Sable walks up alongside her and matches her pace. "We're heading to your room so you can pack, I'm guessing?"

She sighs.

"Yeah. I don't own much, but I do have a few things I'd like to keep."

"Sounds entirely reasonable to me," she says with a smile, "but then I keep everything I own in one enchanted bag. I would agree."

Lily just shrugs, and keeps walking.

Sable keeps pace, an idle smile on her face, tails swishing calmly.

Lily stays quiet all the way to the bed and breakfast, though after a few minutes her expression goes from "angry" to "anxious."

"Anxious" gets a headtilt and a curious hum when it persists past a minute itself.

At the bed and breakfast, Lily looks over at Sable. 

"... My things are just inside. Could you wait out here for a few minutes?"

"Certainly." She leans comfortably against a wall to wait.

A few minutes later she comes out with a small leather bag over one shoulder and a hunted look. 

"... I think I'm ready. Let's go."

She nods. "Here's how this works. I'll use my tails to hold you securely against me, your back to my front. We can stop for lunch halfway through, if you'd like a snack from my non-perishable supplies, or for anything else you need, though I'd prefer you not request that lightly. My job is to take you safely to an accepting, non-Bell city of your choosing. Currently I'm planning on a guild-popular city in north-central Relvos called Spasiba.

"My job is not to have unrequested opinions about your choices, regardless of how familiar I may find some of your frustrations. You're welcome to conversation or advice if you wish it; I'm familiar with much of the area and may be useful in helping you get started at your destination. Unless you start a conversation, however, I will simply be watching for threats and designing enchantments in my head.

"Any questions at this time, or any desire to grab a snack while we're still in town and prepared food is available?"

She sighs.

"... I would appreciate help when we get there, thank you. I don't... know much about Spasiba or Relvos. I've never held a job other than my apprenticeship with Amira, and... she found me, not the other way around."

"That's easy enough to do," she says with a confident smile, before widening her stance and holding her arms open. "If you don't mind, I'd like to pick you up first and jump to the roof before takeoff. Launching with a passenger is always easier with some initial elevation."

She doesn't look happy about it, but she nods and steps in.

Sable bends her knees, effortlessly scoops Lily into a princess carry, and then with a jump and a hard flap, leaps skyward, landing atop the roof of the bed and breakfast with a light ta-tap.

She sets Lily back down. "Again, this is just as optional as my last offer of conversation, but despite not being made of porcelain, I think I may be able to relate to some aspects of your situation." She holds up her right hand, which flattens and spreads out into a disc of violet ink at the end of her wrist before reforming.

"Just something to have as an option. Come lean back against me when you're ready to go."

"... I don't want to talk about it." Right now, at least. 

She turns her back to Sable, then carefully backs up against her.

Sable nods at the response. "Arms out wide, now."

She raises them.

She crouches down a bit, matching her height a bit closer to Lily's, then wraps her tails tightly around her: one goes around her chest, under her arms, another around her waist, and the third around her legs. The tails are sinfully soft and fluffy, but hold Lily extremely snugly and securely.

Sable stands with a grin, Lily held aloft by her tails. She strides to the edge of the roof, and leaps.

There's a thrilling, vertiginous moment of weightlessness, and then her wings catch the air and she flaps hard. They rise quickly into the sky.

That is a long way up!!!!

She closes her eyes and does her best not to tense up too much.

It's not a problem if she does. All tensing does is add a small tally mark to Sable's count of worries about Lily, and even then only if it lasts longer than a minute or two past reaching cruising altitude.

It certainly does nothing to dampen her delight — which may or may not be very quietly noticeable even to a non-telepath — as she climbs. Before long they reach high enough to be out of reach of most anything on the ground, and she settles into an easy soar with periodic flaps.

Gods she loves flying.

Eventually she looks. 

... yes that is a very long way up she is closing her eyes again now thank you.

That flinch tips one of her tallies over the line, though.

"You seem to need a distraction," she suggests gently. "Keep your eyes closed, and tell me what you like about whatever you've been studying?"

"I've been studying..." She hesitates. "Alchemy and herblore. Amira had me doing her accounts. I can read and write and do sums, I just - don't know much about the world."

She nods. "Worldly knowledge is certainly a fixable gap. I've traveled a lot and can tell you about nearly anything you'd like. Alchemy and herblore are fascinating, in my opinion, though I still prefer runes. and accounting bores me to tears unless I'm in just the right mood. What do you like and dislike about each?"

"I like learning things, and... having space, not staying in the same two rooms... and when I look up at the stars I feel like Someone is looking out for me."

"Those are all pretty great," she agrees with an audible smile. "Me too, honestly. Curious Oracle, in my case."

She opens up her other sight, which she's gradually learned to read since arriving here, and sees a shimmering coating of mythril frost tracing down Lily's arms.

"Hmm. Lemme guess... Fair Queen? Pushes you for honesty, fairness, justice? Hates undeath?"

"I don't know for sure, but... Honesty, yes."

"Fits, and particularly useful when you're trying to claw independence from manipulative starts. Nice."

She sighs warmly, catching a thermal and gaining a bit of altitude before continuing to soar.

"I can see the touch of the gods on people, and I've been slowly learning to read it. You've got mythril hoarfrost shimmering on your arms, to my Sight, which is an appearance I've come to associate with Her. Where the mark appears on a person seems to indicate something about what sorts of intervention was granted."

She hums thoughtfully. "I totally agree with you about having space, though. That's a big part of why I work as an adventurer and courier between projects: it gives me lots of opportunity to travel, and I can get to know the region and work toward building a house and workshop outside of town eventually."

"I wish I could be that free."

"Which ways in particular? I can't offer literal wings, but I can probably help you with most things short of that."

"Being... Able to do the things that I want, instead of the things other people want from me."

"Oooh, yeah, I am all about that. The thing that makes people the... shiniest, for me, is when they're chasing and achieving their wants and dreams. S'what's the most fun to be around, in my opinion."

She hums thoughtfully. "In a generalized sense, what'll do that is money and space. Money buys shelter and resources, shelter and resources facilitate doing everything else. Money's also useful for helping a girl express various forms of 'go the fuck away', whether through walls or weapons or even just incentivizing people to be elsewhere. Money can help with networking, and knowing the right people definitely helps for getting access to resources and opportunities you didn't already have. Networking gets into favor trading garbage, which you'll probably dislike if I'm reading the shit you've been through right, but it can be really useful anyway. I put up with it because I'm good at it, even if I have a love-hate relationship with it."

"More specific advice than that depends on more specificity under the heading of 'what you want', though."

Trees, hills, and the occasional pack of wild animals zip by below them as they continue to fly.

Lily still has her eyes closed, but she's relaxing a little. 

"I want to keep learning, and... I probably want a lot of sex, more than most people. And I don't want to be involved with slaves or servants to any degree. And I want to be able to be outside regularly. I'm willing to work hard, since I don't sleep, but I want to... know people who care but don't impose."

Sable laughs warmly. "Oh that's all excellent. Y'know, I've been meaning to scout out buyers for my rune projects in Relvos anyway, since the market's better in the south from what I can tell. I've got a pretty meaningful chunk of savings that I've been meaning to put toward eventually setting up permanently somewhere, so what if we work together on this? We find an inn that can figure out how to be polite to a shapeshifter and a doll, scour the town to see what sorts of alchemy and runework the market wants, and then get to work learning and making that while we hunt for a long-term apartment for you and a build-site for me? Rent the suite in your name, and I'll pay it a week or two in advance, that way if you get tired of me it's your place. I can go camping outside town if it comes to it."

"I'm not exactly a fully trained alchemist. I've been learning from books, mostly. I have a little money from working as Amira's apprentice - I've been saving - but it's not enough to set up a proper alchemist's shop with."

"I am told that I'm intelligent, but I don't know how far that goes."

"I've got a full set of alchemy knowledge scattered around my head, despite my preferring runework overall, so I can help you fill the gaps, and help you pick out some better books as well. Maybe you could do smaller private sales or a little market stall or something like that until you've got enough saved to do a proper shop. There are options! Hell, maybe I should look into getting a shop too, rather than trying for private commissions."

She trails off thoughtfully.

"Better books that I'll pay for how?"

"By satisfying my deep longing to see interesting people triumph over oppressive beginnings and achieve their dreams," she says, starting off warm and slowly dropping to a grumble, "and my deep spite toward people like whoever did this to you in the first place. I've been through some similar things myself, and I want to see you succeed in part to spite the kind of people who want girls like you and me to fail. There are far too many people who think that success should only be for the obedient, and only to approved heights, and I don't approve of their disapproval."

She huffs.

"To put it another way," she says in a suddenly bright tone, "your new acquaintance has a deep loathing for the entire oppressive system and is thus inspired to give you the books."

"... I see." 

... "Why is it that everyone I meet has some big plan in mind for me? You didn't know me half an hour ago."

