A.N. - And here's the point where we start really diverging. Bit more 'connective tissue the chapter' than originally intended, but it was either that or have a 25k chapter, 'cause the next natural breakpoint is a ways away, and I'm trying to pace myself with this story.

"Hold it right there, visitor! Where do you think you're going?"

Farah looked up at the voice of her guard, looking down the stables at the source of the sound.

"Just looking around while I wait for her highness."

'Oh my, he's a big one.' Farah couldn't help but lick her lips.

"Then I'll have to order you to stand back," the overzealous royal guardsman said, jerking his chin up at the larger man, "Former queen Farah would not like to be disturbed."

'Oh he can disturb me all night long.' The aforementioned royal immediately thought.

He was nearly a full head taller than her guardsmen, shoulders nearly half again as broad as theirs with a simple, well tailored outfit made of a beautiful gray and green material, accenting his slimmer waist and muscular form. A dark, voluminous cloak was draped across his shoulders, draping nearly to the ground. Opaque harem pants made of a fine material, chest wonderfully bare with detached sleeves, with a number of knives strapped to him, though the thick shoes did interfere with the look of the harem pants they were quite nice.

"Ah," he smiled warmly, eyes running up and down her form in a pleasing manner, "That's Opala's mother, then?"

And then green eyes that burned with an inner fire met hers across the stables, nearly glowing even in the daylight, and Farah knew she was in trouble.

"Yes," she could see how her guardsman's hand tightened around his spear at the implied disrespect at not calling her daughter by her proper title. The tightness in his tone was clear, she'd have to interrupt it sooner rather than later. "She has been a wonderful mother for Queen Opala and a great wife for our late Pharaoh."

"What's all the commotion about?"

The two guards nearly jumped out of their skin, the senior looking back, "L-Lady Farah!"

She couldn't help but smile, cooing as she took the opportunity to try and look past the burning gaze, "Ooooh, is it a visitor for me?"

Clearly foreign, he was possibly the prettiest man she'd ever had the pleasure of seeing, a heart-shaped face framed by several small scars on his cheeks, deepset eyes, skin as pale as a noble from the greek lands, rich brown hair short and roughly slicked back, shot through with highlights of lotus-pink.

"N-No, not really, he just–" The silly guard sputtered, looking back and forth between her and the foreign man.

"Just this, just that!" She waved it off, beaming, "You guards can be so uptight sometimes! Relax, let the visitor in."

"V-Very well, lady Farah." He huffed, glaring back up at the man, speaking softer but still plenty audible in the stables, "Hmph. I guess you can enter then. But try anything funny and you'll regret it."

"I wouldn't dream of it." The man said with mirth before nodding at the guards and approaching, footsteps silent under the sound of the farriers' work changing out the horseshoes. Big, smooth strides brought the man quickly down the royal stables until he stopped within arms reach of her.

"Hello young man," she smiled up at him, having to crane her head up to look into that burning gaze, she didn't even come up to his shoulders! The chiseled musculature of his chest shifted like woven metal under his pale skin, was broken up by a scar that stretched nearly from his belly button up between his collar bones. Catching herself, she drew her eyes back up to his own, "What could this bored, mature woman do for you?"

"Many things, your grace, though it's a pleasure in of itself to meet you," he extended a hand towards her palm upwards.

Farah obliged, placing her own smaller hand in his warm and smooth palm, letting him bring it up towards his lips- ah!

He'd moved to kiss his own thumb but that would not do.

Twisting her hand as he brought it up, she ensured his lips met her knuckles, making those emerald stars flick up to meet her gaze. Like a good boy, pressed a firm, lingering kiss to her knuckles, a delightful little smile on his face as he raised his head once more.

"My name is Jacob," he said, touch lingering, "A sorcerer from afar."

Farah giggled, "No need to be so formal, Jacob. I don't bite…" She hummed pleasantly, this time allowing her own brilliantly green eyes to rove his form, "Mmmm… really, I don't." Leaning forward as she watched his pale cheeks pinken slightly as he chuckled in adorable embarrassment, noticing the way his own eyes dip to her cleavage in spite of himself, "Whatever brings you to Egypt? You don't seem to be from around here. No doubt you came to see my daughter, Queen Opala, mm?"

Oh, the bulge in his pants very much enjoyed that.

"I did, your grace." He grinned, bowing slightly in acknowledgement and mirth, "Among other wonders of the land, such as yourself."

