Hello and welcome back to a long overdue installment of the writer's barely disguised fetish. Sorry for not updating in a long ass while- school, other stories, etc… it all kind of piled up.

To make it up to y'all, I'm open to suggestions. More open? Whatever. Not sure how I'll end this, really, other than eventual hot dragon lady, so... whatever. I believe I've hit a few of the typical harem beats: beach episode, fanservice, etc but I'm open to more


The first of the women to wake up was the one who used to be that strange pumpkin creature, and the first thing Cyrus noticed were her eyes, which were a particularly vivid green, like plants in bloom. She bounced to her feet- damn, she certainly bounced- with remarkable agility, her eyes seeming to twinkle as she struck some sort of bombastic pose.

"I go by my many names, but you can call me Jenna! Pumpqueen and witch extraordinaire!" She did some sort of thrust with her arm, sticking out her palm- and to her credit, a little flame sparked there for a moment before petering out almost immediately.

"Impressive."

Jenna pouted and glared at him. "I'm working on it, alright? When I am restored to the heights of my power, I shall release the most arcane magics you have ever seen, nay, ever heard of-"

"Well if you're going to practice magic, could you please do it outside? I worked hard on this building, I don't want you setting it on fire."

"I suppose that a magnanimous magician such as myself has an obligation to protect her lessers." She brought a hand to her chest in a motion that sent her cape- of course she had a cape- fluttering to the side, the ebony folds of velvet settling behind her form, clad in tightly fitting… Dammit, was she getting to him?

Cyrus told her where her room would be- normally he'd be a little more hands off about that sort of thing, but he didn't want her sneaking into someone else's room and covering it in dark paint and posters or something- actually, he should probably hide all the candles from her...

Lanky was one possible way to describe their other guest- she was thin and rather tall, a long curtain of blackish-purple hair hanging in front of her face. However, when she woke up, the word lanky felt inappropriate- she was far too graceful, too flowing, for that word to be applied to her.

She brushed her long strands of hair out of the way to reveal a pair of remarkable eyes- his immediate impression was warmth, like a crackling fire one moment, a field of wheat the next, then autumn leaves… constantly shifting in the light. Those glowing eyes were complimented by rather dark shadows under her eyes… was she okay?

"Are you alright, miss?" He offered a helping hand, which she gently pushed away.

"I'm fine, thank you." Her voice was very soft. "Are you the one that brought me here?" She looked around the sickroom curiously, one of her eyes almost completely hidden by her hair.

"Yeah- I'm Cyrus. And your name?"

"You can call me Celina."


It was breakfast, and Cyrus was tapping the ground with his foot, tearing through his food at a rate that was unusual, even for Bea's superb cooking.

"What's got you all riled up, Cyrus?" Andi smirked. "Feel an overwhelming need to go out and sow your wild oats?"

"Titania, what does 'sow your wild oats' mean?" Emilia blithely asked as the rest of the table struggled to not choke on whatever they were eating.

"When you're older-" Titania started, before being cut off.

"I will remind you that I am a princess!"

"Well if we're pulling rank, I'm an Empress…" Emilia huffed and crossed her arms.

Cyrus cleared his throat. "No, actually- I have no plans of doing that at the moment-" Cyrus could see several expressions of disappointment when he said that, "I'm just kind of antsy. I know it sounds stupid, but I just need to get out of town for a bit, explore a little?"

"You don't exactly need permission from us, Cyrus- go out on your little field trip if you like."

Abigail sighed. "Maybe we should, though- you force me to stitch you up again and we will have words, Cyrus."

"What would you do?" Cyrus smirked. "Hit me? You wouldn't hit a patient, would you?"

"Awfully bold of you to test your medical professional, Cyrus."

"What else keeps you busy these days, Abigail?"

"I'd really prefer to spend my time reading, thank you."

"Do I have permission to go on my field trip…" Cyrus tried his best to mimic one of Andi's smirks. "mom?"

"You call me mom again and your healing potions will taste like dirt for the next year."

Cyrus gulped. "Anyways- I suppose I'll head out now?"

"Could I accompany you on this… field trip, Cyrus?" Francisca stood up from the table, two of her hands intertwined in a pleading gesture, with the other two behind her back.

"Sure, I guess- how would you like to go flying?"

"It would certainly be a notable experience- if you'd tolerate me, of course."


