Vanessa gets a text message from Eelesia.

[I'm running a bit late! Sorry! I'll be home soon, but you and Lenora can start without me!]

Lenora, having finished her apple and dumped the core in the trash bin, stretches her arms over her head (uncaring how much belly her light round-the-house shirt shows), then walks over and peers at the table.

"Heya. I think I'm ready? I'm kinda confused by all the rules so I'll probably fuck something up but, yeah. Oh, one thing- It doesn't look like I can kiss people? The 'shiny thirsting lips' here are blank."

"Wait, really? That doesn't sound right."

Vanessa grabs the rulebook and flips it open to the Butterfly Gendertrope page, which she has a sticky note marking.

Under Body-Plan, the pairing attributes of the Shiny Thirsting Lips do seem to be blank. That's weird. Is that a misprint?

Vanessa's eyes fall to the Special Conditions section. "Ohhhh! No, look at what it says here. It's like, if you're using your Sinuous Tentacle Tongue, your mouth is obstructed by your own tongue, but if you're not using your tentacle tongue, then your Shiny Thirsting Lips turn into Shiny Kissable Lips, which does have pairing attributes, see?"

Vanessa points at the first Special Condition rule on the page.

"...I mean. That makes physical sense I guess?"

She shakes her head and peers at the rulebook.

"And... Okay, there's similar rules that simulate, like, going soft, and using boobs and thighs and feet... I guess you have to formalize it somehow."

Lenora fusses with the little strips of paper representing Organs and Appendages, making four new ones to fill out the special conditions.

"It's gonna be a little weird pretending to have a dick. I'm not saying I haven't had those thoughts but, uh... Yeah. Not sure what to expect, I guess. Kind of anxious, kind of excited."

"Weird like you're re-thinking your build? Or weird like you're feeling awkward about getting a ladyboner from imagining your futa-boner?"

Shrug! "It's complicated tee em? The flower is obviously E, and I'm enough of a jock that the butterfly is obviously me. It's got football hooligan energy. I guess I am getting turned on in anticipation here, a bit. Maybe I'm also just worried about messing up the game."

"If anyone's got that weight on their shoulders it's totally me, being the ring-leader and stuff."

Vanessa scoots her chair closer to the table, situating herself. She closes her messaging app and opens up a voice-to-text note-taking app before setting her phone on the table next to the books. Then she pulls one of the books over and opens it, then arranges her notes next to it.

"So, Lee-zee says we can start without her, even though this was her idea..." Wry affection. "You good to go?"

"-Uh, quick question even if I probably know the answer. Thoughts on, um. Touching myself IRL if it gets good?"

Bit of a blush there.

Vanessa snaps her fingers.

"I knew I forgot something."

Vanessa teasingly leans back in her chair. At the moment, she happens to be dressed for lounging around at home, in just a comfy tank-top and panties. She reaches behind her to pull the kitchen towel off the side of the fridge. She rocks forward, flipping the towel out to cover her seat under herself, grinning and maintaining eye-contact with Lenora the whole time.

Vanessa will say the that of course touching herself is cool out loud, if necessary, but she thinks the message is clear enough? That, in fact, Lenora already knew the answer or she wouldn't have asked in the first place? Vanessa routinely masturbates for an audience of thousands, and Eelesia is the kind of overly-earnest friend who doesn't even know the meaning of TMI. In the back of Vanessa's mind, the three of them are already just one shared staycation away from wild lesbian threesomes.

"Oh great! Towel's a good idea-" She'll fetch one, and doesn't have panties on under these gym shorts right now, herself.

(Look, she's just being scrupulous about consent! This is a Lenora Tendency. She does things like this.)

"Okay, now I'm ready."

Vanessa takes a moment, her eyes briefly fluttering closed, before she enters Performance Mode and begins speaking, glancing down only occasionally to check the passage in the book.

At this moment, you are experiencing what is both your last, and your first, memory, as your soul floats into the light at the end of the tunnel.

You pass into and through it, suffused with welcoming warmth and promise.

Then that dreamlike feeling is drowned out by a sudden and very real sensation. The first real sensation you've felt since your death. The sensation of air on your exposed shaft and glans. There is nothing else. No sense of your body beyond the phallus that ought to hang between your legs, no sensation or awareness of a body beyond that. That vivid whisper of exposure to air on your erect penis is your entire sensorium.

You are a dick in the darkness.

And you are desperately horny.

"What, if anything, do you do?"

Vanessa's serious voice is always so good!

I try to reach down with my hand. There is no hand. I try to buck my hips. There are no hips, but I try anyway, tense and release and tense and release.

You flex the phallus that is you, waggling it, making it jump and bounce oh so invitingly.

And, after a few moments of frustration, something accepts your invitation. Warm and delicate, it grips your throbbing shaft.

Vanessa slides an appendage strip across the table to touch Lenora's Veiny Futa Phallus card, but keeps her finger on it, hiding what's written on it.

"You're not sure, because you can't see or hear anything, but... Actually, roll a Sanity Check for me."

She makes a slight shift in her seat. 

"Uh..." Where are the dice. She rolls a d10, and adds her base Sanity to it. "Four."

You could probably figure out what's gripping your dick if you tried, but in this moment it doesn't feel like the answer to that question matters. All you know is that you're aching for stimulation, and now something is providing it.

Vanessa glances over the character cards for her first NPC, carefully rotates a d20 to 17, then puts it down next to it, then ticks the d20's number down by 3, to 14.

The mysterious touch gripping your Veiny Futa Phallus sensually strokes you six times.

Vanessa double-checks, but she doesn't need to roll Prowess for this. 6 stimulation is within Dapple's zero zone.

"You receive six Stimulation."

And Dapple receives 1. Vanessa increases Dapple's arousal from 0 to 1.

You invited this, after a fashion, but you have no control, nor even any ability to communicate. There are no actions you can take, yet.

But what you can do, is decide how you feel about what's happening to you.

........Yeah okay a hand is going into those gym shorts, right after she moves from 1 to 7 Arousal.

"I don't think any of the four things here are right. How I feel is confused and - hungry. I guess... That's maybe thoughtful?"

Vanessa is so going to put a dildo on each chair before their next session.

"I think the intro being like this is meant to teach you as the player that your character's inner mental life is also a tool in your number-crunchy kit?" Vanessa doesn't sound entirely sure about this.

Vanessa smiles reassuringly. "It's fine either way. Feel how you feel. I'm sure you won't break the game or anything."

"So, are you Feeling Thoughtful About This? Totally your call."

"I guess I am! Why not. Uh... So I had 2 satiation and I rolled a moxie check of... Seven. So I move 2 satiation to 2 craving?"

I feel surprise and wonderment at the sudden touch. Am I not alone? But most of what I feel is desperate for more sensation- My dick feels oh so good and I want it to keep going.

"Hot. And having higher Craving than Satiation helps, since the goal here is oh wait you don't know that yet. Your mysterious partner's turn ends now..."

Vanessa does the Aftermath of Dapple's turn. Because she has 0 Craving, her Satiation is higher, which means dropping her Arousal back to 0.

"You regenerate Stamina at the beginning of your turn, and then you need to check if you are Having An Orgasm."

"Oh, I totally am. I guess being lost in the void makes you hypersensitive?"

Numbers, numbers, moved around~

I feel my twitching run over into sudden orgasm, white ecstasy pouring through my mind through the only part of me I can feel.

"Not to nitpick your role-playing, but I'm imagining the face Eelesia will make if I don't: Your Intensity points tell your how strong your orgasm is, so that 'ecstasy' might not be very 'white hot' yet, depending on. How much Intensity do you have from that one round?"

Vanessa flips to one of her sticky notes in the rulebook and turns it so Lenora can read the instructions for Intensity points.

"...Oh, I forgot to do that."

She rolls an Ardor check against... It was six?

"I rolled exactly six. So that's... Three? Three."

You don't remember your past in any detail, but, what you're experiencing now is starkly a... greater access, to your own urges, needs, lusts. You have cast off your mortal limits, and freed your libido to run rampant in its purest form.

It isn't even a particularly intense orgasm, yet, but it feels unhindered and costless in a way that you're sure is new.

"Since you can't take any actions yet, your turn ends immediately, I guess. Do your Aftermath."

Vanessa points at the relevant passage about turn Aftermath in the rulebook.

She writes new numbers down. 3 sensitivity, and 1 more arousal. Zero satiation minus one is still zero here. "Got it."

Dapple regenerates 8 Stamina, which puts her at the stamina cap of 20.

Dapple is not Having An Orgasm, but Vanessa will let the sight and feel of a Veiny Futa Phallus going off in Dapple's hand trigger a Pornographic Thrill, raising Dapple's Craving from 0 to 12.

For a terrifying moment, you feel yourself spending your pleasure into nothing, but the pause is thankfully brief. The touch of your mysterious partner tightens around your ejaculating Veiny Futa Phallus and strokes you hard and fast.

Vanessa turns Dapple's Stamina d20 down from 20 to 6, spending 14 Stamina to attempt 28 Stimulation.

Prowess Roll... Uh oh. That's 12 minus 27 for negative 15, moved toward zero by 8, for a final result of -7.

"You receive twenty-one Stimulation."

"Oh wow, sudden escalation huh?"

She wiggles her hips a bit again.

...Uh, so... Math. 9 intensity! And 21 Satiation, and... 10 sensitivity, and another something for being Overstimulated. "I think I get twelve overstimulation? Unless, unbeknownst to me, the mystery touch has contour."

It's an easy, slow orgasm at first, but it rapidly turns to a distractingly needy one under hard, fast strokes...

".....I think that puts me at maximum sensitivity. Twelve plus ten plus my original three."

"Fuck, I forgot about Contour... but this time the Contour was zero! So we're fine."

You cum hard, pulsations of erupting pleasure crashing through your entire body as the tight grip on your dick slams up and down... which may have more to do with your entire body being just a dick than with the size of the orgasm itself.

Its almost too much, just almost too much... until suddenly its not enough. The grip around your shaft stutters, breaking its rhythm a few strokes too soon. A mistake? A deliberate torment? Either way, as the orgasm fades, you feel the echoes of what could have been. You are spent, but a nebulous sense of dissatisfaction remains.

"Since we're in tutorial mode, I think we just skip ahead? Yeah."

As the erection that is you wilts, you feel your consciousness go with it. It is all you are, and in this state, your mind can't remain awake while your lusts sleep. Discontinuity.

"Alright, make a Recovery Roll."

After turning to that section of the rulebook so Lenora can see it, Vanessa makes Dapple's Recovery Roll as well. Negative 1. So her Craving decreases from 12 to 11, and her Satiation is set to 9.

No no no she doesn't want it to end- But there is no arguing with reality.

"Plus four... Ey, maybe it'll go better this time when I'm not sitting right at zero?"

And then, slowly, awakening again, anticipating...

Vanessa chuckles and bites her lip. "Yep. I did not have a backup plan, but I think teaching players to Recovery Roll was intended here in any case..."

