Troubleshooting

Merida had found the last several hours of crafting incredibly frustrating. Especially since Mira did not turn off the sensory connection between the two of them. When Mira joined her in the workshop and was questioned about it, Mira shrugged and said, “Figured you would fucking enjoy that, and judging by Goldie’s response seems like you did. Plus, if it really bothered the crap out of you, then you could have just put up the damn barrier yourself.” Mira then sat down at one of the crafting tables. Very deliberately not talking further about what happened with Mark.

Chloe came in not long after Mira did. After several minutes of working on their current projects without talking, Chloe asked, “So, how are you planning on handling your girlfriends?”

“Ma relationship wi' each o' them is nane o' yer business, Chloe.”

Chloe nodded while not looking up from her project. “Correct. How the team leader handles treachery and incompetence, though, is.”

“Kitty wisnae incompetent!” Merida snapped.

Chloe replied sarcastically, “Sure, that’s why literally everyone on the team, multiple versions of you included, thought she needed to be replaced. I also noticed you didn’t contest Hilde’s treachery. So, I’ll ask again: what are you going to do about those two?”

Merida glared at Chloe. “Like ye’ve contributed greatly until verra recently; ye’ve been consistently in last place.”

Chloe pulled up her goggles, resting them on her forehead. “Then why not give everyone the items they actually earned, and let's see how those numbers change? I’ve made stuff for others, losing out on that CP. I’ve also made defensive items for the base, which won’t pay off their full value until the end. So don’t even start with that crap about being in last place.”

“Whit if I dinnae plan tae dae onything tae either o' them?”

Chloe shrugged, “That’s ultimately your call, but I think it would be a mistake. At least to let what Hilde did slide. Kitty is more up in the air.”

Merida considered that and then replied, “I’ll think mair on it afore deciding onything. I wis plannin' on talkin' wi' them in a wee bit, ance Hilde fixed the damage.”

And so the four of them got down to crafting. Chloe paused one of her projects after about thirty minutes, suited up in what looked like hazmat gear, and grabbed something that looked a lot like a wet-vac as she left the room. When she returned, she emptied the wet-vac into a sealed vat in the workshop.

Merida asked, “Is… is that the milk Sam shot oot?”

Chloe nodded, “Yep, and it contains all three plagues.”

“Um… whit are ye plannin' on daein' wi' it? An' is there mair left ower?”

“Plenty more still there. As for my plans, I was thinking of something that would aerosolize it into a cloud. Then we could throw this at the other team and infect them.”

“Um… widnae that risk infectin' us as weel? Also, they have several fowk wha seem tae be immune tae the plagues.” Merida countered.

“Both true, and it isn’t like one gas grenade of this stuff would immediately infect and turn them or us. I’ve examined this stuff a bit, and if you got splashed with a little of it, you’d probably be okay, or at least some basic healing could cure you. Now get exposed as Hilde did, and you’d need immunity. I think your level also plays a part in how much you’d need to be exposed to before turning. But it will inflict a damage overtime effect, at least with what I’m going for.”

Merida thought about the milk, “How big a cloud dae ye think ye could mak? Like if ye used a' the milk in the pit an' set aff the device at ance?”

Chloe considered the question and asked, “You want to make a dirty bomb and deploy it in a major population center, don’t you?”

“Aye. We’re the bad guys. Time we stairt daeing some bad guy things.”

Chloe started to jot down some numbers and run some calculations. “A few square blocks, maybe more, maybe less, depending on conditions and supplies.”

“Think ye could have that ready taeday?”

Chloe shook her head. “No way. Not even with the three of you helping me. Maybe tomorrow afternoon. I would warn you that once they get the third idol cleansed, this won’t be as potent a weapon.”

“Mak' the device, but dinnae set the payload. We should get anither idol first, add a fourth plague tae the mix, an' use it right efter settin' aff the idol. Mak' twa of them if ye can. Prioritize them ower base upgrades for noo.”

“You sure?”

Merida nodded, “Aye.”

Chloe frowned, but got to work.

