Broken and Mended Things

Mark turned towards the knock at the door. “Who’s there?”

From the other side came Ethel’s voice. “May I come in, Sir Garret?”

Brooke shrugged slightly while resting her head on what was quickly becoming her favorite pillow.

“Yes, Brooke is in here with me, but we are both decent.”

Ethel entered the room and shut the door behind her. “Hello, Brooke. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too? Pardon me for not getting up and greeting you properly. I’m not sure my legs are currently fit to stand.”

Mark looked down at her. “You could just hit them a few times. That should knock the rust right off of them.”

“But then I would lose my excuse to use this wonderful pillow I found.”

Mark shook his head, “Do you mind if she stays, or is this more of a private conversation?”

“I don’t mind.” Ethel walked over and sat at the foot of the bed. “I wanted to talk to you about our future together.”

Mark sighed, “Ethel, look, I know you—”

“Mark, I know about the show. About Harem Hotel.” That stopped Mark cold. “I’m here to talk to you because I’ve been given a pretty unique choice. Cass has told me that I have two options at the end of this round. I can join your staff, or I can join your harem. It’s my choice between those two. So we will have a future together one way or another.”

Brooke whacked both her knees twice and sprang out of bed. “Look, this is a rather serious conversation that I don’t need to be here for. So, I’m going to leave.” Brooke then rushed out of the room.

Ethel stared at Mark as he stared back at her for a while. Mark eventually broke the silence with a question, “Who are you really, Ethel?”

Ethel chuckled. “Princess of the Evolian Empire.”

“Please be serious.”

“I am. I suppose I should say former Princess. The Evolian Empire doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Why are you acting differently now?”

“Because you deliberately frayed my psyche to the point that not restoring my memories of the truth would be detrimental to me.”

“I did what now?” Mark was really lost.

“When I was a captive. Mary kept consistently poking holes in the story Cass had woven, that I was back in my homeland, that this wasn't just a recreation. Before you ask. Nothing about my personality was faked. There was a small part included where I’d be naturally inclined to like you some, but my desire to be with you and disappointment at being rejected were real. Though if you mean being less of a chatter box... that's because you said it annoyed you.”

“You still haven’t really answered who you are. How old are you even?”

“My age is a tricky question, since Cass manipulates time. Physically, I’m eighteen, mentally, I’m around twenty-one.”

“Why would you even want to join my harem? Especially if you know about the show and what it does to people?”

“Hmm… I’ve asked myself that question before. You aren’t the first Master I’ve had the option to join. My options are limited, and in this case, I’m stuck with you no matter what. The only question is whether I share your bed or not.”

“You aren’t worried about the TFs?”

“Mark, you have seven women who are all simultaneously in love with you. All of your women are attracted to you. What are a few transformations in the face of real love?”

“Seven?” Mark said, a little confused.

“Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have said that, but to answer the question you’re about to ask. I can see love. My understanding from what Mister Sparrow overheard is that Merida has a similar but different ability.”

“You still haven't told me who you really are. Even if what you said wasn’t false, there is no way you are just some random princess. Are you a former contestant?”

“I’m not going to say more on that matter. I mostly wanted to come and let you know why I’m taking a step back during the challenge. I finished cleansing the second idol shortly before coming here. If you need my help as a priestess, I’ll be available, but I’m going to back off a bit to consider my place going forward. I appreciated how you treated me while I was your captive, as Mary. Now, I’m afraid I need to take my leave, as I do not wish to be entangled in the whirlwind coming this way.”

Ethel stood up and made for the door, leaving a confused Mark on the bed. “Oh, Sir Garret, if I were you, I’d consider removing anything valuable, including all your gear, after I leave. Have a pleasant evening.” Ethel closed the door behind her before Mark could get a word out.

He stood to go after her, but as he reached the door, he suddenly felt a dragon’s aura bearing down on him, and a moment later, Sam came hurling through the door, tackling Mark to the ground, and kissed him. Sam yanked at his jacket and kept pulling until it was off, refusing to break the kiss, all while grinding her pelvis into him.