Vanessa is going to fudge things a little and imagine that Dapple used the time while Lenora's character was unconscious to masturbate a little. 4 Arousal. 15 Stamina.

You are once again a dick in the darkness, throbbing hard and needy.

Once again your inviting twitches summon a touch... but this time, its not just some ambiguous pressure that was probably a hand. This is hot and tight and oozing slickness, a slippery glide that engulfs you in fleshy heat.

After a moment to settle itself around your length, it rises and then falls again, slowly and sensually stroking up and down, up and down, riding and riding and riding your dick.

Stamina on the d20 from 15 to 5 for 20 Stimulation. Prowess Roll: 8 minus 17 for -9. Move toward 0 by 8 to get -1.

"You receive nineteen Stimulation with four Contour. Also, because of your mysterious partner's Sinful Nectar feature, your Veiny Futa Phallus gets plus twelve to its Erogeny for this."

Dapple also gets 8 Reciprocal Stimulation from bouncing on that disembodied dick, so her Arousal increases from 4 to 12.

"Your turn. Regain Stamina and check if you're Having An Orgasm."

Aftermath: Dapple's Craving decreases from 11 to 7. Dapple's Arousal decreases from 12 to 8.

"Oh fuck, aphrodisiac fluids? Or close enough. Nice."

Math math maaaaaath. She started at 0 and gains 9 intensity... And goes from 1 arousal to 20.

It's back again, and this time it's different, warm, slick, tight, and oh so right... My world is nothing more than slick pleasure.

"Having an orgasm. And feeling Innocent, not that it does anything. I'm still too stuck to do things?"

"You ain't seen nuthin' yet..."

Giggle.

"You're still just a dick for now. That should change soon though. Do you end your turn? Aftermath if so."

"Yeah, unless I can fuck back."

She does aftermath. Sensitivity 0 to 3, Arousal 20 to 19, Craving 1 to 0...

Dapple's Stamina regenerates from 5 to 13.

Orgasm Threshold is 9, and Dapple has 8 Arousal. Close but no orgasm.

As your Veiny Futa Phallus begins to throb and erupt within the hot slippery sheath gliding up and down your length, that sheath pivots and tightens and starts slamming down onto you with hard, jolting drops that just go on and on and on.

Stamina from 13 to 0 for 26 Stimulation. Dapple's gonna go as hard as she can on this. (Since the d20 can't be set to 0, she removes it from Dapple's card entirely and sets it aside.)

Prowess Roll. 5 minus 10 for -5. 8 Prowess is enough to zero that out. Yes!

Also, what is with these dice? They're so negative. Vanessa hasn't rolled a positive number yet.

"You receive twenty-six Stimulation with four Contour and the plus twelve to your organ's Erogeny."

Dapple once again gets 8 Reciprocal Stimulation, increasing her Arousal from 8 to 16.

"Uh so that's... Nine... Twenty one... Target of twenty one. So one overstim, plus the half rounded down... Twenty one? Satiation, Ten plus one Sensitivity, another nine Intensity of course... Now that's white-hot ecstacy, if you ask me. And, max satiation. Wait shit. Twenty six, and thirteen plus one."

Does doing the numbers precisely really matter? She's finished off properly this time and the numbers are getting a teensy bit annoying. But V would make a face if she doesn't. 14 to 24 (max) satiation. 3 to 17 sensitivity. 9 to 18 intensity. Somewhere along the line here she has gotten too mathbrained to keep idly touching herself, and the arousal from earlier is burning lower.

My mind goes completely blank except for fuck FUCK FUCKING CUMMING-

You cum until you are Satisfied. All of the lust within you has been successfully discharged into pleasure and release. For now.

Before your consciousness can fade into bliss, it touches something Else. Something profound. But not beyond you. Within you. Within your deepest self.

Your soul connects more firmly to your body, and suddenly your awareness surges outward from the base of your dick.

You are no longer merely a dick in the darkness. Now, you are a full set of hips, existing from waist to thigh! You can feel things! Mostly still the pussy wrapped around your dick, but there are other things too besides pussy or air!

"You gain one Ichor point and have grown to possess a Tight Supple Ass in addition to a Veiny Futa Phallus."

Vanessa grins and takes a moment to stretch, wiggling in her seat a little.

"So, that's the first half of this introductory scene." She gestures at one of the books. "Want to skip straight to the second half? We can repeat the first half until you've gained all of your organs one at a time, but if you're cool with skipping over that, I'm cool with skipping over that."

"That was neat. I'm not too eager to repeat the same thing, what, five more times? The munchkin in me doesn't want to lose on potential Ichor points though."

Shrug.

"No big deal. I'm hugging whoever she is as soon as I have arms to do so, though! In character, I mean. I do kinda want to say that stopping to think about the numbers makes it a little less... Easy to fall into the horny flow, I guess? Maybe I'll get more used to it."

"Fuck it, I can just give you the five more Ichor points. Mark those down."

You can feel the weight of your mysterious helper's body on your pelvis, now, feel her weight as she bounces on your dick.

Time passes. Your mysterious helper rides you to orgasm a dozen times, managing to bring you to full Satiation five more of those times, and you can feel her shake and clench with orgasms of her own between yours.

Each time the searing pleasure eclipses and fully satisfies the lust within you and lays your soul bare, your body extends. Your chest, your breasts. Your legs. Your arms. Your head, your mouth and tongue. Each manifests in turn.

At the last, you can feel that your soul and body are now one. You are complete. You are whole.

You can feel, now, the silken wrapping that clings to your body, exposing your hips, your breasts, and a bit of your belly to air and touch. You can feel your partner's hands on your Perky Marshmallow Tits. You can feel the tug of brittle material on your Slender Elegant Hands and Long Shapely Legs as you try to move. You can see the light on the other side of your eyelids.

As you awaken for the final time from your incarnation fugue to all of these sensations, your Sinuous Tentacle Tongue swells behind your Shiny Kissable Lips.

"Do a Recovery Roll, and then..."

Dapple also needs a Recovery Roll again, and the pair of d12 give her -4 for 6 Satiation and 3 Craving. Arousal and Sensitivity both to 0. Why is she rolling negative every single time it should be fifty fifty-

Vanessa peers at the Organ cards on the table, and arranges things to represent the current scene. Both appendage strips for Dapple's Delicate Girly Hands paired with both Perky Marshmallow Tits on Lenora's character. And also Plush Bubble Butt's "flank" Appendage paired with Tight Supple Ass "flank", which isn't quite accurate but is close enough, and it would be a bit much to have separate Appendages for the pubic mound, the love-handles, and each butt-cheek; that would just be too much to keep track of.

The cocoon you're in has dried and turned fragile. You can break out of it at will, and it is getting more fragile with every passing moment. Even the material swaddling your head feels as though it is starting to yield to the strength of your eyelids alone.

Your mysterious helper who fucked your corporeality back into you is still straddling you, but your Veiny Futa Phallus is soft and not inside her at the moment.

She nods along pleasantly at the scene-setting.

"...Plus eight. So that puts me at..." 10 + 8 Satiation, 0 Craving (it was at that before though, so), and 0 Arousal 0 Sensitivity. Oh, and if they're treating this as right into another Encounter, 5 + 5 (Fitness) = 10 starting Stamina. And 5 more marks on Ichor, making 6.

I know that, whoever this is, they have rescued me. The relentless barrage of orgasms making me more real are thrilling, but a bit exhausting, mentally. The promise of touch on my hips, on my breasts... But still. My immediate impulse is not to rub and seek yet more stimulation, but to reach up, embrace them in a hug and declare a sincere 'thank you'- 

Though my tongue interferes with this, a familiar unfamiliar shape probing out of my mouth. I look down at it in slight befuddlement, then look back up to her face. This time I manage it- "Thank you."

The remnants of your cocoon break away and fall like ribbons of silk as your arms rise.

A warm, soft, naked form fills your embrace, and lets you pull her down so she's laying on you.

Vanessa arranges Dapple's Soft Succulent Boobies into the now six-way pairing between two pairs of breasts and one pair of hands.

As your eyes flutter open for the first time, you spend a moment staring at the meaty tentacle that is now your tongue before you manage to wangle it in, and your eyes focus on the head of pastel pink hair that is now tucked up under your chin.

The girlish figure in your arms wiggles happily as she speaks into your clavicle. "Mm! You're welcome! And also, welcome! How are you feeling, newling?"

She wiggles in her seat! Not even totally in a blushing way. In the way she does when she's having a bit too much fun to just sit still.

"I think a squishy boob hug counts as an enticing display. That's, what, ardor check?"

"A lot, is how I'm feeling." I glance around. "And like I want to get up and run... Even as soft as you are."

It takes a moment for Vanessa to realize what Lenora means with that Ardor check.

Vanessa turns to the Basic Competencies section of the rulebook and points out the Pornographic Thrill rule. "It doesn't say you have to roll. I think you still can if you want to, though? And... I'm going to say your last Recovery Roll counts for this so note that you've got the Eager Release status effect."

Vanessa flips back to the part of the guide she's following.

All around you, what you see are leaves. Extremely large, pink leaves, each one big enough to wrap all the way around a car. You see twisting braids of cyan vines covered in small  glowing golden flowers. You see a rim of light, marking the curve of ivory white tree-bark; a snaking, smooth thing that forks out to either side of you in a spiral, forming almost a bowl. At the bottom of that bowl is a forest of giant mushrooms, golden yellow and greenish with glowing under-caps.

You are laying on a bed of springy cyan vines layered with what seem to be strands of silk cloth, identical to the cocoon you just cast off. A mat, almost woven, like nature itself has provided you a picnic blanket in this clearing beneath the caps of the giant mushrooms. It is eerie and fey and beautiful, a surreal luminescent night. No stars in the 'sky'. Webs of light illuminate white branches and pink leaves, like cities seen from space, but brighter, colors still vivid.

The nude girl you're holding raises her head, at last revealing her face. Delicate and stunningly beautiful, as fey as anything in the environment. Cute, with an open and inviting smile.

"You can get up and do anything you feel like doing." She giggles. "It's always a pleasure to meet a newling. My name's Dapple. Welcome to the Fairy Garden. What would you like to be called?"

Vanessa pouts as she skims ahead. "Okay so I maybe jumped the gun telling you gals to name your characters? This part is kind of heavily implying that you're not supposed to remember your mortal name and so have to pick something aesthetic and meaningful to go by as Butterflies and Flowers. Optionally. I might just be overthinking it. Dunno. Up to you."

"Uh, rolled a one." So... Craving goes from 0 to 3 and also she notes down Eager Release. (And checks what it does.)

I smirk and waggle the end of my tentacle-tongue briefly. "Anything, huh? -Wow, everything here is beautiful."

'Including you' being the obvious implication there.

I reach down with my hands and idly fondle Dapple's ass while I think out loud.

"I'm not sure... Something with a 'LL' sound. Lllo... Llli... Lilu? Lola? Hmmmmm."