After about an hour, Hilde and Kitty joined them in the workshop. Neither of the two wanted to meet Merida’s gaze and just stood there waiting to be acknowledged. Merida let them stew for a few more minutes in silence, then turned to the two of them. “I tak' it ye’ve baith resolved things?”

“Sort of,” Kitty replied.

Merida frowned and let out a low growl.

Hilde put her hand on her hips. “Merida, it’s because of a transformation from the greed dungeon. Kitty here is thinking in terms of a boob hierarchy. Since she has bigger tits than me, she thinks I should defer to her. Especially since the size difference is so large.”

Kitty just shrugged while rolling her eyes as if that was obviously the way things worked.

Chloe immediately took notice of the conversation but remained out of it.

Merida pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Am I gaun tae need tae fash aboot ye tryin' somethin' like this again, Hilde, or ye, Kitty?” Both vigorously shook their heads. Merida sighed, “Fine. Noo whit are ye twa daeing tae help the orcs?”

Kitty replied, “We were going to take infected orcs to various places and start infections, preferably with your help.”

Hilde said, “But… that’s going to be more difficult now. My spatial storage is much smaller, at least for the moment. I’m also worried about putting Moobreys into it even if they are in trances like we did last time.”

Merida groaned in frustration. “Sae we dinnae have a way tae actually aid the orcs then?”

“Not really,” Hilde confirmed.

Chloe finally joined the conversation. “Could you clarify something for me?” Chloe got up and made sure no one was in the hallway outside the workshop, especially any of their orc allies. “You’ve brought a bunch of injured orcs here, with the intent to infect them? Then you were going to dump them in places with Merida’s help by teleporting you around, but you can’t do that because Hilde’s storage space is damaged.”

Kitty and Hilde both nodded.

Chloe shook her head in disbelief. “That’s a simple fix. Give me a little bit.” Chloe went back to her workbench without further explanation. She cleared a space and started working on some arrows. Merida shrugged and got back to work herself, instructing both Kitty and Hilde to get to work on something while they waited for whatever Chloe was doing. A bit less than thirty minutes later, Chloe spoke, “Okay, here you go. Two separate solutions.” Chloe handed over five arrows and four vials. “Be careful with these arrows, Kitty. Very careful. If you take the orcs uninfected somewhere, drop them off, and then shoot them with one of the arrows, they should wind up infected.”

Kitty examined the odd arrowheads, “Is that why the tips look sort of like a syringe? Also, could I use this on the other team?”

Chloe wobbled her hand in front of her. “Yes, and you probably could, but their effectiveness there is questionable.” Seeing everyone’s confusion, she elaborated, “This is like in games. There is some chance of resisting diseases and poisons. That chance is based on numerous things. Those on the other team are going to have a much higher resistance to this under most circumstances. Even with Sam, it wasn’t as simple as simply splashing her with the stuff. Now, the second solution, assuming you can actually convince the orcs to go along with it, is simply to have an orc drink one of those vials.”

Kitty said, “You really think they would go along with that?”

Chloe shrugged, “Maybe. Maybe not. Remember that ‘Smug’s plan’,” Chloe put air quotes around that, “is to blanket this world in near uncontrollable lust. There is no way the orcs don’t know that. They also know we were responsible for the Moobreys in the first place, and don’t seem to care.”

Hilde nodded, “That’s true. They are bad guys just like us in this story.”

Chloe continued, “But also far more battle-focused. I could see them accepting a sacrifice like that if it bought their people time to recover. Not to mention, in theory, it wouldn’t be permanent in their minds, since the empire managed to deal with the current outbreaks. Also, if they refuse, you can always just shoot them with one of the arrows.”

Merida said, “That works, I suppose…” Then she narrowed her eyes towards Hilde, pursing her lips. “Hilde, what’s changed for ye here? A wheen o' days ago, ye seemed gey pissed aff that Mira suggested tae Ellen somethin' similar.”

Hilde looked ashamed. “I’m sorry about that. I was just really bitter and took it out on her, and I shouldn’t have.” Hilde turned towards Mira. “Mira, seriously, I’m sorry. If you want, I can probably make some of your TFs more bearable if you’d like, as a way of apology.”