As soon as his jacket was off, her fingers began to run through his hair. Mark slid his hand along her side and slowly removed her armor, except that wasn’t fast enough for Sam. She broke the kiss just for a moment, as she shifted into a dragon, but instead of her armor merging with her body as it normally did, she flew out of it as she grabbed Mark and tossed him towards the bed. Following quickly after him, and transforming back and pulled off his pants so fast that the two of them were naked before he hit the sheets. Sam was in his embrace a moment later, kissing him.

Mark’s brain was working to catch up with what was happening, and when it did, he rolled to the side until he was straddling Sam beneath himself. He pushed her down and said, “Samantha, what the hell is going on? Did something happen to you?” Mark could smell her, and it was extremely alluring right now. Sam simply tried to pull Mark closer into her embrace or wrap her legs around him, but Mark wouldn’t let her. “Samantha! I need you to answer me, did something happen to you in the trial?”

“Yes, I realized I’m done holding back. Mark, this isn’t magical. I want this. I want you. Now shut up and make love to me.” Sam transformed into a serpentine dragon once again, wrapping around Mark to flip him onto his back, and transformed back on top of him. “Please don’t make me ask twice.” Sam’s fingers interlocked with his as the two kissed one another. She guided one hand to the small of her back and then the other towards her breasts. As Mark began to caress her back and gently fondle her, she braced herself with one hand on his chest while the other explored lower until it found the newest addition to her hoard, which she was pleased to find was already quite firm as she gave it a squeeze.

Sam tensed for just a moment, and just as quickly, the moment of trepidation passed, as she lowered herself slowly onto him. She let out a moan of ecstasy as she enveloped her mate. She lowered herself into his embrace as she let the warmth of her feelings overtake her. “Mark… I, hah… hah… Oh Goddess, yes… hah Mark… I love you. Hah… hah… OOOOH MMMmmmm Yeessssss.” Mark felt as she tightened around him, and they both came, leaving them both breathless for a minute.

+10 VP Sex with the Master

Even before fully recovering, Sam had begun to bounce her hips once again. “Mark…” Sam pressed her fingers aggressively into his chest. “I hope you understand you’re mine now, as much as I’m yours. You’re my mate, and I won’t settle for anything less. So, regardless, you'd best be ready to take responsibility, because this dragon expects a tribute of gold in the very near future.” Sam pulled Mark close and started floating as she rotated the two of them for Mark to be on top.

Mark held her hands against the bed as she pressed into her. “Samantha, I love you too, and there is absolutely no way I’d let you go.” Mark kissed her. “I intend to make you my bride.” More kissing. “And the mother to my children.” Even more kissing as she ached for more within his grasp. “Samantha, will you marry me?”

“YEESSSSS!” She exclaimed as rapture overtook her once again.

What followed was not nearly as subdued as Samantha lost herself in passion for the first time in forever. The bed cracking was just the beginning as they crashed about the place, not fighting for dominance or control but reveling in one another’s strength. It felt like their first date all over again, as they sparred. Each giving and taking. Probing the other's body for weak points to exploit to grant the other pleasure, both were quite confident that they were the one coming out the victor in this bout.

+3 VP Allie's Walkthrough for Samantha (Allie)
+3000 BP Allie&Isabella -> 4075 BP

It was several hours later when they had had enough. Sam lay atop her beloved hoard, her mate with only a sheet covering either of them. Mark was lying on the rafter that he had tackled Sam off of a few days prior, as there weren’t many flat surfaces remaining in the room that weren’t cracked, broken, or splintered in some manner.

Mark gently stroked her hair as he stared at her with longing. Eventually, he spoke, “Mind if I ask you a question?”

“You just did, but I suppose I can entertain a few more from my fiancée.”

“What spurred this on? Asking for the future so I know how to get you like this again.”

