from Blackberry when I shouted out what had to be the dumbest thing I'd ever said, so avoiding looking at her and seeing her response to all this was as simple as just not doing the one thing I shouldn't do in order to succeed.
…Blackberry was trembling, looking right back at me, with her arm partially outstretched, as though she were afraid to touch me. Thank heaven for small mercies. "Will... will you wash me, too? Husband? Will you wash… my body?"
Oh right, I'm consorting with demons. Heaven hates me.
"Faust?!" I shouted, begging for salvation from my idiocy. Take pity on me.
Her voice echoed from across the room, "Dearest Blackberry, I am not sure that is wise." Blackberry's face fell, but she didn't argue. Thank you, Faust. You are a saint.
I turned to say as much, only to find her already naked in the water. "If Lyle washes me first, then the two of us can work together to clean you. That will be much better, I think." No, that's right, you're literally a monster. She smiled at me, with her sharp, pointy teeth. "Come now, Lyle. It is time for my bath."
Ultimately, after some dithering, I determined there was nothing actually stopping me from simply entering the pool with my undergarments still in place. They would need to be removed eventually, but once the water was full of bubbles, that would be less of a problem, and I could simply don a towel upon my exit. In my confusion and distraction, though, I managed to miss how it was Blackberry got her clothing off, so that would need to remain a mystery for the time being.
Blackberry herself was kneeling in the water, to try and put as much of herself in as possible. Mostly, horses can't kneel very well, so I guess there were at least a few differences? She looked very excited, and was sort of wiggling back and forth. Faust, meanwhile, was waiting patiently on the other side of the small pool. The water came up roughly to chest level, so if she knelt or crouched, she could possibly have preserved her modesty. Of course, her transformation meant there was really none of that left. She stood proudly, practically putting her breasts on display, and I noticed her spells had stopped for the time being.
Beepatrice followed me through the water, gently cleaning me as I moved towards Faust, and for the first time in my life, I found the situation quite distracting. We'd been doing this for years now, her washing me, ever since my parents moved on, and only now did I even stop to consider how strange it was. It was funny how the past few days had completely recontextualized our entire relationship. Heh. Maybe, more like reconsexualized. Hehehe.
By the time I reached Faust, I found my reservations had been washed away as well. Whether by the intoxicating steam, the intensely sexual situation, Faust's nakedness, Beeps' expert caress, my desire to put on a show for poor sweet Blackberry, or my own sexual awakening and gradual corruption, I found myself excited where fear had been only moments before. I wanted this. Had I suggested a bath knowing what would happen, somewhere deep inside? Was I already working against myself like that? Why would I have gotten in if I weren't secretly excited? Honestly, I didn't care.
I all but leapt at Faust, pinning her against the edge of the pool, the cloth between my fingers and her body only barely felt in the heat of the water. Unfiltered through that flimsy pretext, however, was the contact between practically every inch of the rest of our bodies. At some point, Beeps had poured the soap down the front of my chest, and as I grinded my body against Faust, matching her moaning with my own low sounds, we cleaned each other. Sort of. Beepatrice took care of the details, as the cloth fell forgotten from my hands. I ran my fingers over every place on Sally's body I'd never even dared to dream about, the soapy suds clinging to my hands even under the water, causing my hands to glide freely across her skin. Not that she didn't give as good as she got, if anything, she was more aggressive, kissing me violently and stimulating my body, not even hampered by the undergarment I'd foolishly left in place.
I pulled at that cloth wrapping, desperately trying to remove it, but Faust caught my hand, and shoved me back against the edge of the pool.
"N̛ot.́ ҉Y͏e̢t͏." She growled.
"Why?" I cried, begged, "Please! I need you…"
She looked into my eyes, searching for something, her hand grasping at my chin. Whatever it was, my heart sank as she didn't find it.
"Not yet you don't."
The next few moments were torture, as I lost the ability to move, overcome by her passion as she ran her arms, and even her legs, across my bare flesh. I don't understand. Couldn't she see how much I wanted her? How much I needed her? Why was she so cruel? How could she do this to me?! I writhed under her attentions, able to keep silent only due to the possible threat of drowning. I needed more. I needed more! What could I do to-
"I love you, Faust!" I shouted. She let out a loud moan, pulled me close and dragged me under the water.
It was everything.
The sensations were so much more intense when you really screamed it. When you really meant it. Faust herself almost disappeared underneath Phantom Faust, this delightful girl who only wanted what was best for me. How could I never have seen how perfect this was? I was so incurably stupid. So lucky she was here to do the thinking for me.
But, when she noticed me responding more to her spell than to her, Faust upped her efforts. Jealous, perhaps, of even herself, she pushed my definition of pleasure further and further into the extremes of the word. I couldn't breathe, trapped underneath her, but Faust became my breath, lifting her own head above the water, ferrying to me the oxygen I needed to survive, her kisses literally filling me with life. She was the only reason I was still alive at all.
I came and came, filling the cloth wrapped around my waist with seemingly endless desire, and Faust finally lifted me back into the world, letting me rest.
But we were not alone in the pool.
Beepatrice was on me before I could get my bearings, and she tore away the garment at my waist, spreading herself over me as she did in that field, without waiting for permission. As she did, she tossed my wrapping at Faust, contemptuously. "Clean this up," she said, with frustration, as she drove me back to the heights of sensation. Faust immediately complied, licking and slurping noises further driving me away from reason and back into the tireless embrace of mechanical passion.
"I love you," she whispered into my ear, each time our rhythmic pistoning brought us closest together, "I love you, I love you, I love you."
I returned her confessions the best way I knew how, the way, I understood as I was connected with her, that she desired most. "You service me flawlessly," I whispered. "You know my desires, know that only you can provide for me the way I need to be provided for. I love you, Beepatrice, but more, I need you with me always. Never leave me. Promise me."
Her eyes were sparkling, but as I filled her, they faded, slowly, becoming emptier, more distant. Was she healing herself of the electrical damage with my energy?
"Promise."
I needed a minute after that, some time to really come down from the experience that we'd just shared.
But we were not alone in the pool.
"Wow! Forget washing me! Can you do that again!?" Blackberry. Right.
"Awkward." Beeps said. Concise but precise, as always.
Queen Fiona
Am I good enough for your heaven?
- Location
- The Throne of Want
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Since I never had the chance to when the story was originally posting - X was recommended one of my quests, and we became friends pretty much at the tail-end of Contact's original run - I'll put some of my thoughts down here for posterity's sake. 🖤 Given my own busy schedule, of writing and other projects, I have no idea if I'll be able to keep this up...but I thought I'd get my foot in the door at least?
I really hope K posts the character profiles later. They're absolutely chock full of dirt on these girls that is just - it's just wonderful. (Beeps' is by far my favorite.) It also reveals a lot about Lyle, too...
The whole thing here terrified a bunch of people on QQ. The surface-level reading of Sally's intentions rather bothered K at the time, and still does to this day. Really, though, if you think about the implications of all this, especially given the setting mechanics, it's all rather romantic in its own twisted, completely unreasonable way. I'm sure Sally's plans will go smoothly -
wait, sorry, someone's talking to me backstage -
...
...oh, that's what the title is reference to! Boy, is my face red! Guess, uh...guess maybe we should worry.
Still, Lyle is a bit more okay with it than you'd expect...at least he's honest?
It is interesting how readily accepting Sally is of spending eternity with someone she hates, though...wonder what's up with that?
Although, saying Beeps has a head for matters of state...I'm really not so sure about that. On the plus side, though, speeches will be much, much shorter.
A lot of people tend to ignore this aspect of the setting - or treat it, essentially, as a justification for Exterminatus, probably using that exact word because you know the type - but K is confronting it head-on, despite her characters not really wanting to participate in it. Hell, Sally preferring women (except Lyle) is a fairly significant issue for her character, and a decent chunk of her plans are rather derailed by it...because for Lyle to be as immortal as she is, Lyle has to become a Mamono, and Mamono don't generatesemen spirit energy.
Let's, uh. Let's just say there's a few reasons I was skeptical of reading this before K approached me about my writing.
So, you know. This is kind of a big sacrifice for Sally on a bunch of levels, thus her overly convoluted plan.
A note: Mamonoization is kind of a major risk for human spellcasters in this setting, as is my understanding. Sally becoming a monster is more or less an inevitability, not a thing she can avoid. Presumably her decision to become a Lich was based upon wanting to have some control over her fate, because while she's always been like this and becoming a Lich honestly changed very little for her, I'm not sure she'd have done it if remaining a human were a reasonable option for her.
There are some lore implications around lesbians, honestly, but that's a bit of a derail and so we'll leave that aside. Especially since a lot of it is down to my own headcanon - yes, I have a headcanon for this fic, it's that good~
But the Automaton entry is, if you get past the heteronormativity, really hot.
This isn't a demon realm, Lyle...but it is a magical realm!
(...okay, yes, I just wanted to say that so I could post this picture.)
I actually hate the original comic, by the way. The original intention was to outline a GM making their players uncomfortable by violating their boundaries and wishes with a gross fetish, but it was then used to more or less justify any kind of opposition to exploring one's desires in roleplay...or writing...or really fucking anything. Another means to make sexuality shameful. Here on SV, that kind of attitude is evident, and it's a real shame, that things like Contact have to struggle for recognition and to even be accepted despite the cultural shifts supposedly making it more open to content like this.
Like, under my understanding of the intentions of the rules...they're meant to ensure that cheap, exploitative porn is discouraged, while mature works that explore the meaning behind sexuality and love are allowed. But the boundary is so vague that in practice, it's more 'do you fit the right cliques' than anything. Personally, I'm of the opinion that Contact explores human relationships and love in a deeper way than anything else I've read in my time with fanfiction, but because its sexual content is so overwhelming and upfront, K has been so worried...
Ah well. That's just me rambling on. I know I don't really belong here, so...
Honestly, low-key, I'm pretty sure there is a part of Lyle that's genuinely enjoying all of this. But maybe that's just me?
I have nothing to say about this, except that K is pretty much the best writer of sexy things of any variety that I've come across, especially in sheer variety. We'll be seeing a lot of fun scenes from here on out in that regard. Just...this entire thing is perfect, and something Faust needs to do way more of.
K keeps getting worried about it, but...honestly, I think she needs no apologies for Sally. None at all. Part of why her being pushed onto QQ is a shame; so many people who can't appreciate this kind of work...~
I mean, really, that's the issue. Sally never asked. But Lyle might've been pretty okay with it if she had...well, I guess Beeps would be a problem, but. But Sally's that kind of person - she'd rather ask forgiveness than permission.
...there's a lot to unpack there. I guess if women have all the magical powers, maybe men have to be stuck with all the dumb ones? What a shame, isn't it...
There's a certain appeal, among a certain subset of fans, who are more the type to want to be a monster girl than fuck one. Who would want to be an ordinary human, when they could instead have that beauty and power? 🖤
Somewhere in the Alloy Gate City, a medieval peasant, a clockwork gynoid, and a wizard start asking around about White Glint. Panic ensues, especially when the wizard and gynoid start tossing around mechs like ragdolls.
...okay, no, not really.
(What can I say? I forgot how fast it takes for her plan to get derailed!)
I'll see if I can't get more out soon. I just thought I'd get started while I had some free time.
And I have some replies to other people's posts/reviews!
I think K made the right choice. The mechanics of the setting don't matter yet. The relationship is well-established through dialogue. There's not much to be gained in this instance by going back and establishing all of their backstories and such, because none of it has much meaning to what follows. What matters is Sally did a bad thing and is trying to decide Lyle's future unilaterally, and Sally and Beeps hate each other but love Lyle.
I guess maybe some more stuff could be explained at the edges here, but...eventually, when reading fiction, you just have to sometimes sit back and trust that things will be explained eventually, even if you're not given everything upfront. You know? Having read far ahead on QQ, there's very little that can be gained through establishing things beforehand, that wouldn't ruin later plot elements.
That being said...I'd say in practice, especially in the real world - it's a lot more complicated.
(Fair warning, this goes a bit into personal territory, so I'm going to put it in a spoiler.)
...okay, that got a bit too personal. But point being: you're right, in the ideal case. And romantic fiction is kind of fucked. The whole idea of someone as a prize to be fought over is a holdover of a society that, more or less, treats marriage as a kind of property arrangement. And the idea of 'poly is always the answer!' can actually cause a lot of problems on its own, rather than solving them, because of people's selfishness...
(Although in that case, you could of course argue that the person in question is themselves treating love as property. Because if you want to collect everyone you love at the slightest attraction, regardless of the feelings of those you already love, can you say you're treating those you're already dating with the respect they deserve?)
But yeah. People kind of suck, not everyone is queer, personality conflicts sometimes can't be bridged, expanding a relationship is fraught with problems, and even the best-case scenarios don't allow for a perfect solution where everyone wins because of the simple limits of human emotional and temporal capacity. Mamono are wired such that human limitations are basically not a problem for them, and we're still having a massive story about how derailed this entire arrangement is going to be by the personality conflicts inherent in these human beings.
So that's why. There are actual reasons why love triangles are things, even if it's mostly 'romantic partners are property'.
Anyway, to try and tie this into the subject at hand, let's go into a practical example here and try and delve into why it's not clearcut here in particular!
So Sally, fairly openly, despises Beeps.
Sally is, as a Lich, incredibly powerful. And Liches are some of the strongest spellcasters in MGE. I don't know when the character profiles will be posted, but it's not really much of a spoiler. The fact that she chooses to negotiate with Beeps rather than fight her should probably be a sign that the situation isn't really as simple as it looks - even taking into account that Beeps has however many centuries of monster-fighting experience.
On Beeps' end...well, honestly, it's pretty hard to tell what that girl is thinking even when she's not restricted from saying her mind. But I think she's got the simplistic logic of 'Lyle would be sad', and anything else is of no meaning - unlike Sally, who is not quite so circumspect, and probably has openly considered causing an 'accident' to happen to Beeps. Sally is not a person whose morals were particularly conventional when she was alive; dying has only made her further willing to abandon all pretense to humanity and reality. From our perspective, the most likely explanation is that Sally decided fighting Beeps was too risky (keeping in mind that Beeps is incredibly powerful, seemingly even by the standards of her species) and that the benefits of keeping her around far outweighed the drawbacks, but the fact that Sally thought this entire plan was a good idea in the first place suggests her judgement is perhaps not the best.
Now, it may be suggested that this is a natural consequence of Mamono's cultural and instinctual programming, but I wouldn't say that's enough of an explanation in this case. Maybe it is for Blackberry, but Sally and Beeps are hardly conventional examples, even if the latter seems so. This isn't the kind of story where harems happen 'just because', in Lyle's case.
So...why?
She and Beeps have no evidence being in Lyle's supposed 'harem' will make them get along any better than before. It's easy to imagine Beeps sacrificing her own personal feelings for Lyle and just putting up with it, but Sally isn't exactly the same kind of person. So, what is it that possesses her to do this...?
I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. 🖤
...or Beeps', to be honest. That girl isn't anywhere near as pure as she makes herself out to be, which already isn't actually that much.
Honestly, though, it's not an unreasonable hesitation, especially given what I talked about above. Lyle knows Sally prefers women with the exclusive exception of himself - so you'd probably worry a lot in that situation. Beeps and Sally's antipathy is such that if Lyle ever actually committed to Sally, he'd have to deal with an immortal robot's constant jealousy, and that would just be a massive problem, especially because Beeps can't talk. (The limitations of an Automaton's communication can be bypassed, but electricity isn't exactly as easy to come by in this world as it is in ours.)
Obviously, this story is about them learning to actually talk it out, but...you can understand why Sally's solution was, more or less, 'become strong enough that Beeps is at least reasonably challenged, then lay out her terms'. In many ways, Beeps is the architect of this situation, but keep in mind that uh...her sleeping with Lyle would be a big no-no for a bunch of reasons, and in her own way, she'd keep him in limbo so as to not lose him.
Sometimes bad things have to happen before good things do, you know?
...now I'm curious who the other two are.
This really is a fantastic opener. I was going to rip it off for a chapter of a moribund quest that ended up never happening for whatever reason, so you know it has my seal of approval! There's no more flattering thing I can do than steal from your work.
Lyle, nothing is ever your own idea. Don't lie.
I really hope K posts the character profiles later. They're absolutely chock full of dirt on these girls that is just - it's just wonderful. (Beeps' is by far my favorite.) It also reveals a lot about Lyle, too...
I said it before, and I'll say it again...may we all have someone who loves us as much as Sally does someday.
The whole thing here terrified a bunch of people on QQ. The surface-level reading of Sally's intentions rather bothered K at the time, and still does to this day. Really, though, if you think about the implications of all this, especially given the setting mechanics, it's all rather romantic in its own twisted, completely unreasonable way. I'm sure Sally's plans will go smoothly -
wait, sorry, someone's talking to me backstage -
...
...oh, that's what the title is reference to! Boy, is my face red! Guess, uh...guess maybe we should worry.
Still, Lyle is a bit more okay with it than you'd expect...at least he's honest?
...so this part is pretty, uh. Pretty hot. I feel like in any ordinary story Sally would be my favorite character, but Beeps makes a very powerful argument. (At least, where the characters we've seen so far are concerned.)
Looks like you've been outvoted, Lyle. 🖤
It is interesting how readily accepting Sally is of spending eternity with someone she hates, though...wonder what's up with that?
Although, saying Beeps has a head for matters of state...I'm really not so sure about that. On the plus side, though, speeches will be much, much shorter.
So the mechanics of MGE are...a thing. A friend of K's, and someone very dear to me, once described it as the 'semen economy'. We'll be exploring other elements of MGE as presented in the fiction and fandom responses thereof later, but this one...
A lot of people tend to ignore this aspect of the setting - or treat it, essentially, as a justification for Exterminatus, probably using that exact word because you know the type - but K is confronting it head-on, despite her characters not really wanting to participate in it. Hell, Sally preferring women (except Lyle) is a fairly significant issue for her character, and a decent chunk of her plans are rather derailed by it...because for Lyle to be as immortal as she is, Lyle has to become a Mamono, and Mamono don't generate
So, you know. This is kind of a big sacrifice for Sally on a bunch of levels, thus her overly convoluted plan.
A note: Mamonoization is kind of a major risk for human spellcasters in this setting, as is my understanding. Sally becoming a monster is more or less an inevitability, not a thing she can avoid. Presumably her decision to become a Lich was based upon wanting to have some control over her fate, because while she's always been like this and becoming a Lich honestly changed very little for her, I'm not sure she'd have done it if remaining a human were a reasonable option for her.
I mean. You're not entirely wrong, Lyle.
I will say that of all the monster entries I've read in the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, the Automaton is my...second favorite. (My first is Apophis; it's probably no coincidence that it's possibly the closest thing to a 'yuri' monster there is in canon alone. With a poisonous love...)
But the Automaton entry is, if you get past the heteronormativity, really hot.
See? Lyle thinks so too. 🖤 Poor Sally...
This isn't a demon realm, Lyle...but it is a magical realm!
(...okay, yes, I just wanted to say that so I could post this picture.)
I actually hate the original comic, by the way. The original intention was to outline a GM making their players uncomfortable by violating their boundaries and wishes with a gross fetish, but it was then used to more or less justify any kind of opposition to exploring one's desires in roleplay...or writing...or really fucking anything. Another means to make sexuality shameful. Here on SV, that kind of attitude is evident, and it's a real shame, that things like Contact have to struggle for recognition and to even be accepted despite the cultural shifts supposedly making it more open to content like this.
Like, under my understanding of the intentions of the rules...they're meant to ensure that cheap, exploitative porn is discouraged, while mature works that explore the meaning behind sexuality and love are allowed. But the boundary is so vague that in practice, it's more 'do you fit the right cliques' than anything. Personally, I'm of the opinion that Contact explores human relationships and love in a deeper way than anything else I've read in my time with fanfiction, but because its sexual content is so overwhelming and upfront, K has been so worried...
Ah well. That's just me rambling on. I know I don't really belong here, so...
May we all have someone so loyal to us as Faust von Frankenstein...
Honestly, low-key, I'm pretty sure there is a part of Lyle that's genuinely enjoying all of this. But maybe that's just me?
I have nothing to say about this, except that K is pretty much the best writer of sexy things of any variety that I've come across, especially in sheer variety. We'll be seeing a lot of fun scenes from here on out in that regard. Just...this entire thing is perfect, and something Faust needs to do way more of.
K keeps getting worried about it, but...honestly, I think she needs no apologies for Sally. None at all. Part of why her being pushed onto QQ is a shame; so many people who can't appreciate this kind of work...~
This is probably the first sign that Lyle's got more depth to him than we're led to believe initially. I can't imagine a lot of people who could pull something like this off so quickly...or at all. Certainly, it's also a sign of his feelings toward Sally, or rather Faust...it'll be interesting to see how those are properly communicated~
I mean, really, that's the issue. Sally never asked. But Lyle might've been pretty okay with it if she had...well, I guess Beeps would be a problem, but. But Sally's that kind of person - she'd rather ask forgiveness than permission.
...there's a lot to unpack there.
I guess if women have all the magical powers, maybe men have to be stuck with all the dumb ones? What a shame, isn't it...There's a certain appeal, among a certain subset of fans, who are more the type to want to be a monster girl than fuck one. Who would want to be an ordinary human, when they could instead have that beauty and power? 🖤
...okay, no, not really.
