What Could Go Wrong?

When Rena walked inside the kitchen, she found Oberon looking at his finger, a single drop of red liquid -not really blood but aesthetically identical- pouring out of a small cut on it. She wouldn't go as far as betting on it, but she was quite sure she'd never seen him mess up something, at least not something so simple, and by the look of it he had clearly cut himself by mistake while making dinner. It was almost... nonsensical, for a machine as advanced as him.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"... nothing"

The elf wasn't exactly convinced by that reply, but she also considered whatever Oberon was going through to not be any of her business. She also had a vague feeling that it had something to do with Ara, and if that really was the case then she'd rather talk about it with her rather than with him. She had noticed that both of them had been acting rather off lately, after all. Well, mainly Ara, but him too. That said, nothing really happened that day.

Morning came, and breakfast went by uneventfully. Ara went back to her room, wondering if Obe could play chess -she couldn't really remember her work session from the previous day, but it did leave her quite frustrated and she needed something to distract herself since the chastity belt had proven time and time again to be stronger than her-, then someone knocked at her door right as she was pulling him out of his hiding spot.

"O-one moment" she half shouted as she put him back away before walking to the door, where Rena greeted her.

"Mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all"

The elf walked inside the room.

"Did something happen between you and Oberon?" she asked, going straight to the point.

"E-eh?" Ara replied, her tails waving in a somewhat eloquent way behind her.

"I might be wrong, but I think Oberon started acting a bit strange lately" Rena said, to which Ara silently agreed "And... all things considered, I think it has something to do with you"

"T... that's..." Ara started saying while playing with her fingers, her gaze moving around aimlessly, her ears twitching and her tails waving nervously.

"Lister, this situation doesn't really concern me, so just tell me to not think about it and I'll walk away just fine. But if you need, or just want, to talk about it with someone, I'm here. And not for much longer"

Silence followed. Ara was uncertain. She didn't really want to let Rena know about some details of her situation, that was a given... and she wasn't even sure what her "situation" regarding Oberon actually was, but on the other hand, the elf did have much more experience than her in nearly every field, so maybe she could really help her.

"I... I'll think about it" she finally replied, her face red.

"Hey" Rena replied as she placed an hand over her shoulder "Calm down. There's no need to be agitated. ... I mean, there isn't, right? Except for, well, your debt, but that's another story"

"... you're right. Thanks"

Then the elf left her alone with her thoughts. The sun moved along its path in the sky, and eventually lunch and dinner passed by. Ara had spent the day trying to teach Obe how to play chess, and while he did get the basic rules, saying that the two of them could play together would have been basically a lie, since even for a neophyte he was exceptionally bad at the game. Maybe she'd ask Oberon for another match. The next day, as she hadn't brought that up during dinner and didn't feel like going talk to him at such an hour. As for the evening, Ara sort of tried anal masturbation, but gave up halfway through it for a combination of reasons, mainly that it was too embarassing and that she was somewhat frustrated but not that much. That, and she still wasn't sure exactly how to get herself off that way, there was that reason too.

Night went by, and morning arrived. Ara was rolling around in her bed, more asleep than awake, with her tails tracing amusing arcs in the air, when someone knocked at her door. For a moment she thought about getting up and going to see who it was, but then drowsiness killed off that idea and easily convinced her to keep sleeping. So she did just that. For that reason she didn't hear the further knocks. Since the door wasn't locked, whoever was on the other side decided to simply walk in.

"Ara"

No reply.

"Ara"

Still no reply. Soon after, she was woken up by someone who had grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, not too violently but still enough to get her back from the dreamland.

Startled, Ara looked around in a daze, then her gaze fell on Oberon. Since she had just woken up, her brain took several seconds to understand whether that was actually Oberon or just Obe, seconds during which for some reason she almost started sweating. Then, once the doubt was dissipated, embarassment kicked in and made her blush. Because she'd gone to sleep wearing nothing but her bra. Well, that and the chastity belt. Much to her surprise, however, Oberon turned around upon seeing her cheeks growing redder. She still covered up herself with her tails though.

"Good morning"

"G... good morning... did... something happen... ?" she asked, quite startled.

"There's a letter for you" he replied as he handed her a still sealed envelope, without turning around. That made the gesture look rather... taxing on the muscles. Not that he had any, though.

