Book 6: Chapter 16:

“Sorry, Rock, I have no idea what just happened,” Fenrir said, petting his pet rock on the top of her head now that the shivering had ended. “I… I just felt like I was suddenly a young deer targeted by a pack of starving wolves. I think it might have something to do with the weird feeling I’m sensing from Nell, but I’m not sure.”

Rock, having no idea what is going on, only cared about the fact that there are still sticks to play with. Sticks that were both in her mouth since he got distracted.

More importantly, were there any other sticks around? Naturally, the acquisition of more sticks was the most important thing for Rock. It was so rare that she got to have alone play time with Fenrir that she had to make sure it was the best play time to ever be played! Of course, it was already the best play time to ever be played. The last time was the best, too. Then the last time before the last time was also the best. And, of course, the last time before the last time before the last time – all of the previous times were the best! Could the time after this play session be even better? Would such a thing even be possible? Should such a thing even be possible?

All of those questions had the same answer.

Yes.

How could there be any other answer? It only made sense that every single play session with her owner would be the best thing ever! Even the play sessions that weren’t supposed to be only play sessions would be the best play sessions ever, just like this latest session!

“Wait, I came out here to practice,” Fenrir said, looking back at Rod who was left on the ground.

Even if the play session was temporarily over, it was still the best play session to ever be a played session! Until Fenrir was ready to play more, Rock would simply lie down and chew on the sticks that she had, thus breaking them into even smaller and smaller sticks before eventually finding a nice, hard rock to chew on.

“Alright, Rod. I know what I want to turn you into, but turning you into that is a different question,” Fenrir said, once more holding Rod. “I’m assuming that I might just not be close enough to you. We need to bond. And, we’re both men, so what better way to bond than by fishing? Or talking about our women problems while sharing a sauna, but I don’t think you have too many women problems. And you can’t talk. Having a conversation is kind of difficult when you can only pulse.”

Rod pulsed once, agreeing with Fenrir.

“I could always talk to you while fishing. That might work. Then again… would trying to force our bond to grow stronger actually work? I’ve seen comics before where people were locked in a room together, and they had to get closer to each other before they were allowed out, and that always seemed pretty forced to me. Like, it doesn’t really count, does it? This wouldn’t be as bad as that, but still. Maybe I’m going about this the wrong way.”

Another pulse.

“You agree? Then that’s definitely not the right way to do things. Maybe I should just try to… I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried transforming you just by concentrating, so maybe that’s all I have to do? Would it really be that easy?”

Rod pulsed one more time, but Fenrir turned his head to look at the direction of a twig breaking in the distance. As soon as Fenrir turned his head back to Rod, Rod decided to pulse one more time since he assumed that his partner did not see the first pulse.

But Fenrir did. Fenrir saw the first pulse out of the corner of his eye, and then he saw the second pulse as soon as he looked back at Rod.

And two pulses meant no.

“I figured,” Fenrir sighed.

Meanwhile, inside of that pulsating gem…

You weren’t supposed to see that first pulse! I only meant to pulse once! Come on, partner! Figure it out! I didn’t think you saw me the first time so I did it again! What are you doing acting like some sort of dense idiot who misunderstands the situation?!

“You’re pulsing a lot. Did I miss something?”

Rod pulsed just once and made sure not to pulse a single extra time. After the first misunderstanding, there was no way that he wanted to risk a repeat.

What would have happened if Fenrir didn’t see both pulses? Would they actually be making progress? Would Rod have finally gotten to transform?

“Oh, wait. How about I just practice changing your shape in general? I mean, if I can already change you a bit, why not practice that?” Fenrir asked, finally being hit by common sense as he picked Rod up and began to concentrate.

The majority of the time, Rod was kept in a small, compact form. Essentially, he was only the handle of a fishing rod most of the time. Including now. So, when Fenrir held Rod within his hands, he focused on increasing Rod’s size to that of a proper fishing rod. It only took a few seconds and was a success just like normal. Next, he “cast” the line without actually moving Rod at all. The line flew out and wrapped around a nearby tree’s branch with its hook.

“Alright, let’s try something simple now,” Fenrir said, holding Rod with both of his hands while trying to visualize Rod turning into a sword.

With closed eyes, Fenrir didn’t feel anything change, and so he sighed and opened his eyes.

Before him was a sword.

The handle of the sword was still shaped and felt like a fishing rod’s handle, but Rod’s blank of a fishing rod was turned into the blade of a sword.

“Wait, seriously? It actually worked?” Fenrir asked, staring down at Rod. “You actually changed? It worked?”