"Oh! Aren't you a charmer?" Farah couldn't help but beam up at him, enjoying the little flush that brought to her cheeks, twirling the end of her long black hair around a finger

He laughed, something warmer than even his gaze, "I do my best, your grace."

"Please," she very deliberately pressed her arms together, accentuating her generous cleavage and leaning forward to make sure he could get a good eyeline down her strapless white dress, "Call me Farah. My daughter is the Queen now."

Another bit of laughter from him, bowing slightly, "Of course, Farah. The resemblance is very clear. II had actually hoped to speak with you about that."

"Oh? Is something wrong, Jacob?"

"You see, we had been-" a glance over at the farrier working on one of the royal stallion's not too far away, though the man was diligently working with a practiced ease of ignoring the former queen in her viewing, "-sharing body heat last night and had a rather…" He searched for the word, and the little grin he gave as he found it was rather nice, "Vigorous discussion."

"Oh my."

"I'd hoped to… explore options with you. If your enjoyment of deep and energetic debates is comparable to hers… well, some… tips on how to improve the exchange would be appreciated. While I could have spent the entire night in such a discussion, I was starting to worry I was going to exhaust her such that she couldn't perform her duties."

Whining in the back of her throat, Farah could only stare up at the small mountain of a man, playing with the front hem of her minidress, "A-Ah, all night? A-And you say you exhausted my daughter?"

"Yes, she was… struggling to stand by the time I decided to bring the discussion to a close." He leaned in closer, whispering conspiratorially, "I may have been hoping for a…" Burning viridian eyes swept over her form like a sunbeam, leaving a pleasant warmth in a trail up and down her voluptuous figure, "Demonstration of sorts on ways to deeply explore some topics."

The former queen bit her lip, drawing a shuddering breath through her nose as she restrained herself from pulling the young man into one of the empty stalls. She'd been hoping he would be amenable to a mature woman like herself when she first saw him but this far exceeded her expectations.

Still, she had to maintain some image of propriety for Opala's sake if nothing else. Farah was able to catch herself, putting a hand on her bust, glancing past him with warmth in her cheeks she admitted equally conspiratorially, "That might not be such a good idea with all these guards around. You see, they're a bit too overprotective." He chuckled warmly, pale cheeks pinkening slightly as she continued, both hands playing with the hem of the front of her short dress and swaying slightly to further draw attention to her assets as she leaned in and said softly, "But if we meet again when I'm more available… I wouldn't mind a deep and thorough demonstration."

"Mm," he hummed, leaning closer, his voice soft, warm, and low in a way that made her core heat up, "I rather like the sound of that. There are a number of topics I want to deeply and repeatedly explore with you over the course of a night."

Mouth watering at the thought, she forced herself to clear her throat, desperately resisting the urge to fan herself or make a more blatant offer while so many guards and the royal farrier were in earshot. She had an image to uphold sadly. "Ah, well, I shouldn't take more of your time. I'm sure there's still plenty to be seen around here if you're from another nation."

"There is, but one of the true wonders is right in front of me, so it's hard to think of better places to be."

"Aww, aren't you the sweetest young man… but I'm confident we'll run into each other again."

He chuckled once more before offering his hand to her, palm up once more. Accepting the invitation, Fara placed her hand in his larger one, and this time the young man did it properly, pressing warm lips against her knuckles as his thumb worked gently but firmly on her wrist in a way that sent pleasant waves up her arm.

Burning emerald eyes lifted back to hers, "I'll be eagerly anticipating it."

-oOo-

"Halt."

I paused, looking over at the guardsman standing on the bridge between the palace and the city, "Mm? Is there a problem?"

"Not at all, sir!" The man said with a crisp nod, "I'm just here to warn you that monsters have appeared outside the Capital of Egypt. And be extra careful after the sun is down, the monsters hunt in larger packs at night. So, if you're heading outside, be on your guard."

"Ah, thank you." I gave him a nod.

"It's my duty, sir!" He saluted back with a smile even as I pointedly moved on, continuing towards the city proper.

Humming a mindless little tune, I tried to focus on my next steps while savoring the sunlight on my skin. That had gone well.

Surprisingly so. Koya agreed, having helped prompt me slightly during the encounter to make sure I made a good impression. She really is just a horny pet isn't she?

She's unquestionably the horniest of the characters- I caught myself as I dipped around some of the people as I exited the bridge that led to the palatial island. Remembering some characters from the later games were actively ditzy and even worse about being down to fuck. ... well, okay, almost the horniest. She's still definitely a nymphomaniac even by the standards of a porn setting.

I could tell. You didn't even have to use your magic like you did with her daughter this morning.

