Learner’s notes: [Redacted to protect silly human privacy]

[Redacted] feels amazing. I thought I understood the parasympathetic nervous system and how it enhances the senses in preparation for copulation, but experiencing it?

I was way off.

When [Redacted], it sent shivers all the way up my arms and into my spine, a cascading response to being touched. The sensation felt as though it hit my brain and amplified then reverberated back down, between my legs.

It was a strange sensation, combining aspects of an itch and swelling heat, radiating outward from my genitals. It was intolerable.

Somehow, my brain felt that the only way to satisfy this itch, to tame this heat, was to put something inside it, or more accurately, someone.

Kissing feels strange and smushy, but when done in a state of arousal, it somehow gains an extra dimension that I wasn’t aware existed. It felt as though there was a direct connection between my lips, my brain, and my genitals. Almost as it they were a prelude to the physical connection that would soon follow.

Something I wasn’t prepared for was when [Redacted], my lungs seized and it forced an involuntary moan out of me. It was an incredible sensation, as if a wave had crested inside my mind, and the water temporarily washed away any control I have over my body.

This repeated ad nauseum. Every time my body adjusted to the sensations, it would overreact with another moan at the slightest change in rhythm, as if hungering for something. [Redacted], and was happy to indulge my curiosity.

The stream of sensation from copulation itself was nearly overwhelming, but when [Redacted], it was as if a second stream was added to the first, and together, the two raised the average of my my fuzzy-headed pleasure to another level.

It is important to note that at the time, I was unable to move, think, or speak coherent sentences, so all of these notes are taken during the aftermath. Perhaps this intriguing physiological response is meant to make females more docile during copulation, but it feels amazing.

This unprompted breeding didn’t last long, because my body was unable to continue after my first experience with climax, but I do know one thing for sure:

This requires more study.

Learner and Learner were sitting across from each other, sitting on either side of the stream, dipping their feet in the warm water of the stream as they talked.

“So, what did you think?” Learner asked her brain, looking down at her tessellated toes as the water swept around them.

Normally she would be concerned that a few units might get swept away by the water and start their own rival colony, but in this dreamspace, she was safe to splash around as much as she liked.

The scenery was from a stream they’d discovered when exploring the jungle, a private little rivulet that came above ground in a narrow little alcove only they knew about. It must have been heated by an underground hot spring, because it was always warm.

It was their place to meet and discuss the day’s events while Learner slept.

“You were there,” Learner said, her blush deepening under the dusky skin. “You felt everything I did.”

“Maybe, but I’m confident I didn’t experience the emotions the same way you did.” Learner said, tapping her chest, pointing to where her heart would be, if she had one. The heart was a common human symbol for emotions.

Body language! Learner thought, proud of her grasp of human communication.

Her daughter rolled her eyes and huffed, expressing more meaning in a fraction of a second than Learner had in several times that duration. The obvious difference in skill made Learner both proud and embarrassed of her own linguistic inadequacies.

“I don’t really want to talk about it with my mom.” Learner said, raising her brows and cocking her head in a manner that suggested subtext.

“Why not?” Learner asked, unable to parse the body language.

“Because you’re my mom! You’re not…I can’t…”

Human Learner crossed her arms and glowered at Learner.

“You can talk about it with me.” A voice called from further down the stream, where a girl with a nearly identical face sat, splashing her feet in the river.

It only took a fraction of a second to recognize Kala, the human girl who had given Learner her first taste of the human form.

“Are you actually here?” Human Learner asked. “Or are you just mom messing with my head?”

“I’m not doing it,” Learner said, shaking her head.

“I thought I’d check in on you three. See how my husband is doing.”

Human Learner’s eyes widened. “Oh. OH. Fine. He’s fine. Nothing out of the ordinary.” She said, her shoulders tensing, arms wrapping around her chest defensively.

Human Learner’s brain was ideal, which actually was a disservice in some respects. She had a hard time lying to people, her sense of right and wrong was too strong to do so without a great amount of accompanying guilt, which made her stiffen up in the moment.

