"That was very kind of you."

Maki was reclining on the long backless lounge when I swaggered back to the living room, dressed in a conservative calf-length skirt and a white long-sleeved blouse with frilly lace cuffs and collar. It was still pleasantly disconcerting to see her so relaxed; I was glad to see the gains from last night weren't temporary.

"Hm?"

"Giving her that money. You have no shortage of problems that could be helped with money yourself."

"Ah. Marianne has three children," I said, holding up three fingers for emphasis. "Two thousand dollars will go a lot further for her. I can punch my way out of my problems."

"To be clear, I fully approve. I was merely commenting." She gave me an approving, proud smile. "Marianne told me you saved her daughter from being mugged. It's quite novel for me, you know, to be around a real hero. Running around, saving damsels – Why, I might swoon," she added dryly.

I meandered to the kitchen to put on another pot of coffee. "Picked the right place, think that's technically a fainting couch."

"It's a chaise lounge, James; a fainting couch has a partial back. I can't believe how little knowledge or control you had over these furnishings."

"Me and you both," I grumbled to myself. "Oh god," I slapped my forehead and full body cringed, "I just remembered your mom saw the bowl get knocked over."

Maki broke into a fit of laughter. "Jade eggs and golden cherries! What were you thinking?" I groaned. "If it makes you feel better, my mother is utterly charmed by you and is more than willing to ignore a few idiosyncrasies. Besides, everyone knows powerful martial artists can get a little…peculiar."

We passed some time on inconsequential matters; I'd call it small talk, but Maki had an encyclopedic knowledge of seemingly endless topics that lent depth to the conversations. I was happy to let her lead, and she seemed to enjoy the opportunity to show off. Maki hadn't spent a willing moment talking with a friend about anything and everything since Ken died, and I could tell that it was doing her some good.

I scratched one of the ghostly white marks on my side. There was a phantom itch traveling through the roadmap of freshly healed scars left behind from the fight. We were on the couch together now; she'd gotten up and pressed herself to my side the moment I sat down. Maki drank her coffee like a college student, which is to say continuously. I was up and down as I refilled our cups, enjoying the sight of her curled up on the couch like a pleased cat and how she perked up as I brought her more of her precious caffeine.

"It won't be too stressful on your end, don't worry. You'll be made to feel at home, and everyone will be on their best behavior for you. I will be interrogated after the fact by one to three curious family members at a time for days to weeks after you leave. But," she shrugged, "if you want the time off to recover mentally, I think you should take it."

"I'd love to meet your family, it's not that. It's just, ah, how do I explain this…Every time I leave the house, I feel like there's around a thirty percent chance something…" I struggled to describe it. How could I explain random and planned encounters without mentioning the Producers? "It's like I'm cursed to just constantly be going through crazy ass bullshit on a semi-regular basis for the amusement of some ephemeral, undefinable Audience that I can't perceive and yet am certain is watching me at all times. Which is why I was kind of hoping for the weekend off. Just chilling inside, maybe training in the backyard, but definitely not checking my phone, not investigating strange sounds at night, et cetera, et cetera."

A shadow fell over her face. She grieved for me; I suspected she thought I was going insane, being mentally affected by 'domain' in the same way a Kami might. I didn't know how to feel about that. "That sounds horrible, I'm so sorry."

"Nah, it's cool. It helps me get stronger faster." I flexed my bicep for emphasis. "I'm just hoping for a day or two down to catch my breath, is all."

"I meant the feeling of being watched and judged. I think I'd lose my mind."

I chuckled. Half of me knew and felt the same, even as my other half reveled in the feeling. "You get used to it," I said honestly. Maki was still frowning. I smiled, going so far as to roll a Charisma check to alleviate whatever pity she was currently feeling for me. "It actually scratches an itch for me. I love performing and I don't get that many opportunities to do so."

She gave a little laugh and shook her head. "Right, that follows. It takes all kinds, I guess. Not for me though, that's for certain, even if meant all the power in the world. The thought of being observed constantly, even in my own home—" she shuddered.

I hid my expression behind my coffee mug, and we passed into an amiable silence together. I was glad to learn that we were already in the phase of a relationship where silence could be both comfortable and welcome.

Maki broke it with a chagrinned and embarrassed smile. "I folded immediately to Marianne, you know? I didn't realize that you had kept her out of the Underworld, my apologies. When I met her at the door, I saw the scrubs and immediately said, 'Ah, you must be James' neighbor, the nurse. He's alright, don't worry.' Marianne leaped on that and asked me why you'd mentioned your neighbor was a nurse, why would you not be alright, and, well, she's a very sharp woman."

The miko blushed. Clearing her throat, she continued, "She has a tone and a look she gives you when asking questions. I felt compelled to answer truthfully as if I had to justify my actions from some never verbalized accusation."

"The Look! Surely, your mom had it as well. That was The Look in the hands of a widowed mother of three and lifelong Harbor Hill resident."

"Formidable. But regardless, I must own the mistake of letting her into the Underworld."

I scoffed. I couldn't see what she was so worried about. "Don't worry about it. Marianne's a big girl, she'll be fine."

Maki shook her head, annoyed. "Sometimes I forget how little formal training you have. James, being open to the spiritual side of the world invites ill spirits and malignant energies, and one can't ever be completely closed off if they are awake to the existence of the dark powers."

"Oh please, as if being ignorant of the dangers is much safer. There's a ghost that crawls into people's windows and drowns their newborn babies. I mean, what the fuck."

"Which is why there's a common superstition to keep the windows closed when it's raining if there's an infant in the home. There's a middle ground that most people exist in, one that Marianne existed in prior to me dragging her out from that safety."

I disagreed with the idea that there was safety in ignorance but arguing it with Maki would be like headbutting falling bricks for the next however long it would take.

