Wake up later.

You can't remember how you got to your bed--someone must have carried you--but you sink into the mattress as if it were made from water, or the softest cloud engulfing your body as the world fades away around you. Just like that, you're out like a light. You nap for some time as your muscles recover, and your mind takes a brief refuge from the oddities of the world of Absoterra. However, the sun is still up, and the day has not yet ended. When you open your eyes next, while evening is approaching, dinner still hasn't been made, though you feel much better than before.

After you get up and stretch, you look down at your naked body. Then you lift up your comfy clothes and slip them on, bringing with you no more equipment than your trusty sword to hang at your hip.

The upper castle halls seem quiet, though that's likely due to how accustomed you've become to the chaos. The sound of your footfalls echo off the walls as you step your way down to the main floor, and then you pass into the grand entrance, where a carpet leads up to your throne on the opposite end. There's one figure ahead that you can see, which you make out immediately to be Yin. It's difficult to miss such a vibrant red body, and her golden gaze locks straight onto you the moment you come into view as if she'd been eagerly awaiting your return.

"Master Warren!" she shouts as she raises up her hand to gesture your attention, as if there's any way you could miss it. With a bright smile, she bounces happily in place, dressed as always in the outfit of the most adorable French maid, yet despite her always wearing the same attire, it's never filthy. You wonder if she has multiple all lined up in her closet.

"How're you, Yin?" you ask as you make your way over.

She shakes her head and looks at you with concern. "Please don't worry about me. You were the one who was resting up."

"I wasn't hurt. Just pushed my body a bit too hard at the end there, but it actually wasn't that bad. My muscles are all rested up, and I feel pretty much back to normal already."

With the two of you now face-to-face, she makes a strange gesture, as if she's about to pounce like a cat, but instead just awkwardly fidgets in place. With your Kitty Sense, you get the vibe that she's excited to see you're doing well, and perhaps she felt it improper as a maid to suddenly embrace you. Though you can't tell if she knows anything of your fun in the bath earlier, you have a feeling she'd have joined if she could. Her adorable face peers up into your eyes, though she darts them away nervously, which is a little strange for her, even if she does act bashful on occasion.

To throw caution to the wind, you simply open your arms.

She lets out a quiet gasp before throwing her arms around you and burying her head into your chest. "Mmm."

You chuckle and hold her tight for a moment. "So were you waiting to tell me something?" you ask.

"Well--" Then she gasps again, though it's a sharp inhale followed by a whimper of surprised and embarrassed pleasure. "Ah~!"

Peering beyond her, you see that her tail, while sticking upwards, has a familiar purple rope tied around just under the spaded tip. Your eyes follow along its length in several rotations down the stem, and it ends with a naughty pixie hovering up from behind her. Coming from her other side is a second band, and you can't tell where it's going, though it disappears behind them both. Either way, she gives the first a tug, squeezing the maid's tail a little bit more. Yin's grip in you tighter. She swings her rear left and right, maid skirt fluttering, and she presses her face harder against your chest, moaning quietly.

"Were you worried about me too?" you quickly ask, staring towards the tiny woman with a coyness in your eyes.

Delphi darts her gaze away, perhaps taken by surprise in a moment she thought was more in her control. "Someone arrived while you were sleeping."

"I wanted to tell him," Yin says quietly. "It's my duty."

After releasing the poor maid from her magic, Delphi flutters to the side, revealing what rest at the end of her second band of bondage. Down on the floor, hardly visible at first, is another figure of the same stature. Though to contrast Delphi's dark purple image, this one has golden and black wings, short messy blue hair, hazel eyes, and wears a simple yellow dress. A tiny pair of goggles sits atop her forehead as well. All the way from her base in the forest has come Fava, the pixie that gave you much trouble after you became trapped in her subterranean laboratory, though the latter wasn't her fault. It seems all pixies adore mischief, which goes for Delphi as well, though this tiny artificer was certainly a fan of playing games.

Right now, however, she's far from being the game master. The glowing purple band around her body has been intricately tied in a manner of bondage around her flat chest, between her legs, and ultimately has left her in quiet a lewd and embarrassing position on the floor. Delphi flutters slowly down to tap her heels against the carpet right beside her her head.

"She said she knows you," Delphi speaks up again. Gradually, she starts to pull, tightening the bindings more. "Is she lying~?"

"Uh, no. That's Fava. We met her back when we were on that quest to Gobiidae," you reply. With a gentle hand on Yin's head, you stroke your fingers back, and then slowly guide her to the side as you step forwards to greet your guest. "Welcome to Castle Phoenix, Fava, but what brings you here? Hopefully not something too mischievous."

"She first appeared looking similar to Alice," Yin chimes in. "But then this little pixie flew out from inside. Though we haven't inspected it yet, she brought a bunch of supplies with her too."

Fava swallows hard with a flustered face. She tries to wiggle free, but it's futile. "N-No mischief. I just wanted to come visit, and maybe see if we can help each other."

In response, Delphi tugs hard. The ropes not only hold her firm, but the one between her legs digs in deep. It elicits an immediate response, bringing out a moan from the fairy girl's lips.

"Aah~! Wh-What was that for?" Fava asks, stuttering.

"Just for fun," Delphi replies.

You cross your arms and peer down. "What do you mean by help?"

Breathing hard from her flaring nostrils, and with a face flooded completely with red, she looks to you. "Uhm. Well, to be frank, it's a couple things. One, I've grown increasingly worried about Elok Daven. If he sees me as a threat at all, I'll be in a lot of trouble, and after all that stuff happened back in the woods, I started to feel like my isolation wasn't going to work out for much longer."

"And two?" Delphi asks, once again yanking on the band.

"Aah, stop please~!" Fava moans out. "Oh, p-please. This is so humiliating... Well uh, point two is that I was... getting a little lonely out there too. Playing with you guys was the most fun I had in so long! I not only feel safer here, but j-just look at this place! You have a fellow pixie greeting me with... with this? I'll never be bored here!"

Delphi peers down at the girl. Then she brings up her arm, and as she does, the ropes loosen. Then they vanish from sight. "That's a good mindset to have. I like it."

"What can you do for us?" you ask.

She wobbles as she stands. Then, her wings start to flutter, and she lifts up from the carpet to meet your eye level. "Well, you know how brilliant of an inventor I am. I'm sure that's useful for many reasons."

You nod. "We already have a talented smithy, Laira, and our... I suppose, underground contact, Mina, is also great at tinkering with magic items. If you team up with them, we could really become unstoppable in terms of equipment. On top of that, you should meet Alice. She's actually one of Elok's creations. I guess you could say she went rogue, though really she was abandoned. The body you drive around to look bigger is actually kinda similar in appearance."

"Hey, I don't do it to look bigger. I do it to assist me in making stuff that would be too big otherwise, or to carry things!"

Meanwhile in the background, Delphi motions her hands over her chest as if to imply something to do with size.

"Ah. After this, Master, there is something else," Yin says. "Actually, this is perfect. See, it's Laira and Mina that wish to speak with you at Laira's shop."

"Oh yeah?" You look over the group. "Then let's all head there now. How's that sound?"

Delphi soars up into the air, and then plops down to sit on your shoulder. There she reaches out and idly toys with your ear as she kicks her heels forwards and back. "That sounds fine with me. I heard they finished making something really cool."

Yin bows her head. "Then please follow me, everyone."

"You too," you say, looking to Fava.

Unsure of what to do, she glance around for a moment, flutters past your head, and then sits herself down on your opposite shoulder. "All right." She nods.