Hug Your Destiny [NSFW] - Explicit / Kink (Trans Protag)

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Chapter Fifty-Four - Run You Down
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    • It was a great question, frankly, and one that echoed for what seemed like years on my walk home.

    What had I done?

    It was a question with nuance.

    There was the bare practicality of it; I'd given into urges I'd admittedly been somewhat blindsided by, turning a woman into a monster in the process. How could I be satisfied with that?

    Then there was the feeling of it; I'd done something righteous, something beautiful, touched something it would be perverse to even reject. Found something that was such an integral part of who I was that I hardly thought to question it, justified it to myself any way I could. How could I bear to be anything but satisfied with that?

    Finally, the real depth of the circumstances. More than the animal, typical transformation I'd indulged in, it was clear I'd done something else. Reached out to something, someone else. That Elsie had wound up a Trumpart, of all things, was more than evidence of that, even if my own memories weren't reliable for that on their own.

    We had been trying to reach out to the Demon Lord quite specifically, the easiest explanation was that the connection had been made, and stronger than we'd bargained for. She would have had the power to do what had been done, but I wasn't completely satisfied with that explanation.

    If it was the truth, it wasn't the whole of it. I could feel it in my sludgy, slimey bones.

    It hadn't escaped my notice that in her transformation Elsie got exactly what she had asked for, if not precisely what she'd wanted. Trumparts, the queensguard of the Wonderlanders, could retreat to their personal playing card at any time, a kind of privacy few could boast, and from the sounds of things, whatever was in there, it was cozy and well stocked with books.

    Prying Sally out of something like that would be a nightmare.

    However, regardless of how well matched her desires might have been, no one I knew of aspired to be a Wonderlander. It was something that got inside you and was impossible to remove, not unlike the dark energies of Mamonodom themselves. If I had told Elsie how she would end up she may well have taken her chances with Magenta.

    It was too late to ask now, of course.

    My musings, however, were cut short as I arrived home, and opened the front door to see Beeps standing right at the entrance, staring at precisely my eye level.

    "Lyle." She said, and though she had said it so many times before, the name felt ever-so-slightly off now.

    "Hey Beeps." I said, "Looking to go out?"

    She nodded. She might not be one to ask permission for things she wanted, but she could still do things like 'preform maidly duties directly in front of the door' until I caught the hint.

    She held up the hammer, still well dressed in its sunhat and robe.

    "Journey." She said, by way of explanation.

    "Huh. If you're going far you know I want to come too, right?" I said, seriously.

    The lights in her eyes brightened some, and she reached out and hugged me, stiffly, but only because she was made of metal.

    "Is it urgent, or can we take some time to plan and supply?" I asked, as I moved into the house.

    There was a pause, before she responded, "Plan."

    I nodded.

    "Faust!" I called, "I'm back, and I need a map!"

    Immediately after, I winced. I'd forgotten, I was still angry with her.

    I didn't like fighting with either of them for this reason, we were too reliant on each other.

    We needed to resolve this, or at least break the tension, if we were going to move forward. I'd made my position clear, we'd all be on the lookout for any followups, and Sally had… seemed to understand. At the very least she knew she'd done something upsetting, but I thought Charlotte might have even framed it in a way she understood.

    Maybe I was a pushover, but the damage had been done, and letting the atmosphere remain upsetting would be selfish, and only hurt the others, Blackberry especially.

    Hmmm.

    Blackberry… especially…?

    I smiled.

    I knew exactly what to do.

    I looked at Beeps and said, "Go get Amy, and meet me in Blackberry's room. If we want to do this right, we need to clear the air."

    To her credit, she nodded, despite this additional delay. It never failed to get to me how she trusted me so completely.

    I walked over to Sally's door, and rapped twice.

    "I don't know which map we'll need, better bring what you have. I'll be in Blackberry's room."

    I heard a muffled noise on the other side which could have been frankly anything, but I didn't stay to find out. I had to move quickly if I wanted this to work.

    I made right for Blackberry's sliding door, throwing it open in my hurry. I stepped in, and Amy followed shortly after, being all but shoved by Beeps.

    "Whoa, hey, okay, okay!" She said, as she stumbled forward.

    I looked at Beeps as she closed the door behind her and I rolled my eyes.

    She quirked an eyebrow. "Delivery."

    I snorted.

    Blackberry, meanwhile, trotted up from further in the false forest that made up her bedroom. She looked subdued, and that by itself was enough to make me certain this needed doing.

