Other instincts run deep

“Hey, watch it!”

Blue shrugged off the yell of the woman whose laundry basket she had just knocked over as she darted through the doorway of the sparse wooden outbuilding by the river. She caught a glimpse of yellow robes through the hanging laundry up ahead, but by the time the harpy had barreled through the drying clothes, there was no sign of her prey.

She spun, and thrust a hand out towards one of the women in the midst of hanging a sheet from a wash line. “You! Where did he go?”

The baffled woman—whose fluffy ears and tail made her resemble a dog crossed with a human—pointed down an alley that led away from the riverbank and Blue launched herself in that direction.

The harpy was fast—faster now than she had ever been, as far as she could tell—but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t quite keep her eye on the man she was after. The chase had started when she’d spotted the same robed man she’d met on the street a few days ago, but when she’d dropped out of the sky to talk to him, he had fled without another word.

Now, he seemed to be taunting her. As fast as he was, Blue kept catching glimpses of him. It was enough that she never felt as though she had lost him completely, but neither could she ever seem to close the distance. A flash of yellow out of the corner of her eye sent the harpy launching wildly through another doorway, but by the time she passed through the doorway there was no sign of her prey.

Instead, she was faced with what looked like a massive humanoid tortoise with an eyepatch. He was bent over a topless woman who had been lying face down on a padded table. She had half-risen to see what the fuss was about, but Blue could still see the half-finished tattoo on her exposed back to figure out what had just been interrupted.

Blue paused briefly to marvel at the detailed design of a serpentine dragon which wound its way down the woman’s back, then took the only other exit she could spot and dove through the back of the room.

There was a broad grin on Blue’s face. She didn’t seem to be catching up, but she was enjoying herself. She turned sideways and breezed past the two cooks having a smoke behind the kitchen on the opposite side of the alley, bounced off the wall with a well-placed kick, and diverted herself forty-five degrees. Her next few jumps saw her bouncing like a pinball down the alley until she exploded into the air above the wider street past its mouth.

There! She caught the man as he wove through the crowd. By then, she couldn’t even really remember what she wanted to talk to him about in the first place, but it hardly mattered—she was enjoying herself, and that was enough for Blue.

---

By the seventh day of the season, Kevin was starting to get used to the disorientation of returning to his own body after a scrying spell ended. It still took him a moment to find his bearings, but at least he didn’t feel like he was about to fall over.

He and Hazel were side-by-side in the master’s quarters, having returned there after their time at the beach came to an end. After he and Tess had gotten back to the river bend, the selkie had re-absorbed her sibling—a process which was still disconcerting to watch—and then taken off back towards town on her own.

What had followed had been a surprisingly relaxing lunch, considering his companions were a set of six nearly naked women. When the sun began to dip in the horizon, they had packed up, walked back, and Kevin had brought Hazel up to his suite for dinner.

The nymph had asked if he wanted her disciples to attend, and extended the invite to bring Elsie along as well, but Kevin had requested an evening alone with Hazel. As comfortable as her easygoing manner made spending time with the nymph, he felt like he hadn’t really gotten to know her yet, and he wanted some one-on-one time to try to fix that.

“I’m surprised you didn’t find out about the girls early, if you’ve got access to this kind of magic.”

Though this was only the second time Hazel had experienced the scry spell—after an earlier peek at Penny which revealed her to be chatting with her fellow bards in their guild hall—she had recovered faster than Kevin. He turned towards her and was yet again struck by her beauty. As time passed, he was getting better about his staring, but if the day came when he stopped admiring the nymph’s figure, it would only be at the end of his life.

“Yeah—I’d almost suspect Lily of interfering, but thinking back, I’m pretty sure that was mostly on me. I did see you first meet Autumn, but the last few days have been so busy that it just hasn’t really occurred to me to check in on you. You always seem so–” He struggled to think of the right word for a moment, then settled on, “–so self-sufficient. Blue and Hwa—I feel like if I don’t check in on them frequently it’ll come back to haunt me. You and Penny, though, hardly seem to need me at all.”

