1.54 – Bothered

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Sensation and individuality slowly came back to Maple. The [Telepathic Orgasm] had felt like an eternity, but her naked body was where she'd left it. Beneath Thera's.

She tried to move, but nothing happened. She was paralyzed—

No, she was just confused. Her brain was jumbled and couldn't find the limbs she'd been trying to move; they didn't exist on this body. Of the thousands of lives she'd just experienced, few had been human. Tails, legs, testicles, fur, scales, and other phantom limbs filled her mind.

She let her brain sort things out until finally, her actual body burst into pins and needles. She twitched and cried out. It was like her whole body had fallen asleep, and now the slightest movement hurt. Not from pain, but from pins and needles.

"Are ya awake, lass?"

Dort's voice made even her ears tingle with painful sensory overload. She moved to shake her head no, and immediately regretted it. Moving her mouth was painful.

"Shhh shhhh shhh."

Then Thera woke up and squirmed on top of her. Her body lit up in a cascade of tingles. It hurt so much.

"That was worse than—ahhh, what the hell—nnngh"

She froze in pain on top of Maple, grimacing as she slowly brought her eyes down and spoke using as few movements as possible.

"It's like my whole body fell asleep. Ahhh—"

"Stop—moving."

Maple wanted to scream at her, but that would hurt. Her eyes were watering. Thera stayed still for only a few seconds.

"Nah, the best way to deal with this kind of thing is to wake it up."

She hesitated a few more seconds, and then climbed off. Each movement sent electricity through Maple. She hated her, then. If she'd just held still, it would have been bearable.

Thera grunted, but somehow managed to stand up. Then, she started doing jumping jacks. Maple couldn't wrap her mind around that level of pain tolerance. It would pass, if she just didn't move for a bit.

The others watched in silent confusion. Once Thera had recovered enough to speak normally, Maple was just beginning to feel better.

"Wew. You weren't lying about it being intense. My head can't even parse everything that just happened. More importantly, I can't believe Syll beat me."

"No, I—nnnh."

Sylla froze like Maple had, but looked almost meditative coiled up with her eyes closed. If it wouldn't have hurt, Maple would have laughed at her denial. She suspected Sylla had been in a similar predicament to herself and trying not to cum. That left Thera as the only one who had been trying to, and wasn't a great look for either of them.

"Oh, but—aw, heck. I'm not gonna get pregnant, am I? Does your stuff, uh, work?"

Maple's eyes widened. Did her Skill come with sperm? She'd never needed to worry about that before. Even half-elves couldn't cross-breed with humans without assistance from alchemy or magic. And most of her partners had been...further from human than that.

"I...don't know."

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

Thera patted her tummy with a grin. Oh god, she was joking right? This world had solutions for preventing pregnancy, but if—

"Want potion? Two silver to prevent tree girl seed from taking root. Better safe than sorry, Shari always say. Make red river stop, too."

"Hm, I doubt we'd find much cheaper elsewhere. Wanna split it? You are half-responsible, and—C-rankers aren't exactly swimming in gold."

She had been joking. Maple resolved to be more careful in the future, if she ever came across—or inside—any other humans. Unfortunately, Thera made a good point. Getting her dick wet would cost her this time.

"Yeah, fine. Ow. Did the plan work, though? How long were we out?"

"Only a few minutes. Let's find out."

Alas moved to the door and unbarred it. It was already open when Maple scrambled to cover herself.

"—Hey wait, I'm still naked."

She had nothing to hide behind in the tiny shop, but at least her clothes were clean. She nodded thanks to Emma and watched her approach Thera, gesticulating excitedly.

"What's that, you'll wash me? Hmm, sure. Thanks."

Thera had also been getting dressed, but now moved to a corner of the room with Emma. Once clothed, Maple sat back down against the wall. The pins and needles finally stopped, but she was exhausted. She heard Sylla speak next to her.