Snapping his wings out was always nice- perhaps a little melodramatic, but it wasn't like he could do it indoors. After a bit of stretching and flexing, he felt just about ready to fly- the question was how exactly he would bring Francisca along.

"Now, uh… how do we do this?" Cyrus hummed. "I'll need to hold onto you pretty tightly, so you don't fall…"

Francisca opened her arms (all four of them), almost as if she was going to to embrace him. "Like this?"

Cyrus flushed. "Maybe not," he said, walking behind her. "Maybe I can kind of… slide my arms like this…?" Cautiously, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, his arms naturally falling just under… nevermind. He could feel the cool metal of her arms as well, one pair of arms above his own and one pair below (it would never stop being strange).

With a rush of air, he leapt, bringing Francisca along for the ride- she was surprisingly stoic about the whole thing, not even reaching to grab onto him- did she really trust him that much?

After a few moments spent gaining altitude, she spoke. "I must admit I never understood the appeal of flight at first- but this is extraordinary. You have my sincere thanks for taking me along with you."

Cyrus gave some sort of affirmative noise before deciding to do a bit of showboating- not like he really had a destination in mind. He tightened his grip and went for a loop, before following it up with just about every reasonable trick he could think of: spins, dives, tumbles, and enough rolls to put a baker to shame. Some of the stunts were pretty tricky, and they were made even harder when she looked back at him and gave one of those heart melting smiles that made him want to hold her even closer and- bad! Bad Cyrus!

He tried to distract himself by his biggest dive yet, climbing higher and higher, reaching the area where the wyverns roamed- and he saw a house. A house sitting on a cloud, along with a patch of grass and even a little tree, the entire structure being carried, ever so gently, by the wind.

He blinked. "What is that?"

"A house?"

"So it would seem…" Cyrus muttered. "Want to go check it out?"


As weird and unexplained as the island floating in the sky was, Cyrus liked it- in part because it meant that he was standing on solid 'ground' in case any wyverns got cheeky, and partially because it was just a nice place. The bright green grass, the tall trees- it was a spot of relative normalcy in the sky.

After he set Francisca down on the island, they both approached the house- he had seen a number of abandoned ones underground, but this one was different, both in the strange, gilded construction, and the general state of not being a cob-web covered wreck. Was it… occupied?

Carefully, he opened the door, making sure not to stand in front of it as he did, and his precaution kept him from getting hit by a bunch of feathers which soared out of the doorway the moment it opened. A harpy. Wonderful.

Then he was tackled by a blur of feathers and raking claws, which slid over his armor without much issue as the creature shrieked into his ear. It almost sounded… human, at least until the revving of a chainsaw covered up the sound.

"Wait a minute!" Cyrus tried his best to turn so the harpy wouldn't be as close to Francisca's chainsaw- up so close, it was hard not to notice the extremely human face and upper body.

"For what reason?" She almost sounded disappointed.

"I mean… it looks human, doesn't it?" Or should he be using she- it certainly looked female… Cyrus shook his head.

"Many of the foes you've faced looked human, didn't they? Like… Miss Maia?"

"Isn't that all the more reason to give her a chance?"

"Cyrus, I believe it's trying to scratch off your face."

"Maybe it's just hungry?" Cyrus tried to keep it at arm's length- it clamped onto his hand like a vise, although the claws were not strong enough to punch through the metal, there was still an uncomfortable squeezing as its wings batted wildly.

"Are you certain it's not hungry for your hand?"

Cyrus grinned, and grabbed a bit of food to toss to the creature, which caught it in air- it didn't really have hands, after all. "Maybe we've just… misjudged them?" It let out a sort of cooing noise as it ate.

"I am not certain…" Cyrus tried his best to give a sort of pleading look through his helmet. "but I suppose that there's no harm in trying…"

"Why don't you take her?" Cyrus suggested, trying to pass off the harpy to Francisca, who hesitantly held out an arm. The harpy let out a strange sort of humming noise before hopping over to one of Francisca's arms, the claws scraping a little on the harsh metal as it stared into Francisca's eyes…

Both quirked their heads as they stared silently- at least until the harpy clamped down on her arm causing Francisca to yelp before attempting to shake it off quite vigorously. The harpy let out something that sounded like an odd mix between a yelp and a caw as it batted its wings. Francisca turned to Cyrus, a serene expression on her face. "Could you render some assistance? It has clamped on rather tightly."

