Successful Shop Therapy, Failed Kitten Therapy

Scarlet

Ariel back in the water, both Aelene and Tina are trying to drag everyone to the dungeon. Josie and Daphne are looking willing to go with the delving flow, but the others seem hesitant. Mattie is aggressively flirting with Skye, who looks a little uncomfortable. And Dinah? Dinah is spiraling ever further down the mental health drain. Scarlet needs that addressed now. Her own mental state is hard enough to handle right now without worrying about the de-aged doctor. Scarlet is trying to hold onto Dinah, but the doctor’s clothes smoldering to the oread’s touch is troublesome, to say the least.

Once again, Harper busts out the drill instructor voice, “AH-TEN-SHUN!”

Once again, it generally stops the chaos.

“I promised Aelene a chance at the dungeon today after the meeting. I’d also like to try to throw a party like we did post last challenge, if that’s possible? Give everyone a chance to meet? Any thoughts or concerns?”

Perfectly timed for maximum annoyance, Prudence speaks over a figurative loudspeaker, “Ms. Campbell, Ms. Campbell? Please report to the Production Assistant’s office. Your talent agent needs to speak with you. Over.”

The bonny bunny sighs, “Guess I got to deal with that. Boo! I wanna get more magic!”

Josie volunteers, “Mind if I join you at least, Tina? I want to talk to Prudence about something. We can delve after. Old lady, mind splitting the delving party for a later group?”

“Sure, we’ll make it work. Any other concerns?”

“Dinah, Harper, you two need couples therapy.”

The blushing look of guilt on Harper’s face at least hints that she agrees. “Let me get the first group going, then I’ll be happy to sit down with you two. Give me a few minutes?”

“Fine. We will be waiting for you in the Cat Cafe. Dinah? Stop trying to sneak away. Dinah!”

The de-aged doctor is already basically out the door. Even with that much of a head start, she can’t outrun a dashing Scarlet. Scarlet zooms in front of Dinah, arms crossed, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To cry until I pass out.”

“Nope. We’ve had this conversation before. We care about you, Dinah. Let us help you.”

“What’s the point?”

Scarlet is not tolerating this anymore. With as gentle of a pinched ear as she can manage, she drags Dinah to the Cat Cafe. She’s gonna cuddle some cute kittens and we are going to figure this out now. Before it’s too late.

Mattie

“So, cutie, is there any way I can tie you up and make you scream?”

The short lilac girl turns deep purple when she blushes. The girl stammers, “Please explain to me why does everyone want to have sex with me now? Last night was Tina. This morning was Ms. Scarlet. Now, you, who hasn’t even introduced herself properly yet? Why me?”

“’Cause, as much as I like Sarge, I also like my dates to have to look up at me. And Teeth over there scares me. Soooooo, that leaves you, cutie. Oh, Mattie’s my name. Yours?”

“Hello, Ms. Mattie. My name is Mrs. Skye.”

A little stuck up, perhaps? Or maybe it’s just transformation stress. Dungeons for Damsels? Weird name.

Teeth tries to jump up and over the counter, but she doesn’t quite make it. Sarge helps her up, getting a good handful of ass cheek in the process. Teeth giggles and they kiss. They are kind of cute together. Then Teeth declares, “Shop is open for business for your dungeon prep needs! Who is ordering stuff first? Beloved? Skye? New girls?”

“As many XP potions as I can afford, please.”

Harper is on that immediately, “Belay that order, Daph. Aelene, please hop into the dungeon and see the results before you spend the BP. The conversion rate isn’t great. And, if I remember yesterday correctly, someone was wanting some bigger breasts.”

That gets the high elf to think for a minute. “Bigger breasts would make using that scimitar in the bedroom more... engaging. Ok, Lady Harper, I will wait for now.”

“Boo, Beloved, you’re supposed to be improving my sales. Perhaps you’d like to buy Skye a present to make up for it?”

“Maybe when both delving parties are recovering? I want to see what loot and XP she gets first. Same for you, if you really want a present. For now, we got a Mattie to contend with.”

Oh, yeah. “So, how do I get me a gun? Preferably a cool one.”

“Ok, the short answer is 3 levels of artificer. I can guide you through the decisions you’ll need to get there. We have 2 basic routes to go, since the audience gave you the spy suit. Option 1, assume the audience just gave you the transformation just to get you in leather and ignore the rouge multi-class. Go artificer all the way. Option 2, assume the audience wants you to do sneaky stuff in said leather and take some rouge levels.”

“Advantages?”

“Specialization or Jack-of-all-trades. The all artificer plan will give you more powerful spells and let you make more powerful stuff. The rouge multi-class would give you some sneakiness, some skill monkey abilities, a little more damage with guns, some extra survivability. The more rogue you grab, the less artificer power you would get.”

Teeth wants that commission, so she adds, “Since my Beloved pointed out the conversion rate isn’t great, upgrading both level transformation into actual class levels would only cost you 160 BP. Buying 2 Levels straight from the shop would cost you 300 BP. So, you’d be saving nearly 50%!”