"By the way, at the start of your Skill there was a really loud I'm Maple, and some of your...perspective? It wasn't much and it changed fast, but I don't know if everyone else had that experience..."

Maple rubbed her face. What Sylla was saying was that everyone might have heard her name. Might know she was responsible, and not in the good way. How many humans named Maple were in Syber?

"That sounds bad. Did you hear it too, Thera? I'm Maple?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! That did happen at the start. I almost forgot because of everything that came after. Heh, came. It was so funny though, you were trying so hard not to cum and you really liked—"

"Ahh stop. You saw all that with it?"

Thera laughed and Maple covered her face. She didn't want to know, and she hadn't been about to ask, but Sylla chimed in anyway.

"Um, that sounds like what I saw too."

Maybe everyone had seen that—her raw desire and arousal—thanks for pointing it out. What had she ever done to Sylla?

That desire had been extinguished, however. Even Thera didn't look like she was getting erotic pleasure from Emma washing her. That was a good sign. Now Alas just needed to come back in and say the sex zombies outside were cured—

"This is a citywide announcement. A total milk and dairy recall is in effect. Do not consume any milk or dairy products at this time. Return to your homes and await further notice. This is a citywide announcement."

The message repeated itself and came from outside, slowly drifting further. Four heads turned toward her. One of which was Emma's, her face grimly neutral.

"I guess ya were onto something with the milk."

"...Haha, I told you it's weird. And what a weird coincidence."

Maple fidgeted nervously, but they left it at that.

Emma slapped Thera's butt, finished with her washing, and casually made her way over to Maple. She adjusted her white cowgirl hat and looked somberly at Maple—as if really pondering all the ramifications of leaving Syber behind.

Maple imagined it as is this it? Time for the Maple and Em bandit arc? I'm with you.

She couldn't do that to her. Emma already had a job, budding friendships. She was so loyal, it made Maple want to tear up a little.

Maybe it was someone else's milk, or the recall was for some other reason. If it really was her fault—it was an accident. She'd tried to help. The consequences couldn't be that bad.

Moreover, she didn't know where else they could go. Or how they would get there. There was no highway to jump on to wander mindlessly; there were monsters and thugs and human cities—which from everything she'd heard, might be the worst of the three.

How would you even determine which city would be decent ahead of time? Maple stood and wrapped an arm around Emma.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, don't worry cutie. We'll just deal with whatever comes. Did you have fun washing Thera?"

Then she was back to grins and nods, and groping hand gestures. Maple laughed.

"Got a good feel, did you? I did, too."

Maple confided the last part quietly, not that it was very secret. Emma reveled in their shared conquest, though, and for that it was worth saying. Alas came back in shortly after.

"Looks like they're all back to normal, just a little shaken."

Everyone let out a small cheer at that. They could finally leave. Most anxious to get going was the gnoll.

"Hrr. Finally. This has been the weirdest day I've had in a while. You're all insane."

"Hey, but, did our little show help with your problem any?"

Thera wiggled her eyebrows, looking far too actually invested. The gnoll just coughed and continued to the door.

"Good day."

Maple gave Thera a silver coin, praying she could trust her to not make her a mather. Then back to the inn it was, she supposed. She wasn't looking forward to explaining Sasha's window, or the potential team of [SWAT Guards] showing up in the middle of the night to take her away.

Speaking of night, she'd probably level again. She couldn't say she was looking forward to that either, but maybe it'd return her good [Enhanced Pleasure].

"This was fun. You two heading back to your inn? Maybe we should see if there's any rooms there."

Thera had re-clothed and armored herself and looked rather pleased by the day's adventure.

"You can try, but I don't know."

Sasha didn't have a room for her and Emma to freeload in, but maybe there was space for a normal booking? If Thera had her own room, they could—

Her thoughts were already running on their own again.

"Might as well. They'll at least have food and drinks, and I could use a little of both right now."

Alas was already out the door again as she said that. Everyone else followed.

"Hmph. Leave Shari's shop smelling like sex, and Shari barely gets a goodbye."