"When you say you're fondling Dapple's ass, are you initiating a pairing and then using a Move? Or...?"

"-I guess so? Hold on let me look at how the pairings go again..." Shuffling of papers. "Yeah, and contestedly. I'm being firm with a smirk here. So, does Dapple fight it?"

"Only enough to make you spend the one Stamina. She's wiggly, like she's not-very-seriously shaking her ass to try to throw your hand off. But she's not going to escalate to firm resistance. Yet."

Vanessa points at Lenora's Slender Elegant Hands. "Don't forget to move the paper when you move your imaginary body.  Gotta stay on top of that."

And thanks to Dapple's Honeypot feature, her Craving increases in response, from 3 to 7.

She slides the paper around to meet the flanks of Dapple's Plush Bubble Butt.

"Then, yeah, I'm getting the impression that this girl's hungry for it too so I'm going to try for... Six stimulation, I think? A firm but still thoughtful and slightly forgetful massage."

Some prowess dice... Four and four. "And I did exactly six. I think I get one reciprocal stimulation? Reciprocal still gives me intensity, right?"

My hands massage firmly but slowly, distractedly, into Dapple's ass, all while I watch her expression and remember the feeling of her pussy from not so long ago...

Rolling an Ardor Check for Intensity. 22!  Actually that doesn't even matter because Dapple's base Ardor is 12, so Dapple only gains 4 Intensity points either way. Vanessa puts four tokens on Dapple's card to track that.

That's 6 Understimulation. Dapple's Plush Bubble Butt only has 4 Erogeny. So no Craving gain.

Dapple's Arousal increases from 0 to 6.

Dapple makes a pleased noise as your fingers sink into her butt-cheeks, a jolt of pleasure shooting through her and flooding her Yielding Silken Quim anew with glistening wetness.

"And, uh... actually I'm not sure?" Vanessa flips to a page in the rulebook and looks. "It doesn't say that you don't get intensity from reciprocal, so let's assume we do."

"Okay..." Uhh... Spent 3 stamina, so 15 to 14 for pairing and then 11 after massaging... She gains 0 to 1 Arousal, and then 0 to 1 Intensity...

"I'm gonna go ahead and end my turn, just staring at Dapple." Aftermath... Arousal back down to 0, and craving from 3 to 2.

I feel myself grow slightly harder, but only for a moment or two. The 'obvious' move is to try to fuck her again, but I'm in no hurry. I just keep up my slow massage and enjoy the moment, still pronouncing random L syllables to see if any feel right.

"Done~"

Starting Stamina plus one turn's Regeneration is enough to put Dapple at the cap of 20.

Because she keeps rolling negative for some reason Dapple's Satiation is starting off really low yet again. Oh, 6 and 6. She's right on the edge of orgasm.

Dapple quivers in your grip, nearly cumming just from having her ass squeezed, but despite her excitement, her eagerness, she waits patiently for you to name yourself.

"Dapple's not going to do anything this turn, so back to you. Actually, wait, before ending her turn, she is going to Feel Perverse about almost cumming from that..."

Moxie Check gets her 15, more than enough. She's only going to move 2 points. Craving down from 7 to 5. Arousal up from 6 to 8.

And now in her Aftermath her Satiation is higher than her Craving, so Craving goes from 5 to 1, and Arousal from 8 to 4.

"Oh my god I almost unintentionally edged her. I'm going to feel perverse about that."

She rolls a Moxie Check of... 5. And then goes from 2 to 0 Craving and 0 to 2 Arousal.

Then- Turn start. No orgasm, so intensity gets set to 0. And she gains 5 stamina.

"-Ah. Lisara. That will do for now." It feels right as soon as I say it. I smile at my decision, and then gently attempt to insert my hardening dick into Dapple's pussy, rubbing and probing where our hips meet.

Vanessa giggles and nods.

"Hmm."

Dapple gives you an impish smile as she feels your erection swell to full mast. She lifts her hips, arching her spine to raise her butt up so that your attempt to gently penetrate her misses, the tip of your Veiny Futa Phallus merely kissing Dapple's vulva. Despite doing this, she makes no attempt to free her Delicate Girly Hands from between your chests.

"Do you escalate?"

(In the back of her mind, Vanessa notices that she is so focused on running the game that she is totally neglecting the effects the fantasy scenario is having on her body. That's probably going to catch up with her eventually, but for now she is locked the fuck in.)

Giggle! "Mhm~"

Lisara uses her hands on Dapple's ass to try to push Dapple back down, hunger in her eyes as she attempts to spear her prize...

(And now seems like a good time to start idly teasing herself again; This is fun!)

She preemptively rolls a Grace check. And moves her stamina from 16 to 15.

"Thirteen on grace."

"Yeah, she's gonna play-struggle, 'cause she knows Butterflies and especially likes to encourage the new ones to get forceful."

A Grace Check is rolled. "Sixteen. You'll have to spend Stamina. Dapple won't, though."

"Don't you have to do it twice? 'Cause your hands are busy. I specifically noticed that earlier."

"Oh crap, you're right. Dapple has disadvantage on Grace Checks because her hands are pinned. Thanks for reminding me."

Vanessa rolls Grace again. "Seventeen. So, still sixteen. Heh."

"High stats. Anyway, yes, I am going to spend four more stamina to take. Even if I get the sense that she's kinda playing with me here." That takes her from 15 to 11...

"And then I'm going to- Ahem, character voice-"

With a slight growl in my throat, I push strength into my hips and arms and feel sweet, warm, tight victory as I penetrate into Dapple. But I don't stop there, I start thrusting up into her, hard and fast, evoking the same memory of intensity I had from before.

"I'm aiming for fourteen stimulation." Dice roll. "Uh... Minus four... So minus two after my two prowess. So twelve. And I think my dick's super sensitive again so I get all that in reciprocal too, right? Yeah."

Stamina from 11 to 4... Arousal from 1 to 13... Ardor check: Six, so intensity from 1 to 7... 

I lose myself to thoughts of sex, thrusting into Dapple's amazing pussy from below and moaning as I do, plap plap plap over and over- The intense warmth and rubbing washes over me. I'm looking for signs that she's enjoying it just as I am, signs that I can give as well as take. Or perhaps take as well as give. Thoughts are hard when you feel this much pleasure.

"Kinda want to kiss her too but my turn's lasted a while already? So, ending now."

Aftermath. Craving 2 to 1, Arousal 13 to 12.

"You can do multiple things in a turn, but okay."

12 Ardor plus 8 Erogeny is 20. So 8 Understimulation from 12 Stimulation. Understimulation is less-or-equal, in this case equal, to Erogeny, so she gains it as Craving, increasing from 1 to 9.

Still just barely don't need to roll for Ardor. Intensity increases from 4 to 8.

Arousal increases from 4 to 16.

Dapple's turn. Stamina is still capped at 20. Orgasm Threshold is 6, which is much less than 16.

There's no ambiguity about whether Dapple's enjoying this, or that at the moment she's on a hair trigger. The moment you start thrusting in earnest, she goes off like a geyser, eyes rolling up and face going slack as she moans rapturously and you feel her spasm around and against you. The sound she makes, the expression on her face, is not one of insensate pleasure, but an entirely present and joyful savoring of her situation. Dapple lives for the newlings, and you get the sense that, to her, taking her is giving.

Her back arches, and her hands press, squeezing your Perky Marshmallow Tits. 

Stamina down from 20 to 18, for 4 Stimulation.

"Dapple's having an orgasm right now, so before she can do anything, she has to roll a Sanity Check to beat her current Intensity. Her base Sanity is already higher, so the roll doesn't matter, but I'll roll anyway because this is the first time this has come up."

That's a 12, which beats 8 Intensity handily.

"You receive four Stimulation to your Perky Marshmallow Tits. No Prowess Roll because that's within Dapple's zero zone, and no bonus from Sinful Nectar." Dapple's Satiation increases from 6 to 7.

Stamina down from 18 to 16, for another 4 Stimulation.

Dapple's hips shake with the pleasure of the orgasm you're pounding into her, seeking more, chasing bliss, and her raw passion takes over the rhythm for a few strokes to slam down onto your lap, her Yielding Silken Quim eagerly swallowing your Veiny Futa Phallus just four times in quick succession, more encouragement for you than anything.

"You also receive four Stimulation to your Veiny Futa Phallus, with four Contour, and with the plus twelve to Erogeny." Dapple's Satiation increases from 7 to 11 and her Sensitivity increases from 0 to 2 as she takes 4 reciprocal Stimulation as well. Dapple's Intensity increases from 8 to 12.

"Dapple's turn ends."

Aftermath. Arousal down from 16 to 12. Craving down from 9 to 5. Sensitivity up from 2 to 8, because orgasm.

Okay that's pretty hot but. But numbers. Augh. "Uh... Hold on..."

There are a lot of numbers to move around right now. Arousal from 13 to 17 to 21. Intensity from 7 to 10 to 13... Is she missing something? Probably. Oh, right, understimulation. Yep. Her ideal stimulation on her dick is 9- Wait, no, sinful nectar. Ideal is 21. (21 ideal - 4 actual = 17 (!) understim), and ideal stim on her breasts is 6 (6ideal - 4 actual = 2 understim). So craving goes from 2 to 19 to 21.

"Uhh. Yep orgasm. Problem... I can do. Literally nothing this turn. Even Valiant won't save me. I guess-"

Stamina from 4 to 9.

-I find myself hilted deep inside Dapple, cock twitching where we are joined and utterly lost in warm tightness and the wonderful heady sensation of orgasm, twitching inside her as I fill her with warm seed.

And straight to aftermath. That takes sensitivity from 0 to 3. Craving- No, satiation from 18 to 17. Arousal 21 to 22. Oh, and stamina from 9 to 11 because she didn't spend any.

Vanessa giggle-smiles at what the numbers just did. "Dapple's turn again right away, okay."

Stamina back up to 20.

Orgasm Threshold is 19, from adding together 11 Satiation and 8 Sensitivity. At 12 Arousal, Dapple is not continuing to Have An Orgasm. No Orgasm means clearing Intensity, so Vanessa does that as well, resetting that to 0.

Dapple wiggles happily in the fading echoes of her own orgasm as she feels you coming undone under her, and cumming undone inside her, flooding her womb with your pulsating ejaculations. She knows well and can recognize in an instant a dominant newling losing herself in the newfound intensity of her jailbroken sex drive for the first time. These are the moments she lives for.

She moans as she feels you spurt into her. "Mmmm~ This is the be~e~est!"

Vanessa pauses to think for a moment.

Lisara's Sensitivity is still low and her Satiation hasn't increased at all. If Dapple does nothing, Lisara will still be having an orgasm on her next turn, and possibly for several turns after that, all while her Intensity is high enough to lock out her Orgasm Sanity Check. Her first thought is that that would be funny. Her second thought, which sounds a little like Eelesia, is that that would be kind of awful. Not quite a ruined orgasm, but something close enough to have the same consequences. Dapple wouldn't do that to a newling.