Hazel smiled an easy smile, and Kevin found himself lost in her light brown eyes. He only realized she was speaking a moment later, and then had to think back to catch what he missed. “You might be surprised. For me, I’m helping these girls because, well, that’s what I do. They were hungry and in need of shelter, so I taught them to help themselves. I’ll keep doing that, but—what about you?”

The puzzled look Kevin directed at Hazel must have been response enough, because the nymph went on to explain, “I know that Lily made you the ‘Dungeon Master’—whatever that means—but what is it that you want to actually do? I mean, this place came from your imagination. It’s a beautiful world, full of magic and wonder. What did you picture yourself doing while you were here?”

“I—you want to know the full truth?”

“Always.”

“I basically never imagined myself here. I imagined the world. I imagined the people. I imagined the adventures they would have, and the hijinks they would get up to. I thought about what would need to happen to enable a land like this to exist, and how people would react to that, but I–” Kevin felt his shoulders suddenly sag. “I never really saw myself inside the world.”

A moment later, soft fingers delicately raised Kevin’s chin so that Hazel could once more look him in the eye. “Maybe it’s time you started to figure out what you want. I’m not saying you can’t—and shouldn’t—help the rest of us out, but you have to find room for what Kevin wants in there while you’re at it.”

The touch surprised Kevin, but not nearly as much as what followed. Hazel wasn’t a tall woman, but he found himself gathered forward into her arms, his head resting atop her prodigious bosom as vines slid up around his body and pulled him down against her. For a brief moment his mind flashed back to his evening with Hwa, but the vines only held him long enough to move him into position.

Hazel wrapped an arm around Kevin’s shoulder while the other reached up to stroke his hair softly. “You’re a man with needs too, Kevin. And I don’t just mean sexual ones. This place might be designed to push you towards sex, but that’s not all there is to life. People need enrichment and purpose, and you can’t just subsume yourself into your efforts to help the people around you.”

Even as he found himself nuzzling into the nymph’s massive cleavage, Kevin was surprised to find himself nodding along at her words. His physical needs had been taken care of, but it felt like this whole week had been spent frantically running around trying to put out fires and deal with problems. He hadn’t taken any time to actually get out and explore his own city.

Several long moments passed as Kevin allowed himself to be held. Then a few more went by as he permitted himself to enjoy the feeling of having the side of his head buried against the largest set of breasts he’d ever seen in person. When he finally straightened, he met Hazel’s gaze with a smile of his own.

“You’re right. I can’t just let myself continue to passively react to what’s going on. For one thing, that’s not how a good party leader acts—I should be figuring out how we can get an advantage in the dungeon, or get ourselves more powerful, or get more GP. For another, it’s my own goddamn fantasy city. Why the hell am I not out there having adventures?”

The laugh which emerged from Hazel was soft and full of delight at the question. She beamed a smile up at him, then nodded in agreement. “Exactly! Now, you said earlier that the castle has staff who can bring dinner up to us, right?” When Kevin nodded his response, Hazel continued, “Great! Let’s get some food, and then we can have sex.”

“I-uh-wha?” Kevin’s articulate answer was more reflective of the casual tone with which Hazel’s message was delivered than the message itself.

“After we eat, we’ve got several hours before I usually go to sleep, so I thought we could pass the time having sex. That is how Stheno and Elsie got all those extra HP, right?”

“I—yes. Right. Sorry, I’m just—I expected to, you know…”

“Did you not want to?” Hazel didn’t seem offended by Kevin’s confusion, though a brief look of concern crossed her face. “I’m sorry, I just assumed by the way you’ve looked at me most of the time–”

“It’s not that!” Kevin rushed to interrupt that particular chain of though. “I—yes, I want to have sex with you. You’re beautiful and incredibly sexy, I just—I don’t know, you’re being way more casual about it than I expected.”

She shrugged. “What is there to get worked up about? We’re going to sleep together, I’m going to enjoy it, why be upset?”

“Because you don’t have any agency in the matter?” Kevin’s mind flashed back to Elsie, begging him to fuck her throat. She’d deliberately embraced her place on the season, and had seemed happy about her decision thus far, but she’d also shown far more enthusiasm than Hazel did in the moment.

