The Path Has Been Set

Mark and Aubrey walked into the BP store together being greeted by Slevia. “Hello Mark. Aubrey.” Each receiving a nod of acknowledgement. “What are you buying?”

Aubrey walked up, “I want to reroll my [Child-Care] path.”

Slevia looked down at the small woman. “You sure? New path could be worse.”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“Very well.” Slevia went into the back and brought back a spherical cage with a shoot on one side and a handle on the other. Inside were hundreds if not thousands of tiny balls “Spin this until three come out.” So Aubrey spun the cage and as it churned three balls came out of the cage. Slevia picked them up. “Okay here you go.”

-4000 BP Aubrey -> 275 BP

• [Tickled Pink]
• [Farm Girl]
• [Domestic Bliss]

Aubrey looked at her choices and frowned. “Umm… Mark your thoughts? I am thinking, [Tickled Pink] or [Farm Girl].”

“I would go with [Tickled Pink] personally.”

“Can you explain why?

Mark shrugged, “Of the options it is the one that doesn’t have a TF that immediately comes to mind that you would absolutely hate. The second one could result in a style change or restriction that I think you would hate, possibly making you a tomboy. The third could literally make it so you are unable to hold a job and you have to just be a stay-at-home mom. Which you specifically said, you did not want. [Tickled Pink] is likely going to be about tickling, the color pink and being excited and happy.

“Oh, I hadn’t considered being **** into a style… Okay Slevia, I’ll take [Tickled Pink].”

Path Changed [Child-Care] -> [Tickled Pink]

Slevia asked, “Mark. Are you harmonizing TFs?”

Mark shook his head, “No.” Mark then went ahead and bought Aubrey’s TF upgrade using his phone.

-2500 BP Mark -> 11625 BP

Nobody Like Mom: Aubrey loves kids, teaching them, playing with them, pinching their adorable cheeks, you name it. The only problem is that no one takes care of a child like a mother does and Aubrey now will want this too. Aubrey will gain an ever growing urge to have children of her own with Mark and this urge will grow while she is not pregnant. [Child-Care] Upgrade: Aubrey’s urge to have children will now cap out so it isn’t overwhelming but it still won’t ever go away completely. Instead her fertility will increase, as it increases the chances for multiple babies increases as well. If she goes long enough without being pregnant, a creampie can guarantee pregnancy. Aubrey is no longer capable of using contraceptives either.

“I wonder how long is long enough to guarantee it.” Aubrey mused. “Also Mark, thank you so much. I actually felt the urge decrease significantly. I don’t know if that’s because it converted or because it was over the cap but it feels so much easier to concentrate on things besides how to get you to impregnate me. I’m a little disappointed that unless we want to keep growing our family we’ll have to stop having sex at some point.”

Mark shifted into Mary, “Why? It doesn’t say sex guarantees pregnancy, just creampies. At least right now I can’t get you pregnant like this.”

“That’s… a fair point. Huh… Mary I don’t know if you can choose your reality adjustments or not but if you can I think you get one that makes people recognize both your forms as one person and not notice when you shift between them.”

“Why?”

“Because of our kids. I’m going to try not to focus on this too much but, obviously you are going to be a dad. You are also going to be a mom, even if you don’t get pregnant yourself.”

Mary held up a hand. “Please don’t mention that topic again. I don’t want to think about it for a good long while at the very least.”

“Right well, I think your kids not recognizing you like this wouldn’t be great, and they won’t understand that Mary and Mark are the same person until they are older.”

“That’s fair. I did actually ask Cassandra about it. She said I’ll mostly get custom made reality adjustments to my wishes, barring if I get a punishment TF for some reason. So I can ask for that, I think that is a ways away though so not something to decide now. So what are we doing today?”

“Well shopping first. You have an outfit to buy for me. While we could spend all day trying on clothes, I do love that. I actually wanted to try something else.” Aubrey turned to Slevia, “Slevia I was wondering, assuming Mary was willing to buy me an outfit sight unseen can she just pay here or on her phone?”

“Yes she can.” Slevia nodded curtly. “It will show up in your wardrobe.”