You're cumming so hard that you've lost all ability to take deliberate actions, but the walls of Dapple Yielding Silken Quim press in tightly around your erupting shaft, providing Stimulation even as you forget how to thrust.

"Dapple's gonna use her Kegel Quiver move."

Stamina down from 20 to 10, for 20 Stimulation. Hah! A positive Prowess Roll! Of 6, which is within the zero zone of 8 Prowess.

"You receive twenty Stimulation to your Veiny Futa Phallus, with four Contour, and with plus twelve to Erogeny from Sinful Nectar. The effect of Kegel Quiver is that if the Stimulation is greater than her organ's Erogeny, which it is, she gains level-bonus Craving." Craving up from 5 to 9.

8 Reciprocal Stimulation. Arousal up from 12 to 20.

"Dapple ends her turn."

Aftermath. Arousal down from 20 to 16. Craving down from 9 to 5, only back where it started thanks to Kegel Quiver.

That's... A Lot (TM) of Satiation, taking her from 17 to her cap of 24. And then 10 Sensitivity, taking her from 3 to 13. The intensity doesn't even matter because: It resets to 0 due to no longer having an orgasm.

"I'm... At the satiation cap, and no longer having an orgasm, but- I think this just leaves me Satisfied again? Too blissed out to think for a little while?"

Hugging Dapple tight and feeling the overwhelming squeezing and wetness of where we're joined as I slowly spurt, spurt, spurt, and eventually begin to soften, pouting just a little bit at my sudden 'failure'- Though is it really a failure when you cum deep into a welcoming womb? When your partner enjoys it like that? Still, I want to turn the tables properly next time... That will require me avoiding the tingly-sweet but dangerous parts of Dapple, though... Or maybe going to find someone else...? I give Dapple an idle kiss to the cheek as I ponder thoughtfully, a teensy bit discontent...

Dapple snuggles contentedly on top of you.

"You gain an Ichor point. Now that we're out of the tutorial, hitting the Satiation cap just means that you're Satisfied, for the next hour-plus. Also, just noting that I appreciate Lisara showing her personality here. Pouting about having the best orgasm you ever had because it interfered with your topping is a very Butterfly sentiment. Heh. Um..."

Vanessa flips to yet another page in the rulebook.

"Right, you're supposed to double your Ardor and subtract that from a hundred. So for you that means you're Satisfied for the next ninety-six in-character minutes. Now, you're in a safe place and could in theory tell Dapple to shut up and not bother you for an hour so that you can do a Recovery Roll and timeskip through an hour of Rest instead of being Satisfied for the next ninety-six minutes. But! You are currently experience post-nut clarity for the first time ever in your current existence. Do you want to look around? Ask some questions?"

"Hmmmmmmmm. How much of my 'old life' am I supposed to retain, anyway? Nothing specific, right, but I'm imagining- Turns of phrase, like calling her a major league player going up against rookies?"

"Hmm. The rulebook is kinda vague about that- "

The front door slams closed as a slim girl in yoga pants and a sports bra bounces excitedly into the room.

"Actually I think the jist of the setting's intent is that you don't remember details? It's like, if you were Superman, you'd know you were a superhero do-gooder extraterrestrial immigrant with a love interest, secret identity, and day job, but you'd have no idea which DC timeline you came from or, like, remember any proper nouns at all. You keep the essence of who you were, like, enough to not have to re-introspect a lot to figure out what kind of person you are, but the damage to your soul when it got torn up by your dying brain means that information of high granularity was mostly lost and probably just asking if the memory is specific to a proper noun or not is the easiest way to slice it?"

Eelesia drops her bag by the wall and hurries over to take the third seat at the table. Once she gets there, she glances back and forth between her self and Vanessa for a moment, stands back up to peels her yoga pants and socks off, and then sits back down on the provided towel in just her sports bra and panties, smiling eagerly at her roommates.

She jumps a bit at the sudden arrival. E's cute when she's like this. She gives a little wave and nods. The sudden strippage throws her off, blinking, for a few moments, before she shrugs and gets back into it.

I snuggle for a minute or two, but then I decide to stand up, shifting Dapple into a princess carry as I do, just to exult in having a body that can do things. "I want to use my body, to move and feel- Would you like me to carry you somewhere perhaps, Dapple? I'll get to see the sights along the way, win win."

"Anyway, I'm having fun so far! Mostly."

Nod bounce.

Eelesia is super happy that her somewhat-less-nerdy friends and roommates were enjoying the game. Auspicious!

"I'd like you to do whatever you feel like doing with me," Dapple says earnestly. "Helping newlings like you is what I do. So I'm lending myself to you for as long as you need a guide, 'kay?"

"Hmmm if you insist~ Tell me, do people play sports that aren't just fuckin' around here?"

I peer around at the landscape again, trying to make sense of it- I remember a bowl-like formation and a disorienting impression of an enormous tree, or at least giant leaves.

The sight above is a recipe for vertigo.

You stand on woven vines and silk, stretched between the stems of giant shiny bioluminescent green-yellow mushrooms like a thousand interwoven hammocks. This mushroom forest sits upon a junction in two small branches of a tree the size of a world. Those two branches spiral outward, forming a bowl-shape of white wood and pink leaves, as vast as mountains on a distant horizon. Other parts of the world tree are visible in the sky, lit with webs of light that imply habitation. The bowl is just a shape the branches happen to have grown into, providing a sheltered area at the bottom in which grew a forest of mushrooms.

The vine-and-silk web of hammock-terrain extends maybe two-hundred feet in every direction from where you are, anchored to nine or so of the giant stems. It forms something of a cul-de-sac in a natural clearing. While it is not enclosed to the point one would be forced to leave in any particular direction, there is only one proper opening and path out of this heart of the mushroom forest, an obvious path that you can see.

"There are a few," Dapple admits. "Pantheoff. Solarball. My personal favorite is competitive tree-surfing."

"Those sound fun! ...This place is... Big. What are pantheoff and solarball like? I can guess what tree-surfing is."

I start walking towards the obvious exit, still carrying Dapple, catching my stride and breaking into a light jog after a bit once I get used to the footing.

"We can skip the weird sports if you like. But there's no way even a sex world version of me doesn't ask about 'em."

"This sexy sex world cannonically has as many as several weird sports! These are in the book! I don't have that page bookmarked, but I can look if you get into it."

Your body is new, and you are new to it. Dapple is a cuddly weight, but still a weight, and your footing is less than rock-solid. You get the sense that Dapple has a lot of practice being carried like this, though.

"Roll a Fitness Check, and then a Grace Check, please."

Dapple smiles in amusement at your priorities as she explains.

"Newlings say that, but..." She giggles. "Pantheoff is a board game. You have tiles for each of the goddesses with numbers on them, and pieces you move around according to rules and stuff. Solarball is an athletic team sport where you try to earn points by super-heating this sphere you throw around by bouncing it off of heat sources before scoring."

"More up to you two than me? I'm just sort of vibing. And here's where my stat choice suck slightly less for me- Ten fitness, twelve grace!"

"Goddesses? Huh. I don't not like board games, but solarball sounds more fun- What am I wrong about on tree-surfing, then? Is it that 'down' is a funny subjective thing?"

"I don't know if E's gonna have much fun just sitting there though."

Vanessa checks the Basic Competency rules.

"Alright, that is more than enough to hold up Dapple's weight. With that roll you could've picked up someone who weighs two-hundred pounds. And..."

Vanessa gives Eelesia a look. "It seriously wants me to calculate heart-rates?"

"I like that no other games do it this way, though."

Eelesia waves down Lenora's concern. She's not bored, and she's fine waiting a bit to bring her character in if that makes the story better.

"Also, rolling a ten total on this means that she can maintain two-hundred beats-per-minute of effort for one-hundred minutes, which is, like, way way more than she needs to carry a Flower."

"Alright. No time-limit on how long you want to carry Dapple," she says to Lenora.

"If a ten on Fitness is that good, I'm not even going to try to guess the DC for not tripping. On a twelve, you don't trip."

Vanessa takes a breath, and smirks.

Dapple giggles at your guess. "It is that 'down' is... malleable, here in the Fairy Garden. It's complicated, but awesome. Do you want to learn? Tree-surfing is the fastest way out of the Polypore. And I can tell you about Solarball or the Goddesses too. Where should I start?"

"Wait, what? ...I don't like the heart rate thing- What heart rate you sit at depends on general fitness quite a lot! What does it even mean 'as represented by a heartrate of', this is just a fancy way of saying 'go with your gut'. Is a flat sprint 180? 200? Ugh."

Deep breath. 

"I will let the griping pass over and through me."

I feel proud and straightforwardly happy in the moment about my sure movement. Something tells me that I am a deep enjoyer of muscle, motion, exercise.

I say to Dapple, "I'd love to learn tree-surfing. And about weird gravity. But first, where is everyone else? You have this whole mushroom forest home all to yourself? And new Butterflies like me, I guess?"

"If you must I suppose we can ignore the specific rules and just do it classic style? It says in the Advanced book that 8 is peak-human without any magic, so anything that would require super-human abilities has a DC above eight, and anything that doesn't has a DC below eight?"

"Yeah... Not gonna promise I won't be doing that."

Dapple's smile turns a bit melancholy. "It's unfortunately rare, for souls to arrive in this reality. It takes a rather specific kind of soul, to make it to us. In the legends, this place had thousands of Flowers in a constant orgy of welcome. That was before my time. I wish I could have seen it."

She pauses.

"We're not alone, though. There are dozens of us in the greeting club, who hang around the Polypore to lend ourselves to newlings. We nap a lot when we're not playing guide, though. Look over there." 

Dapple points to a large splash of color upon the side of a giant mushroom stem about fifty feet away. Vibrant red petals surrounding a pale center. But as you look closer, you realize... this giant flower's center, is a Flower. That pale center is a naked girl-butt rather than anything botanical. And you can also just barely make out feet peaking out between the red petals. And the petals themselves... they look oddly fleshy, more like glistening tentacles bunched together than mere sheets of plant-tissue.

"Oh, that's Mistbloom, I think. Yeah, there are a fair few of us," Dapple says cheerfully.

As you pass out of the central clearing, the web of vine and silk fades into a mound of cyan moss, cool and soft and springy under your feet, with the solidity of wood beneath it. Ahead, you see that this path of moss slopes downward and then extends beyond your sight into a tunnel of pink leaves.

"That's pretty wicked. Looks comfy. And easy access, huh...?"

I feel a mischievous urge to go slap Mistbloom on the ass and then skedaddle away, leaving her not knowing who it was... Depends how fast she can get out of that thing, whether I'd get away with it. And that might be a bit rude...

I spend a few moments staring contemplatively at the embedded Flower, and look to Dapple pretty obviously like I'm considering doing something to Mistbloom, but I don't actually set her down, pausing on the mossy threshold, tentacle tongue flicking in thought.

