With the door flung wide a naked Kryst bursts into the room.

Skimming the floor at barely ankle height she drops down and slides along the wet tile like an extreme ice skater. At the edge of the tub she jumps into the air, front flip rolls with a loud "WAaaHOO!" and cannonballs into the center of the pool, sending a gout of water splashing into my face and side.

I recognize the lack of danger in an instant and drop my gun belt. My dagger clatters onto the tile. Half out of the water I drop back down. Immediately my hands dive underwater in an attempt to cover my shame. Even with the embarrassing situation that I have found myself in I'm delighted that I can't completely succeed at the task even using both hands.

The fairy breaks the surface, cackling like a maniac and wiping water from her eyes.

"Kryst! What are you doing!" Cinnamon calls from the hallway, a stress-filled pitch to her voice.

"What's it look like? I'm my getting scrub on."

"I told you, Brian was getting a bath."

"Yeah, but we got stuff to discuss and... What in the hells is that on your face, Too Ta -AhhH!"

In my haste to snatch off the goofy bug-eyed goggles that I’d completely forgotten, I’m still wearing, my hands splash out of the water so quickly they send Kryst tumbling tits over tail and reward me with a sudden blinding white light.

“Oww, Stupid!” My eyes shut vice tight as I chastise my own carelessness. I fumble about on the edge of the tub, soaking my new shirt until I find my shades and slip them on blinking away the spots and stinging sensation.

"Is everything all right?" Cinnamon calls out. Her ears peek around the edge of the door frame.

"No!" Kryst glubs and sputters floundering back to the surface, "The dark-skinned dolt here's trying to drown me!" Her head darts around searching until she spots Cinnamon's ears twitching shyly around the door.

"What are you doing hiding out there?"

"I don't, I mean..."

I can practically hear the blush in Cinnamon's voice.

"Just strip and get your butt in already, I don't need to be yelling my head off."

I nearly open my dumb mouth to point out the sensitivity of Lepuri ears when Cinnamon's gorgeous face appears.

"Are you sure you don't mind, Brian?"

"Nah, of course, he doesn't. Hurry up so we can have ourselves a three-way…" Kryst gives a long pause and leers at me with a teasing grin, "discussion."

The already monumental task of hiding my regions gets even more difficult.

"Umm, Alright," Cinnamon says. She pauses and I wonder if she is gonna suddenly turn and flee. Instead, she reaches over and plucks a towel from the rack near the door and disappears out of sight.

"Why do you do that?” I whisper. “It's not nice to tease her. You know she's shy."

"It makes me happy. Besides, I'm not teasing her. I'm teasing you."

I suck my teeth and glance out into the hall. The light from the bedroom tosses a shadow of Cinnamon against the wall. Gawddamn. I boggle holding my breath. Watching her shapely silhouette as she disrobes.

"So, I did what you asked." Kryst says.

"You talked with Crod? What did he say?" I tear my attention away from the erotic playboy bunny silhouette and back to the fairy doggie paddling around in a circle.

"Nope. Reason being that he wasn't at the bridge." Kryst bobs her chin then spits out a mouthful of water. "Carrots! Get your butt in here I don't feel like repeating myself."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Cinnamon hurriedly pads into the room. The towel wrapped around her is short, covering her essentials. Barely. Which for some reason makes it even more erotic.

"Bet you like hearing those words don't you, Too Tall." Kryst grins up at me.

Thankfully it seems that Cinnamon either hadn't heard or hadn’t picked up on the fairies double entendre. True to form Cinnamon turns her back to us and bashfully steps into the opposite end of the tub. Dropping the towel she attempts to cover her bountiful breasts with an arm and hand. And for the most part, fails in the task allowing me to catch a wonderful look at her butt, cute bunny tail and a generous helping of side boob. She does eek a bit when the hot water kisses the under the curve of her bottom, but quickly adjusts and settles down to her collar. I must be staring when she turns around because when Cinnamon glances over at me, she smiles and the inside of her ears pinken.

"Alright, well..." I clear my throat and try to keep my composure casual and not dwell on the fact that I was sitting naked in the bathtub with a couple of women that were so hot that they could melt tungsten. "We are all here now. Kryst, why don't you give us the rundown."