“Would being upset about it make me have a better time?” Hazel’s question was asked quietly, but there was a note of challenge in her voice that again caught Kevin off-guard.

“Well, no, almost certainly not. I guess–” He sighed, and shook his head. “This is probably me being stupid, but—I want the people I sleep with to care about me. If you’re just fucking me because I’m, you know, here, then what is there to say you won’t fuck someone else the next night?”

Once more, Kevin was surprised by the note of challenge when Hazel responded, “Maybe I will. Aren’t you going to be fucking someone tomorrow night?”

“I mean—it’s Blue, I have absolutely no idea how that’s going to go.”

“Not the point, and you know it. The next time Stheno or Elsie show up here, are you trying to tell me that you aren’t going to have sex with them?” Hazel’s eyebrow formed a perfect arch as she stared at the dungeon master and awaited a response.

However much he might have known that it made his own protests sound feeble, though, he couldn’t deny the truth of things. “No, I will. I don’t think either of them would take it well if I didn’t, and that’s even without considering what would probably happen if the audience saw me turning them down.”

“So it’s only a problem if I sleep with someone else?” Hazel didn’t actually sound angry, but there was a relentlessness to her that reminded Kevin that nature might be beautiful, but that didn’t make it harmless.

He held up his hands. “I—no. I’d be an idiot and a hypocrite if I demanded exclusivity from you. You’re right, and I was wrong to bring that up.” When Hazel sniffed in response but didn’t otherwise pursue the point, he instead corrected, “That’s—honestly, that’s not actually the point I was trying to make, though. It feels like–”

“You’re worried that the only reason I’d be sleeping with you is because you’re here, and you want more of a connection than that. You’ve got a connection with Elsie, because the two of you have a lot in common. Your connection with Stheno is based more in how the two of you see each other, but it’s there. With me, you think I’m attractive, but you’re afraid that the only thing I see in you is that you have a working penis.” Hazel cut across Kevin’s faltering objections with another raised eyebrow and a set of arms folded beneath her breasts.

The fact that his insecurities were laid bare by a woman whose body was covered in less than a square-foot of vines did not escape Kevin’s notice. “…Yeah.”

The expression on Hazel’s face softened, and she once more reached up. This time, rather than his chin, she stroked her fingers along his cheek. “Sweet child. Do you think I’d sleep with you if I didn’t see something that I liked?”

“I mean–”

Before Kevin could respond further, the nymph cut in again, “Best not finish that sentence. Yes, I’m not hung up on sex the way humans are. That doesn’t mean I’m not picky, it just means that I don’t see any particular reason to be particularly monogamous about it. I’m not harmed in any way if you sleep with Stheno, any more than you would be if I did. It’s just sex. That has nothing to do with the fact that I do see you, Kevin Burgmeyer. I see that you are working hard to ensure that none of us are hurt by Lily. I see that you are struggling to make peace with a world that has been turned on its head. I see that you are sweet, and kind, and smart. Your bravery is perhaps more subtle than that of the heroes of old, but there is a strength in standing up and choosing to fight on behalf of those you could easily subjugate.”

Hazel’s hand trailed down Kevin’s face onto his neck, and a shiver ran down his body as it did. “I offer to sleep with you because I find you worthy to do so. If you want more than that–” Her fingertips slipped onto his chest and began to wander down the front of his shirt as she finished, “–you have however long we are together under Lily’s gaze to press your suit.”

“I—uhh–” As the warm light that filled the master’s suite caught Hazel’s eyes, Kevin couldn’t help but compare them to the golden hue of the wolves he had seen the last time he visited a zoo.

A teasing smile suddenly flashed onto the nymph’s lips and she looked him up and down, then again met his gaze. “You should start by feeding me. I don’t maintain this figure by starving myself, you know.”

---

Tess stared out the window of her room as she attempted to gather up her courage.

After the events at the river—even if Kevin hadn’t mentioned his hypothesis to anyone, the thought that he knew what she’d been doing, what she’d caused, had been too much to bear. She had fled, and had stopped only long enough to have the staff downstairs bring her food before retreating to her room.

What she couldn’t escape from was Abby.