"See? It likes you!" Cyrus grinned. "You'll be friends in no time!"

She shook her arm even harder.


"I wonder what Cyrus is up to." Bea said.

"Does it really matter?" Andi shrugged.

"What do you mean, does it really matter?"

"I mean of course I'd prefer it if he didn't die, just to keep you all from getting all upset, but he isn't the center of the world, you know? There's more to us than just… orbiting him."

"Fair enough- what do you want to do, then?"

The two sat there for a while, silently contemplating about what to do with their time, until Medulla walked in. "What are you two up to?"

"Thinking- we want to take a trip somewhere, do something, but we don't have any ideas."

"We could go to hell." Medulla suggested.

"What?"

"You know- hell, the underworld, the inferno?"

"Of course I know- but a day trip there? Really?"

"But we can? Cyrus dug- or rather, blew up- a shaft all the way to hell. With a bit of work- we can go take a visit."

"You want to take a visit?" Bea snorted. "I visited once- it sucked."

"It's Andi's hometown… kind of?"

"I mean sure, but do you like the Crimson?" Andi shrugged. "Don't remember much of the underworld, but it seemed to suck- super hot, super dry…"

"I did, in fact, like the Crimson, and I'd like to go to the underworld as well," Medulla said, "It's one of the few places I haven't gotten observations of yet." She turned to Bea. "Who knows, there might be something interesting down there- the ingredients would certainly be unique…"

"They probably would be…" Bea hummed to herself, before turning to Andi. "Why don't you come along? You could be our tour guide."

"Tour guide? I barely remember the place! You know it better than I do!"

"Why not reacquaint yourself, just a little? We have potions that can teleport us straight home in case things get nasty- just a quick little trip!"

"If you're going to bring me along, don't tempt fate with lines like that, alright?"


The chute going to hell was not a particularly remarkable structure- occasionally, Cyrus would hop down there to go mining, but it wasn't a part of the base that got a lot of traffic. At least not usually- after finishing up their preparations for the trip, the trio found someone else in the room before them, staring down into the inky depths of what Cyrus jokingly called the hellevator- and considering the moth wings, it was probably Cera.

"What brings you here, Cera?" Bea greeted the girl- this was a chance to get to know her fellow insect girl better, and she wasn't going to waste it!

"I was just… enthralled by that curious light at the bottom of the shaft. There's something interesting about it- something different about that light, compared to the normal torches…"

"It's lava, probably." Bea said. "Despite what you might think, it's surprisingly well lit down there- just everything's kind of red." Bea paused for a moment. "Scratch that, very red."

"So do we just jump down there or what?"

"No, there's a rope we can use."

"A rope? You expect us to climb down a rope, by hand, for hundreds of feet? Good thing you don't want us climbing up…"

"Cyrus had some sort of device he used to go up and down really fast- kept him from getting rope burn."

"I think a bit of rope burn would be the least of your concerns in hell."


At first, the tunnel down to hell was pretty tight- they basically had to go down single file, one after the other, as tunnel shifted from tightly packed dirt to stone. There was the odd notch in the walls, crevices dug out by Cyrus in his hunt for ores- but eventually it widened considerably, the walls going from neat to craggy.

"What happened here?"

"High explosive happened." Medulla sighed. "You know Gimli?"

"Who?" Cera quirked her head, not that Medulla could see it.

"Explosives seller, very short, bright red hair?" Medulla would have made some sort of hand gesture if she wasn't hanging onto her device- a rope climber of some kind- for dear life.

"Nah, don't think so."

"He's a little isolated, because, you know, explosives?"

"Fair enough." Cera shrugged. "Well if the tunnel's wide enough…" She got away from the rope and just started hovering in a more downwards direction, and shortly afterwards Bea followed her- no reason not to, with her wings.

Occasionally, the tunnel and rope would cut through a cave- sometimes they would be small and covered in growing moss, sometimes they would be massive enough to have entire (ruined) houses inside with room to spare.

After flying further down, it took a gentle course readjustment (read: flying tackle) from Bea to keep Cera from flying straight into a massive spiderweb which covered up a great portion of one cavern. They all beat a hasty retreat once they spiders came out in numbers, swarming over the webs and any creatures unfortunate enough to have been caught up in them.