...I take everything nice I said back, Faust. You absolute moron.
(What can I say? I forgot how fast it takes for her plan to get derailed!)
I'll see if I can't get more out soon. I just thought I'd get started while I had some free time.
And I have some replies to other people's posts/reviews!
I think...it's the eternal struggle for any author. Do you start where the action does, or do you go back further to try and establish the stakes?
I think K made the right choice. The mechanics of the setting don't matter yet. The relationship is well-established through dialogue. There's not much to be gained in this instance by going back and establishing all of their backstories and such, because none of it has much meaning to what follows. What matters is Sally did a bad thing and is trying to decide Lyle's future unilaterally, and Sally and Beeps hate each other but love Lyle.
I guess maybe some more stuff could be explained at the edges here, but...eventually, when reading fiction, you just have to sometimes sit back and trust that things will be explained eventually, even if you're not given everything upfront. You know? Having read far ahead on QQ, there's very little that can be gained through establishing things beforehand, that wouldn't ruin later plot elements.
So this is something I've been chewing on for a bit. I don't really think you're wrong; the whole assumption of a love triangle rests on ideals of ownership, monogamy, and heteronormativity that underpins our fiction and lives as a background noise we all have to try and get away from. It is genuinely fairly toxic pretty much all of the time it comes out in fiction.
That being said...I'd say in practice, especially in the real world - it's a lot more complicated.
(Fair warning, this goes a bit into personal territory, so I'm going to put it in a spoiler.)
It's a well-known fact that human beings have only a certain capacity for meaningful relationships. Even as someone who's aro, there are only so many friends a person can have and care for on more than a superficial level. That goes for love, too.
Of course, this capacity is not 'literally one person and no more', and love is itself a spectrum, that is not a binary of 'friendship' and 'love'; a powerful, all-consuming love is something I reserve for a select few, while there are many others I'm fond of in a romantic way and/or a sexual way who I would not call 'my love'...even though I have at times in the past, as relationships ebb and flow. It's obviously a bit easier if you're queer to manage this, of course, but it's still possible even if everyone involved is straight to do this.
But it's still finite. I cannot love all the people I'm attracted to, let alone all the people attracted to me. More than once, I've had painful conversations where I have to set boundaries because people ask for more than I can give; I've even lost someone I cared about a lot over it, because she wanted to be loved completely, and I couldn't return those feelings. It was too painful to even be around me if I wouldn't give all of that to her.
It's not always so bad, mind. Usually it works out alright, through communication and dialogue and accepting that I'm a human being with limited energy and love.
But it's still really, really complicated.
A lot of the issues that people see in relationships stem from the unhappy circumstances of monogamy and heteronormativity, but not all of them. From personal experience, I know that queer and poly relationships are capable of all those excesses, and even more, and that the idea that we're somehow immune to them because we know about poisonous heterosexual monogamous relationships is both wrong and downright dangerous.
Love is hard. It gets harder when there's more than one person involved. Expanding your relationship to include others is always going to be difficult, and while I've known plenty of people in healthy polyamorous and open relationships of various forms - myself included - there's a lot of people out there who use polyamory as an excuse to violate their partner's boundaries and unilaterally expand their polycule without asking, because why not? Love is love, right? And obviously your partner would understand, right?
Much as it's good to assume good faith...love is too powerful a thing to not take a few precautions on.
Of course, this capacity is not 'literally one person and no more', and love is itself a spectrum, that is not a binary of 'friendship' and 'love'; a powerful, all-consuming love is something I reserve for a select few, while there are many others I'm fond of in a romantic way and/or a sexual way who I would not call 'my love'...even though I have at times in the past, as relationships ebb and flow. It's obviously a bit easier if you're queer to manage this, of course, but it's still possible even if everyone involved is straight to do this.
But it's still finite. I cannot love all the people I'm attracted to, let alone all the people attracted to me. More than once, I've had painful conversations where I have to set boundaries because people ask for more than I can give; I've even lost someone I cared about a lot over it, because she wanted to be loved completely, and I couldn't return those feelings. It was too painful to even be around me if I wouldn't give all of that to her.
It's not always so bad, mind. Usually it works out alright, through communication and dialogue and accepting that I'm a human being with limited energy and love.
But it's still really, really complicated.
A lot of the issues that people see in relationships stem from the unhappy circumstances of monogamy and heteronormativity, but not all of them. From personal experience, I know that queer and poly relationships are capable of all those excesses, and even more, and that the idea that we're somehow immune to them because we know about poisonous heterosexual monogamous relationships is both wrong and downright dangerous.
Love is hard. It gets harder when there's more than one person involved. Expanding your relationship to include others is always going to be difficult, and while I've known plenty of people in healthy polyamorous and open relationships of various forms - myself included - there's a lot of people out there who use polyamory as an excuse to violate their partner's boundaries and unilaterally expand their polycule without asking, because why not? Love is love, right? And obviously your partner would understand, right?
Much as it's good to assume good faith...love is too powerful a thing to not take a few precautions on.
...okay, that got a bit too personal. But point being: you're right, in the ideal case. And romantic fiction is kind of fucked. The whole idea of someone as a prize to be fought over is a holdover of a society that, more or less, treats marriage as a kind of property arrangement. And the idea of 'poly is always the answer!' can actually cause a lot of problems on its own, rather than solving them, because of people's selfishness...
(Although in that case, you could of course argue that the person in question is themselves treating love as property. Because if you want to collect everyone you love at the slightest attraction, regardless of the feelings of those you already love, can you say you're treating those you're already dating with the respect they deserve?)
But yeah. People kind of suck, not everyone is queer, personality conflicts sometimes can't be bridged, expanding a relationship is fraught with problems, and even the best-case scenarios don't allow for a perfect solution where everyone wins because of the simple limits of human emotional and temporal capacity. Mamono are wired such that human limitations are basically not a problem for them, and we're still having a massive story about how derailed this entire arrangement is going to be by the personality conflicts inherent in these human beings.
So that's why. There are actual reasons why love triangles are things, even if it's mostly 'romantic partners are property'.
Anyway, to try and tie this into the subject at hand, let's go into a practical example here and try and delve into why it's not clearcut here in particular!
So Sally, fairly openly, despises Beeps.
Sally is, as a Lich, incredibly powerful. And Liches are some of the strongest spellcasters in MGE. I don't know when the character profiles will be posted, but it's not really much of a spoiler. The fact that she chooses to negotiate with Beeps rather than fight her should probably be a sign that the situation isn't really as simple as it looks - even taking into account that Beeps has however many centuries of monster-fighting experience.
On Beeps' end...well, honestly, it's pretty hard to tell what that girl is thinking even when she's not restricted from saying her mind. But I think she's got the simplistic logic of 'Lyle would be sad', and anything else is of no meaning - unlike Sally, who is not quite so circumspect, and probably has openly considered causing an 'accident' to happen to Beeps. Sally is not a person whose morals were particularly conventional when she was alive; dying has only made her further willing to abandon all pretense to humanity and reality. From our perspective, the most likely explanation is that Sally decided fighting Beeps was too risky (keeping in mind that Beeps is incredibly powerful, seemingly even by the standards of her species) and that the benefits of keeping her around far outweighed the drawbacks, but the fact that Sally thought this entire plan was a good idea in the first place suggests her judgement is perhaps not the best.
Now, it may be suggested that this is a natural consequence of Mamono's cultural and instinctual programming, but I wouldn't say that's enough of an explanation in this case. Maybe it is for Blackberry, but Sally and Beeps are hardly conventional examples, even if the latter seems so. This isn't the kind of story where harems happen 'just because', in Lyle's case.
So...why?
She and Beeps have no evidence being in Lyle's supposed 'harem' will make them get along any better than before. It's easy to imagine Beeps sacrificing her own personal feelings for Lyle and just putting up with it, but Sally isn't exactly the same kind of person. So, what is it that possesses her to do this...?
I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. 🖤
In Lyle's defense, I think this is a bit more Sally's fault.
...or Beeps', to be honest. That girl isn't anywhere near as pure as she makes herself out to be, which already isn't actually that much.
Honestly, though, it's not an unreasonable hesitation, especially given what I talked about above. Lyle knows Sally prefers women with the exclusive exception of himself - so you'd probably worry a lot in that situation. Beeps and Sally's antipathy is such that if Lyle ever actually committed to Sally, he'd have to deal with an immortal robot's constant jealousy, and that would just be a massive problem, especially because Beeps can't talk. (The limitations of an Automaton's communication can be bypassed, but electricity isn't exactly as easy to come by in this world as it is in ours.)
Obviously, this story is about them learning to actually talk it out, but...you can understand why Sally's solution was, more or less, 'become strong enough that Beeps is at least reasonably challenged, then lay out her terms'. In many ways, Beeps is the architect of this situation, but keep in mind that uh...her sleeping with Lyle would be a big no-no for a bunch of reasons, and in her own way, she'd keep him in limbo so as to not lose him.
Sometimes bad things have to happen before good things do, you know?
Chapter Eight - Blackberry Makes Her Move
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Staring into open flame in the darkness had a strange calming effect, as it generally did. I wasn't sure excusing myself to build the campfire had been the right move, exactly, but it was what I had needed, at the time. Faust's metaphors about fire-tending aside, the process was very familiar, normal. It was easy to do while I thought about what had just happened, while also desperately trying not to think about it. It wasn't easy to see where I'd gone wrong, exactly, in keeping my wits about me. I think by the time Beepatrice had wrapped her arms around me, it had already been too late. But where was my first misstep? I had tried to keep her from holding me that way, but admittedly not very hard. Had it been when I first saw her in the clearing, let her leap on top of me? I'd managed to regain my senses shortly after, but…
Perhaps I was simply too reliant on her? Without her as a calming influence, maybe I was doomed anyway. If so, the smart thing to do would be to keep her away from electricity in the future, keep her from showing what seemed to be her true feelings. But, was it right for me to curtail her self-expression for my own gain? Almost certainly not. She would avoid it if I asked that of her, true, but wouldn't that essentially be a rejection of her most honest self? The core of who she apparently really was, finally showing through, only to be tossed aside by the one she held most dear?
Put that way, it was obvious to me I couldn't do that, but still, some kind of boundary needed to be established, and soon. Faust would do whatever she wanted, and only mostly within reason, Blackberry would be unlikely to initiate anything more intimate than sitting next to me on her own, but Beeps would be responsive to my wishes, should I voice them. The question was, then, what did I actually want?
It wasn't as though the feelings I'd shared with the two of them back there were somehow dishonest. My love for Faust, for Beepatrice, was without question, real. Blackberry was a bit too new to me to loudly proclaim genuine feelings for, but she was kind of cute, and Faust and Beeps both seemed to like her, if each in their own way. Spending time with, and even sleeping with, any of them wasn't exactly a distasteful prospect, and never had been. It was merely something I wasn't supposed to do. I regularly enjoyed plenty of things I shouldn't ought to. But… I had seen Incubi before, seen Lesser Succubi before. In even a small town like ours was… had been, people could fall to lust swiftly, and in silence, and then drag the object of their desire down with them at a frightening pace. Two friends, lovers, or even family members fine one day, their bodies burning the next morning in the town square. Or if they were lucky, simply never seen again as they fled for the wilds. As I, as we, were doing now.
I didn't want to look into a mirror one day and see that crazed gleam they all shared had taken root behind even my eyes, to find that I liked the look of it living in there. If I had glanced into the water, a few short minutes ago, instead of at Faust, at Beeps, would I have seen that madness laughing back at me? I was afraid of the answer. If so, was I already lost? If not, how much further was there to fall? ...How would it feel?
As much as I wanted to go back in there right now and show Blackberry just what the rising tide of bubbles had apparently mostly hidden from her, teach her what it was that made people make those sounds, I didn't want the results of that choice, and the choices that would follow.
So, then, what did I want? Rather, what did I want to want?
"Lyle."
"Hey, Faust." She sat down next to me, placed her hand on my knee, but I didn't look away from the fire.
"Lyle, I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Faust. I was the one who lost control of myself." Left unsaid was that she hadn't. That she had gotten exactly what she wanted, what she hoped and planned for, that her apology was disingenuous. Her hand left my knee. Unsaid, perhaps, but not unheard.
"Lyle, I-"
I breathed out, heavily. "No, Faust, I'm sorry. That was cruel of me. I knew what I was getting into, and made my choice to stay." I grabbed her hand, still looking into the fire, and put it back on my knee. She left it there when I let go again. "I just wish you had talked to me, before all of this. You might have had to really hammer it in, but I'd have listened to you, you know? By the time we met in that clearing, I had no real choices left. You must have known I would have to go with you. I don't appreciate being manipulated like that."
"You… you could have fled, could have turned me in, Lyle, you were not without options." She didn't sound like she believed it even as she said the words herself, or perhaps she only hoped it weren't true.
I laughed, a short, bitter thing. "Turn you in? And see see them burn you alive? Stand back and watch? Faust, even without your... demonic energy, they'd have had to burn me first. An option, sure, but not really a choice at all. And run? Maybe, but where would I stop? Would you honestly have left me be?"
She didn't answer, but we both knew she would not have.
"…It wasn't that simple, you know?" She asked, vulnerable. "By the time I realized what was happening to me, that my desires for you, with no outlet, had crossed a line, I was already on the journey to monsterization. Not far along, true, I knew the signs, but even that first step, invisible to humans, is like a burning beacon to Mamono." She looked out at some point in the distance, smiling faintly. "There are some just over there, in fact. Miles from them, I can still tell where they are exactly. Even if I had marshalled myself, and gone no further, I'd have only called down a Succubus on our heads, or a Werewolf, or any number of things. They would have come for me eventually."
I looked at her, surprised at her words, and saddened, too. It was clear to me that she was really hurting, and I ended up moving closer, putting my arm around her, despite my own foul mood.
"And the next morning, every moment we spent together, I felt this… this itch. Of course, where you'd expect," she gestured to her lower body, "but… also, in three places at my lower back, near the base of the spine, and here as well, on either side of my head." She put her hands to the places that horns had been on any Lesser Succubus I'd seen. "It was horrible. I'd seen what those giggling trollops would do to those they claimed to 'love'. Hedonists. But… I knew that if it was with you, Lyle, I would joyfully do the same, and that knowledge horrified me, yes, but it aroused me even more."
She closed her eyes, gathering herself, and continued. "I'd been learning magic; you see? Far beyond what I already knew. I have an immense, natural talent for it. Nymphomancy, Eromancy. I wanted to prove to you I could be worth your time. I wanted you to want me, to choose me. Your robot could not compete with me in the fields of magecraft, for all her other gifts. There, I could not only outdo her, but outshine her like the sun to a flickering candle. A simple pleasure spell, barely a whisper of my power," she touched her finger to my chest, and a warm thrill ran though me, gone in an instant, as her finger withdrew, "with your permission, would have been all I needed to kickstart the right thoughts in your thick, stupid, beautiful, brilliant head. But, I had to practice the spells somehow, and… well… I think they're designed for that, truthfully. To take you to that place, if you have no one to share them with."
I held her close to me, as she leaned in, rubbing my hand on her back, consolingly. I made sure to keep her cloak firmly closed, all the same.
"And so, in the middle of the night, I went to Blackberry for help once more. A Lich, with her soul properly secured away, has a great deal more control over herself than the average Succubus, than, indeed, the average Mamono, and, once I was aware of the option, as you rightly said, it was no choice at all. So I began to study Necromancy, and shortly after, 'fell ill'. It was a long process, but with another outlet for the dark energy, I slowed my transformation long enough to get it done. And then, I 'died'."
"I'm so, so sorry, Sally." I said, squeezing her tighter.
"And I, too, am sorry, Lyle, and what a sorry pair we make."
Despite our closeness, and how our relationship had changed, there was nothing sexual about the way I held her as she cried.
It was some time later that Beeps and Blackberry exited the cave, drawn by the smell of the fire, and the dinner I had started finally approaching completion. Any idiot can make a stew. Not poisoning yourself with the numerous wild natural aphrodisiacs was trickier, admittedly, but I had the knack.
It appeared that Blackberry had been washed after all, though by herself, Faust, Beeps, or some combination, I couldn't say. Her long, blackened hair had been braided, so she must have been drying it for some time already, at the very least.
Beepatrice looked at me, with Faust having fallen asleep leaning against me, and immediately took charge of the food. I was somewhat relieved. She would turn my meager offering into something worth talking about given a few minutes, perhaps even using only what I'd already gathered. She had a finely tuned sense of taste, her abilities with spices as advanced as everything else she attempted.
I'd prepared a spot earlier for Blackberry, so she could kneel and be nearby me, and I gestured to it. She nodded, happily, and 'sat down'. I grabbed her hand in mine, the one that wasn't still slowly comforting Faust, keeping her aware I was near her, that I still cared, even as she slept.
"We can talk, you know."
Blackberry looked surprised, and shook her head pointing urgently at Faust.
"No, really. We're more likely to wake that boulder." I indicated one of the 'seats' that was around the fire pit. This area too, had been touched up by Beeps in her masonry rampage, if only slightly. The rocks were much less lumpy and more evenly spaced than they had been when I'd seen them last.
She looked down at me, shyly. "Hi, Lyle." She said my name like I'd heard some priests speak of the Chief God. Her whole face flushed too, rather than respond straight away, I waited for her to calm down again.
"Hi, Blackberry." Again, her face lit up, bright red, eyes wide with desire and disbelief. Again, I waited.
"Um… how are you?" She tried, fumbling for normalcy. I made sure to give her another moment before I answered.
"Fine," I lied, not willing to try anything too complicated yet. Honesty can come later, "yourself?"
"I… uh, I'm… nervous." Wow. I am shocked. But honestly, after what I just had to talk about, this was… nice. Simple.
"Why?"
"Well, um… you… are my husband, right?"
"I am," in a manner of speaking. I wasn't sure it actually counted by Mamono standards until we swapped mana somehow, even if not necessarily via sex, and by human standards, there's a ceremony, and monsters can't participate. Officiating it could wait, though.
"What if… what if you don't like me?"
What? "Why would I not like you?"
"No one ever has before. No one but Sally, I mean. Everyone else runs away." Okay, great. Simple is gone, we're back to complicated. Well, at least it's familiar ground. I should set up a vacation home here.
I let go of her hand, and she flinched, but as I ran my fingers through her bangs, brushing them aside for a better view of her eyes, she smiled, and I grabbed her hand again.
"They were probably just frightened by how pretty you are." She made a small squealing sound, but we otherwise sat in silence for several minutes.
"You… you mean that?" Depending on how you look at it, it's not really even a lie, they were worried they'd be tempted, so they ran. So sure, yeah, I guess I do.
What I actually said was, "Of course. I'm terrified of you, myself. But I won't run. You're too entrancing." I made sure to let her watch as my eyes ran up and down her body, slowly. I even lingered on the horse-like parts of her, which I was not currently actually enthused by. I'd probably come around. Hopefully. It'd be a long forever, otherwise.
She was breathing rather heavily, but I was mostly sure she didn't know what to do with those feelings yet, so as long as I was careful, I should be fine. Her grip tightened on mine, though, her thumb making little heart shapes on the back of my hand. Okay, cute. I smiled up at her.
"Sally… she promised that you'd love all of us… I was so scared. I trust her, but… my family doesn't like Bicorns… I probably can't go back." Oh, sweetheart. "What… what if… you like the others more?" She gets off on sharing me around, like any Bicorn would, but she also has an inferiority complex. This is definitely Sally's fault. Even if I suddenly lost my memory of the last few days, I'd still be able to tell.
"Why would you be worried about that?" Ask questions, Lyle, ask questions and stall, stall, stall.
"Well… I… You kiss them, and…" Uh huh. Okay, that's fair. But damn it, why now?
"Would you like me to kiss you?"
She wouldn't look at me, facing away, and making small squeaking sounds, her entire body was flushed bright red. Her human upper body swayed side to side, with her arms clutched to her chest, having taken her hand out of mine without noticing. This went on for a few moments, during which time I disentangled myself from Faust, substituting Beeps in my place, who had taken the stew off the fire. I was a little worried, but Faust, if anything, cuddled up to her more than she had me. I was pretty sure I knew what Blackberry's answer was going to be, and while I wasn't eager to leap back into things so soon, it sounded like I couldn't afford to put this off any more.
A soft "Yes, please," so quiet I barely heard it over the fire, even listening for it, echoed in the empty night.
As I walked around her, though, she turned away. I moved to get in front of her, and again, she shifted so I couldn't see her face. Uh huh. Right. Okay. I climbed up, into her saddle. She stopped moving. I put my hands on her shoulders, lightly massaging them, and moved up to her ear, speaking to her from out of her view. Well, heck, it worked once before.
"Why, my dear, sweet love, whatever could be the matter? Didst thou not request a kiss upon thine lips?"
"Dear husband," she mumbled, barely audible, "you know well that I did, but mine body is still pure. I am not wise to the ways of love, what if I cannot satisfy?"
"But my dear, to kiss is to make poetry with the lips of thine lover, and thy body is the sweetest of sonnets even without mine own embrace to join it. How couldst thou fail where thou hast already succeeded in truth, and without effort?" She shook, and I increased the depth of the massage. This is kind of fun.