"I don't have any plan in particular, Lily. I just have skills, resources, and spite. I come from a place where we've gotten rid of 'nobles', but replaced them with an oppressive system of gating education behind debt that many people never manage to pay off over the course of their entire lives. We abolished slavery but enslaved people with money. If I had my way, everyone would get a full education into their career of choice for free."

A long, tired, aching sigh spills out of her.

"I don't care what you do, Lily, as long as you're not hurting people like that asshole did you. I just want to know that you're doing it, whatever it is. I just want to make this world a tiny bit more like the world I wish existed, where people get to chase their dreams and it's not a stupid fucking struggle."

She finishes in a tired whisper, "I just want to see a tiny piece of the world I needed back then, now when someone else needs it. That's all."

"Please focus on flying."

Lily falls quiet.

"Tch, sorry. Just reminded me of old hurts there for a bit. Yes ma'am."

She shakes her head, takes a deep breath, and in the space of a single blink executes a familiar mental motion. Her awareness flows entirely out of her hurts and her memories, and entirely into the present moment. She spreads her mind across every tug of airflow over every feather, fills her heart with the thermals rising up underneath her, and resets.

By the time the blink has passed, she opens her eyes as a new woman, freshly built from the joy of the air and the steadiness of her wings. With peaceful breaths she soars onward.

Lily stays quiet, and keeps her eyes closed.

After a few minutes, Sable starts quietly humming a song from her world to herself as she flies. She's easy to listen to, carrying the melody well.

Isabel listens. 

It's calming.

... The wind is rushing past, and she's being held close and hummed to. 

It's... kind of nice, actually. 

After a few minutes, she finishes that song and starts humming a different one. They can pass quite a few miles this way if nothing interrupts her.

Lily would like to just be held and hummed to right now.

It's... not because of her... and weirdly, that makes it better. 

And thus a few hours can pass, though eventually Sable starts improvising new melodies rather than humming from memory. This is a pretty great way to pass the time: she's flying, enjoying her isekai-enhanced musical skills, and helping a cute girl get a fresh start.

"The thing you need to understand," Lily says at length, "is that you wanting me to be happy is you still wanting something from me."

She laughs and nods. "Very fair point, you're quite right. How about instead I put even more implementation into my ideals and make a trade skills public library? And you can have early access to any book that you want to help me review for being quality educational material."

"That's... more reasonable."

"Suggestions are welcome. I'm not exactly going to stop being a crazy idealistic bitch, but I can point less of it at you or change how I'm doing it."

"At least you're being honest. Let me think about that."

"Sure," she says with a smile. "Mind if I go back to humming or maybe sing something while you do?"

"Not at all."

Then the music resumes. This time she lets herself sing. It's a bit different than she remembers without any accompaniment, but she's a lovely singer. If uninterrupted, she'll work her way back through her mental playlist for a while.

Lily listens, and thinks. 

It's a little different if Sable isn't doing it for her specifically. It's... easier to know what her obligations are. They're clearer. Simpler.

But Sable has already proven herself inclined to meddle, and... she barely knows her.

Amira helped her, even if she did prove to have her own agenda in the end. It's foolish to not accept help, even if it does come with strings. 

The kitchen servants helped her, too... But it's obvious that they wanted the same things for her as she did, at that moment. 

It's less clear with Sable. 

Maybe she should talk to her.

"... Where did you come from, anyway?"

She giggles nervously. "That is a complicated question to answer. I don't mind answering it, but it's possibly a little hard to believe."

"Go on, try me."

"Three months ago, I woke up on the floor of a dungeon in the far western Wastes. I woke up in an unfamiliar body — running on ink when previously I'd been a completely mundane human — with some grafted on magic and skills."

She huffs nervously. "I'm from another world. I'm from a world with no magic, much higher technology, and predatory capitalism that's replaced slavery and feudalism. A world where nothing other than humans is sapient enough to create a civilization. A world with no tentacles, and much more restrictive and shaming sexual mores."

She sighs softly. "I got hit by a fast-moving ground vehicle, faster than I'm flying us now, and died, and woke up in this world."

"... what's capitalism?"

"Basically it's nobility reimplemented through money instead of title. The wealthy own the means of producing goods and services, and pay everyone else to work. Housing, food, essential services like water or heat, they all cost money. There is no unclaimed wilderness to live in. It's illegal to sleep in your vehicle unless the owner of the property you're on allows it. It's illegal to sleep on public property. And the wages are rarely enough to live on. Education for better-paying careers is expensive, and there are systems of debt that help you pay for it but entrap you for decades paying it off."

"Isn't that how nobility already works?"

"Mostly, yes," she replies, laughing bitterly, "apart from nobility usually coming with inheritable formal titles and slavery. Which is why I say they basically reimplemented nobility. Made the new system as much like the old system as they could, and did a damned fine job of it."

Lily closes her eyes and hums softly, half-remembering one of Sable's tunes from a few minutes ago. 

Sable's expression softens into a gentle smile, and she soars on, resuming her own melodies if Lily falls silent.

Eventually...

"... And in this world, what was your life like?"

A quietly weary breath, and a nod. "I lived alone in a slowly-rotting house. I worked a tedious job, helping the workers of a technology company use tools they didn't understand — despite those tools being fundamental to their jobs — and getting paid barely enough to cover food and rent despite my understanding the relevant technologies better than all the workers I was helping. I lived in a body I loathed, in a province that did not support people who wanted to change their form. Even if I'd lived somewhere that had the option, we didn't have the technology to do any better than a partial change over the course of years, with surgical intervention. I had a decade or so's worth of educational debt."

She laughs bitterly, "And the country I lived in was one of the more prosperous ones."

"... I don't understand, but I do. It's strange."

"Heh. That's about how I felt for the entirety of my first week. Would love to hear more, if you'd like to expand on what does and doesn't make sense."

"It's people, isn't it. People are always the problem."

"Yep, it's people. Specifically it's powerful people feeding everyone else lies about how it has to be that way, how hierarchy and oppression are the only viable system. Sure they pretty it up, call it something else, but at the end of the day it's people holding power over people, and people who don't have much power defending the system in the vain hope that one day they will."

"I don't think it's so much about them defending the system so much as not knowing how to work outside it... I'm lucky for even knowing how to read." 

Sable tuts and nods. "At this tech level, and with these sorts of governments, ignorance tends to be very common, and literacy very rare. Where I came from, literacy and information were much more widespread. Thus there had to be much more effort put into convincing people not to buck the system, rather than counting on their ignorance to prevent them."

"I see..."

She falls slient again.

Back to singing, then, until Lily's collected her thoughts and has more she wants to discuss.

"... What do you think my story is?"

"Like... my attempt at filling in the blanks in what I know of your story so far, or my sense of where your story goes from here?"

"The first."

She hums thoughtfully and nods. "You're a living doll — I could tell from the porcelain — which means your creation was complicated and expensive. Not many people have the skill, and some of those that do have it accept commissions. Your mention of being stuck in the same two rooms suggests you spent a long time being held captive. Your comparative inexperience suggests your captivity was at the hands of either your creator or commissioner, who didn't provide you with much in way of opportunities for growth or enrichment. Kamryn's mention of 'that man' in that tone of voice and that context implies whoever it was sexually abused you. The need to get you out of Bell altogether suggests 'that man' has power and status, which implies noble commissioner rather than creator."

A headshake and a sigh. "All together, that suggests you were commissioned by a petty lord who didn't understand what he'd bought, didn't understand the responsibility involved with causing a person to be brought into existence, and thought you'd just exist for the sake of his needs, especially his desires for sex and companionship. He kept you prisoner in a 'gilded cage' — idiom from home for a very lovely prison — and did not expect you to grow beyond his understanding. You studied, you left, you studied more, you had some self-discovery, and then the opportunity to get further away presented itself. You've lived your entire life defined by other people's expectations and desires, even if they've thought those desires were in your best interest. You've never in your life known someone whose very nature demands she care about anyone she meets but also fuck off if she's asked to. You've got unprecedented opportunities ahead of you, and while you're nervous about being able to seize them well enough, you're excited for the chance to truly be your own person and explore your own desires, finally out from under as many expectations as you can manage."

"... It's written all over me, huh."

"That, and narrative is kinda my thing," she says with a laugh. "I mean, I'm made of ink, for the gods' sake. I really enjoy trying to understand people's stories, how and why they are who they are, and what they want their stories to become. But yeah, yours is pretty obvious, if one actually pays enough attention. I'm impressed with you for escaping as well as you have. I've known people who did worse with a better shot."

"I got lucky. Amira did the hard part for me, more or less. But... I still know almost nothing about... I guess "the real world." Not that what happened to me was in any sense less real, but..."

"But it was a controlled environment, not reflective of the world you're claiming a life in now, and so some of your experiences don't generalize well. Yeah, that makes sense."

"It was easier, in some ways. I didn't have to worry about shelter for the night or what other people might think of me or having the essentials... I had to work less..."