You’re right I did, partner! It’s because you finally decided to actually try and change me into something again after such a long time! I probably could’ve done this months ago! You need to try out new things with me more often! You can turn me into anything you want now! Any shape! Any size! I can be whatever you want me to be, partner!

“Alright, let’s see if I can turn you into what I wanted before,” Fenrir said, focusing on the visualization of Rod turning into a pair of chains to wrap around his arms.

This time, Fenrir felt a change. Rod’s handle turned into a metal chain that rapidly coiled around Fenrir’s right arm, looping around it until reaching his shoulder before crossing over to his left arm. Starting at the top of Fenrir’s left arm, Rod’s chain wrapped around his arm all the way to his left wrist.

When Fenrir opened his eyes, he got his first look at Rod’s new, advanced form.

“I would’ve thought you’d split into two to wrap around my arms instead of going around my back and being one long chain, but this works! I’m guessing you can’t split yourself into two or anything like that?” Fenrir asked.

Rod’s gem, located now on top of Fenrir’s right wrist, pulsed once.

“Got it. So, whatever I want to turn you into, you have to stay connected. Now, let’s try this!”

Fenrir punched forward with his left fist. The chain wrapped around Fenrir’s left arm shot forward, extending in the direction of Fenrir’s punch until it hit a tree’s trunk to wrap around it. Fenrir then tried it again with his right hand, achieving the same result.

And then he tried both hands at once after bringing the chains back.

It worked. The chains around each of his arms followed the paths of his fists.

“This is awesome,” Fenrir said with a wide smile. “You’re awesome, Rod.”

Right back at you, partner! I’ve got to admit that this new form feels pretty good!

Even if Rod was now just a chain with a glowing gem, Fenrir still gave the gem a few gentle pats with a couple of his fingers.

The moment was soon interrupted by Rock charging into Fenrir demanding that she also receive pats.

Meanwhile, the two main builders found themselves having a calm discussion instead of a fiery debate for once.

“The transformin’ type of mechas have got their charm, sure, but they’re usually pretty small and – well, it depends on what type of transformin’ we’re talkin’ about. If we’re talkin’ a mecha that gets bigger and bigger by transformin’ into newer and more awesome configurations, like going from pretty small to the size of a galaxy over time, then that’s perfect. Ya followin’ me?” Tabitha asked, kicking her feet back and forth from her seat across from Rao.

“Galaxy-sized is a bit crazy, but yeah. That’s not really what I meant though. The kind of transforming robots I like are the ones that can switch between like… fighter jet and robot, and when they’re transformed, they basically look like jets with arms and legs,” Rao said, leaning over the table while eating some bread whenever it was Tabitha’s turn to talk.

“See, those are nice and beautiful and I’d love to make one myself, but having dual purposes like that limits them to smaller sizes.”

“Not always. In the same series, there are basically giant space stations that can transform and space aircraft carriers that can turn into giant robots that look pretty humanoid.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that one. I just never got into that series because of all the romance drama. Too much drama, not enough spunk and fighting!”

“But drama, romance, politics, and all that are some of the main points of series like these.”

“I know. It’s horrible.”

“Don’t you think you’d get bored if you just watched giant robots fighting each other the whole time and nothing else?”

“Are ya crazy? Of course not! It’s like with giant monster movies! It’s always so annoyin’ that they have to force ‘human stories’ into every single movie with giant monsters. Nobody cares about all that. We want to see giant monsters beatin’ the crap out of each other! Let them fight!”

“I can kind of understand that. I don’t have a problem with the human parts of those movies, but there is way too much of a focus on them.”

“Right! Sure, it’s fine to have a human main character and all that for the boring people who don’t understand the main point of giant monsters is the giant monsters, but I don’t want to see their faces the entire movie, especially not durin’ the battles!”

“Wait, I’ve got a question for you.”

“Shoot, Red.”

“Giant monster versus giant monster, giant robot versus giant robot, or…”

“I already know the question. The answer is giant robot versus giant monster.”

Rao held up a hand over the table which Tabitha was happy to high-five. “Agreed. Like with the movie where giant robots were fighting giant alien monsters from the ocean. The first movie there was perfect, but…”

“But the second one just had to go and ruin it. Don’t even get me started on how massive of a disappointment that was. For one of my favorite movies of all time to get such a disappointin’ sequel… it almost makes me want to become a film director just so that I can show them how it’s done!”

“Yeah, we’ll make our own sequel that’s way better than it was. One that really focuses on the giant robot versus monster action without making it about a bunch of annoying little kids while butchering the characters everybody loved from the first film.”