“Mary, I picked something out that I think you will like when we finally decide to have sex. I want it to be a surprise though.”

“Okay. Slevia I’d like to purchase the outfit.”

“Done.”

-500 BP Mary -> 11125 BP

Mary turned to Aubrey again, “Okay so what now?”

“We need to go get changed. Neither of us are in the right clothing.”

Slevia spoke up, “All stores have changing rooms. Also wardrobes” Slevia pointed to a corner.

“Perfect put on some athletic wear, specifically something you can run in. Also stay as Mary please at least for the start.” The two took turns changing into different clothes. Both came out in running shorts and running shoes. Aubrey came out wearing a sports bra while Mary came out in a tank-top.

“Okay first, we are going for a run.” Aubrey moved and held the door open for Mary. “Let’s get moving.”

Chloe headed to the tower to find Laura. Chloe found her relaxing outside the tower much like Cassandra had earlier in the round. “Hi Laura.”

Laura looked up from her book. “What do you want?” Laura asked, a bit annoyed.

“I take it you are still mad with me then. That’s part of why I’m here. Laura, you’re my friend. I’m sorry. I didn’t fully consider the repercussions of calling in your favor like I did. I made a snap decision that I thought was best, please know I didn’t do it maliciously.”

Laura put a bookmark in her book and placed it down, then sighed. “I know Chloe. I’m not mad but annoyed. I get why you did what you did. We are good, I just need a little time to let things pass. I want to tell you something Chloe but I need you to promise me that you will keep it a secret to the best of your abilities.”

“Sure, I promise, I’ll keep it a secret as best I can.”

“I don’t really have a leg to stand on about being mad with you. See last round I messed with you and Aubrey. I had to ask Cassandra for permission so I could tell you this and I needed that promise to do it. Specifically I induced an impulse in both you and her.”

“You what!? You mind controlled us? Laura, how could you!? With how much you care about consent, how could you do this?”

“It’s not mind control.”

“What did you make us do!”

“Like I said I didn’t make you do anything. It is more like I put an idea in your head, a persistent idea sure but one you could have ignored and it would have gone away eventually. For you I made it so you would really think about taking Aubrey out on a date. Which you did. It isn’t all that effective in getting you to do something you really don’t want to do.”

Chloe considered that. “Okay… but why do that? Also did Aubrey accept because of you?”

“Because Cassandra asked me to use the spell three times with my first favor. Also no, that isn’t what I used it on Aubrey for. I’m not allowed to tell you exactly what I used it on her for, but I used it significantly before I used it on you.”

“I see… I’m not happy with what you did even if I am happy about the result. I’m going to consider us even then. Still how can you go on about being mad at Aubrey when you did that.”

“Because I was being ****. While I didn’t have to use the exact impulses that I used, I did have to give them or Cassandra would have punished me for refusing.”

“Laura here’s the thing I don’t think Aubrey really did anything wrong in general. If it had been anyone but me I wouldn’t have an issue with what she did. The reason I have an issue with it is because Aubrey and I are dating and best friends. Laura I’m glad that things have been going great for you, truly I am. The thing is you haven’t had a TF significantly negatively impact you. You don’t understand Aubrey’s or my desperation. Honestly of everyone you’ve had the easiest time. Everyone else has had at least one really awful thing happen to them so far, can you really say the same? Aubrey was just trying to protect herself from more awful stuff happening to herself and me.”

Laura didn’t respond immediately. “I don’t think we are going to end up agreeing about this. I don’t want to fight with you about it either, and have it become a barrier to fixing things with Aubrey. So let’s drop it. Do you need anything else?”

“Is there anything I can do to help fix things with Aubrey?”

“No.” Laura responded in a tone that made it clear that it was final.

“Then I’ll leave you be.”

Mary looked at Aubrey, her body was glistening in the sunlight and was somehow more attractive, after the run. Mary then looked down at herself and felt like a sweaty mess. There was sweat literally dripping from her fingers, because there was so much. While seated leaning up against the side of a building Mary panted, “Water. I need water.”

