1.88 – Closeness

Passive lewdness? Mention of ancient genocide?

Maple and Thera stared at each other. Maple sent all of her thoughts through their shared mind. Thera responded to each one in real time, neither of them fully using words, but a mix of concepts, connections, and feelings.

I'm so sorry. I broke our brains, our minds.

There's nothing to be sorry for. We're whole, more than whole. I told you to do it.

This is the clingiest thing I could have possibly accidentally done. From a small crush a couple of days ago, to an inexorable mental connection? Is this permanent?

We'll have to wait and see. I don't mind. I DO like you.

Thera sent her affectionate feelings through the connection. Maple replied with her own. It was far too early for any I love yous, but this wasn't words, just non-verbal, accurate feelings. And it was...better. Maple calmed down a little, but then more fears appeared.

What if I'm annoying? What if you're annoying? Wait sorry—I didn't mean to think that. It was—an intrusive thought? It happened automatically!

It's fine, I understand. And we don't have to use it, I think. We can set boundaries if we need to. We should see how it goes for now. Might be fun.

You're really okay with it? I—we're inside each other's mind.

OooOOoooOo I'm inside your head, Maple.

Maple laughed, and Thera smiled at her. Thera's thoughts felt a lot more calm. Focused, maybe.

God, my body is still so sensitive.

I know, mine too.

And I'm still horny, somehow. You're really hot.

Maple sent all the conceptual thoughts she could, of exactly how attractive she found Thera. Thera's face turned slightly pink, and she responded in kind, making Maple's face turn red. Thera sent another thought after.

Yeah? You wanna hold me down and fuck me right here?

Are you tempting me?

The others have seen worse already.

Aw, my dick is still on cooldown.

I could hold you down.

Maple replied with memories of all the ways she'd liked Thera touching her. How hot it'd been, how much she enjoyed it, wanted her to do it again. Thera replied simultaneously with her own.

"Uh, are you two just going to eye-fuck each other, or explain what happened?"

Maple jumped from Remi's question and realized Emma was hugging her, concerned. She leaned into her squishy body.

"I'm okay, cutie."

She felt a little guilty that she didn't get this ability with Emma. She hoped she wouldn't be jealous or anything. She sent that thought to Thera along with another.

Should we tell them?

Let's give it a bit?

Yeah.

"We just...the [Telepathic Orgasms] was too much."

Maple tried to stand, but her legs felt like Emma's. She sat there and hugged Emma and Thera some more. Sylla was also concerned, and Thera confirmed to her that they were okay. Nothing to worry about, only nearly permanently became a single person, or locked themselves out of their bodies for good, or—Maple was too exhausted to think of all the ways it could have gone wrong.

"You went unconscious, and the tentacles should have pulled you out at that point automatically, but they didn't. And then even she was unconscious, and same thing. But that might have been because I was possessing you."

"We weren't really unconscious, I guess, because of the Skill. We just lost track of our bodies. I guess. So, did we pass the trial?"

Thera gave them that much info, and asked the last part with a cheeky grin. Remi shook her head.

"Well, technically? Eh, I'd call it extenuating circumstances. You'd both get plaques. Consider yourselves to be the final two honorary members of the Erogelic Trial Grounds and Spa. You'd both have fit right in, with that performance."

Remi looked pleased, reliving a bygone era. Emma raised her arms in a silent cheer, and pulled them into another hug.

They were returning to the main lobby, through some halls, up some stairs. Maple and Thera were figuring out just how deep their connection went. Maple tried to send her sense of sight to Thera. Thera replied via thought.

Ooh, it works. Just a little blurry. See?

Maple almost stumbled on the next step. Her face was burning up.

Where are you looking—jeez.

Maple knew where. She could see almost-perfectly clearly from Thera's eyes. Thera was walking behind her on the stairs and staring up at her butt. Thera filled their shared mind with a plethora of perverse intent to go with it.

Emma wrapped an arm around Maple after she'd stumbled and gave her a concerned and questioning look.