"Whatever. What's done is done. She's a close friend, a neighbor, and my occasional trauma nurse, I'm sure she would have found out eventually. I'm glad you were the one explaining things and not me. Speaking of, if you wouldn't mind staying late, there's someone else I'd like you to meet. My senior student, Annie is supposed to be by after work to train and film, but while I have you, I could use an expert opinion on what's going on with her."

I gave Maki a thorough rundown of how I'd unlocked Annie's Qi and the changes I'd noticed in her body and Qi network. Her eyes lit up when I described the extent of my training and teaching ability, but she stayed focused on the topic at hand, quiet save for when she asked for clarification.

Articulating responses to her questions was helping me get a better grasp of what was happening, once more proving that I'd been right to trust her. The value of having a sounding board alone was invaluable. "No, whatever's going on with her is totally unlike what's happening to me. My body is being affected by the incredible amount of Qi I have; Annie only has a moderate amount more than an average person. Her body and Qi are being transformed at a deeper, more fundamental level, one that I'm not sure where to begin looking for and probably couldn't identify if I found it."

"Hmm. Nothing immediately leaps to mind. I'll try to read her energy and if I take the time to prepare a few talismans, I should be able to tell if she's not fully human any longer and potentially what type of entity she's becoming. Anything more than that will require research and preparation, but we'll have a starting ground."

"Thanks, feel free to summon whatever Kami you need through the shrine in the meditation chamber." I watched her closely as I mentioned the chamber. Maki was the most inquisitive and perceptive person I knew, and yet the sudden addition of a working shrine and Zen Garden to my apartment had sparked only passing interest in her. The Producers were flexing their muscles.

She nodded. "I'll try to get as much as I can without calling on outside help. Am I to take it from your tone that you want to be cautious about how you proceed with this?"

"Yes, extremely. Annie is being changed at the genetic level – I want to be as delicate as possible. I'll be biting the bullet and giving my mother a call as well, but I don't expect she'll be able to give me much. Li-Family Eagle Style has no famous spiritual techniques; there are three unofficial 'paths' different family members tend to go down with the Art, bodyguard, assassin, or brawler – not a wizard amongst us. But maybe she'll have heard about something similar before, Ma's been around for a minute."

Maki shifted her weight slightly, pulling her legs under her and turning slightly towards me. There was less contact, but it was suddenly less familial and much more intimate. Before her touch had reminded me of being cuddled up with my sister, watching a movie in the wintertime – not so much anymore. She rested her elbow on my shoulder and began playing with the hair on the back of my head.

"Very sensible. I must say, James, this is a side of you I wasn't sure you possessed. Deliberate, thorough, risk-averse – these were qualities I thought I would have to wring out of you."

"Wring out of me, eh?" I wagged my brows at her.

She was too smug to be offended. "It does seem to have worked this time. Why not again?"

"Woah, hang on." I raised a finger in objection. "As much as I'd love to incentivize this line of thinking, you did not fuck me reasonable. I'm always capable of reason, it's just sometimes the situation doesn't call for it."

"Preposterous."

"Agree to disagree. But regardless, last night was a wake-up call. I need to include prep time when I'm thinking about doing these big stunts in the future. It was pure luck the Tigers had a distillery there. Now, if I had known it was there, I could have gone for it intentionally, maybe even set up for the kill." I shrugged dismissively. "It is what it is, but for next time, you'll be happy to know that my more patient half is awake and active."

"And are you going to be listening to this better half?" Her voice dripped skepticism.

I shook my head. "It's deeper than that. You see, there are two wolves inside me. These wolves, they're the kind that if they were walking in a forest, one wolf," I raised my left arm, "he'd be all nonchalant and say, 'Hey, I'm going to walk on this nice path, because it's way more convenient and faster. I don't care if anyone sees me because I'm cool as hell, and I'd beat 'em up if they had a problem.' Then there's this other wolf," I raised my right arm, "and he doesn't even have to think about it, he's happily slinking unseen through the bushes, loving that no one's looking at him. He's like, 'Why would I walk on the path, I'm a wolf. I'm just as capable of moving around through the brambles, and it's way safer, and I'm not sure it's a given that it's faster to take the human paths to begin with. Can we please be normal for once?'"

Maki grabbed my right wrist and gently put it down. "James, there is not a 'normal' wolf inside you, to use the terminology of this extraordinary metaphor."

"You would naturally believe that, because that wolf was asleep, you see."

She narrowed her eyes. "You deliberately picked the most boyishly stupid way to frame this as you could, didn't you?"

"You know, Maki," I said seriously, "some say there are two wolves inside all of us."

"Oh god," she groaned. I started giggling.

To put it in terms without using the extremely helpful and self-explanatory wolf analogy, last night had finally given me enough information about this world and Black Harbor that I could begin to engage with the situation as Alan. When I got here, though the city may have appeared recognizably modern and American at first, all the important deciding factors about my day-to-day life did not make any sense to half of me, at all. Thrust into the life of a fighting game DLC character, the part of me that had lived into his early thirties without getting into a single fight was left standing off to the side, hands on his hips, shaking his head at everything in baffled alarm.

I already had a decent picture of the martial side of the Underworld from my memories and secondhand information. Last night had only been a small subsection of the broader supernatural world, but it was enough to work with. I got to see a little mortal magic in action, learned more than perhaps I'd have preferred about what ghosts and gods were capable of, and finally got an idea of what a Lesser Evil could be – Jesus Christ, what a sick joke that was.

Still, I now had enough information to actually engage with the world using the memories and expectations of my past life. I was no longer fumbling in the dark, forced to fly by the seat of my pants. I could begin to be more methodical about my high-action hijinks.

"Regardless of the number of feral animals inside you or their individual personalities, I wanted to say that I've noticed the positive changes in you," said Maki, continuing to play with my hair. Her other hand had moved to my abs, fingers stroking the defined channels between the muscles. "I'm also pleasantly surprised by how open you've been. Thank you, sincerely, for your trust. The image you project fooled me into expecting more senseless machismo out of you. I thought you'd be hiding more from me, foolishly trying to shoulder your burdens alone out of pride and bravado."