Luckily Aubrey had them finish their run near a locker room of sorts which included a vending machine with a selection of various fluids. “I’ll be right back.” She went over to the machine and looked at the options. Mary heard Aubrey shout, “OH MY GOD! That is so gross!” Then she heard two bottles being dispensed. Aubrey came back, “Here I got you a purple Gatorade.”

Mary took it happily and greedily drank it down. “What was gross?”

“It has a drink option that would only ever be offered on a show like this.”

“Ah, yeah I’m not surprised that it is available.”

“Really? It actually costs BP to buy unlike these”

“Yeah. I mean before Laura’s path was altered I wouldn’t have been surprised for her to become dependent on my cum, to some degree. It makes sense that an option to alleviate that craving somewhat is available for purchase.”

Aubrey shook her head in disbelief. “Shall we go take a shower, and get rid of this sweat?”

“Oh gods yes. I feel like a gross mess.”

Aubrey offered Mary a hand up and they went into the locker room together. As they started to undress, Aubrey commented. “You’re not you know.” Mary looked at Aubrey confused. “You aren’t a gross mess. Sure you’re sweaty but you still look nice.”

“That’s just my TF making you attracted to me.”

“No it isn’t.” Aubrey shook her head. “It also isn’t what I mean. Sure you need to wipe off the sweat but otherwise you still look put together. I was wondering how your physique as Mary would be. You’re dainty but seem fit.” Aubrey walked into the showers and turned one on.

Mary joined her in the adjacent shower. “Yeah I actually think I’m more fit than I was as Mark before my Adonis TF.” Mary checked out Aubrey and her new sheep features. “How are you doing by the way? With your new TF.”

Aubrey grabbed a shampoo bottle with her hair while turning to Mary. Aubrey was saying something but Mary didn’t hear a word as she watched Aubrey’s hair apply shampoo to itself and lather it throughout her hair all while she was washing her new wool. Aubrey realized Mary wasn’t paying attention and leaned over slightly and put her face up in Mary’s. “Did you even hear a word I was saying?”

“Um… sorry, no. I just got distracted by your hair.”

“I could tell. I’m not having too much issue with it. Chloe is helping keep my breasts empty, so I’m not baaing too much. I don’t mind how I look really or being milked that much but I think that’s your fault.”

Mary defensively said, “My fault? How is that my fault?”

“Your comments after I got the TF when my breasts were full. You said I was cute and you like the way I look, and that I needed to accept that I would need to be milked often.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant earlier. About me influencing you.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I do stand by those statements. You are cute.” Mary eyed her up and down.

Aubrey turned away from Mary in embarrassment. “Would you mind not leering at me?”

“Sorry.” Mary turned away. “But you were checking me out too.”

Aubrey didn’t respond to that. Rather she resumed rinsing her hair out. The two continued to shower in awkward silence. Mary finished up first and went to dry off and get dressed. Aubrey took a while longer and when she exited the shower she found the locker room empty. Guess Mary went to wait outside. I hope I didn’t upset her more. Aubrey changed into a dress and heels. She went outside and found Mark sitting on a bench across from the entrance of the locker room. She walked over. “Did I upset you?”

“Huh? What? Oh, in the shower. No.” Mark shook his head. “I just didn’t know what to say and figured if we kept talking I would end up staring at you again. So I just kept quiet. So what are we doing now?”

“We are going to your room.”

“Really? It’s sort of early.”

“I mean we could go to the auditorium instead for what I have planned. The thing is… Smug sort of frightens me. Not the dragon fear thing either. I mean as a… individual. Chloe and I played questions with her and she was rather intimidating the entire time.”

“Oh, so you need the television.”

“Or something similar.”

“Alright, I’ll message Hilde.”

Around twenty minutes later the two found themselves sitting down on the couch in Mark’s room. Aubrey grabbed the tablet. As she was scrolling through the tablet she said, “Okay Mark, don’t laugh. I know I told you on our last date I’m essentially a girly girl. That’s true. I keep what I’m about to show you quiet, because I’ve been teased about it endlessly, especially by my siblings. Even Chloe doesn’t know about this” Aubrey tapped the tablet and a Gamecube and two controllers, one black and one pink appeared on the table. On the TV played the familiar opening Mark recognized as the console turned on. Then ‘Super Smash Bros. Melee’ booted up.