“Okay then, where was I? Right. So the troll wasn’t down at the bridge, but, a group of guards were. About half a dozen of them." Kryst bobs in the slight wake as Cinnamon moves around to make herself more comfortable.

"Guards?" Cinnamon forehead scrunches a bit.

“Yeah.” Kryst dips her head. “I'm jumping onto the wagon with you, Too Tall. Something monkey is going on."

"Monkey? I think you mean wonky."

"I don't. Monkeys are funny."

I glance to Cinnamon who nods her head in eager agreement. I roll my eyes and give a little shake of my head. “Guards and no Crod? I wonder how long they were down there.”

“A few hours.” Kryst pipes up as she backstrokes about.

“How do you know that?”

"I talked to them.” Kryst says sarcastically, “You aren't the only silver-tongued smooth-talking scalawag around here. I can engage in civil conversation, you know."

"That might have been risky. I mean we still don’t know why those guards from this morning were looking for you." I say.

“Don’t worry I played it cool. And there weren't any of those Roots guys like the one we saw at the inn with them, so I figured it was worth it."

"So they didn't give you any trouble? About you being a Gleam and all?"

Kryst shakes her head. "Nope, but these guys looked to simply be a squad of average low tier grunts. Whatever their problem with me is it doesn’t seem like there’s been any kind of citywide Gleam hunt called. If there was I’m pretty sure that Marshal Tomas would have mentioned it, don’t you think?”

"Look at you coloring in the lines. Yeah, you right.” I nod and make a hand motion for her to continue. “So what else did you learn?"

"Not a heckuva lot really. A few hours ago these guards had been working the front gate, then they’d been issued new orders to head down to the bridge and collect the tolls. I asked if the troll would be back anytime soon but they had no idea. Their shift doesn't end until nightfall so the general consensus between the bunch was that they would be there until then. Which is usually when Crod knocks off anyway.” Reaching the edge of the tub Kryst stops and hangs onto the edge like a human-sized person would do in a swimming pool. “Any tithes after dark are collected at the city gate."

"Does this kind of thing happen fairly regularly? Crod, I dunno, taking a day off?"

"They were a bit tight-lipped when it came to guard business but from what I managed to suss out, this was definitely not a normal occurrence."

“So is Crod missing? You think something has happened to him?” Cinnamon looks between us, a frown tugging the corner of her lips.

“Might be a little early to jump to that conclusion. He could have taken a…” I shrug, “I dunno, personal mental health day or something. There is no way for us to know for sure but let’s be on our toes at this party tonight, okay ladies?”

Cinnamon and Kryst both bob their heads in agreement.

“I suppose we should get cleaned up and for it. Kryst, I don’t know if you saw but while you were gone they dropped off a selection of clothes for you.” Cinnamon says.

“They did? When? I didn’t hear anyone.” I ask.

“Not long after they delivered the snacks. I just took the case and put it in the bedroom so they didn’t know Kryst wasn’t here.

“Good thinking, Cinni.”

Cinnamon grins at my compliment and reaches back to her towel and picks up her clump of gritty, pale yellow travel soap.

“Oh yeah, lemme get a piece of that too,” Kryst says as she treads water.

"Belay that order number one.” With a smile, I lean over and grab my bag. “I got something for both of you."

"I don't like surprises." Kryst raises an eyebrow as if wary but her little head cranes to see what my hands are searching for. "Where? What is it?"

“I have to lean out of the tub and doing so I feel my butt cheek cool as it breaks the surface of the warm water. Kryst lets out a playful catlike growl.

"I'll take it!"

"Not that you nasty." I give her a disapproving tsk, even as I swell with the attention.

Pulling out the wrapped bars of soap I offer the larger ones to Cinnamon and the two small chicklet sized packages to Kryst. I lift a knee almost clear of the water and Kryst climbs onto it to take a seat.

"What's this?" Greedily, much like the aforementioned monkey the fairy snatches the packets from my fingers. She stares at them and glances up at me.

"It's just a little something I thought you might like. Go on. Open them up." I say making a motion to the girls.