    "H-hi…?" She said, and I thought she might have been crying. I wasn't sure if it was because of the arguing, or because of what Sally had done, or both, but I knew I couldn't let it go on.

    I walked up to her, giving her a hug, a kiss on the nose, and then flowing around her to sit astride her in her saddle.

    "O-oh! Um, Lyle I-"

    I scratched her right behind the ear, cutting her off.

    "Amy, when Faust comes through the door, I want you blocking the exit."

    Beeps' eyes sharpened. I heard her motors and gears spin up.

    Amy looked confused, but nodded. "Sure, but I'm going to want a reason."

    I nodded back to her, turning to look at Beeps.

    "Deputy Beepatrice, this is your Sheriff speaking." I felt Blackberry tense in between my thighs. She shifted excitedly. "Initiate Detainment Protocol: Sally Franks."

    A gleam entered her eye, and I could have sworn I saw a slight smirk as she followed my command, her body shifting, panels opening and optimizing her form for freedom of movement, before climbing a tree like a spider, moving up and out of sight.

    Not a moment too soon, as Faust came through the door not a second later, her eyes alighting on me as she passed through and into the room, the door shutting behind her in a display of telekinetic force. Amy silently slid in front of the door as Faust, oblivious, walked towards me with a slight frown on her face.

    "Lyle, I must ask; what are you doing atop Blackberry?"

    "That," I said, "is Sheriff Lilac to you."

    Her eyes narrowed.

    "Lila-?" She shook her head "You are not the sheriff of this town, my love."

    But she took a step back.

    Well, telekinetically.

    She took a float back.

    I pointed at her dramatically, my arm just long enough when I was leaning forward that Blackberry could see the flourish.

    "Faust von Frankenstein, I'm bringing you in!"

    I heard Blackberry gasp.

    Faust, meanwhile, whirled, and looked at the door, spotting Amy blocking her in. She whipped her head back around at me, furious.

    "You wouldn't da-"

    "You're a no-good, dirty, rotten varmint, Sally Franks" I said, "and you-"

    "Lyle don't you even think about-!"

    I reared Blackberry back, and she winnied as threateningly as she could.

    "-are under arrest!"

    The world exploded into motion.
     
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    • I attempted to read both this and the work it's a sequel to a couple times before without managing to get past the first chapter of either. I just binged the entirety of this and loved it, so once I have sleep I will go back and hopefully manage to force my way through enough of the first work to get into it.
    Edit: with a bit more time to think about it, I think part of what let me get into this was reading it on SV instead of QQ. Like, the way I interpreted what I was reading was changed by the context.
     
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    Chapter Fifty-Five - Interlude - Charlotte (Six)
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    • Enemy Territory
    Morningwood

    Founder Faust von Frankenstein's Manor

    Common Area





    Day 14 of Capture

    Late Morning



    As a knight of Chalté, a certified Hero, it wasn't as though it was the first time I had heard the sounds of the many fucking through the walls, nor was it even my first adjacency in this house, but there was something unnerving about the matter-of-factness of the multi-person orgy simply springing up with no warning, even if behind closed doors.

    I wasn't sure how exactly I had expected it to go, but the sexual escapades here seemed less sinister and more… casual. I suppose it was unrealistic to think that all Mamono shouted about how much they enjoyed corrupting humans until they devolved into animal copulation even when in the comfort of their own homes, far from the frontlines, but the domestic nature of it was almost more unsettling for its facsimile of normalcy.

    Samael, Thagolynn, and I were left to stay in the common area, but frustratingly, I could feel that my 'time' for the day was not ticking down. Neither Samael not Thagolynn could be used to skirt the lines of the deal I had made, apparently. Not entrieely surprising, but nailing down edge cases like those could always reveal a simple, overlooked weakpoint in a plot or scheme. Not so this time, but a good habit nonetheless.

    Samael busied herself staring at me like she thought I wasn't looking, though she knew better than most exactly how aware of her I must be, at all times. She had been the one to train that awareness into me, after all, but even so, it wasn't she who had the whole of my focus, I admit.

    I had been pondering the Dragon for some time now. Or perhaps, the Dullahan. Or perhaps, the Jiangshi. Or perhaps, something else altogether. The Lich had an unfortunate talent for taking all the worst aspects of a situation and combining them together.