"Dear husband," she said, slightly louder now, "thy words may be true, but what of the taste of mine lips upon thine own? How canst thou seek to savor that upon which only greenery has trod before? Or dost thou eat the grasses of the field with joy in thy heart? That is not thine people's way."
"My fated one," Oh, that one got a little gasp, I'll have to remember it, "even the grasses of the field taste sweeter than honey, if touched by the precious hooves of the one I adore. How much more, then, would the taste delight me, if I can taste it amongst the flavors of my beloved?"
"Dear husband," she was much louder now, and I slipped out of the saddle, slowly inching around into her view, still caressing her body with my hands, though gently, "these things thou speak with such conviction, they move me, though I cannot but wonder, canst I move thou the same way, with a mouth so unaccustomed and unruly? How can mine tongue dance the dance of love, when it only fumbles and flounders at the sight of thy body?"
"My destiny," her whole body twitched, and this time, not away from me, but lightly into my touch, "if thou were to place thy hands upon mine chest, and upon thine own," she did, though it felt as though she might dart away at any moment, "thou wouldst feel the music of our hearts, our souls, as they beat as one. Our selves are joined, as husband and wife, one creature with two bodies," that got a huge reaction, which sort of makes sense, since she's one creature with two bodies, "and so I tell thee truly, even if thou were to stumble, so too would I, and from our synchronicity, we would forge a new dance, the envy of all who learn of it. But we will not stumble, for thou art my inspiration, and I will be thine strength, guiding you through the dance of love as naturally as breathing."
"Dear husband," she turned to face me, and she wasn't quite shouting, but her voice was projecting, as though we were on stage, and perhaps, in her heart, we were, "if thy mouth's own skill with words is any forecast of the joys that it can visit upon mine body, then truly our union is blessed, and I will protest no longer!" She grabbed me up, without further warning, and I embraced her in return, as she brought my face level with her own, her eyes filled with tears, and snot running down her face. Ew, but… awwww.
"Dear wife," she actually sobbed, as I brought our faces closer together, "I offer you the barest taste of our eternity." Our lips touched…
And she dropped me.
Perhaps I was simply too reliant on her? Without her as a calming influence, maybe I was doomed anyway. If so, the smart thing to do would be to keep her away from electricity in the future, keep her from showing what seemed to be her true feelings. But, was it right for me to curtail her self-expression for my own gain? Almost certainly not. She would avoid it if I asked that of her, true, but wouldn't that essentially be a rejection of her most honest self? The core of who she apparently really was, finally showing through, only to be tossed aside by the one she held most dear?
Put that way, it was obvious to me I couldn't do that, but still, some kind of boundary needed to be established, and soon. Faust would do whatever she wanted, and only mostly within reason, Blackberry would be unlikely to initiate anything more intimate than sitting next to me on her own, but Beeps would be responsive to my wishes, should I voice them. The question was, then, what did I actually want?
It wasn't as though the feelings I'd shared with the two of them back there were somehow dishonest. My love for Faust, for Beepatrice, was without question, real. Blackberry was a bit too new to me to loudly proclaim genuine feelings for, but she was kind of cute, and Faust and Beeps both seemed to like her, if each in their own way. Spending time with, and even sleeping with, any of them wasn't exactly a distasteful prospect, and never had been. It was merely something I wasn't supposed to do. I regularly enjoyed plenty of things I shouldn't ought to. But… I had seen Incubi before, seen Lesser Succubi before. In even a small town like ours was… had been, people could fall to lust swiftly, and in silence, and then drag the object of their desire down with them at a frightening pace. Two friends, lovers, or even family members fine one day, their bodies burning the next morning in the town square. Or if they were lucky, simply never seen again as they fled for the wilds. As I, as we, were doing now.
I didn't want to look into a mirror one day and see that crazed gleam they all shared had taken root behind even my eyes, to find that I liked the look of it living in there. If I had glanced into the water, a few short minutes ago, instead of at Faust, at Beeps, would I have seen that madness laughing back at me? I was afraid of the answer. If so, was I already lost? If not, how much further was there to fall? ...How would it feel?
As much as I wanted to go back in there right now and show Blackberry just what the rising tide of bubbles had apparently mostly hidden from her, teach her what it was that made people make those sounds, I didn't want the results of that choice, and the choices that would follow.
So, then, what did I want? Rather, what did I want to want?
"Lyle."
"Hey, Faust." She sat down next to me, placed her hand on my knee, but I didn't look away from the fire.
"Lyle, I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Faust. I was the one who lost control of myself." Left unsaid was that she hadn't. That she had gotten exactly what she wanted, what she hoped and planned for, that her apology was disingenuous. Her hand left my knee. Unsaid, perhaps, but not unheard.
"Lyle, I-"
I breathed out, heavily. "No, Faust, I'm sorry. That was cruel of me. I knew what I was getting into, and made my choice to stay." I grabbed her hand, still looking into the fire, and put it back on my knee. She left it there when I let go again. "I just wish you had talked to me, before all of this. You might have had to really hammer it in, but I'd have listened to you, you know? By the time we met in that clearing, I had no real choices left. You must have known I would have to go with you. I don't appreciate being manipulated like that."
"You… you could have fled, could have turned me in, Lyle, you were not without options." She didn't sound like she believed it even as she said the words herself, or perhaps she only hoped it weren't true.
I laughed, a short, bitter thing. "Turn you in? And see see them burn you alive? Stand back and watch? Faust, even without your... demonic energy, they'd have had to burn me first. An option, sure, but not really a choice at all. And run? Maybe, but where would I stop? Would you honestly have left me be?"
She didn't answer, but we both knew she would not have.
"…It wasn't that simple, you know?" She asked, vulnerable. "By the time I realized what was happening to me, that my desires for you, with no outlet, had crossed a line, I was already on the journey to monsterization. Not far along, true, I knew the signs, but even that first step, invisible to humans, is like a burning beacon to Mamono." She looked out at some point in the distance, smiling faintly. "There are some just over there, in fact. Miles from them, I can still tell where they are exactly. Even if I had marshalled myself, and gone no further, I'd have only called down a Succubus on our heads, or a Werewolf, or any number of things. They would have come for me eventually."
I looked at her, surprised at her words, and saddened, too. It was clear to me that she was really hurting, and I ended up moving closer, putting my arm around her, despite my own foul mood.
"And the next morning, every moment we spent together, I felt this… this itch. Of course, where you'd expect," she gestured to her lower body, "but… also, in three places at my lower back, near the base of the spine, and here as well, on either side of my head." She put her hands to the places that horns had been on any Lesser Succubus I'd seen. "It was horrible. I'd seen what those giggling trollops would do to those they claimed to 'love'. Hedonists. But… I knew that if it was with you, Lyle, I would joyfully do the same, and that knowledge horrified me, yes, but it aroused me even more."
She closed her eyes, gathering herself, and continued. "I'd been learning magic; you see? Far beyond what I already knew. I have an immense, natural talent for it. Nymphomancy, Eromancy. I wanted to prove to you I could be worth your time. I wanted you to want me, to choose me. Your robot could not compete with me in the fields of magecraft, for all her other gifts. There, I could not only outdo her, but outshine her like the sun to a flickering candle. A simple pleasure spell, barely a whisper of my power," she touched her finger to my chest, and a warm thrill ran though me, gone in an instant, as her finger withdrew, "with your permission, would have been all I needed to kickstart the right thoughts in your thick, stupid, beautiful, brilliant head. But, I had to practice the spells somehow, and… well… I think they're designed for that, truthfully. To take you to that place, if you have no one to share them with."
I held her close to me, as she leaned in, rubbing my hand on her back, consolingly. I made sure to keep her cloak firmly closed, all the same.
"And so, in the middle of the night, I went to Blackberry for help once more. A Lich, with her soul properly secured away, has a great deal more control over herself than the average Succubus, than, indeed, the average Mamono, and, once I was aware of the option, as you rightly said, it was no choice at all. So I began to study Necromancy, and shortly after, 'fell ill'. It was a long process, but with another outlet for the dark energy, I slowed my transformation long enough to get it done. And then, I 'died'."
"I'm so, so sorry, Sally." I said, squeezing her tighter.
"And I, too, am sorry, Lyle, and what a sorry pair we make."
Despite our closeness, and how our relationship had changed, there was nothing sexual about the way I held her as she cried.
.oOo.
It was some time later that Beeps and Blackberry exited the cave, drawn by the smell of the fire, and the dinner I had started finally approaching completion. Any idiot can make a stew. Not poisoning yourself with the numerous wild natural aphrodisiacs was trickier, admittedly, but I had the knack.
It appeared that Blackberry had been washed after all, though by herself, Faust, Beeps, or some combination, I couldn't say. Her long, blackened hair had been braided, so she must have been drying it for some time already, at the very least.
Beepatrice looked at me, with Faust having fallen asleep leaning against me, and immediately took charge of the food. I was somewhat relieved. She would turn my meager offering into something worth talking about given a few minutes, perhaps even using only what I'd already gathered. She had a finely tuned sense of taste, her abilities with spices as advanced as everything else she attempted.
I'd prepared a spot earlier for Blackberry, so she could kneel and be nearby me, and I gestured to it. She nodded, happily, and 'sat down'. I grabbed her hand in mine, the one that wasn't still slowly comforting Faust, keeping her aware I was near her, that I still cared, even as she slept.
"We can talk, you know."
Blackberry looked surprised, and shook her head pointing urgently at Faust.
"No, really. We're more likely to wake that boulder." I indicated one of the 'seats' that was around the fire pit. This area too, had been touched up by Beeps in her masonry rampage, if only slightly. The rocks were much less lumpy and more evenly spaced than they had been when I'd seen them last.
She looked down at me, shyly. "Hi, Lyle." She said my name like I'd heard some priests speak of the Chief God. Her whole face flushed too, rather than respond straight away, I waited for her to calm down again.
"Hi, Blackberry." Again, her face lit up, bright red, eyes wide with desire and disbelief. Again, I waited.
"Um… how are you?" She tried, fumbling for normalcy. I made sure to give her another moment before I answered.
"Fine," I lied, not willing to try anything too complicated yet. Honesty can come later, "yourself?"
"I… uh, I'm… nervous." Wow. I am shocked. But honestly, after what I just had to talk about, this was… nice. Simple.
"Why?"
"Well, um… you… are my husband, right?"
"I am," in a manner of speaking. I wasn't sure it actually counted by Mamono standards until we swapped mana somehow, even if not necessarily via sex, and by human standards, there's a ceremony, and monsters can't participate. Officiating it could wait, though.
"What if… what if you don't like me?"
What? "Why would I not like you?"
"No one ever has before. No one but Sally, I mean. Everyone else runs away." Okay, great. Simple is gone, we're back to complicated. Well, at least it's familiar ground. I should set up a vacation home here.
I let go of her hand, and she flinched, but as I ran my fingers through her bangs, brushing them aside for a better view of her eyes, she smiled, and I grabbed her hand again.
"They were probably just frightened by how pretty you are." She made a small squealing sound, but we otherwise sat in silence for several minutes.
"You… you mean that?" Depending on how you look at it, it's not really even a lie, they were worried they'd be tempted, so they ran. So sure, yeah, I guess I do.
What I actually said was, "Of course. I'm terrified of you, myself. But I won't run. You're too entrancing." I made sure to let her watch as my eyes ran up and down her body, slowly. I even lingered on the horse-like parts of her, which I was not currently actually enthused by. I'd probably come around. Hopefully. It'd be a long forever, otherwise.
She was breathing rather heavily, but I was mostly sure she didn't know what to do with those feelings yet, so as long as I was careful, I should be fine. Her grip tightened on mine, though, her thumb making little heart shapes on the back of my hand. Okay, cute. I smiled up at her.
"Sally… she promised that you'd love all of us… I was so scared. I trust her, but… my family doesn't like Bicorns… I probably can't go back." Oh, sweetheart. "What… what if… you like the others more?" She gets off on sharing me around, like any Bicorn would, but she also has an inferiority complex. This is definitely Sally's fault. Even if I suddenly lost my memory of the last few days, I'd still be able to tell.
"Why would you be worried about that?" Ask questions, Lyle, ask questions and stall, stall, stall.
"Well… I… You kiss them, and…" Uh huh. Okay, that's fair. But damn it, why now?
"Would you like me to kiss you?"
She wouldn't look at me, facing away, and making small squeaking sounds, her entire body was flushed bright red. Her human upper body swayed side to side, with her arms clutched to her chest, having taken her hand out of mine without noticing. This went on for a few moments, during which time I disentangled myself from Faust, substituting Beeps in my place, who had taken the stew off the fire. I was a little worried, but Faust, if anything, cuddled up to her more than she had me. I was pretty sure I knew what Blackberry's answer was going to be, and while I wasn't eager to leap back into things so soon, it sounded like I couldn't afford to put this off any more.
A soft "Yes, please," so quiet I barely heard it over the fire, even listening for it, echoed in the empty night.
As I walked around her, though, she turned away. I moved to get in front of her, and again, she shifted so I couldn't see her face. Uh huh. Right. Okay. I climbed up, into her saddle. She stopped moving. I put my hands on her shoulders, lightly massaging them, and moved up to her ear, speaking to her from out of her view. Well, heck, it worked once before.
"Why, my dear, sweet love, whatever could be the matter? Didst thou not request a kiss upon thine lips?"
"Dear husband," she mumbled, barely audible, "you know well that I did, but mine body is still pure. I am not wise to the ways of love, what if I cannot satisfy?"
"But my dear, to kiss is to make poetry with the lips of thine lover, and thy body is the sweetest of sonnets even without mine own embrace to join it. How couldst thou fail where thou hast already succeeded in truth, and without effort?" She shook, and I increased the depth of the massage. This is kind of fun.
"Dear husband," she said, slightly louder now, "thy words may be true, but what of the taste of mine lips upon thine own? How canst thou seek to savor that upon which only greenery has trod before? Or dost thou eat the grasses of the field with joy in thy heart? That is not thine people's way."
"My fated one," Oh, that one got a little gasp, I'll have to remember it, "even the grasses of the field taste sweeter than honey, if touched by the precious hooves of the one I adore. How much more, then, would the taste delight me, if I can taste it amongst the flavors of my beloved?"
"Dear husband," she was much louder now, and I slipped out of the saddle, slowly inching around into her view, still caressing her body with my hands, though gently, "these things thou speak with such conviction, they move me, though I cannot but wonder, canst I move thou the same way, with a mouth so unaccustomed and unruly? How can mine tongue dance the dance of love, when it only fumbles and flounders at the sight of thy body?"
"My destiny," her whole body twitched, and this time, not away from me, but lightly into my touch, "if thou were to place thy hands upon mine chest, and upon thine own," she did, though it felt as though she might dart away at any moment, "thou wouldst feel the music of our hearts, our souls, as they beat as one. Our selves are joined, as husband and wife, one creature with two bodies," that got a huge reaction, which sort of makes sense, since she's one creature with two bodies, "and so I tell thee truly, even if thou were to stumble, so too would I, and from our synchronicity, we would forge a new dance, the envy of all who learn of it. But we will not stumble, for thou art my inspiration, and I will be thine strength, guiding you through the dance of love as naturally as breathing."
"Dear husband," she turned to face me, and she wasn't quite shouting, but her voice was projecting, as though we were on stage, and perhaps, in her heart, we were, "if thy mouth's own skill with words is any forecast of the joys that it can visit upon mine body, then truly our union is blessed, and I will protest no longer!" She grabbed me up, without further warning, and I embraced her in return, as she brought my face level with her own, her eyes filled with tears, and snot running down her face. Ew, but… awwww.
"Dear wife," she actually sobbed, as I brought our faces closer together, "I offer you the barest taste of our eternity." Our lips touched…
And she dropped me.
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Queen Fiona
Am I good enough for your heaven?
- Location
- The Throne of Want
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Since I've got nothing else to do at the moment (nothing I want to do, anyway; being webserver admin is suffering and it's not a great hour for people to be around for fiction.live lives), I figure this will hopefully keep me from making various Bad Decisions in terms of buying more audio equipment or something.
I'll probably stagger these out every couple of chapters, honestly. They're shorter than I might've expected, although that might be because otherwise I'd just plaster them full of spoilers.
Aside: these chapters didn't originally have titles. I recommended K start adding them in Hug Your Destiny, but it seems she's decided to do it now as well~ I know I'm looking forward to it.
But this just makes me wonder how bad these actors can be. Unfortunately, I haven't watched a movie in like...ten years? It's been a while. So who do people make 'bad actor' jokes about these days? Apparently Keanu Reeves is actually considered pretty good right now, although to be honest, we were always pretty fond of him. He was the kind of guy who's like...he's cool, he's not weird, he's pretty nice, and even if he's not the best actor, he's one of the most likeable.
Then again, assuming we're talking strictly dudes, I legitimately actually like Tom Cruise. So, uh, take my opinions with a grain of salt.
What does this have to do with Contact? Absolutely nothing, but somehow I think K will still appreciate it.
That being said, I don't wanna dwell on it, especially because I know what happens ahead of time and why she's this way. (And that's another great thing about Contact - with these characters, there is always a why.)
That being said, this just makes me wonder who gave her the saddle. I forget if that's ever established.
Oh well, it's funnier this way. Plus, it seems like the kind of question Lyle would reasonably have in this universe, especially given that he's never been around Mamono. There's only so many ways you can pull off the 'genre context joke' well and still make it work; I've done a bit of it myself, but it's hard to make reliably funny in text, and as often as not it can break immersion if you're trying to worldbuild and do a realistic context.
Beeps, what did you do? What did you do?
I feel like Beeps' profile is important, because she's probably the only one of these characters whose backstory is never directly or indirectly brought up in the story - and for fairly good reasons, at that. I don't wanna spoil much, but what I can tell you is that Automata are old, and only Beeps has any memory of the world before the semen economy, and she knows a lot more than she's letting on about Lyle, Faust, and everyone else. Even when she's talkative, she's not saying a lot; that's her nature, even here. Master doesn't need to worry about the thoughts in her mind, after all...or what she might be doing.~
Beepatrice will take care of it all. 🖤
...actually, good question. @The_Letter_K, do you want me to post the 'semen economy' parody bit I did way back when here? I never got to post it on QQ!
Besides, it's kinda hot, isn't it~?
Of course, I doubt the idea of being a Lich really bothered her that much. It's hard to say whether she was really bothered by becoming a Succubus on anything but a level of pride and self-control. (Or, perhaps, what it would do to Lyle...) But even so, it's not something just anyone could do.
These characters might look a little ordinary, even cliched, at first glance - if you're not paying attention. But really, K does what I like to do; take a person who does these things, and work toward what makes them like this in the first place.
This is a bit of a tangent, but: I guess with romantic writing, actions speak louder than words? Like, a ＭＩＲＡＣＬＥ ＲＯＭＡＮＣＥ is all well and good, but there's a reason Usagi and Mamoru aren't actually a Thing in fan works, you know? Romance and love are something you earn in a narrative through active demonstration of chemistry and action,even if that action involves rewriting the universe or something. So Blackberry's image is a bit...different.
That being said, centaurs are difficult in a practical sense, aren't they...? Then again, based on the shit I'm into, maybe I shouldn't talk.
Primarina doesn't even have legs...
I'll probably stagger these out every couple of chapters, honestly. They're shorter than I might've expected, although that might be because otherwise I'd just plaster them full of spoilers.
Aside: these chapters didn't originally have titles. I recommended K start adding them in Hug Your Destiny, but it seems she's decided to do it now as well~ I know I'm looking forward to it.
But this just makes me wonder how bad these actors can be. Unfortunately, I haven't watched a movie in like...ten years? It's been a while. So who do people make 'bad actor' jokes about these days? Apparently Keanu Reeves is actually considered pretty good right now, although to be honest, we were always pretty fond of him. He was the kind of guy who's like...he's cool, he's not weird, he's pretty nice, and even if he's not the best actor, he's one of the most likeable.
Then again, assuming we're talking strictly dudes, I legitimately actually like Tom Cruise. So, uh, take my opinions with a grain of salt.
What does this have to do with Contact? Absolutely nothing, but somehow I think K will still appreciate it.
Blackberry is...not my favorite character.
That being said, I don't wanna dwell on it, especially because I know what happens ahead of time and why she's this way. (And that's another great thing about Contact - with these characters, there is always a why.)
That being said, this just makes me wonder who gave her the saddle. I forget if that's ever established.
The MGE universe, as ever, raises an awful lot of questions!
Oh well, it's funnier this way. Plus, it seems like the kind of question Lyle would reasonably have in this universe, especially given that he's never been around Mamono. There's only so many ways you can pull off the 'genre context joke' well and still make it work; I've done a bit of it myself, but it's hard to make reliably funny in text, and as often as not it can break immersion if you're trying to worldbuild and do a realistic context.
You know, Lyle isn't really bad at this 'romance' business so far...maybe things would've worked out better, if it weren't for the antipathy between Sally and Beeps.
K's love of puns doesn't get as much play as you'd think here. Even so, honestly Lyle, you should really know better.
...wait a sec. Waaaaaaaaaaaaait a sec. There's something very suspicious about this...
Beeps, what did you do? What did you do?
If I didn't know any better, I'd say Lyle was a little jealous!