"Mhm, easier, as long as you didn't mind an entitled fool who thought he owned you and could keep you in the cage of his expectations. Yep. Easier," she says, voice dripping with venom for people like him.

"Yeah, there will be challenges with this new life, but personally I find this sort of thing very worth it, and I think you can rise to the challenge."

"I hope so." 

She presses back against Sable. "Amira meant well too, but..." 

Tails tighten a bit snugglier, and her arms wrap around the girl in a gentle hug. "But you were still living in her space, studying as her apprentice, shaping your environment with her expectations, regardless of her good intentions."

"... Yeah."

Her voice gets a little firmer. 

"I never want to be kept again."

"Damn right. S'why, if you accept my help with a place to stay, I insist we book the room in your name. I don't want any of my help to turn into another cage, so you should hold the key to anything I help with. Hopefully if there's nothing for me to suddenly yank out from under you, if it's not in my control, help can be safer to accept."

She chuckles a bit. "People've said I have a bit of a Saving People Thing, and here I go doing it again, trying to help a girl I've only known for half a day, all because I'm curious. Take my help or don't, I'm just eager to see what you write in the next chapter of your story."

"And how do you think that goes?"

She hums, intrigued. "That has some options! The broad strokes are likely to involve getting some kind of initial landing spot in Spasiba, finding some way of making starter alchemist money, using that money to stabilize housing into some cheaper and more-permanent form, gathering more skills of whichever sort you wish (though likely more alchemy), and slowly climbing back and forth to higher stability like that until you're satisfied with your situation. You'll probably be looking to make friends, probably looking for fuckbuddies, can't really guess whether you'll be looking for romance or not.

"Trying to refine for more specifics... You'll have a lot simpler of a first week if you take my suggestion of getting a suite at an inn together, but you could certainly pull it off on your own, likely through skipping sleep and hunting for some initial prospects on basic alchemy work, and then spending your savings on a cheap inn while you hurried to get that done. In either case at that point you likely start looking for better books and maybe instruction, and trying to settle into a social circle of your own choosing. It gets very hazy from there, as the range of possibilities gets much wider."

"Accordingly," she finishes with a warm grin, "that's the part I'm most interested to see you write."

... she likes this girl.

"... I..."

She hums softly. 

"I can't guarantee anything, but... I feel like it would be a mistake to reject your help out of hand... and anyway I can always leave, right?"

"Exactly right. Keeping things in your name whenever we can figure out how to do so is entirely for the sake of making sure you can always leave — or just kick me out and keep the place for yourself, as the case may be. If we get a suite together, and you get tired of me, then all you have to say is 'Sable, I'm done with you, out', and off I go, because it's your space."

She grins wider. "And of course you can't guarantee anything, this is about how we get along as we get to know each other better. Anyone who'd expect you to when we've only known each other for half a damned day is either a moron or an asshole. Or both."

"... yeah."

Lily rests her head back against Sable and lets a little of the tension leave her body.

Well, relaxing like that deserves more snuggles, so she squeezes Lily a bit tighter with her tails and arms.

And they fly onwards and south.

Is she hungry? She's always hungry. Yeah, she could go for a snack. Let's see... Ah, there's a nice clearing she's used a time or two before just over the next ridge.

"How d'you feel about setting down for a lunch break shortly? This is roughly the halfway point, maybe a touch past it."

"I don't technically need to eat... but it'd be nice."

"Okay! I just have some basic things that keep well, so it won't be fancy, but it should be enjoyable enough. There's a nice clearing just over the next ridge, so we should be setting down in just a minute or so."

And sure enough, the ridge passes by underneath them, and then there's a pleasant little outcrop on the side of the hill. Sable spirals gracefully down, lands in a crouch, and pauses to make sure Lily's feet are under her before unwrapping her tails.

Lily flops forwards onto the ground and lies there for a moment. 

Then she rolls over and smiles up at Sable. 

"It's good to be back on solid ground again."

She wriggles her back against the grass, heedless of staining her dress, and then wiggles her toes a little.

Sable flops down beside her, wriggling as well, giggling and briefly curling her wings and tails around herself. "Hahaaaa, yes, yes it is."

She sighs happily there for a moment, then sits up and pulls her bag into her lap. Everything is very tightly organized inside, when she opens it, and out comes a metal box. She opens it up, and it unfolds into a number of smaller compartments: some contain small shakers for spices, some contain non-perishable condiments, one has a block of cheese, one's full of shreds of smoked meat, one has some pickled veggies, and one has some soft round flatbreads.

She sets the box on a convenient rock. "So this is my usual lunch kit. Typically what I do is take one of these," she grabs a flatbread, "then add things to it until I have the makings of a nice sandwich, then roll it up."

Putting word to deed, she pulls a utensil out of a small compartment and spreads a couple condiments on the wrap. Next she grabs the cheese and slices a few strips, dropping them in, followed by some meat, a few veggies, and then she pronounces it done and rolls it up.

"Tada."

And then she bites into it and grins.

"That looks nice. Can I try?"

"Absolutely!" She waves encouragingly at the box, then takes another bite of her wrap.

She doesn't recognize all of these, but she's willing to experiment! 

She gets out a flatbread, some meat and cheese, and some strange-looking small vegetables from a compartment that says they're grilled, rolls up the wrap, and takes a bite. 

!!!??????? 

Her mouth is - stinging-hot??? It feels like it's all tingly? What were those vegetables????

That's certainly a sudden shocked expression on Lily's face. Sable tilts her head. Did she... Oh.

"Did you use some of the hot peppers?"

She nods quickly!!

"Oops. Sorry I forgot to mention those. Yeah, people sometimes add very spicy things to their food. I like it, but it's definitely tastier in moderation, especially if you're not used to them yet."

She starts muttering to herself, thinking about a way to help. "Let's see... the normal solution to spice overload is milk, though that's too perishable to bring along. Cheese will do as a substitute though."

She grabs the cheese, slices some broad, thin strips, and hands them to Lily.

Lily quickly bites into the cheese, then takes a few moments and untenses a bit. 

"That... Was certainly a surprise. They're not medicinal?"

"Nope. I just like 'em. Not everyone does, and of those who do people vary in how much they like to use."

"I see..."

Lily takes another bite of the cheese and untenses a little more. "That was scary for a moment."

... She looks over at Sable, pauses for a moment... and then leans over to rest her shoulder against her. 

She contemplates her sandwich, then takes a smaller bite.

Well that gets an incandescent smile, a fluffy tail wrapped lightly around her waist, and a wing draped over her back. Sable continues eating while beaming.

"... Just so you know, no sex until I'm... less dependent on you. But I would, if it weren't for..." She makes a circle with two fingers in the air. "Everything."

At that, a vivid violet blush colors Sable's cheeks. "Smart girl, drawing that line. Also I'm flattered. And flustered. But. Very sensible and I heartily approve. We'll just have to flirt with the locals and see if you still feel that way when you've got your feet under you properly."

Lily shudders softly. 

"And no praise, either. Not till we know each other better." 

She pulls down the high collar of her dress to expose the tattoo around her neck. 

"Do you know what this is?"

Her eyes widen and she starts cursing in a language Lily doesn't recognize, making her way through three more before shifting into swears that Lily can understand, "—Damn that ignorant, blind, entitled fool to the deepest pits of the Void. Oh Lily, I'm so sorry. I should have guessed. Of course he fucking would. Not sure I recognize everything in that, but from context and partial recognition that's servant or slave, and the mention of praise means it's probably servant—fuck. Okay that's going to be an adjustment, I'm used to glibly throwing praise and joy around freely. Goddess fucking damn it, gah. I'm sorry."

Her face falls, she shakes her head, and she growls a bit. "Ugh. D'you want the line on praise or would you rather I moderate the glee a bit, too? I do not want to be imposing coercive emotions on someone I respect and like. That is not okay."

... This time it's Lily's turn to hug Sable. 

"You don't - mean anything by it - it's not your fault, Sable. Don't beat yourself up about it."

She takes an unsteady breath. "I only mean to say that... we don't know each other that well yet, yes? There... could be a time when I'd be happy to be praised by you. It's just that now isn't then."

She blushes a bit more and lets herself lean into the hug, hugging back a bit. "Point. And... that helps. I'm mostly pissed at him though. You cover the thing thoroughly, and as good as I am I do miss things sometimes. Can't reasonably expect myself to catch everything, can I?"

"In a sense this is just how I am. All of me was created to milord's instructions, so it's not so surprising that I've been marked as one who serves, in the bedroom or outside it."

She touches two fingers to the paired hearts on her throat. "Servant, yes... and also Resonance. To make sure I put Maxwell first. It's less troubling - Kamryn was able to... find ways around it - but it certainly complicates things."

She sighs. "I know you say I should date around, but... That sounds very complex and difficult. Finding someone I'm comfortable being vulnerable with, and letting them see these, letting them know my nature... Getting all wrapped up in emotions and needs and wants..."

