A Change of Plans

Brooke was pleased to get the list of materials from Ethel to summon Sam back to the group. She also had enough running to blow off some steam. Now she’d prefer to hit something. So she went to the one person she knew needed a good thwacking. She waited after knocking on the door.

Mary opened up the room. “Brooke? I thought Talia was going to come and get me.”

Brooke didn’t wait for an invitation and just strode in. “Sure, and she probably will, but there is some disagreement over what we should do. I also have some free time, so I figured I could come and let out some of my frustrations with the others, on you.”

Mary frowned, “You want to hit me a bunch? Pass.”

“I want to fix your glitches while also relieving some frustrations. We don’t even have to leave the room. We’ll do some close-quarters fighting. I won’t even use my sword. That should be enough of a handicap for you. Unless you’re a chicken instead of a dragon.”

Mary scowled at Brooke, “Do you really think such juvenile taunts will work on me?”

“Fine, I’ll just rescue Sam by myself and keep her all to myself and not let you have her.”

Mary growled. “Brooke, you really shouldn’t talk about taking things from my hoard.” Mary shook her head and calmed down. “Even as a joke, it triggers something in the dragon’s instincts.”

“I’m sorry,” Brooke said, taking a step closer towards Mary.

“Don’t worr—” Mary was cut off as Brooke stepped towards Mary and jabbed, hitting her right in the solar plexus. Mary took a deep inhalation of air, while feeling equal parts arousal and rejuvenation from the punch.

“Constant Vigilance,” Brooke quipped, “Come on, we’re sparring. At least I am; I suppose you’ll have to get serious if you don’t want to end up on the floor.” Brooke threw a few light jabs but pulled back when Mary tried to grab her wrists.

Mary frowned, “Brooke, I’m not in the mood.”

“Neither is anyone else in the mood to give you their panties.”

Brooke moved to attack Mary again, but Mary wanted to make it clear just how much she wasn’t in the mood for this and transformed into a dragon, expanding in size as she did so, knocking over furniture as she now towered over Brooke. Snapping her teeth inches from Brooke, Mary said, “I told you, I’m not in the mood.”

Brooke immediately stopped and backed off. “Okay, sorry. We do really need to spar, though. Or you need to let me use my boon on you in another way.”

Mary switched back to being an Amazon. “You aren’t fucking me with a strap on.”

Brooke walked up to Mary, tilted her head up to look her in the eyes, and then flicked Mary on the nipple, causing Mary to let out a small squeak of surprise. “My boon activated there. I don’t know how much it did, but it did something. I don’t have to fuck you. I said I wasn’t really comfortable doing that anyway, but if you don’t want to spar instead of sit around, then eat me out.”

Mary raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me? How would that help?”

“Replace one of your borrowed TFs with Percussive Maintenance, then you can just use it yourself. Not to mention, it would be great for healing and taking out the infected.”

“I don’t really want to lose any of the TFs I currently am borrowing, though.”

“Lose Laura’s Amazonian TF. It’s less useful for you. Plus, you can always get that one back easily.” Brooke slipped a hand up Mary’s skirt. “Fair warning, Mary, I’ve only done this with a woman once, and that was with Sam. So my skills might be lacking.” Brooke pulled down on Mary’s panties, pulling them to the ground.

Mary wrapped her tail around Brooke’s waist and lifted her off the ground, carrying her to the bed.

Brooke chuckled, “Going all monster lady on me, are you?”

“Mary take pretty lady for self. Pretty lady looks tasty.” Mary’s tongue flicked out much like a serpent's. Mary climbed on top of Brooke. “On a more serious note, you sure about this, Brooke? Because I won’t be ordering you to go down on me right now.”

Brooke nodded, “Yeah, it’s different but also not all that much. If I had to guess, it would be a lot like blowjobs are for me. Not my favorite thing, but if I find my partner attractive and willing to reciprocate, I’ll go down on them too. I offered to blow you as Mark, if you recall. I just wanted reciprocity.”