My first reaction was to bristle, but I did portray myself as a himbo, and pointlessly rejecting a hyper-competent genius's help would be fantastically stupid, so I took it as a complement of my acting skills instead.

"Nah, my shits all kinds of fucked." I paused to savor Maki's long, tired blink. "But for real, I can't afford to be a cool noir badass." Plus, I'd have to start smoking cigarettes for the aesthetic, and I hated the smell they left behind. "And frankly, the reason I'm brash and bold has nothing to do with being a man and everything to do with being an action hero – an archetype for everyone no matter sex, gender, race, nationality, or species for that matter! Let's be honest, everyone on the planet would watch an Air-Bud-style Taken-esque movie with a literal dog and/or cat in the Liam Neeson role. No voiceovers, either, just think, it may be the perfect—" I gasped.

Atoms collided within my mind, triggering a perfect nuclear cascade. My pupils dilated, continuing past the physical bounds of my eyeballs and skull, and maybe even dimension, as I had the greatest idea I'd ever had in either of my two lives.

I said with total clarity, "I must teach a cat martial arts. It will be the most viral video of all time." If it worked, I might be able to find everyone without the tournament! Victor at the very least would be sure to find me. The man loved cat videos – but then, who didn't?

Oh, and I'd have a weapon against that fucking rat!

"And there it is…" Maki sighed and swung her leg over mine so that she was straddling me and settled herself down in my lap. She nestled her hips as close as possible, only several layers of dress and underwear keeping our sexes apart. "I was waiting for the impulsiveness to return. You are what you are, James Li."

"Hey! This is a moment of genuine brilliance—"

Maki put a finger across my lips. "More brilliant than establishing proper defenses against the multitude of physical and supernatural threats that are being levied against you as we speak?"

"I could do both…"

"Can you? Researching sex magic with me, cleaning up Harbor Hill, and training your senior student are all disparate goals but they work towards the same purpose, developing your strength and making you and those you care for safer. How does making a series of JinJin videos training a cat in kung fu play into those goals?"

I frowned. There was little point in defending the idea from Maki, I could tell she wouldn't be moved by it. Annie on the other hand would be sure to see the genius of the plan. I couldn't wait to tell her about it.

"Yes, actually. For reasons I can't get into, I do need to become famous, and the sooner, the better." Even one more Player Character in my life would radically improve our chances of survival.

She nodded. "That's in keeping with several of my assumptions. However, you can't become famous if you're locked in a dungeon somewhere being milked for your seed or stuffed in a concrete drum at the bottom of the Beagle River. So again, I ask, can you really do both?"

Maki may have had something there, I reluctantly admitted to myself. To let me use Cultivator of Men on animals, at minimum, I would have to buy five or six Dice into the Animal Handling Skill and at least one of its minor feats, and that was the best-case scenario. I would likely need much more; I was already planning on investing in teaching and training, but realistically, I was looking at somewhere between two and four hundred Experience on top of that if I wanted to apply it to animals.

"Fuck. I might not." I bonelessly sagged into the couch with a petulant groan. "Ughhhh, fine – I'm not giving up on it yet, but at the very least I'll concede that teaching a cat kung fu will require more planning on my part."

"Good." She leaned forward and captured my lips with a kiss, passionate, though without tongue, and much more intimate than I'd been expecting. She must have read my surprise; pulling away, she clarified, "As your partner, I must incentivize responsible decisions with positive reward mechanisms. The literature quite conclusively supports rewards over punishments and incentives over threats."

"Easy there, Pavlov. You can't train me like a puppy. This dog don't bark, it bites."

Maki slid her hands under my pecs and thumbed my nipples with a challenging grin. "We'll see. When does your senior student get off from work?"

"Around eight tonight. How long do you think it'll take for you to get ready for her?"

She cooed and tightened her thighs around my hips. "Oooh, such a sexy question about scheduling," she said in a ridiculous, airy tone. "I love a reliable lover. We have at least an hour for me to spoil you senseless and make my appreciation known."

"This is how I imagine autistic train guys sext." Maki flicked my nose. "Ow! It was a compliment! Everyone loves autistic train guys, so wholesome." I mean, I wouldn't want to be cornered by one at a party, but she didn't need to know that.

She crossed her arms and tossed her hair. "Here I was, all excited to show off my growing sexual competencies, but if you'd rather joke around…"

"Woah! Let's not get carried away." I lowered my voice into something deep and husky, "You know, I've been thinking about opening a high-yield savings account at a local credit union."

Maki laughed before kissing me again. Her tongue darted out as she pulled away, cheekily licking the tip of mine. Desire surged in me at the gesture, completely unrelated to any artificial lust from erotic sorcery this time – I just found it impossibly cute and striking coming from Maki of all people. "Good, puppy. See, you can be trained after all."

I had to fight back the impulse to hold her where she was by her hips as she rose off of me. She pinched the sides of her long, black skirt and swished it as she turned side to side, the very image of the 'Yamato Nadeshiko', or the idealized Japanese woman. The outfit, while conservative, complemented the thin, elegant lines of her body. Her blouse, tucked tightly into her high-waisted skirt, was pulled tight across her chest, and through its thin white cotton, I could just make out the fine lace of her white bra beneath.

"Do you like my outfit?" she asked. "My mother brought it for me from my family home. I forgot I owned it, honestly. This would have been a common pairing for me in high school."

"Damn, you were classy as hell as a teen, Maki. I love it, really suits you."

She preened and even hid a blush with a little cough. I wondered if she was a fashionista before Ken's death – she did have a model's body, it'd be a shame if she wasn't. "Thank you. Do you find anything strange with it?"

I scanned her up and down; it was a lacy, button-up blouse tucked into a long black, semi-pleated skirt which did an excellent job of showing off the roundness of her hips. She wore no jewelry and was barefoot. "There's something strange to find?" She nodded. "Hmm."

