Evening's End

It was several hours later before Kevin thought to check on the quest progress in his new interface. Stheno was half-dozing beside him. Her hair was a tangled and sweaty mess that he suspected would be harder to deal with than the snakes, but she was smiling contentedly as she lightly drowsed.

Every once in a while, he felt her snuggling a little closer to him, but he wasn’t quite ready to cuddle up and sleep.

“I should check, on how everyone is doing.”

“Mmm, you can do that?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’ve got this spell that Lily gave me, that lets me see other places.”

The gorgon gasped. “The vision of the gods themselves!” Her eyes suddenly widened as the concept woke her up. “Can you show it to me?”

Once more Kevin was struck with how wide eyed and earnest Stheno was. It was as though her long years had been swept away from her, the cynicism wiped away as completely as the curse itself.

He reached out a hand to her and helped her crawl off the edge of the bed as the two of them made their way over to the chair at the desk. Kevin snagged a robe he had found in the closet that morning and pulled it around his shoulders, while Stheno’s body appeared to be wrapped in soft green light.

It resolved itself into soft silk robes a moment later, and she slithered into his lap as he sat at his desk.

“It works like this–”

“I’m—honestly, I’m not even mad, that you did it. I almost did myself.” Elsie found it easier to embrace her sense of adventure than she had honestly expected. She had originally set her mind on the course because it was the one that made sense to her logically, but now that she was actually doing it, she was having fun.

True, Blue’s reckless approach to picking up quests had led to some interesting moments—and some boring ones—but ultimately they had gotten to get out and see some of the world in the process.

She would never have thought to take that approach, herself. Most of the tabletop characters Elsie played were as practical as she was, because—well—it made the most sense.

This ran deeper. She could actually enjoy herself while she was doing this. It made her giddy to realize that the choice she made would have more rewards than consequences.

Blue—honestly didn’t seem to have put as much thought into the matter. As far as Elsie could tell, the harpy woman was just fucking around. It reminded her less of the vultures that the legendary creatures were most commonly depicted as resembling, and more of a corvid. A crow, poking at things to see what they did—or maybe a magpie hunting after shiny objects.

She wondered how exactly that personality was expected to fill the role of monk, but the woman was having fun, so it was hard to tell her that she was doing it wrong.

“Night, Blue!” Elsie pulled the covers around herself, thankful that they had their own beds. Some of the other seasons had **** their roommates to share a bed, and as much as she had decided that she liked Blue, she had seen the state of the other woman’s bed in the morning.

She was not a still sleeper.

The smile she had at the thought was still on her face as she drifted off to sleep.

“They seem to be handling it well—looks like no disasters there.”

“That is good. Truly, this magic is incredible. You are incredible.”

Kevin smiled as he watched the next set of party members, more caught up in the feeling of sharing this power with the half naked woman in his lap than he was of wondering whether or not it was his right to spy on them.

“Thank you.” Penny’s words were the first that had been spoken in their room in the half hour since she’d returned. The first part of that was mostly because she’d been catching her breath after Lily’s magic had **** her to return from the studio.

Elsie had left after a couple of hours, but Penny had gotten into a discussion with the director of what turned out to be some kind of fantasy erotic adventure magical interactive game.

She had apparently accepted a quest at some point to come back and do some additional recordings with some rewritten lines, and it sounded like they were giving her a bigger part, but she wasn’t exactly sure.

What she did know was that if the kumiho hadn’t been willing to help out, it was likely that some kind of negative consequences would have befallen Blue. The bird was kinda an idiot, but at least she was trying.

“I mean it, thank you. For helping out. I genuinely appreciate it.”

“I would rather have allies than enemies.”

Of course, Hwa’s words rang true—but they were also carefully chosen to be open to interpretation. “And I hope you know that they would do the same for you.”

“Let us hope we never need to find out.”

“Here’s hoping.” Penny was a little bemused by the whole situation, but—it didn’t seem that bad. Hwa didn’t seem to care whether she was meditating in the light or in the dark, so the siren doused the magical light as she crawled into bed.

The bed was even comfy. She snuggled the blankets around herself and let herself begin to drift to sleep.

“That one is going to be trouble. You must put a leash on her.”

Stheno’s words were surprisingly intense, and Kevin was caught off guard. He’d been half lulled to sleep by the sight of Penny drifting off, and only thought to wonder whether that was some kind of interaction with her Performer ability after he had shaken off the surprise of coming back to his bed.

“That—oh, Hwa? You think?”

“The shorter, the better.” Stheno’s eyes were intense. “She will work for only her own interests. You must seize the initiative if you wish to make sure that her interests coincide with your own.”

“I’ll—I’ll think about it. I don’t want to just go waving my dick around and demanding that everyone service it. I’m not saying I won’t be the party leader, if it comes down to it—I’ll do what I have to do to make sure we succeed, but–”

The way Stheno suddenly squirmed in his lap distracted Kevin from his vaguely self-righteous proclamation, and he cleared his throat. “Anyway, Tess–”

Tess flexed in front of the mirror in her bedroom.

Her muscles were incredible. Her hips and tits were incredible. This body was incredible. It was—honestly, it was a little addictive.

She began to pace back and forth. Tess had activated the Psychic Warrior transformation again as soon as she had gotten back to her room after dinner. Then she’d done it again as soon as it wore off, having spent most of the intervening hour either exercising lightly in her room or admiring her figure.

It was—freeing, in a way. She could look at the woman in the mirror and recognize that she was objectively beautiful. Tess had spent much of her adolescence feeling wildly self-conscious about her body. The combination of puberty and growing into herself as a selkie who literally spent time as a seal had left her more shy and reserved than her younger sister, who seemed to take to both gracefully.

