Interesting. As it happened, Tinniel and Rachel got the same quest additions he had, including Lucy and Jez’s quest and the quest to find his parents. Although their quest rewards were nothing like his storyline quests, he hadn’t really expected as much. None of the quest rewards for other people were going to be as nice as when he’d started out. Also, since he was moving away from the tutorial, beginning phase of the game and into a sort of third tier, he knew quest rewards would slowly diminish in quality.

The game always wanted to get its hooks into you by giving you tons of loot crates or achievements right away, and those would diminish after the beginning few levels. He’d gotten a huge bonus for getting all his skills to Amateur level 1. On the other hand he hadn’t gotten, nor was really surprised he hadn’t gotten another achievement for putting all his skills up to Journeyman, or his attributes.

The game auto-accepted these quests but gave him the choice to back out later if he liked, and that was all right. He wasn’t about to dump these quests, unless something cataclysmic happened. The urgency over the blue mage had begun to wear off as events on the ground continued to keep his attention elsewhere, though he still wished he could figure out a way to find her and save her.

They flew out towards the guiding quest arrow, golden metallic things adorned with delicate tracings of filigree and floral designs, hovering in the distance, inside a glass dome like compasses. A hole behind the main arrowhead showed the approximate distance in kilometers: 225 for the new parents, and 268 for his own parents. These weren’t real, instead just a visual indicator of where they needed to go and how far. They overlapped one another for over an hour before slowly parting ways. Both quest arrows had them moving out east, though Rachel‘s soon veered further southeast.

The landscape grew rocky as they went, with large floating boulders, distant sky ships, and a few concerning monsters in the deeper distance. One of those monsters appeared to be a mountain for a number of minutes, before Ash caught a definite shudder of breathing and a twitch of a town-sized tail.

Although it was still green below, he was growing cold from the altitude, and weather was approaching. They were trying to stay relatively low, but due to floating islands couldn‘t manage it well. They called a halt and landed on a large, low floating island about an hour into the journey.

He ended up being right about Tinniel’s endurance; within an hour of getting airborne, they had to stop while she got the glider backpack situated. Or rather, they had to stop while she slumped on the grass, retched from exhaustion of it, dry heaved a few times, then collapsed on her face and lay there in a heap of her own destroyed overconfidence.

Although Lucifer and Jezebel somehow looked stunning with elf clothing and hair untouched, Rachel was as wind-blown as he felt. She was blinking out the wind, and he definitely understood from his own watering eyes. He wished they had Evie here to whip up a couple of pairs of flight goggles.

“I skipped past the Random Encounter,” he said. “It was a dungeon.”

Both his best friends just nodded, while Tinniel extended a single thumb up from where she sat, head between her knees and gasping for breath. This set Rachel off laughing, and Lucy joined in. Ash chuckled, shaking his head.

He called a long break, summoned Waffles out on this cool rock to frolic and amuse the baby, and with the intention of taking Rachel aside.

Ash manifested Waffles. This involved touching the slowly rotating magical tattoo that existed on his chest of a stained glass waffle, with the dog’s head in the middle of it, and funneling just a touch of mana in there. Waffles leapt out of Ash’s chest and onto the twin rut dirt road, tongue already lolling, and pranced around a few times before drawing up to his side. Tail wagging, Waffles received friendly attention from Rachel, who lived just beside and behind him, and Zirennia, who called him over for a couple of ear scratches.

Tinniel lost her mind.

“Oh my goddess,” she bubbled, immediately crawling over to the golden retriever, still exhausted. “Ash, what’s this? Who’s this good boy? Why did you keep him hidden away?”

“Uh… this is Waffles, and he can’t fly.”

She was unable to keep her hands off the dog. “Who’s a good boy?” she cooed, ignoring the fact that they were all soaked through. “Who’s a good boy? You are! You’re a good boy. Your person gave you a terrible name, but you’re still the goodest, bestest boy there ever was, yes you are.”

Ash had only had Waffles for about a month now, and was learning as he went. The initial summoning hadn’t been very clear on what would happen, aside from the ability to mentally command the familiar, experience life through its senses, use it as a platform for extending auras, and eventually cast spells through it.

Him. The dog was a male.