Dapple giggles fondly.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing..." She gives you an encouraging smile. "Mistbloom and I... we're Flowers. I know you don't know what that means, yet, but the important part is that you don't have be afraid of yourself anymore. I know a lot of newlings, especially Butterflies like you, have a hard time letting go of the fear. Many have lived with it for so long that they don't even realize they're afraid."

Dapple gives you a peck on the cheek.

"The thing you have to understand, is that every single person you meet from now on is here for the same reason you are. All of us, in one way or another, longed for a world where fear has no power over our sexuality. We wanted it so badly, and so deeply, that an entire plane of existence heard us, and saved us from the timeless void, or worse, so that we could exist here. So... you don't need to heal all at once. But I do want you to know that the way you had a joyful thought but then hesitated just now... I've seen it thousands of times, and it is a wound, in you, a wound that you are now finally free to let heal, if you want to."

This speech that Dapple is giving Lisara is based on the rulebook, but this aspect of the setting was in many ways what sold Vanessa on the idea of running scenes in this game in the first place, so now that she gets to explain it in-character, she's going kind of hard with it. Hard enough that she's maybe accidentally saying this to Lenora, just a tiny little bit.

"Hmmmm."

"...Alright, I'll do it if you say so, so earnestly."

I gently set Dapple down, then sloooowly creep up to Mistbloom's position embedded on the side of the mushroom stalk. I give her one good slap, not hard enough to be too painful, wait just a moment to appreciate the jiggle, then turn and try to sprint for the exit, giggling like mad and dashing down the mossy down-slope towards the leaf tunnel, scooping Dapple up again along the way.

The mysterious Mistbloom makes a muffled sound that starts as a startled squeak and fades into a lewd moan. As you run away, you hear a sleepy voice call out, "Tease!"

Dapple giggles again, riding happily in your arms.

The cyan moss is very smooth. Not slippery, exactly, but you definitely get the sense that your feet could slide on it, and without catching or losing skin. It has a texture with a high initial resistance, but a smoother and smoother glide the faster you slide. You can't quite tell if its magical or just very advanced biology, and that probably isn't your main concern at the moment either. You are sprinting off the top of something like the drop of a very large roller-coaster, and your footing feels solid for only a moment before you realize: you do not have the traction necessary to slow down.

"So, okay, you're princess-carrying Dapple and sprinting when you get to the part where your footing stops being level? I'm going to need you to give me a Grace Check with disadvantage."

She rolls twice... "Oh no~ Okay, I have five grace and I rolled nine and two, so... Seven?"

"...I'll let you pick. On a seven, you are Equal To The Task, seven was the DC, so either you drop Dapple, or you fail to stay on your feet."

"I'm not gonna drop her!"

I feel myself start to lose balance and fall and instinctually react, shifting my weight so I take the brunt of the hit, cushioning Dapple from it.

Dapple shrieks, but it doesn't sound afraid. She's laughing.

The two of you, entwined, bounce and tumble over each other a few times before you pick up enough speed from gravity that the moss starts feeling truly slick. Your entwined bodies rocket down the slope, picking up more and more speed, and still Dapple doesn't seem afraid.

The wind roars at you, too loud to speak, and the sensation of the moss sliding under your skin almost blends into the feeling of the air tearing at you. You see light ahead. Not sunlight, but something almost like it.

The moss-covered branch gently slopes upward as it emerges from the leaves of the world tree, but because you are sliding out of control, you don't go up the slope. You go off the side, picking up only a little lift before hurtling out into empty space.

Bright. Not day-bright, but lit. A piece of the world tree is flat here, perhaps cut, perhaps just growing that way. It forms the foundation of a vibrant meadow of gently rolling hills, miles across. And...

"Give me a Sanity Check to see if you notice more than that while you're tumbling through the sky."

"Cool description. The place feels like... Something." The sound of a die... "Six."

Vanessa is using the actual rule in the book for this one. A six means that Lisara can notice a thing if she has less than six other things competing for her attention. The fall, holding on to Dapple, the meadow itself, the brightness, and the impending impact? She could stretch it to six if she wanted to or maybe count each limb separately, but... nah.

In flashes, glimpsed as you slowly tumble, you notice two things.

First, you notice a small number of winged figures flying over the meadow.

Second, you notice that beyond, and from your perspective behind, the meadow is a black tower the size of a skyscraper, with a crown of clear crystal coming to three points.

Third, you notice that you don't have time to notice anything else because you're about to hit the ground.

Vanessa glances at the Basic Competencies section again.

"Right, okay, you need to roll seventeen Fitness or Grace. I don't think you can, right? You'd need at least seven in either ability score."

Vanessa rolls Grace for Dapple. 14. Vanessa bursts out giggling.

"So, uh, ha-ha-hold on."

The rules about Injury were... on this page. There they are.

"So, I think you both get knocked the fuck out before waking up whole and healthy twenty-four hours later?"

"Technically they would only lose consciousness if their injuries make it so they can't breathe," Eelesia points out. "If you have an Ichor point to spend before you pass out, which both of them do, you can pop back to full health immediately."

"-I think in character I'm panicking hard enough at the crippling injury that I absolutely would find the heal thyself button? And then freak out and fuss over Dapple apologetically."

Vanessa nods. "You expend an Ichor point."

It hasn't been that long since you felt that moment when your body and soul became one, and a part of you recognizes the injuries, even before the pain hits, as a disjunction in that same feeling. Your body is askew from you soul. And, on raw reflex, you yank it back.

Your body is suddenly drenched in crystalline slime... and the pain that was about to hit never arrives. Your flesh blurs into the Ichor slime as reality shifts, and then you are once more whole.

Soft blue grass, golden flowers, and cyan moss. Dapple lays beside you, skin shiny from her own Ichor-healing. She looks at you and giggles wildly. "That was so silly..."

I'm gasping for breath and shoot to my feet, looking over Dapple and muttering panicked apologies. Slowly, I stop, progressively realizing that everything is... Fine, somehow?

Then I groan and sit on the moss, head between my knees and hands on my ears. "I thought I'd fucked up and killed you!"

I'm maybe gonna cry a bit.

Dapple's giggles trail into a soft, gentle smile as she gets up and drapes herself over you, hugging you, her face next to yours. She runs her fingers through your hair while you cry.

"You've already died once. If you want to do it a second time, you're going to have to try a lot harder than that. Unlike your Azathoth, the Starheart Lodge would never punish you just for being silly. And, you know, you could've asked, about that, or other stuff, and been less silly, if you wanted to be less silly, but you really are safe either way. I don't mind if you're silly."

"It's really hard to just... Actually believe that."

I'll hug back.

"I mean... If I accept that this is true, it opens up all sorts of cool things I'd never dare to do... But..."

Deep breath.

"I think I'm much more action than words. It was fun, that sudden dare, but the fall - and the crash... I don't know."

...Hmm

".......Can I get wings?"

Dapple grins.

"Of course! What's a Butterfly without wings? I'm sure it won't take you long to earn yours."

At that moment, nearby, one of the person-sized flowers dotting the meadow blooms open, and then retracts, vanishing into the ground to reveal a nude figure very similar to Dapple but with brilliantly blue hair and concerned golden eyes. This other Flower comes over and joins your hug without a word, snuggling into you opposite Dapple. The stranger is soft and cute and curvy and fey-beautiful, just like Dapple. Basically a palette-swap.

Dapple, at least, takes this addition in stride. "Should I explain how that works?"

I wiggle a bit in the hug, increasingly reassured. "Hi! -Yes, please. I wanna fly! Oh, it's going to be so fun."

"In this realm, lust is a physical force. Power. Fuel. You've already experienced what its like to draw out the power of your soul by converting all the lust within you into pleasure at once. Any time someone achieves that state of true satisfaction, they generate a bit of Ichor. That's the power that healed you just now."

And indeed, if you look inward, now that you know to look, you can feel your reserve of Ichor.

"Ichor is the power of the soul-body connection, distilled. It's pretty awesome. The even more awesome part, though, is that any time you get someone else to generate Ichor by... expressing your Butterfly-ness at them... usually by fucking them into a satisfied puddle of submissive bliss, your connection to your Butterfly-ness also strengthens. Euphoria is the power of the connection between gender and sexuality, distilled. That is the power that can grant you supernatural Butterfly abilities, including magical wings that let you fly."

"...Ooh. And I imagine Flowers like you hardly mind such treatment, hm?"

Seeing that the other Flower has embraced being a silent cuddle partner, I keep addressing Dapple. Though I do give her a friendly rub.

"I still need to return the pleasure you brought me here with..."

"Above table, I think that when you get an Ichor its like your soul has a refractory period, or something?" Vanessa shakes her head, holding up a hand to stop Eelesia speculating. "However that works, I think you've got an in-game hour left, still."

Then Vanessa glances at Eelesia again and has an idea.

Dapple nuzzles you and then looks at you in a way you haven't seen her look at you before. A heavy, evaluating gaze. It only lasts a moment before it's gone. The stranger, meanwhile, doesn't attempt to participate in the conversation.

"I've had lifetimes upon lifetimes of pleasure," Dapple tells you earnestly. "And so will you. Nobody here owes anyone anything. But if you want to contribute, even if there's nothing to pay back, you can always pay forward instead. How would you like to visit one of the places where new Flowers incarnate?"

I tilt my head. "Suuuure... As long as it doesnt involve another fall quite yet."

"Uh, think i need a quick break IRL. I'll be right back."

Little bit of water, stretching, etc, will do her mood good. She's been sitting still for too long. And indeed she is only a couple minutes.

Eelesia has a suspicion about what Vanessa is planning and hopes that suspicion is true.

Vanessa will also stretch a bit and get some water. Doing this really is a lot of mental labor but it's very fun.

Once Lenora is once again seated, Vanessa rewinds a little bit and repeats Dapple's last question.

"I've had lifetimes upon lifetimes of pleasure," Dapple tells you earnestly. "And so will you. Nobody here owes anyone anything. But if you want to contribute, even if there's nothing to pay back, you can always pay forward instead. How would you like to visit one of the places where new Flowers incarnate?"

"That sounds lovely."

It hasn't escaped my notice that Dapple is - stronger in some way I don't clearly understand yet, in how she handles pleasure, in the absurd strength of the erogenous sensation when I was fucking her. It might be nice to have some lower points of comparison, even as much as such comparisons are silly. And it might be nice to meet someone else who is out of their depth, too.

"Okay! I can show you the way whenever you want," Dapple affirms. "There, or anywhere else you want to go."

The stranger seems to take this as her cue to un-hug. She slips away, patting you comfortingly before leaving. A short distance away, a strange wind seems to hit the grass and moss around her, and almost as if by coincidence, the ripples form a mandala pattern around the Flower, like a magic circle. Green and blue tentacles erupt from the ground between the Flower's legs, flowing up and over her hips, twisting around all of her limbs and yanking her body into a lewd pose while more tentacles form light blue petals around her, framing her in her bondage like a living piece of art.

Dapple gives you an affectionate squeeze as you witness this.