    She sulked opposite me in the circle of seats, powerful frame warped by petulance. I had been brought up to speed about the situation surrounding her mother, the Jabberwock, after Lyle had departed. I don't know why I had been surprised that even the moderate utility she presented as a obedient combatant and deterrent would have been somehow mitigated, but her mother being a possessive Wonderlander was a poor coincidence. I was beginning to think there was something working against me in the background, arranging fate against me in some way. Had I caught the attention of some kind of scheme-laying Mamono? There was really no excuse for how things kept going so wrong on this mission.

    "So, Thagolynn." I said.

    She looked up at me, glaring.

    "What do you want, you fucking cheat?"

    Her childishness was irritating, but I didn't need to like her, I just needed her to be useful.

    "You have, apparently, been enslaved to me."

    She glowered.

    "The situation, though, is not as bad as you may think." I shifted in my seat. "As a Hero of Chalté, I have very little use for an enslaved Dragon, and while I might be tempted to kill you to be rid of you, I have frankly no idea how to do that, given the number of creatures you have had stitched into yourself by our… mutual captor."

    Her expression didn't change at all.

    "Today is the third day of a deal I made with the group here, and on the end of the seventh, the morning hours of the eighth, I will be leaving this place, returning home as best I can under my own power."

    She snorted, grumbling, but I could tell she was listening.

    "If you guard me while I do so, and assist in my return to the depth of Chalté without allowing my corruption, I swear to you, I will to order you to return deep into the Mamono Lands, to perform some meaningless, trivial task, and that task, at that time, will release you from your service."

    She sat up.

    "You're gonna let me go?"

    "I am returning to Chalté, creature. I could not keep you there even if I intended to survive my return, and I do not. My death is the only safety I have with so many powerful Mamono after my soul. Even leaving yourself out, a Lich, an Automaton, a Fallen Valkyrie, a Shoggoth? That is to say nothing of the thing that lurks at the center of this city, that thing which has already had me captured once. My time as a Hero is over, my service done, and only by returning to the embrace of the Chief God can I hope to keep my soul my own."

    Her eyes widened. "You're gonna off yourself?"

    I shook my head, "The priests will do it. If my body isn't disposed of properly, my soul not sent off in the proper way, I still run the risk of reviving, especially with a Lich after me. But the church is not helpless, we have layed Heros to rest before. I will get out of here."

    And then, Chief forgive me, I used the gift I was given.

    "And you, Thagolynn, will give your all to assist me." Her eyes flashed, but the Heavens must have been listening, for she didn't seem to notice. "It is, after all, in your best interest."

    She nodded, begrudgingly.

    And I took one step closer to home.
     
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    • Now that my life has stabilized again, I am gonna try and get back into a semi-regular cadence here. If you have questions or you just wanna hang out, you can find me in my discord server, now linked in my signature.

    But, if you do join, please don't let that stop you from dropping comments in the thread. More comments keeps me on the front page longer, and that means more readers! Also I like reading them, and it's much easier to re-read opinions when they're all collected in a thread like this.

    Also also, you may notice I am a councillor now, I blame all of you for this and will have my revenge.
     
    I think I may have said it before, but I want to say it again: I really love this story, it's fantastic and I'm glad to hear both that your life has stabilized, and that we'll be getting more chapters!
     
    Chapter Fifty-Six - Interlude - Charlotte (Seven)
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    • Enemy Territory

    Morningwood

    Founder Faust von Frankenstein's Manor

    Common Area





    Day 14 of Capture

    Late Morning



    The bedlam barely barred by the barn door Blackberry bedded behind continued unchecked, as I stewed in the knowledge of what I'd done. The moans and groans and little 'eeps' from voices I was too familiar with soured my mood.

    "and so, there I was, surrounded on all sides, back to the hard stone, dug in as much as I could manage with the time I had." Thagolynn said, her voice gravelly, full of bravado, "Other Dragons? Pshaw. They'd have been done long before then. Who knows how quick they folded? Probably wanted to, the losers. But I held out, I fought them, kept them off for a day and a half!"

    She was explaining to Samael why it was she had not fallen to the debauchery common to Dragon Zombies. Apparently, Dragons are generally sex-averse, but on their death, on awakening in the lands below, they are caught by the same tide of lascivious bodies as any other would be, and by the time they come up with their minds had forcibly changed. Coming back from the dead, they seek the same again, with all the power of Dragon at their command to get it.

    But she, apparently, woke up fighting, just on reflex, and simply hadn't stopped. Her vile, brutish personality apparently enough to repel most of the weaker Mamono. Her struggles, though, had caught the attention of the stronger ones after a while, and the fighting got harder.