"Sorry cutie, I'm fine. I'll tell you about something, later."

About the telepathy, and what Thera was using it for because that was Emma's kind of humor. She nodded. When they reached the main floor, Remi turned to them. Dort and Alas were nowhere to be seen.

"Her thing is ready. And, you're adventurers. You want to loot the place, right? I hope you'll at least respect things, but—"

She shook her head. Thera made a face, but watched the ghost.

"It's time for me to move on. I've had a lot of fun already, thanks to you. The others managed to take most of everything with them when they left. I did find a small coin box stashed away, at one point. Other than that, the gift shop was left as it was. It's probably not your typical loot, but...let me go find the key. And that box."

Remi turned to leave, rather brusquely, and Thera put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Hey. Thanks, Remi. But we're not, uh, looters here to rob the place. We're mostly here for Maple's thing. If there's stuff we could take, we gladly would, of course, but this place seems to be in pretty good condition. Even after hundreds of years? Maybe we could tell someone about it and have it restored? I don't know if any of your organizations from back then would still be around. I've never even heard of...erogels, to be honest with you."

Remi's gave her a morose smile. Her mouth opened in thought for a few seconds before she found the words.

"They died off or left this world, long ago. Long before my time. I'm not an erogel. Did I ever finish saying that? I'm an erogelic-human. That was the other function of this place; trying to restore a species. It wasn't finished, but it made me and a few others what I am. Halfling of a species that was already half-human. And that's what her thing is, uh, Maple's thing—sorry, I've never been good at names—she can become half-erogel. I was going to explain all that in a much more gentle way—"

"Wait, wait. Wait. My—the priceless artifact I was sent here for is going to turn me into a, uh—"

Maple pointed vaguely, at Remi's wings, her third eye, and—she wasn't trying to be rude, but...did she want to be a—a bird-human? An erotic angel? She sure hoped that the goddess and Remi had been planning to at least ask first. Jeez. Thera sent a thought to her.

Hey, I'd take it if you don't want it.

"Half-erogel, yes. That's the only thing here it could be, really. And erogels were already half-human, so the change isn't that drastic. They're similar to, uh, succubi. I suppose they're still around, right?"

Remi's tone soured a little, and Thera confirmed with a nod they were.

"Anyway, you don't have to use it. I mean, any of you could, but I'm not going to act as arbitrator of that. I don't know if it'd work on a slime, but—"

She shrugged, resigned. Her duty was done now that they were there, and her retirement was perhaps a thousand years overdue. Emma perked up and began making little wings grow from her back. Maple raised a hand slightly.

"Um, why did this place end up abandoned?"

"The succu—no, sorry. Organizations made up mainly of succubi didn't like what was going on here. Eventually, things got violent. We had to flee, and they killed me along with others."

She grimaced as she said it, her hands were balled into fists. Maple bit her lip. The vibe had gone from silly sex trial, to talking about how she was killed.

"Why?"

"Succubi and erogels are the only major species able to innately use prana. A war between them is what led to the erogel exodus in the first place. They condemn that part of history now, but the reason they didn't like our experiments was that it was too powerful. It threatened them. Neither species is very proficient at using mana—without managing to get a powerful class, or such—but an erogelic-human has a decent affinity for both."

Nothing like a little ancient genocide and genetic modification to ruin the mood. Maple's body was physically aroused despite that, thanks to the prana density or horny field, she supposed, but it wasn't there mentally. Remi continued after a second.

"We tend to be slightly less proficient with both, don't get me wrong, but there's a bigger advantage. Succubi and erogels don't generate prana; they can only harvest it from other creatures who do. An erogelic-human both generates it and can use it. Only as much as a single human would, or less maybe, so it's not that much of an advantage, but still. There were other politics involved too, of course. Ethics. All ancient history by now, I imagine."

It occurred to Maple that Remi would probably be a biased source on said 'ethical' considerations, but...were there many?

This was about modifying a living human, not experimenting on fetuses, or selectively breeding, or—had they done that at the start? Should she decline whatever form it existed as now, if it were the result of less-ethical experiments?