She shakes her head. "There was a boy from town who said he used brothels to satisfy his needs. I'd be tempted - simple gems, a business relationship, under my control, no need to worry about attachment - if I could only afford to visit something where the staff were actually treated well."

She frowns thoughtfully at the description of Lily's creation, still disliking that noble asshole and his entitlement, but nods. "Yeah, I can see how there could be ways around it, especially if you're in control of the scene. I do not like him though."

At the mention of emotional entanglements, she tilts her head and nods. "Ah, that's a good point. It's easy for me because I just care, that's what I do, but sane people have complex things about attachments, right. Hmmm."

She nods again. "Yeah, I agree, brothels are a reasonable option. I haven't used 'em much since landing in this world — and never back in my old world, our culture had a lot of built up sex shaming — but they do exist, and there are ones that treat their girls well. Hell, in this world there are even ones that do the thing properly, making it the kind of job someone might actually want to make a career out of. A really good courtesan can even act like a therapist or counselor from my old world, helping people process emotional things. I like that idea. Hm. Honestly I probably need to talk to a good courtesan in that confidant capacity, get my perspective a little righter."

She drums her fingers thoughtfully on her leg, humming. "Is there a way to help with that without worsening the dependence, though? Maybe I could pre-pay an account with a really classy place, put both our names on it, and have a provision that at any time either of us can agree to split the account and the remaining balance gets divided fifty-fifty? And then when you're making your own money either you throw in on the account too, or split it and pay your own, whichever you prefer? Hmmm."

"I don't think I'm above letting you do me a favour. It's important that... It's not for anything crucial, you know? I can live without."

"Fair 'nuff," she says with a playful smile. "I'm probably still going to pre-pay an account and put both our names on it, though. Just more convenient that way, and you won't have to come asking me every time."

"Sounds like a good idea."

She lays in a little closer and continues to eat her sandwich.

"... This was really a surprise, but I think I actually like it?"

She snuggles closer as well, sighing warmly as she works on finishing hers off. "Oh yay! I'm glad. Someone else I can share my love of spicy foods with. Had to source my peppers down in the Tyrepts or Vynait, and almost nobody up in Bell understood why I like 'em. Helps that they probably can't injure you, if I'm guessing right about your construction."

She grins and raises what's left of her wrap in a mock toast. "Here's to not being made of mundane biology."

Lily laughs, and raises her wrap as well. "Agreed." 

Nom!

And they can enjoyably spend the remainder of their lunch like that. Afterward, Sable packs her lunch kit away and closes her bag up securely, then stands back up.

"Okay," she says, offering a hand to help Lily up, "ready to get going again?"

"Yeah." 

She stands up and spreads out her arms wide, like she's asking for a hug. Which, in a way, she is.

She smiles and steps behind Lily, crouching down to line the heights up properly, then wraps the girl tightly in her tails. She straightens, lifting Lily odd the ground, and turns to face the edge of the outcrop before backing up several paces.

Then she sprints at the edge and leaps.

Several hard wingbeats take them swiftly skyward.

Lily keeps her eyes closed, and after a little while, starts to hum again.

Sable flies on, taking over on music if Lily stops, and enjoying little conversations in between. Several hours later, the sun low in the sky, city walls come into view.

Sable interrupts her current song, saying cheerfully, "Spasiba is just now visible in the distance. We will be landing in the next several minutes."

Lily keeps her eyes closed.

"Alright. And... thank you."

"Gladly, Lily."

Over the next few minutes, Sable glides lower and lower, aiming to be easily visible from quite a ways off for the guards. She finally lands a good hundred meters away from the walls — in easy view but not quite in bow range — and sets Lily down gently.

"Welcome to Spasiba."

Lily settles her feet beneath her, takes a deep breath, and opens her eyes. 

It's a little less dramatic than she expected, given that the town is still some distance away. 

She takes an unsteady step, then another, then turns and looks at Sable.

"... Well, let's go."

Sable nods and falls into step alongside Lily. As she walks, her wings melt back into ink and reabsorb into her back, disappearing.

"I'd love to do a flashy arrival, but the best kind of relationship with city guards is a boring one, and being unsurprising is the best way to achieve that. I'll handle most of the conversation, but Spasiba's guards are comparatively relaxed, so there shouldn't be any dangerous questions to worry about answering carefully. They've never given me any problems about being a shapeshifter, and have a significant population of beastfolk, so I think they shouldn't have a problem with your nature either, should it come up.

"The standard greeting is either 'Peace and Progress' or 'Peace and Patience', depending on whether the speaker is progressive or conservative, optionally followed by a term of address or a title. Informally you can just say 'hello'. Physically, they clasp each other's forearms."

"Peace and progress, then." Lily offers her arm.

"Peace and progress, Lily," and she clasps Lily's forearm.

And they continue on toward the gate. When they get close enough, Sable calls out a friendly greeting. "Peace and Progress, friends!"

There are three guards on gate duty at the moment: a wolf woman, a panther man, and a human man.

"Peace and Patience, travelers!", comes the reply from the human.

The wolfgirl — who looks to be the ranking guard, if the extra flourishes on her insignia are anything to go by — calls out as well, "Peace and progress, adventurer!"

She strides up to meet Sable and Lily, reaching out and clasping the foxgirl's arm gladly. "Welcome back to Spasiba, Miss Silver. What brings you this far south?"

She clasps the guard's arm in return and replies, "Peace and Progress, lieutenant. It's good to be back. I'm escorting this novice alchemist to town, and getting her settled in. I might get a long-term place here myself, even."

"Good to hear."

She turns to Lily and offers her arm to clasp. "Peace and progress, traveler."

Lily clasps her arm with the guard's, a little awkwardly. "Peace and progress, friend."

Her eyes widen fractionally at the feel of porcelain beneath the cloak, but she smiles encouragingly at Lily and nods. "Welcome to Spasiba, Miss. If you're planning to move here, you should be aware that we have fairly liberal laws here, but we respond fiercely if someone crosses the line. Miss Silver can explain them in more detail if needed, or you can ask at the guard office. Do you swear to refrain from murder, theft, and unlawful enslavement while in Spasiba?"

"I do so swear."

She decides not to touch that "unlawful" with a ten foot pole.

"Then welcome," she says with a nod, and she leads them back to the gate.

The panther man, his armor bare of any rank insignia, steps quickly to open the gate.

Sable quirks an eyebrow. "Did they finally get you some new trainees?"

"Aye," she says with a nod. "It took two weeks after you helped us repel the hydras before they approved the budget, but they did get it done. This one just joined last week."

"About time," she replies with a smile. "Good they didn't keep you understaffed too long. Thanks for the warm welcome."

"Have a good evening, ladies."

"And a good evening to you too."

She looks at Sable. Onwards they go?

Indeed! She leads Lily onward, into Spasiba.

In they walk, passing a guild-hall, a few pubs catering to adventurers, a sketchy-looking inn, and pausing at a more moderate one. Calling itself the Glass Poppy, it looks well-maintained and comparatively quiet.

She turns to Lily. "This looks like a likely place to find a decent rate. Want to try here?"

"It looks fine to me, but I'm no expert."

"That's okay, that's what I'm here for." She steps up to the door, opening it and holding it for Lily.

Lily smiles slightly at Sable, and walks in, craning her neck to take a good look.

The lobby is calm and tastefully decorated, with a small seating area, some exquisitely-crafted glass flowers resting in a vase on a low table surrounded by a pair of comfy-looking couches. Directly across from them as they walk in is a receptionist's counter, featuring a bored-looking catgirl who perks up at their entrance.

"Welcome to the Glass Poppy, the most focused inn in Spasiba. We provide a safe and pleasant place to stay, do it well, and do nothing else. Will you two be checking in tonight?"

"Hello, I'd like a shared suite for the two of us for the next... let's say week."

The catgirl nods. "Our suites all come with temperature control, lighting, a sitting room, plumbing, and a private bathroom. We have options ranging from one bedroom with one or two beds up to two bedrooms, at six, seven, and eight marks per night. There are of course options with more beds available if you're booking for a larger group than just the two of you. What would you like?"

"One bedroom with one bed should be fine. Sable?"

A very faint hint of a violet blush colors her pale cheeks, and she quirks an eyebrow in surprise, but nods. Lily's probably just figuring she can sleep-skip. No need to get excited. She reaches into her bag and pulls out five crowns, passing them to the receptionist.

The catgirl takes the coins with a nod, handing back eight marks, and starts making a few notes to mark down the booking. "And whose name should the room be under?"

"Lily Latea."

She nods and notes that down. "A key for each of you?"

"Yes, please."

The clerk nods, then picks up two small tokens with loops of cord attached. She sets then in a clear spot, taps a few sigils on something behind the counter, then sets one token on a circular pad. There's a brief flash of light, and she sets that one aside, taps another couple sigils, and repeats with the second token. She gives them both to Lily.