    "And then, just as those assholes thought they finally had me, I broke out of hell because fuck you, that's why." She said, proudly.

    Whether she really thought that was what had happened somehow or she was just trying to hide from how close she'd come, I didn't know, but it sounds like her resurrection was seconds off from being too late to save her from the fate of every other Dragon Zombie, even for all her bragging. Even the slightest delay, if I'd hesitated at all, she might have woken up very different. It was hard to say whether I'd have preferred that or not.

    Obviously she was a nasty one as she was now, but I don't think a rock-stupid sex-starved maniac would have been an upgrade, exactly, even if she might have been less likely to fight my orders, and even if it might have been easier for me to justify those orders to myself if she wasn't all there.

    As she was though, she was less help with Samael than Sally had claimed she'd be.I couldn't order someone unwilling to bed her any more than I could let Samael force herself on me. It would have been convenient if she was more eager, and Samael was too busy fighting off her advances to be plotting how she'd get me to accept her own.

    If Faust hadn't had that pen ready for me to sign with, and if we'd had to look for another in her mess of a room…

    Well, things would have been quite different.

    The door to Blackberry's room popped open, and the whole lot of them piled out.

    I thought about trying not to look but I unfortunately did need to keep an eye on them at all times.

    The Holstaur, Amy, came out first, her hair mussed and her muscled frame relaxed and limp. Shortly after her was Blackberry, strutting with a sort of childish swagger, Lyle astride her, looking less grim than she had been, with just enough room for her circular horn to clear the door frame. Beepatrice came out last, stoic as ever, holding Faust over her shoulder. Faust herself was, well…

    She was pretty obviously tied up. The ropes, concerningly, had little eyes and teeth on them, despite no obvious trail to Lyle herself. More evidence of something I'd been concerned about. Her Demonic side may let her magically control her body even at short distances from herself. That was concerning, especially as I'd already seen that she wasn't as small as she looked. I wouldn't forget that monstrous, enormous arm appearing next to me in the span of an instant, pinning the Cyclops against the wall.It would likely haunt my nightmares for as long as I survived to have them.

    I also couldn't miss how red her bottom was.

    We were taught to control our blushing instinct from day one, but that was a sight that tested my skill and discipline.

    …Perhaps 'discipline' wasn't a word I ought to be thinking right now.

    Beepatrice strode over, throwing Faust onto the couch roughly, and then immediately turning and sitting on her head.

    At least she was already dead, but the second-hand embarrassment would get me too if I wasn't careful.

    Amy plopped down some rolled up maps on the table before sliding down into a seat next to Samael with an audible, happy, self-satisfied sigh. Blackberry navigated to her specialized seat, while Lyle slid off, taking a seat right next to Beeps, and directly on top of Faust's… sensitive bottom.

    A muffled 'oof', forced into the cushion of the couch, could barely be heard.

    Samael looked on with a smirk and Thagolynn didn't bother to hide her schadenfreude, but she demonstrated more awareness than I thought of her when she looked around and visibly choked down whatever taunt she'd instinctually meant to sneer.

    A small tendril of Lyle reached out slowly, and laid the maps flat, unrolling them and spreading them out so they covered the table while being as visible as possible, given how many of them there were.

    "So," she said, "do you see it on here, Beeps?"

    I saw her eyes scan the pages, flitting across the landscapes.

    "Unknown." She said, after a moment. "Ages."

    Samael perked up. "Looking for something from before, I bet? I might know a thing or two." Then she said, or perhaps sang, something in a musical tongue I didn't recognize.

    To my shock, Beepatrice responded in the same tongue.

    "Is that," I whispered, reverently, "The words of the Ancients?"

    Samael smiled at me, and for a moment I almost saw the wholesome light of her old self in the pale blue skin of her demonic face.

    I looked away.

    "bv vrbs v z nchnts???" Came a muffled voice from the sofa. "Bt zz r lng lst!"

    The singing continued as I struggled to look away from both Samael on one side and Faust on the other, while also still seeing both of them and all the rest.

    Eventually, Samael pointed at one of the maps. "It ought to be around here, or near enough. No idea how far down though."

    Beepatrice shrugged, shifting her weight and grinding Faust further into the couch.

    "Excavate." She said, and though her tone was no different, I knew she meant it as a casual dismissal, even all these years later. Something about the timing of when she said it, I thought.