Further down, Bea had to keep a closer eye on Cera- she was enthralled by the lava pools, and Bea had to snap her out of it several times so she wouldn't take a nosedive into the molten rock, which made the air shimmer with heat. And it certainly was getting hotter, the air growing almost uncomfortable to breath as they descended further and further, tiny bits of ash sneaking in with each gasp.

A bit further down, and they had reached hell, that great landscape of ash and fire. The gang had to keep Cera on a very short leash, as there were a lot of very dangerous light sources. Lava pools, of course, but the gleaming of steaming hot molten ore and the bright light of magical projectiles were also things that needed to be avoided.

Medulla was nearly as distractable as Cera, but she didn't even have the central focus of bright light. One moment she'd be staring at the strange buildings which towered out of the ash, the next she'd be letting the hellish ash pour through the fingers, or even just staring at the ceiling, as if trying to figure out how the earth above them didn't cave in on their heads.

Bea and Andi basically had to play babysitter from this point, keeping an eye out for the many, many threats which roamed hell- Bea got very good at lodging stingers into the flesh of the demons and bats which flew through the air, although she made sure to not accidentally send voodoo dolls into the hissing lava. She had no idea what that might have done to Andi, and she wasn't particularly interested in figuring out- would it restore her previous form, perhaps?

Honestly, her previous form wasn't really something that Bea wanted to go back to, at least not for long- from what she remembered and how Cyrus described it, she was less a bee and a more a tank with wings: incredibly powerful but also completely inhuman. She was far too interested in human things (and a particular human) to loose her form forever, although a temporary transformation could be… interesting.

She had to wonder if Andi would take up the same deal- she wasn't the worst friend, of course, but she remembered the Wall in its original form, wretched beyond belief and horrifyingly vast, stretching to the horizons and scraping the roof of hell with its horrible flesh. Compared to the original, Andi was definitely much prettier- although it would be hard to look that bad even if you tried.

"What's eating you, Bea? You're staring." Andi said.

"Just thinking back to when I first saw you- those were the days, huh?"

"At least it was a little less crowded."

"I dunno- I think all the extra people give the village a bit more character."

"I'd prefer some peace and quiet to more 'character', whatever that means."

Bea's head snapped to the side. "Speaking of, who's that?"

Andi followed her gaze, and sure enough, there was someone… sort of human looking standing in the hellish vistas. He struggled under the weight of heavy chains which were wrapped haphazardly around his body, to the point that it looked like he might just tumble over, certainly not something you wanted to do down here, where simmering lakes of lava were commonplace.

"Not sure." Andi shrugged. "I mean, I suppose that there are supposed to be like, damned souls wandering around, or something?"

"Maybe we could ask him?"

"What part of damned soul did you not understand?" Andi sighed. "He's obviously here for a reason."

Bea smirked. "What's he gonna do, fall on me?"

Bea buzzed on over, and once she got closer she could see his skin, cooked a brilliant red by the heat of hell- although she couldn't see much of it, considering all the chains and heavy clothes he wore. Damn, he was probably burning up in all those black clothes…

"You alright there, buddy?"

"Not particularly, no." His voice sounded like he recreationally gargled with gravel- or perhaps that was part of his punishment. The air quality down here wasn't the greatest. "Things have definitely been better."

"You want out of here?"

"You think I don't?" He grumbled, chains clattering.

"Fair point." Bea stroked her chin. "I'll see what I can do."


"What is that?"

"It's a harpy?" Cyrus answered, having taken the half-bird half-woman creature from Francisca and returned it to his own arm- his mind provided a vague idea of falconry, whatever that was, but so far the harpy was shockingly docile when properly fed.

Cthylla's eyes narrowed as she looked at the creature- the blue hair, the surprisingly charming face, the… very female features. "It's awful pretty, isn't it?" She said, sending a suspicious glare his way. "Why a harpy, of all creatures?"

As Cyrus defended himself, Jenna snuck up behind him- although she wasn't really interested in him. Ever so slowly, she crept towards the the harpy, her dark cloak not really doing much to hide her in the warm torchlight- and after gently pinching a feather with two fingers, she yanked it out.

"SQUAWK!" Of course the harpy reacted violently to that, unclamping from Cyrus and leaping at Jenna, its claws getting caught in her cloak.

"Ah, get it off, get it off!" She shrieked, and the harpy shrieked with her as they tumbled over the floor and everyone just took a moment to gawk before Cyrus tried to extricate Jenna from her feathered attacker. The harpy wasn't exactly the strongest enemy Cyrus had ever faced, so he managed to yank it away without too much trouble- other than the feathers and shreds of black fabric that littered the floor.

