As cycles passed, they camped in a central location. The scouts, Dice, Ina, and Dem, would journey out looking for beasts for the party to kill, or anything that looked like useful training for Dice. With a central location to explore around, and no particular pace to keep, Dice could keep up with him so long as they took rests. He kept Ina still ranging far ahead of them. She had been agreeable, because she didn’t much like the way rest of the party smelled, in particular Karmis. He didn’t really understand, because, to him, Wersa was the worst offender, but he didn’t argue.

Karmis explained what she wanted him to do with Dice, in vague terms. She was adamant that if they found anything interesting, or out-of-the-ordinary, to report back to her. He couldn’t tell if she was just greedy for what the Wilds offered, wanted to cover the costs of training Dice, or was looking for something in particular. She didn’t say, and he didn’t want to pry. If there was something good out here, they might kill him to keep it a secret. Adventurers were not heroes, despite the fact that some of their working killing beasts was beneficial to humanity. He expected nothing less from them. The Wilds were a hard place.

***

Dem's next great difficulty was dealing with Dice. She was agile, deadly, and had amazing dexterity, but needed twice the amount of rest he needed. They took it even slower than their theoretical top speed so that she wouldn’t be too winded in the case of a fight. They moved primarily through the trees, jumping and climbing as necessary. All the resting meant he was alone with Dice often. Ina was far ahead and busy hunting usually, leaving him to contend with the diminutive blade fighter.

He couldn’t understand most of what she said, so he found the best thing to do was to repeat her statements back to her, and have her give a nod if it was correct.

“Ah ned a res” Dice said, her chest hammering.

“You needed a rest?” Dem asked, and she shook her head in agreement.

“Alright, over there is a nice high and wide branch.”

In a moment, they were both slumped on the branch. Her chest rising and falling rapidly, while he lounged on his back a short distance away.

As they lounged, he spent his time thinking about what use was there in being a Dominator, which mostly useful against other humans, when he spent most of his time with beasts. The obvious, and immoral, plan would to be take over the minds of everyone in the settlement and become sort of local overlord, but such a plan was incredibly far-fetched. Even with his limited education he knew there were plenty of powerful Classes and many ways to detect the use of spells. Someone would figure him out, or be resistant to his abilities, and murder him on the spot. His Class didn’t protect him from a sword, arrow, or spell. He was, after all, still quite weak. He could imagine some power-mad idiot, attempting a plan like that, but he wanted to live. He did not yet even really know how to use his spells. The likelihood of him seriously damaging a person’s mind was high, and so even practicing his spells came at a cost. Could he risk permanently hurting a person for his own benefit? At times, he hated the people from the settlement, especially when he was much younger, but later on he had come to understand they were just driven by fear. Fear of being forced out of the settlement, of having to become his neighbor. It didn’t excuse their behavior, but he understood it.

His mind started to drift further, and he lost himself in a series of power fantasy daydreams, usually entailing him using his Class to take control of his life, sadly each little dream was ended by the sobering fact that it would likely end in his inevitable demise. At some point, he was interrupted when he felt something tug at his arm.

While he had been thinking, Dice had rolled closer to him and was staring intently. Her proximity, unbidden, brought to mind his Dominator’s Influence. He would be spending a lot of time with Dice now. He could ‘practice’ his Influence he supposed, but manipulating her for no reason was.. unethical? What if he promised himself to not harm her, could he practice his Influence then? He couldn’t use his active spells on her, and had no reason to use the Dominator’s Gaze. Perhaps he could just play around with the Dominator’s Influence and Presence. It was part of who he was now, and he had little control of it. Maybe, he could gain more control interacting with Dice? Something about all of this still felt wrong so he made a silent pledge to do nothing that would harm her directly. As he did so, she spoke.

“Yu’ a ‘ndsome ‘un. Duh yu’ wan’ tuh put et en muh ‘lace?” Her voice sounding casual.

He tried to sound out what she was saying. ‘He was.. handsome?’

“Uh thank you for your compliment Dice, let me see if I can understand you.” he responded.

“Do.. I.. want.. to. put it.. e-en-in.. your lace?” His voice was confused. Nothing came to mind to explain what she wanted.

“Yuh, muh ‘lace” Then she point down to her groin.

“Your place?”

“Yuh.” She then made a gesture that made it clear exactly what she wanted from him. As she motioned with her fingers, she smiled at him, rather sweetly. The scars on her cheeks showed more easily as her facial muscles flexed.

“Ah, you want to.. have sex?” He only asked to stall, while he thought this through.

She punched him in the arm, rather hard for someone so much smaller than him.

“Yuh, ar’ yu’ slo’?”

“Am I slow? No, I am just surprised.”

He could feel her hand reach down and begin to work its way into his leather pants, rifling around, clearly seeking something. He didn’t have the time to consider this too much, it seemed to just be happening. He noticed she twirled a blade in her other hand as she stared at him. She seemed to be experienced at using one hand for one kind of task, while the other intimidated.