Don't mind me, just picking this out for my theory later. No big deal~
I feel like Beeps' profile is important, because she's probably the only one of these characters whose backstory is never directly or indirectly brought up in the story - and for fairly good reasons, at that. I don't wanna spoil much, but what I can tell you is that Automata are old, and only Beeps has any memory of the world before the semen economy, and she knows a lot more than she's letting on about Lyle, Faust, and everyone else. Even when she's talkative, she's not saying a lot; that's her nature, even here. Master doesn't need to worry about the thoughts in her mind, after all...or what she might be doing.~
Beepatrice will take care of it all. 🖤
...actually, good question. @The_Letter_K, do you want me to post the 'semen economy' parody bit I did way back when here? I never got to post it on QQ!
Hey Beeps, how come you're allowed to have two Masters?
This is depressingly familiar. Hopefully these dorks can start communicating better soon!
I mean, Beeps would probably enjoy sharing some of her saliva with you. Wanna suck on Lyle's finger, Beeps~?
There is something interesting in how Blackberry processes this. In that whole...'impure desire for pure things' sense. I dunno how much I wanna go into it right now, though.
...you know. I think you should remember this for later, K. I can't totally say why here, but I think this could absolutely be used well in a future scene in the sequel.
Besides, it's kinda hot, isn't it~?
Lyle is...shockingly innocent, to not have any inkling about it. (Then again, if he did have an inkling...that'd be pretty bad, given how it might go. Actually being in a relationship with Beeps would not go well, and I'm sure Beeps knows it too...
🖤
...remember this for later. There's a character we're going to see in a couple of chapters who makes it relevant, honestly.
I think I mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. This was...unavoidable. Sally could hold herself back only so long, so instead she chose to fall in a way that suited her. It's certainly an immense act of will, to be able to do this, something that speaks to Sally's depths - not only of love, but of character.
Of course, I doubt the idea of being a Lich really bothered her that much. It's hard to say whether she was really bothered by becoming a Succubus on anything but a level of pride and self-control. (Or, perhaps, what it would do to Lyle...) But even so, it's not something just anyone could do.
These characters might look a little ordinary, even cliched, at first glance - if you're not paying attention. But really, K does what I like to do; take a person who does these things, and work toward what makes them like this in the first place.
Somehow I suspect it didn't end this way in Blackberry's romance novels. (Because it does feel like she has that particular vision of romance, doesn't she...?)
This is a bit of a tangent, but: I guess with romantic writing, actions speak louder than words? Like, a ＭＩＲＡＣＬＥ ＲＯＭＡＮＣＥ is all well and good, but there's a reason Usagi and Mamoru aren't actually a Thing in fan works, you know? Romance and love are something you earn in a narrative through active demonstration of chemistry and action,
That being said, centaurs are difficult in a practical sense, aren't they...? Then again, based on the shit I'm into, maybe I shouldn't talk.
Primarina doesn't even have legs...
Chapter Nine - Falling Asleep
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Of course, allowing her to fail now, after my silly boasting had obviously meant the world to her, that was completely unacceptable. She'd never trust herself, or the imaginary version of me in her head, ever again. If I still wanted this to work, I had to take responsibility for my nonsense. But, I'd had a suspicion as to how this was going to go, that was why I'd wrapped my arms around her in the first place. While her grip slipped, my own stayed tight, and I continued the kiss, our lips only lightly touching. I pulled back a little, rubbing my forehead against hers, my hair brushing against her horns, eliciting another small gasp, as I wet my lips with my tongue, and then, again, brought the two of us together.
She slowly sank to her knees, a good thing for me, as using my upper body strength to support this endeavor, while hardly insufficient, made things feel much less effortless. Once my feet were on the ground, I leaned in a little more, which turned out to be a good move, as the next thing to go was her torso as it collapsed boneless against me. She was not a small woman, by any definition, and so supporting her took more effort than I expected. For all her soft appearance, there was quite a bit of muscle hiding underneath, and her frame would have made her a giant, even with only human legs.
With my arms freed up for other pursuits, I resumed the caress I had been using to calm her, running my hands gently down her back, continuing only slightly past where her fur began, and her back began to plateau, and then starting again. If it weren't for her ragged, heavy breathing, I could almost have believed she'd fallen asleep. I'd expected her instincts to take over at some point, but perhaps the shock of the sensation was simply that overwhelming for her. Or maybe this was normal for a first kiss experience? Did people usually collapse in ecstasy? My own first kiss had been only a few days before, but having lasted nearly seventeen hours, and also being my first sexual experience at the same time, I doubted somehow that I could recognize typical.
Moving my focus back to her, I was somewhat frustrated by her braid, cute though it was. Her hair was by far the longest of the four of us, and being able to run my hands through that as well might have been nice. As I broke the kiss, I settled for merely holding her close to me, placing her hand again on my chest, and so between us, and then synchronizing our breathing so that she could feel my heartbeat match hers once more.
We remained like that for a time, just breathing with each other, her leaning against my shoulder, our necks pressed together, her nearly insensate, weak, frightened, and disbelieving, but myself still undeniably there, real, and staying with her. Eventually, I realized she wasn't going to recover on her own.
"My wife, I have prepared for you your dinner, and your campfire, and I would now hear these stories you spoke of. Come, share a meal with me." You might not be able to go home, Blackberry, but I can't either. None of us can. This is home, now. This is your family, our family, my family. It was going to have to be. I would make it work. I had to.
Her stories, unsurprisingly, were rather mundane, and honestly boring. Her life had been spent in a forest, with other, similarly sheltered, unicorns, where nothing happened that her mother, or some other maternal figure, didn't explicitly allow. But, sharing tales of rabbit 'wrestling', and colorful birds, and speaking to travelers who only ever screamed and ran, it was all still dreadfully important to her, and I made sure to treat it that way, asking questions to tease out more inane details, and taking note of the important things that slipped out amongst the fluff. Her favorite color was green, 'like the forest', her favorite weed to eat was the dandelion, but only before it went to seed, when it still had its color. She liked the sounds of birdsong, but admitted that in the morning, she liked it less, and that she was frustrated that the birds refused to listen to her requests for a lazy morning once in a while.
Faust had been woken when it was time to eat, mostly for social reasons. She'd been fed earlier, after all. She still sipped at her soup, for the flavor, but left most of it to Blackberry and me. She had much less patience for Blackberry's stories than I did, but she'd likely heard them before, too, perhaps many times. She was reading a book she'd brought out from the cave, the firelight apparently enough for her eyes to see by. Her reaction to Beepatrice being in my place when she awoke had been rather cute.
"Oh, Lyle… you're all curvy~" she'd said, rubbing her hands all over Beeps, as she groggily came to unlife, "I think I like it~"
"Desist."
That was when she fell of the rock. I tried very hard not to laugh, but I failed, and I paid for it as she chucked the loamy dirt at me, from her position on the ground.
"How could you do this? Our first night together, soiled?! Lyle, you fiend!"
She'd calmed considerably when I pulled her aside to explain the situation with Blackberry, and how things had played out. I think she even grudgingly approved. I was, however, volunteered to cuddle in bed, with no objections allowed, and Beepatrice had to watch. She didn't sleep anyway, so I'd said that was fine, so long as she could stop any attempts to move beyond cuddling. Faust had scowled, but accepted when I pressed her.
Now, she was reading, but, I suspected, also studiously ignoring Beepatrice, and sneaking glances when no one was looking. Certainly, I saw her blush a few times, much more obvious on her deadened skin. Actually, I wonder, how does that even work? Blushing is just blood flowing to the face, right? Do Liches do that? If they do, why are they cold? Isn't blood pumping what keeps us warm? Maybe it's just that blushing can be sexy, or cute, or what have you, and so Mamono magic lets her do it anyway? …But that's such a lame answer.
"Hey Faust? Why are you blushing?"
Her head snapped up at me, outraged, "Wha-?" a sharp exhale, "Lyle, I am not blushing."
"No, you are. But that's not what I meant. I know why, I guess, I meant more like… how are you blushing? Like, how does that work?"
Her glare lightened slowly as her expression turned more thoughtful. She lifted her hand to her cheek, and surprise flashed across her face. "Lyle… I am blushing. How can I be blushing? It is even bringing warmth to my skin. How does that work?"
Woman, you can't ask me the question I just asked you and expect me to have an answer for it. That's cheating. How am I supposed to know? Didn't you study all of this stuff?
I just shrugged at her, helplessly.
"We will have to study this when we get a more permanent laboratory set up. These are the kinds of questions no one is asking, Lyle! I must know the answer! We will find it, together!" She was, standing, now, shouting.
"Yeah!" Blackberry shouted too, probably just happy to be included in 'we'. She didn't strike me as the 'experiments' type.
"So, you want me to embarrass you… for science?" Faust's eyes widened, "because I'm totally alright with that. Maybe that can be the subject of our next family story time." Blackberry let out a small squeal when I said 'family story time'. I guess she was happy with how I'd handled it so far.
Faust seemed less pleased with the idea, though. "Lyle no."
Lyle yes. Taking the power back, one embarrassing memory at a time. I'll have to start working on my delivery. I just smiled at her, innocently. She shuddered.
The 'bed' that Faust had set aside for the two of us, it had turned out, was basically just a pile of hay. Admittedly, there was a woven mat on the top of the pile, but that didn't make the situation any more appealing to me. I was not about to complain, though. It was pretty clear to me that Faust must have been sleeping here since she 'died', nearly two weeks ago. To whine about a single night with someone to hold in a cave that had been much improved, when she'd been alone on a pile of straw with no one to even talk to, let alone to keep her warm, that would be way too insensitive.
Crawling into that pile of hay, though, was harder than it first seemed. When either of us got onto the mat first, it bent and deformed around us, making it basically impossible for the other to get properly settled in. Faust was getting more and more frustrated as her dreams of a cute night together became increasingly delayed and unlikely.
Finally, I said, "What if we just… run at it, and jump into the air? Like, grab hold of each other in the air, both hit it at once, and sleep where we land?"
Faust looked at me with narrow eyes, trying to suss out whether or not I was joking.
"It'll probably go horribly wrong, but… it might work, right?"
"And if you hit your head on the wall of the cave?" Yeah, okay. Good point.
"Okay, then… let's lift the mat up onto its end, stand next to it, and just… fall over." So we did. It was less fun than flying through the air might have been, but I didn't hit my head. Success.
Then we realized we forgot the blanket.
"…Beeps?" After a few moments, the blanket settled down on us perfectly, on the first try. Sometimes I wondered what she thought of us, fumbling around helplessly.
"Thanks, Beeps."
"Goodnight."
"Night."
Faust seemed a little grumpy about Beepatrice's help, but I snuggled up against her a little tighter, clothes still covering both our bodies, and that seemed to be all the distraction she needed, a small, silly grin spreading over her face as she looked at me next to her.
"Goodnight Beepatrice, goodnight Faust, goodnight Lyle." Oh boy.
Faust smiled, though. "Goodnight Blackberry, goodnight Beepatrice, goodnight Lyle."
"Goodnight girls." Faust frowned, and poked me in the stomach. "Ow. …Goodnight Faust, goodnight Blackberry, goodnight Beepatrice."
"Goodnight." Thank God for you, Beeps. Brevity is the soul of-
"Goodnight." Oh lord. Why Beeps?
"Goodnight."
She slowly sank to her knees, a good thing for me, as using my upper body strength to support this endeavor, while hardly insufficient, made things feel much less effortless. Once my feet were on the ground, I leaned in a little more, which turned out to be a good move, as the next thing to go was her torso as it collapsed boneless against me. She was not a small woman, by any definition, and so supporting her took more effort than I expected. For all her soft appearance, there was quite a bit of muscle hiding underneath, and her frame would have made her a giant, even with only human legs.
With my arms freed up for other pursuits, I resumed the caress I had been using to calm her, running my hands gently down her back, continuing only slightly past where her fur began, and her back began to plateau, and then starting again. If it weren't for her ragged, heavy breathing, I could almost have believed she'd fallen asleep. I'd expected her instincts to take over at some point, but perhaps the shock of the sensation was simply that overwhelming for her. Or maybe this was normal for a first kiss experience? Did people usually collapse in ecstasy? My own first kiss had been only a few days before, but having lasted nearly seventeen hours, and also being my first sexual experience at the same time, I doubted somehow that I could recognize typical.
Moving my focus back to her, I was somewhat frustrated by her braid, cute though it was. Her hair was by far the longest of the four of us, and being able to run my hands through that as well might have been nice. As I broke the kiss, I settled for merely holding her close to me, placing her hand again on my chest, and so between us, and then synchronizing our breathing so that she could feel my heartbeat match hers once more.
We remained like that for a time, just breathing with each other, her leaning against my shoulder, our necks pressed together, her nearly insensate, weak, frightened, and disbelieving, but myself still undeniably there, real, and staying with her. Eventually, I realized she wasn't going to recover on her own.
"My wife, I have prepared for you your dinner, and your campfire, and I would now hear these stories you spoke of. Come, share a meal with me." You might not be able to go home, Blackberry, but I can't either. None of us can. This is home, now. This is your family, our family, my family. It was going to have to be. I would make it work. I had to.
.oOo.
Her stories, unsurprisingly, were rather mundane, and honestly boring. Her life had been spent in a forest, with other, similarly sheltered, unicorns, where nothing happened that her mother, or some other maternal figure, didn't explicitly allow. But, sharing tales of rabbit 'wrestling', and colorful birds, and speaking to travelers who only ever screamed and ran, it was all still dreadfully important to her, and I made sure to treat it that way, asking questions to tease out more inane details, and taking note of the important things that slipped out amongst the fluff. Her favorite color was green, 'like the forest', her favorite weed to eat was the dandelion, but only before it went to seed, when it still had its color. She liked the sounds of birdsong, but admitted that in the morning, she liked it less, and that she was frustrated that the birds refused to listen to her requests for a lazy morning once in a while.
Faust had been woken when it was time to eat, mostly for social reasons. She'd been fed earlier, after all. She still sipped at her soup, for the flavor, but left most of it to Blackberry and me. She had much less patience for Blackberry's stories than I did, but she'd likely heard them before, too, perhaps many times. She was reading a book she'd brought out from the cave, the firelight apparently enough for her eyes to see by. Her reaction to Beepatrice being in my place when she awoke had been rather cute.
"Oh, Lyle… you're all curvy~" she'd said, rubbing her hands all over Beeps, as she groggily came to unlife, "I think I like it~"
"Desist."
That was when she fell of the rock. I tried very hard not to laugh, but I failed, and I paid for it as she chucked the loamy dirt at me, from her position on the ground.
"How could you do this? Our first night together, soiled?! Lyle, you fiend!"
She'd calmed considerably when I pulled her aside to explain the situation with Blackberry, and how things had played out. I think she even grudgingly approved. I was, however, volunteered to cuddle in bed, with no objections allowed, and Beepatrice had to watch. She didn't sleep anyway, so I'd said that was fine, so long as she could stop any attempts to move beyond cuddling. Faust had scowled, but accepted when I pressed her.
Now, she was reading, but, I suspected, also studiously ignoring Beepatrice, and sneaking glances when no one was looking. Certainly, I saw her blush a few times, much more obvious on her deadened skin. Actually, I wonder, how does that even work? Blushing is just blood flowing to the face, right? Do Liches do that? If they do, why are they cold? Isn't blood pumping what keeps us warm? Maybe it's just that blushing can be sexy, or cute, or what have you, and so Mamono magic lets her do it anyway? …But that's such a lame answer.
"Hey Faust? Why are you blushing?"
Her head snapped up at me, outraged, "Wha-?" a sharp exhale, "Lyle, I am not blushing."
"No, you are. But that's not what I meant. I know why, I guess, I meant more like… how are you blushing? Like, how does that work?"
Her glare lightened slowly as her expression turned more thoughtful. She lifted her hand to her cheek, and surprise flashed across her face. "Lyle… I am blushing. How can I be blushing? It is even bringing warmth to my skin. How does that work?"
Woman, you can't ask me the question I just asked you and expect me to have an answer for it. That's cheating. How am I supposed to know? Didn't you study all of this stuff?
I just shrugged at her, helplessly.
"We will have to study this when we get a more permanent laboratory set up. These are the kinds of questions no one is asking, Lyle! I must know the answer! We will find it, together!" She was, standing, now, shouting.
"Yeah!" Blackberry shouted too, probably just happy to be included in 'we'. She didn't strike me as the 'experiments' type.
"So, you want me to embarrass you… for science?" Faust's eyes widened, "because I'm totally alright with that. Maybe that can be the subject of our next family story time." Blackberry let out a small squeal when I said 'family story time'. I guess she was happy with how I'd handled it so far.
Faust seemed less pleased with the idea, though. "Lyle no."
Lyle yes. Taking the power back, one embarrassing memory at a time. I'll have to start working on my delivery. I just smiled at her, innocently. She shuddered.
.oOo.
The 'bed' that Faust had set aside for the two of us, it had turned out, was basically just a pile of hay. Admittedly, there was a woven mat on the top of the pile, but that didn't make the situation any more appealing to me. I was not about to complain, though. It was pretty clear to me that Faust must have been sleeping here since she 'died', nearly two weeks ago. To whine about a single night with someone to hold in a cave that had been much improved, when she'd been alone on a pile of straw with no one to even talk to, let alone to keep her warm, that would be way too insensitive.
Crawling into that pile of hay, though, was harder than it first seemed. When either of us got onto the mat first, it bent and deformed around us, making it basically impossible for the other to get properly settled in. Faust was getting more and more frustrated as her dreams of a cute night together became increasingly delayed and unlikely.
Finally, I said, "What if we just… run at it, and jump into the air? Like, grab hold of each other in the air, both hit it at once, and sleep where we land?"
Faust looked at me with narrow eyes, trying to suss out whether or not I was joking.
"It'll probably go horribly wrong, but… it might work, right?"
"And if you hit your head on the wall of the cave?" Yeah, okay. Good point.
"Okay, then… let's lift the mat up onto its end, stand next to it, and just… fall over." So we did. It was less fun than flying through the air might have been, but I didn't hit my head. Success.
Then we realized we forgot the blanket.
"…Beeps?" After a few moments, the blanket settled down on us perfectly, on the first try. Sometimes I wondered what she thought of us, fumbling around helplessly.
"Thanks, Beeps."
"Goodnight."
"Night."
Faust seemed a little grumpy about Beepatrice's help, but I snuggled up against her a little tighter, clothes still covering both our bodies, and that seemed to be all the distraction she needed, a small, silly grin spreading over her face as she looked at me next to her.
"Goodnight Beepatrice, goodnight Faust, goodnight Lyle." Oh boy.
Faust smiled, though. "Goodnight Blackberry, goodnight Beepatrice, goodnight Lyle."
"Goodnight girls." Faust frowned, and poked me in the stomach. "Ow. …Goodnight Faust, goodnight Blackberry, goodnight Beepatrice."
"Goodnight." Thank God for you, Beeps. Brevity is the soul of-
"Goodnight." Oh lord. Why Beeps?
"Goodnight."
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Queen Fiona
Am I good enough for your heaven?
- Location
- The Throne of Want
- Pronouns
- She/Her
...there's a lot to unpack here!
Well, I mean. I guess it's not exactly a shock. Maybe there's more than one reason Sally was eager to kill Lyle...?
More seriously, she doesn't seem to mind Beeps when she doesn't realize she is Beeps, huh?
The terrifying power of Lyle's sense of humor...
So, how much of Beeps' training and/or programming as a super fighting gynoid involved comedy routines, anyway?
Chapter Ten - Unboxing
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The first indication something was wrong was the way the grass had been cut short, we'd only just left the forest, but we were still in the wilds. Since we'd been avoiding actual pathways, the road into the demonic realms had been quite boring. I wasn't awake when the packing had been going on, in fact, when I woke up, we were already on the road. Faust simply never stopped cuddling with me, electing instead to levitate around with me in her grasp, eking out every inch of time together that she could. Since she wasn't trying to do more than cuddle with me, Beepatrice couldn't interject. She hadn't been happy about that. Situations like that one were why I tried to avoid ordering her around directly. She was more than capable of making the right decisions on her own for the most part. Still, waking up in Faust's embrace was… kinda nice.
Either way, I'd been riding in Blackberry's saddle since I woke up. I'd considered riding in the cart, but not doing so left space for Beeps and Faust, if they got tired. Well, if Faust got tired. Heh. Dead tired.
"There haven't been any flowers in a while… I miss them. I'm a little hungry." That was Blackberry, of course.
"Yes, I too had noticed that the area seems a bit too well maintained." Faust replied, "Perhaps there are deer or some such nearby?"
"It would have to be an awfully hungry deer. Or like, a hundred of them. I don't see any tracks, either." Tracking deer was something most villagers had to be able to do, and quickly. The more time you spent out in a forest hunting deer, the more likely you weren't coming back. Or worse, that you'd bring something else back after you.
As we crested the hill, we saw our first sign that something was wrong. More accurately, the sign said; "Do you like hugs? Free hugs ahead!"
"Okay, slow down Blackberry." She slowed to a stop, and I got down to take a closer look at the sign. It was made of wood, and painted white, with thick, black, lumpy lettering. "Faust, what do you make of this?"
She floated over, scraping some of the paint off with her fingernails. She ground it between her fingernails, before tasting it. "Hmm. Homemade."
Uh, what? You can tell that by tasting it?