“A little less savings, given Mattie needs to buy something to let her actually use magic. Have you thought about what you want?”

“What can you tell me about being a Space Elf?”

“Honestly, not much. Never was too interested in the ‘Let’s send DoD out into space without actually doing sci-fi’ setting. Being an elf means you only need 4 hours of reverie instead of a full night's sleep, but I don’t know how your reverie would be ‘souped up.’ The teleport is probably limited to once a day and 30 feet. Good to get out of a jam, but not much else. You will look so hot with elf ears, though.”

“You sold me on 4 hours of sleep. Space elf me up. And I’ll go ahead and split my focus a little. Mama needs her guns, but the rogue things sound cool, too.”

A screen pops up with both of Mattie’s upgrades and new transformation:

Secret Agent (Wo)man +1 – Mattie is only allowed to wear skin-tight leather or latex clothes. To get her started, she gets a magic leather catsuit. She needs to secure at least one sex toy in or on her person when she is in her catsuit. Mattie is also de-aged to her physical peak and given proficiency in light armor

Shouldn’t Cantrips Be Free? +1 – Mattie now can learn cantrips as per the usual rules of DoD. She is also given an egg vibrator. The vibe starts with 3 charges, regaining charges when it is used to bring herself to orgasm. The Mistress can spend a charge to power the vibe either on or off. When inserted and powered on, the vibe allows her to cast any cantrip she knows without spending SP. The vibe does grow in size and vibrational power every time she does so, shrinking back to it’s original size when powered down.

Made of Stardust – Did you know Mattie has a PhD in astrophysics? Let’s bring that factoid to the surface. Mattie becomes an astral elf, gaining the ability to innately teleport, a souped up reverie, and astral elven knowledge. She’s also aged up to meet community standards for elven age of consent laws (Paranormal Investigator).

Mattie: -200 BP

Daphne: +50 BP (Commission)

As the transformations set in, Mattie feels herself do several things at once. Her mind expands with a wealth of new knowledge. Sarge underestimated my new elfy powers. Fuck. She feels her ears elongate, her skin tickled by all of her body hair pulling itself out, and her eyes burn? Not a “my eyes are on fire” burn, a “my eyes are made of fire” burn. It doesn’t hurt, exactly, just tingles in a way that she’ll need time to get used to. She feels Harper lean over the counter and kisses her hard, rubbing her new, longer ears. Mmmmm. Feels good. I guess Doc really messed with her head with the allergy transformation, huh? And, the only disturbing thing, she feels her hand shove the egg vibe she was carrying around up her pussy.

“Mistress, turn on my vibe, please.” Mattie asks, automatically.

Harper looks taken aback. “Wait, what?”

Both women check the popped up screen. Fuck. Kinky.

“Sarge, it’s fine. The game fucks with us. Now, don’t make me ask again. Turn on my vibe.”

“If you’re sure,” Harper notes. Then the power of vibrations start to buzz within her. The buzzing is soft. Nice.

“A mirror? My eyes are taking some getting used to.”

And the others will take some time to get used to them as well. Black sclera like Red. Irises literally a glowing yellow four-pointed star. No pupils anymore, yet I can still see? And Harper is digging them. Good.

Once she gets used to her new reality, Harper guides her through the Level 1 decisions for Artificer and Rogue. More knowledge comes in, including some magic. Whelp, I’ll be part of the problem now if we go home. Not that I wasn’t going to be a problem anyways. Kind of sucks I’m just spamming these cantrip things until I can get me a gun.

“Daph and Skye, y’all cool showing the newbies the ropes?” Harper asks before she leaves. Teeth and Mrs. Skye nods in assent.

“They better be,” Mattie adds, enjoying the view of Harper leaving.

Tina

Prudence’s new office is... interesting, if still expected. Something straight out of an 80’s lawyer movie. Everything is all monochrome, even the bondage equipment. So much bondage equipment. The talent agent / production assistant sounds to be buzzing like a bug zapper on a warm summer’s evening.

“Ah, Ms. Campbell. So glad you can make it. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea? Mineral Water? A whip to flog me with?”

The bonny bunny is actually taken aback, “Um, I’m fine? Are you okay?”

“I am just feeling extra guilty of my sins this morning. I’m sure focusing on work will make those feelings go away. Speaking of work, are you okay with us discussing things in front of Ms. Wulf?”

“Of course, she’s my wolf-girlfriend. I’d probably tell her later anyways.”

“Very well. Tomorrow is your date night and I have an offer for a date sponsorship. Are you interested?”

Wait. Didn’t that Laura chick tell me that I shouldn’t rely on someone else to plan my date? Then again, my date last time went sooooooo bad while I was in charge of it.

While Tina was still in thought, Josie cut to the chase, “Details?”

Then Prudence starts describing what the sponsored date would entail. Tina’s in, instantly.

This is going to be the best thing ever!