    "How far is it?" Lyle asked, "and for that matter, what is it?"

    "Lt ee eeee," The couch cushion whined. Everyone ignored it as best they could.

    "Far enough we'll need transportation, if you intend to go," Samael said, "and as for what, it's not really my place to say. Technically I shouldn't be telling you where it is at all, and while the chief doesn't hold my chain anymore, she has more than enough people left to send after me if I start getting too many ideas."

    She crossed her arms and leaned back. "If you really mean to go, you'll see it soon enough."

    Beeps nodded solemnly, and I felt a strange resolve settle over the group.

    Beeps wanted something, and even though they weren't sure what it was, they were already settled on helping.

    Unfortunately, as their prisoner, I couldn't exactly let them go alone.

    "I," I said, "am not going out into the wilds without that spear and shield I was promised."

    Lyle nodded at me, and it was settled.

    We were heading out behind enemy lines.
     
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    • The_Letter_K said:
    Amy plopped down some rolled up maps on the table before sliding down into a seat next to Samael with an audible, happy, self-satisfied sigh. Blackberry navigated to her specialized seat, while Lyle slid off, taking a seat right next to beeps, and directly on top of Faust's… sensitive bottom.

    A muffled 'oof', forced into the cushion of the couch, could barely be heard.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    In Mamono Morningwood, furniture sit on you. :p

    The_Letter_K said:
    Beeps wanted something, and even though they weren't sure what it was, they were already settled on helping.
    Click to expand...
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    Ooh, delicious mysteries!

    The_Letter_K said:
    Unfortunately, as their prisoner, I couldn't exactly let them go alone.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    ... are you sure that's how that works?

    The_Letter_K said:
    "I," I said, "am not going out into the wilds without that spear and shield I was promised."

    Lyle nodded at me, and it was settled.

    We were heading out behind enemy lines.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Adventure awaits!
     
    Chapter Fifty-Seven - Higitus Figitus
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    • A trip outside the city was something I wasn't sure we were ready for, but I didn't know if the feeling was real, justified, or a senseless holdover from before. After all, now that I was made of slimy demonic goo energy, or whatever the particulars actually were, there was nothing in the Demon Lands I needed to worry about, in theory. Roving bands of feral heroes or stumbling into the nest of a national army were not so much concerns as the monstrous version had been on the other side of this divide, and so it was hard to pin the unease on any particular thing.

    Still, as we packed and suited up and rented a carriage, the feeling persisted.

    It was honestly hard to ignore that we were probably what anyone or anything troubling us probably was terrified of meeting themselves. And yet, I found it didn't really have to make sense for it to be something that stuck with me regardless.

    I watched as Faust loaded down our carriage with all sorts of doodads and whatsits, a few I recognized, most that I didn't. Research stuff, surely, we were going somewhere ancient. The number of things she was fitting in the various boxes she'd set inside was far more than what you'd expect they could hold, and the boxes were color-coded and labeled with inscrutable words like 'infratechnical magiarray', 'squondoshtuallar extractamoid', and 'supplies'. The telekinetic parade of objects wobbled to and fro as they settled into their assigned containers, in a queue leading from deep inside her lab, through the great living room, and out into the street in front of our house.

    "I gotta say," Faust looked to me as I spoke, her telekinetic grip not faltering, "What a way to pack!"

    She nodded, and then stopped, looking back at me, and said; "Well now, just a moment, Lyle, how else would you get all this into one tiny carriage, I'd like to know?"

    I held up my hands in surrender, "No, no, I think it's wonderful!"

    "Oh! Yes it is, rather!" She looked quite smug at that, so I couldn't resist.

    "Of course, I could probably do half these things' jobs with no prompting, and the other half with a bit of explaining. And well, I should hope you're leaving room for all of us in there, let alone just me!"

    She frowned. "I suppose that is one way to do it. Although I remain skeptical about your ability to emulate this equipment considering you needed me to magically change even your temperature, Lyle."

    Harrumph. I could do it!

    "Mmm… I've… I've been thinking…" I paused.

    "Oh?" She asked, her focus having moved back to her procession of flying tools and trinkets.

    "I've been thinking about… Lilac. Not Lyle."

    The objects nearly fell out of the air all at once and she turned back to me, eyes wide, although the things had stabilized and once more begun to move.

    "You did say that, didn't you?" She said, struck. "Right before, well… right before all of that in Blackberry's room. You'd said Sherriff Lilac."

    Yeah, I guess I had, in the heat of the moment.