I could have rolled a Skill, but I wanted to see if I could figure it out on my own first. The longer I looked, the more of a 'tip-of-the-tongue' sensation growing in me. Less was more here, the longer I studied her clothes, the more badly I wanted to peel them off her, to see if perhaps Ishida Ai had brought her daughter a pair of matching lacy panties to go with the bra.

Thinking out loud, I said slowly, "Your mom brought it from your family home, what was left behind there from before you moved to an apartment in University City. So, then…why…"

Why, why, why, I repeated in my head, trying to piece together what I was feeling. I found my eyes pulled to her chest, and not for the usual reasons either.

"Would you like to touch?"

"No—I mean, fuck. Yes, obviously, but I don't think I need to."

I knew I shouldn't be staring at her breasts like this, that it was the definition of creep behavior, but I couldn't deny that there was something there, something about the—

"Wait. You left lingerie behind when you went to college? And then your mom grabbed it to bring here?"

Maki clapped once and jumped back onto my lap. She grabbed my face with both hands and planted a big platonic smooch on my cheek. "I'm so proud of you, I knew you'd get there! No, I didn't leave lingerie in my childhood dresser, although I wouldn't put it past my mother to have brought it if there was any there. She's fond of you, and of us as a pair."

She took my hands and planted them on her tits. "What do you think?"

"They're great, ten out of ten, would fuck again."

She rolled her eyes. "James."

I smiled and started actually inspecting her through touch and not merely groping. "It's well-fitted, I'm not finding any skin bulges or signs of pinching. Whose is it?"

Maki smirked. "Whose is what?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Nothing shifted, nothing changed, not truly, but the sensation of holding a pair of bra-covered breasts was slowly replaced by that of braless ones. Under her shirt, a slow-moving, bright blue fire burned away the lingerie without harming her, me, or her blouse.

I watched, mouth open. The lace burned in intricate patterns as the flames consumed the cups of the bra, registering neither as heat to my touch nor as fire to my Qi-nature. "Holy shit."

"Fox-fire," she said with great pride. "One of the most potent forms of illusion, on par with if not greater than fairy Glamour. My mother took over an hour to recognize its presence today, and even she had to clarify that I hadn't brought lingerie with me on my mission."

"It holds up to touch?"

"Of course, it is the tool of the great Kitsune, it would be useless if it couldn't survive such simple scrutiny. Don't worry," she added, seeing the concern in my face, "it is exceptionally rare. I've been trying to replicate the effect since I was a child. The Shrine hosts a kimono event with local and Japanese designers during Fashion Week, and I would dream for weeks after it of conjuring the one-of-a-kind, ludicrously expensive silk pieces I saw there. Unfortunately, even as a child, it was clear that I lacked the temperament required to be a regular Petitioner of either of our two fox spirits. They are fickle with their power, and quick to ask for more and more from their favorite mortals."

Her eyes were twinkling, and I could see where this was going. "Then you drank down some of that sweet, sweet James-branded jizz. I thought you were being unusually proud and approving of me."

"Don't be ridiculous, if I've seemed unusually approving it's only because you've been unusually reasonable." I raised an eyebrow in response. A hint of pink colored her cheeks; she was too self-aware to fully believe that. "Perhaps I've been slightly biased in your favor by the circumstances, but it has nothing to do with your semen. I already owe you so much, the access to a universal power source is only an added benefit."

It was good to know that Maki registered my three guaranteed Successes on any Social interactions with her from Hero's Harem as a 'slight' bias.

"Speaking of owing you…" Maki undid the top button of her blouse. "I made you a promise last night."

"To get nasty? Don't sweat it, that was before we agreed to be partners. We've got plenty of time to check off every sticky box on the nasty-list. Honestly, it makes sense to keep certain ones uncrossed so that I can use them as sources of power later on, when I know more about the specific challenges ahead."

Maki moaned a completely unbelievable moan that would have seen her kicked off of a porn set for terrible acting. "Oh, baby, if you get any more reliable I'm going to cum."

I laughed before realizing that she hadn't been joking. "Wait, were you being serious?" I laughed harder.

"Sh-shut up! Laugh all you want, James, but sexual incentives have moved men and women much more resolute than you through all of human history."

My jaw dropped. "You're actually planning to try to use sex to keep me reasonable?" Maki pouted angrily. "HAHAHAHAHA! How are you quietly the craziest person I know?"

"It's a great plan!"

"I'm borderline a sexual demigod, woman. The plan is to manipulate me through sex. It's a terrible plan!"

"Hmph. I'll rise to the occasion, of course." She stuck her hands to the side. "Undress me."

So good at reading people, so bad at manipulating them – a morally righteous way to live your life, I thought. It was clear she considered this a power move; I would have torn her shirt open as a riposte, but that would mean I'd be sheepishly sewing the buttons on later so that I didn't feel like an asshole.

Her lips twitched upwards as I started undoing the rest of her buttons. I shook my head. "Don't look so smug. You're about to be topless and in my lap."

"It's only an incentive if you view it as a reward, James. I have you right where I want you."

I smiled, made eye contact, and opened the gates of Gorgon's Lust, a feat I hadn't used since my first night with Marianne. I found it too crude, a sledgehammer compared to my many other fine instruments of pleasure. A sharp spike of lust leaped from my eyes to hers, causing her entire body to go rigid as she mustered her willpower to fight off a spontaneous orgasm. Maki fell forward, resting her forehead against my sternum, and made a sound like an angry cat.

"Jerk," she bit out past gritted teeth.

I continued unbuttoning her blouse, pulling it out from under the high waist of her skirt. "What was that?"

She pushed herself back and let me pull her arms through the sleeves of her blouse. Her nipples were like glass cutters and her pupils had dilated slightly. I dragged my hands roughly up her sides, enjoying the way her soft, pale skin molded to my firm hold, and leaned forward to take a nipple into my mouth.