"For... me? Who sent this? ... does this place really receive mails?"

"I don't know, there was nothing written on it. And yes, we're not cut off from the postal system"

Ara opened the letter and looked at the content. The message was rather simple, almost threateningly so.

"What does it say?" he asked, still facing the other way.

"... "I'm on my way", nothing else... but I think I recognize this handwriting. This is from... Eun... probably"

A brief silence followed, interrupted only by a rather unrelated statement.

"Breakfast is ready"

"R-right, give me just a moment"

After that he walked away, closing the door behind him. Ara stared at the letter for a minute or so. It'd been a rather long while since she last saw Eun, and the thought of meeting her again wasn't bad at all -not in itself- but considering her current situation...

Thinking too much about that woudn't help her. Besides, she didn't even know when she'd arrive. It might be that day just like it might be the next month. So she decided to just go down and eat something. Though she stopped on the stairs and turned back, since she'd forgotten to get dressed, her mind busy with other thoughts.

"So, who was that from?" Rena asked her when she finally reached her seat at the table.

"Eun. Seems like she's coming here, though she said nothing about when that would happen"

"Oh, that... might be a problem..." she replied.

"Why?" Oberon inquired.

"Eun is... how should I put this... I get the feeling she wouldn't really accept my current situation..." Ara answered.

It's still better than my brother finding it out at least...

"... I can work today" she then added "She didn't say when she'd arrive, so maybe I can actually finish paying off the debt before then, in which case I wouldn't have to tell her anything about it. ... I... guess..."

Oberon remained silent for an odd while. A sudden thought crossed his mind, one which was partially unrelated to the current conversation. He stored that idea -if it could be called such- somewhere in his artificial brain before answering.

"... sure"

"With... what, then?"

Another brief silence.

"There is a guest aviable, but it's mating is noticeably drawn out, so..."

"Oh, that one..." the elf commented.

"... so, it would be a rather long session. You would skip either lunch or dinner, depending on when you want to start. Possibly both"

Ara thought about it for quite a while. She had already gone through a lot there, so a part of her believed that she could handle whatever else that place still had to throw at her.

"And... would it pay... well... nice... ? I mean, for... my... debt... you... know..." she asked then, her tails dropping lower and lower to the floor as the question turned out to embarrass her more than she had thought it would.

"It would" he simply replied.

"Ara" Rena spoke up "I... wouldn't really advise it. It might last up to twelve hours"

"T-twelve?!"

"Yes"

"It would be worth around six hundred thousands"

"That much?!"

The elf basically glared at Oberon. For just a second but still.

"Ara, seriously, I don't think you can handle something like that"

"I believe she can" he said, an extremely vague shade of something different from his usual composure echoing in his voice.

Rena turned around.

"Just shut up for a moment" she told him before turning back towards Ara "Listen, I get it that you've already had some... rough experiences here, but we're talking about more than twice the usual duration, without breaks. Even if we assume that your current state enhances your stamina and everything else, this would still be too much"

Ara's mind was currently in the middle of a storm. Twelve hours were, indeed, a long time. A really, really long time. And while doing that would pretty much cut what was left of her debt in half, she really didn't feel too confident about doing it. That said, there was something else creeping deeper underneath her thoughts, something which was emerging bit by bit.

That was curiosity. She'd had experiences with quite the variety of partners during her days there, so she couldn't help but wonder how such a long session would feel. She kicked that thought away once it got too close to the surface, but it came back, again and again, getting more and more alluring.

"I... I'll do it" she said then. On her face was an uneasy smile that could easily be interpreted in several different ways.

"I'll be there too, then" Rena said.

"Eh?"

"I want to be sure that nothing goes wrong... although I think it did already"

"A-are you sure? I mean, you already have your work to do, and Oberon can..."

"I said I'll be there" the elf repeated.

"I'm against it" Oberon said, his gaze still locked on his book. ... when did he pull it out?

The two women turned towards him.

"This guest is rather irascible and could easily turn violent if irritated. If we consider that its perception of things may get a bit... distorted while mating, there's the risk of it becoming overly aggressive if it were to notice the presence of others"

"I'm well aware of that, and I know how to stay hidden"

"It would still be an unnecessary risk"

"R-Rena, really, don't worry. I'll be fine... I hope..." Ara interrupted them. She wasn't sure she could stand being watched by Rena while doing that. The thought itself was turning her cheeks red and making her heart beat faster. Well, it actually already happened once, but that was a different matter.