    I nodded, carefully.

    "Oh, but that's a perfectly wonderful name, darling!" She said with a smile, and I matched her with my own. "I will endeavor to remember the change. It is an elegant one, and, well, you have already done the same for me, have you not?"

    "Mostly, anyways," I said, nodding again.

    "Then it is settled." She said, in an officious, imperial tone.

    A warm little feeling in my chest stayed with me for a while as I said my goodbyes to her, and went inside to check on the others.

    "Hi Lilac!" Blackberry said, grinning, although her face immediately went serious, and she reasserted a very tense posture. She was wearing her saddle of course, but also some additional bits of equestrian equipment she didn't normally wear. She was taking this very seriously.

    "Hi again honey, it's only been a few minutes, you know? I was just outside." I smiled though, she could greet me every time she blinked, I'd still find it charming. If, maybe, a bit hard to hold a conversation.

    She nodded, but was very committed to her role here.

    "I see your hitch and reins are still in place, and in excellent condition." It was hard to believe she'd made them herself.

    She blushed deeply, across her face and down her neck, but her stern expression remained.

    "I'm ready, Lilac. I've been ready since the day I was born." She paused. "Well, maybe I would have fallen over on my actual birthday birthday, and my hooves were still too soft to pull anything, but…!"

    "But this is your dream, huh?"

    Her nod was earnest, but with an imposed fierceness. The cart renter had tried to rent us a boar as well, for the trip, but at the mention of my beautiful Bicorn he immediately backed off, and effusively apologized. That's a man who'd rented the wrong person a beast of burden once too often for their spouse's liking, for sure.

    "A carriage holding my husband and my wives and my hero, and my mom and my best friend and Charlotte who's like my sister since Beeps is like her mom and her friend who's an angel and!" She trailed off, nervously.

    "I can't wait sweetie, I know you'll get us there safely." She beamed, but then the serious expression was back, so foreign on her face. She nodded, slowly, carefully, and sagely.

    "I'll leave you to your preparations, Blackberry." I said, with a deference to her focus.

    Beeps, the last one on my list to check on at the moment, sat quietly in the living room, eyes closed, not far from where Blackberry was preparing herself.

    I sat next to her, leaning on her a bit, though she did not react outwardly, her temperature rose slightly as her gears spun faster at my touch. "You ready, Beeps?"

    She nodded.

    A satisfactory explanation of where we were going had yet to be reached, but I was confident she would not waste our time on something frivolous, and frankly even if she were, I'd fight for her right to it. She gave me everything she could, and worked tirelessly and flawlessly on my behalf to address any need or inconvenience. The only thing she'd ever asked in return was that I be there to let her do so. That she wanted something for herself now, whatever it was, I'd help her achieve it. The trip promised to be somewhat long, a few hours each way, plus whatever work her earlier "Excavate" had implied… We had limited time with Charlotte, but as she was coming along, I could think of no reason to delay this trip, and every reason to give Beeps literally all she'd ever asked for for herself.

    So I settled in beside her, and we waited together.
     
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    • My new job offers me much less time to write, has mandatory overtime ranging from 5-10 hours a week more often than it doesn't, and is frankly mentally draining, but I am now properly medicated for focusing issues, and so I think, at least some weekends, I will find myself back here in this place again.

    However, I'm also putting together an effort at an online writing career, slowly but surely. People tell me my characters are incredible, but the truth is MGE will never have the reach to get me there if that's what I want. Not with the stories I want to tell. My focus may be split at times, but I will NEVER stop writing this until it's finished or I die, so if you stay subscribed, so long as I don't have a heart attack, another chapter will come, although promises of any sort of timeline are clearly foolish.

    If I can find time to write consistently, I should do so in pursuit of a writing career, but my love for these character will never fade, and so I will always be back. Thank you for waiting, and hopefully I will have news about another story soon enough.

    Oh, and while I doubt Hungry will ever read this, thank you for writing Katalepsis and proving people will read something that I find inspiring, and let you make your career of it. I hope I write something half so impressive someday.
     
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    Chapter Fifty-Eight - Ninety-Nine Bottles Of Beer On The Wall
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    • Travel by carriage was a large improvement over wandering the wilderness, even if most of our trip to Morningwood had been with Blackberry along for the ride, or maybe with me along for the…? I rode Blackberry most of the way there. Sometimes the phrasing still gets me.