As her hand found what it was looking for his mind finally locked into place. This happening wasn’t really a problem, Ina seemed to only care about other many-tailed, and he might get.. something out of it. At very least he needed to be in control, to advance his Path, to use this.. diversion to his own ends.

He slowly reached for hand twirling the blade. If he moved too quickly, she might attack before he had control of the situation. His hand grabbed her wrist, as she sent the blade flying past his head, in a clearly intended miss. His other hand pulled her other arm from inside his pants. He felt a small sense of loss as her hand came free. In the few moments it had been down there, it had been surprisingly deft. He pushed her hands above her head, using one hand to hold them both in place, and rolled on top of her into a position straddling her. She smiled at this. He bent over to kiss her, wondering what her breath would be like, but she stopped him with a scowl.

She spoke quickly, “N’uhn uh tha’ ‘issy ‘tuff. Jus’ put et en muh ‘lace”.

He spoke just as briskly, “No romantic stuff, got it.” As he spoke, his free hand began to roam her body looking for the secret to getting her leathers off.

She smiled triumphantly at him, seeming to enjoy his diligent work.

“Yu cahn hi’ muh ef yu ‘ike” Her voice more quiet than usual, still smiling up at him, from the flat of her back.

“I can hit you if I like?” He asked in a slightly raised voice, his mind reeling. He did have much interesting in hitting her or another woman.

“Ef et wu’ll mae-k yuh ‘ard, Ah cahn, ‘ake et.”

“If it will make hard me? You can take it? No, you make me.. hard. I don’t need to hit you woman. As soon as I get your leathers off, I will show you.. in your.. place.” His last statement, was slightly awkward, but made the line he wouldn’t cross clear. He shook his head, this woman was odd. A little sad too, he thought.

She still smiled at him, happy as he had ever seen her, but maybe a little disappointed by his last declaration. Why were all the women in this party so strange?

***

“Yuh gawt a gu’d ‘ool thar.”

“I have a good wool there?”

“Nah, ah ‘ool, ah ‘ool”. She pointed down towards Dem's groin.

“Ah, a tool. My tool? I thank you Lady Adventurer, for your compliment.” He said.

“Muh ‘lace i’z ah ‘it z‘ore. Gu’d y’ob.” Her voice casual as they kept moving.

“Your place.. is a bit.. sore? Thank you, you do.. a good job as well.” He didn’t know what else to say to the woman.

They had been taking a lot of ‘rests’ lately, maybe more than strictly necessary. These rests were less than restful, and usually centered around his ‘ool’ and her ‘lace’, and her being z’ore later. She rejected every attempt he had made to be romantic, or even overly gentle. She wanted what she wanted, making a few initial demands, but otherwise let him take charge. Her flexibility and dexterity made her.. an interesting lover? Partner? So long as he did what she asked, she did most anything he asked in return. Though, in all honesty, he didn’t know what to ask for from her. She introduced him to some new things, but had no interest in anything tender or soft. Despite the situation, he felt.. used. This sort of coupling didn’t fail to arouse him, but it wasn’t what he wanted. He supposed this is how adventurers were, finding some comfort where they could, but without attachment. A rotation ago he would have understood this mentality better, that everything was purely transactional, but what he felt about Ina, even his love for his parents, wasn’t so shallow.

The benefits of his time with Dice were not bad. He advanced his Path, feeling a sense of domination everytime he took the woman especially as she.. finished. It was very both very different from and surprisingly alike advancing his previous path. On the surface, it required two beings working together at a particular aim. The difference though, obviously, was in this new configuration, he had to be incharge totally which was awkward for him. Despite that, he had to admit the rush he felt that went along with it was.. good. He could feel himself fill with new energy, and his intent was continually honed to shaper edge.

He felt ready to at least attempt to cast his Class spells now, though he had no target in mind. Their resting kept Dice happy and compliant for the most part, and it cut down on the possibility of having to make more small talk. When in the act, she could hardly speak, except to yell some incomprehensible profanities at him, so that was helpful. Trying to decipher her.. accent? Gave him a headache.

During this excursion they'd been out in the wilds for two full work cycles, only returning occasionally to the camp site to communicate with Karmis. He had seen his Dominator’s Influence affect Dice in real time. His influence on her, thanks to their rests, was increasing all the time. It was hard to describe, even to himself, what was going on. He could tell, when he trained with her, she followed his orders faster and with less thought. Originally, when he asked her questions about the party, their past history, and Karmis, she had been tight lipped, even after their first rest.

The first time he asked, early in their time together, she spoke hurriedly and sternly, “Ah, cahn’ta ‘alk uh’bout et. Duhn’ta ah-ssk.”

“You can’t talk about it, and don’t ask. I understand.” He had expected as much. Adventurers didn’t get far blabbing to just anyone.

A couple cycles later, after his Influence had started to work, she would laugh and tell him stories of the work the party did. She still shied away from specifics, but the stories painted a rough, grim picture that only made him more worried about what they were doing out in the Wilds. Even knowing more now, both about himself and about the rest of the party, he didn't feel any better.