Mira didn’t look at Hilde but just held up one finger as a response before resuming what she was doing.

Merida mentally said to Mira, “I wuid appreciate it if ye twa could mak' up.”

Mira did not look towards Merida but just kept working. Eventually she replied, “No damn promises, but I’ll try to let her make things up to me, because I’m sure as fuck not letting things just go because she god damn says she’s sorry. That little bitch threatened me. What I really want is some fucking payback, putting that cunt in her god damn place, but I’m not going to touch one hair on her damn head because I know that would piss you off something fierce.”

Merida sighed, “Thank ye for that. Baith giein' her a chance an' noo lashin'g oot at her. Ye’re muckle nicer than I originally gied ye credit for.”

“Shut up and don’t tell anyone.”

Merida chuckled to herself before facing Hilde again, “She reelly wants to dunt yer face in but is willin' tae let ye try an' mak' things up tae her.”

Hilde just nodded her understanding.

Merida continued, “Sae, Hilde, ye dinnae have a problem wi' deliberately inflictin' this on yer sisters?”

This time, it was Kitty’s turn to giggle, causing Merida to raise an eyebrow in question. Kitty explained, “Hilde might have specifically mentioned it would be better to bring any injured Slevia orcs if we could.”

“Because they are going to be stronger!” Hilde said in a huff, before mumbling, “Not just because it would be funny.”

Chloe spoke up hesitantly, “So… um… do we have any idea what it’s like for people to be infected?”

Hilde nodded, “Yes. I spoke with Ellen briefly yesterday, and I’ve examined the transformation effect causing it. They remember almost nothing of the experience. Ellen thinks the only reason she remembers anything is because of her bond with Symbietta, which actually tracks with my inspection of things as well. I assume you are concerned with what we put Sam through?”

“A little yes.” Chloe nodded.

Hilde said, “It’s why I talked with Ellen last night before we actually infected her. She’ll be fine.”

Chloe let out a sigh of relief, “Good. Hilde, fair warning, Mark might still be a bit annoyed about that. This morning’s events are likely to put him in an ‘I told you so’ sort of mood.”

Hilde waved Chloe’s concerns away. “I’m not worried about Master. I can handle him just fine. I’ll go load up some of the orcs then. Merida, would you meet me in the lounge in say ten minutes?”

Merida nodded and stood. “Works for me. I need tae gae get a few things tae dae this.” Merida and Hilde walked out of the room, leaving Kitty just standing there while Chloe, Merigold, and Mira continued crafting.

After several seconds of just standing there, Chloe asked Kitty, “You not going to do anything for the rest of the day or what?”

“I don’t really know what to do. I can’t really do the dungeon I wanted to do solo. I’m not particularly skilled at making traps and stuff either.” Kitty replied, crestfallen.

Chloe rolled her eyes, stood up, and dragged Kitty over to a workbench. “I already explained to everyone when we got the workshop that there were two separate crafting methods. One of them just essentially requires you to be at the workbench and ‘working’ on the plan with the required materials.” Chloe pushed Kitty onto a stool and tapped a digital menu on the workbench, selecting ‘milk darts’. “See, just pick up those tools and things will take care of themselves.”

Kitty looked at the workbench and saw something projected onto the bench, and when focusing on making the darts, found her hands moving on their own. Kitty furrowed her brow and noticed Merigold had a similar projection on her workbench, but hadn’t seen one on Chloe’s bench or Mira’s. “Why don’t you or Mira have this?”

“Because we are using the second method of crafting. Which can fail, but can be better since we aren’t limited by the plans. We are actually making things. Cassandra’s 'system’ still helps a little bit, but most of what we’re doing, we don’t need help with. Now get to work. Pick another plan if you want, but we do need more darts for traps.”

Kitty sighed, finding the idea of crafting for hours on end rather boring, but she started slaving away since she had nothing better to do.

