“Huh? What’s going on here?!”

I had gotten back to the Inn that Teach, Ange and I were staying at and when I opened the door I was greeted with a sight I wasn’t expecting.

“Look! Fin’s back!” Ange shouted.

“Yay… Hellooo Fin,” said the woman who should have been sleeping; the woman that we were all fretting over.

The woman and Ange were sitting on the bed, Teach was nowhere to be seen and Ange was busily brushing the woman’s massive bush of hair.

“What gives?” I asked, gawking at the strange sight; I hadn’t even thought to drop all the packages.

“I’m brushing her hair, Fin! Obviously! You wouldn’t believe the knots she has!” Ange was ecstatic, that much was evident in how much force she was pouring into her arm. A standard person would have had the hair ripped from their scalp. “You’ve been sleeping for a long time haven’t you?” Ange asked the grey skinned woman.

“I have… a lot of knots,” the woman, with a sleepy-looking smile, replied. She was covered in bed sheets and would slightly wince when Ange snagged a particularly nasty knot.

“Wait, that's not what I was asking- where’s Teach? And how’d she wake up?”

“Look Ange,” the woman said, ignoring my confusion. She pointed at what I was holding in my hands, “Fin brought presents…”

“Oh my gosh, you’re right, Hanna! I almost forgot!”

Ange excitedly ran over to me and snagged the packages out of my hand, “Hanna?” I asked, before Ange could run back to the bed. She looked back up at me and winked.

“I named her,” she replied, flashing me a smile.

I was taken aback, “H-Hey, isn’t that a bit-”

“Let’s see what Fin got you Hanna!” Before I could say anything, Ange had already scurried back to Hanna, packages in hand.

“Yay… I’m excited!” she sleepily said, clasping her hands.

Seeing the girls about to break open the packages, I couldn’t help but want to defend my pride; the outfits were sure to raise some brows.

“Listen,” I started, “I didn’t pick those out, Impee-”

“Oh my gosh! Hanna these are beautiful! Don’t you think so?” Ange had pulled out one of the one piece blue dresses and was holding it up for Hanna to see. She seemed shocked.

“So… pretty….” Hanna followed, burying her face into a comfy looking, light pink shawl.

“Fin!” Ange screamed, putting the dress down. I was in shock because of the reaction still, I couldn’t respond fast enough. “I was so sure you were going to buy Hanna a black potato sack!” Ange yelled, her eyes glowing so brightly in the darkness of her skull that I could tell she was shocked.

“It’s true… Ange told me to not get my hopes up,” Hanna reported, lifting her face from the shawl.

Ouch.

“Teach and I only realized the mistake we made afterwards! We were dreading what you would come back with!” Ange kept going, not noticing that I had already been torn down.

“We had no hope…” Hanna continued; that was the most energetic statement she had uttered so far.

“I- I wouldn’t have gotten her a black potato sack,” I feebly replied as I fiddled with my fingers in shame.

“Well of course not,” Ange haughtily replied, “You would have gotten her stuff that looked like a black potato sack. But look at all of this! You must have even been looking for sales! But you’re the worst shopper!”

It didn’t help. I was crumbling; destroyed. I couldn’t believe Impeerio was right.

“Ange…. What’s this?” While I was busy picking up the fragments of my pride, Hanna had stuck her body into one of the bags to pull out some unexpected purchases.

“Oh, let’s see- HUH?! F-F-F-Fin!” Ange shouted.

I turned up to see what the problem was,”ACK!” I almost bit my tongue.

Ange was furiously blushing; I could see beads of sweat forming. In both her hands she was holding two separate sets of lingerie. An intricately detailed black pair of bra and underwear and a light red corset set. What’s worse, each had a card that designated who they were for, in this case, the black one for Teach, and the red for Ange. Hanna was looking off from the side at the scene with a confused look as she tried to make sense of why Ange was so flustered.

“F-Fin, if this is what you’re interested in,” Ange yelled out everyone of her words abruptly, it didn’t seem like she was processing this well, “We could talk, you know! Maybe Teach might-”

“It wasn’t me!” I yelled, “Impeerio bought everything! I would have bought potato sacks!”

“Ahh.” Ange replied. Her face had frozen but the sweat had not run dry.

“Hey… what’s this,” Hanna asked. Ange was still frozen, but I looked over. Hanna was holding up a transparent pink camisole with the tag, “for the sleeping woman.”

It took a while, but the misunderstanding was cleared up and I was able to get up to speed about what happened while I was out. As it turned out, Hanna woke up after I was gone and Teach got to work trying to figure out what she was. Apparently, Hanna didn’t know all that much, not even her name, which is why Ange named her. Hanna did say something however.