"This one," she says, pointing at the first, "is the master key. It identifies you as the renter of the room. The other is a spare key. Spare keys can be deactivated if you present the master here at the front desk. To use it, tap either key to the metal circle above the doorknob. You'll hear the lock click open and see a small green flash."

She leans back and nods. "Welcome to the Glass Poppy. You have room 39. Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you very much."

Lily takes the master key and gives the spare to Sable. 

"Let's go have a look at our new room." 

She gestures to Sable to take the lead. 

Sable accepts the key with a nod and leads the way up the stairs, keeping an eye on the signs, and stepping out on the third floor. A little ways down the hall, the girls reach a heavy wooden door numbered 39, with a brass doorknob, and a flat circle of bronze above that. Sable touches her key to the disc, and after a moment there's a faint click, and a small flash of green light from the disk.

Sable nods and pushes the door open.

Inside is a small sitting room, with a small couch and two armchairs around a table. There are two open doors at the back of the room, one leading to what looks like a small bathroom, and the other looks to be the bedroom.

Lily closes the door again, and checks that her key also works.

Then they can go inside. She goes into the bedroom and flops down on the bed. 

Sable follows Lily in and closes the door behind her, looks the bathroom over briefly — small bathtub, toilet, sink, not bad — and then continues into the bedroom. She notes the small desk and chair, the closet, and the glowing lights, then sets her bag on the desk, pulls the chair up beside the bed, and sits down.

"Well, we made it. Spasiba, as promised. Would you like to rest for a bit, take a look around the city, find dinner, or anything else?"

Lily slips a hand into a pocket of her cloak and retrieves a small vial filled with black liquid. 

"I... was thinking of sleeping, actually. I've never done that before. My body doesn't do it naturally."

She holds the vial up to the light. "Amira gave me this while I was still a prisoner. An escape of a kind, I guess. I never used it. But... I can't help but feel curious."

"I can understand why you'd want to avoid risking it while still trapped, yeah. I'm a bit surprised that you're willing to try it here, and a bit touched."

She hums thoughtfully. "I'll probably be awake for another hour or three, taking a look around town, checking the procedure for renting a market stall in the open air market, reaching out to old contacts to see if I can find someone to help with private sales, and of course tracking down dinner. I can sleep on the couch when I get back, and feel free to wake me if you need me."

Lily tilts her head slightly. "What's wrong with the bed?"

She blushes a bit, then smiles lopsidedly and replies, "Absolutely nothing, except that I didn't want to make any assumptions about whether you'd want to share a bed."

Lily seems even more confused by this. "Why would I mind?"

"Perhaps this is a cultural difference from home," she says with a thoughtful hum. "Where I come from, adults sleeping in the same bed together is seen as intimate, a sign of trust usually reserved for romantic or sexual relationships."

"Might be different here, or I might just never have picked it up."

Grinning and still blushing, she shrugs. "Honestly, norms don't matter except for interacting with people who care about them. You don't mean it as a relationship thing, my mind is as flexible as my shape and I know how you mean it, and so we can just do what we want."

"Yeah, that makes sense." 

Lily looks down at the vial in her hand. "... Is there anything else you'd like to say to me before I sleep?"

"Just that I hope you have a pleasant sleep. Talk to you in the morning!"

And with that, she stands, takes the chair back to the desk, grabs her bag, and heads out into town.

Lily carefully drops a single drop of the vial's contents onto her finger, then squares her shoulders and pops it into her mouth.

In moments, she feels absolutely exhausted. She lies back onto the pillow, and closes her eyes.

Sable walks through the streets, enjoying the evening atmosphere. She passes a few more inns, some schools, and through a plaza, before reaching a bustling open-air market. There are small stalls, with and without awnings, filling an enormous open space. Vendors call out to passerby, offering jewelry and trinkets and charms and materials.

As she walks in, she pulls a small notebook out of her bag, opening it to a blank page and holding it in one hand. There very few stalls selling potions, but she takes careful note of what's for sale and at what price. She doesn't pull out a pen or look at the notebook, instead simply stretching trails of ink out across the page and writing her findings directly.

Eventually, she stops at a few stalls and makes a few purchases: a few metal bangles, several wooden rods, a few trinkets of various shapes. At the last stall she stops at, she asks the vendor, "What's the process of opening a stall of your own here?"

The old woman gives Sable a look. "Step one, acquire table. Step two, place table in a clear spot. Step three, pause to see if the guards tell you that spot is reserved. Step four, place goods on table. Done."

She laughs and nods. "Okay then! Thank you for your time!"

Onward! She makes her way through town, briefly tearing a page out of her notebook and dropping it in a particular mailbox as she passes, and eventually makes her way back through the plaza.

Her route takes her past the merchants' guild, earning a brief scowl.

And eventually she finds herself in the upper trade district. She passes by various shops and artisans, along with some extremely upscale inns and restaurants, and eventually finds a building declaring itself the Gilded Rose. Is this what she's looking for?

It looks like an upscale inn, with a sign depicting a rose in soft shades of gold hanging out front, but it's down a side street just outside the noble district, hidden just aside from an upscale market. All the inns are on the west side of town, out towards the historic site. 

She grins and blushes faintly. Yep, this is it. She walks up to the door and lets herself in.

The cat-woman clerk at the desk looks up as she steps in the door. 

"Welcome to the Gilded Rose. Would you like to stay the night?"

"Hello, and thank you," she replies with a charming smile. "Probably not the whole night, but definitely for dinner and probably a decent ways into the night. Frankly, I need an insightful confidant and companionship as much as anything else, at least to start."

She hums, then adds, "Also, I have to ask — your establishment certainly looks lovely enough that I doubt the question's necessity, but my instincts have ever been wrong — the Gilded Rose treats its staff well enough that you can attract the sorts of caring souls who choose this life, rather than needing to stoop to slavery?"

The clerk nods. "The Gilded Rose is contracted with the Spasiba's Courtesan's Guild, and the terms of said contract forbid the use of slaves in any capacity on Guild property. Our staff serve a four-year apprenticeship under the Guild in support capacities before graduating and becoming liscenced courtesans. The Guild guarantees the right of refusal to all our staff."

She opens a ledger book. "Payment is by time in half-hour increments. An overnight stay is charged as four hours. What you do with that time is up to you and your companion. Food and drink is complimentary with your stay. Would you like a meeting room or a bedroom tonight?"

"Then it sounds like you're exactly the sort of establishment I was looking for. I might as well book an overnight, then, even if I'm uncertain whether I'll be staying the whole thing, and I'd like a bedroom please."

She hums. "I probably would stay the whole night, I just didn't plan on it and thus neglected to leave a note for my traveling companion at our inn."

"You may leave and come back as you wish. It's seven marks per half hour; A night is fifty-five marks."

Sable nods and pulls five crowns and five marks out of her bag, passing them to the clerk with a smile.

She places them into a drawer in the desk, and rings a small bell.

A tall, stunningly beautiful woman with purple skin and small goat horns comes out from the back door. She's wearing a floor-length red dress with gold detailing, and a gold-and-ruby pendant nestles in her cleavage. 

She curtseys to Sable. "Welcome to the Gilded Rose. The rooms are just upstairs, if you'll follow me?"

The violet blush across her cheeks comes right back, and she nods with a smile. "Thank you, I'd be glad to."

She takes a key from the desk clerk and starts on her way up the stairs, which incidentally puts her hips, ass and tail roughly level with Sable's eyeline. 

Her tail is thin and whiplike, and reaches about her mid-thigh; it pokes out of her dress invitingly, shifting from side to side as she adjusts her balance on the way up the steps. 

Goddess she's sexy. Sable watches eagerly as she follows, trusting her balance and sense of her surroundings to keep her from tripping.

There's a small hallway at the top of the stairs, with doors on either side; Ishaza walks past a few doors, then opens the fourth on her left.

She steps in, hooves clicking against the hardwood, and holds the door open for Sable. Beyond is a small suite with a large red-sheeted bed, a small sitting area with two couches and a pull-out table, and a bathroom over to one side. 

She curtseys again from just inside the door. "I'm Ishaza, by the way."

"Thank you, it's lovely to meet you. I'm Sable," she says as she steps inside and sits down on one of the couches, tossing her bag into the corner of the other one.

"It's good to meet you, Sable." Ishaza smiles, apparently genuinely, and sits down beside Sable's bag on the other couch.

"I'd like to emphasize that I'm at your service. Would you like food brought up? Entertainment? I can sing, dance, play the violin, recite poetry, or storytell, among other pursuits. If you're more in the mood to relax, there is a suite of beauty products available in the bathroom and I would be happy to brush out your tails or massage you."

"Goddess, that's quite the delightful set of options," she replies, her blush deepening a bit. "I'd quite like it if you could brush my tails for a bit. After I've relaxed some, maybe we can talk over dinner?"

"That sounds wonderful. One moment while I fetch a hairbrush..."

She gets up and goes into the bathroom, returning moments later with a large silver-handled hairbrush. She sits down next to Sable on her couch, and smiles slightly. 

