The shower was simply two walls attached perpendicular to the back wall of Barry's home; an alcove of 3 walls with an open front. It blocked most of the wind, but there was not even a curtain that would hide her.

Barry likely didn't need the privacy way out here, and it was night at the moment, so Maple was just happy to be able to wash herself. It shamed her a little to admit that while she was undressing, she felt some excitement.

She was exposing herself outside again. The stars and moon were above her, she felt every slight breeze against her bare skin. If the others were unscrupulous, they may even peek at her.

She tried to blame her maximum level of arousal for all of those feelings. Whatever fetish she was developing—she'd better shut it down while she still could. If she still could. Were things like that developed, or merely discovered?

The water came from a waterskin hanging above the center of the little alcove. It had a nozzle that allowed anywhere from a drip, to a trickle of flow. She only had 15 liters, so she kept it near a drip while she applied soap. She hadn't had any kind of shower since coming to this world, and even just this felt nice.

The night wasn't windy, but any open outdoor space like that had small currents of air. It made her feel a bit cold, but her core still felt hot. She got all the dirt off her and rinsed her lower area clean. She decided to leave the plug in, for reasons.

And well, you had to scrub, didn't you? Maple scrubbed one area in particular. Her other hand pulled on her nipples. She felt like such a pervert doing this so close to the others. They were just on the other side of Barry's home. She could smell meat cooking now, and hear them chatting.

Having fun over there?

Thera sent the thought through their shared mind. Maple flushed red, but kept going. She just needed to cum real quick. It would make her stronger, and she wouldn't be horny for dinner.

N-no. What makes you ask?

No reason, kinda just figured you would be. You're really not?

Maple shyly sent a thought revealing what she was doing, all the sensations and her arousal. She kept going and let Thera feel everything. Thera laughed in their mind.

I knew it. Here, let me help.

Thera turned their shared mind into a lewd fantasy. She imagined herself assisting Maple, touching and licking her.

Maple let herself cum soon after. Her legs shook as she covered her mouth. Thera was still there with her, though she hadn't activated [Telepathic Orgasms].

Hot. But, you didn't mean to send that did you?

Around half of her unprocessed prana had been converted, leaving her at just under half-full. She thought that was about what'd been converted with Sylla, too. Maple caught her breath and focused on finishing her shower while she answered.

No. Uh, are all my orgasms sent to you now? What the heck. Wait, are all of yours? You haven't cum since then, right?

I'm not quite as much of a nympho as you are, so yeah I don't know. Heh.

Thera seemed amused by the prospect. Maple was worried. Thera knowing every time she came would be kind of hot, but, and it was a large but, would she have to limit herself because of that?

Would she wake Thera up in the middle of the night if she didn't plan and schedule her orgasms ahead of time? She was an erogelic-human now—maybe also just a sex addict—she had to cum often. Thera knew all that, but would she judge her for it if she saw the full picture?

Maybe it was only because we were both talking during? I'll try again real quick to test it.

Right, to test it. Okay I'll let you know if it happens again.

Maple cast [Enhanced Pleasure] and touched herself. It felt so good, and she was such a pervert for doing it again. They were going to wonder what was taking her so long.

She focused on getting off, and came quick.

Yep, hi. I'm watching you cum for me. Feels good.

Maple blushed, but she did like Thera watching. It was a nice feeling.

Again, around half of what she'd had stored was converted to usable prana. So now she was a fourth as horny as her max. A very tolerable level. With [Enhanced Pleasure] off, it would likely continue to go down.

Okay, finishing up for real now. That might be kind of annoying. I think Lili would still undo this, if you wanted to.

Maple sent all of her concerns as a series of thoughts. That either of them might annoy the other with the timing of their orgasms. That it might feel like a privacy invasion. That she'd have to disclose there being a third party if she ever wanted to use [Telepathic Orgasms] with someone.

Thera mentally shrugged in response.