That nearly made me stumble as I wandered eastward through the city. I pointedly did not ask what she meant, much to her amusement. Examining what I remembered of the conversation with Opala in my head instead, that feeling of petals running through my mind… ... huh, okay. I did. I didn't think any of my magics or excellencies would lean into deception this early.

The overwhelming amount of my debt was spent on personal empowerments that would gradually scale.

I could hear the pout in Koya before she recalibrated, Well, it's all you've been doing, deceiving your family, deceiving Jake, deceiving the guards, deceiving Opala, and now even Farah.

That had me snort and smile, making sure to sweep my eyes as I moved along, to at least seem a little less crazy for laughing at 'nothing'. Gonna have to up your game Koya. Oh, I didn't like lying to my mom and such, but it didn't hurt much, The other voices already in my head were worse than that.

Koya pointedly didn't harrumph at me, Then the next thing on your itinerary is to do anything you can to reduce your debt and acquire whatever points you can from the city.

Yeah yeah, I know. I agreed, that trickling, prickly feeling along the back of my neck of the pressure of debts being pointedly ignored, That's what I'm headed for now.

And honestly I just did my best to savor the city while in search of known factors, meandering my way through the intermittent crowds. Theoretically the next encounter with Farah would be in the city in terms of the game, but if I swung it right I may be able to get some full on porn logic time with her and her daughter, or otherwise bypass additional elements. And even now, there should've been a decent chunk of interdimensional value in mercenaries in the city, which is what I was searching for now.

But… I'd always liked cities. They felt good. The press of humanity had always been pleasant to my senses, but it had been rare that I'd get the pleasure of experiencing the press of humanity outside of larger nerd-conventions.

It was undercut a bit by the persistent smells, they didn't have indoor plumbing or an equivalent and it was noticeable.

Please point him out if you notice Valencio though. Part of the reason I wasn't moving faster was that I was waiting for the assassin of the dark empress to get back to me with her decision. If I could get Osira as a Client, as someone paying for waifus and selling other meaningful individuals and such from her own setting, I could just write off much of my onboarding debt. Thankfully for my facial expressions and physical comfort, I'd grown up around enough farms that the scent was only unpleasant, not disgusting or horrifying. Sun-dried cow-shit smelled very different from a fresh horrifying turd. I might miss him in all this.

For all that I could've counted the hairs on someone's head not just across the street but maybe even from several blocks down, hear people's heartbeats when I was close enough to them, and taste the world around me? Increased sensory fidelity and range didn't intrinsically improve my ability to consciously process all that information. A second set of 'eyes', even if they were technically limited to my own sensory inputs was a godsend.

Sure thing sir~ Wouldn't want you to lose the opportunity to move product because you were too busy staring at the new pretty colors~

Oi, they're not new colors yet Koya. My visual spectrum is still unchanged. I countered, admittedly thankful that the various bits of bullshit I'd purchased were growing slowly. It would not have been fun going from zero to full Kryptonian senses within moments of being exposed to yellow sunlight.

But there was still the persistent sense of the Lie granted to me by my other mystical Awakening. The hum and near hallucinogenic flickers of what I kept perceiving as code and circuits around me and people, ready to snap into focus if I tried.

Of course, sir~ The fox-like spirit chirped back before 'noting', Though I thought you'd already expanded another sense?

My lips didn't quite press into a thin line, but it was only out of practice on my customer service face. I'm still adjusting to it.

What better time is there? Koya countered 'innocently'– That was plenty innocent!

'Innocently'.

But, frustratingly correct.

I'd always wanted more sensory inputs, more breadth of information gathering, and shying away from something new because it was uncomfortable was hypocritical bullshit that I was not here for.

Dipping through the crowd was easier than I was accustomed to, heading towards a small side-alley that I'd seen. Mind you, everyone else I'd encountered was like, 5'5", maybe 5'8" for the standouts like the big guards, and even the latter was right about my height prior to emerging from the Chrysalis Grotesque. And now? Now I was at least 6'3". So between the increased height and breadth of shoulders, I couldn't be too surprised that people parted when I moved…

Which was new and I'm not sure if I liked it or not.

Regardless, I was able to get to the alleyway and enough isolation to (more) comfortably invest energy into the sensory expansion.

It was conceptually a simple ability, likely a precursor to the outright telekinetic capabilities that I knew I had access to now. I closed my eyes for just a moment to feel for and then catch some of the petals that drifted through my mind.