Aubrey didn’t know why she thought Mark’s idea was a good one. Instead of watching a movie, he suggested listening to an audiobook together. Oh god, please not another four minutes of going over his status in the chapter. Please no more! How can he like this kind of thing? It had been several hours since they started the book. Mark swore it was quite funny, even if the genre was an acquired taste.

Mark was holding Aubrey tightly in his arms as they cuddled. He had also fallen asleep while the book played. Aubrey was reaching for the speaker playing the book with her hair, but was struggling to grab it since Mark had wrapped her hair partially around his fingers while playing with it earlier. She had grabbed Mark’s phone and found that it was locked, so she couldn’t turn it off from there.

She tried wiggling slightly to get free and stop the narrator from reading out every skill rank this stupid main character had. It was worse because Mark had even set the audio playback to 2x, as that was apparently his default listening speed, making the narrator sound high-pitched and nasally. Aubrey surprised herself as, despite her breasts filling up and being unable to speak again, she was firm on this: that these books sucked and Mark wasn’t going to convince her otherwise. Even if she really wanted Mark to tell her how she should feel about these books, too.

That is why she was trapped. She didn’t want to wake Mark and have him tell her that the books were awesome and sway her. Even by accident. The puns this character makes were as bad as Mark’s, if not worse. Those puns must be why he likes it. The same horrible puns. The worst part of this is that if the author just stripped out the game elements, the rest of the story wouldn’t be horrible. Except for the puns… nothing can redeem those.

Aubrey ultimately gave up trying to reach the speaker as she just wasn’t going to get free of Mark’s embrace without waking him. So she instead grabbed her own phone and sent a message to Cassandra.

Aubrey: Cassandra, please help! This is ****, and Mark isn’t even awake. Can you please at least pause the book for me?

Cassandra: No. Maybe this is meant as a PUN-ishment for you for being uppity with him or something. Idk. So nope, not turning it off.

Aubrey: Please! I’m begging you. What do I have to do for your mercy?

Cassandra: Tell you what, I'll pause it if you agree to use your rewards from the greed dungeon by tomorrow at noon. Specifically, the free TF and Upgrade.

Aubrey: I hate you, and those aren’t rewards!

Cassandra didn’t respond to Aubrey further. After another five minutes of stats being read out loud, Aubrey cracked.

Aubrey: Fine, deal. As long as you agree that you’ll help me like this in the future if it happens again.

The next moment, Cassandra appeared, pressed the pause button on the speaker system, and then wordlessly disappeared, all while smiling at Aubrey.

Aubrey shook her head. Can’t believe what I had to do for some peace and quiet. At least it wasn’t really a big ask since I’d have to use those things eventually anyway.

Aubrey closed her eyes and started to relax, laying her head on Mark’s chest. She had just gotten comfortable when there was a knock at the door, and it slid to the side. Revealing Hilde on the other side. Aubrey groaned, causing Mark to wake up. Cassandra did that knowing that Hilde was on her way here, too, I bet. I really hate her sometimes. Aubrey looked towards Hilde and waved as Mark stretched.

Hilde waved back, “Sorry if I disturbed either of your beauty sleep, but it’s just about time for me to be with Master for the evening.”

“Baa’a baaaa baaaa ba,” Aubrey replied, remembering that Hilde could actually understand her. “Ba, baaa baa baa baa ba ba baaaaa?”

“Me? Oh, mostly running around and dropping orcs off various places, with Merida’s help and crafting. Surprisingly, almost all the injured orcs we snagged were actually willing to be infected to provide a distraction for their tribes. Before you ask, everyone else just did crafting.”

Mark said, “Really? That’s a little odd. The thing about the orcs, not the crafting.”

Hilde shrugged, “Chloe suggested we just ask them instead of infecting them without permission, and it worked for most. Though Slevia herself, not any of the orcs, wasn’t happy about the results. Now, Aubrey, if you’d excuse us?”

Aubrey nodded as she slipped out of the bed while untangling her hair from Mark’s hand. “Baaa baa. Baa’t ba baaaaaaa ba baaaaa’a ba.” Aubrey bleated out towards Hilde as she left the room.