"My cape! My poor cape!" She cried, holding onto it as she tried to scoop up bot the scraps and the feathers off the ground. "I can't believe you let your stupid bird thing do that!"

"Lacrima can fix your cape," Cyrus sighed, "but why did you think it was a good idea to provoke a harpy- what do you even need the feathers for anyways?"

"A… a potion?"

Cyrus groaned. "You aggravated a harpy… for a potion? This better be an actual potion."

"I promise that is the greatest potion you shall ever lay eyes upon!" She nodded enthusiastically. "It'll… turn your world upside down." She chuckled at that, some joke that only she seemed to understand.

"Just don't go around taking stuff with permission, alright?" He turned to Aria, "if any of your herbs get stolen, just tell me."

"Hey!"


The Harpy integrated to life in the town with shocking ease- maybe it was nearly as intelligent as they were, but just couldn't talk like they could? Cyrus thought it was an interesting theory, but attempting to make some sort of rudimentary sign language was made difficult by the fact that the harpy had claws.

His mood was lifted- in more ways than one- when Jenna came to him with a deep purple potion in a glass bottle, which she offered to him with shaking hands. "Here's ah… that potion I made, with the feather."

"You want me to drink it?"

"Of course! It's magic!"

"Is it safe?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"She responded, seemingly trying to reassure herself as much as Cyrus.

Cautiously, he let a single drop of the potion land on a gloved fingertip- nothing- before letting it touch bare skin. Yet again, nothing. Feeling a little bold, he let a drop fall onto his tongue- sweet and light. "It doesn't taste too bad, actually…"

"I don't brew potions for the taste, you know." Jenna shot back.

He took another sip, and that light feeling seemed to increase, on top of a sick feeling of disorientation, a feeling that only seemed to grow stronger the more he focused on it, until it felt like the ground was falling out from under him… Before his helmet smashed into something wooden, swiftly followed by his body, so he was lying on the floor.

At least, he thought. Looking down, he saw Jenna below him, a worried look on her face, which she quickly hid behind a confident grin. "It worked! See!"

Cyrus rose to his feet, and saw that he was in fact standing on the roof of the room. With a bit of adjustment, they could basically talk face to face- it just so happened that he was upside down- at least from her perspective. "Is this permanent?"

"I uh, don't think?" She was clenching her hands nervously.

"You don't think?" Cyrus groaned. "I really don't feel like having to remodel my entire house."

"Don't worry, most potions wear off!"

"Most?"

"Eheheh…"

She chuckled, and Cyrus sighed before heading in the direction of the door. It was a bit odd, seeing a doorframe upside down, but it was open, so that meant he didn't have to do much more than jumping onto the frame, his head close to the floor. He turned around to look up (or down from his perspective, ugh) at Jenna. It really was an odd point of view- for some reason he hadn't noticed that she was wearing heeled boots before. Cyrus could barely imagine walking with heels at all, much less from your first moments in human form… She was doing remarkably well for a creature that didn't seem to have legs before- and they were, admittedly, some damned nice legs.

"Hey, are you just going to stand there and stare?" Her cheeks were a rather brilliant shade of red, and she was staring off at a wall.

"Right. Let's get going then?" He jumped from the doorframe to the roof- only to see that the next door was closed. Was Jenna going to have to open all the doors for him? Maybe he could jump up and open the door?


Abigail was rearranging her medical supplies and carefully examining some of the herbs that Aria had gotten her- Abigail didn't doubt the girl, but she was scrupulous about this sort of thing to the point of being a little annoying- when she heard a conversation.

"Well, maybe you just need to think back- what do you think caused it? Any strong feelings?" A voice that she wasn't quite familiar with- one of the newer girls, maybe?

"I felt sick." That was definitely Cyrus.

"Hey! What do you mean, sick?"

"As in, it felt like my stomach was doing loops in my chest."

"Surely, it can't have been that bad," The voice said as it pushed the slightly ajar door open, revealing that Jenna girl- maybe she had gotten a scratch from that harpy Cyrus had gotten? Sometimes, that man really was an idiot.

As if the universe was determined to prove her point, Cyrus walked in behind Jenna, leaping over the doorframe like a hurdle and then continuing to walk, on the roof, over to Abigail.