The petals were crushed and ground into the dust that poured forth circuits and spread through the pool of the Self that was my anima, crystalizing as water would freeze into ice.

Taking some of the motes of energy granted by Koya's subsumption into my soul, I let them crystalize in my anima like a lens, a fractal expansion on my ability to tell if someone was lying.

As it did so, my feeling of contact against the rough sandstone wall I was leaning against expanded and stretched until it was like I was running my hands against the entire thing slowly and gently- and the sand beneath me and the cloth of outfits moving in the street rough and silky and cotton and- and- and-

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

My aura, my anima, was now basically one giant 'hand', a lens focusing and allowing me to feel everything nearby and it was disconcerting.

Opening my eyes to the warm, stark light of the Egyptian desert sun, I looked at the alternately brightly colored and starkly simple clothing options of the populace moving about. I could feel just a bit further than the buildings across the street-

-warm skin-callouses-sand-wood-hair-fuzz of fruit-stop that.

So about ten to twenty yards worth of 'tactile senses' range, as it'd been in my brief stints during training. I couldn't remember the specifics from the RPG book about what the range was, but that felt about right.

The fun thing with touch though is that it was both a high fidelity, but also a low consciousness threshold sense. You couldn't really miss sensory input unlike potential selective perception gorillas so I could've counted every person on the street without a whole lot of trouble, but it was a lot of sensory input that-
wait was that a musket?

A flintlock pistol– two actually. Koya corrected, a half-step ahead of me, she'd also perked up at the sudden input.

Same way your hands could always find themselves in the dark, I knew exactly where those things were relative to me. Another building down to my left, wood, glass, liquids- The guns were holstered at the waist of a woman, a stacked one with a slim waist and… were those jeans-? Was that a bikini?!

Oh-kay, what had I stumbled upon? 'Cause there shouldn't be someone with guns here. As anachronistic as the setting was? Actual guns were in the alternate fantasy land of the second game.

Making a game attempt at not hurrying, I stepped back out onto the street and made to move down the street to see the- definitely a bar.

Right. Good. That was good. I was looking for these anyways, one of the mercenaries I knew about was in a bar so this was a great spot to check for that potential capture. Even while I was checking to see what had gone sideways here, 'cause I hadn't tried to go to an alternate version of this reality or get a modified timeline or AU.

Walking through the front door I was hit with the scents of beer and stains of various kinds, and I could taste the hops and meads and sweat on the air-

And the acrid, assaulting, astringent, taste of blackpowder.

Men were crowded into the bar, though this sardine can had walls of sandstone and a straw floor. It still had an appropriately horrid smell. It wasn't quite slimy enough for sardines, but the almost stereotypical saloon style was at least improved by the numerous open windows in the walls, which also did at least something for the smell.

Even though I was the tallest person in the building, the bearer of the flintlocks was by the bar on the far side from the door and not visible from here.

Working my way through the men standing about, around a server, as well as the occasional female customer. Finally, my eyes zero'd in on the bearer of the flintlocks and some of the concerned tension in my chest eased.

A moderately sized brunette woman, with full breasts and ass, sitting at the bar and downing a beer as a fat guy hit on her.

Gabrielle, the game's creator's… Self Insert of sorts.

I had not thought she was in Thebes… I admitted to myself and Koya, at least happy it wasn't some weird AU out of nowhere. While not as thin at the waist as the infamous Sparrow drew her, she was very slim yet voluptuous as many women I'd seen in the city happened to be. She was also the first truly caucasian person I'd run into; for all that some locals had light skin none of them looked like they could've been from, like, England. Heck, I didn't think she was in the first game at all…

How much is she worth? Koyanskaya asked, and I could practically hear the gears turning in her head as her incorporeal eyes narrowed. Focusing on the two flintlock pistols we felt in the holsters at her hips and what muscle there was under her soft figure, even if my eyes and tactile sense was focused more on the blue-jean short-shorts, tiny pink bikini-top, knee-length chaps-alikes, various belts that held it all in place, and were those nipple piercings…?

Probably a Tier 2, so just two credits, I began to work my way through the tavern towards the bar where she sat, overriding Koya's grumpy huff, But two credits is two credits. And she's a temporally and spatially displaced individual. I forget if she's from a contemporary time to me, but she's a sight closer. And she wants to get home. I might not be able to get her there directly yet, but she'd be great for the cats.

Also, while I was a bit too straight to say 'any hole is a goal', ABC. Always Be Capturing.

"Pardon me," I lightly touched the shoulder of the man that had been clearly hitting on her, "I'd like to speak to the young lady."