What he was discovering was that Waffles also had his own personality, and it was that of a golden retriever: gentle, affable, slow and plodding. Back in town, once the ritual had concluded and purged He Who Slumbers, the people had been enamored with Waffles, and he’d passively allowed almost a dozen children to climb on him, pet him, scratch his belly and ears and chin, and even play with his face or pull his tail. Ash now figured it was a good thing he hadn’t chosen a different dog breed.

Waffles had his own stats, but Ash didn’t like to look at them because although he knew he wasn’t a real dog, it felt so nice to just have a steadfast companion to pet any time he was feeling like he needed that. Sure Waffles could bark out a Fireball or a Tsunami, costing you 50% extra mana, but Waffles could also rest his head on your leg and stare up at you with soulful, dark eyes. In apocalypse times, the latter was almost more important than the former. Everyone had had their own difficulties coping with the new reality here, and Ash’s were mainly psychological. Everything had changed. And although nearly everything was better in this new world, sure, there was comfort in the known. Nostalgia had its own definite purpose.

He used the distraction and Tinniel’s adoration to draw Rachel off. Away from the others, he asked Rachel, “I have to know.” Or rather, he commanded Rachel, because that’s who she was, and who he was learning to be with her.

“Have to know… what?”

He pointed at himself, at her, at himself again, at her, and then down at his crotch. “I have to know.”

Her hair stood up a little in a way that told him she was embarrassed to be addressing the elephant, or rather the submissive tendencies, in the room.

“It was my best friend,” she said.

“Your best friend a guy, or your best friend a hot dominant lesbian freak?” he asked, grinning. This was going to get awesome.

At first, Rachel’s best friend was a tragic figure, growing up hard after her father was conscripted into the Aelerian military just a few years ago, and was presumed dead. After she’d taken a job as a bodyguard and her charge had been killed, she’d been forced to take on work as a mercenary with some truly repulsive people. They’d been trying to keep away from disreputable work.

At this point, Ash produced the spork and twirled it around his fingers. Rachel stared at the shiny little piece of plastic for several long moments, then blinked.

“What was I saying?”

He shrugged. “You were going to tell me about your friend.”

“She’s good people,” she said. “She uh… she kind of got me into the mindset I have now.”

“The mindset where I tell you the default mode is no panties unless I say otherwise, and any time I say the word panties directly to you, you give me proof you aren’t wearing any.” Then arched an eyebrow pointedly at her until she got it.

She balked, again cute and embarrassed, until finally she turned and flipped up the back of her skirt to show off her lack of panties, facing away from the others. Then she turned, burning with embarrassment, and smiled weakly as it came to him. He grinned.

“She was the one who turned you into a little sub?” he asked quietly.

“Don’t say it like that,” she said, and blushed all the more. Her tail flicked back and forth in a way he still couldn’t read, but it wasn’t the full fluff of an angered or scared cat, so he took it as a good sign. “She and I went to a lot of clubs, and I played wingman a lot while she hooked up with a lot of different guys. And sometimes girls.”

“And you didn’t, huh?”

She shrugged, still studying the grass on this floating island. “Someone had to be the designated driver.” Leading to a mental guesstimation that Rachel would then be in the apartment or house while her roommate would be hooking up. Rachel then confirm she would have to listen to everything through the walls. The friend wasn’t quiet. The friend was probably performing for Rachel’s benefit at times.

It sounded less like she was a submissive and more like she was used to being someone’s doormat. He promised himself he wasn’t going to abuse her, and grimaced. He hadn’t done anything so publicly embarrassing or humiliating as to draw a crowd, and she hadn’t told him no, which wasn’t exactly an indication he was blameless.

“I want you to understand something,” he told her. “You need to decide on a limit, and you need to tell me when I’m about to cross that line, okay?”

She regarded him strangely. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Like if I push you too far, and you decide that no, you’re not going to do whatever insane thing I’ve ordered you to do.”

She grew somber. “Don’t hurt me, Ash. If you raise a hand to me, I’ll… that’s it.” She grimaced, half a smile this time. “Aside from spankings. I like them. Jesus.”

“I just have to know when that’s about to happen, and I’ll make sure and not do it.”

She nodded.