    Anyway, even though I mostly hadn't walked it myself, the wilderness was a very different experience from a carriage ride. While there might not be many paved roads in and out of the Mamono lands, it seemed they still maintained the ones internal to their holdings, or at least the presence of demonic energy prevented their decay, if they weren't actively maintained. Blackberry made an impressive pace once the roadway was sprawling out ahead of us, it was clear just from the way the cloth siding of the wagon rumbled as the wind sped over its taught surface that we were out-speeding any horse I'd ever ridden. Several times she stepped up her speed as we got further from the town, then the outskirts, then the outer farms, the secluded huts, and then, finally, when the last of the city was out of sight, something clicked inside her, and suddenly she was unleashed, nearly twice her previous speed.

    The rumble as we shot overland was something fearsome, at least until Sally had gotten sick of it, and flung splashes of magic at the fabric of the walls irritatedly until the warbling vibration finally stopped. Then it was the sound of the wheels as they spun across the stones that dug at her, and she growled, floated out of the wagon, wind whipping at her hair, bandages, hat, and cloak, and then flashes of bright light were flung once more, silencing the wheels.

    That left the rhythmic pace of Blackberry's hooves as she galloped down the stonework, like an avalanche of hail, or a storm of meteorites. It wasn't so much pitter-patter as it was calamitous clatter. I saw as Faust first noted the noise, then smiled fondly, dismissing it. And then, of course, I saw as it crept into her head anyway, watched as she fought off the irritation out of a sense that this was Blackberry's moment to shine, and that she'd intervened all she could.

    I traded a look with Amy as Faust's fists went from merely clenched to trembling from the squeezing. She'd lasted about three minutes, but she was reaching her limit. I shook my head, and took a breath to say something, but then another sound caught my ear.

    "Mmhmmhmm hoofstep, mm-mm-mm windswept, sunshine songs ba-ba-bup backs~"

    My gaze swept the cabin, but Samael wasn't singing, and neither, obviously, was Charlotte. Amy and I weren't either, and Faust and Beeps were both equally unlikely to break into song themselves, if for different reasons.

    In fact… My eyes all slowly turned towards my horsiest wife, and sure enough I could just see her bobbing her head.

    I chuckled to myself, quietly, and when Faust looked up at me, glaring slightly, not at me but the entire world for the indignity of her situation, she saw me smiling widely at her.

    She narrowed her eyes, opened her mouth, and then paused as I started to hum along with Blackberry's barely audible song.

    Although she didn't turn around, I saw her ear flick, her head freeze, no longer bopping back and forth, and her singing faltered.

    I'd caught the tune enough to keep it going with just my humming, but I elbowed Amy, lightly, since she was closest.

    "Ow," she murmured. My elbow was made of gooey jello, so it was more of a reflex than anything, but she got the message and started to hum along as well.

    Beepatrice, bless her little clockwork heart, needed no encouragement, and she began drumming her metallic fingers on her body, the clicks and clack in time with and supporting the beat.

    A frozen moment, and then, softly at first but gradually gaining a joyous vigor; "Sunshine songs burned on our backs! Our love smooths over all the cracks! Our hearts together bring us through! Our herd, our love, it's me and you! Our hearts are dressed to trot for battle; we carved our dreams into our saddle! A temple in our hearts where we enshrined it! Believing in our love before we find it!"

    Faust smiled, shaking her head, but her hands were loose.

    And so it went.


    .oOo.​


    Eventually, Beeps hopped up front to guide Blackberry off-road, which cut our speed down considerably, but also signaled our journey was drawing to a close. It was probably only another hour before we'd reached whatever it was.

    As we clambered out of the carriage I took in the scene around us. Rocky, barren, little in the way of growth at all, extremely unusual for the Demonic Realms, where most of the plant life subsisted on ambient sexual energies. I didn't even see any prisoner fruit, and it was notoriously difficult to stop it growing. Rumor was, in the pure lands, chance unchaste thoughts in the garden could grow it spontaneously even from other healthy plants, and while I'd seen no proof of that, it wasn't impossible for me to believe.

    A glance around showed the nearest growth almost a minute's pace away, at a walk, back the way we came, and the radius of the effect went farther than I could see, although we had only stopped after we'd gotten a ways inside it.

    Beeps brought out the hammer, still in its tiny hat and sundress, and made more of her musical noises at it. The language, that is, not the body drumming she'd been doing on the way here. It flashed in response, and Beeps gently led Blackberry, unhitched from the carriage, at a slow trot further into the effect, stopping about as far again as we'd already come.