"May I have your tails, then?" 

Three violet, fluffy tails drape across Ishaza's lap, and Sable squirms a bit trying to adjust her position before finally accepting that the only comfortable option will be facing away. She leans sideways against the back of the couch, her faintly blushing cheek resting against the top.

"May I touch your back to steady you?", Ishaza asks. 

Her hands busy themselves with Sable's tails; one hand brushing with the hairbrush, the other guiding, smoothing and shaping. She's not shy with her brushstrokes, despite the fact that she only met Sable a few minutes ago.

Sable shivers. Oh that feels good. "You certainly can," she replies.

Ishaza focuses on the tail to her left first, working from its tip to its root with long, firm brushstrokes. 

And she listens, quietly, to a certain sense she has...

Naturally dominant and sadistic, but has an underexplored submissive and masochistic side. Cares a lot about care, giving and recieving it. For sex acts... Eating people, often creatively. Giving tentacle sex, getting oral, fingering or being fingered. Whether giving or getting, likes deep penetration; when giving, prefers cowgirl or bending her partner over some furniture. Enjoys missionary, giving and getting service, but especially missionary is strongly associated with being in a serious relationship for her. 

Well, isn't that surprising. 

She keeps brushing Sable's tail contemplatively. 

Well, if Sable tries to eat her the wards will trigger. The issue is really that she now knows rather more about Sable than she suspects. 

Let's address that. 

"Sable, would you mind if I asked you a few delicate questions? Just to help me serve you better. In case you don't know, all courtesans in Spasiba swear an oath not to speak of what we learn during our intimate encounters."

"You may," she replies, still blushing, and on the edge of purring from the continued brushing. "I rather suspected there might be an oath like that in play. S'part of why I'm here."

"To begin with... Have you ever been to a brothel before?"

She finishes with the left tail, and moves on to the middle one.

"No," she says.

Ishaza nods, and keeps stroking Sable's central, working through her brush and disentangling the fur.

"Secondly... Are you human?"

"I," she starts, then pauses for a moment with a soft sigh. "I was. Now I'm an inkblot who can do a very convincing impression."

She holds up a hand demonstratively, and it melts apart into a blobby, inky tendril, then reforms.

Ishaza nods thoughtfully. That tallies, more or less. All kinds of strange things happen to adventurers.

"I'm sorry to have brought it up, if it's a sorrow to you."

She drags her fingers through Sable's tails. 

"... I think that's all the questions I have for now. Thank you for your honest answers."

"It's... complex. Not exactly a sorrow, not exactly not. It's a story I probably need to tell at some point. Hope of telling it to someone who doesn't need me to be anyone in particular is part of why I came here tonight, even, if you don't mind hearing a tale you might find rather... outlandish."

She sighs again. "That's a tale better told over a meal, though, and perhaps after a bit more petting and brushing."

"Alright."

Ishaza settles her hand and brush onto Sable's right-hand tail, and continues to brush and pet. She's clearly done this hundreds of times before; the motions are smooth and practiced.

After a stroke or two, Sable starts to relax again with a faint shiver. After several more, she starts purring. A quiet contentment seems to radiate out of her, telepathically.

Ishaza smiles slightly, and gathers the three tails together and starts brushing them as a group, her brush wandering back and forth as she strokes firmly.

The purring vibrates through her whole body, and for a very brief moment her awareness of her form slips very slightly, letting the vibrations show in one spot as ripples in the violet liquid visible there instead of skin. She resolidifies quickly, gasps slightly, and stretches.

"You are good at this," she says with a blushy grin. "Thank you. I feel much better. How do you feel about dinner next?"

Ishaza's brushing hands slow for a moment. "That would be lovely. What would you like?"

"I trust your judgment," she says with a grin. "My only requirement is that my transformation has made me an obligate carnivore, and plants and fungi can't play more of a role than garnishes or at most a thin flatbread wrapping a sandwich."

Ishaza smiles. "Then I'll arrange a meat platter."

She lays in a few final strokes with her brush, then carefully settles Sable's tails to one side and stands.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Would you like tea, coffee, juice, or something more alcoholic?"

"Tea, please, Ishaza. Thank you."

Ishaza departs with a curtsey, leaving Sable alone in the room.

She leans back with a soft smile, sighing tenderly. This is certainly shaping up to be an interesting night.

A few minutes later, Ishaza returns bearing a large red-and-black lacquered platter. She slides out the table from the wall and sets the platter down before Sable so she can see the contents.

From left to right, there are three skewers of lamb, three skewers of pork, two chicken wings, a small salmon filet, and an assortment of spiced sausage slices with thin crackers and what looks like pâté. Four dipping sauces are arranged along the right-hand side - guessing from the consistencies and colors, they look like tzatziki, honey garlic sauce, barbeque sauce, and soy sauce. There's a silver fork and knife nestled in against them. 

"I'll be right back with your tea," Ishaza says. "Is there anything else you'd prefer?"

"No, this looks amazing. Thank you very much."

"It's nothing." 

Ishaza curtseys and sweeps out of the room.

She leans forward to smell the food, then leans back with a delighted sigh and a smile. This is going to be a delicious meal.

A few minutes later, Ishaza returns with a black ceramic teapot and two matching cups. She fills Sable's cup, steam rising from it with the distinctive scent of chamomile, then sits across from her. 

"Do you mind if I join you for tea?", she asks. 

"Please do. I hope you don't mind that I'm waiting until you're done to start."

Ishaza pours herself a cup, raises it to her mouth, and sips lightly, her silver lipstick leaving a mark on the dark ceramic. 

"Please, don't stand on ceremony; I've already eaten."

She picks up her tea as well and sips, a soft, happy sigh spilling quietly from her lips. "Oh, that's excellent," she breathes, setting the cup down.

"Less ceremony and more that my mental model of the choice to be a courtesan involves very strong empathy and an enjoyment of inspiring strong positive or cathartic reactions in others, so I'm saving my genuine first reactions for when I can share them with you."

She cuts a bite of lamb and dips it daintily in the tzatziki lookalike, puts it into her mouth, and a quiet moan escapes her.

"Goddess, I haven't had lamb done that well in well over a decade."

Ishaza's lips curve up and she giggles. Quietly, but that was definitely a laugh!

She covers her smile with one hand and quickly recovers her composure. "That's the most intellectual way I've heard "I want you to feel the joy of service" in a long time."

She takes another sip of her tea, and stops bothering to hide her smile. "If that's part of the joy of this for you, I'll hardly deny you it. Yes, it's good to see you enjoying yourself and know I had a hand in it. It makes me smile to know I'm lightening your burdens." 

"I've worked in some service professions myself," she replies with a pleased giggle while she cuts another bite, "and the 'joy of service', as you called it, was what kept me going."

She dips a bite of pork in the barbecue sauce and moans again, biting her lip.

"We didn't have anything nearly so sensible as a courtesan's guild where I came from, and generally didn't treat service professionals of any sort very well, but seeing that vivid relief on someone's face when I solved a problem they were panicking over, or the spark of delighted surprise when I made some piece of technology fulfill a request that they hadn't thought possible, remains one of my favorite things.

"So yes, your getting to share in as much joy as I can manage is definitely part of the joy of this for me."

Ishaza's lavender cheeks darken just a shade. 

"Well, thank you. You're very considerate." She takes another sip of her tea.

A faint, happy blush only makes Ishaza all the prettier, in Sable's opinion. She smiles and blushes back.

A cracker gets spread with the pâté this time, and answered with a long, pleased sigh.

"This is all quite lovely," she says, taking another sip of tea and smiling. "I've had a very long and bizarre past few months, and this is quite the relief after all that time."

She briefly frowns and adds softly, "Not that the time before was a picnic either."

"I'm glad you feel a little better. I'm here to listen if you'd like to talk about it." 

Ishaza takes another small sip of her tea.

"Thank you for that. I..."

She pauses and tries the salmon. Her eyes flutter shut for a moment, something between a moan and a sigh spilling from her lips.

"Oh my, that's lovely. Where was I... right. So, this is going to be a bit bizarre of a story."

She takes another sip of her tea, then looks Ishaza in the eye. "Have you ever considered the existence of worlds other than this one?"

Ishaza tilts her head slightly. "I can't say I have. Though I know they must exist - summoning magic must summon from somewhere, after all."

"Just so," she replies with a nod. "Well, I'm not originally from this world. I was born in a world with no apparent magic, much higher technology, no known sophont life other than humans, and a much higher population. I was born in a masculine body with — though I didn't realize it until maybe a year or so before the event that brought me here — a female soul. My life before coming here was very lonely, and the province I lived in didn't support even the meager approximations of gender transition our science could manage. I was very slowly saving up to move away, and then..."

She spreads her hands slowly. "I died."

Ishaza simply nods. "I see. It's a bit of an outlandish story, but I can't see why you'd lie..."