"Oh, Brian. You didn't have to do that." Cinnamon says.

Kryst purses her lips a little then almost warily unwraps hers, Cinnamon does the same and coos immediately, lifting the glycerin bars to sniff at each of them in turn.

"Soap?" Kryst sticks out her bottom lip, "You trying to tell me I stink, Too Tall?"

"Shucks. Was I being too obvious?" I grin and bounce my knee a tad, giving Kryst the most minor of splashes. "It's not much. But seeing as you and I have had to borrow Cinni's a few times." I nod to Cinnamon who gives me a smile.

"Oh, I didn't mind.” Cinnamon beams, “This is a lot better than the soap I have. Did you get some for yourself too? So that’s why it smells so good in here." Cinnamon coos answering her own question.

"I'm glad you like them. I was hoping that you would.” I shrug, "And this way you can have your own too, Kryst."

"I didn't realize my asking for a sliver of soap was such a bother." Kryst gives a little grunt as if affronted but I see the smile that she tries to hide behind the bars as she casually lifts them to her nose to breathe in the scents.

Cinnamon chooses the purple and the delight in the gift must have shaved an edge or two off of her shyness because she sits upright and turns to put her other bar and ugly soap lump on the towel behind her, rewarding me with a generous view of her chest.

“Hey.” Kryst interrupts my ogle. “Pack this one away in your bag so it doesn’t get wet.” Deciding on the red she hands me back the other hastily re-wrapped packet.

“What’s the magic word?”

“Huh? I dunno? I’m no Wizard.”

I roll my eyes and glance to Cinnamon for help but, already working a lather into her hair, she looks just as puzzled.

“Never-mind.” I sigh and turn to stow the tiny soap away when I get another idea. An experiment to test how I may be able to combine my new ability with possible creative use of the Adventurer’s Backpack. I reach into my Adventurers Backpack and I narrow my concentration, pulling on a memory…

You use Special Ability: Perfect Recall

…and in a flash, I'm no longer sitting in a bathtub with two beautiful naked women. Instead, I'm at the local mall back home, stepping off of one of the escalators near to the food court. I can taste the watered-down soft drink on my tongue as I suck on the straw.

A woman with a couple of squealing toddlers waddles along, texting on her phone. A gaggle of loudly chattering girls pass close by and I get a whiff of a delicate feminine perfume.

"…soap ain't…"

Something one of them says catches my attention, perhaps due to the relevance of what is happening with me right now in the tub. Unconsciously I focus on what I had heard. Background noises disappear around me as I walk along. Slide glancing at the attractive brunette wearing a short plaid skirt I catch snippets of their conversation.

"…did you think would happen? Dish soap ain't dishwashing liquid, you know." A thin, busty blond in a purple top says with a haughty voice.

"Yeah, well I do now. The kitchen looked like one of them foam parties." Plaid skirt says.

"Yuck. I hate those things. They seem cool at first, but like halfway through it's all melted and nasty, and everything gets all sticky." Purple top replies, her fingers flying over her phone as she texts.

"Your clothes are soaking wet too." A thick girl with blue highlights pipes in.

"The one they had at the Shack was fun, remember?" An Asian girl says as the group turns, walking through the open doors of a clothing store.

"When Lucy wore that white dress?" Plaid laughs.

"You know she just wanted to show off her tits." Highlights scoffs.

Then they are gone, passing out of earshot.

"...grab some snacks before the movie... " A tall guy with long brown hair says to what I guess is his girlfriend as they walk past, headed in the opposite direction I am.

Spotting a trashcan I beeline for it. After finishing the last of my drink with long, loud slurp I toss in the ice-filled, waxy cup. To my left is a Spencer's storefront. Their windows stuffed full of the newest trends in pop culture stylings, party lights flashing in that industrial dance club storefront design.

Two guys walk out of the store, diagonally in front of me. One chomping away at a half-eaten pretzel, the other in a light blue hoodie with two cartoon pigs engaged in coitus and the words 'Making Bacon' underneath.

"So my mom drunk texted me last night." Hoodie says.

Pretzel guys laughs, sending salt granules flying.