    "Here." she said, finally.

    "Finally, she said we're here!" Faust groaned. "I tired of the traveling games more than two hours back, Lilac."

    "I actually was surprised you didn't bring a book," I said, amused.

    She froze, closed her eyes, looked up to the sky, and let out a wounded, lowing groan.

    "You didn't think of that, huh?"

    She didn't say anything, but I left her to her grief to check in on the others. She was the only one who knew what unpacking needed doing, and she'd distract herself with that soon enough.

    Amy had paced over near Blackberry, and what scraps of their speech I could hear, it sounded like they were chatting about the travelling songs Blackberry had learned from her herd. A few of the themes had been troubling, but the songs were all unfortunately catchy, and I had the suspicion I'd be humming them again later, willing or no.

    Samael looked uncomfortable being here, but she and Thagolynn, who had slept the entire trip like a rock, had given the group some space. Charlotte was actually atop the carriage, and I had to ask.

    "What are you up to up there?" Her spear and shield hung at her back, the last things holding us up before we departed, but she seemed well pleased with them, so I was too.

    "Trying to spot the edge of this wasteland. I'm not going to go wander, but even from up here I don't see the edge of it."

    I made myself a sort of triangular leg structure, and hoisted myself up to her height with that support. As I looked around, I saw she was right. I grunted, thoughtfully, slowly sinking back down.

    "How much of you is there, anyway, Lyle?" she asked, casually. "You seem to grow and shrink."

    I considered correcting my name, but considering our dynamic and my goal, it seemed counter-productive. She'd pick up on the change from the others, and hopefully switch over on her own. I didn't want to push on that myself and make her think I was losing it. It somehow stung a bit, though.

    "I haven't had a reason to pull it all out," I said, after a moment, thoughtfully, "but I've filled a room full of myself… twice now? I was pushing it both times, but that's plenty to work with normally." I didn't say that I still seemed to be growing. It was hard to track it anyways, and using it all was impractical.

    She nodded. "I haven't dealt with Shoggoths before, generally with Slime type monsters, what you see of them is how much there is. It's got to be strange, however it works."

    "It feels a bit like…" I paused. "Like peeking my head out the door to see who's outside. It's a totally new direction that feels like in and out, but in a way I couldn't go in and out before. It's a little weird, yeah. I got kind of a lot dropped on me at once, though. The breasts and the wings are almost as strange, and the horn probably would have rocked my noggin a few times if it were fully solid instead of slime like the rest of me. I feel like I'm getting used to it, slowly, but every so often I still feel bizarrely outside myself."

    "The chance to chat about the mechanics of it is novel," Charlotte mused. "Normally, I'd just kill you and call it a day."

    I shrugged. "If you figure out how to kill me let me know, Faust wants me to be some kind of undead but she's flummoxed at my suddenly much less killable body."

    Charlotte snorted.

    "Any chance you know what we're here for?" I asked. "I don't know of anything special in the area, but I'm not a military bigshot."

    She shook her head. "I didn't have clearance for anything oldworld. We had specialist teams who delved for that kind of thing. Going underground is a different set of risks, it requires special training."

    "Oh?"

    "Different Mamono habitats, mostly, lots of risks from things you don't usually see surface-side. The ruins themselves were often dangerous too, and you also needed to know what was worth taking risks for, and what was basically a fancy salt shaker."

    I nodded.

    We both watched in silence as Sally finished setting up something she'd pulled out of a box, stabbing the pointy end into the ground, and a pulse of sound like a physical force washed over the clearing, a green map roughly showing the outline of the thing beneath us sprung to life above the stick.

    It was big.

    "I don't know what that is," I said, resigned, "but I doubt it's going to dig itself out."

    On the bright side, it was a lot of dirt to eat. On the other, we were just talking about me getting fat…

    I shifted, moving towards the gesticulation of Sally and Beeps as they stared at the map.

    "Best get started."
     
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    • The_Letter_K said:
    "The chance to chat about the mechanics of it is novel," Charlotte mused. "Normally, I'd just kill you and call it a day."

    I shrugged. "If you figure out how to kill me let me know, Faust wants me to be some kind of undead but she's flummoxed at my suddenly much less killable body."

    Charlotte snorted.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Weirdly cute banter! Is this the shape of the Lilac x Charlotte dynamic to come?
     
    Wow when you said it was gonna be slowing down I expected it to be longer. This isn't that slow at all, really. Nice chapter.
     
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