At least while you were so deep in debt that you've got to see which direction the bubbles go to know which way was up.

"Wait your turn ya priiiick…?" He'd swung around to snarl at me, stopping when his gaze landed on my collarbones before his eyes tracked upwards to mine, "Uh."

"Please." I said softly, holding his gaze and smiling serenely while very deliberately looming over the man at the same distance he was from Gabe, which was certainly within what he'd consider personal space. "I'd appreciate it."

"Uh, yeah, uh, knock yourself out." He shuffled to the side before backing away quickly.

Your eyes were also glowing. Koya noted.

Oh. Useful. Not intentional, but helpful. Gonna want to learn how to do that on purpose. I leaned against the bar, taking the prior man's spot and grinning at the woman, "Hi."

Blue eyes narrowed at me over her beer mug, a confused look of displeasure on her face before she finally said, "You'd better tip at least as much as he would've."

Laughter burst from me. Not what I'd been expecting, but, "Sure. I'm pretty sure I can do better." I looked to the approaching bartender, pointing at him with a grin, "What's the strongest you have? I'll take the bottle, and her tab."

"One hundred and fifty gold." The middle-aged man said with a kind of patience that I was very familiar with.

You only had to deal with grandstanding for a pretty girl and drinks a few times to get a feel for it. Thankfully, my more generalized currency was separate from the company scrip. And I hadn't lied to my mom, 10k a month as a base salary, and the local conversion rate was roughly 3 gold pieces per dollar.

Reaching up under my mantle, I summoned my smart-device and tapped it on the bar several times, causing coins to spontaneously appear on the bar in front of it with each soft dink against the wood. I'd already set it to the local denominations when I was attempting to follow along after my similarly named green-haired counterpart. "That should cover it."

Leave it. Your device. I followed Koya's prompting, leaving the smartphone on the bar as I turned back to Gabrielle with a smile, finding her blue eyes staring at the coins and the phone, probably similar to the bartender.

"So-!" I dragged her attention back to me and gestured, "I wanted to speak with you because I saw those-"

The ponytailed brunette covered her bikini-clad breasts with narrowed eyes.

I snorted, "No, though they are nice." I pointed more specifically at the flintlocks at her hips, "Those, and was wondering where they're from."

Her cheekbones were sharp, and while rather fit, she was proportionally wider than Opala was. But Opala had a ridiculous pornstar figure going on and it was unfair to compare people to her. Gabrielle would've still easily have been an 8 or 9 out of 10.

"They're not for sale." She glanced back at the coins that the bartender had grabbed before pointing at me with a finger, "I mean, not for cheap at least!"

"Pfha!" Once again thrown just a bit, I held up a hand while I giggled and tried to get control of the conversation once more. For all that I could've just picked her up and captured her here and now, I was still playing nice with local laws and trying to stay a little bit under the radar. I needed to convince her to accompany me somewhere off to the side. "I- sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot." I extended my hand, "Jacob."

"Gabrielle." She said, shaking it and perking up just a bit, the beginnings of a smile threatening to appear on her face.

"It's a pleasure." I said honestly, "If I might ask, what brings you to Thebes? You may look less like a native than I do, and that's saying something."

"O-Oh-! Well, it's a little complicated." She said sheepishly. With skin about as pale as mine, but clearer than it'd ever been before my Exaltation, features starkly european? Oh yeah. Only reason I might stand out more is my height. Her hair was a rich, almost reddish brown, thick, with short cut bangs and if let to hang would've probably gone down to her ass. "This will sound strange, but I have no idea how I ended up in this hostile world. I mean, you have to sprint between towns or the monsters will get you like they did with me!"

That brought me up just a bit short, interrupting my acceptance of the bottle of wine, looking over at her curiously, "Mm?"

"Ugh, my butt still hurts from when that Dilzard caught me…" She actually rubbed her ass with one hand even as she took a swig of her beer with the other before continuing. "If he didn't wear himself out like he did after all those hours, I wouldn't be sitting here!"

And she was not being quiet.

"Probably be an incubator in their nest." My mouth worked automatically from years in public facing roles. But was… okay, it'd been a while since I'd played the second and third games, though I vaguely remembered that the rambling and needing money were her traits as a character but still.

I was caught very off guard by it in existence.

"Ugh! Yeah. Don't even want to imagine what a pack of werewuffles would do." She huffed before chugging her beer.

"And…" I gesticulated a bit while my brain chased after the conversation, "Where were you from originally?"