She continued, "The wood, I suspect, is from the forest nearby. Plain wood, not the best tree for the job, nor was the lumber cured properly. You can see the sign has warped in the rain." It was true, it was kind of wobbly looking. "The sign has been here for some time, but the paint is much more fresh. It would have faded exposed to the elements long ago were it not reapplied. I'd wager the creature is still nearby."
"Creature?"
"Honestly, Lyle. Do not tell me you still believe it to be an 'awfully hungry deer'. Nor, I hope, do you hold the suspicion in your heart that the Order has changed tactics to that of friendship and sharing. No, this is Mamono work."
"Right, yeah."
"Moreover, the simple existence of the sign narrows the field considerably. We are dealing with a simple, friendly, non-threatening type. Perhaps naïve. Large enough to make a sign like this, and familiar enough with humans to think of the idea, yet living in the wilderness. A beastman type? And yet, most beastmen are unlikely, as you would need delicate fingers to fashion something of this nature. Combined with the coloration of the sign and lumpiness of the lettering, along with the shortness of the grass… A Holstaur. Almost certainly."
Oh. Okay. When you lay it out like that, it makes a lot of sense, I guess. "Couldn't some of that be coincidence, though?"
"Trick." Beeps offered.
"True, it's hardly conclusive, I suppose. It matters not. We should avoid her." What? Why?
"Weren't we sort of looking for a Holstaur, though?"
"Unattractive." Beepatrice again.
"Precisely, Beepatrice, perceptive as always. Regardless of my interest in Holstaurs, Lyle," Did you just admit this was all about your interests, Faust? "any creature driven to this level of pathetic desperation when they ought to be so desirable is likely diseased or worse. Not a worthwhile candidate."
So cold, Faust. That's a person you're talking about, you know? It wasn't that long ago you were that desperate, right? Somehow I doubt bringing that up is a great way to convince her, even so.
"I like hugs, though." I doubt that'll work either, Blackberry, but good effort.
"Me too." I said, stubbornly. I hugged the Bicorn, in demonstration. She giggled.
"…I like kisses, too, Lyle." Uhuh. Why does that not surprise me?
"Me too, Blackberry." I got on my tiptoes, as she leaned down, and I kissed her cheek. She nearly fell over. But only nearly. Look at you go, girl.
Faust was having none of it, though. "Lyle, we cannot help this creature, whomever it may be."
"You don't know that." I crossed my arms. "Maybe she just needs a bath."
Faust sighed. "Ly-le."
"There's nothing wrong with talking to her, Faust." I took a step past the sign… and was promptly dragged back, up into the air by invisible force.
"Lyle, this is for your own good. I will not allow you to… Glk" That was as far as she got, before Beepatrice shoved her gun barrel right up underneath Faust's jaw.
"Faust… I am not your toy. Put me down." She did, though slowly. "Okay, Beeps, let her go." Beepatrice was not slow to respond, but her gun remained trained on Faust. "Beeps, honey. Please." The barrel dropped.
"Lyle, Sally, Beeps, please don't fight…" Blackberry's hands were clutched up under her chin, and she shifted from hoof to hoof, uncomfortably.
"Don't worry, Blackberry, sweetheart, we're done." I walked up to Faust, whose fists were clenched, and she avoided my eyes. "Hey, Faust." I ran my fingers lightly across her cheek. My fingers traced across wet streaks running down her face.
"Beepatrice, can you take Blackberry out and find her some flowers, please? I think Faust needs a minute." Beepatrice didn't respond, not even a nod, merely moving to fulfill my order. That was a decent sign she wasn't impressed with it. Tough luck. Don't like, it? Ignore the order. You've got the authority. But she didn't. She went.
As I waited for them to leave, I slowly moved closer and closer to Faust, three feet between us, then two, then one, then our feet were touching, between each other. I waited until she leaned into me to start talking, to wrap my arms around her.
"You can't own me, Faust, I won't let you. I'm always going to fight you like this. We'll always disagree. But… food doesn't disagree. You can own food. I don't want to be just food, Faust. Not ever. But it's not my choice. Not really. You have to choose. If your magic is half as strong as I think it is, you could break my mind in two with just a wave of your hand, couldn't you? Beeps might be able to take me from you, and keep me to herself, but I'd never recover, would I?" She squished her face harder into my chest, rubbing back and forth, sniffling.
"I just sent Beeps away. She won't be back for a while, she has to take Blackberry with her, and it's a five-minute walk back to the last flowers I remember. You could pick me up, run away, and she might never find us. I can't stop you, Sally." She sobbed, gripping me tighter, pulling, clutching. It hurt, a little. "All I can do is trust you. It's hard, it's terrifying. It's the scariest thing I've ever done. But, I do trust you… Because I love you, Faust."
The next few minutes were so intense I couldn't remember them, not a single moment of them. But… when I came back to myself, Faust and I were still in the field, still on the hilltop, still near the sign. In fact, we were just past it. I smiled a little. Faust wouldn't let something like that slip by her, noticing when she did that stuff was a huge part of dealing with her. As for Faust, she was cross-legged on the ground, and I was sitting in her lap, looking up at her, cradled in her arms. My lips still tasted like hers. It was rapidly becoming one of my favorite sensations.
"Aww… You two are so cute!" Blackberry said, as she trotted up, she'd put several flowers into her braided hair, half decoration, half snack storage. Clever. Beepatrice was actually riding in her saddle.
"Welcome back, my love," Faust said, though whether she was speaking to Blackberry, or was acknowledging I'd come back to my senses was left ambiguous. Heck, she might have even meant Beeps, although I was really doubting it.
"I love you too, Faust!" At least one of us was sure who she was talking to, "I wish your lap was bigger… Lyle looks comfy." Admittedly, I was pretty comfy.
I still stood up, though. "Yeah, it's pretty nice. But now that you're back, we need to get moving again. Sadly." I ran my finger up Faust's spine as she stood, causing her to shiver.
"Success." Beeps reported, but the way she looked at me made it clear it was also a question.
"Looks like it," I replied. "Since when do you know how to ride?"
Faust scoffed.
"Natural." Oh right. You're an effortless superhuman. She didn't hop down, though, so I climbed up, sitting in front of her.
"Faust? There's room for you up here too, if we're careful."
"No, I think I shall take the lead. After all, it is I who knows where we are headed." She'd been very mysterious about that. Apparently, wherever we were going, it was a huge deal. She had something worked out with a local monster Queen already, although how that could be was beyond me.
Either way, she started walking towards the next sign, barely visible in the distance. Blackberry let out a little squee when she saw we were heading that way, and followed along. Riding with Beeps was much different than Faust. With Faust, I was the one ensuring we stayed on, but Beeps had a balance unrivaled, and so I simply leaned back into her, letting out a soft sigh. She started to massage me as we rode, which was honestly just the best. I was so spoiled.
As we rode, we passed more signs, and each led us to the next with a little arrow. We passed probably four more, spaced far enough apart they were hard to see from each other, before we came upon a small box with a sleeping Holstaur in it, causally overflowing outside the comically small container, only her feet, her hooves, really in the box. Printed on the side was; 'Free, to a good home'.
But Faust was right, something was off. I mean, besides this whole situation and everything surrounding it. Something else was off.
"She's flat," Faust said, in horrified fascination.
"…Yeah," I said, more than a little shocked myself. I turned to look at the Lich, "Listen, Faust… I know that's basically everything nobody wants in a Holstaur… but we can't leave her here. Look at her. She's exhausted, her clothes are dirty and torn… She's here in the middle of nowhere living in the most, um, earnest… box I've ever seen. How long has she been out here?"
"She's still sleeping, we could just go, Lyle, and her feelings would be unhurt. If we take her with us, you know that we will end up letting her into our hearts." Faust replied, looking unmoved, except that she was inching away from the girl, ready to flee. When she saw I wasn't following, she sighed, and continued, "It's milk, Lyle, Holstaur Milk. And where does the milk come from, Lyle?"
My eyes hardened. I felt a flash of anger come over me. "Her milk, is it? I understand perfectly, Faust. We'll just leave her here to rot, then. Not like it matters. She's just food." I spat the last few words out with a vehemence I rarely felt, let alone expressed. I knew, in that moment, that I'd already decided to love this girl, no matter what, without knowing anything else about her. A little shallow, maybe, but she deserved that kind of shallow in her life for once. Judging by how we'd found her, her life had been full of only the other sort, so far.
"That… That's not what I… but…" Faust was looking at me like she'd never seen me before. She hung her head. "I'm sorry, Lyle. I…"
I looked away. "Beeps, load her up in the cart. Bring her box. Do a quick run around, see if you can spot anything else she might want to keep."
Beepatrice hopped down off Blackberry, and carefully secured the sleeping Holstaur in the cart. The box was unfolded into a flattened state and slid into the back, before Beeps took off at a barely visible sprint, jumping high into the air to get a better view of the area. She came back, a few minutes later, not holding anything. That's so sad.
Well, not any more.
Either way, I'd been riding in Blackberry's saddle since I woke up. I'd considered riding in the cart, but not doing so left space for Beeps and Faust, if they got tired. Well, if Faust got tired. Heh. Dead tired.
"There haven't been any flowers in a while… I miss them. I'm a little hungry." That was Blackberry, of course.
"Yes, I too had noticed that the area seems a bit too well maintained." Faust replied, "Perhaps there are deer or some such nearby?"
"It would have to be an awfully hungry deer. Or like, a hundred of them. I don't see any tracks, either." Tracking deer was something most villagers had to be able to do, and quickly. The more time you spent out in a forest hunting deer, the more likely you weren't coming back. Or worse, that you'd bring something else back after you.
As we crested the hill, we saw our first sign that something was wrong. More accurately, the sign said; "Do you like hugs? Free hugs ahead!"
"Okay, slow down Blackberry." She slowed to a stop, and I got down to take a closer look at the sign. It was made of wood, and painted white, with thick, black, lumpy lettering. "Faust, what do you make of this?"
She floated over, scraping some of the paint off with her fingernails. She ground it between her fingernails, before tasting it. "Hmm. Homemade."
Uh, what? You can tell that by tasting it?
She continued, "The wood, I suspect, is from the forest nearby. Plain wood, not the best tree for the job, nor was the lumber cured properly. You can see the sign has warped in the rain." It was true, it was kind of wobbly looking. "The sign has been here for some time, but the paint is much more fresh. It would have faded exposed to the elements long ago were it not reapplied. I'd wager the creature is still nearby."
"Creature?"
"Honestly, Lyle. Do not tell me you still believe it to be an 'awfully hungry deer'. Nor, I hope, do you hold the suspicion in your heart that the Order has changed tactics to that of friendship and sharing. No, this is Mamono work."
"Right, yeah."
"Moreover, the simple existence of the sign narrows the field considerably. We are dealing with a simple, friendly, non-threatening type. Perhaps naïve. Large enough to make a sign like this, and familiar enough with humans to think of the idea, yet living in the wilderness. A beastman type? And yet, most beastmen are unlikely, as you would need delicate fingers to fashion something of this nature. Combined with the coloration of the sign and lumpiness of the lettering, along with the shortness of the grass… A Holstaur. Almost certainly."
Oh. Okay. When you lay it out like that, it makes a lot of sense, I guess. "Couldn't some of that be coincidence, though?"
"Trick." Beeps offered.
"True, it's hardly conclusive, I suppose. It matters not. We should avoid her." What? Why?
"Weren't we sort of looking for a Holstaur, though?"
"Unattractive." Beepatrice again.
"Precisely, Beepatrice, perceptive as always. Regardless of my interest in Holstaurs, Lyle," Did you just admit this was all about your interests, Faust? "any creature driven to this level of pathetic desperation when they ought to be so desirable is likely diseased or worse. Not a worthwhile candidate."
So cold, Faust. That's a person you're talking about, you know? It wasn't that long ago you were that desperate, right? Somehow I doubt bringing that up is a great way to convince her, even so.
"I like hugs, though." I doubt that'll work either, Blackberry, but good effort.
"Me too." I said, stubbornly. I hugged the Bicorn, in demonstration. She giggled.
"…I like kisses, too, Lyle." Uhuh. Why does that not surprise me?
"Me too, Blackberry." I got on my tiptoes, as she leaned down, and I kissed her cheek. She nearly fell over. But only nearly. Look at you go, girl.
Faust was having none of it, though. "Lyle, we cannot help this creature, whomever it may be."
"You don't know that." I crossed my arms. "Maybe she just needs a bath."
Faust sighed. "Ly-le."
"There's nothing wrong with talking to her, Faust." I took a step past the sign… and was promptly dragged back, up into the air by invisible force.
"Lyle, this is for your own good. I will not allow you to… Glk" That was as far as she got, before Beepatrice shoved her gun barrel right up underneath Faust's jaw.
"Faust… I am not your toy. Put me down." She did, though slowly. "Okay, Beeps, let her go." Beepatrice was not slow to respond, but her gun remained trained on Faust. "Beeps, honey. Please." The barrel dropped.
"Lyle, Sally, Beeps, please don't fight…" Blackberry's hands were clutched up under her chin, and she shifted from hoof to hoof, uncomfortably.
"Don't worry, Blackberry, sweetheart, we're done." I walked up to Faust, whose fists were clenched, and she avoided my eyes. "Hey, Faust." I ran my fingers lightly across her cheek. My fingers traced across wet streaks running down her face.
"Beepatrice, can you take Blackberry out and find her some flowers, please? I think Faust needs a minute." Beepatrice didn't respond, not even a nod, merely moving to fulfill my order. That was a decent sign she wasn't impressed with it. Tough luck. Don't like, it? Ignore the order. You've got the authority. But she didn't. She went.
As I waited for them to leave, I slowly moved closer and closer to Faust, three feet between us, then two, then one, then our feet were touching, between each other. I waited until she leaned into me to start talking, to wrap my arms around her.
"You can't own me, Faust, I won't let you. I'm always going to fight you like this. We'll always disagree. But… food doesn't disagree. You can own food. I don't want to be just food, Faust. Not ever. But it's not my choice. Not really. You have to choose. If your magic is half as strong as I think it is, you could break my mind in two with just a wave of your hand, couldn't you? Beeps might be able to take me from you, and keep me to herself, but I'd never recover, would I?" She squished her face harder into my chest, rubbing back and forth, sniffling.
"I just sent Beeps away. She won't be back for a while, she has to take Blackberry with her, and it's a five-minute walk back to the last flowers I remember. You could pick me up, run away, and she might never find us. I can't stop you, Sally." She sobbed, gripping me tighter, pulling, clutching. It hurt, a little. "All I can do is trust you. It's hard, it's terrifying. It's the scariest thing I've ever done. But, I do trust you… Because I love you, Faust."
The next few minutes were so intense I couldn't remember them, not a single moment of them. But… when I came back to myself, Faust and I were still in the field, still on the hilltop, still near the sign. In fact, we were just past it. I smiled a little. Faust wouldn't let something like that slip by her, noticing when she did that stuff was a huge part of dealing with her. As for Faust, she was cross-legged on the ground, and I was sitting in her lap, looking up at her, cradled in her arms. My lips still tasted like hers. It was rapidly becoming one of my favorite sensations.
"Aww… You two are so cute!" Blackberry said, as she trotted up, she'd put several flowers into her braided hair, half decoration, half snack storage. Clever. Beepatrice was actually riding in her saddle.
"Welcome back, my love," Faust said, though whether she was speaking to Blackberry, or was acknowledging I'd come back to my senses was left ambiguous. Heck, she might have even meant Beeps, although I was really doubting it.
"I love you too, Faust!" At least one of us was sure who she was talking to, "I wish your lap was bigger… Lyle looks comfy." Admittedly, I was pretty comfy.
I still stood up, though. "Yeah, it's pretty nice. But now that you're back, we need to get moving again. Sadly." I ran my finger up Faust's spine as she stood, causing her to shiver.
"Success." Beeps reported, but the way she looked at me made it clear it was also a question.
"Looks like it," I replied. "Since when do you know how to ride?"
Faust scoffed.
"Natural." Oh right. You're an effortless superhuman. She didn't hop down, though, so I climbed up, sitting in front of her.
"Faust? There's room for you up here too, if we're careful."
"No, I think I shall take the lead. After all, it is I who knows where we are headed." She'd been very mysterious about that. Apparently, wherever we were going, it was a huge deal. She had something worked out with a local monster Queen already, although how that could be was beyond me.
Either way, she started walking towards the next sign, barely visible in the distance. Blackberry let out a little squee when she saw we were heading that way, and followed along. Riding with Beeps was much different than Faust. With Faust, I was the one ensuring we stayed on, but Beeps had a balance unrivaled, and so I simply leaned back into her, letting out a soft sigh. She started to massage me as we rode, which was honestly just the best. I was so spoiled.
As we rode, we passed more signs, and each led us to the next with a little arrow. We passed probably four more, spaced far enough apart they were hard to see from each other, before we came upon a small box with a sleeping Holstaur in it, causally overflowing outside the comically small container, only her feet, her hooves, really in the box. Printed on the side was; 'Free, to a good home'.
But Faust was right, something was off. I mean, besides this whole situation and everything surrounding it. Something else was off.
"She's flat," Faust said, in horrified fascination.
"…Yeah," I said, more than a little shocked myself. I turned to look at the Lich, "Listen, Faust… I know that's basically everything nobody wants in a Holstaur… but we can't leave her here. Look at her. She's exhausted, her clothes are dirty and torn… She's here in the middle of nowhere living in the most, um, earnest… box I've ever seen. How long has she been out here?"
"She's still sleeping, we could just go, Lyle, and her feelings would be unhurt. If we take her with us, you know that we will end up letting her into our hearts." Faust replied, looking unmoved, except that she was inching away from the girl, ready to flee. When she saw I wasn't following, she sighed, and continued, "It's milk, Lyle, Holstaur Milk. And where does the milk come from, Lyle?"
My eyes hardened. I felt a flash of anger come over me. "Her milk, is it? I understand perfectly, Faust. We'll just leave her here to rot, then. Not like it matters. She's just food." I spat the last few words out with a vehemence I rarely felt, let alone expressed. I knew, in that moment, that I'd already decided to love this girl, no matter what, without knowing anything else about her. A little shallow, maybe, but she deserved that kind of shallow in her life for once. Judging by how we'd found her, her life had been full of only the other sort, so far.
"That… That's not what I… but…" Faust was looking at me like she'd never seen me before. She hung her head. "I'm sorry, Lyle. I…"
I looked away. "Beeps, load her up in the cart. Bring her box. Do a quick run around, see if you can spot anything else she might want to keep."
Beepatrice hopped down off Blackberry, and carefully secured the sleeping Holstaur in the cart. The box was unfolded into a flattened state and slid into the back, before Beeps took off at a barely visible sprint, jumping high into the air to get a better view of the area. She came back, a few minutes later, not holding anything. That's so sad.
Well, not any more.
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- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I see that the semen economy has managed to replicate some of the worst of the conventional economy.
Discrimination, unemployment, homelessness. The cult of productivity extended in such a way that it encompasses "conventional attractiveness" more than it already does was not really something anyone was asking for, o cold and uncaring universe.
...
Lyle, this world is in dire need of a revolution.
While that's in progress: Faust, this world is in dire need of you mad science-ing an alternative source of spirit energy.
Whatever solutions have been attempted up to this point are clearly insufficiently radical.
Discrimination, unemployment, homelessness. The cult of productivity extended in such a way that it encompasses "conventional attractiveness" more than it already does was not really something anyone was asking for, o cold and uncaring universe.
...
Lyle, this world is in dire need of a revolution.
While that's in progress: Faust, this world is in dire need of you mad science-ing an alternative source of spirit energy.
Whatever solutions have been attempted up to this point are clearly insufficiently radical.
Chapter Eleven - Nemesis
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Morningwood, the center of Mamono art and culture, sat barely a mile away. Every type of entertainment was produced there, all with an erotic bent, from paintings, to books, to episodic dreams, everything flowed from the streets of Morningwood, and Faust had gotten us in. Somehow. I'd heard whispers of this place, back in the village, 'a den of depravity', 'the streets of sin', 'surprisingly okay once you got past all the porn', though admittedly that last young man had disappeared by the end of that week, so his word on the matter was suspect.
I couldn't figure out how Faust had done it.
Hell, I could hardly believe we were staring at it. It felt like we'd been walking forever, though it had actually been only two days since we left the cave, and only a few hours since we'd picked up our latest passenger.
Speaking of which, it was about time she woke up. We couldn't exactly head into the city with a girl we'd never even spoken to, and the atmosphere around here had been a little sullen since she'd been found.
"Blackberry, let's stop here. We need to talk to our friend back there before we go any further."
Nobody said anything, and that had been the case for a while. Someone would speak, try to start a conversation, but nobody else was quite ready for one reason or another. Some of us were angry, some of us were afraid, some of us disappointed in ourselves, and some of us were Beepatrice.
I slid down off of Blackberry, hitting the ground with a quiet thud. I grabbed a stick from the ground, and started tapping on the Holstaur girl's exposed shoulder. It was so weird that they really did have black and white hair on their heads. It looked so strange.
"Hey, wake up." No response. "Hey, uh… hey Free. Free, wake up." Poke poke. "Hello?"
She stirred, finally, and I backed off, tossing the stick aside. She bolted upright, looking around, nervously, breathing fast, making squeaking sounds. She made eye contact with me, and her hands flew to her face, hiding her eyes, playing around with something obscured by her bangs.