“Yeah! Now we just need to find some giant monsters from the ocean and a giant robot to fight them with.”

“That’s the hard part, yeah. Too bad neither of us know anything about movies or CGI, though – wait, aren’t there special AIs now designed to handle that sort of stuff? Can’t they turn even the most amateur of drawings into super realistic CGI scenes?”

“If ya want to pay millions of dollars for their software and a license to use it, sure.”

“I guess our dream of making our own giant robot versus giant monster movie isn’t going to happen.”

“What’s this about giant robots and monsters?” a third party asked. When Rao and Tabitha looked to see who it was, it was none other than Eva with a curious-but-excited expression.

“We want to fight giant monsters with giant robots,” Rao explained.

“Yeah, but we don’t have either of those, so it’s not exactly goin’ to happen,” Tabitha added on.

“The monsters out there count, don’t they? Isn’t that why you’re all preparing for them?” Eva asked, looking out to the ocean.

Rao and Tabitha joined her in looking out over the rolling waves before looking back at each other.

Eva had a point.

They already had a source for giant monsters from the ocean. All they needed was a giant robot to fight them with.

“You’re with the scholars, right?” Tabitha asked Eva.

Eva tilted her head. “Hm? Yeah.”

“I’ve only heard of it before, but ain’t it possible to build pretty big suits of armor that can be controlled from inside? I mean big suits of armor. Wearin’ armor inside of armor and all that.”

“The empire uses them as siege weapons. The dwarves have something similar, but they have magic golems instead that either act on their own or can be controlled.”

Tabitha and Rao looked at each other once more.

“So,” Rao said, “giant robots probably aren’t possible since they’d be too technologically advanced and all that. They’d ruin immersion or whatever. But—”

“Giant suits of armor and golems are possible,” Tabitha finished for him.

“Basically,” Eva answered.

“Red,” Tabitha said, looking at Rao.

“Shortie,” Rao said, looking at Tabitha.

“I’m more of an engineer. I know how to get complicated stuff up and runnin’, but I struggle sometimes when it comes to makin’ real big things and keepin’ them from fallin’ apart.”

“I’m more of an architect. I know how to get big stuff up without falling apart, but I struggle sometimes when it comes to all the smaller and complicated things.”

“Red, will ya build me a mecha?”

“Shortie, will you get my giant robot running?”

Rao and Tabitha grab onto each other’s hands, looking into one another’s sparkling eyes.

Eva realizes what she’s looking at.

Love.

Was everybody in that group inside of a relationship? Eva had no idea that Tabitha and Rao were a thing, but how could they not be after seeing how they were looking into each other’s eyes? That was why Eva stepped away to let them have their own little moment of love.

Of course, she had no idea that the two weren’t the slightest bit interested in each other as anything more than often-fighting friends. She also had no idea that two hands were going to grab her by her shoulders. With Tabitha’s hand on her right shoulder and Rao’s on her left shoulder, the two creators smiled at her with the sort of smiles that lacked all kindness. Instead, their smiles told her that they had a lot of work for her to do for them.

Eva wanted to go and hang out with Fenrir’s girlfriends, but she would instead be sent to gather any and all information that she could get her hands on regarding the empire’s siege armors and the dwarves’ golems.

As for Fenrir’s girlfriends, they sat around listening to more of Nell’s fantasies. Fortunately for them, Nell was actually trying to come up with fantasies that they would all like instead of forcing them to listen to fantasies related to her own extreme interests.

“A fantasy for Serra is easy!” Nell declared, already looking proud of herself before even starting on the fantasy. “Imagine this, Serra. Imagine coming to the bedroom after taking a wonderful shower and, when you enter the room, you see each of us tied and blindfolded waiting for you! My hero will be strapped down on the bed for ease of access, and the rest of us will be tied up and lying around him so that you can go through us in whichever order you would like! Of course, there would also be a plethora of toys and other… devices available for you to choose from for using on us.”

Azalabulia blushed and turned away at the mention of toys. As for Cassiel, she was already flustered just from the thought of being tied up. Then there was Serra who simply nodded with her arms crossed over her chest while listening.

“I approve,” Serra said as if it wasn’t already more than obvious.

“Wonderful! Now, for you, Cassiel… I already know that any idea involving you and your pleasure must involve total dominance over your body. Hmm… what if… alright! Imagine this: you have been strapped down to a bed with a gag in your mouth, already stripped naked, and the rest of us are free… except for my hero. While you are strapped to the bed, us three would be teasing and preparing my hero for you whom would also be strapped down to a chair, unable to do anything as we tease him until he is crazed and desperate. Once he is in a state of feral heat that would put even the wildest of beasts to shame, we release him on you, and he proceeds to thoroughly ravage your body as if he were a wild beast and you his toy. Delightful, yes?”