The elf remained silent for a minute or so before replying.

"... if that's what you want, I'll go with it" she said then, though she clearly wasn't too convinced.

"Thanks"

"We can go as soon as you finish eating, if you want" Oberon said.

"S-sure..."

After that, breakfast ended silently. He told Ara to wait for him in the elevator since he had to pick up a couple of things, and when he arrived the two of them went to the lower floors.

"What do you plan on doing after this?" he suddenly asked as the elevator moved along its path.

"You mean... after having paid off the debt?"

"Yes"

"I guess I'll start looking for a job again. ... a more normal one, possibly..."

"I've heard from the mistress that you have trouble keeping one because of your tendency to oversleep"

"That's... true..." she replied, her ears bending downwards upon hearing the harsh truth.

Oberon opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before making any sound. He remained like that for a second or two, then closed his lips. But since Ara was looking down, she didn't notice it. Soon after, the door opened and they stepped into the sixth floor, then headed to the fourth door. The antechamber had both feathers and scales hanging from the walls. She realized that she had completely forgotten to ask him exactly what was inside that dome, but just as she was about to inquire him about that he handed her the key and something else. A sort of candy.

"... I've just had breakfast" she commented.

"This should help you get through the whole session without going hungry. ... it's not a muffin. It's more of a dietary supplement of sort, I believe they're called that. Though I ignore why it was shaped like this" he added when she gave him a doubtful look. He had skipped the details, but in short that was to avoid having Ara getting hungry or thirsty in the middle of the session. Technically, it should have a positive effect on her stamina too.

"Well, it's not the weirdest thing I've heard since getting here I guess" she repleid as she took it.

She ate the fake muffin, which was surprisingly dry and almost disgustingly sweet, to the point that she'd have gone back up to get some water to wash the taste off her mouth had Oberon not brought a drink along as well. Then she asked him to turn around while she took off the chastity belt.

"Do you still use the plug?" he suddenly asked as he took the key back.

Ara's mind jumped on her own to certain memories related to that object. Her body nearly jumped too.

"K-kind of, yes" she replied, her gaze drifting closer to the ground than to his face "Why do you a-ask?"

"I was... ... ... it doesn't matter"

Ara decided to not inquire any further, as she already had something else to think about at the moment. And so the two of them stepped through the door. The inside of the dome was made of a quite thick forest of tall trees, though individually they weren't too large. That, and the place was waterlogged. They were both with their whole feet below the water. Thankfully -and somewhat oddly- the water wasn't cold, it was somewhat warm actually, though the ground underneath felt quite muddy and was uncomfortable to walk on. Ara shrugged it off as she started following Oberon, though they walked quite a lot less than usual before he stopped. A distinct sound could be heard coming from... somewhere around them. The place seemed to make noises echo all around, and because of that telling exactly where that was coming from was quite hard. Oberon put some distance between himself and her -not that much though- and leaned against a tree. Soon after, the source of the sound revealed itself.

The creature emerged from behind a tree. Slithering in front of her was a sort of mixture between three or so different animals. From the waist down it was a snake, slightly too large for Ara to be able to hug it and covered in dark blue scales, while the upper part of its body could be described as an humanoid thorax. Though it had six arms, and each hand had only three fingers, albeith rather large. Its head resembled both that of a snake and a bird -it had no beak however-, and was mostly covered in feathers. Actually, most of the upper half of its body was covered in feathers, which seemed really odd. Its hands were still scaly though, and both its palms and its chest were mostly naked, leaving the pale skin exposed. The creature opened its jaws, showing off its forked tongue as it croaked at her, confusing her even more about just what exactly it was.

"Stand still" Oberon said.

"The tails too?"

"... if possible. Just until it starts"

Holding her six tails in place turned out to be harder than she had expected, but she managed still to do so. The creature slowly moved forward, rippling the water with every motion of its serpentine body. Ara realized that it was larger than she had initially thought as it kept creeping closer. And while she couldn't really tell how they looked beneath the feathers, she got the feeling that those arms were really muscular. The creature started moving in circles around her, slowly, staying at an arm's length -one of its arms, not Ara's- while inspecting her with its gaze. She followed it with her eyes as much as possible without actually turning around, and avoiding looking at its face as that might have upset it.