“Why would I make fun of you for liking video games? I love video games.”

“That’s not why I get teased.” Aubrey grabbed a controller and put them in versus. “Would you prefer 1v1 or that I add bots for a free-for-all.”

“I’ll go head to head with you.” Mark selected Pikachu, while Aubrey selected Kirby. “Oh, do they tease you for playing the pink characters?”

“Somewhat…” Aubrey trailed off, and made the settings a five stock match, no items, and on ‘Final Destination’.

Mark said, “Those are my favorite settings, too.”

Then they started the match. Two minutes later Mark was staring in shock and the post game screen. Aubrey had taken the match 5:0 and barely took damage.

Mark turned to her, “Okay, what the hell? I’m not an expert or anything but I am actually decent at this game.”

“Rematch, and this time pick your main.” She smirked. Mark selected Fox and Aubrey selected Peach. “Still want Final Destination or would you like a handicap.” Mark glared at Aubrey. “Suit yourself.” This time Mark didn’t get completely clobbered but it was still one sided. Mark was only able to finish Aubrey off when she was over 200% damage and he only got the one life off of her. “Okay now this is the part where you don’t laugh. I won’t ask for mercy or anything but could you pick a character you aren’t great at.”

Mark raised an eyebrow but complied and picked Mario. Aubrey picked Luigi. The match was once again one sided but this time Mark was the one clobbering Aubrey. It wasn’t as bad as when she was kicking his butt but still went down 2:5 in Mark’s favor. “Okay, so you have bad characters so what?”

“Here let’s do a rematch, same characters.” Aubrey set it up but this time swapped Luigi’s color scheme to his pink outfit. Mark was confused. That confusion only grew when he lost 5:0.

“Are you seriously telling me the color of the character changed how well you play?”

Aubrey nodded. “It’s like that with all of the characters too, except for Kirby, and I had to spend a long time to get over the issue with Kirby. It isn’t limited to this game either. I just try harder and care more when they’re pink.”

Mark took a deep breath as he did find this hilarious but didn’t want to laugh at her. “Okay, you do understand why your siblings tease you right?”

“Because they’re little shits that don’t understand pink is simply the best color.” Aubrey said with a nod as if her statement was irrefutable. Mark snorted. “I thought I asked you not to laugh at me for this.” Aubrey pouted.

“Sorry, but I’m not laughing at you about your game skills. I found your attitude about your siblings to be funny. I thought you liked them though.”

“My sisters, yes. My twin brother… Well, we have a love-hate relationship. Sometimes we get along great and we have quite a few similar interests. Then there are other times where it feels like my brother is deliberately sabotaging me. Especially about boyfriends.”

“I assume you’ve talked to him about it.”

“Yeah, he swears that he isn’t doing it on purpose. If it happened once it would be one thing but you are the twelfth guy I’ve been interested in, that he’s asked out before me and the ones that turned him down he then tried to set them up with me.”

“Are you sure you two just don’t have the same taste in men? That he wasn’t legitimately just trying to do you a favor?”

“That is what he said he was doing.” Aubrey complained.

“Are you really going to knee him in the crotch when you see him?”

“Oh yes, and punch him in the face. He pinky swore to me, he would stop trying to do that.”

“I’m going to assume that pinky swearing is more about the color for you isn’t it.” Aubrey nodded.

“Can we stop talking about him? I'm getting frustrated just thinking about him. Can we play more video games?”

“Sure. Mind if I pick out a game?”

“I guess, just realize I’m probably going to be bad at them if there isn’t a character in pink.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for when I want to crush you. I was thinking something that we would be on the same team for though.”

The two played games for the rest of the afternoon swapping every so often. They took a break around dinner time. Mark set down his controller, shaking his head. “Okay, it was sort of amusing at first but it has changed to bizarre.”

“I told you pink is simply a superior color.”

“I’m going to ask Cassandra or Maja to take a look at you. I think you might have the magic of pink or something.”

Aubrey laughed. “Mark, there’s no magic on Earth.”

“Actually there is apparently.”

“Wait! What?!”