Cassiel was already flustered before. Hearing Nell’s fantasy for her caused her to hang her head low, red from her neck to her ears, and all she could do was nod instead of look up.

“So vanilla and precious,” Nell teased. “And now for the one and only Azalabulia! Coming up with a fantasy for you will be great fun. Imagine—”

“Be right back,” Serra interrupted.

“Is something wrong?”

“My virtual assistant told me I have an important text. I’ll come back once I check it.”

“Ah, alright! I hope that everything is alright.”

Serra nodded and woke from virtual reality.

“Now, back to my fantasy for you,” Nell returned her attention to Azalabulia. “From what you make obvious, imagine this – imagine yourself having a duel against my hero for the fate of your dark empire!”

Azalabulia went from being excited in a very adult manner to excited in a very childish manner.

“Atop a tall tower, you two would battle it out for the fate of everything! The victor reigns supreme, gains control of the empire, and gains the absolute submission of the loser. The battle is hard-fought and seems as if it may go in your favor, but this makes you cocky and allows him to use dirty tricks to defeat you. Upon defeating you, you are forced to swear absolute submission to him, and he places an evil curse on you to seal your fate to his. If he dies, you die. You could not even disobey him if you wished to. The curse would be enough to force your body into action even if your mind refused! Then, in order to show off his new rulership of the empire and his ownership of you, he would gather a massive crowd before the imperial palace to breed you in front of them all!”

“Br-breed me?” Azalabulia asked, back to being excited in a very adult way as well as pure red in skin tone.

“Too rape-y,” Cassiel said.

“That is why it is a scenario for Azalabulia and not for you. You already got yours,” Nell said, sticking the tip of her tongue out at Cassiel.

“Will… w-will there be chains involved?” Azalabulia asked, unsure of where to look as she poked the tips of her fingers together.

“Absolutely! Of course, I am tempted to say that you would then be handed over to the crowd as he watched from his throne with a feast hand fed to him, but then it would be more of my fantasy and less of yours.”

“Ju-just him, please…”

“Very well! Now then, you each have your fantasies. See? I can come up with regular fantasies!”

“What would Fen’s be?” Cassiel asked.

“That is a brilliant question! For my hero… well, obviously, it would require all of us to be wearing sweaters and tights. Cassiel, you would have to wear dog ears with a dog tail for him. In fact, all of us might need to wear such pieces for him. Ah, and collars! While I do not think he would be too interested in us having leashes to tug us around and choke us with, I am sure he would enjoy the sight of us wearing collars normally reserved for hounds. With all of us wearing those things, we would need to act very clingy, needy, loving, and submissive.”

“How come he gets the nicest and most normal sounding fantasy?”

“Because he is caring at heart, of course. He wants nothing more than for us to spoil him rotten with affection. Have you not ever noticed how he gladly returns our every single request for affection? I believe that he would be incredibly clingy if he did not have any self-restraint.”

“You seriously think that? I don’t think he acts clingy at all. We’re the clingy ones if anything.”

“Of course. How often are men scolded for being too clingy toward women? Even if it is the modern year, there are still ‘rules’ for how sexes are supposed to act. Men are supposed to be calm, stoic, dependable, independent, and not at all ever clingy nor desperate. It would not surprise me if he already worries from time to time about being too clingy.”

“That’s such a stupid thing to worry about. There’s no way he could be too clingy. I mean, that’s just more attention from him. What could be wrong with that?”

“Not everybody appreciates such clinginess. Even the most loving of couples may need time away from one another, and some may even come to resent the other if never given space. It would not surprise me if part of why he wants alone time with his rod and Rock is because he also wants to give us alone time.”

“Has there ever been a time where he turned time with us down?”

“I do not believe so. Can either of you ever think of a time?”

Both Cassiel and Azalabulia shake their heads.

“Then… is he not as happy as he could be?” Cassiel asked.

“Do not think of it so,” Nell answered. “I am positive that he is incredibly happy and loves every moment with us, just like us with one another. He is simply holding himself back so as to not potentially overwhelm us. He wishes to spend as much time as possible with us while ensuring that we do not grow tired of him, but he is more than happy even so. That is my theory, anyways.”

“If your theory is right then he seriously has nothing to worry about. I mean… I guess I can understand why it would be bad to be clingy sometimes, but if we all want it, then isn’t it alright?”