Then something closed around two of her tails, something warm and moist. She nearly shrieked in surprise as she turned around to see that the creature had bit her tails, albeith with very little strength. And either it lacked teeth or they weren't touching her fur at the moment. That said, she wasn't sure what to do, especially after her soon-to-be partner locked its gaze on her face. Soon after it let go of her tails and slithered even closer to her, to the point its face was nearly touching Ara's. She suppressed an odd hurge to smell it just as the feathered animal opened its mouth and started running its long, thin, forked tongue over her cheeks. It felt... surprisingly dry. Then the tongue suddenly slid inside her mouth and ran around inside it for a short while before coiling around hers.

She instinctively raised her arms and tried to back away at the same time, but the creature immediatly grabbed her wrists and shoulders, preventing her from doing either of those actions. Then the tongue dove down her throat, causing Ara to get a sudden but intense urge to retch. She somehow managed to resist the impulse as the tongue started moving back up, and once it left her mouth she saw that it was coiled around... was that... a piece of the brioche she ate for breakfast? The creature quickly retracted its mouth and swallowed it, then lifted her up and started examining her from up close while apparently savoring the stolen food. Its grip was firm, but the palm of its hands felt surprisingly smooth against her wrists and shoulders.

The way he handed her, on the other hand, couldn't exactly be described as gentle. Its two free hands ran all over her face, with its fingers even going inside her mouth and scratching her ears, giving her mixed feelings. It then moved down along her neck and followed her shoulders and arms, reaching all the way to her fingertips. It seemed somewhat interested in her gloves, but either its interest died down really quickly or she had gotten the wrong impression as its free hands quickly moved back to her shoulders. It grabbed the fur boa and pulled it, forcibly removing it from its hooks and smelled it for a short while before biting it and finally letting it fall in the water. Finding it later might turn out to be an hard task. Then its hands ran down along her body, but stopped the very moment they touched her dress. Maybe because it was less... form fitting than her gloves, it tried to shove a finger between it and her skin, which actually ripped the dress a bit. Upon seeing that, the creature suddenly tore it completely down, leaving her completely naked except for her gloves, sock, shoes and well, the collar. Which, depending on how one were to see it, wasn't actually "completely naked" at all.

"H-hey!" she nearly shouted as she tried to move around, her already somewhat flushed face turning bright red.

In response, the creature twisted its head around and opened its large mouth only to close it on Ara's face, covering it from the lips all the way to the base of her neck, thankfully leaving her nose out. The inside of its mouth felt much wetter than she had expected, as if it was salivating profusely. And as relieved as she was to not be feeling any teeth against her flesh, being held in its mouth like that was still quite unsettling. Then she felt when the creature closing its free hands over her bare breasts, only to start groping them, eventually focusing on her nipples, causing her tails to start waving. Then she felt its tongue slide against hers and, mere moments later, wrap itself around one of her ears before beginning to lick the inside of it. Just how long was that?

Her mouth was essentially shut at the moment so she couldn't voice any complaints -not that the creature would have listened anyway, probably- but that sent strong shivers along her spine, in contrast to the warmness which was spreading from her chest as the creature kept playing with it. While it wasn't really an erogenous area, the inside of her fox ears was really sensitive, and having it licked that freely felt... odd. Not really pleasant, but surprisingly stimulating. Ticklish, maybe?

Then she felt a finger move away from her breasts and trace a line along her body, stopping for a few seconds over her belly button, almost tickling her as it rubbed against it before continuing down, reaching her privates. Feeling its scales against it made her realize that she was indeed wet, and she nearly thanked the creature for preventing her from letting her voice out when it suddenly pushed one of its large fingers all the way inside her, sending a jolt along her body.

Soon after the feathered snake pulled its mouth away, its tongue quickly sliding back away from her, and placed its face in front of her entrance, making her blush even more. It ignored her when she told it to not stare at her like that, and instead forced her in a leaning position to get a better view as it rolled its tongue back inside its mouth, two of its arms going from her shoulders to her hips to better hold her in place . She focused on not moaning when the creature started moving its finger around almost violently, sending waves of pleasure throught her system coupled with a certain degree of pain caused by its lack of ... tact, and Ara failed to contain a moan when its tongue suddenly coiled around her clit, completely covering it as it rubbed against its surface.