Maki stopped me with a hand on my forehead. "Wait. I," she gulped nervously, "ehm, could I make a request? This isn't a ploy on my end, and you're of course free to refuse."

She was half-acting; the emotions at the root were honest, but she was playing them up to try and move me. I tutted mentally – it was on now.

"You could ask me for a star, and I'd spend my life trying to pluck it from the sky," I said, making a formal Seduction + Charisma roll.

Her face and down past her neck turned red and she had to look away to control herself. "Th-thanks," she said in a small voice. Clearing her throat, she continued with her usual confidence, "I wanted to ask you if we could try sex without your lust magic. I'd like to see the difference for comparison." I stayed silent, waiting for the real reason. After a moment she reluctantly added, "And, you know, for the first time, I thought it might be nice…"

I ran my knuckles gently down her side reassuringly. "That's all? You don't have to justify your desires to me, and certainly not your boundaries."

She quickly shook her head. "It isn't a boundary, I'm just being, well, frankly, perhaps, needlessly sentimental. I shouldn't be, since we aren't actually dating but—"

"Maki, it's fine. I'm happy to show off my non-magical talents, on one condition. Ask me for something genuinely unhinged sexually, something you'd assume I wouldn't do for you."

"Why?"

"Why not? Maybe I want to know what makes you tick, maybe I want you to know that I really would rob the heavens for you. Go on, we both know you've got something crazy in the chamber, shoot."

Maki bit her lip. "Okay, but again, feel free to say no—"

"I'm feeling free, babe."

She thought about it a little, wobbling her head back and forth. I got the impression she was fairly vanilla, but this was Maki, and we were in a porn world – I was sure she had something strange to request.

"After you…" she squeaked something I couldn't make out.

"Pardon?"

Clearing her throat and doing an admirable job of pretending she wasn't a deep rose-red color, she said, "I asked if after you learn to shapeshift, would you be willing to have sex with me as me? As in, would you shapeshift into my body before we had sex. One of the fox spirits used to wear my shape and tease me when I was growing up and it's become the fetish that I can't get out of my head."

"Hahahahahaha! Holy shit, that's what I'm talking about! Hey, hey, I'm not making fun of you," I added, seeing her reaction. "Well, okay, maybe a little, but I'm totally down; that's the sort of harmless degeneracy that I need to embrace if I want to get stronger. It is fucking weird, not going to lie. And I'm a bit confused as to why you seem sure I'll learn to shapeshift."

"Come now, James, we can both read the writing on the wall, this mortal form of yours is only transitionary. Almost every divine spirit is capable of taking other forms. That said, if you only develop a single other form, then I'd rather it not be me, but if the stars align…"

I wasn't sure any of that was a given, but now wasn't the time. "That could be years away."

"I'm a patient woman."

"You don't have to be. I'd be willing to actively pursue shapeshifting if you asked me to, purely because you asked. Then you could fuck me in whatever body you want – I don't give a shit."

She reared back aghast. "I can't ask that! It's too much."

"I'm telling you, you can."

"James, I…the things I was saying last night about how I'd take you if you were a woman were only to tease you. I don't expect you to shed your gender identity—"

I laughed. "Maki, if Loki can fuck a stallion as a mare and give birth to its eight-legged kid, I can have sex with a human female as a human female without worrying about any of that. Also, I identify as an action hero – no, as the Action Hero; I'm Sarah Connor and the goddamn Terminator, alright. So come on, what do you say? Let's go on this journey of sexual metamorphosis together."

I was half following the lead given to me by the Seduction roll, and half making the call in the moment. In truth, yes, I was uncomfortable with the idea of having sex as a woman, and doubly so with the idea of having sex as Maki with Maki – a delightfully insane proposition. But with my life, my friends' lives, and my family and my city's safety on the line, discomfort wasn't going to stop me from collecting the fat EXP bag the Producers would be sure to reward me with.

I felt her breath hitch and watched as she fought back the excitement in her face. "You won't prioritize it above your safety?"

"Nope. I'm gonna have to fight, like, one to three shapeshifters before I figure it out anyway, so no need to worry there."

"Kami-sama," she whispered to herself before mustering her courage with a deep, meditative breath. "Then, please, if you wouldn't mind."

"Please…"

"Please learn to shapeshift into a feminine form, and then specifically into me."

"So…"

A little manic smile seized her face in a worrying rictus. "So—so that I can," she said, each word coming twice as fast as the last, "have sex with a hotter version of myself."

I gave her a thumbs up. "You've got my word that I'll learn to shapeshift to satisfy your self-cest kink."

She let out a long breath and relaxed onto me, wrapping her arms around me and nuzzling her nose into the crook of my neck. Finally, without my bandages and her clothes in the way, I was able to feel her bare breasts against my chest. "Ahhhhh, that feels amazing, it's like I've physically unburdened myself. I don't know how long I was carrying that shame, probably since puberty. 'Self-cest,' hm? Of course, there's a term for it – feels silly to have even been worried."

Maki kissed her way up my neck and chin and took my lips, nonverbally communicating her appreciation with a remarkably loving, affectionate kiss, only pausing once she could no longer hold her breath. The idea that this was a purely platonic relationship was becoming more tenuous by the minute.

The miko closed her eyes and pulled back from me, pointing her head to the sky. "Kami-sama, I wish that every shy lesbian in Black Harbor one day grows up to have an open-minded demigod for a lover."

"I think you're going to have to be okay with being a special case in that regard, Maki."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe we can do a bi-yearly raffle for charity."

She stood up in front of me once more. Reaching behind her, she unclasped the waist of her skirt and let it fall off her long, narrow legs. A pair of lacy white panties that matched her fox-fire bra was all that she was wearing now.

"Inspect them."