Hilde just smirked as she shook her head as she shut the door.

Mark asked, “What did she say to you?”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Which frankly doesn’t seem like all that much considering she definitely wants you to knock her up.”

“What about you?” Mark asked.

“Me?” Hilde said while putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head. “Eh, whatever. No way at this point I’m not having your kid. Not unless you specifically do something to prevent that, or we never have sex while you’re male. Both are things I don’t think will end up happening. Sir, I know what I signed up for when I informed you to go ahead with your plan.” Hilde walked over to the bed and hopped up on it.

Mark sat upright on the bed and found Hilde kneeling at eye level with him. Mark asked, “But is that what you want?”

Hilde shrugged, “I’m fine either way. I know I want sex, and my horse-girl TF makes it clear I’m especially fertile.” Hilde noticed Mark’s expression, wanting more from Hilde’s answer. Hilde rolled her eyes. “Seriously? That’s not good enough for you?”

“It’s fine, but you didn’t really answer me. Besides saving your sister, what is it you really want from our relationship? Let’s talk about ideal outcomes.”

Hilde let out a weary sigh as she flopped backwards onto the bed. “Sir, I have no idea. Your world is substantially different than my old one. It’s also been a really, really long time since I’ve been courted at all.”

Mark looked at Hilde skeptically. “I find it hard to believe that in all the years you’ve worked on the show, no one has made a pass at you.”

“Of course they have. The moment that happened, I swapped out because I sure as hell wasn’t getting involved like that. I don’t have an answer for you, Sir. I don’t know what would make me happy in a relationship. Could we skip to the part where you screw me senseless, please?”

“Hilde, are you being serious right now?” Mark stared at her, slightly surprised by her quick nod.

“Sir…” Hilde quickly stripped off her top and then started to crawl across the bed towards Mark. “Are you telling me you don’t want to stuff me full of your big, hard dick?” Hilde asked as she ran her hand up her thigh and rested it on his crotch.

“Of course I do. I’m just slightly concerned about your TF that allows upgrades. Especially since you might be inclined to give me an upgrade to help you out in the challenge because of that stupid rule. Plus, you haven’t even bought me dinner yet.”

Hilde groaned and rolled her eyes. “Sir, we’ve gone way past that point already. We’ve had a foursome the other night. Plus, you’re the one who’s supposed to get me dinner. Dinner, you’re being stingy with giving me.” Hilde once again stroked his crotch. Hilde deflated slightly, seeing Mark’s expression, “You’re not really up for it tonight, are you?”

Mark shook his head as he let out a small sigh, “No. Not really.”

“Chloe said you might be a bit upset with us and more so with me. That true?”

“I’m certainly not thrilled with what you ladies did to Sam, but I acknowledge that infecting her is most certainly an intended part of the challenge. Besides that, there isn’t really anything I have an issue with concerning you.”

“Then what’s up with turning me down?” Hilde asked, “It isn’t like you and Laura had been much closer than we are now when you indulged her on her first date night with you.”

“Hilde, you’ve already mentioned it. You’re highly fertile. We don’t have the BP to buy a contraceptive option for you either.”

Hilde shrugged, “Oh, those are gone. I’m in the same boat as Aubrey there, but so what? You’re going to knock her up tomorrow. I don’t see the issue if we have sex tonight and it happens.”

Mark closed his eyes, taking in several deep breaths, and started mouthing something that Hilde couldn’t make out. “Hilde, you really don’t see an issue with that? Not just the act in isolation, but what it would mean for me.”

“I guess going from zero to ten-plus kids in short order might be a bit much.” Hilde sighed as she sat up straight and put her top back on. “So what do you want to do tonight then? And don’t you dare say read a book, watch a movie, or play a video game.”

Mark tapped his fingers on his legs in thought. “You do realize you’ve gotten rid of my top three recreational activities, right?” Hilde gave him an unamused stare. “I don’t really have a plan for tonight. Sorry.”

Hilde let out a frustrated sigh. “Sir, take off your shirt and lie on your stomach.”