If you wanted to undo it, I wouldn't mind. I think it's cool though. The benefits still outweigh the downsides to me. Don't worry about annoying me or waking me up, I can just ignore it. Or get a free show. I don't really care if you see me cumming, but if that would annoy you, then...

Maple nodded and began drying herself. She liked how close she felt to Thera. They were able to understand each other completely. Telepathy was so cool, and it was an even deeper connection than that. A so-called soul bond. It would be fine as long as Thera didn't end up hating her or something.

No, I...I like you. I'm fine with it.

Thera replied with a mental hug, a warm giddy affectionate feeling that filled their shared mind.

---

Maple felt so much better now that she wasn't stuffed with sex energy. Like her lungs had been full of air and about to burst, and she finally let out a sigh of relief.

The atmosphere was that of a late-night barbecue. Sylla's magic provided mood lighting. Flying insects swarmed the floating orbs, so she kept them at a distance from the sitting and cooking areas.

Maple watched Emma slip Nomnom a big hunk of deer meat; a good enough bribe to purchase infinite pets for the rest of the night. For her.

Maple tried to give Nomnom some dried meat. Nomnom sniffed it, then walked around to the other side of the table. Maple gave up on the cute doggo after that.

Dort was throwing horseshoes with Alas, while Maple sat at the table with Barry and the others. Barry had a Skill that made the pork cook faster than it would have taken otherwise, but they still had some time to kill.

Maple had a glass of the slightly questionable 'hermit hooch' now, but found it was decent enough and only mildly alcoholic. She looked at the rugged old man.

"You really live out here and manage to grow everything you need by yourself?"

"Ayup, just me now. Not really made for the city, so I don't head there much. Even less, these days. I get by. Want for some things, of course, but I make do."

Like his clothing that was soon to fall apart. It seemed kind of cozy otherwise. Maple could almost imagine a life like that. A little house for her, Emma, and a garden for their future plant daughterson. Thera and the gang could stop by any time they were in the area.

She supposed neither of them were really made for that kind of life. Maple liked civilization and its conveniences, and Emma seemed more social than she was. Thera hmmed, and asked the question Maple would have been happy to avoid. She warned Thera in their head as she asked, though it was already too late.

"Now? Were there others before?"

"Ayup. My wife. I was a [Homesteader of Plenty] back then, along with another class I'm happy to leave behind. She passed on, and I nearly went with her. She wouldn't have wanted that. No, I decided I'd stay. Became a [Hermit of Plenty And Misfortune] the very next day."

See. They kept meeting people with sad stories, lately. Thera shushed her in their mind.

It's good to talk about these things.

"Sorry to hear that. It must have been hard on you."

"Yep, she was the one who took care of a lot of things back then. The 'plenty' part of my class has saved me more than once. But it's kept me stuck here, too. The Skills get me by, but they aren't profitable. And if I ever did move into town, or what have you so that I wasn't a hermit, I don't know what it would evolve into next. My back and eyes, and my memory are going on top of that. May as well finish up what's left of my life where I am."

Thera nodded and rested a hand on the back of her neck, unsure of what to say.

You may have been right on this one, Mape.

Told you. Mape, though?

Yeah. Like Em, or Syll.

"Enough of my ramblings. I'll go check the meat."

Barry got up and tended to the meat. It must have been done because he left the lid of the barbecue open and was moving the meat to a container. He proceeded to shred it with some metal implements. It smelled great, and Maple's stomach began to growl.

Yeah, but it sounds like...gape or something. Don't call me that, haha.

Sure thing, Mape.

Maple elbowed Thera and laughed. She explained for Emma and Sylla's benefit.

"Guys, she's calling me Mape now."

A ting rang out from Dort throwing a horseshoe. He was still over there with Alas. Were those two going to become a thing, too? Or were they already, Maple wondered.

Emma made a spiraling motion through the air, perhaps asking what the issue was. Sylla sipped her hermit hooch.

"You don't like Mape? Mape?"

"Not you too. Really, it's not a good nickname."