She taps her fingers against her arm. "Some people do reincarnate, but generally they're favoured of the Charity Queen... If what you say is true, then clearly the gods must have had a hand in it. Only they have authority over the transmigration of souls."

She nods, smiling. "The Curious Oracle seems to be the local Goddess who signed off on my arrival."

Her eyes seem to unfocus briefly and then refocus, an illusory layer of pleurigloss lace visible over Ishaza's hands to her Sight. "And you're favored by the Corrupt Maid, it looks like?"

Ishaza ducks her head. 

"It's true, though something of a trade secret. She helps a little with my clients."

"Handy and smart. I'm not surprised She's helping there, from what I know of Her. Don't worry, I won't tell a soul," she replies with a knowing grin.

"Continuing my story," she says with a sigh, "my life was high-tech misery in a house I couldn't afford, isolated and hating my body. I worked an under-appreciated tech-support job, and had just finished my shift and was heading out to buy some groceries. And then a metal vehicle hit me, moving much faster than any carriage, in a residential neighborhood where such speeds were illegal."

"I died, and woke up as a foxgirl-shaped inkgirl in an empty storeroom. I spent a moment checking myself out, and Goddess how I love my new body," she says with a grin. "It's exquisitely sensitive, and I can shapeshift, and being physically a girl finally feels amazing."

She laughs. "The process of getting it was terrible, but the resulting upgrade is a serious win. Five stars, would recommend."

"But at the same time, you're figuring out a whole new world and dealing with all the surprises in it."

Ishaza nods thoughtfully and sets down her tea.

"Just so, and I got one of those surprised immediately."

She nods, takes a sip of her own tea. "I shortly found out that storeroom was in the back of a small complex carved into a wall of the Crack, the home of a small cult of the Avarice King," she continues with a frown. "I discovered this by accidentally stumbling into their ritual chamber when they were sacrificing people — travelers, by the looks of them — in His name."

"I took exception to this and put my shiny new instincts to work barreling in to fight them. Despite charging directly for the leader, though, I wasn't fast enough to stop the final sacrifice."

Ishaza nods somberly and taps her fingers against her cup.

"I quickly subdued them, and then the building energies reached their peak and coalesced onto me in the form of a consumptive boon from the Avarice King. Apparently He didn't like something about their attitude, and let me keep the boon, an ability to gain a measure of power from creatures I eat."

"I suspected that might be where this was going. And then... you ate them?"

"Some of them, yes. I got interrupted by someone blindly portalling in, and subsequently deciding to escape the Crack together. The remainder I dispatched quickly with an overdose of a paralytic venom my new body can produce."

Ishaza taps a finger against her cup. "How do you feel about that?" 

Sable hums thoughtfully. "Complicated," she says after a moment. "I'd never taken a life directly before that day, but I had no way to safely imprison them unless I chose to set up shop in the Crack, and it would've been quite a lot of work even then. And if I'd let them go free, not only would there be good odds they'd want revenge, but even if they didn't I'd be responsible for everyone they ritually sacrificed thereafter."

She takes another sip of tea, and another bite of food, briefly sighing delightedly before refocusing.

"And about the eating, well," she shakes her head and chuckles ruefully. "Despite being into vore, as I'm sure She told you, I refuse to let myself get carried away with that temptation. Other than clear and obvious abusers, I stick to volunteers — and I have been surprised to have gotten any, let alone as many as I have. I suppose being partially made of aphrodisiac goop could help, but I don't tell the volunteers that until after they've already agreed."

"The Avarice King doesn't seem thrilled that I'm not going rampant, but the most He ever manages to do to me is a mind-scrambling psychic shout and some illusory hunger, so He'll just have to cope."

Ishaza smiles. 

"I'm glad to hear you're managing it well. Though... you said you found volunteers?"

"Mmmhm!", she hums cheerfully while grabbing another bite, then sighs happily. "There are apparently people — most of them apparently blessed by the Charity Queen to my Sight — who kink enough on being prey that they wanted the last minutes of this life to be fingering themselves to orgasm after orgasm while I swallowed and digested them. One bunnygirl actually said she asked the Charity Queen for help finding someone like me. She walked right into my little camp when I was out on a solo contract."

She smiles fondly at the memory.

"Most of them?"

Ishaza's voice takes on a slight reproving tone.

"Of the non-villains, the volunteers... only one wasn't visibly touched by the Charity Queen when she found me. She argued that she backup plans if I said no, and that I couldn't convince her otherwise. I took a look at her mind, telepathically, and she'd memorized the location of a carnivorous plant three miles north, and a pack of wolves whose territory started five miles west."

She sighs softly. "That one I argued with, hard. Words weren't convincing her. Possibly I could've messed with her mind, convinced her not to, but... I restrict my telepathy to communication and surface emotions outside of rare circumstances, and have never yet used it to alter someone. That's a line for me, just as much as the volunteer thing itself is. I settled for praying to my Goddess and the Charity Queen, both."

She tuts a bit. "The most response I got was a sense of 'she wants what she wants', to paraphrase it slightly. I went with it, at that point, but kept my Sight open. Just as I was finishing swallowing her, there was a flash of marbled, fleshy-hued not-light — which is associated with the Charity Queen in my Sight — around her. She slipped the rest of the way down too quickly for me to see whether it stuck, but I hope so."

Ishaza is quiet for a long moment at that. 

"... A hard choice." 

She reaches out across the table and sets one hand on Sable's. 

"I can't make that decision for you, nor can I say it was the right one. But I can say... I hope she found some peace."

She squeezes Ishaza's hand and nods. "Thank you. I like to think she did. I certainly did my damnedest to make it the best damned exit I could. She thanked me, muffled though she was, before the end. That counts for something, I think."

"Perhaps it does. I still... wouldn't get in the habit, you know."

"Agreed. Much easier on my heart when they clearly already have the Charity Queen's mark."

She shakes her head and takes another bite of the food, sighing warmly.

Ishaza sips her tea softly, and nods.

She takes another bite and continues, "So other than that, I spent the past few months adventuring and playing courier, until eventually I took a job flying a girl down here to escape abuse and get her start as an alchemist, and I'm thinking about actually settling down properly here to work faster on my rune etching."

Ishaza takes a long sip of her tea.

"That sounds like it's worthwhile, and it's always good to get some variety."

"Yep," she sips again. "It's pretty great, in my opinion. Proud of what I'm doing."

She closes her eyes and sighs. "There's just still an extent to which I'm the same untransitioned trans girl whose miserable life ended on the hood of a speeding truck, looking around bewildered at everything. I keep resetting to face whatever's in front of me, keep rolling with it, but I don't know that I ever really processed it, y'know?"

"Hence why you're here with me. Would you like to unpack your thoughts a little more, then?"

"Yeah," she says, then pauses for a moment, taking a long sip of her tea.

"It's... There's a part of me that feels like I don't deserve it, that feels like I don't deserve this fascinating new life with this perfect body in this world with magic and more sex positivity and rare, lucrative things I can do. How do I deserve to have a bunch of skills I already had upgraded, and skills I didn't downloaded whole cloth into my mind? Why not someone with the training to uplift a society? I only have sketchily-remembered snippets of the path. Why not someone with a strong track record in social activism? All I did was help organize one activist's legal defense and join some protests."

She sighs hard. "Why me?"

"Says the woman who's already helping people escape their abusers and helping to protect the civilized world from the wildlands."

She blushes, that dusting of violet coloring her pale cheeks again. "Yeah, well, maybe you've got a point. I feel like lots of people would do that, though, and plenty would be better suited to do more."

She eats a bit more of her food, sighing.

"And how many of them would manage to turn a blessing from the Avarice King into something good, hm?"

She giggles and grins, blushing brighter. "Okay, fair point. That's fairly hard to do, and I like to think I've done a tolerable job there."

She shakes her head, smiles, and sighs. "You're pretty damn good at this 'confidant who provides helpful perspective' thing. Thanks."

"It's nothing." She tops up Sable's tea again.

"Thank you," she replies, taking another long sip, and then finishes the meal off in a few more adored bites. "This was absolutely delicious."

She leans back and sighs warmly, her body language relaxed aside from a subtle note of "I don't know what to do next" that Ishaza can probably spot.

Ishaza smiles. "I'm glad to see you a little less tense. It seems you had a lot to express and make peace with."

Her hand slips up to touch the pendant at her throat, tangling in the fine gold chain as her thumb runs across the ruby nestled between her breasts. 

"If you want some time to think, I can clear the dishes and perhaps come back with my violin - or, if you wish, I can simply come sit next to you and hold you close for a little while." 

She smiles slightly. The ruby pendant winks in the light. 

Her eyes follow Ishaza's hand reflexively and... yeah, that was deliberate. Also, yep, Ishaza continues to be really hot, and continues to be very good at this.

She blushes, both at the enticing thoughts and at being called out so directly for needing a hug.

"Being held sounds really great right now," she replies with a soft smile.