“I need to protect the temple, by inviting people in.”

Those were the only words she told the pair. Naturally, any talk of a temple was curious; Teach went off back to her own room to try digging through her books. According to Ange, Teach was considering looking into races that were known to protect temples at some point.

I wanted to go check on Teach in order to touch base with her and see what she discovered but Ange and Hanna kept me with them for longer. They wanted to try on the clothes and wanted my company. All things considered, I didn’t feel all that comfortable just leaving them high and dry, so I stayed while they had their fun.

And now, the pair were totally asleep, falling asleep holding hands; it seemed Hanna really bonded with Ange. Hanna also seemed like she was sleepy the whole time she was playing with Ange and it seemed like that sleepiness was infectious. The two were in bed uncovered, surely to catch a cold during the night.

As I covered them with some bedsheets, I couldn’t help but take a closer look at the pair. Hanna was roughly the same height as Ange and definitely had womanly curves. She had decided on a soft looking pair of sleepwear and seemed very happy to have them. She seemed to have the disposition of a child, but she had the body of an adult.

I wonder if Teach factored that into her analysis…

I had heard of other races of Sentients that had those kinds of dispositions, so maybe she was one of those? Ange funnily enough was a bit of a contrast; she was an adult, the same age as me, with a slightly immature body.

“That just means I’m spunky!” she would always say.

As my eyes wandered over to her sleeping face, I noticed the little scars under her skull helm.

Ahh right, it’s been so long.

Memories flooded back into mind, of the days we were still kids. Ange was of a race of Sentients called Skull Knights. The skull knights after coming of age would grow excess bone in certain parts of their body, outside of their skin. The most distinct growth being the one that covers the head, the skull helm. Other distinct growths would be at the kneecaps and the elbows, the spine and the collar bone. When we were kids and it started coming in, she tried prying it off - the skull- for days, tearing the skin underneath enough for a few small crack-like scars to form right under the skull.

“I want to look like me! I want to look like Fin!”

I still remember her crying face from that time; how she hated her bones so much. For me, the majority of my racial traits are locked behind my Incarnate form, but for Ange, she had them on full display. She hadn’t gotten over it yet; just a few months ago, I caught her sobbing when we learned of a skull knight variant that actually had an Incarnate form.

I patted her head as I remembered the sight; careful to not wake her.

Even though you don’t need to do this, you’re still with me.

It has been a long journey so far, years in fact, but I couldn’t stop yet, and Ange wasn’t going to stop following me as much as I’d told her to stop.

“We’re in for the long haul,” she would always say with a bright smile.

I covered the two up and prepared to leave the room. But before I left, my little eyes wandered over to a chair in the room, where a particular pair of lingerie lay.

I quietly walked through the candlelit hall of the inn, towards Teach’s room, knocking on the door gently before walking in.

“Ahh, hey, you’re back,” Teach said, not moving an inch from the book she was buried in. She was surrounded by stacks of old books; a common sight whenever we stayed in one particular spot for more than one night.

My teacher, Deleim; she was from the same small village Ange and I were from, infact, she was our teacher there. When I decided to go after the Blood Hounds, she along with Ange tagged along. She usually stays back from the combat, so I don’t get as stressed, and because she researched ruins before everything went sideways in our lives she was readily able to provide amazing and valuable insight. One of many reasons I was happy to have her.

“Yeah, I’m back. Met Hanna too.” I replied as I quietly brought the door to a close.

“Peculiar young lady isn’t she?” Teach replied as she tucked her bang behind her ear and stretched her shoulder, “I’m afraid I haven’t found anything concrete, but there is something familiar in the one thing she knows,” I walked over to her; she hadn’t noticed; she was still facing her book, “That’s our best clue so far. I hope to have a strong list of options soon.”

“I see.” I came up behind her seat and put my hands on her shoulders, pouring pressure into them. Her body seemed to heat up under my grip and she threw her head back, her crown connecting with my torso. “Ouch, pointy,” I said as the tiara-like protrusion she had dug into my skin.

My teacher Deleim was of a race of sentients called an Amethyst Gemian. Gemians had bodies that were a mix of flesh of mineral; the mineral that composed my teacher being amethyst. It’s why she had such lustrous skin and hair. She was kind of similar to Ange in that her racial traits also manifested with extra, sometimes pointy protrusions. That’s why however, she was a big part of helping Ange feel comfortable with the body she had. Actually, she was helping us both come to grips with our bodies.

“Can I help you, Mr Fin?” Deleim asked, looking straight into my eyes with a devilish smile.

I released one of her shoulders and dug into my coat, gently putting a certain garment on the table in front of her, draping it over her books.

She looked down for a few seconds then looked back up at me, a little bit surprised.