"I come from an island called Festival Island, so I'm trying to raise money for a ship." She gestured with the now empty beer mug, "I only remember a very bright light and suddenly I stood here in Egypt! Hopefully someone may be able to sail me back to my home."

I don't even know what I'm looking at. Koya muttered in something between shock and awe in my soul before giving a metaphorical head-shake, surprisingly about as thrown as I was. But she rallied first, pre-empting my first response, Offer her money, not help or charity.

"I may have a way you can make money." The way her head snapped to me, eyes lighting up almost made me feel bad. With my thumb, I popped the cork off of the bottle, catching it with my other hand, "See, I have some jobs that need to be done and obviously the cash to pay for it, and it'd be a lot safer, no risk of sudden monsters or any danger unless something entirely fucked up happens."

Gabrielle leaned closer, the abrupt motion making her bikini bound breasts bounce very boobiily. But despite how blatantly my gaze had been brought to her figure, she had no hesitation or even any of the sexual intent Farah or Opala may have as she asked, "What kind of job? I'd do anything! I really need the money!"

I stalled, taking a deep swig of the wine from the bottle, my first thought was to sass just a bit, to ask what she meant by anything, but that–

Would be perfect. Koya insisted as I swallowed. You said it yourself. It's a porn world. Ask.

"Anything?" I ended up asking, trusting the manipulative spirit and gesturing at the woman at the bar with me, "Pretty bold statement."

"Anything!" She insisted energetically, leaning even further forward, only supported by her arm on the bar and breasts hanging pendulously downwards, "Flash my boobies at a crowd, entertain you, I could do the dog thing again if I actually get paid!"

I immediately knew what she meant by 'the dog thing'. As a performance for a crowd.

"I might take you up on the entertainment offer. But I'm thankfully thinking of something simpler." I gestured at her with the bottle of wine, "I've got a job doing some basic work that I think you're a great fit for. A hundred and fifty gold pieces a day sound good?"

The wordless, high pitched and muffled sound of excitement she made was adorable, as was how she vibrated in place.

This kind of employee and you get to find her instead of me. Koya lamented. Life's not fair.

Hush. "That sounds like a yes."

The brunette cleared her throat, "Ah- um, yes, Sure."

Perfect. Get her to your apartment.

"Great," I said warmly as I stood, agreeing with my soul-cohabitant and taking a draw from my wine bottle, "I'll show you where you'll be working–" I turned and had to stop because of the proximity of a man who had been right behind me.

Huh, I had been entirely distracted by the nice tits. Bad Jacob. Don't make that a habit.

"Hey!" While not quite as tall as I'd ended up as, but broader of shoulder and thicker scowled up at me, jabbing a finger into my chest before pointing at Gabrielle, "She said she was gonna chug semen today!"

That made me pause and blink a few times. I vaguely remembered something like that from the… third game? One of the later two. I hadn't thought that was in Thebes but…

A quick glance confirmed that while this was easily the biggest of the guys in the bar, much of the already packed space was clearly behind him from the looks I was getting, and I could even see a poster for the 'Tavern Wench Challenge', 10gp per load she chugged. Which explained a fair bit. It left a niggling concern that this was an Alternate Universe or Variant setting… and I could have easily asserted myself, forced my way through, picked her up, captured her, and walked on out. Literally no one in this place could've stopped me.

And why wouldn't you? Koya prompted.

I was waiting for Valencio to get back to me, to hear about Osira's decision. As well as trying to peacefully insert myself into the rulership even prior to her assisted ascension to the throne. Rushing here, antagonizing the local populace, would only make things harder.

Instead, I turned to the brunette, who was still sheepishly sitting on her barstool, "Do you want to?"

Blue eyes blinked up at me in confusion, "... huh?"

"Do. You. Want to?" I reiterated gently.

"I… uh… I did kind of agree to it, didn't I?" Her smile was sheepish before it became almost panicked, "I-I can still do that job though right-?"

Cutting that panic off immediately, I'd reached out to place a hand on her bare shoulder, causing her to stop, "Yes. Yes you can. I just want to give you an out if you want it. Do you want to leave this behind you?"

In my peripheral vision I saw the man's face twist and he started to step forward, but I took a grip on his shoulder and dug my thumb into the gap between his collarbone and shoulder muscle groups, right into that nerve bundle leading to the arm and getting a very small and frustrated squeak in doing so.

Not gonna lie, good on him, that shit hurt.

"Oh… that's sweet of you," Gabrielle's sheepish look became a grin, pumping a fist up, "But I got this-!"

