... And You Do

The two humans, and even the fairy, tilt their heads at your rundown of what you just heard.

"Damn, that's heavy," Liam says, "Sounds like someone seriously messed up that girl in the head."

Viki grunts. "Or pushed her to do something she would have done anyway."

Tara merely continues enjoying laying down on Viki's boob, with seemingly nothing to add.

"So what do we do with this information?" Liam asks.

You frown, as that is a good question. "Either way," you reply, "That does imply there IS something more going on with her than her just getting all possessive out of nowhere. With someone else involved. AND that there's also another someone on top of that who's an--"

The word "ally" catches in your throat and you shake your head. "... who's got a reason that they want us to know that first extra party does indeed exist."

Liam joins Viki on the next thoughtful grunt. "Lotta players in the game," he says.

"But is the game Risk, Werewolf, or something else?" you rhetorically ask.

Viki nibbles at her lower lip for a second or two. "Do... you need me for anything else right now?" she asks, "I... want to check on Amelia."

You smile at her. "You go ahead. But if she wants to still be alone a little longer, you're welcome back here."

Tara nods, but also looks a little pout-y as she flies off of Viki's breast.

"Thank you," Viki says, "But... I need to get some studying done for classes tomorrow, so I'll just go to the library."

"And since it looks like that tape wasn't anything that'd make you go violent psycho," Liam adds, "You mind if I get going too? Keira and I gotta get some studying in tonight too. Some of it involving class stuff."

You manage a smile in his direction as well. "Jeeze man, given all the nights you've spent at her place, you ever think about switching rooms?" you ask teasingly.

"Maybe if we're still this serious next year," he says, "Even if we don't use it much, it still feels better to have our own space to... retreat to if we need it. Like that time she found out I lost two of her... things she left here. She'd probably be still snapping at me about it if she didn't have her own place for sulk time, y'know?"

Hovering behind him, Tara suddenly looks innocently guilty for a moment. You think you know what "things" he might be talking about and you realize that you never got two "things" back from Harmony that first time she sneaked in here. Probably should ask her about said "things" when you can talk to her.

With that, Liam and Viki depart. You wait for a minute or two, just to make sure that neither of them double back for anything they might have forgotten, before going to the door and casting a spell on it that causes a sock to appear on the outside doorknob. With the subtle request for privacy in place, you go to the windows and make sure the curtains are completely shut, ensuring the sound blocking spells are fully in place. Once you have confirmed your own privacy, you turn back to the far corner of the room and say, "You can come out now."

There is a rustle of invisible cloth as Harmony drops her cloak, looking like she wants to grab you by the shoulders and shake you as she blurts out, "Why didn't you try listening to the other side?!"

When you had initially started thinking about this listening session, your intentions had been to include Harmony and Amelia as part of the group, even if that had meant convincing the two to put aside their issues for however long the tape played for. However, given the events of earlier today, the chances of Viki being welcoming to Harmony's presence were somewhere between zero and absolute zero. But since you still needed her there for back-up, she agreed to stay hidden under her cloak so long as you made sure Tara did not give her away again.

"Other... side?" you ask.

"The tape!" the blonde shouts, clearly not happy at having had to hold her tongue for so long, "Those recording mediums are double sided! You can flip it over and hear something completely different!"

"Harmony, I've barely ever seen these things before, let alone used one. How would I know that?"

She blinks and suddenly blushes, perhaps a little embarrassed at her outburst over something that she now realized was not as obvious as she had first though. "Father is a bit of an audiophile," she explains more softly, "and prefers to listen to any given music in the medium it was originally recorded in for 'the most authentic experience intended'. So he has a sizable collection of players for records, tapes, CDs, and even a few for something called 'Eight Track'. And if he ever got started explaining how they worked, you would learn all the details if you wanted to or not."

Yeah, you could think of a few subjects your mother knew that you had to take care not to get her started on if you wanted to be hearing about anything else that day too.

"So should I call the other back or..?" you ask.