Weird, I don't remember any of that. Well… I guess I do. Or at least my subconscious does. I pull my focus back from the sound in my immediate vicinity and background chatter and mall music recreate the ambient white noise. I let the memory play out, looking through the window of the Spencer's storefront.

Behind "A Boobies Make Me Smile" decal, above gold miniskirts, stars & stripes bikini's and next to the wall with a ridiculous amount of Funko pop figurines is the object that has lead me to this memory. An across the body satchel bag.

It has a funky design, a couple of large pockets on the front with a tribal stylized dragon fighting an eagle interlaced with a bit of Kanji etched into the large overhanging protective flap. I remember liking the bag when I'd spotted it and had even toyed with the idea of buying it to carry my gaming books around. I hadn't, but those same feelings well up in me now.

My hand is in my Adventurer’s Backpack and I summon the picture in my mind's eye.

It doesn't take. I somehow know velcro and zippers are too complex for the limitations of the Backpack so at the speed of thought, I medievalize the design.

Artist: Success!

Replacing the nylon and polyester with leather. Velcro and zippers become buckles and straps. My fingers, searching about inside the kit, wrap around something and I look down to see a Barbie-sized satchel in the palm of my hand. The magenta dyed leather is a perfect color match to Krysts molten hued eyes and hair. But what really completes it is the awesome tribal design of the dragon and fairy battle, not the original eagle, embossed across the outside.

Adventurer's Backpack: Mundane: This item can be used to pull forth 5 mundane pieces of adventuring gear. The items retrieved cannot have a value of more than 5 gold. Once an item is called forth from the pack it remains. Contents: 50ft Hemp Rope, Grappling Hook, Handsaw, Fairy sized Satchel Bag [Uses Remaining: x2]

If it was sized for a human with the level of detail and its sturdy design I’m sure the satchel would cost far more than the five gold limit. Even miniaturized I wager its pretty close. Pleased with my success I grin. The test had used up another use of the Backpack but the knowledge was invaluable.

Inside my pack I see the cloth wrapped toy bed, table, and chair I'd purchased earlier and pull them out at the same time, keeping everything hidden with my body from Krysts and Cinnamon's sight.

It has only taken perhaps fifteen seconds or so since I’d turned around but it's long enough for Kryst to get impatient.

"Hey what are you doing over there? You fall asleep or something?"

"I was just getting your other presents. But if you don't want them…" I let the statement hang and glance over a shoulder. She immediately perks up again. Cinnamon humming quietly to herself also stops and glances over with searching eyes.

"What do you mean, more presents?" Her little wings rise out of the water and give a quick quiver.

"I didn't have time to wrap them or anything."

"Alright, alright. It's obvious your dying to give them to me. So no need to worry about any kind of wrapping.” Kryst rolls her eyes and makes a very nonchalant motion, even turning her shoulder slightly and scrubbing at herself with her soap in an attempt to look as cucumber cool as possible. “Next time though."

"Oh my goodness! Those are wonderful." Sitting up in the tub Cinnamon leans to look past me at the furniture as I unwrap and set them up next to each other. I place the wrapped soap in the satchel along with a couple of the hard candies I'd gotten from the same store I'd purchased the furniture from.

"What is? What he get me? Lemme see." Pretense gone, Kryst paddle spins about and moves closer to the edge. Gripping the side of the tub she hoists a body that would make any crossfit model jealous half out of the water. She stops. Then slowly climbs the rest of the way out and pads over to the bed. Walking around she runs her hand over the chair and picks up the satchel I had rested on the seat.

"You got these for me?" She turns the bag over in her hands, her tiny fingers tracing over design.

"Yeah. You’d said that you lost your bag in that Drayger. You need someplace to keep your own coin and stuff so it’s not an altogether altruistic gift, now you have no excuse for leeching off of me." I grin.

Kryst doesn’t say anything and steps over to the bed, pressing down on the silk sheets. The material bunches and slides as she continues to test out the softness of the expensive toy.

"I will have to do a bit of work to resize the height of the chair and table a little. Shouldn't be too much though. I don't think you will have that complaint for the bed. Bigger the better for that I suppose.” I pause, feeling a little uncomfortable with her silence. “Hopefully it's room enough for you to stretch." I joke searching for a reaction.