Case in point, Learner thought, watching her daughter try to defuse suspicion in the most suspicious way possible. Even Learner’s basic mastery of body language could see the girl was hiding something.

“Oh, good, good. I was worried something bad might have happened,” Kala said, her lips forming a faint smile as she spoke. “It would just tear me up inside if he’d gotten hurt while he was away.”

“Nope. He’s fine. Well, he did get hurt, but it was temporary, he’s fine now. We’re all fine here…How are you?” Human Learner said, trying to look as casual as possible, leaning back against a tree, her spine ramrod straight.

“I’m exhausted, honestly,” Kala said, leaning back and stretching out on the soft, loamy earth. “I’m spending all my time building the connection between the March and Gadvera, getting the two states ready to come under my control when I inherit the throne. Do you know how infuriating it is trying to get all the laws to match up? I missed a comma, and spent the entire night paying for it.” Kala heaved a sigh.

“I was hoping to visit Calvin this evening, but he was so deep asleep that he was practically dead to the world. Totally unresponsive. The battle must have been exhausting.”

Learner frowned. That’s not right.

“The battle, yes!” Human Learner said. “He was very tired…after the battle.”

“I would appreciate it if you would stop teasing my brain.” Learner said, transmitting her understanding of the situation wordlessly to her brain. “You know Calvin doesn’t sleep anymore.”

Her brain was just too panicked and guilty to realize Kala had been teasing in the moment.

“But she’s so fun to tease!” Kala said, a huge grin spreading across her face. “Look at those cheeks, those lips! She’s so…” Kala made squeezing motions with her hands. “Teasable.”

“So, you’re not mad?” Learner’s brain asked.

“Mad about what?” Kala said, straightening, a scowl blooming on her face. “Did you do something I should be mad about?”

“Uh, I-“ Learner’s brain swallowed guiltily.

“Kala.” Learner warned.

“Oh, fine. No, I’m not mad that you had sex. A little envious, but not mad.”

“How do you –“

“Girl, my vision transcends space and time. I can literally see a conversation between a brain and a tumor separated by a membrane a few cells thick, so you can bet your ass I can creep on my husband when he’s getting some…for research purposes.”

Kala waved a hand.

“I mean, you two aren’t really my type, ‘cuz I helped raise you and it’s like looking in a mirror, but watching a pillowy version of myself being conquered for the first time by my beau?” Kala closed her eyes and grunted. “Spicy.”

“Did I ever mention Kala’s proclivities to you?” Learner asked her brain.

“I don’t think I was conscious at that point in time, no.” Learner’s brain replied, staring at the perverted seer with wide eyes. “I also have to scrub the image of half the people I know watching my first time out of my fucking head now.”

“Ella was awake, too.” Kala said.

Learner’s brain buried her head in her hands.

“Anyhoo, welcome to the team.”

“Gods, I can’t believe everybody knows already.” her brain groaned, pulling her hands down her face.

“Nadia doesn’t know,” Learner said helpfully.

“Oh right, Nadia,” her brain said, frowning. “Did Calvin ever –“

“Nope.” Kala said with a chopping motion. “That bitch is crazy, and shouldn’t be touched with a ten foot pole.”

Learner nodded in agreement. “She’s got problems, and that’s coming from a creature from beyond the pale.”

***Nadia, Crazy Bitch***

Do you have any idea how hard it is to set up a psychic antennae? Nadia thought as she tugged a giant into position up on the side of a mountain. She wanted to complain out loud, but unfortunately –

None of these godsdamned giants have gods-damned vocal cords.

Apparently One didn’t think it was necessary for his minions to communicate with each other. A valid point given that they were all connected to him already, and didn’t actually need to speak.

Still, it was infuriating not being able to voice her grievances with the world at large.

Gods I didn’t know I’d miss it this bad. I feel like a prize stallion that’s been gelded. Or a gladiator whose career was ended by a low blow. Or a prisoner who’s been sentenced to hard labor stacking wood at a brothel after he’s been castrated.