I pinched the cloth between my fingers, marveling at how real it felt. Circulating some Qi between my thumb and forefinger, I tried to sense if they were in any way unique – nothing, not even the hint of Fire-Qi. I'd have to look elsewhere if I was going to try and replicate the power. I rubbed down the front, feeling the little bumps and ridges of the immaculate lacework, letting a finger separate her lips as it went. Maki was wet, and more interestingly, so were the panties – they even stained as they soaked in more of her grool.

"What the fuck," I muttered. Was I simply helpless in the face of such illusions? Was there no way to ever be prepared for everything in this world without a large team of specialists?

"Maybe a closer look will help," teased Maki.

"Good idea."

She screamed in pleased surprise as I picked her up by the waist and moved her so that she was standing on the couch in front of me, legs straddling either side of my head. As much as I wanted to turn this sexy, I was still stuck on my total inability to pierce the illusion.

I laid my tongue flat, dug it into the growing damp spot where the panties were sticking to her wet labia, and licked up to her clit. Where my tongue had met the dry cloth left a dark patch, but it was distinctly different from what had already been affected by her natural lubrication. That section was stickier and slightly more reflective.

"Tastes real, feels real, looks real – I don't get it. Is it impossible to tell Foxfire apart from reality?"

Maki bonked me on the head with her fist. "That's because it was an invitation to take them off! I was about to show you!"

She started to squirm, trying to escape back to the floor, though admittedly not very hard. I kept her in place with ease, a single hand on her hip more than enough to overpower the thin, bookish woman. With an Eagle's Talon, I sliced the panties in two quick motions and pulled them free. They stuck momentarily to her skin, peeling away with long, sticky strands.

Within a few seconds, they had faded away into blue-green sparks before vanishing completely. Maki explained at my curious look, "Our bodies know a tremendous amount of information about our clothes, far more than is useful, so our brain normally shuts out those sensations from our perception. I spent nearly a decade refining and developing heuristics which could compartmentalize that information within my subconscious so that I could use them to create lifelike illusions of clothes, all I lacked was the power, the Foxfire itself."

"Then if I had dazed or overwhelmed your mind, then the illusions would drop? Pretty risky if you're going to use it for outerwear."

She smiled another approving smile and ran her nails along my scalp gently. "Which is why I didn't try. If my bra vanished in front of my mother and cousin, it would have been embarrassing, if my skirt and shirt though? Humiliating. But I think I would feel comfortable with doing so after a little more practice. Being dazed wouldn't stop the illusion, not while I still had the Foxfire or your semen with which to fuel the spell – it's mostly constructed from subconscious sensations of touch. However, if you were to overwhelm my mind by forcing me to divert all of my attention towards something else, then yes, the illusion would break."

"Huh. I can work with that, just need to be super distracting whenever I suspect an illusion is afoot."

"Or by being your usual erratic and unpredictable self. I wouldn't worry too much about illusionists, James – like the weather, you're a probabilistic phenomenon. Mortals can't hope to accurately predict your behavior." Went unsaid was, 'if even I can't do it.' Like the Great Detectives of fiction, Maki possessed equal parts pride and talent. "The best illusions require forethought; more witnesses, larger areas, and more active environments all create additional variables to consider. Then there's you, a complexity multiplier; will you turn into a towering flame or will you call forth a blanket of mist? Will several dozen ghosts arrive to save you?"

"I doubt that's going to happen twice. Keep them guessing though, that's good advice."

I reached my hands through her thighs, sunk my fingers into the meat of her butt cheeks, and pulled her forward and up, trapping her legs between my shoulders and the couch. She gasped, grabbing my head for balance.

Maki sipped her teeth. "You're as predictable as you could be. I saw this coming the moment you pulled me off the floor. Well, go ahead, get it out of your system. No magic though, no matter how it might sting your pride."

Her pussy was glistening in the soft lighting in front of my face, betraying her excitement. I looked up past her tummy, core muscles flexing for balance, and her perky breasts to her face, wreathed by pitch-black, silky strands of loose hair. She looked bored and nonplussed, confident that her opinion on receiving oral was unchanged, though her eyes were curious; I had surprised her before.

"Not a fan?"

"I don't even enjoy sixty-nining, too distracting, but I love giving. I'd be happy to show you just how much if you'd let me down."

"Tempting, but you know I've got to try it now."

"Yes, yes, I knew you would."

"Hey, sometimes to keep 'em guessing, you got to do exactly what they expect you to."

She rolled her eyes. "Just be quick about it. I want to feel your cock pulsing while it pumps your semen down my throat."

I maintained eye contact and gave a peck to her inner right thigh and then her left. I did my best to project how much I was enjoying this, already knowing how much she liked that from a partner and rolled my Sensuality + Seduction with a loving lick through her damp lips.

Maki stood no chance, even without any magic; she was already a member of my Hero's Harem, and from that, we shared a profound connection that extended directly into our physical intimacy. I didn't roll well, despite the bonus from the furniture, only getting three Successes, but I was starting with three from helping her avenge and free Ken. Three alone would have shown her a fine time, perhaps redeemed the act in her eyes enough that she'd be more open to trying again at a later date, but six made her squeeze her thighs around my head.

I pulled her into me, burying my face and tongue into her pussy. My nose was pressed into her swollen clit, and I began to move my head in small circles as I licked, using it to get her off. Her skin was silken against me, having been reshaved this morning in the shower, readied for our mutual enjoyment. I mouthed and mauled her sex with my tongue and lips, being forceful and wild. I had been ready for a slow pace where I teased and played with her over the long minutes, but to my surprise, this was what Maki wanted – wet, nasty, and unmoored from anything that could be considered proper or even considerate. She didn't want to feel like this was for her at all, her own pleasure was meant to be only a byproduct of her lover's.

I obliged as best as I could, trying my best to drown myself in her juices. My grip on her ass grew harder, enough that it was hurting her I was sure, but she only shuddered, erotic energy spiking. I wasn't using any magic, but it was impossible for me to not sense her rising lust, that was as much one of my senses as sight or touch.