"It's…" Kryst voice gets quiet and her back stiffens a little. She looks back at me and gone is the callous veneer. She looks small, and vulnerable. "Thank you, Brian." The sincerity in her tone warms my stomach.

"What are friends for?"

A smile breaks out on her face and a moment later and the bad ass is back. She leans over on the bed and shoots me a sultry look that makes makes me involuntarily swallow.

"So you gonna help me test out this mattress or what?" Kryst jeers patting at the soft comforter.

"Kryst. " Cinnamon sucks her teeth reproachfully.

Laughing the fairy struts back over to the water, casually kicks her soap block backward toward the furniture then dives back in the water with barely a splash.

I glance over at Cinnamon who has been running her soapy hands through her hair. It must be my Lightning Reflexes kicking in as she dips her head into the water. Like she is moving in slow motion she rises back up.

Light shimmers off the droplets that drip from her cheeks, and down her chin. Eyes closed she takes in a breath as mine catches in my throat. Somehow she has become even more striking and I realize that the magical effect of the soap must have taken effect. Skin glowing, her glossy lips part. She opens her eyes and those big soft brown pools look directly into mine.

"Whah? Hey now! Thar' she blows!" Kryst bellows with a huge grin. "Sea serpent breaking off the port bow!"

History repeating, once again my hands dive back under the water to my groin and send Kryst tumbling end over end.

"Oh no!" Cinnamons hands are just as quick as they move to catch the fairy. Sitting up she lifts Kryst to the surface. Holding her above the water between her soapy and now entirely reveled chest.

The sight of the bubbles running down her mounds and the gentle lap of the water that sends her nipples peaking in and out of the suds does absolutely nothing to ease whats happening under my hands. And in fact only exacerbates the situation.

"You need to be careful, Brian." Cinnamon sweetly scolds.

If Kryst is at all upset she shows no sign of it. Cackle laughing away.

"Think he sees something he likes, Carrots?"

“Well you are very attractive, Kryst.” Cinnamon blushes.

"Me? Nah. I don't think I stoke his fires much." Kryst leans back. Her hands stretching up above her head she arches her back against the curvature of Cinnamon's breasts like she is posing for a swimsuit glamor shot. The hard-bodied fairy rubs her bare foot up and down her other calf slowly. "Or am I wrong about that, Too Tall?" She asks, her voice getting low and husky.

Nestled against Cinnamon cleavage, I stare at Kryst as she slowly undulates her body thrusting her own goods out for display. Her tiny hand pushes through her short hair and she bites a lip with a sexy grin so mischievous and teasing it borders on malicious. I can tell the soap has done its magic on her as well. Her wet skin seems to shimmer with an almost stripper-sparkle glitter effect.

A glance to Cinnamon pumps the brakes on my growing lust.

Her skin is flushed, her breath growing shorter and shallow. She darts her tongue out to lick a bead of water from her full lips. The platform of her hands which Kryst is standing on lowers a little and I see her back arching ever so slightly. The underside of her breasts rise until they are barely kissing the water. Suds trickle between her cleavage. Her dilated eyes meet mine and the look she gives me…

"Kryst." I grit my teeth in frustration, "Don't fool around. If you want to go on teasing me, fine. I can take it. But don't do it around Cinni. With her curse…think about her feelings. It's not fair to her and frankly is just downright mean. You're better than that."

"Yeah about that." Kryst pushes off of Cinnamon's boob to stand in her palm. She glances up at me and then over her shoulder at the flushed bunny girl. She lets out a sigh. "There may be something I can do to help with your problem, Carrots."

"Really? You can? How?" Cinnamons ears perk up and she leans forward as if to catch the words faster.

"You remember how I was telling you about how fairies are tied to the Faywylde, right? We have a connection to Mana that few creatures can contemplate. We harness it, can…channel it."

"I recall. How does that help Cinni though?" I ask, also a bit desperate to solve this particular problem.

"If you would let me finish I'll get to it."

“Sorry, please.” I make a motion of buttoning my lip. Kryst pauses and clears her throat.