Dinah

Scarlet has dragged Dinah into the Cat Cafe and **** her to sit. She placed a tiny calico kitten in Dinah’s lap, then went over to make drink orders. The kitten is very cute. Dinah feels compelled to pet it. When Scarlet returns, she gingerly sits down on a chair beside the de-aged doctor.

“Iced Tea?”

Dinah sips. It’s hot. Very hot.

Scarlet’s cheeks briefly catches fire. “Sorry. It was iced tea. Still getting used to being a fire monster.”

An uncomfortable silence hovers over the table, broken up by the occasional mew from the kittens. Dinah carefully sips her hot tea and pets the kittens as they come up for them. Scarlet has a big cat laying along her lap, treating the redhead as a giant space heater. She gives the cat a tummy scritch.

Soon enough, Harper walks in. She summons the fox, saying, “Play nice. If you’re good, I’ll get you some cake before we leave.” With a scritch, Vix is sent to play in the kitten playhouses. Dinah scowls.

“I understand that that... thing was a person, but how can you treat it so nice?”

Harper gives Dinah something akin to a **** stare. “Look, I get that your relationship with Vix was very difficult, but she’s bound to me, even moreso now that she was eliminated. I can sense her feelings. She was cooped up in the tiny little pocket dimension that familiars go when not on the Material Place all morning. It’s wrong to keep her locked up there all the time. I’ve failed her. I need to make it up to her whenever I can.”

“Harper, I sense a little agitation,” Scarlet attempts to redirect. “Please, let’s turn the conversation back to the topic at hand. So, Dinah, can you tell us how you feel about your relationship with Harper here?”

Dinah takes in her Mistress. The sea elf sips her cup of tea. A particularly bold kitten hops up into Harper’s lap, demanding pets. Harper sighs, then gives the cat what she wants. It’s nice that she isn’t sneezing. Dinah sees the affection in Harper’s eyes towards Scarlet. Harper does not give her the same.

“Harper doesn’t care about me and this whole thing is hopeless.”

“Dinah, do you care to phrase that in a less accusatory manner?” Scarlet asks, looking with she’s trying to help.

“No.”

Scarlet sighs, “Harper, how do you respond?”

“Look, Dinah, I had difficulty being human even before I thankfully stopped being human. I’m sorry if I don’t convey my feelings very well. I do care about you, Dinah, even if I don’t show it as well as I could. Why do you think that I don’t? I’m open to being corrected.”

“Where to start? My score in the game is so far behind basically everyone else. I saw that that Aelene girl already almost caught up to me and she’s only been here for a day. Then, the little things. You give the others real signs of affection; I only get maybe a side-hug most of the time. You also were way harsher when arguing against me than the others in the transformation vote intro. It was like you were undermining my choice.”

“I’ve been trying to navigate this whole game by going with the flow and matching energy this whole time, Dinah. Think back to when you knew me back home. Did that guy give the impression of wanting to go clubbing or to prom? I don’t want to **** any of you to treat me like I own you. I want equals, which means I need to respect your boundaries. This is especially true for you since you have been struggling with the game last week. So, I’m sorry for ruining the mood on our date. What can I do to make you feel comfortable?”

“What did happen in the Suite with Dinah? It might help to identify problem.” Scarlet is fingers deep in her squelching snatch.

“We had dinner and watched some Harem Hotel. We made out a little, then, when we moved to the bedroom, I offered to let Dinah use the last PP I needed on me. It got awkward. She withdrew. I ruined the mood.”

“That match your recollection of the event, Dinah?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell Harper why you felt awkward about the PP? Harper did need to use it at some point.”

“No.”

“Would communicating your issues have helped? I’m sure that, if you asked, Harper would have done that later.”

“No to both.”

“I gave you the chance to redirect the evening and you chose to leave the room, Dinah.”

Scarlet interrupts the conversation with a loud moan. She still hasn’t paid off that transformation yet? It’s like she wants to get off on this. “Will you stop that?”

Scarlet’s cheeks catch fire again. The cat that was in her lap scurries away in a hurry. Harper grabs Scarlet’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. “It’s okay, love.”

“There. That. That is exactly what I’m talking about. You show others affection, but not me.”

Harper glares at Dinah, “You don’t get the benefits of my affections without offering affection in return. I said I’ve been trying to match energy, trying to meet you all halfway. With the exception of that make-out session, I feel like you just are trying to figure out how to use me, Dinah. Granted, I know this game is such that your strategy is understandable, but still... it kind of hurts. So, unless you want to open up to learning to love me and in a hurry, we aren’t going to have a real relationship. Even if I somehow manage to get you up to 100 VP this week despite that, this transactional thing we have going on is going to eat me up on the inside. So, can we just start over? Put the ugliness of last week behind us?”

Really? Really? Harper has the gall to blame me for her not caring about me like she should? So, it’s truly hopeless. There is no way for me to be a person at the end of this nightmare. No good ending for me. What’s the point? I should just...