I finally got a good look at her. She was tall, but shrunk in on herself to seem somewhat smaller, especially when sitting, she was built like a dancer, a swimmer, a runner, or a quick-moving fighter. Her wide, innocent blue eyes held no confidence, and more than a little fear. From what I could see of the, anyway, as her black and white hair, chin length, with long bangs, partially covered them. She had cute freckles, especially on her nose and cheeks, and stunning eyelashes. She had tiny horns, as well, and a much shorter, smaller tail than is usual for her species, from what little I'd seen of them. What little exposed skin she had was lightly tanned, likely from a life outside, and she sported freckles across her body as well. The face of a shrinking violet, but the body of a life-long athlete.
She wore accessories, likely to seem more cow-like, from the standard cow-print bra, panties and a cowbell, to the more unusual nose ring and a tag in one of her cow-like ears. She was also wearing a large, thickly knitted, frumpy cow-pattern sweater, which did nothing to hide her flat chest, given how large Holstaur usually are. She had a blue jean messenger bag, sized to fit a folded up cardboard box, monogrammed with happy grazing cows and the word 'Moo', and a short skirt of the same material, which left access open in the front, covering only her thighs, legs, and tragically flat ass.
"Hey, hey! It's okay, it's okay! We found you in a field. We can take you back there if you want, but we're about to head into the city, at least let us get you washed up, get your clothes patched." Her hands slowly moved away from her head, and I had a view of her eyes again. They were watery, and she was blinking, trying to get them clear. "Are you okay? We found you passed out in a box, and, well, we weren't one hundred percent sure you were alright… Do you need a doctor?"
"N.. no…" she said, and her voice was small, quiet, but surprisingly deep.
"Well… would you like to get cleaned up? Like I said, we can take you back, if you want… but from what I understand, there's a house waiting for us in Morningwood. We can get you washed up, fed, and back on your feet. You can stay as long as you need. Your box said, uh, 'free, to a good home', right? I haven't seen the place yet, but I'm hoping it's gonna be great."
Her eyes went wide, and she stood up suddenly, falling over in her haste to get out of the cart. As she got back to her feet, she was smiling, but it was small, scared, shy. She looked like she wanted something but I honestly had no idea what. One of her hands inched back up, towards her forehead. It wasn't her horns… those were on the side of her head. What was she reaching for…?
"Are you okay? You don't have to stay with us if you don't want… We, uh, brought your box, so it wouldn't blow away. You can still leave if you want to…"
She shook her head, back and forth, in a panic, the bell at her neck ringing.
"Then… what is it? I don't understand." I also don't understand how a girl like this was brave enough to put herself in a box marked 'free' in the center of a bunch of 'come hug me' signs. What was going on?
For just a moment, I saw a spark of… something… in her eyes. Was it courage? Determination? Fear, of going back to where she'd been? Whatever it was, it motivated her to put both hands to her forehead, pulling something down from under her bangs, and over her eyes.
Her hands had her face almost entirely covered, but I could see some kind of leather band, reaching from one side of her head, over her ears, around the back of her head through her hair, and connecting again at the other side of her face. Whatever it was she was hiding, it was secured pretty tightly.
She'd started to make odd… noises. Her left hoof was scraping against the ground, and she was snorting, like a stallion, or perhaps a bull, about to charge. She was shaking, violently, and as I watched, her posture changed from small and frightened to large, and intimidating, though still hiding her eyes. I'd known she was tall, but I hadn't realized she had to be more than seven feet tall. Not larger than Blackberry, but not for lack of trying. She might not have been extremely muscular in the traditional sense, but I got the idea, as she flexed, that she was still quite strong when it mattered, and gracefully dangerous.
Her hands finally left her eyes, down to her sides in a quick motion, though not inhumanly fast. I saw then, what she'd been hiding. Some kind of large, cushioned glasses were secured around each eye, the lenses shaped to cover as much of her vision as possible, even bent at the edges to get more coverage as it closed the gap between lens and face, covering her entire field of view but for the cushioning keeping them in place. The peculiar thing about the lenses, though… I'd never seen anything like them. They were tinted red.
...Hadn't I heard something about Holstaurs and the color-?
"Haha! I knew if I believed with all my heart someday the fates would bless me!" Her voice, while not loud, precisely, boomed through my body like an explosion, or the call of a wildcat. I took a step back. "And what a handsome specimen! Tell me, kind stranger, I would know the name of my rescuer!"
Uh. What.
"Struck dumb, are you?! It was my overwhelming charm, no doubt! What about you?! The fetching beauty from beyond the grave?! Tell me, fair maiden, what is your name?!"
I looked to Faust as she did, and, as had been the case in recent days, did not find my salvation from idiocy there, for where before stood my sullen friend, now stood a deadly predator.
"Oh?" Faust asked, and there was something in her tone that worried me… something that matched the madness of the woman I'd just awoken, "You speak to me? The Master of Death? The Beguiler of Men? The Sorceress Supreme? Tell me, fool, who are you to ask for my name? I am the thing which all men fear!"
If anything, the Holstaur looked even more excited at that reply. "I see! A foul creature you may be, but no evildoer can stand before the might of Fran Tastic without fear!"
Faust drew herself up, gathering her… whatever-this-was-ness together in reply, "I see… Well, Fran Tastic, you sad little thing, you will find I am a creature in a league of my own! You stand no chance of securing my beloved for yourself!" She took a dramatic step forward, her hands crackling with energy-
"Woo! You tell her, Sally!" Blackberry shouted, clapping excitedly.
"What?!" Faust turned to Blackberry, briefly confused. She'd forgotten we were here. "No, Blackberry, darling, I changed my name, remember dear?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry."
"It's fine. Now hush, my sweet, I am speaking to my nemesis." The word nemesis was said with a delight not befitting my understanding of its definition.
As this had been happening, uh… Fran, I guess, watched and waited politely, not interrupting, but never losing her aura of powerful presence, despite her stillness.
"Ahem." Faust settled back into place nearly perfectly, her foot in mid dramatic stride, her hand halfway to pointing towards Fran and myself, black and purple lightning arcing once more over her body, "You stand no chance of securing my beloved for yourself! Tremble before me! For I am F̸̡A͜U҉S̶͜T͡! ͢͏V͠O̧̢͡Ņ̀!̨ F̨͘R̛͢A̧͝͠Ń̷Ķ̛Ȩ̨́N͠S͝T̸̕͘E͡I͘͟N҉̀͝!͏͜" Thunder boomed as the lightning leapt from her body, striking the ground nearby, giving the impression of electric wings as her head once more caught flame.
"An intimidating show of force, yet Fran Tastic has never once run from a battle, and she shall not let this day be the first! I shall defeat you, monster, in unarmed combat, and secure the love of my rescuer!" She started to run at Faust, and Faust matched her, they leapt at each other in the air, meeting in roughly the middle, though I knew Faust was much faster than she seemed to be moving at the moment. That she was clearly holding back was the only reason I hadn't called on Beeps to attack Fran. Well, that and that I obviously had no idea what the hell was happening.
The two wrestled on the ground, rolling and tossing, throwing one another off only to scramble back on, moving slowly downhill towards the town. Eventually, Faust got a hold that Fran couldn't seem to break, or… didn't seem to be trying too hard to break…? Oh. OH.
"Hey Blackberry let's go find some flowers for our new friend I bet she's hungry I saw some that looked good back that way let's go," I said, all in one breath, as fast as I could. I dragged her back down the hill the other way, far away from the bizarre mess that was unfolding over there.
"Wait, Lyle, I want to make sure Faust is okay. She smelled funny, and she was breathing pretty hard. I think I can hear her screaming!"
"She's fine, trust me. Beeps will watch over her, make sure she's alright, won't you Beeps?"
"Affirmative."
"See, even if Faust gets hurt, Beeps can patch her right up. Let's go get some flowers. Beeps will let us know when they're done… um. When they're done."
"Okay, Lyle, if you say so…"
I couldn't figure out how Faust had done it.
Hell, I could hardly believe we were staring at it. It felt like we'd been walking forever, though it had actually been only two days since we left the cave, and only a few hours since we'd picked up our latest passenger.
Speaking of which, it was about time she woke up. We couldn't exactly head into the city with a girl we'd never even spoken to, and the atmosphere around here had been a little sullen since she'd been found.
"Blackberry, let's stop here. We need to talk to our friend back there before we go any further."
Nobody said anything, and that had been the case for a while. Someone would speak, try to start a conversation, but nobody else was quite ready for one reason or another. Some of us were angry, some of us were afraid, some of us disappointed in ourselves, and some of us were Beepatrice.
I slid down off of Blackberry, hitting the ground with a quiet thud. I grabbed a stick from the ground, and started tapping on the Holstaur girl's exposed shoulder. It was so weird that they really did have black and white hair on their heads. It looked so strange.
"Hey, wake up." No response. "Hey, uh… hey Free. Free, wake up." Poke poke. "Hello?"
She stirred, finally, and I backed off, tossing the stick aside. She bolted upright, looking around, nervously, breathing fast, making squeaking sounds. She made eye contact with me, and her hands flew to her face, hiding her eyes, playing around with something obscured by her bangs.
I finally got a good look at her. She was tall, but shrunk in on herself to seem somewhat smaller, especially when sitting, she was built like a dancer, a swimmer, a runner, or a quick-moving fighter. Her wide, innocent blue eyes held no confidence, and more than a little fear. From what I could see of the, anyway, as her black and white hair, chin length, with long bangs, partially covered them. She had cute freckles, especially on her nose and cheeks, and stunning eyelashes. She had tiny horns, as well, and a much shorter, smaller tail than is usual for her species, from what little I'd seen of them. What little exposed skin she had was lightly tanned, likely from a life outside, and she sported freckles across her body as well. The face of a shrinking violet, but the body of a life-long athlete.
She wore accessories, likely to seem more cow-like, from the standard cow-print bra, panties and a cowbell, to the more unusual nose ring and a tag in one of her cow-like ears. She was also wearing a large, thickly knitted, frumpy cow-pattern sweater, which did nothing to hide her flat chest, given how large Holstaur usually are. She had a blue jean messenger bag, sized to fit a folded up cardboard box, monogrammed with happy grazing cows and the word 'Moo', and a short skirt of the same material, which left access open in the front, covering only her thighs, legs, and tragically flat ass.
"Hey, hey! It's okay, it's okay! We found you in a field. We can take you back there if you want, but we're about to head into the city, at least let us get you washed up, get your clothes patched." Her hands slowly moved away from her head, and I had a view of her eyes again. They were watery, and she was blinking, trying to get them clear. "Are you okay? We found you passed out in a box, and, well, we weren't one hundred percent sure you were alright… Do you need a doctor?"
"N.. no…" she said, and her voice was small, quiet, but surprisingly deep.
"Well… would you like to get cleaned up? Like I said, we can take you back, if you want… but from what I understand, there's a house waiting for us in Morningwood. We can get you washed up, fed, and back on your feet. You can stay as long as you need. Your box said, uh, 'free, to a good home', right? I haven't seen the place yet, but I'm hoping it's gonna be great."
Her eyes went wide, and she stood up suddenly, falling over in her haste to get out of the cart. As she got back to her feet, she was smiling, but it was small, scared, shy. She looked like she wanted something but I honestly had no idea what. One of her hands inched back up, towards her forehead. It wasn't her horns… those were on the side of her head. What was she reaching for…?
"Are you okay? You don't have to stay with us if you don't want… We, uh, brought your box, so it wouldn't blow away. You can still leave if you want to…"
She shook her head, back and forth, in a panic, the bell at her neck ringing.
"Then… what is it? I don't understand." I also don't understand how a girl like this was brave enough to put herself in a box marked 'free' in the center of a bunch of 'come hug me' signs. What was going on?
For just a moment, I saw a spark of… something… in her eyes. Was it courage? Determination? Fear, of going back to where she'd been? Whatever it was, it motivated her to put both hands to her forehead, pulling something down from under her bangs, and over her eyes.
Her hands had her face almost entirely covered, but I could see some kind of leather band, reaching from one side of her head, over her ears, around the back of her head through her hair, and connecting again at the other side of her face. Whatever it was she was hiding, it was secured pretty tightly.
She'd started to make odd… noises. Her left hoof was scraping against the ground, and she was snorting, like a stallion, or perhaps a bull, about to charge. She was shaking, violently, and as I watched, her posture changed from small and frightened to large, and intimidating, though still hiding her eyes. I'd known she was tall, but I hadn't realized she had to be more than seven feet tall. Not larger than Blackberry, but not for lack of trying. She might not have been extremely muscular in the traditional sense, but I got the idea, as she flexed, that she was still quite strong when it mattered, and gracefully dangerous.
Her hands finally left her eyes, down to her sides in a quick motion, though not inhumanly fast. I saw then, what she'd been hiding. Some kind of large, cushioned glasses were secured around each eye, the lenses shaped to cover as much of her vision as possible, even bent at the edges to get more coverage as it closed the gap between lens and face, covering her entire field of view but for the cushioning keeping them in place. The peculiar thing about the lenses, though… I'd never seen anything like them. They were tinted red.
...Hadn't I heard something about Holstaurs and the color-?
"Haha! I knew if I believed with all my heart someday the fates would bless me!" Her voice, while not loud, precisely, boomed through my body like an explosion, or the call of a wildcat. I took a step back. "And what a handsome specimen! Tell me, kind stranger, I would know the name of my rescuer!"
Uh. What.
"Struck dumb, are you?! It was my overwhelming charm, no doubt! What about you?! The fetching beauty from beyond the grave?! Tell me, fair maiden, what is your name?!"
I looked to Faust as she did, and, as had been the case in recent days, did not find my salvation from idiocy there, for where before stood my sullen friend, now stood a deadly predator.
"Oh?" Faust asked, and there was something in her tone that worried me… something that matched the madness of the woman I'd just awoken, "You speak to me? The Master of Death? The Beguiler of Men? The Sorceress Supreme? Tell me, fool, who are you to ask for my name? I am the thing which all men fear!"
If anything, the Holstaur looked even more excited at that reply. "I see! A foul creature you may be, but no evildoer can stand before the might of Fran Tastic without fear!"
Faust drew herself up, gathering her… whatever-this-was-ness together in reply, "I see… Well, Fran Tastic, you sad little thing, you will find I am a creature in a league of my own! You stand no chance of securing my beloved for yourself!" She took a dramatic step forward, her hands crackling with energy-
"Woo! You tell her, Sally!" Blackberry shouted, clapping excitedly.
"What?!" Faust turned to Blackberry, briefly confused. She'd forgotten we were here. "No, Blackberry, darling, I changed my name, remember dear?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry."
"It's fine. Now hush, my sweet, I am speaking to my nemesis." The word nemesis was said with a delight not befitting my understanding of its definition.
As this had been happening, uh… Fran, I guess, watched and waited politely, not interrupting, but never losing her aura of powerful presence, despite her stillness.
"Ahem." Faust settled back into place nearly perfectly, her foot in mid dramatic stride, her hand halfway to pointing towards Fran and myself, black and purple lightning arcing once more over her body, "You stand no chance of securing my beloved for yourself! Tremble before me! For I am F̸̡A͜U҉S̶͜T͡! ͢͏V͠O̧̢͡Ņ̀!̨ F̨͘R̛͢A̧͝͠Ń̷Ķ̛Ȩ̨́N͠S͝T̸̕͘E͡I͘͟N҉̀͝!͏͜" Thunder boomed as the lightning leapt from her body, striking the ground nearby, giving the impression of electric wings as her head once more caught flame.
"An intimidating show of force, yet Fran Tastic has never once run from a battle, and she shall not let this day be the first! I shall defeat you, monster, in unarmed combat, and secure the love of my rescuer!" She started to run at Faust, and Faust matched her, they leapt at each other in the air, meeting in roughly the middle, though I knew Faust was much faster than she seemed to be moving at the moment. That she was clearly holding back was the only reason I hadn't called on Beeps to attack Fran. Well, that and that I obviously had no idea what the hell was happening.
The two wrestled on the ground, rolling and tossing, throwing one another off only to scramble back on, moving slowly downhill towards the town. Eventually, Faust got a hold that Fran couldn't seem to break, or… didn't seem to be trying too hard to break…? Oh. OH.
"Hey Blackberry let's go find some flowers for our new friend I bet she's hungry I saw some that looked good back that way let's go," I said, all in one breath, as fast as I could. I dragged her back down the hill the other way, far away from the bizarre mess that was unfolding over there.
"Wait, Lyle, I want to make sure Faust is okay. She smelled funny, and she was breathing pretty hard. I think I can hear her screaming!"
"She's fine, trust me. Beeps will watch over her, make sure she's alright, won't you Beeps?"
"Affirmative."
"See, even if Faust gets hurt, Beeps can patch her right up. Let's go get some flowers. Beeps will let us know when they're done… um. When they're done."
"Okay, Lyle, if you say so…"
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- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Do you not see the appeal, Lyle?
Of a fated rival? Of an opposite number, a champion of justice to stand athwart your villainous designs?
To know that - come rain or snow or you attempting to blow up the moon - they will always be there to try to stop you? To fail - for how can the forces of so-called "good" possibly hope to prevail against your brilliance, power, and wickedness?
And - should the impossible happen, and this do-gooder prevail - why, would that not spur you to redouble your efforts? To climb to a higher peak of dark genius, to plumb deeper depths of depraved villainy, driven to exceed your limits by their interference?
Imagine, Lyle, having such a trusted enemy. That constant thorn in your side, utterly dependable, through thick and thin. Imagine how you must come to know this heroine who has deluded herself into thinking she can stop you - how you would, over the course of years, come to know her strengths, her weaknesses; to learn the rhythms of her speech, the patterns of her thoughts; come to understand her motivations as deeply as your own - and know that she, too, will have learned the same of you.
The shadow is deeper in the presence of light; and the light shines brighter against a backdrop of darkness. In the flicker of the candle's flame, one can see light and darkness dance together, neither afraid of the other, entwined and embracing. Push and pull, action and reaction - one advances, the other retreats, and both know each other so intimately that they move together effortlessly.
Imagine knowing another soul so deeply, and being so known in return; and tell me again that you don't understand why Faust is so delighted.
- Location
- The State of Denial
That sounds a lot like Cummunism to me. Firmly grasping the means of production and all that.
- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
...nothing is wrong with her.
She's a) super shy; b) super chuuni; and c) uses red goggles to make herself angry (presumably, the mechanism of action is the popular mythology of cows becoming infuriated by "seeing red") in order to push herself past her shyness when necessary.
People find their courage where they can. I don't think it's anything to judge her over.
She's a) super shy; b) super chuuni; and c) uses red goggles to make herself angry (presumably, the mechanism of action is the popular mythology of cows becoming infuriated by "seeing red") in order to push herself past her shyness when necessary.
People find their courage where they can. I don't think it's anything to judge her over.
Chapter Twelve - Welcome to the Rest of Your Life
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It wasn't long before Faust had... uh... 'asserted her dominance' to her satisfaction, and we regrouped with my brain desperately trying to ignore tousled hair and shifted clothes. It turned out that 'Fran Tastic', much like Faust von Frankenstein, was a fake name. Not shocking. Somewhat more surprising was that the Holstaur actually went by her original name when she wasn't wearing her 'goggles'. Her name was Amy, apparently. I still wasn't clear what was going on there, but it was obvious she was like a different person while she wore them, so maybe it made sense? I was certain there was never going to be any confusion regarding that whatsoever.
Blackberry had taken Amy under her wing immediately, which was kind of adorable. As both of them were, uh… farm Mamono, I wasn't too surprised they were getting along, but I had the vague suspicion that was monster racist. What was surprising was seeing Blackberry as the assertive one in a relationship. She peppered Amy with questions about all sorts of things.
"Oh! Oh! And! And, what's your favorite flower to eat?" Blackberry asked, her face bare inches from Amy's as the giant Holstaur did her best to make herself look small and uninteresting.
"I… uh… I like dandelions…" Amy practically whispered.
Blackberry squeaked as she drew in a deep breath. "This. Is. Very. Important. Yellow? Or white?" Blackberry asked, quivering with excitement, her hands clenched in fists, fingers squirming, hiding her mouth as she held them close to her face.
"Um… yellow?" Amy asked, cowering.
"Me! Too! This is the best!" Blackberry picked Amy up in what I was beginning to think was her signature hug, and then began to trot around the field in circles with the poor girl in her arms. "And! You like hugs, too! So do I!"
Amy, surprisingly, seemed very happy with being treated like an overgrown doll, and returned the hug with startling ferocity in her arms, even if the rest of her body language remained meek. When Blackberry set her back down, she seemed almost disappointed.
"Okay, so! You like dandelions! Check." Blackberry said, pacing back and forth, and effort which seemed much more laborious for her, when she needed to coordinate her entire body turning around. "What about napping in the grass? My favorite is the springy kind, but most of my sisters like the pokey kind, because it let them scratch their bellies without asking for help. Which do you like?"
"Uh… Soft? I like soft grass the best…" Amy said, unsure, "but that wasn't an option... can I still choose that one?"
But Blackberry wasn't listening, because she had flopped down on to the ground.
"Soft! It's soft! Lyle, Sally, Beeps! The grass is soft! Try it!"