Mary started to peel off Brooke’s pants. As she pulled, she repositioned, lowering herself backwards towards Brooke’s face. Finally, nearly sitting on Brooke’s face as the pants came off. Brooke began licking Mary’s pussy, finding her juices to taste like various fruits. Mary bit her lips, savouring the pleasure, as she spread Brooke’s legs. Mary was having trouble focusing and was whipping her head back and forth in pleasure as her hips squirmed from pleasure.

Brooke swatted Mary on the ass and, muffled by Mary’s crotch, said, “You’re supposed to be doing something too.”

Mary ran her hand over Brooke’s moist slit quite gently, while Brooke resumed licking Mary’s own. Mary leaned over to begin doing the same but let out a moan as Brooke started to rapidly flick Mary’s clit with two fingers. Mary’s eyes rolled back as she came and collapsed onto the bed.

Brooke frowned and started to crawl out from under Mary’s bulk. She rolled Mary over onto her back and found a dopey grin on her face. So Brooke slapped her across the face three times in rapid succession. Mary bolted upright. “What the hell was that for?”

Brooke put her hands on both of Mary’s shoulders and shoved Mary onto her back and straddled her chest. “I saw an opportunity, and I took it. You need me to hit you, and you still haven’t returned the favor. Now shut up and eat me out.” Brooke didn’t give Mary time to protest as she shoved her crotch into Mary’s face while grabbing onto Mary’s horns with both hands to pull Mary into her crotch.

Mary wasn’t pleased that Brooke was handling her like this, but realized she hadn’t actually really even started pleasing Brooke despite getting off herself already. Mary’s long tongue snaked into Brooke’s eager pussy, causing Brooke to thrust her hips forward into Mary’s face as she pulled on Mary’s horns.

Mary tried to reach up to take Brooke’s hand off her horns but found both arms pinned by Brooke’s legs. When she tried to free them, Brooke pressed down on both arms, keeping them pinned. Mary found she’d have to use considerable force to free herself, where under normal circumstances she’d risk injuring Brooke if she did.

So she continued twirling her tongue around Brooke’s insides, hoping to get this over with quickly.

Brooke was loving this. God, it’s like her tongue is magical and knows exactly where to move. As it twirled again, sending another jolt of pleasure through Brooke, she thought, Hell, it probably is magical. I know Mark’s dick is supposed to be; maybe this is Mary’s thing. Brooke squeezed down on Mary’s head with her thighs as she arched back, using Mary’s horns to make sure she didn’t fall backwards as she came.

After a few seconds of basking in the pleasure of her climax, Brooke slowly released Mary’s horns and climbed off her and lay next to her panting. “That… that was great.” Brooke gently reached out a hand towards Mary’s face to pull her into a kiss.

Mary caught her wrist, stopping Brooke. “Brooke, I’m not mad, but I didn’t appreciate you grabbing onto my horns like that or keeping my arms pinned either.”

Brooke frowned as she attempted to pull her hand back, and after a moment, Mary released it. “So you can’t let someone else be in control?”

“It isn’t exactly my preference, no. I don’t mind the give and take of aggressiveness, but when I tried to move my arms, you wouldn’t let me.”

“Sorry. You do know a good dom makes sure to test everything on themselves first and to properly understand what they are doing, so they know what it feels like when they do something to their sub.”

Mary replied, “I’m aware of the need to practice various things to make sure I don’t get my partner hurt. I’ve also practiced some things before coming onto the show, both on my own and with Allie. I really don’t like being immobilized. Don’t do it again.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Brooke gave Mary a salute.

Mary stared at Brooke. “I’m being serious here, Brooke. It’s one thing to shove me onto my back forcefully; it’s another to trap my arms and prevent me from pulling my head away from your crotch.”

“I understand, Mary, really I do. God, that shipping transformation is super weird.”

Mary raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I can kind of tell how to repair and maintain our relationship. Now, right at the top of the maintenance list is ‘Don’t try to dom Mary.’ I can tell that if that isn’t followed, the ‘ship’ could be catastrophically damaged.”