"That's pretty cool. I'd do the thing where it increases my Craving again but it's already pretty high."

I suddenly put on a little bit of an affectation. "Do lead the way to this place of new Flowers, noble Dapple, with prudent haste if you might. I find myself enticed by the prospect. And perhaps as we go, what was that great tower I saw a glimpse of, earlier?"

Giggle.

"The tower is actually still totally visible and the central feature of the skyline from where you are, if, you know, there was a sky to line. Giant pink space tree line. Point is, you can definitely still see it. That very view is a strong possible explanation for why this meadow is so popular."

Dapple snickers. You get the sense that whatever your affectation is referencing, its going over her head, but she still finds it amusing.

She takes your hand and stands up, ready to lead the way.

"That's the Pillowshade Cultivar," Dapple tells you. "It's kind of... what's the mortal word... capital! 'Capital' city! Of the Fairy Garden. The Radiant Hollow is on the other side of it, so if you want I can give you a tour on the way. It won't be much slower to go around, if you think that'd be too overwhelming for now, though."

"...It does seem like it'd be rather a lot. I'd rather enjoy the sights on a hike I think."

"Out of character, I wanna get E in here with us."

Dapple leads you by the hand vaguely in the direction toward the tower in the distance, but soon veers to the right toward what you can now see is a much-closer standing archway. Actually, not an archway. A full ring of white wood, suspended around a braid of branches, marking a well-traveled set of paths. Cords of thick white wood draped in smooth cyan moss twine off into the boughs.

"Closer is relative, though. It's like, four miles away from where you cratered, so I'll say you've got... an hour and a half of walking. You can ask Dapple any questions that would occur to Lisara during that time, and then your Satisfied status will fade before you get there."

"Hmm!" She looks over her sheet. "...I think that's long enough after Satisfied fades for my Satiation to creep down to my Ardor? Even though I have - three fatigue now? Since it's been about two hours. Which means satiation creeps down from max uhh... Call it ten minutes of talking and wiping out, two hours of walking, so thirty four minutes after I'm no longer locked at max? So Satiation decays by eleven. I'm feeling my hunger for more lust recover unnaturally fast..." 

Lenora wiggles in delight about this, IRL, a little bit.

"...Anyway, conversation during the hike."

Along the walk, mostly I enjoy the hike and the sights I'm seeing; I look out for more rooted Flowers and make a little game of spotting them. Occasionally I ask Dapple some questions- About how she's gotten 'stronger', about the uses of ichor and euphoria and, once I learn about it, of numinosity. About the goddesses- plural, apparently. And about tree-surfing! Are there any good spots to learn, where wipeouts won't cost an Ichor? Is there theory or fundamentals on how to stand and move that she can tell me about?

"Sure, thirty-four minutes. I was totally keeping track of that. And yeah, that would be three Fatigue. I'll adjust Dapple as well..."

Dapple's Satiation... doesn't move, because its less than her Ardor, so it stays at 11. Arousal drops to 0. Sensitivity... also drops to 0.

At least here and now, in this idyllic meadow with a view of the city, every person-sized flower you examine does seem to be a Flower. There aren't any non-person flowers of that size and texture in evidence anywhere that you've seen yet, but you haven't seen much yet, so you don't know how much of a conclusion you can draw from that.

As you walk, hand in hand, Dapple does her best to sate your curiosity.

She explains the five features of each gender, that can be gained in any order by using one's Euphoria. And yeah, as part of that, she explains how, by creating a symmetrical simultaneous loop of making-the-other-person-generate-Ichor so that you both get Euphoria at the same time, that symmetry also creates Numinosity, which is sort of like... magical significance in the broader sense? It can warp reality to improve your soul, or create other persistent alterations to the environment.

When you ask her about the goddesses, she tells you about the Mythos of the Five-Pointed Star, which is basically the religion of this realm, and gives you a short summary.

Lilith, the Innocent Seducer, is the jungle goddess of soft hearts and natural joys, who's presence invokes Salvus Weald, the dream of the safe woods.
Venus, the Thoughtful Romantic, is the sky goddess of enduring passion and ambitious planning, who's presence invokes Venereum Consilium, the invention of the romantic plan.
Sade, the Beautiful Monster, is the ocean goddess of dangerous kinks, who's presence invokes Mare Veritatis, the perversions revealed in the sea of truth.
Valkyr, the Valiant Challenger, is the volcano goddess of bravery and competition, who's presence invokes Virtus Apicem, daring the peak of bravery.
And finally, you, the human goddess of your own soul, who's presence invokes the self-telling story that a person is.

Once the topic returns to tree-surfing, Dapple gets even more animated as she explains the basic stuff that you really shouldn't have tried to tree-surf without knowing.

Gravity, in the Fairy Garden, is unstable. It changes as the world tree orbits its two companions in the Void Cradle, altering which tree-surfing routes and courses are viable with the seasons. In places like cities or popular routes, gravity has been stabilized and made permanent by multiple people all expending the Numinosity in cooperation to make it so. However, if you are outside the consensus gravity zones, or, say, if you fall out of a consensus-gravity zone, you can use your Numinosity to lay down a temporary gravity-shift zone to change 'down' to whatever frame of reference you have in mind. You can get the Numinosity back afterward, too, if you remember to release the effect before you get out of range.

"So yeah, you can practice pretty easily out in any bit of unoccupied wilderness, once you're a bit more Numinous."

I'm struck into thoughtful silence as I ponder the implications of numinosity, of reality powered by soul, of soul powered by mutual pleasure... And maybe a little bit of fantasizing about said mutual pleasure. I don't really understand the goddesses or their domains, but it doesn't seem especially urgent to me- I'll get used to it in time if it's important, I'm sure.

"Oh, come on!" Eelesia laughs. "You're seriously not even going to acknowledge the thing where you, you, you Jaune Arc'd that shit? What's a landing strategyyyyyyyyyyyy~ hehehe."

"It was a fun idea but I think I was imagining something else when I ran out of the mushroom forest? A shallow ramp, or something. Not a perilous slide. This- You know I'm an idiot-"

Headshake. And a small sigh.

"I'm being moody and thinking about implications and stuff now, and ruining things. Sorry."

Headshake again. "Whatever. Moving on!"

Frustrated at the thought of my own impulsive failure earlier, I suddenly growl deep in my throat and reach forward to grip Dapple's other hand as well, lustful intent in my eyes.

"And starting an Encounter with a firm pairing attempt there."

Vanessa is feeling a little wedged between being a good GM and being a good friend, actually. Lenora... is definitely a tiny bit upset.

"...Dapple is totally here for that but is going to gently resist just enough to make you spend that one Stamina---"

"Hang on. That really wasn't because you're an idiot, Lenora. Er. I mean. You're not an idiot. But even if you were that's not what the problem was! Um."

Okay that didn't quite come out right. Eelesia rallies, and holds up her index finger.

"Okay, that didn't come out right. Let me start over. My Jaune Arc impression wasn't supposed to be literal! It was supposed to point out that you, your character, Lisara, metaphorically tried to become a huntress without knowing what aura was. You tried to tree-surf before you found out what gravity-shifting was or even that it existed. And even once gravity-shifting got explained in-character it didn't seem like you noticed that gravity-shifting's existence recontextualized that whole event and that's what made it reminiscent of Jaune's ignorance of aura?"

Eelesia holds up a second finger.

"The problem with your fun idea wasn't ever that you imagined the wrong thing. It was because you tried to imagine something yourself instead of asking for the information that would be available to Lisara's senses? It's actually really important for maintaining a shared theater of the mind that everyone at the table is on the same page about who is responsible for imagining what. That's why the role of Dungeon Master, or Game Master, or whatever you call it, exists at all, because the world outside of each of the player characters that they're all interacting with can't function unless it is centrally coordinated by only one imagination at a time. It's definitely not about who's imagination is better or clearer or more clever."

Eeleisa grabs her pinkie with her thumb so that she can hold up a third finger, then gives Lenora an apologetic smile.

"It was really funny and in a way that didn't break our immersion or the verisimilitude of the fiction. It made the story better. I wanted to share in the happy accident with you. I really didn't think you'd feel bad about it. Role-playing games should have moments like that, I think. Moments where, like, a player's above-table mistake is reverse-engineered into an in-game action that sparks joy and makes the story more entertaining. That was great."

"Yeah. I guess I just assumed you were... in on the joke. I didn't mean to actually make fun of you."

"-Okay, yeah, timeout. I think - I was getting frustrated about that, yeah, but I couldn't - name it or put a word to it. And by 'that', I mean, 'the unexpected in-character fall' and 'not having a clear mental picture of what's going on'. I think it's - overall a fun and good moment? 'I am a genius! Oh no!' But-" vague wave. "You're definitely getting at something there, E. I'm not - daydreaming here. Or I'm not the only one doing that. I've never really done this kind of thing before, in sports and video games you can see what's going on. I even almost forgot we were already holding hands until I looked at these little papers," she indicates the organ cards. "So I should - pause and ask what's going on more often, maybe?"

"Yeah... That would definitely help me do a better job too. I need to know what Lisara is looking at or paying attention to so I can tell you what she's seeing go on, y'know? It's kind of my job to be the video game that's showing you what's going on, like that, so yeah. Like Lee-zee said. Not asking me stuff like that is like playing a video game when you can't see the screen."

"Hehe, what does this button do? KABOOM!"

"...Quick hug?" She leans towards Eelesia first, Vanessa after.

GLOMP.

Any excuse for a hug.

Yeah, Vanessa gets up from her seat and comes around to add herself to the hug.

Yay, hugs!!

"So, Vanessa, do I see any convenient spots in the meadow to push or carry Dapple onto or against? We're nearly 'across' the valley, right, and that's sort of side on to the big spire city? I'm reconsidering doing things to her right now - I think it was frustration making want to do anything I immediately understood - but I gotta know my options, right? Also I was maybe a little bit rushing because - I feel a little awkward with Eelesia just watching. In the interest of clear communication and all."

Vanessa settles back into her seat and takes a few moments to find her groove again.

From four miles away, the 'archway' ring that Dapple led you toward looked small, but now that you're up close and nearly passing through it, you can see that this 'archway' is actually a small town. Down here, upon the edge of the mossy meadow where it narrows into corded branches, you find yourselves at a well-traveled crossroads, from which you can gaze upward at the domed roofs of the mishmash of small buildings on the ring's wooden inner surface, and see dozens of nude figures walking between those buildings, on that surface. Nothing you recognize as clearly homes or shops, but definitely a similar energy.

Closer at hand, as you approach the cords of mossy world-wood that cross through this ring like the axle of a wheel, you see several Butterfly-Flower couples, still nude, but with conspicuously coifed hair, each lounging upon a circular stage surrounded by concentric descending terraces of shiny black rubber, each about two-and-a-half feet high. You can see three such stages from your vantage point, one almost directly in your path, another two off to either side, tilted away from you on the increasingly tubular terrain.