With a nod, I stood. The man who'd protested sneered up at me, like he'd… won one over me?

He thinks he's cucking you. Koya supplied, amused.

I smiled at the man without any teeth, patting his abused shoulder comfortingly, and his smugness cracked just a bit as I turned to the bartender, "Could you prepare the mugs for the challenge?"

Ahhh. Now I get it. I couldn't help but think as the bartender nodded and I moved out into the crowded bar. Passing some coins to one of the serving wenches with a request to advertise for the event, as well as wrangling a few of the less interested men with some money under promises of more if we could get a line out the door going. Poor sod. Even if I was into her like that? He's gonna cum into a cup and get to watch. I'm going to own her.

Oh? Koya cooed, You seem less bothered than you did about Jake wanting to 'own Opala's ass.'

I am. I admitted easily, though struggled to articulate the specifics of why. Flashes of emotion, thoughts, and memories trawled through my mind as I put some public-facing-role skills to work to hype up the event for Gabrielle. If anything, her creator would be happy for her?

I drained the bottle of wine in the course of this effort, even as my coadjutor said, almost… disappointed, Oh? The justifications are already getting this loose?

That made me bristle, but not in any articulate way. Instead, I forced myself to hold back and let that process, to actually mull over why I was so much more… comfortable with just excusing capturing Gabrielle as opposed to Opala.

The displaced woman hadn't had my mother telling me to treat her well for one. For another, she was also explicitly an attempted thief and even more of a ditz/airhead than Opala could be. Both terrible excuses for permanently sexually enslaving someone. She needed more guidance or wrangling than others. Again, a horrid pretension at being a reason for permanently enslaving her.

In the end, even more men slipped into the bar, glass mugs pulled out, and various additional sperm-producing sardines packed into the sandstone can, gathering the courage to just drop their pants to start providing the 'refreshments' for the challenge. By the time the first one managed to do so, I'd finally figured out a good way to articulate things to Koya.

It's basically what she's already going through. The clones they make will just continue to have the same sort of life as before. I drained my second bottle of wine But this version? Will be with me. And I'm going to do my best to treat her well.

As I watched Gabrielle do her thing, instead of giving the men whipping out their dicks to dump jizz to the mugs any attention, I focused on the displaced woman as she chugged it. And admittedly enjoyed the view, much like many others of the crowd, enthusiastic men and women both.

Is that how you're going to excuse it? Koya seemed amused.

While part of me still bristled? Something was bugging me. It felt weird for her to be so sassy about capturing Gabrielle when she'd been so adamant about me catching Opala before. Especially given that Gabrielle was certainly worth less, two credits were two credits. Even with Koya wanting the opportunity to eat me, I wasn't going to be convinced to not try to deal with my debt, I knew what I'd signed up for. I turned the conversation over in my head and what Koya had been doing since arriving.

... that confrontation was your idea, wasn't it?

I felt Koya nearly jump out of her now metaphorical skin, W-What-?! How did y-you get that idea? She made a game attempt of recovering- Better than game!

I smiled behind the bottle as I took another drink. That poster. It was visible from where I was before, and you got me to prompt her, to get everyone else's attention and provoke a reaction. Make me feel like a hero 'rescuing' her and such.

A moment of silence before the feeling of a fuzzy warmth curling around me and soft pressure settled against my back and shoulders, smirking lips pressing to my currently very human ear, Mm. Good, you figured it out. I was worried this was going to be too easy.

It's a strange thing to feel simultaneously proud and terrified about the same thing. The warm flush even as a cold shiver goes down your spine and your stomach clenches.

Koya cackled in my ear. Which could've meant she'd actually had a multilayered thing going on, or that she'd successfully distracted from her original goal.

Mmm. I don't think I'll comment on that one. Let you stew on it a bit, sir.

Either way, she'd won that exchange.

As potentially concerning as that was, I put it from my mind. I didn't have the data to guess at what she was doing, nor the experience or tendency for manipulation to try and puzzle it out. So it wasn't worth the stress.

Instead, watching Gabrielle chug her way through her second oversized glass of jizz, taking a moment to wipe her lips and scoop up a sticky bit that had overflowed, I made the best of the nice opportunity laid out before me.

I knew for a fact that this woman could take impossibly large insertions and outlast many potential rapists or slavers. There was something fucky going on with that, and this was a prime opportunity to learn more about the magics of living things.

Something I still had little to no understanding of, despite very much wanting it, at least at enough of a level to heal up my dad.