“What? Do you want me to wear this?” she asked, sizing up my intentions; I wasn’t going to tell her who got this.

“Yes.”

“Make me,” she replied, with her tantalizing, soft whisper.

Our secret affair was afoot, after a playful tussle away from the books, I had gotten the sexy pair of intricate underwear on her after she was satisfied that I had done enough to appease her. She was a naturally well endowed and glamorous woman and the underwear with it’s black mesh and floral print only further turned her into a forbidden fruit.

We had moved through the entire room like a tornado and were now nearing the climax, with Deleim bent over the bed with me right behind her. I had taken hold of her arms as I worked on her, her hair jolting everytime I pushed forward.

“Make me hurt!” she panted, “Grab me harder! Make me crack!” she said. She was reaching her peak as well given the escalation she was begging for… but I wasn’t sure.

“Are you sure, I’m not sure I-”

“Fin!” she screamed, “Do it. Ange told me you had it under control- Even if you go too strong I can take it!” she continued screaming before returning to her grunts.

I grit my teeth and focused. My arms grew larger and the strength my grip could exert increased. Other parts grew larger as well, and I increased my efforts in time with Deleim’s escalating moans.

Crrk-Crack.

The sound of Deleim’s arms cracking reached my ears, but she wasn’t protesting nor did I want to stop mid way to the end. The doubt however caused the other aspect of my Incarnate form to slip out.

From my palms, I could see shadowy smoke leak out; I needed to get that under control.

“Fin!” Deleim screamed, “Do NOT let the element discharge! I can’t take that. Get it under control or no more this.”

“Yes ma’am!”

I focused harder, squeezing tighter on her arms, til small cracks ran up her entire arm.

“YES!” she shouted as I went faster and harder until finally everything went white.

The time was over and we were lying together in her bed, under the covers. Deleim was resting her head on my small arm, facing me, still basking in the ecstasy of the moment. She seemed to be so enraptured, her skin was glinting more than usual. Meanwhile, I was reflecting on our journey so far.

“You know,” Deleim whispered next to me in a voice softer than her usual, “It’s only a matter of time until Ange finds out. She’ll be gutted.” Despite where Deleim was going with her conversation, she nestled her breasts up to my side, the strange mixture of stone-coolness and the heat of flesh penetrating into my awareness. “You should be more sensitive to her feelings.”

“You say that all the time.” It was true, Deleim always seemed to bring up Ange whenever the deed was done. Maybe it was just her way of looking out for her?

“I know. Doesn’t make it any less true. That girl might very well love you. If you two were to get a Bond mark…. Well I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“The Bond…”

The Bond referred to a mark that would appear when two people truly loved each other. That mark; it was like your relationship was blessed by the God that created the system.

Thinking of the mark, I glanced over to Deleim’s left breast while she still had her eyes closed. Above her left breast was a faded out mark, Deleim’s own mark, the only thing she had left; the only proof of the love she once shared with her late husband.

“Teach… No, Deleim, I promise.”

“Hmm?” She opened her eyes once more.

“I know you disagree with the deal I struck, with Impeerio I mean, but I promise I’ll get revenge for your husband and son.”

Deleim, like Ange and I, had lost her family and home thanks to the Blood Hounds. It’s why the three of us were together, it’s why we stayed together through the years going from place to place.

Deleim sighed, “Haven’t I told you,” she said sternly, “Don’t bring that stuff up during times like this.”

“I just needed you to know.”

“Right,” she said before sitting up with a huff, her breast falling into form under gravity’s pull. “You need to perfect knowing when to bring stuff up.” She sounded angry, the angriest I heard her all day.

“Do-Do you want me to hurt you again?” I asked as I grabbed hold of her arm. She seemed to like this kind of play-

“Hey!”

“Sorry!” I said, quickly pulling back, “My bad, I misread the situation,”

“No! Look over there!” Deleim directed my gaze over to the room door and a mysterious purple smoke that was seeping in from outside.

I jumped out of bed and tossed on my bottoms while keeping an eye on the door, “What is that? Is it an enemy attack?”

As I inched closer to the door and the smoke, I ran through my head what could be going on. Was it a fire? Some sort of magic smoke? Was it a racial trait? The smoke was coming into the room quickly.

“What does it smell like? Is it a fire?” I asked aloud as I brought my nose closer; if it was poison a quick sniff wouldn’t hurt me thanks to my immunities as an ogre.

“Don’t sniff that!” Deleim screamed.

But it was too late, I had taken a quick whiff and had turned around to look back at her. She had covered her face in a mask made of amethyst that she conjured.

Did she figure something out?

But before I could vocalize my thoughts, I felt myself stumbling backwards and experienced my vision going black.