In short, I feel like my nuts have been chopped off.

Nadia had been inside men’s bodies before, and while the feel of balls slapping back and forth on her thigh was intriguing for a while, constantly smelling like fried Tarak was a deal-breaker.

Well, if it got me home, I’d settle for a man’s body for a little while.

Nadia was currently working on her escape route. Aside from the map, she’d arranged a few pieces of devious sabotage, but none quite measured up to the level of ire she felt at being ignored.

Still, she’d realized that she couldn’t possibly cover the entire continent by herself, and if One was ignoring her, she should take the opportunity to escape and take the news back to Calvin.

MM, Calvin. Nadia’s lips peeled away from her slavering jaws, revealing knuckle-sized teeth. I wonder if he looks any older now. I know it’s only been a few months, but he was in the middle of a growth spurt last I saw him…

It was practically her duty to check his growth.

Maybe if I try to kill him again…

No! Nadia thought, shaking her head. Distraction bad. BAD! This needs precision!

Nadia once again glanced up at the landmark and continued dragging the comatose body toward the area she’d marked out beforehand.

Hah, poor Barb. Evil bitch taught me the value of proper planning, winds up dying to a poorly planned out assassination. Oh well, I’m sure she’s running the place down there in the Abyss, because she sure didn’t go to the other place.

Finally Nadia came across the x she’d dug into the side of the mountain range, dropping the creature’s skull precisely in the center.

Making a psychic antenna was part art, part science, and it was yet another secret royal technique her father didn’t know she knew.

Despite being something of an art, it did require great precision. So much so that she’d had to calculate the curvature of Marconen to make sure she landed in the right spot, and not fifteen hundred miles in the air.

When she’d snuck into One’s body, she’d been riding the coat-tails of a huge bridge of mental energy, a beam of power that had connected the two continents together.

Now she was stuck on this side of the ocean, bored out of her mind and unable to speak or torment anyone.

Intolerable.

So, she was making another bridge.

The way a psychic antennae worked was to draw an arc with brains laced with your power, artificially increasing the size of your reach. At the triangulated center of the arc was the destination, where their power would overlap and give her a roughly hundred mile area to find a new body.

Her father used the throne’s connection to the citizens of Iletha in a similar way, increasing his range to cover half the continent.

A hundred miles wasn’t a lot, closer to a pinprick than half the continent, but Nadia was fairly sure she did the math right. She should touch down in Novasted, a little town on the coast.

Fairly sure. But who knows, true death could be fun too.

The last brain placed, Nadia dusted off her hands before she lit them up, dumping all her Bent into the thirty-two brains scattered around the mountainside and beach.

Mnemonic Linking

Astral Projection

0/38 Bent remaining.

The ocean in front of her blurred as her sense of scale warped radically, and Nadia couldn’t help but let out an excited whoop.

Unfortunately, it sounded like a pig’s mating call.

Fucking vocal cords.

***Elaine Trudeau***

Elaine was carrying an armload of feed out to her father’s Guar, ignoring the itchy sensation as it scratched her neck and shoulder.

After this, it’s dinner, cleanup and bedtime, gotta make sure to check up on Janie, make sure she’d not eating her own dung again. Only the gods knew how the dumb animal had gotten the taste for it, but it was a surefire way for a guar to lose a calf.

Elaine was distracted from her usual Wrapping-up-the-day thought when she heard dull impact sounds and the distinctive whine of the village idiot.

Elaine dropped the feed and broke into a sprint, following the sound into the darkness, where she saw three dark shapes kicking a whining lump on the ground…

Tommy Boulanger. The baker’s son was incapable of caring for himself, pissed his pants constantly, was incapable of speaking fluently to anyone outside of his immediate family, and tended to emit a high pitched whine when he was stressed.

“Get away from him!” Elaine shouted, hiking up her skirt and sprinting forward. Lost in the urgency of the moment, she drop-kicked one of the dark forms, sending him tumbling over into the nearby weeds.