"Hello." Cyrus said, before getting an insufferable looking grin. "What's hanging?"

Abigail inhaled. First, do no harm. Exhale. Do no harm. Inhale. Do no harm. Exhale. Was slapping someone with such insufferable puns really harm? It was practically a terminal condition at this point. No. Bad.

"How did you get up there, Cyrus?"

"I drank a potion."

"You drank a potion." Abigail's eyes narrowed.

"Yes." Cyrus gulped, before gesturing to Jenna. "Hey, it was her potion!"

"Her potion which you drank, despite knowing her for… what? Less than a day?"

"None of these girls have been… actively harmful, right?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have to qualify that, you know."

"Yeah, yeah." Cyrus said. "Can you help me?"

Abigail sighed. "Maybe? If Jenna can't do anything… well, maybe you could just sit around and see if it wears off?" Cyrus groaned and laid down on the roof of the infirmary.

After quite a bit of a wait, where Cyrus stayed basically stuck to the roof, there was finally an interruption from the boredom that had begun to sink in. "Abigail, I need your help with something!" Bea walked inside, before looking up, Bea smirked. "Oh, Cyrus- you're just hanging around then?"

Abigail sighed. "What do you need, Bea?"


Cyrus wanted to join the girls in their little sidequest in the underworld, but Abigail and Jenna wanted to keep an eye on him, to see if the potion wore off. If it wore off while he was down there… he'd probably be fine, honestly. Wings and a hook meant that lava was nowhere near the threat it had once been, but Cyrus definitely preferred not aggravating Abigail.

Bea acquired some faintly shimmering powder from Abigail and went back down, although she did give Cyrus a quick kiss before going. It was definitely different, hanging from the ceiling- not something he'd do all the time, but interesting nevertheless.

Emilia, the little princess, found the whole thing hilarious. Thankfully, Cyrus managed to keep her from acquiring a dose of the potion (he did not want to imagine handling that) and she came up with all sorts of interesting things to do while upside down- after all, he was facing that most deadly of enemies… boredom.

Waiting around inside for the potion to wear off was not a particularly riveting process, and while searching for someone to talk with he bumped into the Lady herself.

"Luna. How are you?"

"Fine." She answered, seemingly slightly amused by Cyrus' predicament. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Join me…?" Cyrus asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. Luna grinned, before she turned and fell- towards the roof. She landed next to him, an unusually coy grin on her face.

"You think you're the only one with gravitational abilities?"

"I certainly don't now." Cyrus replied. "Plus, it's not like I did it myself- it's just a potion. A potion that may or may not wear off."

"Hmmm… That really is a conundrum," she smiled, before reaching into her robes and pulling something out. It was a glass ball, one that seemed to 'agree' with the gravity Luna and Cyrus experienced, as opposed to regular gravity.

Cyrus took a look at it. "I hate to tell you this, but I don't think you made this snow globe right."

"It's not a slow globe!" She hissed. "Just shake it."

"Like a snow globe?"

"Yes." She conceded. "Like a snow globe." Figuring that he couldn't make the situation any worse by indulging the fancy of a second boss girl, he gave the glass ball a shake- only to get that familiar churning in his stomach again.

Cyrus crashed into a table with an impressive racket, sounding everything on top of it tumbling to the floor- he couldn't help but cringe when he heard something shatter. Woops. He groaned and looked up to see Luna still hanging from the ceiling, a small smile almost hidden by her hands- he got the impression he was being laughed at, but he really couldn't bring himself to care all that much.


After setting up a space for the harpy, who had settled in surprisingly well once it had been properly fed and watered, Cyrus decided to talk with Francisca a bit more.

"Hello, Cyrus. How is… the bird?"

"You know you shouldn't call the harpy a bird. It may not be fully human, but it's certainly not a bird."

Francisca nodded, but Cyrus noticed the way her hands seemed to linger around a certain spot on one of her arms, where scratch marks marred the otherwise pristine surface. Cyrus grinned.

"Do you perhaps hold a grudge, my dear Francisca?"

"Holding pointless grudges is highly illogical." She huffed.

"Or maybe you're just upset that the harpy interrupted our trip?" Cyrus honestly couldn't say if he was reading too far into her stoic expression or not. "Well, there's no reason we can't do a bit of night flying to make up for it, right?"

Francisca nodded.