Mary let out a slight huff, “Well, good.”

Brooke slid a bit closer to Mary and rested her head on Mary’s shoulder as they lay there, both enjoying the afterglow. “Look, I’m sorry if I crossed a line.”

Mary wrapped her arm around Brooke’s back and squeezed slightly. “It’s fine, just don’t do it again. Honestly, I shouldn’t be too surprised; you are Sam’s friend after all.”

Brooke raised an eyebrow and tilted her head up towards Mary’s. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mary replied, “Just that on our first date, Sam yelled at me and tied me to a chair.”

“And you let her?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the issue with what I did? If you didn’t have a problem with that.”

“First, Sam specifically told me she was going to do it and asked if it was okay. She also made it clear that it wasn’t about controlling me; rather, it was about allowing her to feel safe. Third, I wasn’t thrilled with it, but I could tell Sam needed it at the time. The next time Sam tried to do it, I told her no. Granted, the next time I was also much smaller and weaker than her, and a woman, but I made it clear that it wasn’t going to be a regular thing.”

“Hmm… Well, thank you for taking care of my sister.” Brooke replied, nuzzling Mary’s breast. “If one of us really wanted to tie you up, would you consider indulging us?”

Mary thought about it. “Maybe. Under very specific circumstances and restrictions. My agreement, though, would be because I’m indulging you and not because I would enjoy it. You mentioned your relationship transformation. I was wondering how you are coping with all of the changes?”

Brooke shrugged, “Fine, I think. The only sort of odd one for me is the one where I now have thirteen sisters, some of whom I’ve never even met, but I know a bit about them. The rest have honestly been great.”

“You don’t mind that Sam and I can now control you?”

“First, Sam would never abuse that control. You wouldn’t either. Sam means too much to you to do that. As for the possibility that some of my sisters could order me about. I don’t really care that much. It feels really fucking good, and the orgasms are insane. I also love having so much energy.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Mary said with a smile, “I was worried you might have some trouble adapting, but you’ve seemed rather chipper.”

Brooke shrugged, “I guess. There are two other things besides fixing your glitches I wanted to talk to you about. The first is rescuing Sam. There’s a way to do it; I’d like your help convincing the others.”

“Done,” Mary said without hesitation.

“Really, not even going to ask?”

“Nope. Now what’s the second thing?”

Brooke thought about how to word what she wanted to discuss for a minute before speaking. “I was wondering if you could assign me a ‘ship’ to repair and maintain.”

“Um… sure, but why?”

“Several reasons. I want to know how it works when you assign one to me. The transformation does cause me to put some effort into maintenance every so often, but our relationship doesn’t really need the repair work. So, I’m doing the equivalent of an inspection when I know there is nothing wrong. Finally, Talia came to me for help with Laura. I figured it might be helpful if you assigned me that ship if I’m going to try and help those two.”

“Sure.” Mary thought about how to assign the task to Brooke, but was coming up empty. So Mary checked her phone and went to the transformation and found a drop-down box detailing all the various ‘ships’ she could assign Brooke to repair or maintain. Mary was also surprised to see that they had brief descriptions and statuses attached to them. Scrolling through the options, she saw two that concerned her somewhat.

Sadie’s and Chloe’s Friendship (Sunken)

Sadie’s and Chloe’s Rivalry (Strong, could use some repair)

Mary frowned, especially deeply, seeing the second option. Is this saying I could stoke their rivalry? “Brooke… I’d like to assign a ship to you and would like you to tell me what you feel like you need to do. It isn’t Laura’s and Talia’s partnership.” Brooke nodded for Mary to go ahead. Mary selected the rivalry and waited.

Brooke processed the information she was receiving. This is so fucking weird. So Sadie and Chloe don’t like each other because they both were into Mark and… oh wow… that escalated quickly. Oh… yeah, I could see how that is still a bitter rivalry. Now, how to keep them rivals… Wait a second… Oh, that’s not good. “Um… Okay, so I got an information packet when you assigned me their rivalry. As for what I feel like I need to do right now…” Brooke went silent for a while. “I need to figure out how to make sure that they remain rivals. That shouldn’t be too hard, but there is some damage to that relationship.”