Emma flicked the air more furiously and Maple poked her. She couldn't write, but Maple could read her body language.

"What? Are you saying you're calling me Mape too, punk?"

Emma's tendril nodded in the air, and then she formed her head and nodded with a grin. Thera chuckled.

"See? It's not bad, Mape. Oh, looks like the food's done."

Thera got up to offer her assistance to Barry. They had shredded pork, green beans, and mashed potatoes. All of the food was loaded onto a single large plate. The bottle of wine they would drink sat next to it, unopened. The other spots had only an empty plate each. Sylla called out to Dort and Alas.

"Food's done, you guys."

"Aye, let's get some grub. Smelling it all night has me starved."

Once they were all gathered around and Maple was a tad confused by the portioning—Barry's plate had more food than a half-giant could eat, while theirs had none—Barry addressed them.

"Learned this little trick early on. There can't be much more food than this, but this much will work. Even the whole wine bottle, figuring you're all capable of drinking one in a night. It's freely given, as per the Skill. I don't much need it myself in all honesty, so feel free to keep the leftovers yourself, but if any of you did want to gift them to me, you go right ahead. Without further ado, [Ain't Much, But I'll Share]."

The food multiplied. A pile of meat, beans, and potatoes appeared on Maple's plate. Still too much for her to eat herself, but less than there had been on Barry's plate originally. His also had slightly less food now.

The bottle of wine was copied six times with none of the contents missing. That was the easiest thing to return.

"Um, yeah, I can't eat all this. And you can keep the wine."

"Yep, dump whatever you don't want in the bowls here. I'll eat it all eventually."

He had three large wooden bowls to accept any unwanted extra. Emma tucked the bottle of wine away inside of herself, but slid her plate a few inches away. The others all let him keep the wine, and they opened one bottle to share.

"Aw, you're not eating, cutie?"

Emma made a glum face and nodded. Maple pet her. Then she separated Emma's food into the bowls for her, and explained to Barry.

"She's stuffed already, we're kind of using her to store a bunch of things for now. She demanded we do that, I mean. Thank you though, that's a really cool Skill."

"Ayyup, now you see why I like having guests. Thank you all. And for handling me pig. It's a [Hermit] Skill, so I can only do that trick once in a blue moon, but if any of you want any of these leftovers in the morning, I'll be here. Gots a preservation field for it."

The same thing he was using to keep the rest of the pig fresh. Maple ate and enjoyed. Eventually, Barry waved a hand to Sylla.

"Forgive my eyesight, and my nosiness, but what was it you lot were carrying when I found ya? It looked kind of like a bunch of...well, I don't know what it looked like, really. I can only see out my peripheral, these days."

Sylla had dumped all the sex gear loaded down onto her when they set up their tents, and they had all left their bags back there too. Out of sight. Maple hadn't really thought of it at the time because he literally hadn't noticed, but now she sure was kind of glad he couldn't see very well. Sylla put a hand on her face, embarrassed.

"It was...uh..."

"Loot. We lucked out and found some ruins full of old equipment. Nothing too valuable, but ropes and leather and such. A few, uh, tools."

Thera answered for Sylla with a grin. Maple wondered how this whole encounter might have gone if he'd been able to see. It would have looked like a group of perverts or traveling [Sex Merchants] had wandered onto his property.

"I see. Ruins, huh? Nothing dangerous nearby, is it?"

"Nah, just an old building really. No monsters or anything, and we already got everything worthwhile. There was some kind of field that...may have been making the wildlife reproduce more. Out that way. We got rid of it. It's a long story, but yeah, might want to expect more animals in the short term."

Thera pointed in the general direction they'd come. They'd managed not to run into any dangerous animals, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Most would tend to avoid a loud group of people wandering by. It made Maple worry a little for the old man.

"Ayyup, good to know then. I always expect the wolves to get me one of these years. Maybe it'll be this year. Nomnom's less up to the task too, the older she gets."