As pretty as the night sky was, it was rather hard to look at it while flying- so eventually Cyrus took up a perch on top of a particularly tall mountain- letting them look up at the stars that covered the sky with ease. Cyrus stared at the stars, imagining the great, terrible gulfs of nothingness between them, while Francisca was staring at the moon.

"I must ask- is Luna the moon herself, or some sort of personification, or is she related to it in some other matter?"

Cyrus was quiet for a moment. "I suppose I don't really know- I mean the moon's still in the sky, but at the same time she's still around, if in a different form?" Cyrus groaned. "It's confusing. I suppose you could just ask her..."

Francisca stayed quiet, and Cyrus looked at her. Of course, he had known for a long time that she was pretty, had spent a lot of time alone with her even, but something about the moonlight made her seem especially splendid.

"You're staring."

"Maybe I am." Cyrus shrugged.

"You most certainly are." She scooted a little closer to him, her lips curving in a minuscule smile. "Would you like a closer look?" Cyrus cupped her cheek and leaned in...


Thankfully, no one acknowledged their nighttime trip- a more optimistic part of Cyrus hoped that the girls had simply not noticed it, but the more realistic part doubted it, especially considered the smirk Andi was giving him, not to mention the perturbed look on Lacrima's face. He'd probably need to talk to her again- maybe even bring Francisca along.

Still, that wasn't the sort of conversation he wanted to have over the breakfast table.

"Cyrus?"

"Yes?"

"Just do me a favor. Promise me you're not going to date the harpy."


Omake: Best potion

The potion was a strange one, and seemed to change color depending on which direction you looked at it from, blue one moment and a pinkish shade the next, in a constant state of flux. Cyrus held the bottle in his hand, carefully looking at every feature of the bottle.

"What is this, exactly?"

"A little experimental brew of mine- a bit from each of the plants. I'm not entirely sure what it'll do?"

"And you want me to drink it?"

"...Yes?"

Cyrus looked at it again. "Well, I must admit that I'm kind of interested." Carefully, he untapped the bottle and took a whiff of the sweet, cloying smell which came from the bottle. Before he could get too worried, he threw the potion back… and nearly fell over.

"Cyrus! Are you alright? Did my potion fail?!"

"It's not painful or anything-just extremely weird feeling." After a moment, Cyrus flushed a brilliant red as he felt things… move, growing and shifting and… When he spoke, his voice was higher, and very shrill. "Change me back, change me back!"

"What's wrong?"

"Your potion made me a girl, that's what's wrong!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Damn sure!" Cyrus replied.

After quickly looking around, as if searching for any potential observers, Jenna turned back to him and asked a question. "Could I… could I check?"

"No!"

"Can I at least see what you look like under the armor? I'm sure you're a very pretty girl, Cyrus."


Dramatis Personae:

Cyrus: the player character, harem protagonist

Cthylla: ex-Eye of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Annelida: ex-Eater of Worlds, in relationship with Cyrus

Medulla: ex-Brain of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Visca: still insists on being called King of the Slimes, in relationship with Cyrus

Bea: ex-Queen Bee, in relationship with Cyrus

Lacrima: ex-Skeletron, clothier replacement, in relationship with Cyrus

Andrea/Andi: ex-Wall of Flesh

Asta: ex-Spazmatism

Tina: ex-Retinazer

Francisca: ex-Skeleton Prime, in relationship with Cyrus

Regina: ex-Queen Slime

Ditra- ex-Destroyer

Aria: ex-Plantera

Picea: ex-Everscream

Nicola: ex-Santa-NK1

Crista: ex-Ice Queen

Aqua: ex-Duke Fishron

Titania: ex-Empress

Terra: ex-Golem

Asteria: ex-Lunatic Cultist

Cera: ex-Mothon

Christina: ex-Flying Dutchman

Maia: the Nymph

Stella: ex-Pillars

Luna: ex-Moon Lord

Jenna: ex-Pumpking

Cerina: ex-Mourning Wood (tee hee)

Nissa: the Dryad

Veronica: the Zoologist

Meredith: the Mechanic

Abigail: the Nurse

Judith: the Steampunker

Roxanne: the Stylist


It came to me out of nowhere: the Pumpking as a massive Chuunibyou, and I knew I had to have it. Jenna is a J name, since Jack starts with that, and Celina is vaguely similar to Celebica, the name for a certain type of ebony tree.

This fic ain't dead yet, baby