"Mm, fuck! James!"

Maki was clearly unprepared for how much her anorgasmia had affected her prior enjoyment of oral. She tried to maintain eye contact, visibly enraptured by my adoring, reverent gaze, eyes watering as she refused to blink, but a spasm of pre-orgasmic pleasure had her curl over me. My world darkened as she hugged my head, resting her tummy on the top of it and holding it tight with both arms and legs.

I became even more frantic to show my appreciation sans the eye contact, lapping up her lubrication like a man dying of thirst. Maki began to rock her hips and I helped her along with my hands on her ass, pulling her against me hard enough to cut off my air supply, and rubbed my face back and forth making a wet slicking sound as I whipped her juices into a lather that began to drip down my cheek and neck onto my chest. No wonder none of her past partners had managed to satisfy her orally – this was an embarrassing display of pussy-addicted mania that only someone as shamelessly slut-pilled as I could put on.

My tongue battered and wriggled through her inner tunnels as deep as I could get it, curling upward to tickle her g-spot with the tip. Her little moans and gasps, which had grown like a chorus as I proceeded, were more like whines and bestial keening wails now. Her hips rocked more and more fiercely as she got nearer to climax, and her nails dug into my scalp as she held on for dear life.

Once she was close enough, I ripped my tongue out of her tunnel and up to her clit. I placed the flat of it against her little button and began to vibrate it side-to-side until her rocking came to a stop, her body going rigid. I kept up the stimulation as she started to climax, stopping only when she started rapidly tapping my head, begging for a break.

Maki's climax was powerful and long. I pulled the shaking woman off my shoulders and put her back onto my lap, straddling me again. She wrapped me in a hug and buried her face into my neck, riding out the little tremors and aftershocks there.

> [Ally Quest Complete!]

>

> Make Maki orgasm from oral sex.

>

> Reward: 30EXP, +1 Willpower

>

>  

>

> [Hidden Quest Complete!]

>

> Give a lesbian an oral orgasm.

>

> Reward: 50EXP, +1 Persuasion

>

>  

>

> [Hidden Quest Complete!]

>

> Have 6 Dice in Willpower.

>

> Reward: Gain Special Feat Impossible Determination

>

>  

>

> [Special Feat] Impossible Determination

>

> You may take 1 temporary point of Willpower damage to try and resist mental powers that would normally completely ignore a mortal's defenses like a Vampire's Hypnosis or a Dragon's Fear.

Excuse me, dragons were real, and you couldn't resist a vampire's hypnosis?!

Well, at least this was probably the best way I could have learned either of those facts. I made a mental note to ask Maki about dragons – later, we were busy at the moment.

Maki started to suckle and kiss her way up my neck, seemingly unworried about tasting herself on me.

"So, was that what you expected?" I asked, proud even though my powers had trivialized the challenge for me.

She rewrote history without missing a beat. "Of course, it would have been more surprising if I'd hated it. You are a sexual demigod, after all. I never disputed that."

"Aww, come on. Can't you give me this one, at least?"

"No," she said succinctly, capturing my lips with a deep, hungry kiss before I could respond. "Take off your boxers," she panted into my mouth between kisses. "I'm ready."

There was no point in questioning Maki's resolve, nor would she have appreciated the gesture. Instead, I literally tore my underwear off me and tossed it aside, showing her just how eager I was to comply and earning myself a pleased coo from the miko.

She moved her hips to trap my cock between us and looked down with awe. Its tip went past her belly button. "Wow. I've scoffed in disbelief at smaller dildos. Without magic, will it still fit?"

"Yes. It is an immutable universal constant that it will always fit."

Maki gulped nervously but nodded along. "That's right," she said more to herself than to me, "it's yours, so it fits. It isn't a man's penis, it's your penis. It's grotesque and absurd and beautiful, and most importantly, it's yours. It's yours, yours," she repeated with emphasis. "Can it even be called a penis? A penis is a male's genitalia – this is a cock, a fat, drooling cock." She began to fondle the head as she continued hyping herself up. "This is your instrument, the means through which you assert your power and true nature. It is a divine tool."

She tilted her hips up and dragged her clit against the bottom of my dick until she reached the head and let herself sit back down. Her eyes were closed and I could tell this was a part of her building up her confidence for the real deal. She was simulating riding me, up and down, working herself up to take the last step.

"It's yours too," I added, "whenever you want it, partner. Whenever, and however."

Maki's eyes snapped open, but she said nothing, watching me with a strange intensity and continuing her rocking. I opened my mouth to keep flirting, but she used the opportunity to thrust her tongue in, messily slurping out my saliva.

"I want it now," she said, having pulled away to catch her breath. "However you want it, hurry."

I smiled and lifted her up by her hips, taking a moment to suck on each of her nipples, and began to lower her down. My muscle control was great enough that I could keep my cock at the angle I needed with my pelvic floor alone. As my huge dickhead started to stretch her lips, the dice clattered in my mind, rolling a truly momentous Sensuality + Seduction check.

Golden, metaphorical, clouds parted above, and a shining Lady Luck reached a fist down from heaven, dapped me up, and gave us both a huge thumbs up. The Dice had come up on fifteen Successes, before adding in the three guaranteed Successes from Hero's Harem.

Once the head of my cock was fully inside her, almost locked motionless by how tight her walls were, I dropped her down with a single sharp tug, hilting myself completely inside her. Maki threw her head back and howled a mix of pleasure and pain, more the former than the latter due to my Porn Physics. The feat converted all pain from penetration into an intense, masochistic form of pleasure – it still hurt, but her body couldn't help but love it, and her mind couldn't stop itself from craving more.

>  

>

> [Hidden Quest Complete!]

>

> Awaken someone's mild masochistic tendencies into a full kink.