Ishaza gets up, steps around the table, and sits down next to Sable. Gently, she wraps an arm around Sable's waist and squeezes; she leans in, and presses a kiss to Sable's temple.

Sable relaxes further into Ishaza's embrace, the uncertainty melting away, her blush intensifying slightly at the kiss. She wraps one of her tails tenderly around Ishaza's waist, and an arm around her shoulders. A tender, pleased sigh spills from her lips.

Ishaza leans in against Sable. She's very close; Sable can smell her cinnamon perfume and feel the wash of her breath against her shoulder.

She just smiles, and holds Sable gently, not insisting at all.

She leans in against Ishaza as well. She doesn't wear perfume, but this close it's easy for Ishaza to smell her inky nature, faintly metallic, bringing to mind libraries and old books and handwritten letters.

She savors the closeness for several minutes, something seeming to soften about her, despite not having any muscles to unclench.

Eventually, she speaks again. "Do you mind if I touch you, explore some?"

Her fingers stroke curiously and demonstratively across Ishaza's shoulder.

"Not at all." Ishaza's smile widens a fraction.

Sable's smile widens as well, turning intrigued and slightly sharper. The hand on Ishaza's shoulder strokes slowly down her arm, while her other hand reaches up and gently touches one of her horns, fingers tracing softly along.

If anyone had a good view of Sable's eyes right now, they'd be shifting toward heart-shaped pupils.

Ishaza's hand, which is already on Sable's hip, starts to explore a little in turn, stroking at her side and a little of the top part of her thigh. 

Ishaza's stroking gets a pleased little wriggle from Sable, her leg inching fractionally closer toward Ishaza's hand.

Sable's fingers trail warmly down to Ishaza's wrist and explore further into her palm, savoring the feel of her silky-soft skin, then slide back up to her shoulder. Slowly her questing fingers slide out along Ishaza's collarbone, trailing gently across. At the same time, her other hand savors the smooth upper curve of the horn she's been exploring, briefly wrapping around it in an exploratory grip before sliding gently off, feeling the pleasantly grippable ridges on the underside.

"You are fascinatingly beautiful, Ishaza," she murmurs.

Ishaza lets her eyes half-close as Sable explores her body, her smile deepening, though she still maintains that reserved air. 

The hand wrapped around Sable's back continues to explore her skin, and Ishaza shifts in a little more, her free hand caressing Sable's shoulder as she turns her hips a little so Sable can see the gold pin at her left hip. It looks... structurally important. 

"Thank you," Ishaza says. "I try."

Oh really, structurally important? She'll just have to do something about that, then. How playfully can she manage it, though?

The hand on Ishaza's collarbone trails slowly across to her side, slowly tracing over the outer curves of her breast, then over ribs and down to her waist, before tracing back up, savoring every inch. Sable's other hand strokes her hair, then down her neck to her shoulder.

But while all this is happening, a tiny tendril of ink extends from the side of the tail wrapping around Ishaza's waist, discreetly reaching down to wrap around the pin, then very carefully and slowly tugging it free.

Ishaza is currently sitting down, so her clothing's structural failure is understated. As the pin falls to the floor, her robe falls open to bare one breast. 

Ishaza presses into Sable's petting hand, and the small movement makes her robe fall open even further. Both her dark-purple nipples are on display now, still accented by the curve of her ruby pendant between them. 

"I think," she says, "It would be better if I were in your lap as opposed to next to it."

Her eyes eagerly drink in every additional inch of Ishaza's beauty as it's revealed, the fading violet blush on her cheeks blooming anew, her pupils quite blatantly heart-shaped now.

"That," she replies with a flirty grin, "sounds like an extremely sensible idea."

She unwraps her tail from around Ishaza's waist, resting it to the side with the other two, and leans back a bit to allow Ishaza to reposition herself as she likes.

Ishaza turns on her knees, and straddles Sable. Her dress has fallen completely open at this point, baring her entire front from collarbone to crotch. 

Ishaza gives Sable a soft kiss, her silver-stained lips pressing softly against Sable's; then she raises her hands to her shoulders and lifts her dress up slightly. With an arch of her right arm above her head, she brings her dress-filled hands together to her left side - and then her right arm falls to rest around Sable's shoulders even as her left hand tosses the dress aside. It's clearly a practiced motion - it's too smooth, and shows off her breasts and toned arms too much, to be anything but.

She savors the gentle kiss, her violet lips parting in a pleased (and faintly longing) sigh when Ishaza pulls away. She gazes, rapt, at Ishaza's graceful disrobing and the way her breasts bounce before her eyes, her whole body a picture of elegance in motion. She leans forward to respond with another gentle kiss. Her hands cup Ishaza's sides just below her breasts, then slide together down to her waist, before the left slips further down to caress her hip and thigh, while the right slides back up to tenderly cup and stroke her breast.

Ishaza's hands slip in underneath Sable's crop top, pushing it up a little to bare her breasts; Ishaza's fingers play across Sable's breasts as she presses in closer, grinding her bare sex against her through her pants. 

Ishaza's kisses are more rapid, now, a little breathless, with hunger and intention behind them. 

Sable's crop-top must have some stretch enchanted into it, because it slides up easily to reveal dusky violet nipples standing out atop pale, full breasts. Her hands pause in their lustful exploration of Ishaza's curves, returning to her own chest to pull her top over her head and toss it aside. She leans back into kissing Ishaza, violet lips pressing eagerly against silver, then trailing lingeringly across her lavender skin. Her hands stroke up and down Ishaza's back and sides, one settling in a firm grip around her ass, the other trailing up to bury in her hair. Soft tails lash with passion before wrapping around Ishaza's back, holding her close and twining around her own tail.

Ishaza squirms against Sable, in the manner of one who's testing restraints they don't particularly want to be let loose from. As they press in closer, her hands shift to brace against the couch's back and seat, her naked breasts pressing in skin-to-skin against Sable's. Her tail flexes as well, twining together with Sable's - but her breath is still slow and relatively controlled.

Ooh, she likes that squirm. She tightens her tails more snugly around Izhaza, then presses closer and kisses more hungrily along the soft skin of her neck. Her breath comes more rapidly now, not quite ragged or uneven yet but picking up in intensity as she kisses a soft trail back up to those gorgeous silver lips, leaning into a deeper kiss.

Ishaza kisses more deeply, with tongue. Surprising no-one, she's a very good kisser. 

There's a little more tension in her now. Apparently grinding against Sable, even through her pants, is nice enough to warrant a soft sigh when they part. 

Ishaza gives Sable a challenging smirk as they part, but doesn't say anything. 

Sable meets Ishaza's smirk with a daring grin and a cocked eyebrow, and one of her hands trails up along the back of Ishaza's neck, drags through her hair, and then slips free to grip around one of those elegant horns. Gently but inexorably, Ishaza is pulled into a deep and lingering kiss, Sable's hips rolling underneath her, grinding back up against her.

Ishaza rides against Sable's grinding, kissing back eagerly, letting her control the placement of her mouth. 

There's a little bit of a wet patch on Sable's trousers now. Oops.

Well, that's a good excuse to get out of them, as if she needed one. When Sable breaks the kiss and releases her grip, Ishaza can see six violet tentacles sprouting from Sable's back, four of them swiftly wrapping themselves around Ishaza's arms and legs and lifting her up off of Sable's lap. The other two coil around the base of each of Ishaza's breasts, squeezing and caressing.

"I realized I need to get out of these pants," she says with a smirk, "but I didn't want to stop savoring your body while I did."

She stands and shimmies out of her trousers. "I think you'll like my solution.~"

"I had wondered when you'd start to get serious," Ishaza deadpans. But then she squirms against the tentacles and oh what a smile that is. It looks like she's having fun. 

She's helpless, oh yes, and she likes it. 

"What can I say? You bring out the best in me."

Her pants slide down and she steps out of those and her boots at the same time, revealing toes naturally manicured the same violet as her fingernails and her hair. Then she sits back down on the couch, her slick sex swiftly reshaping. A thick cock slowly rises from her mound, and she carefully watches Ishaza's eyes, waiting for exactly the right size to stop at, setting at a comfortably large eight inches.

The tentacles lower Ishaza back down to Sable's lap, lining up but not thrusting in yet, and then she's tilted forward into reach for Sable to grab her horn again and pull her into a deep kiss.

Ishaza squirms up against Sable, and kisses back firmly, savouring the anticipation of the moment. Sable has her in the palm of her hand, and she likes it. 

She breaks the kiss, tilting Ishaza back upright, then slowly lowers the lavender beauty the rest of the way down, expression rapt with every sensation, along with every minute reaction from Ishaza, as her cock fills her.

Ishaza sighs, and leans into Sable as much as her tentacles will allow, feeling the heat of their bodies together, the thickness of the cock inside her, her breath hitching a little as she clenches.

She sighs as well, savoring the feeling, and then pulls Ishaza back down into a kiss, her tentacles slowly lifting up and down to steadily thrust into her, breasts pressing together, cock throbbing gently inside.