And if erogels were half-human, and she'd be half-erogel, that'd make her still three-quarters human. That didn't seem too drastic a change, but would it be wrong to...become part of an extinct species? Or to then go around calling herself erogelic? Might feel weird, at the least?

Sylla curled around her staff, only it and her hair hid her body.

"I'd be interested in learning more if you wanted to talk about it. Or had any books here?"

Remi nodded seriously.

"Yeah, there may be a few books left behind. I'll—I guess I ought to leave a record of events I still remember with someone before I go. A [Scribe] might be useful, but I wasn't exactly involved deeply. I was more of a...test subject? And then stuck around and helped run the spa. I forget things, and I only knew what a lay person would have at the time. A thousand years ago..."

She shook her head with a sigh, admitting her age. Maple chewed on her finger. She didn't fully like all this.

"Uh, I have a succubus friend. She told me that the sex energy was considered a secret, and not to talk about it? Do you think they're still, um—if one of us became an erogelic, thing—"

"You're worried that it might paint a target on your back."

Maple nodded. It seemed like something iffy to get mixed up in. And if some succubi group had also been behind the dairy thing—she didn't know, really. But it seemed like something that might go against having a comfy and peaceful life with her growing polycule.

"I don't know what things are like out there these days, so I can't really say. I doubt you'd be actively hunted or anything. As far as I know, we just don't exist anymore. You can hide the wings under your clothes, and the extra eyes are kind of optional."

Remi folded her wings up into something that probably could vaguely hide beneath clothes, if they were loose. Her third eye closed and faded into nothing, and then she opened new eyes on her hands. Thera gave Maple a look.

Seriously, I'll take it if you don't want it.

"All that said, there is another drawback. The process removes all of your classes. Certain compatible Skills might convert to bound spells, but otherwise it's like being reborn and starting fresh. You can level again normally afterward, just don't expect to necessarily get the same things you had as before."

Still want it?

Thera tsked in their mind, and sent a bunch of conflicted feelings. In the end, she couldn't say she'd be willing to give up what she had. Recreating the exact conditions to get powerful Skills like her willpower one probably wouldn't even be possible.

Emma seemed mildly interested, and was already practicing the many eyes part of their physiology. Remi watched her and smiled. She made several more eyes appear on her body and let Emma imitate.

As for Maple, a class reset was why she'd come here.

"What kind of Skills are compatible?"

"Heh. Probably most of yours, I'd imagine. For your [Slut] ones, at least. If you have a different main class, it's mostly Skills that are at least a little lewd, and that can be done with magic. It also depends on how many you have. It starts skipping some, if there's too many."

Maple nodded. She was satisfied with that answer, and need not give nor request any more information. Thera elbowed her gently with a smirk.

"What was your other class again, Maple?"

Maple showed Thera exactly what her thoughts on the sudden prompting were, but Remi looked at her curiously, and she was among perverts. She included Sylla within that classification, now.

"[Interspecies Seductress], thank you for asking."

"Ooh, that's a good one. You really would have made a name for yourself here."

Remi nodded respectfully to Maple. She hadn't seemed to notice that Thera had done it teasingly, or that Maple had exaggerated her pride over it. Maple channeled her embarrassment to Thera.

I'm not proud of it. Jeez.

Haha, maybe you should be.

"Okay, uh. Key, and box, and books, and—you guys think about whether or not one of you wants to become half-erogel. Take your time. Another day or even a thousand couldn't make much of a difference to me, could it? Could it."

Remi shook her head again and wandered off. Her despondent gazes had transformed into disbelieving head shakes and whimsical statements. An improvement, Maple supposed.

Emma poked her and wiggled her eyebrows. Gonna become a hot angel? Are ya, are ya?

"Do you think I should, cutie? I mean, it would be nice to be able to get a normal class. Especially if I could keep most of my Skills. Maybe I should ask how many eyes I could make, exactly. And, would I be able to fly?"

She was warming up to the idea, but was left with a lot more questions and things to consider first.