Mark raised an eyebrow, but Hilde just twirled a finger in the air, telling him to roll over. Mark thought, What the hell, why not? He complied with the request. Hilde straddled him about the waist and started to massage Mark’s back. Her hands were cold on his naked back as she ran them over it. Whenever she found a knot, which was often, Hilde would focus on it, making her hand vibrate, causing it to melt away like butter.

Hilde was a bit annoyed. Master better appreciate this. Despite her desire for sex, she wasn’t planning to have this massage lead to it. Instead, she was multitasking and working on the glitches in Mark’s transformations. Hmm… I guess he hasn’t been ignoring repairing them completely today. Hilde frowned as she examined the repair work. It seems more focused on fixing his Rulebook than his points. Hilde thought about how long it would take to repair and determined that they were ahead of schedule, even with Mark diverting time towards his Rulebook.

Hilde’s frown turned into a smile as Mark let out several grunts of pleasure. Hilde said, “I didn’t think you’d have this much stress and muscle tightness.”

Mark didn’t immediately respond as he continued to let out sounds of pleasure. Eventually, he replied, “Your hands are magical. This has really helped. Thank you.”

“No problem, Sir. I aim to get you what you need.”

As Hilde brought the massage to a close, she felt Mark shift beneath her. He flipped onto his back and pulled Hilde down towards him by her shirt. Their lips met a moment later, causing Hilde to be overwhelmed with pleasure. As their lips parted and she nuzzled his neck, she muttered, “Yep, that is such an unfair upgrade, Sir. That being said, if you aren’t willing to follow up on it, no more kissing, please.”

Mark grunted an acknowledgement as his fingers started to play with her tail.

Hilde asked a little self-consciously, “Sir, it's just that you aren’t in the mood, that you won’t screw me, right?”

“Mostly. It isn’t because I’m upset with you, and you’re welcome to see how I feel about things in the morning.”

“If you say so, Sir,” Hilde replied, not completely sure she believed Mark. “Now… about buying me dinner?” Hilde’s hand hovered over Mark’s crotch.

Mark rolled his eyes. “Fine, have your fill.” Mark didn’t see his pants go flying, but heard the thud as they hit the cavern wall. That happened at the same time as Hilde placed her lips around his cock. Hilde savoured the taste as she sucked on his cock, but wrinkled her brow as something was wrong. She started to vibrate her tongue on his erection, but even after a full minute, he wasn’t cumming.

Hilde’s lips came up off his cock with a popping sound. Hilde asked, “Okay, what gives? I was able to use this like a pump earlier, getting a load of your semen every time I bobbed my head up and down.”

Mark smirked, “I tweaked that transformation just a bit. Instead of my penis being your ideal for any sexual encounter we have, it’s whatever I consider the ideal for that encounter.”

Hilde scowled, “Sir… I thought you said I could have my fill. One load isn’t going to do that.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, my little cum guzzler. I just don’t want to be treated like a syrup pump.”

Hilde pouted but couldn’t even complain about that since it had to do with Mark’s personal preferences. Hilde begrudgingly resumed the blowjob. It took longer than she would have liked, but thanks to her being able to vibrate her entire mouth and throat like a high-quality cocksleeve, Mark climaxed. Hilde kept swallowing as Mark had evidently decided to have it come out like a hose, for almost a solid minute. So much came out that she couldn’t swallow it fast enough, and his cock came out of her mouth and started to coat her naked body in his cum.

+1 VP Facial

When he finally stopped ejaculating, Hilde flicked his nose in annoyance. “Sir, I’m not cleaning up the sheets. I really hope you aren’t planning on making this a regular occurrence, as I don’t have a fetish for… GODS DAMNIT!” I’m going to **** Cassandra for this transformation. HOW THE HELL DID I GET A CUM FETISH THIS LATE IN THE DAY? Well… at least that talent is useful. Hilde started to suck in air like she was using a straw, and the cum she was coated in started to slide over her body and towards her mouth. To her surprise, so did all the semen on the bed as well. He’s lucky this is still super tasty. “Sir, I’m going to go bathe, as I still feel a bit sticky all over.” Hilde got up and left Mark on the bed, pretty sure he hadn’t heard her properly.