Tess didn’t have Abby’s slender curves, or perfect silver hair, so she’d focused herself into her athletics until she had a sculpted body that she could be proud of. She worked hard for her physique, and she was proud of it—but the woman in the mirror was just so much more. Her figure was exaggeratedly feminine and powerful—like a character from a video game, more than a living woman.

And yet it was her. She flexed again as she looked at the woman in the mirror. Then she tentatively brought her hands up to the bottoms of her breasts and squeezed. Her entire body flexed as she moaned with delight at the amplified touch as her Familiar Senses activated.

Tess felt herself flood in a heartbeat. Her pussy flared awake as she felt her thighs grow slick against each other.

That had felt amazing. Hesitantly, she stepped over to the bed and climbed on. She had spent the last night writhing in sleeplessness as she tried to fend off the waves of sensation the amplified senses gave her. In this form, though–

Her fingers slipped between her lips as she began to play with herself.

Kevin realized that he was coming back to himself as he felt Stheno’s hips in his lap. The gorgon hissed softly, “Fuck, I could feel that, that was incredible! I need you inside of me now!”

Stheno began to inexorably drag Kevin back across the room towards the bed.

“But—Hazel–”

“Hazel will be fine, sire.”

“Sire?”

“Do you prefer Master?”

The question was asked with equanimity, but Kevin quickly shook his head. “No. Sire is fine.”

The two reached the bed, but Stheno didn’t have time to climb on before Kevin was upon her. He pinned her against the bed as she moaned and bucked her hips against him, seeking his dick through the robe.

“Hazel will be fine, you’re right.”

“Thistle, put her down!” The plant gradually subsided, and the young elf woman stumbled to her feet. “You’re meant to be clothes. Like Ivy.”

Hazel gestured at her own body. “Like this.” She then pointed to the young woman, “On her.”

The vines which embraced the young woman covered more of her body than the ones on Hazel. For one thing, there was a lot less of the elf than there was nymph, as the former was rail-thin while the latter was stacked with exaggerated curves.

There was something suspiciously lewd about the way that the bands of green vine wrapped around the elf’s modest charms, though, a faint susurrus of motion that would stop any time she focused on it.

Still. “Better. Now c’mon, sweetheart, my roommate is out for the night. I’m sorry I didn’t get to come back and check on you until now. The day got kinda crazy. Do you need anything, Autumn?”

“Um, no, I’m fine. I took a bath, earlier, and, um, the staff gave me some food. You really think this will work?”

“Why can’t I help you be a druid? It’s basically just attuning to nature, that’s easy, right?”

“Is it?”

“Sure, c’mon, sit here like this with me.”

Hwa knew that she was experiencing a dream the moment she opened her eyes.

“Nightmare witch.”

The fact that she had exposed herself to an alchemical ingredient which impacted the imbiber’s dreams must have given Lily a way into her–

The crack of a hand slapping against flesh reached Hwa’s ears before her mind caught up to the sting. She was in an unfamiliar room, with a massive canopied bed in the center, and she could not move.

Or rather—only her head had any freedom. She was on her hands and knees atop some kind of wooden bench, held down by the chains which trailed from her ankles and wrists. When she tried to turn her head to see whose hand struck her, Hwa discovered that the lead on her collar was short enough that she could only look ahead.

The hand fell on her backside again, sharp, stinging—and hot. So hot. Hwa’s body was exposed and the air felt cool on her skin, except where the hand left fiery imprints on her exposed behind. It was as though everywhere her mystery attacker touched was aflame, and while it hurt at first, in the long seconds between one blow and the next that sting seemed to reverberate in her very core.

She could feel her nectar dipping down the insides of her thighs, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Hwa trembled with rage and shame at her own arousal. She would kill–

The scene shifted. The room was the same—Hwa recognized the bed, but she as by the far wall, next to a desk. No longer on all fours, she was instead trapped in a cage. Admittedly, the cushion beneath her knees was more comfortable than any of the cages she used for prisoners at home, but the kumiho recognized her confinement for what it was immediately.

The heat from before still boiled within her, hotter than ever. In fact—when Hwa’s thighs shifted as she squirmed she realized that the lust her body felt was getting worse. She also felt the hard edge of metal against her skin and glanced down to discover that in the dream she had not been permitted to be merely naked. Instead, a chastity belt was locked in place over her sex. She was protected from molestation, but also denied the ability to touch her own dripping slit even as it left her thighs a sodden mess.

The dream changed again. The belt was gone, as was the cage. Hwa was free to move, even, though she was once more on all fours. She went to push herself to her feet, only for a smell to hit her nose that was—magical. Delicious.

Hwa had lunged down and shoved her face into the shallow metal bowl in front of her face before she recognized the scent for what it was. The bowl contained food, yes—bits of braised meat still steaming and warm—but it had been painted with a sauce not prepared in any kitchen. She stopped herself with her lips inches away from tearing into the chunks of meat that had been covered in Kevin’s cum.

She didn’t even need to question whose seed it was—in the dream, Hwa was so familiar with her patron’s emission that she could recognize it instantly. She hissed and pulled back—only to jerk to a stop when the lead attached to her collar caught something and her leash pulled taut.

She was back on the bench. A hand slapped across Hwa’s exposed backside, and the sound reached her ears before the sting. She could feel her exposed lips as her nectar dripped off of them—they were absolutely aflame with desire.

Seconds ticked by before the next slap landed.