“So you feel like you need to keep them at odds and hating one another?”

“Not exactly. I think I could sort of redirect and change the relationship some, but it would have to, at its core, remain a rivalry. Maybe instead of it being so antagonistic, I could make it like a frienemies situation where they both want to compete for you, but will team up and viciously attack anything that threatens things you care about.”

“And you feel like you have to do that? That you have to work on making sure they remain rivals?”

“Yes. I do. Which isn’t exactly ideal.”

Mary sighed, “I agree. Especially since there are other relationships listed as options that I would consider negatives.”

“Just don’t assign them to me then. That’s simple.”

“That’s not what I’m concerned about. Brooke, please be careful with this ability.” Brooke pushed herself up, bracing herself on both arms, and curiously looked down at Mary for her to elaborate. Mary continued, “Look, I don’t expect you just to go around causing chaos, but you’ll find chaos occasionally just happens here.”

“You think I would just stoke antagonism between people?” Brooke said with a scowl.

“To help Sam? Absolutely. Am I wrong?”

Brooke pursed her lips in thought. “Hmm… you might be right about that, but Sam wouldn’t be happy with me if it were anything egregious.”

“Just be careful, please,” Mary replied pleadingly. She swapped Brooke’s assigned ship to Talia’s and Laura’s romantic partnership. Then Mary remembered she needed to copy Percussive Maintenance and selected it, swapping out Amazonian. Mary rapidly shrank down to her normal size and found herself in a bone-cracking hug from Brooke.

Brooke let out a rather girlish squee as she squeezed Mary. “You’re so cute and adorable like this!” Mary slipped her tail around Brooke’s waist and pulled her off of her.

“I’m still a dragon and quite strong. I’m not a stuffed animal.”

Brooke smirked, “You could be, if I went and got a dildo.”

Mary put Brooke gently down on the bed and rested her head on Brooke’s breast. “You’re a cheeky one, aren’t you?”

“Guilty as charged. So I would recommend exploring your body as a woman more with my boon.” Brooke made a fist and thrust into the hole by the thumb with her opposite index finger. “I can tell you that this is enough to trigger the effect to some degree.

Mary turned her head away. “I haven’t really done much of that.”

“Much? Meaning you’ve done some. Did you not enjoy it?”

“No, that isn’t the issue. It was really intense. Honestly, all my orgasms as a woman have been intense. I don’t know, it felt really good but also… I’m not sure. They’re so different as a guy.”

“Do they feel wrong?”

Mary shook her head vehemently, “No. Not at all. Just new and different, which is kind of anxiety inducing.”

“You’ve just got to jump in. That’s the only way to deal with this issue.”

“Eh… I think I’ll slowly wade in and make sure I can handle things for a while longer.”

Brooke pouted, “Fine, but you seriously need to work on fixing your rulebook pronto. So masturbate some for me, okay?”

Mary groaned in annoyance.

Brooke asked, “Is it really that big of an issue for you?”

“Masturbating no, but I haven’t had time with how much sex I’ve been getting. So I don’t know if I’ll get the chance.”

Talia knocked on the door, opened it, and walked in. “Mary, we’re good to… Oh, we were wondering where you had run off to, Brooke. We’ve worked out what we’re doing today, and don’t worry, Brooke, it includes performing the summoning for Sam.”

Brooke pumped her fist in the air, “YES! When do we start?” Brooke stood and began to get dressed.

Talia looked down at Mary and sighed, I’m going to miss her having muscles. “Soon. The plan is for Laura, Isa, and you, Brooke, to go try to handle the outbreak in the north.” Talia gave a curious look towards Mary.

“I copied Brooke’s healing boon. Does that change anything?”

Talia thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. You, Allie, Sadie, and I are going to do a temple. After summoning Sam. Assuming she’s incapacitated and captured, that is.”

Brooke frowned, “How do I know this isn’t a trick to get me to go along with things and not rescue Sam?”