As you approach, you see a passing Butterfly, one without visible wings, stride up onto the stage to your left, where the coifed Flower embraces her. Looking upward, the coifed Flower reaches out with a hand, and somewhere within the ring town, tentacle vines erupt outward, crossing the space between wheel and axle like a temporary spoke, to seize the coifed Flower and haul both her and her passenger up, and then down, onto the surface of the ring. A few moments later, floral tentalces erupt from the stage, and pull the coifed Flower back down from the surface of the ring.

On the black rubber steps of the platform directly ahead, which would indeed serve as an excellent surface to push someone down against, another couple is demonstrating that very thing. You see a tanned Butterfly with blue eyes and a wild mane of golden hair, and a pale curvy Flower with tousled lavender hair, on the bottom step, the lowest largest circle. The Butterfly is reclined against the lip of the step, and her Flower is throating her cock, serving as both foot-rest and cocksleeve as she wiggles her ass at passers-by, but both of them seem relaxed, like they've been there for a while.

She has to listen carefully and think for a while, building a mental image... "Is this, like, a tube town where 'down' is to the outside the whole way 'round? With some great big vines running down the middle?"

I'm distracted from my prurient intentions by the sight of vines carrying a Flower up and away; I let Dapple dance away from me, only half-intent on catching her other hand. For now.

"Are those stages just for getting around a bit more quickly?" I wonder aloud, more interested in the logistics of this crowded little place than lewdness, at least for one brief moment. "And now that I think about it - is there anything to eat around here? Not in the 'eating someone out' sense. I get the feeling I don't need it anymore, but also the feeling that it can be nice."

Dapple doesn't go out of arm's reach, or let go of your hand. "Ohh, snacks, that's a good question. Where can we get some snacks?"

Even though the question was not at all directed at her, the leonine blonde Butterfly with a Flower's lavender head buried in her crotch overhears and waves. "Did I hear 'snacks'?"

"The town is- Down is toward the outside the whole way around but the town isn't a tube, the town is a ring around a tube. Actually no, there is no tube. There is an artificial ring around a solid cylinder of 'natural' wood. You are walking on the natural wood, on the same terrain as the meadow. The platforms are there with you. There's nothing physically connecting the ring to the branch."

"...I'm not sure I get it but okay."

"You did hear 'snacks'! I'm... New around here."

I feel a sudden attack of shyness, or competitiveness, or something a little like it, contemplating the first other Butterfly I've really looked at.

"Eh..."

Your view of the other Butterfly is somewhat obscured by the sexy naked Flower butt wiggling in your direction, the Butterfly's feet resting on her back. But as you look at her, you see firm abs and perky tits. You see a coldly-beautiful fey face framed by that wild blonde hair. You see... the same firm abs, the same perky tits. Your body and her body... are almost the same body. Built the same. Shaped the same. Equal, less the minor details.

"Welcome, then! I'm Siren, this is Petalsong. We're actually waiting on a delivery of baked goods from a friend of ours. No big deal or anything, but she's... a bit late. Like, very, very late, actually. We promised we'd wait for her here so we can't go looking ourselves, but... if someone found her for us, we'd be willing to split the goods with them."

"But do you want me to try to describe the ring town again? Like, what am I doing wrong here, 'cause it's obviously something."

"...I think I am a very visually oriented person? Adding directions to things might help. But making a 3D map sounds terrible. We're at the edge of a long meadow, where it transitions to a long branch, and there's a circle of houses or something like it all with their tops facing the branch? Because of the 3D gravity thing. I mean, I think I get it. And wow the fey sameness is a little something. I guess it'd mostly obviate body jealousy."

I look at Dapple, and then remember that she keeps reminding me she's here 'for me', for now.

...I would like a snack.

"I make no promises I'll actually be able to find her, but I'm certainly willing to go look. Everything's exploration for me right now."

"I'm assuming you're trying to start hinting at plot here? If that's wrong I might as well skip the sidequest."

Vanessa starts to talk, then stops herself just in time as she has a better idea. Nothing in the books say she can't do what she just thought of.

"Where would you say we should go looking for your friend, if we wanted to?" Dapple chimes in to ask.

"Her name's Startail," Siren says, smiling fondly. "She was supposed to come through the portal in Pillowshade and surf the lower Gleamglade up to meet me here at Glengate."

"Oh!" Dapple turns to you. "We have to go through the lower Gleamglade to get to the Radiant Hollow anyway, Lisara. If she's there we might run across Siren's friend even if we don't go looking on purpose."

Siren looks like that is genuinely good news to her. "Well, if you do find her, you can tell her what I promised. Offer's open. But I won't hold it against you if you don't. Have fun, you two."

"Mm!" Dapple agrees, squeezing your hand.

"And don't forget," Vanessa says, laughing a little. "Siren had her cock buried deep in Petalsong's throat during that entire conversation. Gotta maintain that pornographic ambience~"

"Oh, you can bet I'm looking, in character. 'M maybe a teensy bit shy out of it though. And want Dapple somewhere more private maybe. But uh... Uh. Okay, clear communication time again, can E have a temp character or something? It's actually really bothering me that she's just- Not able to participate right now. I feel like I'm being selfish, even if you say I'm not."

"Above table, you're totally setting Lisara up to be my character's Dapple, right?" Eelesia asks Vanessa.

"Yeah... I guess I shouldn't try to save that for a fun reveal if Lenora's going to be stressing about it."

Vanessa shrugs sheepishly.

"So yeah. On your way to Eelesia's character right now. First stop, I promise. That said..."

As you pass... under... over... through Glengate, the mossy world wood continues to narrow and split, until several different long cords of mossy white wood fork off in several different directions. Looking up at the rooftops facing down at you, it strikes you that the way Glengate's buildings are constructed kind of makes it look like the architecture is wearing bondage. Strands of black rubber hold the structures of white wood together from the outside, wrapped around them like they're tied up; an impression that is only enhanced by how the buildings all seem to be fashioned out of round shapes rather than boxy ones.

Dapple leads you left until you're at the start of one of those corded moss-covered branches. There's a black rubber placard on the ground with a symbol on it. A bee. "So....... Wanna get the full explanation about how to tree-surf now?"

"Oh, absolutely. Do tell me how not to wipe out embarrassingly again..." I gesture to the little bee symbol. "Is that basically a road sign?"

Dapple sees where you're pointing and turns around to explain, her nude body framed against a void backdrop of vastly distant huge pink leaves.

"Oh, that? That's the Lightbreeder guildmark. Someone probably put it there to remind anyone going this way not to damage the Shine Jelly Hives."

Dapple puts her hands on her hips.

"So! There are three main principles of tree-surfing."

"Number one! The greater your speed, the more stable your footing. Stay on the moss, and go fast. The moss likes to grow on concave curves, so it'll be thickest on the most efficient line, but that's a bit advanced so don't worry about it. Also, the moss will take all of the heat from friction into itself, so if it feels hot, that's because someone else was there before you. That can help you navigate sometimes if you get lost."

"Number two! Lead with your left foot, and Always. Dodge. Right. On well-traveled courses, you might run into someone surfing in the opposite direction! If you both dodge to the right, nobody collides. That's the easy one."

"Number three! Most of your momentum will come from gravity-shifting, but, gravity-shifting has several very important limitations you have to keep in mind. First, you can't adjust a gravity-shift after it's created. Second, they're always static relative to the frame of reference you use to create one, and can't be moved. Third, you need a strong frame of reference to create one. You must convince your brain that your environment is oriented in a given direction, that a given landmark is above or below you, before you can create a gravity-shift. Fourth, you have to snap your Numinosity back to yourself while you're still inside or you'll lose the Numinosity permanently; that's easier than it sounds, you'll do it instinctively when you cross the threshold unless you're trying not to. Fifth, you can't gravity-shift where there is already consensus gravity."

Dapple pauses.

"I think that covers the basics? Oh wait. The size of a gravity shift is determined by the distance between you and the landmark you orient on, it will fill the space between you and that landmark in a sphere. You can control the shape a little bit with intent, but not the size. Also, the bigger you make a gravity shift, the more time it takes to pull your Numinosity all the way back to where you can use it again. Fractions of a second for dozens of feet, minutes for miles."

Dapple gives you an apologetic, slightly sheepish smile. "You're not Numinous enough to gravity-shift yet, so you'll have to ride my wake. And don't worry about falling. Natural gravity is quite weak out here this time of year so you should mostly stay on course even if you do fall. And if you do, I promise I'll catch you."

"Oh, so - ohhhhh, you're creating your own gravity as you go the whole time. I completely missed that before! What happens if two people disagree on the gravity?"

"Stay on the moss and go fast! Left foot leading! Dodge right! Orient on landmarks to gravity shift... And make sure to pull it back. Not that I can, yet."

I bounce on the balls of my feet, grinning and excited to try this properly, this time. And I impulsively try to give Dapple a quick hug out of sheer excitement.

"You've got it."

Dapple is giggly at your enthusiasm. She's as soft and huggable as ever.

"And if multiple gravity-shifts intersect, they all disappear and nobody recovers their Numinosity, so remember to be careful about that."

"Once you're done hugging Dapple, continuing forward does bring you to a point where gravity almost seems to let go of you. Your weight is down to about a tenth of what it was, with Glengate behind you, and in a slightly different direction. So the way this works is, a tree-surfing course has a series of DCs. You roll a Sanity Check against the first DC, and if you pass then you have advantage on your Grace Check, and if you fail, you have disadvantage on your Grace Check. Because you're riding Dapple's wake, your Grace Checks depend on her Sanity Checks. Now, if you pass the Grace Check, you move on to the next DC. If you fail the Grace Check, you crash, which means you gain a point of Fatigue and roll to see if you're Injured. Except, if you fail your Grace Check here, Dapple will catch you instead."

The sourcebook doesn't give DCs for any specific paths, just generic examples, but...

10 -> 4 -> 8 -> 12 -> 6

That one feels right.

Vanessa rolls Sanity for Dapple. 16.

Dapple stares ahead, still holding tight to you hand as the mildly rising slope of mossy wood becoming a steep dive in her mind.

You feel the tug, powerful against your reduced weight, as her own weight shifts. She smiles at you over her shoulder.

"When you're ready, let go and chase me. Don't let me get too far ahead of you, alright?"

"I guess that's sanity for spotting landmarks to make ideal zones, and then grace for skating properly? So... I should roll a Grace check now?"

I take a deep breath, almost-frowning in concentration, not wanting to fall flat a second time. Then I let go of her hand and get ready to follow right after.

"Yep! Well, more like the entire mental task of doing a series of gravity-shifts, not just spotting landmarks, 'cause if we break this down to step by step you'd be rolling like a hundred dice and that would get bleh fast. Alright. First leg of the journey. Roll Grace with advantage. You need ten total or better."

Dapple automatically succeeds with her base Grace score.

"...One, five." Add her actual Grace of 5, and that's 6 and 10, pick better. "Thanks for the advantage, Dapple!"