Sam chuckled, “Alas, I don’t think you’ll be able to recreate the exact circumstances. In the trial… at the end, there was a mirror. It was similar to the one in the trial of humility in that it showed me a version of myself. The difference was that it wasn’t how you saw me. Imagine every negative thought and feeling you had about yourself. That’s what it was.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. For the first time in a very long time, I feel truly genuinely joyful, without a hint of dissatisfaction. Seeing myself like that… it clicked something into place that I’ve been working towards since the first day here. I’m not that person anymore. I’m a motherfucking dragon now, and I’m not letting myself be controlled by my past any longer.”

“Wait a second…” after pausing to look confused, Mark smirked, “You fucked Allie before me?”

As bad as the joke was, Sam laughed. “I swear you better not have knocked me up already after the first time, like you did with Isa. To answer your question, though, no. Which, honestly, should probably be something I change. I think some part of Allie was waiting until I was ready with you before she wanted to progress things. Isa’s arrival made things more complicated, too, but I’m not worried. At least about her interest in me. We had quite a good time yesterday.”

“I hope you realize that Allie might have a similar reaction to what you just displayed when you tell her we’re engaged.”

“OH, I’m aware. If it becomes a problem, I can always just tie her up and deliver her to you. Speaking of that, did you eat her out yet so you can restore what you stole from my hoard?”

“No. Are you still on about that? I thought what we spent the last few hours doing was supposed to fix the problem.”

Sam sighed, shook her head, and smirked, “Mark, you weren’t listening to the explanation very well, apparently. See, my mate can make and approve changes to my hoard without my direct input. Now here is my question to you? Has my mate done any of those things, or has a sneaky little hobbit stolen from me, without my or my mate’s approval?”

“So, what I need to do is what? Undo it and then apply the change again if I want that? Or can I just tell you that I’m okay with the changes and you should stop fussing over it?

“The latter works.”

“Okay, good.”

“Now you are going to increase your bust back as Mary tomorrow, right?”

“I thought I just took care of that?”

“First of all, no, you didn’t. You asked if that would take care of the matter as a hypothetical. Second, just because you can alter my hoard without my direct input doesn’t eliminate the original reason I added something to my hoard. It simply makes it so I can accept it not being part of my hoard. Think of it like this. I know you like video games, and I’m willing to bet you have quite a collection, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what if I went and picked out a dozen games that were old and you were never realistically going to play again and went and sold them. You would be justifiably pissed. It’s like that. My hoard is still my stuff, I just acknowledge you are allowed to touch my stuff and that you can mess with it, but I expect you to not **** that trust.”

“Okay, well, I’m telling you that I altered my bust size as Mary, and it’s fine.”

Sam pouted, “Fine… no way I could convince you to reverse the change anyway?”

“No. They are likely to get smaller if I can manage it.”

Sam blew a raspberry at Mark. “Booo! I want to make it clear that this is me expressing disapproval as your fiancée, that I like the bigger breasts.”

“Sam, if I wanted bigger breasts, I could just ask Ellen or copy Merida’s Posh Pillow TF?”

Sam whipped her head around so fast her neck popped. Staring at Mark with greed in her eyes, she said, “Her what now?”

“SAM NO! First of all, you can’t add her to your hoard, because she is already part of mine.”

“Right… you mentioned that before. I don’t see why you can’t share, after all, Laura is in both our hoards.” Mark glared at Sam. “Fine! I’ll leave her be. I can’t be blamed, though, if she accidentally gets added.”

“Whatever. I will say, I’m actually happy with how this works regarding the hoards. I was concerned that if I removed something, it would become something uninteresting to you.”

Sam rubbed her face against Mark’s chest. “Most certainly not. I would want to lay my head down here even if you weren’t my favorite pillow in my hoard.”

“Another serious question. When and how do you want to tell the others?”

“That we’re engaged? Well, I’d like to be there to see Allie’s face, and obviously, she should be the first to know. After that, I don’t really care.”