Hilde got to the water’s edge and hesitated. Gods damnit! I shouldn’t find being coated in a thin layer of cum like this hot. I should want to get clean. Fuck it. I don’t care if it is hot. Hilde practically jumped into the bath and started to clean herself vigorously. This fetish is definitely being discarded at the end of the round.

A few minutes of intense scrubbing passed when Hilde heard Mark up the stairs. “Hilde? Where are you?”

“Down in the bath, Sir.”

A naked Mark joined Hilde a moment later. He simply sat on the edge of the pool. “So did you get your fill?”

Hilde begrudgingly replied, “Yes, Sir. Was it your intention to coat me in semen from head to toe?”

“Not from head to toe, but I might have meant it to be more than you could handle. Since you are a bit of a glutton about it. I also sort of find the idea hot.”

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that again. I’ve washed my tail four times, and I’m still not sure that it’s actually clean.”

“Didn’t you say something about having a fetish for this right afterwards?”

Hilde growled. “No. I said I didn’t have a fetish for this, Sir. I do now because of the random generator.”

“I see.” Mark pulled up RNG on his phone and was intrigued to find all of Hilde’s current fetishes and talents for them listed under the transformation. “Oh… Hilde, you do realize why you don’t feel clean, right?”

“Nooo… Care to enlighten me?”

“I assume you used your talent to suck up all my cum since it is your favorite meal.” Hilde nodded. “Well, to complement the cum fetish, you’ll still feel like there is a thin layer of cum coating you for the next… hmm, well, I’m not exactly sure how long. It says ten minutes per 1 mL consumed.”

“Fuck me!” Hilde exclaimed while punching the water.

“Is it really a problem? Doesn’t that turn you on now?”

Hilde waded over to Mark, grabbed his dick, and started to gently vibrate her hand. “Sir, would it be a problem for me to continue this until we go to sleep? That’s essentially what you’re asking.” Hilde let go of Mark’s erect cock.

“Sorry.”

Hilde sighed, “It’s fine. It’s not your fault the transformation activated. I’m just concerned as this isn’t the first time that the ‘random’ fetish seems to have been anything but.”

Mark looked over the fetishes, “Yeah… I mean, the hypno one was obviously because of the bad luck. The rest seem rather coincidental, but I’m not sure that I would call it that odd. Especially that one about—”

“WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THOSE! Do I make myself clear? I’m not keeping them. I’m keeping the redhead one; besides that, I’m on the fence. I’ll probably keep the PDA, cuddling, headpats, and oral fetish options as well, but I’m not completely sure. I’m not keeping the hypno or cum fetish, and I’ve not gotten any other fetishes, Sir. Do we have an understanding about that?”

“Fine. No other fetishes. Definitely nothing I would enjoy doing with you.” Mark said in a tone indicating the exact opposite. “Are you sure about the hypno fetish?”

“Sir… it isn’t that I don’t trust you. I even believe that it might be able to help long-term. I just don’t want people in my head.”

Mark nodded, “Okay. I understand. I hope you understand then why I find your position to be a bit hypocritical then.”

“As if your position on the topic isn’t also hypocritical. You want to hypnotize Kitty and me for your own pleasure, but have a problem with what we wanted to do to Sam.”

“I don’t think I’m hypocritical here.” Mark replied, “First, I won’t be doing it to any of you without your explicit consent, and while yes, I find it hot, it would be to your benefit. You might remember I mentioned that the other me wouldn’t be using Kitty’s triggers, and that was and still is true. I put in a safeguard anyway, just in case. Whereas you don’t want anyone in your head, even with consent, but have no issue turning Sam into a sleeper agent. I want to be clear, I’m not pressuring you to let me or Merida hypnotize you. Rather, I’m trying to get you to understand why implanting anything in the other team members is a problem.”

“Our plan only related to things regarding the challenge,” Hilde responded exasperatedly.