>

> Reward: 25EXP, Gain Minor Feat Slut-Making Strikes

>

>  

>

> [Minor Feat] Slut-Making Strikes

>

> You can choose to make the pain you cause from your unarmed strikes or in a grapple paired in equal parts with pleasure. This provides a passive 1 Die Penalty in combat to anyone you've hit since the start of the scene, but without additional feats or actions on your part, it can't do more than distract.

Ah, I presumed that was from the fifteen Successes. I'd noticed that Maki liked a bit of pain, but it was mostly because she enjoyed it as a physical sign that her partner had lost control and was giving in to the lusts she had inspired in them. I don't think she'd have ever considered herself a masochist or have come to enjoy pain for its own sake without my accidental intervention.

I flexed my cock inside her, hard away from me, and then harder back towards me and her g-spot, not beginning to thrust yet. She exhaled and gasped an exhale every time I did it, as though I was punching her from the inside. Only a martial artist could abuse her cunt like this, and I was only getting started.

I spanked her hard. "Talk to me. How's it feel?"

"Mwa, ahahh—" Maki opened her mouth but only nonsense sounds came out. I spanked her again. "AH! YES! Mmm, James…can't…" Another spank. "AH! Just do it, you bastard."

"Do what?" I asked innocently, slamming the inside of her walls with another powerful kegel.

Maki whimpered. She mumbled something incoherent into my neck.

I slapped both of her cheeks at once. "What was that?"

"Fuck meEEEE—" Maki screamed her answer, and I started before she could finish, thrusting up with my hips. My cock battered her cervix, making her 'me' morph into a wordless squeal.

Two of my fingers reached down and hooked into her asshole without ceremony and used the painful hold to pull her up before letting gravity drop her back down, then repeating the motion again, and again, and again. My hips worked in time with gravity, so that they were pistoning my cock up as she was falling down onto it. It was a wet, nasty endeavor, filling the room with the sounds of sticky flesh slapping together and the keening wail of the miko, now lost to the sensations.

Maki came before the first full thrust was complete, the shock of my fingers entering her ass having pushed her into a sudden, mini-climax. That wave of pleasure carried her as I continued to pump into her, each crest higher than the last, each fall not as far as the one before. The orgasms chained into one another as I kept pounding her. She was mostly an incoherent mess, tossing her head side to side, completely lost to what she was feeling. In the few fleeting glances she managed to give me, there was no reason or higher thinking, only pleasure and pain, which may as well have been the same thing.

I slowed down when she started tapping my chest, expecting her to call it quits or at least ask for a moment to collect herself. Instead, she used the opportunity to arch her back up and pull my head down towards her breasts. I took a nipple into my mouth and started sucking and gnawing on it, getting a happy, sigh from the non-verbal lesbian. She moved my free hand, the one not currently knuckles deep in her asshole, to her other breast, and satisfied I got the message started to pump her hips awkwardly, signaling she wanted me to get back to it.

Her willingness and animalistic passion threatened to make me bust. It was the contrast of it all, like ice cream on a hot day; I couldn't get over the sexual demon that I had unleashed in the otherwise cold, shy woman.

Following the instincts granted by my earlier insanely successful Seduction roll, I knew exactly how she wanted this to end. I spun us around into missionary and started pounding her into the couch like it was a competition to see who broke first, the woman or the magically enhanced furniture.

I held out for a few more minutes, simultaneously orgasming with her, though that had been practically a given with how frequent hers had been. Her climax was long but mine was longer and it was she who was gently running her hands along my back as I fought the convulsions at the end. Due to Cum Overflowing, my balls had to clear one hundred times the normal amount of semen they would have had to otherwise. Halfway through the orgasm and my cum was already blasting out from the seal her pussy was forming around my cock, having apparently occupied the space entirely. I pulled out, letting the rest loose onto her belly, tits, and even her neck and chin, the force of each spurt being so great.

> [Ally Quest Complete!]

>

> Have vaginal sex with Maki.

>

> Reward: 40XP, +1 Affinity, +2 Research

>

>  

>

> [Hidden Quest Complete!]

>

> Have consensual, vaginal sex with a lesbian.

>

> Reward: 50XP, +1 Sensuality, Gain Relationship Token x2

>

>  

>

> [Hidden Quest Complete!]

>

> 'Defile' a priestess.

>

> Reward: 20XP, +1 Seduction

>

>  

>

> [Hidden Quest Complete!]

>

> Have pseudo-incestual relations with your technical sister.

>

> Reward: 20XP, Gain Major Harem Protagonist Feat Not-So-Distant Relatives

>

>  

>

> [Major Feat (Harem Protagonist)] Not-So-Distant Relatives

>

> The power of a Harem Protagonist can conquer any taboo and even genetic hazards. The closer you are to a family member, both emotionally and in terms of blood relation, the more Guaranteed Successes that both you and they get to seduce one another, up to 3 Successes for the closest bonds. There will never be any negative genetic consequences to indulging in this, and while society will judge you as harshly as it would otherwise, your friends and family will be bizarrely unbothered by the taboo when you are involved.

God fucking damn it, you absolute, degenerate assholes. No amount of feats was going to make me okay with having sex with my actual sister.

I groaned and rolled off Maki. "I got to learn to dial the cum back, holy hell. Too much, way too much."

She hummed her disagreement, scooping some cum off her neck before it could roll down onto the upholstery, and sucked the finger clean. "I asked my mother to grab me a few mason jars from home. Be a dear and bring one, would you."

I hopped up, extracting myself from the couch and Maki carefully so as not to disturb her treasured puddle of cum.

There were about eight empty jars in a lunch box on the counter. "Which size? There's a few."

"Any will do. You'll be filling them all before your student arrives."

I paled, looking at the four one-quart jars with dread. "Oh man, I don't know, Maki…"

She laughed. "Don't be silly, James. It's far removed from what a witches' coven would milk from you. A little more worrying of a prospect now, hm? Now, hurry up or I'm going to end up drinking half of this."