Verdant Lays Out the Offer

The pink cloud pulsed, its earlier cocky bravado softening into a more serious, almost conspiratorial hue. 'But all of this,' it projected, its telepathic voice losing its sly, lecherous edge, 'all the talk of me levelling up and you becoming my mommy... well, it might all be a moot point. Because we have a slight... logistical problem. A procedural hiccup, if you will.'

Emi frowned, taking another sip of her beer, the cold liquid a stark contrast to the growing knot of tension in her stomach. 'What are you talking about?'

'The fake-out impregnation,' Verdant Green stated flatly. 'The initial spark. The one I triggered. The one that caused you to have your little... out-of-body experience. That wasn't the full ritual. That was just the appetizer, merely planting an conceptual seed so to speak. The main course, the bit where you agree to become a full Trickster Breeder Witch, that requires your consent. Your willing, conscious, enthusiastic consent.'

The cloud drifted closer, its core glowing with a soft, almost pleading light. 'You have a choice to make, mistress. You can stay as you are, a Level 4 Smut Jester, a powerful Trickster Breeder Witch with a Level 1 Familiar who is, for now, more of a sassy sidekick than a genuine threat.

'Or,' Verdant Green continued, its telepathic voice now a flat, pragmatic monotone, 'you can just wait it out.' The cloud drifted over to her window, looking out at the quiet, ordinary street. 'This whole Breeding Day ritual is a contained event. A magical bubble. And all bubbles eventually pop. In roughly twenty-four hours from the start, the Life Coven's ritual will conclude. The containment field will collapse. All the magic, all the passes, all the fertile energy... it will all just dissipate.'

The cloud turned back to face her, its pink form losing its lustre, becoming dull, almost grey. 'And when the magic goes, I go. I'll be reabsorbed into the chaotic ether, back to being a concept, a whisper on the wind. And you... you'll go back to being Emi Watanabe, Assistant Business Manager at Wet "N" Antics. You'll have a fuzzy, confusing memory of a very weird day, a lot of lingering questions, and a whole lot of very confused, very pregnant colleagues.' The cloud's shoulders, if it had shoulders, seemed to slump. 'But you'll be safe. From me, from them, from all of it. It'll be over.'