“On the surface,” Mark retorted. “A suggestion to sabotage the other team, given to Talia, could result in her buying transformations for them. After all, giving Sadie something like Kitty’s Cum Fueled permanently would certainly disrupt their team’s cohesion. Sam could find adding the whole team to her hoard and sitting on them an effective way to sabotage them.”

Hilde pouted as she crossed her arms. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We already agreed we wouldn’t do more than put them to sleep. So can we drop it, Sir?”

“Sure. Want to work on correcting my glitches while watching something?”

“You really want our first night alone together to just be watching a movie?”

“Pretty sure it hasn’t just been that already.” Mark chuckled. “Besides, I was pretty sure you had a thing for cuddles. After we’ve finished working on the glitches, I might even give you some headpats for a job well done.”

Hilde had an adorable little pout. “You’re evil sometimes, you know that, right?”

Mark offered Hilde a hand out of the water, which she took. Mark kept pulling her up even after she cleared the water and cradled her in his arms. “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be a villain right now, so deal with it.” Mark kissed Hilde, causing her head to swim.

Hilde placed a hand on Mark’s naked chest, pushing him away. “None of that until afterwards; I won’t be able to think clearly if you keep it up. Seriously, what were you thinking, making that so pleasurable?”

“You complain, but I was able to make the upgrade, which means you think it’s a net positive.” Mark proceeded to carry Hilde up the stairs. “Now you mentioned my world is rather different from what you’re used to. How about we watch Wreck-It-Ralph since you have a path for the princess from that movie?”

“Fine, it wasn’t one of the princesses I was briefed on, so I don’t actually know all that much about the princess, and we do need to fix your glitches.”

Mark sat Hilde down on the bed. “Good, I’ve been trying when I have had time, but don’t feel like I’ve made much progress.”

Hilde frowned. “You mean you haven’t actually been doing what we agreed on and have been repairing the rulebook glitches first and hoped I wouldn’t notice.”

Mark plopped down next to Hilde, frowning, “What are you talking about? I haven’t touched the rulebook. I’ve been focusing on the points.”

Hilde’s frown deepened. “Then why does it look like the rulebook glitches have had several hours of repair work done on them?”

Mark examined what she was talking about, and his eyebrows rose in surprise. Then he got a text message and checked it.

Cassandra: Long story short, the other team is also working on fixing your screwup. That’s why.

Mark showed Hilde. Hilde frowned, “But how? They shouldn’t have access to my boon anymore. I know Mary doesn’t have it. She had already swapped it out the last time I saw her.”

“Does it really matter?” Mark asked. “They’re helping; isn’t that good enough?”

Hilde nodded, “Sure, it’s good, but knowing how they are doing it might allow me to make things more efficient.”

Mark considered that. “Okay, I’m pretty sure I know how they are doing it. I want your promise that you won’t use this info against the other team unless you can come by it on your own.”

“I’m not Chloe. You do realize I could just lie.”

“Sure, but you won’t. I firmly believe you won’t betray my trust.”

“Fine, I promise to do my best not to use the info against them, but I won’t break Cassandra’s rules to avoid doing so. That’s the best you’re getting out of me.”

“Fair enough. I think Brooke is likely hitting me repeatedly.”

Hilde looked skeptical. Then smiled playfully. “Sir… I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing. I could spank you as well if you’d like.”

Mark frowned, “You know only good girls get headpats. I’m not into that. One of Brooke’s boons allows her to hit things to repair them. From what the others experienced in the greed dungeon, that means she can heal people by hitting them. We also know she can cure the plagues using it from the orc reports. Considering the thing I most associate with giving a good whack to fix the problem is a computer, I’m guessing she can use it to fix the bugs.”

“Hmmm…” Hilde stroked her chin in thought, “Shame I haven’t actually seen her yet, so I would know how her transformation works. If they are working on the rulebook, should we focus on that as well, or continue on the points?”

Mark replied, “The points for sure. Even if Cassandra was nice about it this time, I don’t think she’ll be able to be as kind about it if she has something like 20k BP to spend.” Mark put the movie on, and the two cuddled up together while beginning to work on some code.