"All living things have a certain amount of Mana in them. Magic users tend to have a bit more but thats a because they have adapted their being to store more of it. Same way a warriors trains their muscles to fight. Different discussion entirely." She waves a hand as if she is getting off-topic. "So, from what I understand this ‘curse’ of yours is a magical effect, what happens, at least partially, is that you lose control of the Mana inherently contained in your body which triggers the transformation. Be that due to your body's instinctive opening of its Mana pathways in a moment of fight or flight or when you are looking to get… intimate."

Cinnamons ears lower and a blush tints her cheeks but she nods for Kryst to go on.

“If you were a magic user. You probably wouldn’t have this issue. You would most likely either feel the onset and halt it or perhaps even empty your Mana pool by throwing out spells. Though I’m not entirely sure the latter solution would work. Most likely the transformation would trigger once the Mana in your body got to low.”

“Yeah, I think you are right. I had a magical torch awhile ago and a few times when I used it I transformed.Once I got so scared of activating it that I 'bunnied'.” Cinnamons lets out a huff. “I got rid of it after that.”

“Good to know that Kryst is on the right track.” I say trying to raise Cinnamons spirits.

“So, I need to study magic? Won’t that take forever?” Cinnamon looks even more disheartened.

"That might be a long term solution, but I don’t think Kryst is suggesting that you enroll in a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry just yet.” I glance to the fairy. “Are you?”

“Correct. Now watch." Kryst raises her arms and for an instant a crackle of energy wreathes her form. Just as quickly it is gone leaving wisps of steam to rise from her now dry body to twist in the air. "See? Now as a Gleam I have a bit of an unfair advantage but I have also trained to control the Xan in my body and can harness it better than most--"

"Wait, Xan?" I interrupt in my own eagerness to understand.

"Sorry, Xan. Mana. Same thing really."

"Ah so like Chi and Ki just a different cultural name for it."

"Huh. You're smarter than I thought, Too Tall."

"High praise." I scoff sarcastically.

"Anyway," Cinnamon side glances at me and Kryst impatiently, clearly not wanting her and I to start on some ribbing tangent, "like Brian suggested can you teach me how to control it then?”

"Maybe. I could show you breathing and focusing techniques, but that takes patience, time and considerable self-control."

“So far I'm not hearing a solution." Cinnamon pouts.

"There may be a way to… cheat a little. Think of it like this. Xan, Mana, Chi, Ki, whatever name you have for it, is the energy of life itself. When creatures…" Kryst smirks, " buck, they skirt into that energy, tap into it an for the briefest moment an experience a infinitesimal pinprick of raw, untamed life. A spark of creation."

“Wait. Are you saying that’s how pregnancy happens?” I scoff internally. I wonder what my high school Sex Ed. teacher would say if I had ever offered up the theory that ‘Babies come from magic life energy not dividing cells.’ But, maybe that wasn’t such a far fetched idea? Was Mana really a catalyst of life in this world, or possibly even my own?

“Yes and no. It’s a —”

“I don’t want to get pregnant!” Cinnamon interrupts abruptly, her eyes wide. “Well, not right now, anyway.” She continues lowering her voice.

“You’re not gonna get pregnant.” Kryst huffs. “Look. If… with a little effort, I think I’ll able to draw off the Mana during the time when you lose control. It should keep those unintentionally opened pathways of yours closed and stop the transformation. They will build up again of course so its not just one and done. The problem is…" Kryst gives an uncharacteristically sheepish grin, “It means I have to be… close during those times."

“Oh?" Cinni bites her lip and glances at me. "Like how close? In the same room or…?" Cinnamon lets the question hang and Kryst lets out a little snort.

"That’s not the kinda close I mean, Carrots."

"Oh…OH!" Cinnamon gulps and her cheeks, ears and even her chest flushes. "How would we… I mean…"

"Well. That’s where, Too Tall here comes in.” Kryst says.

I gulp as the girls share a long look and then both turn their laser like gaze to stare at me. Like a deer pausing for the perfect shot in a hunters sights, I freeze.

“That is, if he's willing and more importantly… up to the task."