Talia rolled her eyes. “Because Mary is going to be with us. She’d be upset if we lied to you about this.”

Mary nodded to Brooke, confirming that.

Brooke deflated a little, “Fine. I’ll trust you.”

Mary said, “Great. I need to stop by the store, though. I have 1000 BP to spend.”

Talia said, “You do? I thought we got it down to zero last night?”

Mary nodded, “Yes, my reward from the Grudge Match with Sam. I already know exactly what I’m buying, too.”

Talia said, “Okay, everyone else is in the courtyard. Mary, if you could make sure to enter from the north entrance of the courtyard so the others don’t enter your presence when they don’t have to.”

Mary nodded. “I’ll meet you both in the courtyard shortly.”

With that, the three of them left the suite, with Mary separating from Brooke and Talia after a couple of hallways. Mary entered the BP shop. “Hi Slevia, how’s it going?”

“Good, mostly.”

“Mostly?” Mary asked.

“Brooke might be mad. I tried to help. She didn’t like the help. She stormed out.”

“I see. I’ll talk to her about it. Mind sharing what she wanted help with?”

“Sam.”

“Oh, well, we will have that resolved soon. I don’t think she’s going to be too upset with you once we have Sam back, at least.”

Slevia just grunted in acknowledgement. “How can I help you?”

“I was wondering what buying a fix for the glitches I’m experiencing costs?”

Slevia checked her tablet. “Hmm… depends. The lump sum is 15,000 BP.”

Mary winced. “Any way I could buy partial progress?”

“Yes, but less efficient.”

“Well, I have 1000 BP. Put that towards fixing the rulebook glitches, please.”

Slevia nodded. “Done. Is that all?”

Mary hesitated for a moment. “Actually, there is something else.” Slevia raised an eyebrow curiously. Mary looked away a little awkwardly. “So… Talia already talked with Freya about this last night, but I’m probably upgrading my staff at the beginning of the next round.”

“I see…” Slevia kept her expression rather neutral.

Mary scratched the back of her head. “Yeah… You wouldn’t happen to have an option to add Freya or Astrid directly to the harem for sale instead?”

Slevia scowled at Mary and practically growled out. “What! I must have misheard. Don’t even think about touching Astrid!”

Mary put up her hands placatingly. “Slevia, I already talked with Freya about this. She’s on board. Maja doesn’t disagree either that one or both likely need to be added. Talia seems to think that if Astrid joins the harem, Hilde can eventually fix her.”

Slevia continued to glare at Mary but seemed to be considering things. Slevia grunted as her face relaxed a little. “That might work. Doubt it will, though. And no. I don’t have those options.”

“Darn. Well, the good news is we think we have a way to give us better odds. I’m going to use my boosts. I was mostly wondering if Freya and Astrid both aren’t available as choices... I was wondering how you would feel if it ended up being you?”

Slevia thought about that for a bit. “I like you. I dislike the show. The other options are worse. Pick me in that case. Then Smug.”

“Smug? Not Maja or Petra?”

“Definitely not Petra. You already saw her. That was from the possibility. Imagine if she had been added.”

Mary nodded in acknowledgement of that point. “Thanks, I’m hoping for a bit of luck.”

“Is fine. Mary, my invitation stands.” Slevia said with a grin while eyeing Mary up and down.

“Slevia, I like you and think you’re attractive, but I can barely keep up with the women in my harem. That certainly isn’t going to happen during the show, unless you wind up in my harem.”

Slevia nodded, “Understood. Also… thank you. Thank you for asking. Asking if I’d be okay with it.”

“No problem. Well, I’ve got places to be, apparently. I’ll see you later.”

“Later.” Slevia waved goodbye and went back to reading a book.

---

Mary entered the courtyard from the requested northern entrance and was stopped by Brooke’s outstretched arm. “Stop right there. Talia is talking with Isa and Laura about their mission. She’ll be over here in a second.”

“Fine with me.”

Brooke replied, “Just so long as you make sure to rescue Sam.”