Tess could feel her sibling slumbering within. There was a part of her that wanted to never summon her sister again, or at least put off the inevitable as long as possible. She ruthlessly **** that down, but when the time came to actually call Abby forth, she hesitated once more.

Outside, the sun was nearly fully set. As the last rays turned the skies overhead faded from red to purple, Tess made a snap decision. The silver outfit she wore had returned to its default tunic state when she returned to town. It flowed over her skin like water as she returned to her Flexible Form-shape. Her hair poured down her back to her shoulders as it lengthened. Her arms and legs thickened with muscle. Her hips swelled, and her breasts expanded, but more important—to her, at least—was the mental shift that accompanied the physical.

In this state, everything was more immediate, more urgent—but her mind shifted just as readily. Her reflexes sped up, and judgments that she would normally deliberate over were made in a snap. Perhaps they weren’t as sound or as well thought out as they would be before, but right now, when hesitation paralyzed her?

It was exactly what she needed.

Tess summoned Abby with a thought.

Her sibling was still dressed in the shorts and t-shirt Elsie had crafted for her. A moment or two passed as Abby took in her surroundings—including the fact that the sister who normally stood only a couple inches taller now towered over her by what must have been twenty centimeters.

Tess flashed her a smile. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Abby’s response was a little more muted, more nervous. Tess had summoned her by the window where she stood, by the window, she turned and took the handful of steps needed to reach the edge of the bed. She spun and sat down, then looked up at the paragon of curvaceous athleticism that was her twenty-one year old sibling.

The two studied each other. The resemblance between them remained, but had been lessened until rather than sisters, the pair might have been distant cousins.

Abby retained the toned athleticism of a swimmer, but hadn’t had time to put on the additional muscle that Tess had worked so hard to build in college. Where Tess’ breasts were nearly as large as her head, Abby’s were modest bumps in the front of her shirt that hadn’t grown since she was fifteen.

Their faces and expressions, though, were the same, which is why Tess was surprised to see her younger sister looking up at her not with apprehension, but with—anticipation?

“That was weird, huh?” Tess’ attempt to break the tension was met with a soft snort from Abby.

“You could say that. I didn’t expect to wind up getting fingered to orgasm in front of half a dozen people at the beach. But then—I haven’t really expected anything since we wound up here. Maybe that’s normal?”

“It—uhh—yeah. About that…” Tess’ hand reflexively reached up to run through her dandelion fluff, only to remember when she made contact that she was now sporting a lion’s mane instead. Her hand instead wound up rubbing along her scalp anyway, before coming to rest behind her head awkwardly. “It was my fault.”

Abby’s head cocked to the side as her face settled into an expression of mixed curiosity and surprise. “What? How?”

“I—uhh—I kinda wound up getting horny and had to go to the riverbank and finger myself real quick.” As Abby’s expression shifted to shock, she rushed to add, “Nothing too excessive! Just like—four or five to get myself off real quick. I’ve–” She glanced down at herself and realized that her nipples were standing straight at attention, clearly visible through the silvery nightgown her outfit had become.

She hadn’t even felt it shift, but while her pale cheeks flushed slightly she tapped into the added confidence of her enhanced form and forged ahead. “Look, I was getting nervous and self-conscious out there, so I shifted. Then Kevin brought up how Lily **** you into this, and Hazel started talking about knocking Stheno up, and me holding you down while Kevin fucked you–”

Both Tess and Abby shifted suddenly. The latter’s thighs suddenly ground together at her sister’s words, while the former’s right hand dropped from behind her head to rest just over her womb. Then it was the older sister’s turn for her face to show surprise.

She had felt that. Tess had felt Abby’s sex grow slick at her words. Her eyes flashed down to where her eighteen year old sister was doing her best not to squirm, and a slow grin began to spread across her pale lips. “What, you like that thought? Me, holding your legs apart while Kevin has his way with you?”

“I—uhh—that—no, um–”

Abby’s attempts to protest were futile, as Tess’ bond with her sister told her intimately and viscerally what her silver-haired familiar thought about the topic. The ranger’s earlier inhibitions evaporated in a flash under the heat of arousal that flooded through the Familiar Bond. She began to slowly walk forward—a hunter stalking her prey. “So you don’t think the idea is hot? Your big sister and her boyfriend using you as a toy?”