There was a knock at the door. Both looked at the door, displeased at the interruption. Sam groaned, sat up, and stretched. “That’s probably Talia. I shouldn’t try to steal her date night from her. ONE SECOND, Mark and I need to get dressed!” Sam floated down to the floor and pulled a uniform from the wardrobe, getting dressed. Mark selected a rather plain shirt and trousers. She looked around the room, “Hmm… we are going to have to figure out how to make sturdier furniture for our home. We did make quite a mess.”

“I’m not sure any mundane material would truly be safe. Might have to see if magical reinforcement is possible, or maybe divine protection from Laura.”

Mark went to open the door and found Talia waiting there, along with Laura and Brooke. All three had huge smirks seeing the state of the room. Talia spoke first, “I take it you had a good time?” Sam blushed slightly but nodded. “Okay, just one other question, where am I supposed to sleep tonight? Because that bed is a disaster.”

Mark and Sam looked guilty until Freya walked up behind the three at the door with a dozen ASTRIDs accompanying her. Freya said, “Mark, Sam, please step out of the room for a moment.” They both did, and the dozen ASTRIDs hurried into the room. Freya shut the doors. “Don’t worry, Talia, it might take a few minutes, but the room should be back to normal shortly.”

Talia could sense the faintest hint of time mana emanating from the other side of the doors. “Out of curiosity, do we get this sort of service after the show?”

Freya tilted her head from side to side. “To some degree. The cleaning and replacement service, yes, but not the time dilation. Now, I’ve had some refreshments prepared for all of you in the next room for you to enjoy while you wait for this to finish.”

The five of them went over to the next room and found several pots of tea and several trays with sweets and tea sandwiches on them. After pouring themselves a cup and grabbing some bites to eat. Sam asked, “So why did all three of you come to Mark’s room? Talia, I understand, it’s your date night, but Laura, Brooke, why did you show up?”

Brooke said through a mouthful of sandwich, “I was just bored.”

Laura shrugged, “I thought I'd see if you and Brooke might want to share a room with me tonight, as the others still aren’t back yet, and they might not be at all tonight.”

Sam looked to Brooke. Brooke shrugged, “I don’t mind unless that is secretly an invitation to a threesome.”

“It is not,” Laura said, shaking her head. “Though I can’t say that Sam and I won’t cuddle at all.”

“Cuddles are fine. I’ve cuddled Sam plenty in the past. She’s a great body pillow to hold.” Mark and Laura nodded in agreement, while Sam blushed slightly. “I have to admit that was rather a lot of broken furniture.”

Sam blurted out, “I can’t help that we are both stupidly strong!”

Laura leaned over and muttered to Brooke, “That isn’t even the first bed that those two destroyed like that.”

Brooke stared at Sam and Mark, “Wait, I thought you hadn’t had sex with him before tonight? You broke a bed from foreplay?” Brooke seemed equally confused and intrigued. “Mark, you’ll have to show me that sometime.”

Talia turned to Brooke, “Not judging you here, but you seem rather enthusiastically throwing yourself at Mark. Want to tell us some of the history between you two?”

Brooke smirked, “I suppose I could regale you with the story of how I met Drunk Runner Boy. It was the fall of sophomore year, and I had just finished doing my own run with Chloe. She had to bolt right after, not even bothering to stretch properly. It was rather late, and getting dark out. I was stretching in the middle of the football field where the track was, and out of nowhere, this guy just showed up running on the track. I didn’t really think much of it at first glance. It was just some guy was out for a late-night run. Then I started noticing details. He wasn’t in exercise gear. He was in a polo and Khakis, with sneakers that were very much not meant as running shoes.”

At this point, Mark had furrowed his brow in confusion, clearly recognizing some of the details. “Thing was, he was fast. Faster than me and likely would have been on the guys varsity team if he wanted to be. I just kept watching the guy run as I stretched, only getting a good look at him occasionally as the track wasn’t well illuminated at this point. By the time I was finished stretching and ready to leave, some twenty minutes later, he was still running. I decided to keep watching him, and when he finished a few laps later, I approached him.”