With a long swig, I drained the bottle of wine to the last drop before catching the bartender's gaze and raising the bottle with a little wiggle.

Side note, whatever specific magics had been worked into my form that gave me this supernatural taste had also fixed the reflexive distaste I had for wine as 'grape medicine' and I was very thankful.

Now, sure, I could see all of the forces applied on and by Gabrielle, a complex network of energy exchanges of her mass via gravity or the chemical energies of her body being converted into electrical and then mechanical energies with thermal waste, or the friction coefficients of the various portions of her skin, which was consistently extremely soft and smooth how dare she. I could see the elements of magical existence that were inscribed into her, the slight glow of magic in her soul, the words and symbols that tried to snap into existence around her to describe her existence…

But that was just the basics. The things that came to me naturally based on my mystical Path.

Something was niggling about her metaphysics. The parts I couldn't easily see… not without putting in some work.

I caught several of the petals of power that swirled around inside me and held them tight, tight enough that they burned and the smoke suffused my eyes.

Colors and code crystallized and congealed into coherent shapes, comprehensible only in the circuitous way that the cyphers of the corporeal could be. The pseudo-hallucination of synesthetic sensations seeping into my senses as circuits and speech and script.

Active Mage Sight, as opposed to the buzz of awareness of the supernatural around me.

The best I could relate the feeling to was a cross of a very contextual video-game hud and prompts with an almost 'matrix' like view of runic 'code' pouring across people's skin and flickering around them.

My brain processed the mess of information that was the supernatural intuitively enough that it kind of left me wondering how other people perceived it. And I used it to actually try to study Gabrielle, to peer into the portions of her 'code' and 'story' that would allow such elasticity, but as I focused on her, parts of her mystic pattern slowly coming into focus… the thought struck like a thunderbolt.

This Woman was Destined to be Exploited Sexually.

Fate was not something I understood, not yet at least. And I myself was beyond its reach, Koya nestled in my soul as the beating emerald heart would generally keep the threads of fate from touching upon me. But…

There was no question.

It was almost like seeing her quest log hovering by her face, to see jagged circuits of light continually trying to strike out with waymarkers to point her in a direction, to let her 'fall' that direction… a current nudging and pulling her along.

Right now that current, that flowing circuit of power was stretching from her center and trying to latch on to something- no, specifically a man, to pull her towards them so he could have his way with her.

I didn't know how to truly alter her fate, hadn't even known what to see or to look for, and certainly didn't have the Imago to properly wrangle it in any serious fashion.

But I could see a way to Compel it, to nudge it to something it could already do.

Oh? And what would that be, sir?

Struggling to keep a grip on the ephemeral image of the spell I could see in my mind, all I could do was think, Watch.

Another few petals were pulled from my heartbeats, caught between my fingers as I raised a hand, rubbing the fingers together and grinding the petals into dust, I reached out to that searching and swaying 'quest marker', extending a palm of intangible dust towards it as an offering like seeds to a bird-

The thing jumped into my palm, and from there into me.

I felt the thing slide into place in my chest and loins, wearing me almost like a coat. I could've shrugged it off, but Koya snatched a hold of the thread before pulling it back to my heart, tangling herself up in it like a cat with yarn, the fate twisting into place in my disguise.

Bone deep now, I would be the source of her troubles tonight.

Blue eyes glanced over at me even as the men around her chanted 'chug chug chug!' like they were at a frat party. And Gabby gave me a thumbs up and a wink, powering her way through her fourth glass.

And here I thought you wanted to be a good person. Koya 'mused' as I returned the thumbs up.

Interdimensional slaver with a debt hanging over my head, as you've oh so generously reminded me. I'm going to take the gift offered by the world. Two credits is two credits. I countered easily, Also, it's a sliding scale. I can still try to be good to people overall while doing this shit every once in a while.

Yet you were going to study her to learn how to heal your father, but instead you decided to indulge your own pleasure… Koya purred, I didn't even have to do anything~

It's what I saw first. I countered, accepting a new unopened bottle of wine from the bartender.

Mmmhhhmmmm…~ And what would your mother think?

Uncorking the bottle, I forced down the stabbing pain that caused in my chest, ... we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

A.N. 2 Electric Boogaloo - So, not gonna lie? Not my favorite chapter. I'd expected to get further, to get to the confrontation with others or the call with his mom or other big points, but this is where the chapter naturally ended. And I'd rather a short mediocre chapter over a bloated one. Especially because there's a stronger emotional arc for the next chapter (and its lewds) by letting it stand on its own separate from this.