What emerged from Abby’s lips couldn’t even be classified as words. The whimpering sound wasn’t exactly displeased, though, and Tess felt another surge of lust from her loins as the bond between the siblings began to act as a feedback loop. She closed the last few steps in a flash and while her younger sister was a skilled athlete she was no match for the far taller and stronger Flexible Form of the selkie Ranger.

Tess’ arm slipped beneath Abby’s and looped around her sister’s waist. The younger selkie squirmed a little as she was dragged her onto the center of the two beds, but was shown no mercy.

The surge of lust they both felt made it clear to Tess how much her little sister was enjoying this. She lowered her head so that she could whisper hotly into Abby’s ear, “Is that why I’m horny all the time? Is it because my sister is a horny little selkie slut, and Lily just made it so that I get to feel it?”

Rather than attempt to stop her, Abby’s hands grasped at her own thighs. She was trapped between Tess’ iron-hard arm and her older sister’s muscular stomach, the back of her head caught between the massive tits she’d been trying to surreptitiously check out earlier in the day.

Fingers slipped beneath the waistband of the shorts that Elsie had provided earlier in the day, as Tess’ right hand crept towards the source of the lust that now echoed between the pair. Another whimper trilled in Abby’s throat as her thighs were slowly and deliberately **** apart, but Tess showed no sign of stopping there. “Fuck me, is that why I’ve been getting so horny looking in the mirror? Is it because that’s what you want to see?”

Her fingertips found Abby’s slick lips—and the flood of moisture which coated them. This time both women moaned as—pressed body to body, back to chest—the two discovered that the Familiar Bond worked perfectly well in both directions.

“Oh, fuck that feels amazing!” Tess found her own hips rotating reflexively as her fingertips caressed up and down the slick lips of Abby’s sex. Lost in the intense sensations and the rush of her Flexible Form, she didn’t even pause to consider the taboo of the situation as she explored her little sister’s sopping wet cunt.

“Tess, I–” Abby tried to gasp out words, but found her voice stolen, then co-opted as Tess suddenly curled her middle two fingers and shoved them into her tight tunnel.

“Shh—shh. You don’t have to say anything, I can tell what you want.” Tess ground her palm against Abby’s clit exactly as she would her own, giving her a repeat of the sensations she had experienced by proxy earlier in the day.

This time, though, in person and with her idolized older sister’s breath hot against her ear, the feelings were far more intense. Abby squirmed and nuzzled her head back into Tess’ massive tits as her sister released her left hand from around her waist and reached down to deftly unfasten the shorts she wore. To her surprise, the garment—hastily crafted by Elsie earlier in the day—came apart entirely to leave the younger sister naked from the waist down.

Tess shoved her fingers into Abby’s tunnel hard and felt the tight muscles clench down hard against the intruder. “Oh, fuck, this is better than masturbating. I mean, I guess that’s basically what I’m doing, isn’t it?”

Even as pleasure washed through her body, Tess was surprised to find herself fully in control of herself. It was only after a few moments of finger-fucking Abby that she realized that it was the passive effects of Flexible Form at play. No matter how turned on she got, no matter how her newfound playtoy squirmed in her lap, as long as she focused on what she was doing, her body responded exactly as she wanted.

Abby was nearly insensate with pleasure, but she retained enough consciousness to moan out wordlessly as Tess expertly guided her closer and closer to orgasm. “Is this what you wanted? Your big sister fucking your horny little cunt? You got to feel a bunch of my orgasms earlier today, so it’s only fair I get to feel a bunch of yours, right?”

Tess’ left hand slipped up under her sister’s shirt. Abby’s nipples were diamond-hard points, and she pinched one delicately between two fingers, then slowly squeezed. “Cum for me. Come for your big sister. C’mon, be a good little familiar and cum!”

Trapped against her sister’s chest, with two fingers pumping into her drenched cunt, Abby had **** but to obey. Her orgasm crashed over her like a wave against the shore. It filled her awareness, and she only realized that both she and Tess were screaming out their pleasure a minute later.