“We can have a safe word. When the line comes, and I’m ready to push further, and you’ve reached your limit, you say the word, and I back the fuck off. We, I don’t know, evaluate what happened and how we can avoid getting to the line in the future. A word we never would say otherwise. Like asparagus.”

“Succubus,” she said.

“Succubus it is,” he told her.  “Now come give Ash a hug.”

She smiled and melted into his arms, nuzzling his neck. “I don’t want to be punished like Netsu,” she muttered. Although apparently spankings were not just on the menu, but a favorite appetizer to be ordered up and enjoyed often.

“Pfff,” he said. “No problem.”

“Good.”

“Just don’t misbehave and you won’t be punished.” He followed this with a firm swat at her backside.

“Oh no,” she groaned, and nuzzled his neck. “Is it bad that I really enjoyed that?”

“So bad,” he confirmed, and pulled her close. “Now tell me more about your best friend.”

“While we…” He rubbed his crotch against her abdomen and she moaned out.

“Just info about your friend,” he said. This was probably going to get hot and heavy, and he was here for that.

Rachel’s roommate had once taken on a couple at the same time, and it had been so loud she’d masturbated while listening to the threesome happening just a wall away. Another time her roommate had just started sucking her hook-up’s dick in the back seat while Rachel drove, telling Rachel to watch the road. She hadn’t even gone into the apartment before fucking the guy right there in the backseat, while Rachel fled into the apartment, dripping.

Another time the roommate started in on her boyfriend in the car but started blowing him as they’d gotten in the door. Meaning Rachel, who always came in the door after her roommate, was left with the choice to remain in the hallway and watch her friend suck cock, or get real close and edge around her, close enough to touch.

At that point, the roomie’s boyfriend had made the most awkward hard eye contact, grinning at Rachel. He’d then whispered that if she wanted to join she could. This led to the roomie chuckling and saying Rachel would suck his dick if only he ordered her to. When he didn’t seem to have the guts to do that, her roomie had ordered Rachel to stand there and watch. Which she had.

Domestically her friend made her do the dishes and the grocery shopping, but was generally thankful and cool about the chores. She’d pat Rachel on the head, hug her a little too long, or give her little spanks of appreciation.

The night outings wore on, and led to her loudly demanding Rachel get in there and watch her get pounded vigorously. For several weeks, she’d clutched herself outside roomie’s door and tried not to masturbate, but failed several times, and several times peeked in on them going at it.

“I probably would’ve ended up joining them if she’d stayed with that boyfriend,” Rachel said, “but the apocalypse happened.”

As the information about Rachel’s good friend went on, he found himself clutching her bare ass beneath her skirt, and her rubbing his crotch through his jeans, and then to her on her knees fishing him out of those pants, followed closely by an extended blowjob. She really knew her work, here, first getting him quite hard instantly, before making it clear she could get him off if she just tried a little harder. She took the orders he gave with only a glance over her shoulder at the others. Tinniel’s eyes were firmly fixed on the two of them, while Lucy and Jezebel were nowhere to be seen. They were probably transformed into alligators and off doing it in the alligator position.

Soon enough her head was bobbing away and she was slobbering over his length with her extra long, extra rough felinian tongue.

“Are we doing this for our new girl?” she asked, in between sucks, and he guided her back to her work while luxuriating under her ministration.

“Would it bother you if we were?” he asked, then groaned at her tongue work. She really was, out of all of them, the best at this. It had a lot to do with that inhuman tongue.

She shook her head just a fraction of a centimeter, then pulled free like his cock was a popsicle and licked it again before speaking. “It’s pretty hot, the idea that you’re building a team of girls who can’t resist this. Mmmm.”

She didn’t need to be told to get back to work, but she did shiver when his hand fell on the back of her head, and she sucked in his full length while raking her tongue over the bottom.. “I don’t know about her,” he told her. “Honestly it’s surprising that this whole situation exists.”

There was no earth in which he could simply command a woman to suck him off in front of any others, let alone someone who might soon sleep with him.

Tinniel was staring in rapt fascination. Had she never seen sex before? Maybe she hadn’t seen it happen in public. To be fair, they’d flown over portions of the former United States that were as conservative as they were puritan, so it was possible he was dealing with not just a virgin, but a prudish one.