Harmony shakes her head. "That will be unnecessary," she says, "If it were magically enhanced, it would have been detected on first examination no matter which side it took effect with. So that gloomy Wor-- the one you call Viki, was correct on that count. And your fairy and I were already enough to restrain you on our own, should the words themselves cause issue."

You raise an eyebrow at your Phoenix fuck buddy self-correcting herself, but decide to not press or tease her about it. For now.

Tara, meanwhile, nods in affirmative and flies over next to Harmony before, like with Viki earlier, proceeding to flop down onto the busty blonde's right tit. She snuggles in with the second most satisfied smile you have seen on your little Familiar yet as Harmony's face turns a deep red. "Why you little--" Harmony starts to sputter but, after a brief glance up at you, stops again as she has seemed to decided to grimace and bear it.

You find yourself very briefly wondering if Tara has shown signs of preferring Harmony simply because the Dragon Fairy likes big breasts. However, you have other things to focus on at the moment and so, you flip the tape over, reinsert it into the player, and hit the big button marked with a green arrow as you did before to get it going.

For the first few minutes of the tape, you are greeted with silence. It was a different silence from the dead air of an open microphone recording nothing you had heard at points on the other side, but one that seemed only possible if the tape itself were completely blank. Still, as with the other side, you decide to listen all the way to the end. Just in case.

Your persistence, thankfully, is rewarded as you suddenly hear a voice say, "Good. You, or those who support you, understand the value in being truly thorough. I will know when you hear this. Next Monday night. Not this Monday, should that or Sunday be the day you are listening, but the one after that. Go to the library half-an-hour before curfew if you wish to better understand what you stand between and before."

Whoever is speaking has disguised it with some kind of voice modulation effect, and you have no way to tell if it is a magical or technological based one. Also, that day is quite convenient, as it means you have the entire weekend to focus on the whole duel between Harmony and Amelia. Whoever made this has clearly anticipated you would already have a lot on your plate to deal with. The consideration for your schedule is appreciated.

Speaking of Harmony, as you let the rest of the blank b-side of the tape play out, you notice her squirming out of the corner of your eye. It does not seem to be because of Tara though, given it is not her adjusting her upper body about but her lower half instead. Her hands are gripping her skirt, bunching up the material ever so slightly so that you can see more of her thighs rubbing together and you notice her biting her lower lip softly. Once the tape ends and you sit up to take out the earbuds, she steps closer to the bed. "Well? Was that... useful?" she asks, "M-My Lord?"

Seriously? Is she expecting what you think she is? After everything that has happened today?

"It was," you reply, "Are you expecting a reward or something?"

"O-OF COURSE NOT!" she shouts, looking away from you even as her fists clench tighter, pulling on more of her skirt and raising it high enough that she is on the very edge of exposing her panties, "I just... I... remembered that you said your room might not be off-limits in our bargain now and you seem the kind of brute to take advantage of that, so I was simply worried for my own safety."

"So it's a punishment you were expecting?" you ask as Tara rolls around onto her stomach, looking up at Harmony's face from where she rests on her breast.

Harmony does not respond with words but with a flinch, which is an answer in and of itself. You sigh and shake your head, which draws another flinch from her. "I... I'm sorry," she says, which is honestly still a little weird to hear from her, "I... I can't..."

She grits her teeth. "Oh... why is it, when I'm with you, I only ever want to-- I mean, seem to be at my lowest?"

You take a moment to double check the connection of the Reins between her and you, making sure you might not have been unconsciously pulling too tightly to keep her in line. But no, this might just be her true feelings on some level. Maybe it WOULD be best to give her some kind of "punishment" to curb that desire for now. Or would that actually come off as a reward for her bad behavior before and only cause more incidents in the future?

On the other hand, this whole situation with her and Amelia is coming to a head soon anyway, so any sort of fighting between them will hopefully stop afterwards. So what harm would there be in just a little indulgence? And even with Tara having helped you with your morning wood, the events of today have left you a little... on edge.

Plus, there are ways you can punish her that do not necessarily end with her riding your cock and making sure it remains a punishment instead of a back-handed reward.

What to do...?