Elaine fell on top of Tommy, covering him with her own body.

“Whoah El, take it down a notch.” One of the boys said. In the closeness, she was able to make out the face of Will, the local bully, and leader of this particular lynching.

“We were just asking Tommy to show us his new toy.” Will said, his teeth flashing in the dark. Tommy was clutching a carved wooden duck close to his chest. The kind fishermen use for bobbers.

“I’m sure all of you standing around kicking him was polite conversation.”

“Basically.” Will said, nudging Tommy’s leg with his shoe. “Hey, Tom Tom, squeal if you want us to keep kicking you.”

Predictably, Tommy kept whining, his voice a constant backround drone as he whimpered uncontrollably.

“You see? He wants it.”

“You know as well as I do that’s not true. When will you grow some fucking balls and learn who isn’t worth your time?” Elaine demanded, trying to appeal to his arrogance.

Will chuckled. “Well put. You’re definitely more worth my time than this retard.”

“Ugh, my back..” The boy she’d kicked into the weeds groaned, rubbing his spine as he walked back to the rest of the group.

“Get lost, and I’ll tell my father about this,” Elaine said.

“Don’t you mean or you’ll tell your father?” Will asked.

Elaine had learned the hard way not to bargain with Will. She shook her head.

“Whatever you do tonight, my father will hear about it. It’s up to you to decide how severe the beating you receive will be.”

Will blanched.

“You strike a hard bargain,” He said, raising his hands. “I’ll back off today, but if you tell your pa about this, I’m gonna come after him again, harder. Stupid little Tommy is gonna fall from a high place and break his stupid neck, and it’ll be your fault.”

Elaine’s vision swam for a confusing moment, but she attributed it to the outrage she felt at Will’s brazen claims. Will and the other boys frowned for a second too, but she didn’t think anything of it.

Tommy’s ever-present whine vanished.

“Just get out of here,” Elaine said, pointing.

“Alright, Alright, you heard the lady. See you later, Tommy.” Will said, nudging Tommy one last time before he turned away.

“Oh, fuck, that hurts so good!” Tommy groaned into the dirt before Will had gotten a half-step away. The young man levered his torso up, smacking his bloodied lips and glancing down at the wooden duck in his hand. Tommy shrugged and tossed the wooden toy he’d endured a beating to protect into the weeds like a piece of trash.

The hairs on Elaine’s neck stood on end.

“I think I made the right choice,” Tommy said, brushing off his trousers. “Out of all of you, Tommy was the one who didn’t want to be here the most.”

“Goddamn, I think we kicked some brains into him!” one of the boy’s guffawed.

“Tommy, are you alright?” Elaine asked, climbing to her feet, a nagging feeling worming through her stomach.

“Ah, my knight in shining armor,” Tommy said, looking Elaine’s dirt-covered, frumpy clothes up and down. Slow and deliberately. “’Sup girl?”

“The fuck are you doing, Tommy?” Will asked, frowning.

“I’m hitting on what I assume is your half-sister and cousin,” Tommy said, cocking his head and glancing at Will. “Only the gods know with these small towns.”

Tommy raised his chin and stared at the stars. “Where the Abyss are we, anyway? I’m pretty sure I’m way off of Novastead. Latitude’s off by a couple degrees.”

He gave Will the same weighing look. “You’re not too bad yourself. If by some slim chance, you guys aren’t actually related, I wouldn’t mind the two of you ganging up on me. One in the hole, one on the pole, know what I mean? Otherwise it’s gonna have to be one at a time. Tommy don’t play that way.”

“The fuck are you doing, Tommy?” Will demanded, taking a step forward. He stretched out his neck, trying to appear tall, but Tommy was tall and lanky, and when he wasn’t hunched over and rocking back and forth mindlessly, he was actually the taller of the two.

He was stranding pretty straight right now. His bearing was almost...arrogant as he looked down at his tormentor.

Tommy clapped his hands together, beaming. “I’m just so happy to see people again. Gods, I’ve missed talking!”