Brooke took a second to compose herself, as she continued, “He was nearly at the gate, when I got to him, and he said,” Brooke tried to mimic a drunk, energetic Mark, “‘Wellhey there priddy lady, outfora run? 'S'a greanigh' forit, sorryif I both'redyou, gottago, maybe I’ll seeya 'roundsomethime, BYEEEEE!’” Brooke returned to her normal voice. “Then he sprinted off. Not even winded, or sweating from what I could tell, but I definitely smelled the **** on his breath. And that is how I met Mark for the very first time. Tune in next time for more tales of Drunk Runner Boy.”

Mark was frowning, “Sophomore year? First week of October?”

“Sounds about right, you finally remember me?”

“No, I remember that night, though, just not you. I had played Battle Shots earlier that night and needed to burn off the energy from so many shots. I remember going down to the track, and I even remember starting my watch to time my run. I remember I stopped at an 8k because I figured that was good enough, and even got a personal best that night at just under twenty-five minutes. I then remember jogging, not sprinting, back to my dorm as a cooldown run.”

“Maybe you just forgot because you were drunk?” Laura suggested.

“That doesn’t make sense, though,” Mark replied. “I remember everything before going out for the run, the run itself, and everything after. The only part I don’t remember is talking to anyone while out on my run.” Mark turned to Sam. “And to confirm, you recall her telling you these stories before?”

“Yes, and while this would be a strange encounter of little note if it were a one-off, it wasn’t. Why?”

“I’m just trying to figure out why you are the only one to remember Brooke.”

Brooke pouted, “It is a little disappointing to learn that I’ve been completely forgotten by those who knew me back then, except for you, Sam.”

“That’s the thing,” Mark continued, “I was thinking that maybe we didn’t forget, but this Drunk Runner Boy story makes that less likely.” Everyone looked at Mark strangely. “Okay, when I made the changes to Talia’s history, and then Talia did the same thing with Asuka, it didn’t seem to affect those here besides Talia specifically. Unless I’m mistaken, and it is just me. Sam, Laura, either of you remember hearing about Talia as a billionaire prodigy child?” Both shook their heads. “Right me either. Except Sadie does remember Talia as a billionaire genius prodigy. In fact, Talia, you and her dad are apparently business partners, and she is working on getting the approval for your sex change **** in the US.”

Talia looked confused, “I’m pretty sure I would remember if I were a business partner with a Mr. Harper.”

“What about Mr. Marshal?”

“Oh,” Talia said wide-eyed. “Him I know. Also, it’s technically Sir or Lord Marshal depending on the context. William is English, and technically titled. He is rather fussy about it. Which, given his connections, makes some level of sense. I knew he had a daughter, but I never actually met her. Well, I guess before Sadie came here, apparently.”

“Right, but my point is that Sadie’s life was changed by that, and she has the memories of Talia as she is now. Brooke, you have those memories too, right?”

Brooke nodded, “Yeah, I do.”

“Laura, your mom, and Ellen’s dad remember Talia like this as well. The point is that means the world we are going back to might have other changes to our lives we aren’t aware of. Obviously, we don’t have the history of being fellow grad students because of the changes. I was thinking that maybe the ripple effects resulted in Brooke’s life being different for some reason than what we all remember, but Sam is a counter to that point.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, at least besides her knowing about Talia, I haven’t noticed any other discrepancies. She was definitely in a sorority and ran cross country for a few years. I also know she got regular tutoring from an upper-classwoman as well, though I can't actually confirm that it was Laura.”

“Right, which means that it comes back to something about Brooke.”

“What do you mean by that?” Brooke sounded a little defensive.

“Just that there might be something causing this beyond bad memory. I’ll be honest, one random drunk occurrence that I forgot, fine, whatever, but you said we encountered each other a dozen times. Then there is Sadie and Laura, not knowing you either, and I have a hard time believing they wouldn’t remember you, at least a little bit. Brooke, magic is real and exists in our world to some degree. Aubrey is proof of that.”

“Right, her pink thing?”

“Yes, it wasn’t like it is now, but I saw firsthand the difference it made, at least at video games.”