Faust looked at me, "Lyle, I will not lay down in that mess when there could be a spider's nest anywhere within it. You must be the one to do it."
I turned to Beeps.
"…Disinclined." Beeps admitted. She gestured to her exposed gears. Yeah, okay.
I thought for a moment, and smiled mischievously, before walking towards Blackberry, laying down and cuddling up to her barrel.
"Oh, wow," I said, "this," and I leaned in, pressing my back into the underside of her body, rubbing against her fur, "is really soft, Blackberry. Do you think we should stop for a nap?" I faked a yawn, "I mean, I'm a little tired."
Amy covered her mouth to hide a small, shy smile as Blackberry spluttered, trying to come up with intelligible sounds as my body shifted against hers. I 'cruelly tortured' her a few moments more, before standing back up. I heard a soft; "no, wait" behind me, but I ignored it for now. She'd ask to cuddle again later no doubt; hopefully sometime I could indulge her more thoroughly.
It was a few minutes' walk later before the next question arrived, but arrive it did. "Hey, Amy? Have you ever… did you ever… I mean, with your hooves… Haveyoueverclimbedatree?" She asked, all in one breath, barely squeezing it out.
"…Yes? I… like some fruits… that are best picked… that way…" Amy said, haltingly, and she sounded confused. She didn't know where this was going. She didn't know Blackberry like I did.
"…Can you teach me?" Mhmm. "Pretty please? I've… never been able to do it…" Blackberry sounded genuinely ashamed, as though it were her technique at fault, as though there were some secret trick to getting a horse up a tree in a normal manner and she was the only one who'd failed to figure it out.
Amy was at a loss for words, and it seemed to me to be the perfect time to rescue her from this avalanche of questions before she had to break Blackberry's little heart.
"So, Amy?" Amy turned to me, relieved, before remembering she was terrified of me and looking down at the ground, "Have you ever been to Morningwood?"
"Ah… Yes… they… know me there." Uh oh. That sounded like a lie of omission to me.
"They know you… or they know Fran?" I asked, concerned.
"Uh… well… as long as you vouch for me… it should be okay…" Yep. You're a public nuisance, aren't you? There's going to be people coming out of the woodwork.
"We've got your back, Amy, don't worry."
"Yeah!" Blackberry chimed in, "Lyle will help you! You're his wife, now!"
.
.
.
I devolved into a coughing fit, and Amy flushed bright red, luckily there were no reflective surfaces in sight. "W..Wife?!"
Blackberry gave her a 'sly' side-eye. "Yep, wife! You two… are married!" she proclaimed, "Don't think I missed you holding hands earlier! I know how this all works." I really don't think you do, sweetie. She did something with her face that was probably meant to be waggling her eyebrows. She just looked silly.
I hid my face in my hands.
"He's so cute when he's embarrassed by how worldly I am!" Blackberry said, proudly.
Ahem.
As we approached the city, I took it in, curiously. Faust claimed there was a place here for us, ready and waiting, though she'd been so sparce on details it was frustrating. Either way, we moved through it quickly, mostly for my protection, so we didn't get much chance to see the sights.
There was no wall around Morningwood, no guard patrol, no particular entry point at all. It was starkly different to every city I'd ever seen in the pure world, but why wouldn't it be? Any woman who walked into that place human certainly wouldn't leave that way, and they were all but begging for men to come inside. There was no reason to restrict travel at all. Every variety of illicit good in the pure world could be freely bought or traded for, in some cases, it was passed out at no cost, simply to maintain the atmosphere.
The streets were simply too much to take in without getting separated from the group, something I absolutely couldn't afford, since Blackberry had infused me with her mana during our first kiss a few days prior. I apparently smelled delicious, so I had to stay focused, stay near Faust and the others, who could keep me from another marriage before I was ready. As a result, most of the sights went unseen as we passed through the enormous thoroughfare. There would be time to explore later.
The place we stopped in front of was a beautifully constructed single story home, ornate amongst even the ornate, set apart from the other residences with a small fence, and shockingly close to the palace. It was perhaps three times the size of my simple home back in the village. But that had just been myself and Beeps. How was this going to work?
"I will have to remember to send thanks to Queen Twinkle Star for our accommodations. They are every bit as lovely as they were when she sent me the dreams of them. She has been beckoning me here for ages." That explained how they'd been in contact, at least, but how did Faust know any kind of Queen? "Perhaps we will meet her for dinner one day soon, Lyle. I would love to introduce you."
"Okay," I said, "But like, how do you know this... Queen, Sally?"
She smirked at me.
"I am actually one of the founding Mamono involved in Morningwood, technically. Now that I am a Mamono, anyway. I was responsible for suggesting the idea to Twinkle Star back before its founding. She came upon me disposing of some of my failed creations in the woods, back when I was putting my efforts towards impressing you with gifts of all manner of shape. The sincerity of their creation made them succulent to her, for she is a Leanan Sidhe, a devourer of art. There was not much art to be had in the forest, she was starving, but quite friendly, and so I suggested to her this plan. 'Go forth and find the artists among the Mamono, gather them together to hone their craft, and consume their best works as tithe for your efforts in organizing them.' What began as a small cabal of artists rapidly grew into a powerful city-state, and so my chance encounter created a Queen."
I stared, open mouthed. I was having trouble processing all of this. I'd have thought I was hallucinating if I hadn't been asleep multiple times since my life began to devolve into a slew of utter nonsense at the edges of belief.
"I believe there is even a statue of myself and her on that day around here somewhere, though we have both grown considerably since then. Her diet of only the best the world of erotic art has to offer has made her quite a bit larger than her species normally is, but her husbands mind not at all."
"Wow." Faust is kind of amazing. I mean, a week ago, I'd have been worried she'd be executed as a traitor for her actions, so I'm glad she never told me before now, but… Wow.
"And as for your concerns about our housing? And yes, it was plain on your face, my love, as for those concerns… The house is bigger on the inside."
Bigger on the inside? Faust helped found Morningwood? We'll probably end up meeting the Queen?
...I'm not even sure I know what's going on anymore. What kind of world have I stepped into?
Blackberry had taken Amy under her wing immediately, which was kind of adorable. As both of them were, uh… farm Mamono, I wasn't too surprised they were getting along, but I had the vague suspicion that was monster racist. What was surprising was seeing Blackberry as the assertive one in a relationship. She peppered Amy with questions about all sorts of things.
"Oh! Oh! And! And, what's your favorite flower to eat?" Blackberry asked, her face bare inches from Amy's as the giant Holstaur did her best to make herself look small and uninteresting.
"I… uh… I like dandelions…" Amy practically whispered.
Blackberry squeaked as she drew in a deep breath. "This. Is. Very. Important. Yellow? Or white?" Blackberry asked, quivering with excitement, her hands clenched in fists, fingers squirming, hiding her mouth as she held them close to her face.
"Um… yellow?" Amy asked, cowering.
"Me! Too! This is the best!" Blackberry picked Amy up in what I was beginning to think was her signature hug, and then began to trot around the field in circles with the poor girl in her arms. "And! You like hugs, too! So do I!"
Amy, surprisingly, seemed very happy with being treated like an overgrown doll, and returned the hug with startling ferocity in her arms, even if the rest of her body language remained meek. When Blackberry set her back down, she seemed almost disappointed.
"Okay, so! You like dandelions! Check." Blackberry said, pacing back and forth, and effort which seemed much more laborious for her, when she needed to coordinate her entire body turning around. "What about napping in the grass? My favorite is the springy kind, but most of my sisters like the pokey kind, because it let them scratch their bellies without asking for help. Which do you like?"
"Uh… Soft? I like soft grass the best…" Amy said, unsure, "but that wasn't an option... can I still choose that one?"
But Blackberry wasn't listening, because she had flopped down on to the ground.
"Soft! It's soft! Lyle, Sally, Beeps! The grass is soft! Try it!"
Faust looked at me, "Lyle, I will not lay down in that mess when there could be a spider's nest anywhere within it. You must be the one to do it."
I turned to Beeps.
"…Disinclined." Beeps admitted. She gestured to her exposed gears. Yeah, okay.
I thought for a moment, and smiled mischievously, before walking towards Blackberry, laying down and cuddling up to her barrel.
"Oh, wow," I said, "this," and I leaned in, pressing my back into the underside of her body, rubbing against her fur, "is really soft, Blackberry. Do you think we should stop for a nap?" I faked a yawn, "I mean, I'm a little tired."
Amy covered her mouth to hide a small, shy smile as Blackberry spluttered, trying to come up with intelligible sounds as my body shifted against hers. I 'cruelly tortured' her a few moments more, before standing back up. I heard a soft; "no, wait" behind me, but I ignored it for now. She'd ask to cuddle again later no doubt; hopefully sometime I could indulge her more thoroughly.
It was a few minutes' walk later before the next question arrived, but arrive it did. "Hey, Amy? Have you ever… did you ever… I mean, with your hooves… Haveyoueverclimbedatree?" She asked, all in one breath, barely squeezing it out.
"…Yes? I… like some fruits… that are best picked… that way…" Amy said, haltingly, and she sounded confused. She didn't know where this was going. She didn't know Blackberry like I did.
"…Can you teach me?" Mhmm. "Pretty please? I've… never been able to do it…" Blackberry sounded genuinely ashamed, as though it were her technique at fault, as though there were some secret trick to getting a horse up a tree in a normal manner and she was the only one who'd failed to figure it out.
Amy was at a loss for words, and it seemed to me to be the perfect time to rescue her from this avalanche of questions before she had to break Blackberry's little heart.
"So, Amy?" Amy turned to me, relieved, before remembering she was terrified of me and looking down at the ground, "Have you ever been to Morningwood?"
"Ah… Yes… they… know me there." Uh oh. That sounded like a lie of omission to me.
"They know you… or they know Fran?" I asked, concerned.
"Uh… well… as long as you vouch for me… it should be okay…" Yep. You're a public nuisance, aren't you? There's going to be people coming out of the woodwork.
"We've got your back, Amy, don't worry."
"Yeah!" Blackberry chimed in, "Lyle will help you! You're his wife, now!"
.
.
.
I devolved into a coughing fit, and Amy flushed bright red, luckily there were no reflective surfaces in sight. "W..Wife?!"
Blackberry gave her a 'sly' side-eye. "Yep, wife! You two… are married!" she proclaimed, "Don't think I missed you holding hands earlier! I know how this all works." I really don't think you do, sweetie. She did something with her face that was probably meant to be waggling her eyebrows. She just looked silly.
I hid my face in my hands.
"He's so cute when he's embarrassed by how worldly I am!" Blackberry said, proudly.
Ahem.
As we approached the city, I took it in, curiously. Faust claimed there was a place here for us, ready and waiting, though she'd been so sparce on details it was frustrating. Either way, we moved through it quickly, mostly for my protection, so we didn't get much chance to see the sights.
There was no wall around Morningwood, no guard patrol, no particular entry point at all. It was starkly different to every city I'd ever seen in the pure world, but why wouldn't it be? Any woman who walked into that place human certainly wouldn't leave that way, and they were all but begging for men to come inside. There was no reason to restrict travel at all. Every variety of illicit good in the pure world could be freely bought or traded for, in some cases, it was passed out at no cost, simply to maintain the atmosphere.
The streets were simply too much to take in without getting separated from the group, something I absolutely couldn't afford, since Blackberry had infused me with her mana during our first kiss a few days prior. I apparently smelled delicious, so I had to stay focused, stay near Faust and the others, who could keep me from another marriage before I was ready. As a result, most of the sights went unseen as we passed through the enormous thoroughfare. There would be time to explore later.
The place we stopped in front of was a beautifully constructed single story home, ornate amongst even the ornate, set apart from the other residences with a small fence, and shockingly close to the palace. It was perhaps three times the size of my simple home back in the village. But that had just been myself and Beeps. How was this going to work?
"I will have to remember to send thanks to Queen Twinkle Star for our accommodations. They are every bit as lovely as they were when she sent me the dreams of them. She has been beckoning me here for ages." That explained how they'd been in contact, at least, but how did Faust know any kind of Queen? "Perhaps we will meet her for dinner one day soon, Lyle. I would love to introduce you."
"Okay," I said, "But like, how do you know this... Queen, Sally?"
She smirked at me.
"I am actually one of the founding Mamono involved in Morningwood, technically. Now that I am a Mamono, anyway. I was responsible for suggesting the idea to Twinkle Star back before its founding. She came upon me disposing of some of my failed creations in the woods, back when I was putting my efforts towards impressing you with gifts of all manner of shape. The sincerity of their creation made them succulent to her, for she is a Leanan Sidhe, a devourer of art. There was not much art to be had in the forest, she was starving, but quite friendly, and so I suggested to her this plan. 'Go forth and find the artists among the Mamono, gather them together to hone their craft, and consume their best works as tithe for your efforts in organizing them.' What began as a small cabal of artists rapidly grew into a powerful city-state, and so my chance encounter created a Queen."
I stared, open mouthed. I was having trouble processing all of this. I'd have thought I was hallucinating if I hadn't been asleep multiple times since my life began to devolve into a slew of utter nonsense at the edges of belief.
"I believe there is even a statue of myself and her on that day around here somewhere, though we have both grown considerably since then. Her diet of only the best the world of erotic art has to offer has made her quite a bit larger than her species normally is, but her husbands mind not at all."
"Wow." Faust is kind of amazing. I mean, a week ago, I'd have been worried she'd be executed as a traitor for her actions, so I'm glad she never told me before now, but… Wow.
"And as for your concerns about our housing? And yes, it was plain on your face, my love, as for those concerns… The house is bigger on the inside."
Bigger on the inside? Faust helped found Morningwood? We'll probably end up meeting the Queen?
...I'm not even sure I know what's going on anymore. What kind of world have I stepped into?
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Sally Franks, town nerd who thinks anyone would have her over the supercompetent Automata.
Faust von Frankenstein, co-founder of a Mamono city-state, friends with a Monster Queen. Forming her own harem, which includes her crush, her rival, a friend and her Nemesis.
And that's why she's the best.
Faust von Frankenstein, co-founder of a Mamono city-state, friends with a Monster Queen. Forming her own harem, which includes her crush, her rival, a friend and her Nemesis.
And that's why she's the best.
- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Huh.
I'm not sure how I'd feel about offering up my best work to be eaten, but that's - I mean, it's probably a navigable mental shift.
I should hope Her Majesty has good taste, either inherently or after years of practice; so in a way, having her deign to eat any of your work is something of a compliment.
... probably a bit easier on writers than on, say, sculptors, though.
Chapter Thirteen - Inside
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The roomy hallway on the other side of the entrance led into a large chamber, filled with comfortable looking furniture of every shape and size, designed to accommodate every conceivable body type, all focused around a central table, with a fire pit built into the middle. The walls were lined with shelves and doors, with paintings, or perhaps windows, leading to impossible vistas, hanging above them both, adding color and personality to the room.
"Each doorway," Faust said, "is a sort of portal leading to another room, magically affixed to it, much like the door that led us here. Such rooms are very popular in Morningwood, since they allow for the exteriors to be infinitely reimagined without inconvenience, so long as the door frame is unmoved. You will find that the bedrooms," She gestured to a wall covered in doors, more than I hoped we'd need, "will respond to the first person to grab the handle, shaping themselves to your desires, though the process will take some time to complete, refining as you live there. The rooms will be mostly bare, for now."
I think my standard of living just shot through the roof. I was sort of excited. Beepatrice looked around the large room, and began walking with purpose towards one of the bedroom doors. Her hand touched the door, and it pulsed. She waited a moment before opening the door. What would her bedroom look like? I was curious, so I scooted closer, carefully, trying to get a view into the room.
I don't know what I expected, honestly. The room was probably five foot by six, and stocked full with shelves of cleaning supplies and paraphernalia, much of it opaque to me. There was a tool shelf, as well. Up on one of the top shelves, directly opposite the door on the back wall, there were a few pictures that, from a distance, looked like they might be of me and her, even one of the smaller statues she'd made, somehow, or at least a convincing replica. With everything stuffed in there, even if it was well organized, there was barely enough room for two people to stand side by side with the door shut. It'd be a tight squeeze. She walked in, turned off the light, turned around, said; "Maintenance," and shut the door.
Right then.
"How does it make all that stuff?" I asked, interested. Maybe I could trick it into making me something really cool?
"There is a warehouse within the city which houses an enormous amount of furniture and such that which Mamono create, but do not use, or do not keep for themselves, for one reason or another. The spell taps into that warehouse, creating a copy here for our use. If you need something you find the rooms do not provide, note it down, and we can create it and have it submitted to the archive. There are some other nuances to the spell, and some functions related to the items themselves, but that is best explored later. For now, simply be satisfied that it works." Faust said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Lyle, I need to begin my own processes." She approached a door, and, after the flash, quickly slipped inside. Ditched again.
I noticed that while we'd been talking, Amy had apparently ditched me as well, perhaps to get cleaned up, leaving Blackberry and I alone in the room.
I walked with her over to one of the doors, and she looked at me.
"Um, will I fit, do you think?"
"Worth a try, anyway," I said.
Her room was huge, and grass carpeted the floor, there were a few trees, and I noticed some of them were identical. I supposed there were limits to how many trees it was practical to store in a warehouse. The door shifted to become much larger, so much so that she could walk through it sideways, if needbe. There was a large pile of hay, which Blackberry immediately settled down into.
"I'm going to take a nap, now that we're here!" She said, though her eyes said something else, and there was special emphasis on the word 'nap'. She patted the hay, idly. I smiled at her.
We cuddled a bit, but she really was exhausted, and she fell asleep almost right away, with her inability to keep her faculties making it difficult to stay awake. Oh well, we'd have a real cuddle later on.
I left the room, heading to prepare my own. Once I'd passed through my new door, I noticed the room was rather large, with a frankly enormous bed. I turned around. No lock on the door, either. I didn't hate that, I really understood, but wasn't this supposed to be my room? It was then that I noticed a smaller branch room. More of a large closet, there were rods to hang clothes on, but it also had a small bed in it, and that door did have a lock on it. Fair enough.
Before I could get myself settled in, though, Faust burst into the room.
"Ah, Lyle. Glad I caught you." She smiled, holding up a golden necklace with a red, almost pink, jewel set as the centerpiece. "Please, wear this to bed, my love. It will bring you pleasant dreams and ensure you are well rested."
That was thoughtful.
"Thanks, Faust, I was a little nervous about my first night in a new place like this. This house really makes it all real, you know? This is our life, now." I smiled at her. "I'm glad you're here with me, Sally."
"Perhaps, once our rooms are settled, we can spend some more time together," she purred, her hand trailing down my arm, "but for now, I must bid you goodnight."
"Night, Faust." I walked into my smaller room, and locked the door, crawling under the covers, and settling in. Despite being a new bed, it fit my preferences stunningly well, somewhat firm, tough supportive pillows. If this room really adjusted to be more to my liking the longer I stayed, how much better would the bed be tomorrow night?
I was glad everything had gone so well.
Of course, things went wrong the next chance they had. The next morning, I woke up in Faust's bed, and despite not having yet seen it, I knew it had to be hers, for it was large, black, and the headboard was a mock-tombstone, which read 'Sally Franks, mostly dead'. Waking up here was more than a little odd. Faust wasn't in bed with me, for one thing. If she'd kidnapped me to her room in the middle off the night, I doubted she'd have left me here to wake up alone. For another, I distinctly remembered locking my door, and going to sleep in my own bed, so even if she had tried, she shouldn't have succeeded. My room wouldn't bother with a lock that was only decoration, if it was there, it ought to have worked.
I looked around the room, drab and grey, it was cold and almost, but not quite, damp. There were beakers and bottles on tables, notes and papers spread across the floor, walls, and other surfaces. Electricity occasionally arced and sparked across strange devises lining the walls, and the whole place practically screamed 'La-bore-a-tory' at the top of its lungs to anyone with eyes.
I threw the covers off, they were rather heavy, surprisingly, and rolled over, beginning an attempt to get out of the unfamiliar, if surprisingly comfy, bedroom set, when an obstacle presented itself. Two, actually. A pair of pale, apple-sized breasts were attached to my chest.
"Faust! What did you-" What?! My voice was… her voice. Sally's voice. Oh no. Faust, what the hell have you done now? Between the two breasts that had halted my progress out of bed, I thought I spied my answer. A necklace, nearly the twin of the one she'd presented to me last night, and bid me wear to bed. The gem inlaid in it was blue, and glowing brightly. Some kind of magic, then. Easily solved, though. I sat up, and lifted my hands… her hands to her chest? No, keep things simple. My hands to my chest, even if only for the moment. All I had to do was remove the necklace and things should go back to normal.
Mmmm… Soft, fleshy, and larger than I remembered them, since I was now Faust's size, rather than my own, touching her breasts was a delight. "Ahhh~" I ran my hands all over my chest, and when one of my fingers chanced against my nipple, it hardened near instantly, and I changed my focus with both my hands to explore this feeling more closely. The necklace could wait a moment, this bore examination.