“It most certainly is. However, there are still cases of both parties being alright with such a thing and growing tired of one another regardless. Burnout is always possible.”

“It’s impossible.”

“Nothing is impossible.”

Cassiel leaned back, staring at Nell. “You think it’s possible for us to get burned out on each other?”

“Well… truthfully… I do not believe that it is possible, but do those who it happens to ever believe that it is possible? I feel like saying it is impossible would be naïve, even if I genuinely believe with all of my heart that I would never tire of a single one of you even if you were to all hang from me and demand my constant attention twenty-four-seven for the rest of my life.”

Cassie leans forward with a sigh. “Same. No matter which of you it is, I wouldn’t care at all.”

“Even if we might believe that,” Azalabulia finally chimed in, “we are a group here. It helps when there are several of us instead of only two people. Relationships between two people only might end with burnout, but of all the studies I’ve read, burnout never applies to open or poly relationships. In those relationships, the problem is jealousy and cheating.”

“Forunately, those are not concerns as long as we continue to all agree on who to bring into our relationship! Even if there is somebody one of us is interested in and the others are not, I very much doubt that there would be any actual issue,” Nell said.

“Yeah, I figure that no matter which of us it is, we’d just lose interest in the other if the rest weren’t alright with it,” Cassiel said. “I don’t even get interested in anybody else in the first place unless somebody else does it first.”

“I feel the same. It is always Fenrir and Serra who bring others along.”

“Mostly Serra. Fen only gets interested after we let him know it’s okay to get interested.”

“This is true. Perhaps you,” Nell looks at Azalabulia, “will join Serra in expanding our relationship? Just do keep in mind that the larger it grows, the larger our house will need to be, and the more children there will be to tame.”

“I – I can handle that last part,” Azalabulia answered with a slight blush, though her eager smile was more prominent than the coloration of her cheeks. “But I don’t think I will be… adding anybody by myself.”

“Wonderful! Then my hero – or rather, Serra, shall continue being our hunter. Speaking of, I do hope that everything is—”

The sleeping avatar of Serra came to life once more, sitting up in her chair. “I’m back.”

“Speak of the wonderful devil! Is everything alright?”

“Yeah.”

“What was that about?” Cassiel asked.

“Aiko.”

The eyes of Nell and Cassiel widened slightly when they heard the name. Azalabulia’s exposure to Aiko was far more limited, but she still recognized the name.

Cassiel sighed and crossed her arms. “What about her?”

“She wants to play with us again, but she said only if we’re all okay with it,” Serra explained.

“Is she still craz—I mean… sorry, that was rude. She’s your friend still. How’s she doing now?”

“It’s okay, she calls herself crazy – called herself crazy. She’s a lot better now, I think. She spent a lot of time getting help.”

“I’m happy to hear she got help, but… is it alright for her to be around Fen again?”

“I think so. She told me she wants to apologize to him, alone, and she promised me that she knows how it might look, but we don’t have to worry. She said she doesn’t love him anymore.”

“She said that?”

“Yeah.”

“With a love as intense as hers was – I would love to believe that she has improved, but could such an intense love be lost so quickly?” Nell asked.

“I don’t know, but she’s never lied before. She wants us to be comfortable with letting her talk to him. She wants me to get his permission if you’re okay with it, too.”

“Well, I suppose that it would not hurt to let her be alone with my hero… but only if it is in-game. I am sorry, but I do not trust her to be alone with him in the real world.”

“That’s okay.”

“I’m with Nell,” Cassiel said. “If it’s a game then it’s no big deal, plus we’ll know if Fen needs help at all thanks to Nell.”

Serra looks at Azalabulia.

“A-ah… I – I think it’s alright. They used to be friends, right?” Azalabulia asked.

“Yeah,” Serra answered.

“Then if she claims to have changed and no longer loves him, she must be looking for closure. It might be what she needs to finalize her change, if she is serious about it.”

“So… it’s okay?” Serra asks. The other three girls nod. “Should I ask Eva?”

“Eva isn’t… I don’t think Aiko needs her permission yet,” Cassiel answered.

“I like the yet.”

Cassiel shrugged. “It’s only a matter of time. Speaking of Eva, I thought I saw her coming over here.” Upon looking around, no Eva was in sight, but Cassiel did spot Rao and Tabitha appearing to get along far better than usual as they both leaned over a table with a large sheet sprawled out over it.

The serious topic that the girls were just discussing was replaced by concern over whatever plan was crazy enough to get both Rao and Tabitha so close together.