Still, she had agreed to join him, and she hadn’t turned away in disgust. Rachel was the second of his group she’d watched him engage with.

“You’re quite good at this,” he said, and stopped her with a hand on her forehead. “I don’t want to finish before I begin.”

He knelt and pushed her back so she sprawled out on the grass, and crawled between her legs, skirt flipped up, and soon got a good taste of her. He’d eaten out all of the others except for Netsu, who hadn’t yet earned the privilege, and was pleased to feel the differences between her and, say, Evie or Ashley. She was furrier but far wetter.

“I’m going to need you to be loud about this,” he told her.

“No problemohhhhhhhhh!”

He found a trail of matted fur spreading slowly down the inside of one butt cheek, but went to town anyway. She was so, so wet for him.

“Oh!” she shouted. “Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Yes, right there, right… there.”

With one finger inside her, he told her, “And no orgasm until I say so,” before heading back to her slippery, very hot sex.

She made a plaintive sound so pathetic and so wonderful he nearly gave her permission right then and there.

He was having so much fun with Rachel that he nearly forgot his intended audience.

A glance at Tinniel found her somewhere between horrified, fascinated, and hypnotized. She was kneeling now, thighs clamped together around one hand, like she had caught herself in the midst of trying to masturbate and was locked in a battle with her own body. One part of her was determined not to keep going, while the other was worming a finger down over her sex, trying desperately to get off.

Rachel’s loud cries brought him back to reality. He’d been licking her on autopilot for several minutes, and it seemed like her wails were as much torture as they were pleasure.

“Are you ready to cum?” he asked, knowing the answer but wanting her to shout it anyway.

“Yes!” she yelled, like it was obvious to anyone who wasn’t deaf and blind, mixed with a cry of pleasure. “Yes! Please.”

He drew up and positioned himself overtop her, then told her “Now,” just as he popped the head beyond the confines of her and sank in deep.

The resulting groan of ecstasy was almost as intense as her bucking hips. She bucked, jumped, shuddered and groaned as though she were in actual pain. It went on for some seconds, the full body shuddering and writhing under him, the begging him breathlessly to stop, wait, it was… it was too much.

Like with Mizu, he had no intention of stopping. Unlike Mizu, she climaxed hard enough to almost disengage him from her. He had no intention of breaking this heavenly connection, so he slowed down.

“Oh man, that was…” she trailed off, unable to finished.

Ash had just gotten started. He’d paused after fitting himself into the velvet confines of his new submissive slave girl, loving the orgasmic shockwaves and what they did to his cock. He was really starting to enjoy the idea and sensation of having an audience.

Grabbing onto her hips, he really started giving her the business, and taking his time to enjoy both the astonishment on Tinniel’s face and the sound of Rachel losing herself to the pleasure. She had her legs wrapped around him after just a few seconds, and her arms wrapped around his neck a few seconds later.

He drove down deep, loving the liquid silk feel of her insides, and the way she was really following his directions.

“Ohhh! Ohhh Ash!” she cried. “Ash, please... let me…”

“Go ahead,” he hissed, and this time continued with his pounding for her second climax. She thrashed just as much as before, yelling and twitching for long moments.

“I want it,” she begged. “I want it… inside.”

He didn’t have very much control, what with her legs wrapped around his waist. With long strokes, he finally gave in to the impulse to cum, and dumped a huge load down deep. Rachel’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she made a satisfied sigh.

“Oh my… I can feel it. It’s so warm.”

Ash didn’t let up until a good half an hour later, bouncing back and going for it again with Rachel in a variety of positions. They ended with her up on her hands and knees. Tinniel’s resolve seemed to slowly wind down, and Ash found that eye contact at her caused her to back off and pull away. So instead he focused on the task at hand, and tried his best to drive Rachel out of her mind with pleasure. He finally succeeded when she slumped down onto the grass, in the light rain, doing nothing but twitch and spasm.

When he was finished, Ash carried Rachel back over toward the other two, princess style, and set her down next to the fey.

“First things first,” he said. “We get you equipped to help out. We’re going to have ourselves a Random Encounter sooner rather than later.” If they were lucky, Lucy, Jezebel and little Damien were going to go full NPC soon enough, and insulate them against Random Encounters. Until that happened, she needed to be ready to help out.