I repeat her advice on tree surfing in my head like a mantra. Left foot lead. Let the moss absorb the heat. Dodge right if you have to dodge. My heart is pounding in excitement and anxiety as I look out on the branches ahead, trying to make sense of the path we might take... And then push it out of my head and focus on the bit right in front of me. And Dapple, and her ass, also right in front of me.

As you release Dapple's hand, she yeets forward, and her feet hit the moss sideways as she crouches and begins to slide.

For you, the sudden transition into different gravity; your animal brain wasn't expecting it. The direction you're suddenly accelerating in does not, at first feel like down to you, but you are Equal to the Task of keeping your balance. Just barely, you manage to correct without over-correcting, plant your feet, and, by seeing the angle of Dapple's body, leaned back in a way that would make no sense if she was actually sliding up a slope, your mind re-orients.

The wind in your hair. The smooth, predictable friction under your feet. The path you follow slithers like a serpent (metaphorically), crossing into and braiding itself together with other branches before splitting off again, truly unlike the anatomy of the mortal trees you only vaguely remember. It is always the thickest branch that Dapple follows, though, never straying onto smaller branches.

There is enough empty space here that you'd probably have to get unlucky to hit something even if you did slip off. The larger branches are distant, as you leave Glengate behind. The huge branch upon which the meadow sat is behind you. The city, though, you catch glimpses of it in the distance, though never in the same subjective direction twice.

Each time, you get a little better at adjusting. The low natural gravity is startling the first time you hurtle out of Dapple's gravity-shift, but the falling sensation just barely manages to be helpful rather than a hindrance, giving you 'air-time' to brace for the next reorientation. Which isn't always forward. Sometimes Dapple has you sliding at a shallower angle. Sometimes it's a twist sideways, setting you up for where you end up instead of where you are right at that moment. But every time, Dapple telegraphs the shift clearly enough that you succeed at following in her wake.

It takes ten minutes to reach the next crossroads, covering a distance of at least ten miles, probably more.

You come upon another small town, built around the ring formed by the end of what looks to be a very large hollow log that glows golden from within and below. As you orient to the consensus gravity of this place and begin losing speed as you slide gently down to meet it, Dapple slips onto one of several smaller branches that are narrow enough that the curvature under your feet gets a little precarious. Those thinner branches carry you both over the rooftops of the rim-town and out over the massive glowing pit.

"The next DC is only four. I think even Lisara auto-succeeds on that?"

She wants to stand and do surfing motions in time with her imagination about this! So she does.

"Yep! Five Grace. I'm a little bit reconsidering my stats but also, oh well just roll with it."

I whoop in glee, grinning and laughing at the exhilarating speed and the motions of the sport, wind in my hair and constant shifts like a roller coaster but, if anything, better.

Vanessa grins and giggles at the surfing motions.

The branch you're on gets thinner and thinner until it starts to sag under your weight, but Dapple rides it all the way to the end.

You both sail out into open air and begin to fall into the light-filled void below. You accelerate to near terminal velocity! But. You leave the consensus gravity zone as soon as you pass inside the giant hollow log.

Coasting on momentum alone, natural gravity all but absent, near to the inner surface of the hollow, your eyes adjust to the brightness.

You see webs and beads of light stretching across the hollow. You see fields. Like a reverse honeycomb. Raised hexagons, with canals between them. You see areas that resemble mortal farms, with concentric circles of crops. But most of what you see are hundreds of nude female figures encased in what look like mounds of honey, arranged around nodules of light so bright you can't make out details.

Dapple nudges you only slightly with one quick gravity-shift, toward what looks light a definitely-artificial canal that just runs in a straight line the full length of the hollow. You slide on orange slime, almost weightless, feeling your speed bleed off into the air-resistance. Dapple uses a gravity-shift to speed you both up again at the mid-way point,  then just lets you both coast the rest of the way.

You're going slow enough, that when you enter the consensus gravity of the other rim-town about four minutes later, you only fly up about a dozen feet before coming to a stop in mid-air and then dropping back down to land on one of several black rubber landing platforms that jut out of the boardwalk that overlooks the hollow log. You see more white wood carved into rounded structures, but this architecture has traded wearing black rubber bondage for lush green shibari, all lit up with golden crystal eggs. (Actually, so did the rim town at the opposite end of the log but I forgot to say that.)

You get friendly looks from the locals, Butterflies and Flowers who witness your arrival. As always, everyone you see is nude and has what is starting to become eerily similar fey beauty, but some of these townsfolk are wearing decorations such as ankle lace or floral sashes or strings of golden beads, things like that.

Dapple grabs your hand with a grin and leads you down a catwalk that crosses directly across to the outer radius of the rim. "C'mon. This way. "

"Do you do anything before you get to the next tree-surfing DC? It's going to eight. Dapple auto-succeeds so for you it'll just be Grace with advantage."

I'm looking around curiously whenever the path ahead does not require my full attention. I appreciate the almost star-like glow lights everywhere around here; I glance at what passes for fashion on display, but most of my attention is taken up by the lights and the architecture.

"I should have guessed that a whole new world would be this amazing..."

Two dice roll. "Fourteen."

The third leg of your journey begins on the outer rim of the hollow log where said log is wedged up into the fork between two world-branches.

Like the first leg, this course is made up of winding braids of moss-covered corded wood, but as you slide out into the vast boughs once again, it just so happens that, as natural gravity creeps back in, it happens to be pulling you softly down and forward during most of this part. You also, for the first time, successfully manage to avoid a head-on collision with a blue-haired Flower who streaks by you in the opposite direction, her nude body adorned with a leather backpack.

The smooth ride continues until you arrive at a small constructed platform made of white planks with a circle of black rubber benches facing inward.

Hmm.

"The next DC is twelve, but first, give me a Sanity Check. Not for the tree-surfing. For something else."

Dapple will roll Sanity that is for the next leg of tree surfing. 13! Advantage is maintained.

Oh, that might have been the delivery Flower - Startail? Or it could be any other random Flower with a backpack, though I think it's the first backpack I've noticed. But- No time to turn back and ask now!

"Sanity- Eight. Grace... Oops. Ten, even with advantage."

"Remind me if you have any Euphoria yet? Actually, let that keep for a moment. First..."

You pause for a moment on the cozy little rest-stop platform.

Dapple points out a larger mossy branch curving off from the platform to your left. "That's the way we'd go if we wanted to head back to the city, but to get to the Radiant Hollow from here, we need to go this way..."

As you cross the rest-stop platform, something catches your eye. Under one of the benches, you see, sitting on the ground, a steel dinner fork.

And, in this moment, you are sharp enough to have the thought: You're in a fairy space tree. Where could a metal utensil have come from?

"I don't."

-That's weird, wouldn't they make it out of wood or something. "Hey, Dapple, does one of the other two realms have metal in it? You mentioned there's two more, but I don't remember anything else about them."

I'll go pick up the fork and show it to Dapple, waggling it a bit. Then maybe set it somewhere more prominent, so if whoever lost it comes looking it's easy to notice.

The fork, you notice, has something tangled in the tines. It's not cloth. Its not hair. It's not very food-like. It's not quite anything you recognize, but this fork was probably in use when it was dropped.

Dapple returns to your side to take a look. "Oh! That's definitely tableware from the Last Revel. Hey, didn't Siren say that her friend Startail came through the portals? Startail isn't a Doll name but actually no one bringing baked goods through a portal would be coming from the Dark Forest. Let's hang on to that! It might be a clue."

"...Is it really so mysterious? Well, we can return it to uh... I forgot the names, but Startail's friends, later, if nothing else."

I clutch the fork in my hand; I don't think it will throw off my balance, I'm not really using my hands much when tree surfing. Though I do take a good close look. What kind of metal does it seem like, what color is the little bit of debris? Cotton or plant fiber of some sort, perhaps?

"Calling out that my game goblin sensibilities and my real life sensibilities are clashing. In real life, why would I keep a random fork? It's not mine, someone might be looking for it. In game it is, apparently, a clue. So I'm tryna compromise?"

"Well, you could just tell Dapple to carry it for you." 

"It's not Dapple's fork either! What is this, preschool? Finders-keepers?"

"It obviously belongs to the missing person you picked up a sidequest to find!"

Vanessa snickers.

"I mean, you don't know that, even if it is really obvious above table. What's that called, meta-gaming?"

The substance tangled in the tines of the fork, on closer examination, greatly resembles thin ribbons of clear latex, like someone put a condom through a very small paper-shredder.

"...Or attacked it with a fork. Ahem."

"...Huh. Do you think this could be - destroyed clothes, or bits of a bag? I don't want to jump to assuming there was some kind of fight - or accident? But... I have a bad feeling, I guess."

"It's very, very difficult to suffer permanent damage as a guest of the Starheart Lodge," Dapple says kindly. "Even in the worst case, Startail is almost certainly unharmed. She might be stuck, somehow, though..."

Dapple peers more closely at the fork.

Hmm. Actually, would Dapple recognize this? It's not exactly her expertise...

"Hmm. I'm not sure, actually. It's rubbery, but it really doesn't look like ambershade to me, so probably not?"

As she says 'ambershade' she gestures at one of the benches, at the black rubber you've seen used in the construction of various things along your journey.

"...Maybe we can show it to an expert, later. If there is such a person."

Dapple nods several times, and then, sensing your awkwardness at carrying the clue, takes it and sticks it in her hair.

She skips over to the start of the next mossy branch. "Keep going?"

"And since you did make that last roll before that whole conversation happened, I'll let you roll a fresh Grace check for the next leg of the journey, if you want."

"Feels like cheating. Besides, I want to fail at least once along the way, seems more aesthetic!"

Vanessa grins briefly. "Alright."

You ride the mossy branches into a dense thicket of the world-tree. The pink leaves press in, creating a midnight darkness. Scattered speckles of those bioluminescent golden flowers form a starfield that makes you feel a little like you're in deep space. On the scale of the world-tree, its a tight space, but on the scale of a person, it is still a vast cavern.

You can see a faint glow trailing Dapple's feet, the moss flaring up cyan blue just a little from the friction. But the cords of mossy wood are thinner here. Thin enough to wobble under your weight. Turns bend wider. Slopes bend faster. And watching Dapple's body telegraph the next gravity shift gets harder.

What happens next almost feels inevitable.

In the darkness, you misjudge a leap, land wrong, and your foot slips to the side. Your momentum jolts you into a tumble, and a last glimpse of Dapple flashes by as you drift out into space, continuing in a straight line as the course curves away. The feel of the air on your skin tells you that you're actually slowing down. You've lost track of which direction natural gravity is even pulling you, here, and you're not arcing obviously enough to tell which way you'll fall, yet, but it's weak enough here that you were surfing at well above your current terminal velocity.

You hear Dapple's voice call out, "Lisara! Hang on!"

And in the distant darkness, a gleam catches your eye in the direction you're drifting. Threads of reflected light rippling in and out of visibility, a small patch of discoloration spreading across an area of starfield bough.