“I will certainly try,” Mary replied.

Which was when a guard came riding into the courtyard, winded and shouted, “DRAGON!”

That got everyone’s attention. Mary started to move to figure out what was going on, but Brooke stopped her. Brooke said, “Stay here, I’ll check what is going on.”

Brooke hurried over to the others to figure out what was going on. Mary didn’t wait as requested; instead, she shifted into her dragon form and flew straight up, looking for a dragon anywhere in the sky around the capital, but couldn’t find one.

Brooke stopped next to Sadie as the guard was mid explanation, “—To the north. It appeared out of nowhere. Our mages say that space there is also unstable. What’s worse is that the dragon seems to be rallying other infected to itself, and they are coming this way. What’s even odder is that the dragon and most of the infected are ignoring any settlement off of their path by more than a few minutes. They are headed straight here.”

Brooke immediately glanced back towards Mary. Shit! If that’s Sam, I wonder if she’s being pulled towards Mary because she’s in Sam’s hoard or she’s her mate. “What color dragon is it?”

The guard replied nervously, “Umm… that’s the weird part. It… it seems to be part cow. So it’s pink and white like the Moobreys, as they were dubbed, but it also has azure scales where they appear.”

Laura said, “Well, that settles it. That’s Sam. Which means we aren’t summoning her, that’s for sure.”

Brooke frowned, “Why not?”

“Because it either won’t work because she isn’t incapacitated, or it would, and an infected dragon would be summoned to the capital city. Which would be bad.” Laura explained.

Brooke grumbled but didn’t protest more about the summoning. Brooke asked, “So we are going to go get her back, though, right?”

Laura nodded, “Of course we are.”

Sadie frowned, “How exactly am I supposed to help you with Sam? The only ones that can realistically fight Sam on our team are Mary and Laura. With maybe Talia helping in a support capacity.”

Talia replied, “You don’t. I’ve been thinking about what to spend our accumulated Merit on today. Knowing that not just one plague has been unleashed up north, but all three makes me confident in the purchase for everyone not already immune to the infection. Rings of protection from disease and rings of protection from curses. It won’t make us immune, but it should make things a lot safer for all of us to fight the infected and the enemy team. They can clearly spread the previous infections, and we all need to be able to deal with them. I already got them for the appropriate people.” Talia handed out the various equipment upgrades she bought for everyone. Talia then turned directly towards Sadie, “It’s your call as team leader, but I think we should alter our plans slightly. Mary, Laura, and I should go after Sam. While everyone else goes for the idol.”

Sadie frowned, “Allie and I would both be at risk of getting infected.”

Talia nodded, “Yes, but we were able to cure Allie before the curse on that idol was removed because it was dealt with quickly enough. So Brooke should be able to get rid of it by beating it out of you.”

Sadie didn’t seem to like the idea but nodded, “Fine. Meet back in the capital afterwards?”

Talia nodded and grabbed Laura by the hand, “Mind carrying us up to our noble steed?” Talia pointed at Dragon Mary flying above them.

Laura scooped Talia up in her arms and was about to take off when Brooke grabbed her arm. Brooke said, “One second.” She banged Laura’s and Talia’s heads together again. “There, that should likely top you up for a while, just don’t go poking holes in my work.” These lumps were larger than the previous ones. Talia pushed down on both lumps, and they vanished after a second. Laura crouched down and shot upward towards Mary, stopping several feet in front of her. Laura and Talia got on Mary’s back, and they took off north a moment later.

Brooke asked, “So what are we waiting for?” She jumped on the back of Bertha without warning, much to the moose’s annoyance. Sadie joined her in Bertha’s saddle a moment later.

Isa and Allie rode on Sif. Allie wrapped her arms around Isa’s waist tightly, enjoying that she got a little bit more cuddle time with her fiancée. The guard gave them directions that would allow them to avoid the bulk of the horde that was coming south, while getting them close to the village where they needed to get the idol from. Unfortunately for them, even avoiding the bulk of the horde still resulted in there being quite a lot of infected in the village itself.