“That’s what Slevia said anyway. It’s just rare, but is also the source of most of our various myths and legends. Maybe you legitimately have magic involving the color pink.”

“That would be cool.”

“Indeed but you also are more talented at games then you give yourself credit for. Even without your mysterious power of pink. Thank you for sharing this with me. It was also rather relaxing to kick back and play some video games all day. I meant to play some by myself a few days ago but kept getting interrupted that morning and finally just gave up and took a nap instead.”

“You have seemed more stressed than back in college. Not trying to diagnose you or anything but are you sure your anti-anxiety meds are strong enough?”

“Normally they are. I think we can agree that I’m not under a normal amount of stress though.”

Aubrey laughed. “That’s the truth.” Aubrey got a contemplative look then sighed, “I’m sorry about our date last round. Also about fighting the morning after.”

“Aubrey you have nothing to apologize for about the date. As for our argument the following day, I’ve moved on.”

“It’s just right now I feel like things can work out for us. Maybe if we had a normal date last round we would be in a much better place.”

“Maybe but would you make that trade? If not for your reaction I doubt people would be working so hard to help Astrid. Or working on helping her at all.”

“Are we going to be able to help her?”

“I hope so. I think it’s possible. If it wasn't, I think Cassandra would be pushing us to drop it. I think Talia will have news for us soon.”

~Ping~

Mark looked at his phone “Speak of the devil.”

“That’s Talia? That seems… suspiciously timed.”

“Yeah, which is why I checked. Suspicious timing is something her TF can cause. She asked if she could come over to talk to me briefly. Is that okay?”

“Sure as long as I don’t have to leave.” Mark sent the message over to Talia. About a minute later there was a knock at the door. “That was fast.” Aubrey got up and answered the door. “Talia, how did you get here so quickly?”

“Because I’m awesome.” She said thrusting her head upward causing her breasts to bounce slightly making a ‘boinging’ sound.

“Did… did your breasts just go ‘boing’?”

“Duh, that’s what happens when your breasts bounce.”

“No it isn't, see.” Aubrey thrust her breasts up slightly, and as they came down they too went ‘boing’. “Okay what the hell? Mark, why did my breasts just make that sound?”

Mark walked over to the women. “Talia’s TF can affect others. Though it does seem to be relatively localized to her general area. To answer your other question Aubrey I would guess that Talia effectively teleported over here, since we would mostly just be waiting for her to show up. Narratively for the show her travel time is irrelevant to the plot so it can be skipped. That’s my guess. Look Aubrey I’ve just stopped questioning her Anime Physics it hurts my head less. Now you want to talk. Please come in.”

The three of them moved to the couch. Talia then spoke, “Okay Mark… remember that thing I talked to you about on my date last week.”

Aubrey interrupted. “Okay I’m going to stop you right there Talia. If you are going to talk around me you can leave.”

“I’m not talking around you Aubrey. I don’t care if you know about the topic or not. Now Mark, answer my question.”

Mark responded. “Yes. Also Aubrey she really isn’t trying to exclude you.”

Aubrey frowned and tried to figure out the conversation.

“Well, I figured some stuff out while reading and talking with people. Will you trust me? I made a deal with Cassandra last night. What I agreed to is not relevant but what I got out of it is. I want to upgrade one of your TFs, but I need your permission.”

Mark sighed. “Do it after the challenge.”

“That works for me. So I have permission then?”

“Yes.” Mark looked disappointed.

“Okay, that’s all.” Talia stood up and made to leave.

Aubrey stopped her, “Wait a second I’m so confused, what did you figure out?”

Talia sighed, “Aubrey think about it and I’m sure it will come to you.” Talia walked out the door and vanished.

Mark got up to close the still open door. Aubrey saw that Mark did not look thrilled. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not thrilled about this upcoming challenge day that’s for sure. Could we just have dinner and either play some more games or watch something and cuddle. I don’t want to think about this right now.”

“Sure Mark.” I’ll drop this for now…

The two had a nice simple dinner, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. They cuddled in bed while watching one of Aubrey’s favorites ‘The Notebook’. Afterwards Aubrey fell asleep nuzzling Mark’s neck.