Ara felt the pleasure build up as the snake's hands held her hips in place, her tails starting to move around more and more as if to compensate for that, until she felt a second finger being pushed inside her. Considering their size, the feeling was comparable to that of around six or seven normal fingers, but those two were also longer and reached deeper within her. On top of that, their scales scratched all over her inner walls. As the stimulation kept piling up, she started digging her nails in her own palms as a wave of pleasure started to surge both from within and from outside. Namely, from her clit, which was still being rubbed all over by the tongue.

Having momentarily forgotten to keep her voice down, Ara let out a relatively quiet but rather long moan which grew louder as the feeling of her first orgasm spreaded through her body, arching her back and making her fur and ears stand on edge as she felt herself clamp down on the creature's fingers. Her partner seemed to have stopped moving when she reached her orgasm, maybe because it wasn't sure what was making her act that way, but just as her voice died down and she started regulating her breath a bit the creature pulled its fingers out, sending another jolt through her body as it licked Ara's juices off its scales. And maybe he liked the taste, as the next thing it did was sliding its tongue inside of her.

Without uncoiling it from her clit though. Ara closed her eyes -wether to focus on holding her voice back or on the feeling, it was hard to tell- as a different kind of stimulus pervaved her. The creature grabbed her with its last two arms as well, which did result in an overall more comfortable position for her at least. She wondered once more just how long that tongue was as it kept sliding inside of her, creeping against her inner walls as if it wanted to completely cover them. Truth be told, the stimulation coming from that wasn't particularly intense, even though it was literally covering every nook and cranny of her insides, but the same didn't apply for the outer one: as the tongue kept creeping inside of her, in fact, it also kept sliding against her whole clit, and that did feel intense.

She started biting her lips, her tails tracing lines in the water below her as they kept waving more and more wildly, especially after the creature grabbed her legs to hold them in place once she started trashing around a bit. She felt herself getting closer and closer to the edge, the pleasure spreading through her whole body as the tongue kept creeping in deeper and deeper, until a jolt of pain abruptly traveled through her nerves, the suddenness of it preventing her from holding in a relatively loud scream. And while Ara did need some pain to really reach her climax, that was too much and too unexpected. As for what exactly happened, the creature apparently decided to shove two fingers inside her rear, both at once.

She had already had anal intercourse before, but having something that large pushed all the way in with literally no preparations was just painful. To make things worse, the pleasure she was feeling dissipated almost completely because of that. On the bright side, however, the creature stopped moving for one reason or another, giving her some time to recover. A minute or so later, however, the snake took its fingers out and brought her back up to stare at her blushing face, albeith for a few moments at most, before suddenly pushing her down, against its own waist.

Ara let out a moan and a scream at the same time as the creature's two members -which she actually hadn't even seen as she had focused on its head for some reason- penetrated her both at once. She felt her hips hitting against its feathers, though she could also feel its scales beneath them. Her legs were pushed apart by its serpentine body as she got pulled down on it. Ara's main entrance was, by that point, wet enough to easily allow penetration, and while both the size and lenght were a bit too much for her to describe them as comfortable, she still felt a jolt of pleasure run through her nerves when the creature entered her. Her rear, however, had loosened up only a little, so the sudden, complete insertion felt just like that of the two large fingers from before if not even worse, the pain caused by that doing too good of a job neutering the pleasure.

She tried to push herself up, more by reflex than by actual choice, but the snake was firmly grasping her wrists and pulling them down, while her feet couldn't find any footing in that situation. After mere seconds, the snake moved two of its six hands over her buttocks and, grabbing them, pulled her up itself, sending both pleasure and pain coarsing through her. She bit her lips to hold her voice in as she snake raised her, almost enough for its two members to slip out of her, only to slam her back down again, almost violently. She bit her lips to try keeping her voice down as the creature slowly speeded up the pace, the sound of her flesh against its scales and feathers resonating within her ears.

A normal person would've gotten injured from that kind of anal penetration, but that wasn't the first time Ara's particular condition allowed her to withstand a rather overly rough treatment. For a split second she wondered if Oberon was aware of that, but then her mind was brought back to the pain given by every motion of the creature's member in her rear. Since it was no longer holding her wrists, having instead brought its other four hands over her hips and ankles, Ara tried to put up some resistance, or at least slow down its pace a bit, but the difference in sheer strength made her effort mostly pointless. Not that she could manage to put much force into her arms anyway at the moment.