“Sooo… you’re saying I’m cursed or something? That, unless I’m around regularly, people will forget about me? That… that would explain some things, actually.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we just have bad memories, and Flora or Aubrey will remember you.”

Freya walked into the room. “Mark, Talia, your room is repaired.”

Talia stood up and grabbed Mark’s arm. “Sorry to cut this short, but I have things I want to do tonight with Mark, and I was delayed getting back as someone decided to leave Laura and me to finish her part of the task.” Sam looked a little guilty, but only a little. “I’m not mad, but I’m going to insist the rest of the evening is mine, so bye.” Talia dragged Mark out of the room and into his suite, closing and locking the door behind them.

“What’s the matter, Talia?”

“Mark, we need to talk.” Talia gestured at the table and moved to sit down. Once Mark was seated, she continued, “Okay, we are going to have to do my confession, and hopefully it won’t be too overwhelming in the future. I will say that it doesn’t have to be completely done tonight, but there are a few problematic things that we will be discussing. Before we get into that, I wanted to talk about Hilde.”

Mark nodded for her to continue.

“Her boon, I think that its usefulness is obvious, but I think we are perhaps underutilizing it.”

“Well, we don’t know what the other team is using it on. It isn’t like we have it available to us. Also, I think she’s working on making something for Sadie, to eventually buy from the BP store as a permanent alteration to her Fairy Lust.”

“I suppose that’s fair. I assume you have come to the same conclusion that I have about how it could be used to help her sister, though.”

Mark nodded, “Yeah, I checked on my wedding day. Went to where her primary unit was, as the android bodies aren’t hers. The problem is that her core is in a pretty impenetrable vault.”

“Well, then, the solution is simple. You need Astrid in your harem.”

Mark sighed, “I wish it were that simple. You realize that doing that won’t be easy. Right now, the only way I know how to do that is gamble by upgrading princely staff.”

“That actually brings me to the topic I most wanted to talk to you about, and I’m fully aware why you haven’t given me access so far. Mark, I’m not your only asset for resolving this problem, but I think I’m likely your best one. I want you to give me full access to your store and everyone’s status pages. I feel like there are puzzle pieces I’m missing.”

“Talia, that’s a lot to ask. That’s giving you a huge advantage to get the wish.”

Talia held up her right hand. “I have no interest in the wish, I swear by Laura’s holy name.”

Mark was actually stunned by the sincerity in Talia’s voice. “Seriously?”

“Mark, there are like three things I could wish for, and either those things are going to be in someone else's wish, included in the things Cassandra simply gives us at the end, or are essentially a prerequisite to getting the wish in the first place. There’s polyamory being legally recognized, so those of us who want to marry you can. Then you end up being my loving spouse and father of my children. The last would be some sort of longevity for all of us and our descendants. I don’t need to be the person who gets the wish to get those things. What else could I possibly want? I’m rich beyond words, and have essentially as much freedom as I could want, with the only limits placed on me being whatever you, Laura, or the show place. Which is essentially nothing besides being with you, and being Laura’s priestess.”

“It’s still an issue.”

“Yes, I know, because what happens when I read over one of their TFs or an upgrade and get the idea in my head to use or **** it, and that grows and grows until I act on it.”

“Exactly.”

“Hence the confession. You can either explain a way to indulge that isn’t destructive and sinful, or you can give me penance, and it will stop being an issue. Now we’ve got a lot to get through, especially since we don’t know how specific a thought or explanation is needed to move it to the permanently not an issue category.”

Talia pulled out several notebooks, causing Mark to groan. “Can we limit it to one notebook tonight? It’s been a rather long day.”

“Sure, not a problem. As I said, most things aren’t urgent, as I confessed to Laura already. The issue is that at the end of the round, I’ll need to confess anything not taken care of to someone else.”

Mark let out a sigh of relief, “Well, you can start, then I’ll put us on some tea.” Mark got up and put two kettles on the stove as he knew this was going to be a long night.