My erect nipples had much less give than my breasts, so brushing against them actually shifted the entire mass somewhat, and rather satisfyingly, but it wasn't quite gliding right. Ooaaah… Yes… some saliva solved that problem… at least, a little… But… no. It wasn't enough! My hands inched lower on my body, slowly drawing close to a source of wetness I was sure would satisfy this burning need to-
*clink* *clink*
The jangling of the chain around my neck shook me out of a rapidly escalating situation, and only just in time. I needed to get some clothes on. Surely Faust had had her room prepare some? I knew she only wore that cloak, generally, but she must have something, right? Something to put between my hands and my body, to keep the sensations from calling me back? A quick examination of the room showed me she did not. Whether they were merely hidden at the moment or not was unclear. However, I was able to wrap her blankets around me in a sort of covering. It wasn't elegant, but I couldn't feel myself through them, no matter how my fingers roamed when I stopped focusing on them.
I clearly couldn't be trusted to try to remove that necklace again on my own. I'd have to find Beeps; she would help once I explained what was going on. I opened the door… and was immediately greeted with the sight of my own body, waiting just outside. Recognition took me only a second, but that short window was enough for my body to slip into the room, and lock the door behind it.
"Hello, Lyle, my love," my body said, and hearing the way it spoke, there was no doubting Faust was the one controlling it. "how are you doing this morning? Feeling well?"
Feeling well? I'm anything but! I'm confused! I'm furious! I'm terrified! "I'm huuuungryyyyyyy," I whined, my eyes locked onto the lower half of the garment concealing my real body's skin. My body ached, flushed hot, and pleasure ran across me in waves, coming together at the point closest to… to my? To her? To his crotch. The effect drove my attention toward it whether I wanted to look or not. And I did want to look. Maybe look a little closer, actually. I took a step forward, involuntarily.
"I'm sure you are, Lyle, but..." She said, and I immediately felt outrage well up, "only good girls get fed, Lyle, and good girls know to ask first."
…
Yeah, fuck that. I leapt at him, clawing at the empty air between us and crying out in the throes of ecstasy. Soon he'd understand, soon he'd feel it too. There was no sense listening to his complaints when I could make them vanish with only a few moments work! My blankets lay forgotten on the floor, as I flew through the air towards my prize.
But that flight was taking an awfully long time, wasn't it? This feeling of being suspended in the air was familiar… Faust. She was doing this. Where was she?! That bitch! "Faust, put me down! I… I just want to suck his cock for a minute! Only a minute! Faust! Faust, let me go!" I screamed and screamed, wiggling and pushing, desperately, futilely trying to propel my body through the air towards what I needed most. The damndest thing was, I could almost taste it. Almost. His scent hung heavy in the air, it made my mouth water, I knew somehow exactly what that taste was like, every heavenly moment of it. It was as though somebody had built my body from the ground up just for this one, specific man, had tuned it for this one precise sensation. Some incredible genius designing my form for this beautiful, fantastic, delicious man, to satisfy him and be satisfied by him. Only him. Was there anything I wouldn't do just to taste him, to feel him, even just once more?
I rammed my fingers into my pussy, in and out, in and out, one and two at a time, then two and three, hopelessly trying to fill it with a pale imitation of it's true desire. Coating my hands with my cum, I ran it across my body, searching for that sweet sensation, itching to feel anything like what I somehow knew my body could feel, if only he would let me!
"Stop it! Stop it! Come here! I want to make you feel so good! You're mine! Mine!! Why won't you listen!?" I threw my hands towards him, slinging my wetness at him in a vain attempt to entice him with whatever I had. When that failed to sway him, I hung there suspended in the air, fingering myself. I let myself get LOUD.
"Aah! Aah! Ooh! Oh my Lord, oh it feels so good! It feels so good! I need more, please? Please? Just fill me, feed me, fuck me! I promise you you won't regret it! I'll make you cum so good~" I'd seen Lesser Succubi try to seduce men, before, although when that had been exactly escaped me at the moment. No matter, I said a grateful word to their memory as I did my best to imitate them, shaking and rolling my hips, testing the edges of my voice with breathy moans and gasps, I acted out every fantasy, touched every inch, begged every way, but nothing moved him.
"Faust, Faust! We can... ah, we can share him! Just help me! Fuuuuck… Hold him down instead, we'll take him together! Faust, mmm, Faust please!"
The man was looking at me with an alarmed expression. But he was still looking. "Perhaps… perhaps this idea was less clever than I'd initially believed…" Whatever he was babbling about wasn't important, though. Maybe I could convince him to use his mouth for something else? Something better? It was no cock, but… maybe I could get something out of it, and who knows? It might be enough to push things along.
"If you aren't, mmmm, going to fuck me, at least eat me out, you jerk! Ah, ah aaaah… Don't you know anything about how to treat a lady?" I gave him my best pout, gesturing emphatically to my aching vagina, practically on fire for him.
"…Eat you out? What does that mean, Lyle?" Oh? Such innocence! That's an in! Hehehe, you're mine, now!
"Well…" I trailed off, putting a musical tone into my words. Layering in a little charm magic. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten to use that until now. "Have you ever been kissed, cutie?"
"Um, well…" Aww, he's all flustered. I'll have to enjoy that while it lasts. "…Yes?" Shame, I'd have loved to take everything from him. Teach him all the pleasures I could imagine. Still, not all bad.
"Good, then you know the basics, at least." I pursed my lips, slipping my tongue out, miming an aggressive technique. "All you really have to do is take what you learned, and use it right…" I bucked my hips lewdly, gesturing with my fingers, outlining and circling my pussy for him. His eyes were locked onto it now. I was nearly certain I had him. Finally. "here~… I'll wrap my legs around your cute little face, and hey, if you want, we can do it upside down, and I'll suck your dick while you eat me out! Just a thought! Wouldn't want it to get lonely down there, think I didn't care about it." Oh how I would care for it, just you wait sweetheart. I'll make you the one who has to beg me. Just you wait.
His eyes, having slowly dilated, finally lost their resistance to my displays. Yessssssss… His head started to follow my every twitch, my every contour, and his breathing started to match the rhythm of my fingers, still pounding away, unceasingly attempting to satisfy my aching emptiness. I could never be enough, by myself, but I was finally on the right track. I led his eyes around with my body, showing off my curves, as his robe slid off his shoulder, and his roughly sewn pants followed shortly after. I could almost see it. Pressing against the limits of his wrapping, his penis was obviously hard as stone. Good. It's about time you appreciated my body, I've only been begging for you to fuck me, you jerk.
He had an interesting necklace on, though.
"Hey, you might want to take that off too," I said, no longer worried about distracting him. He was mine. "chafing is no fun at all, really ruins the mood, and I wanna fuck you all night."
He clutched at his chest, following the gesture I'd led him there with, and his eyes suddenly regained their focus! What?! NO!
"No! No! Nononono! Fuck me, you idiot! Fuck me, Lyle! L̶̺̹̺̳̯͖̞̦̣̤͓̀Y̶̷̨͎̯̯͚̺Ĺ̵̲͍̹͇̰͇͉͚̩̹̕͞Ȩ̮͍͇̖̩̰̬͎͖͇̝͔̟̘̕!͜͟͢҉҉͕͍͙̫͉̻͎̘̫̙̱̫̪̥̤͓̥!҉̰̩̥̭̬͕̗͚͔͟" I screamed, but he was beyond my reach again.
The necklace came off, and I blacked out.
"Each doorway," Faust said, "is a sort of portal leading to another room, magically affixed to it, much like the door that led us here. Such rooms are very popular in Morningwood, since they allow for the exteriors to be infinitely reimagined without inconvenience, so long as the door frame is unmoved. You will find that the bedrooms," She gestured to a wall covered in doors, more than I hoped we'd need, "will respond to the first person to grab the handle, shaping themselves to your desires, though the process will take some time to complete, refining as you live there. The rooms will be mostly bare, for now."
I think my standard of living just shot through the roof. I was sort of excited. Beepatrice looked around the large room, and began walking with purpose towards one of the bedroom doors. Her hand touched the door, and it pulsed. She waited a moment before opening the door. What would her bedroom look like? I was curious, so I scooted closer, carefully, trying to get a view into the room.
I don't know what I expected, honestly. The room was probably five foot by six, and stocked full with shelves of cleaning supplies and paraphernalia, much of it opaque to me. There was a tool shelf, as well. Up on one of the top shelves, directly opposite the door on the back wall, there were a few pictures that, from a distance, looked like they might be of me and her, even one of the smaller statues she'd made, somehow, or at least a convincing replica. With everything stuffed in there, even if it was well organized, there was barely enough room for two people to stand side by side with the door shut. It'd be a tight squeeze. She walked in, turned off the light, turned around, said; "Maintenance," and shut the door.
Right then.
"How does it make all that stuff?" I asked, interested. Maybe I could trick it into making me something really cool?
"There is a warehouse within the city which houses an enormous amount of furniture and such that which Mamono create, but do not use, or do not keep for themselves, for one reason or another. The spell taps into that warehouse, creating a copy here for our use. If you need something you find the rooms do not provide, note it down, and we can create it and have it submitted to the archive. There are some other nuances to the spell, and some functions related to the items themselves, but that is best explored later. For now, simply be satisfied that it works." Faust said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Lyle, I need to begin my own processes." She approached a door, and, after the flash, quickly slipped inside. Ditched again.
I noticed that while we'd been talking, Amy had apparently ditched me as well, perhaps to get cleaned up, leaving Blackberry and I alone in the room.
I walked with her over to one of the doors, and she looked at me.
"Um, will I fit, do you think?"
"Worth a try, anyway," I said.
Her room was huge, and grass carpeted the floor, there were a few trees, and I noticed some of them were identical. I supposed there were limits to how many trees it was practical to store in a warehouse. The door shifted to become much larger, so much so that she could walk through it sideways, if needbe. There was a large pile of hay, which Blackberry immediately settled down into.
"I'm going to take a nap, now that we're here!" She said, though her eyes said something else, and there was special emphasis on the word 'nap'. She patted the hay, idly. I smiled at her.
We cuddled a bit, but she really was exhausted, and she fell asleep almost right away, with her inability to keep her faculties making it difficult to stay awake. Oh well, we'd have a real cuddle later on.
I left the room, heading to prepare my own. Once I'd passed through my new door, I noticed the room was rather large, with a frankly enormous bed. I turned around. No lock on the door, either. I didn't hate that, I really understood, but wasn't this supposed to be my room? It was then that I noticed a smaller branch room. More of a large closet, there were rods to hang clothes on, but it also had a small bed in it, and that door did have a lock on it. Fair enough.
Before I could get myself settled in, though, Faust burst into the room.
"Ah, Lyle. Glad I caught you." She smiled, holding up a golden necklace with a red, almost pink, jewel set as the centerpiece. "Please, wear this to bed, my love. It will bring you pleasant dreams and ensure you are well rested."
That was thoughtful.
"Thanks, Faust, I was a little nervous about my first night in a new place like this. This house really makes it all real, you know? This is our life, now." I smiled at her. "I'm glad you're here with me, Sally."
"Perhaps, once our rooms are settled, we can spend some more time together," she purred, her hand trailing down my arm, "but for now, I must bid you goodnight."
"Night, Faust." I walked into my smaller room, and locked the door, crawling under the covers, and settling in. Despite being a new bed, it fit my preferences stunningly well, somewhat firm, tough supportive pillows. If this room really adjusted to be more to my liking the longer I stayed, how much better would the bed be tomorrow night?
I was glad everything had gone so well.
Of course, things went wrong the next chance they had. The next morning, I woke up in Faust's bed, and despite not having yet seen it, I knew it had to be hers, for it was large, black, and the headboard was a mock-tombstone, which read 'Sally Franks, mostly dead'. Waking up here was more than a little odd. Faust wasn't in bed with me, for one thing. If she'd kidnapped me to her room in the middle off the night, I doubted she'd have left me here to wake up alone. For another, I distinctly remembered locking my door, and going to sleep in my own bed, so even if she had tried, she shouldn't have succeeded. My room wouldn't bother with a lock that was only decoration, if it was there, it ought to have worked.
I looked around the room, drab and grey, it was cold and almost, but not quite, damp. There were beakers and bottles on tables, notes and papers spread across the floor, walls, and other surfaces. Electricity occasionally arced and sparked across strange devises lining the walls, and the whole place practically screamed 'La-bore-a-tory' at the top of its lungs to anyone with eyes.
I threw the covers off, they were rather heavy, surprisingly, and rolled over, beginning an attempt to get out of the unfamiliar, if surprisingly comfy, bedroom set, when an obstacle presented itself. Two, actually. A pair of pale, apple-sized breasts were attached to my chest.
"Faust! What did you-" What?! My voice was… her voice. Sally's voice. Oh no. Faust, what the hell have you done now? Between the two breasts that had halted my progress out of bed, I thought I spied my answer. A necklace, nearly the twin of the one she'd presented to me last night, and bid me wear to bed. The gem inlaid in it was blue, and glowing brightly. Some kind of magic, then. Easily solved, though. I sat up, and lifted my hands… her hands to her chest? No, keep things simple. My hands to my chest, even if only for the moment. All I had to do was remove the necklace and things should go back to normal.
Mmmm… Soft, fleshy, and larger than I remembered them, since I was now Faust's size, rather than my own, touching her breasts was a delight. "Ahhh~" I ran my hands all over my chest, and when one of my fingers chanced against my nipple, it hardened near instantly, and I changed my focus with both my hands to explore this feeling more closely. The necklace could wait a moment, this bore examination.
My erect nipples had much less give than my breasts, so brushing against them actually shifted the entire mass somewhat, and rather satisfyingly, but it wasn't quite gliding right. Ooaaah… Yes… some saliva solved that problem… at least, a little… But… no. It wasn't enough! My hands inched lower on my body, slowly drawing close to a source of wetness I was sure would satisfy this burning need to-
*clink* *clink*
The jangling of the chain around my neck shook me out of a rapidly escalating situation, and only just in time. I needed to get some clothes on. Surely Faust had had her room prepare some? I knew she only wore that cloak, generally, but she must have something, right? Something to put between my hands and my body, to keep the sensations from calling me back? A quick examination of the room showed me she did not. Whether they were merely hidden at the moment or not was unclear. However, I was able to wrap her blankets around me in a sort of covering. It wasn't elegant, but I couldn't feel myself through them, no matter how my fingers roamed when I stopped focusing on them.
I clearly couldn't be trusted to try to remove that necklace again on my own. I'd have to find Beeps; she would help once I explained what was going on. I opened the door… and was immediately greeted with the sight of my own body, waiting just outside. Recognition took me only a second, but that short window was enough for my body to slip into the room, and lock the door behind it.
"Hello, Lyle, my love," my body said, and hearing the way it spoke, there was no doubting Faust was the one controlling it. "how are you doing this morning? Feeling well?"
Feeling well? I'm anything but! I'm confused! I'm furious! I'm terrified! "I'm huuuungryyyyyyy," I whined, my eyes locked onto the lower half of the garment concealing my real body's skin. My body ached, flushed hot, and pleasure ran across me in waves, coming together at the point closest to… to my? To her? To his crotch. The effect drove my attention toward it whether I wanted to look or not. And I did want to look. Maybe look a little closer, actually. I took a step forward, involuntarily.
"I'm sure you are, Lyle, but..." She said, and I immediately felt outrage well up, "only good girls get fed, Lyle, and good girls know to ask first."
…
Yeah, fuck that. I leapt at him, clawing at the empty air between us and crying out in the throes of ecstasy. Soon he'd understand, soon he'd feel it too. There was no sense listening to his complaints when I could make them vanish with only a few moments work! My blankets lay forgotten on the floor, as I flew through the air towards my prize.
But that flight was taking an awfully long time, wasn't it? This feeling of being suspended in the air was familiar… Faust. She was doing this. Where was she?! That bitch! "Faust, put me down! I… I just want to suck his cock for a minute! Only a minute! Faust! Faust, let me go!" I screamed and screamed, wiggling and pushing, desperately, futilely trying to propel my body through the air towards what I needed most. The damndest thing was, I could almost taste it. Almost. His scent hung heavy in the air, it made my mouth water, I knew somehow exactly what that taste was like, every heavenly moment of it. It was as though somebody had built my body from the ground up just for this one, specific man, had tuned it for this one precise sensation. Some incredible genius designing my form for this beautiful, fantastic, delicious man, to satisfy him and be satisfied by him. Only him. Was there anything I wouldn't do just to taste him, to feel him, even just once more?
I rammed my fingers into my pussy, in and out, in and out, one and two at a time, then two and three, hopelessly trying to fill it with a pale imitation of it's true desire. Coating my hands with my cum, I ran it across my body, searching for that sweet sensation, itching to feel anything like what I somehow knew my body could feel, if only he would let me!
"Stop it! Stop it! Come here! I want to make you feel so good! You're mine! Mine!! Why won't you listen!?" I threw my hands towards him, slinging my wetness at him in a vain attempt to entice him with whatever I had. When that failed to sway him, I hung there suspended in the air, fingering myself. I let myself get LOUD.
"Aah! Aah! Ooh! Oh my Lord, oh it feels so good! It feels so good! I need more, please? Please? Just fill me, feed me, fuck me! I promise you you won't regret it! I'll make you cum so good~" I'd seen Lesser Succubi try to seduce men, before, although when that had been exactly escaped me at the moment. No matter, I said a grateful word to their memory as I did my best to imitate them, shaking and rolling my hips, testing the edges of my voice with breathy moans and gasps, I acted out every fantasy, touched every inch, begged every way, but nothing moved him.
"Faust, Faust! We can... ah, we can share him! Just help me! Fuuuuck… Hold him down instead, we'll take him together! Faust, mmm, Faust please!"
The man was looking at me with an alarmed expression. But he was still looking. "Perhaps… perhaps this idea was less clever than I'd initially believed…" Whatever he was babbling about wasn't important, though. Maybe I could convince him to use his mouth for something else? Something better? It was no cock, but… maybe I could get something out of it, and who knows? It might be enough to push things along.
"If you aren't, mmmm, going to fuck me, at least eat me out, you jerk! Ah, ah aaaah… Don't you know anything about how to treat a lady?" I gave him my best pout, gesturing emphatically to my aching vagina, practically on fire for him.
"…Eat you out? What does that mean, Lyle?" Oh? Such innocence! That's an in! Hehehe, you're mine, now!
"Well…" I trailed off, putting a musical tone into my words. Layering in a little charm magic. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten to use that until now. "Have you ever been kissed, cutie?"
"Um, well…" Aww, he's all flustered. I'll have to enjoy that while it lasts. "…Yes?" Shame, I'd have loved to take everything from him. Teach him all the pleasures I could imagine. Still, not all bad.
"Good, then you know the basics, at least." I pursed my lips, slipping my tongue out, miming an aggressive technique. "All you really have to do is take what you learned, and use it right…" I bucked my hips lewdly, gesturing with my fingers, outlining and circling my pussy for him. His eyes were locked onto it now. I was nearly certain I had him. Finally. "here~… I'll wrap my legs around your cute little face, and hey, if you want, we can do it upside down, and I'll suck your dick while you eat me out! Just a thought! Wouldn't want it to get lonely down there, think I didn't care about it." Oh how I would care for it, just you wait sweetheart. I'll make you the one who has to beg me. Just you wait.
His eyes, having slowly dilated, finally lost their resistance to my displays. Yessssssss… His head started to follow my every twitch, my every contour, and his breathing started to match the rhythm of my fingers, still pounding away, unceasingly attempting to satisfy my aching emptiness. I could never be enough, by myself, but I was finally on the right track. I led his eyes around with my body, showing off my curves, as his robe slid off his shoulder, and his roughly sewn pants followed shortly after. I could almost see it. Pressing against the limits of his wrapping, his penis was obviously hard as stone. Good. It's about time you appreciated my body, I've only been begging for you to fuck me, you jerk.
He had an interesting necklace on, though.
"Hey, you might want to take that off too," I said, no longer worried about distracting him. He was mine. "chafing is no fun at all, really ruins the mood, and I wanna fuck you all night."
He clutched at his chest, following the gesture I'd led him there with, and his eyes suddenly regained their focus! What?! NO!
"No! No! Nononono! Fuck me, you idiot! Fuck me, Lyle! L̶̺̹̺̳̯͖̞̦̣̤͓̀Y̶̷̨͎̯̯͚̺Ĺ̵̲͍̹͇̰͇͉͚̩̹̕͞Ȩ̮͍͇̖̩̰̬͎͖͇̝͔̟̘̕!͜͟͢҉҉͕͍͙̫͉̻͎̘̫̙̱̫̪̥̤͓̥!҉̰̩̥̭̬͕̗͚͔͟" I screamed, but he was beyond my reach again.
The necklace came off, and I blacked out.
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- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh.
Oh.
...a number of things make much more sense now.
...
...Faust, don't bodyswap people without consent, that's not okay.
Lyle? Lyle, sweetie -
you're in for a rough time. It might be scary, it might be really frightening; and it is definitely going to be turbulent and confusing-
But it will be okay. I promise, it will be okay.
Faust loves you. Beeps loves you. Blackberry and Amy maybe aren't there yet, but in time.
You are loved. You are loved.
Please, please remember that.
Oh.
...a number of things make much more sense now.
...
...Faust, don't bodyswap people without consent, that's not okay.
Lyle? Lyle, sweetie -
you're in for a rough time. It might be scary, it might be really frightening; and it is definitely going to be turbulent and confusing-
But it will be okay. I promise, it will be okay.
Faust loves you. Beeps loves you. Blackberry and Amy maybe aren't there yet, but in time.
You are loved. You are loved.
Please, please remember that.