That said, the pain was starting to fade, albeith rather slowly. Wether that was because her rear was getting used to the size or because the pleasure was simply building up enough to cover the pain, she wasn't exactly sure. Then the snake moved an hand over her mouth and forced it open right before sliding its tongue inside. She could taste her own juices still partially covering it, something which made her face turn even redder, her ears twitching a couple of times as the creature coiled again its tongue around hers. Then she felt its large fingers against her breasts, roughly fondling her and occasionally pinching her nipples with a little too much strength, sending opposite stimulus down her system.

They remained there like that, repating the same motions, for a good while. Had it not been for the uncomfortableness and -now only slightly- excessive pain, Ara would have already reached her climax, but as both those feelings gradually decreased, she could feel the orgasm getting closer, her inner walls pushing against the creature's members with increasing strength as the pleasure built up more and more, two of her tails unconsciously wrapping themselves around the snake's lower body as Ara tried to bite her lips to keep her voice in, to no avail as the creature was still holding her mouth open. Her tongue was still wrapped by the creature's, preventing her from moving her head as well, and eventually her limbs tensed up, her back arching as the wave of pleasure ran through her body. The pain had subsided, but not to the point that she had to hurt herself to get off, enhanching the feeling which was coarsing through her, her fur and ears standing straight up, her breathing coming to an alt for a couple of seconds before resuming, although ragged and somewhat broken.

The snake, too, stopped moving, as if curious, and stared at Ara for a few moments before raising her up, more than enough to pull itself out of her, and closing its large mouth on her crotch, covering her belly as well, some of her tails ending up partially within its jaws too. A chill ran down her spine as she felt what most likely were its teeth poking against her skin -where were them before, she didn't really want to know-, but it didnt' seem to be applying any pressure. It was quite disturbing in a way, but neither painful nor harmful. For now, at least.

She shrieked a bit when she felt the tips of its tongue bumping against her clit once again before beginning to lick her thighs, as if to clean them of the fluids which had dripped down along them. Ara took the chance to regulate her breath, or at least that was the plan, but doing so became quite difficult once the tongue entered her and started running around wildly within her for the second time, sending weak but numerous waves of pleasure along her system. Meanwhile, the creature was moving its hands around a bit, apparently to get a better grip on Ara, when its fingers suddenly ran right over the base of her tails.

That was already a sensitive area for her, especially because it didn't get much... attention usually, and since she hadn't seen it coming -both literally and figuratively- the jolt of pleasure that hit her felt even more intense than usual, enough to make her have a brief spasm, which incidentally made her also involuntarily push her own flesh against the creature's teeth.

The snake seemed intrigued by her reaction and opened its mouth, pulling her out. It turned her around to look at her back, closed three fingers around her wrists, holding them up above her head, two hands around her chest and waist to have a more proper grasp, then took her tails in its fourth hand, pulling them to the side in order to get a better view of the point where they connected to her body.

Being treated like some sort of toy was already embarassing, but for some reason Ara found being stared at from behind like that even worse to deal with, especially because her tails were being held and she couldn't even try to cover herself up a bit with them. On the bright side, there weren't any teeth marks visible on her skin. Then the snake started stroking her lower back, around the base of her tails, as well as their bases themselves.

Her face turned even redder as the pleasant feeling -mixed in with a not so faintly ticklish one- dripped into her mind. And as much as the feeling wasn't spreading through her whole body, remaining instead focused in that area, it still caused her to squirm around, which seemed to be amusing for the creature. For Ara, on the other part, it was highly embarassing at first. And frustrating after some minutes. Mainly because, as nice as that felt, she really couldn't get off from that. A different kind of tingling began bothering her, this time between her legs, as the creature kept playing with the base of her tails. Somehow, however, she still managed to keep her voice down.

Oberon, on his part was still keeping watch, though his mind was partially elsewhere. It hadn't been that long since Ara started, especially considering the expected length of that session. And while he was no expert about that subject, he was quite sure that the guest was almost done with what could probably be considered its foreplay. Though maybe that term wasn't really appropriate, considering how there had already been penetration.

Thank you for reading.