Left to themselves, Alburet looked around, “We could go back to soloing for a bit.”
“Or we could go home, have dinner and a relaxing bath. Mayhap a massage then climb into bed,” Stacia said as she sandwiched him with her two bodies.
Bob let out a wolf whistle, “Option three, take the imp with.”
Face palming, Alburet shook his head, “That is never an option, Bob. I don’t do imp.”
“That’s fine as long as she does,” Bob winked at Stacia. “You know Stacia, they say once you go imp…”
“Goodnight, Bob,” Alburet cut him off with exasperation.
“Spoilsport,” Bob muttered before he vanished.
“Hunting tomorrow, master?” Tiny asked.
“Yeah. Karen will be here tomorrow instead of Fluff. Gerald and Marysue should join us in the afternoon, as well.”
“He is a good protector,” Tiny rumbled before he also vanished.
“Wait, did he just compliment Gerald?” Alburet muttered.
“Aye, me thinks he sees the same in Gerald as himself. Complete devotion to guarding another,” Stacia replied as Alburet dismissed the copy of her.
“Well, Kitten, you ready to go home?”
“With ya, master, anywhere is home. But I do look forward to tha’ bath. Just one thin’- do ya want food first, ya bath first or perhaps me?” With a wink she vanished, having used her Homestone.
Alburet paused, chuckling for a moment, “I wonder where she picked up that line. Oh well, time to go make the hard choices.”
He appeared before the house, with the rain coming down hard. He scurried into the house, already dripping from the short time he was outside. As he entered the house, he saw the line of wet leathers and clothing Stacia had been wearing that led to the bedroom. “Well, that answers that,” he smirked as he began to do the same, stripping as he made his way to the washroom where he could hear the shower running.
Waking the next morning, Alburet found Stacia in the kitchen, with meat on the stove sizzling away. “Morning, Kitten. What are you making today?” Alburet asked as he wrapped her up from behind, nuzzling her neck.
“Steak and eggs, iffin ya do nay distract me into burnin’ the meat,” Stacia whispered to him as she ground her ass against him.
Giving her bust a quick squeeze, he released her and stepped away. “Don’t want to ruin your cooking, Kitten,” he replied with a smirk at her disappointed sigh from being released.
“Then go get ya shower in, so ya don’t tempt me to leave the food cookin’ to drag ya to the floor,” she mock growled at him as she looked over her shoulder at him.
Blowing her a kiss, he went and did as she suggested, coming back out to the front room just as she set plates on the table. “See, tha’ be good timin’, though I was all for leavin’ the steak for a ready sausage.”
“You surely live up to being a succubus, Kitten,” Alburet chuckled before taking a bite of perfect, medium rare steak.
“Thank ya master, it be nice to be complimented,” Stacia grinned at him.
Shaking his head, Alburet enjoyed the perfectly cooked steak, still amazed at what had transpired for him in the short time he’d been here. After they finished their meal and washed the dishes they got ready to head out for the day. The guild icon started flashing.
Karen:
Hey, I’m on and wanting to go kill some gnolls, anyone want to come?
Stacia:
Sounds good to us. Meet you at the portal guild in a bit. It sounds like rain today so you might want to grab an umbrella.
As she put the Guildstone away a crash of thunder rumbled overhead. “Maybe today I won’t get as soaked,” Alburet chuckled as he pulled out his pink umbrella. He locked the door as Stacia opened her blue umbrella. Arm in arm, the couple walked through the rain towards the portal guild. Alburet noticed how much emptier the streets were than normal. He mentally shrugged, figuring people here didn’t like to get drenched any more than they did on Earth.
When they got to the portal guild, Karen was already there and chatting amiably with three guys. “Sorry guys, the guild leader is here. Got to go do guild things, you know how it is,” Karen said.
“How do we join?” The tallest one, who had a shield asked.
“Are you part of the immersion testing group?” Alburet asked.
“Oh, come on, they only invited like friends and family to that. Nobody outside of the select few are really getting into that,” one of the others cut in to say.
Karen laughed, “Wrong. I got invited in and I don’t have friends or family with Mindblown. It was dependent on the survey they sent out to beta testers.”
“I filled out that survey,” the tall one added. “I still didn’t get an invite.”
“They only picked a few hundred from what I’ve heard,” Alburet shrugged. “They’ll pick up more people a month or two down the road, I would bet.”
“Still, how are you going to find out who is or isn’t in?” The third guy asked.
“I won’t be completely sure, but it will become obvious after a few days. The pods have an automatic eject if you try to go past a full day in them at the moment, so it won’t be hard to tell.” Alburet replied, holding up a hand, “Anyway, aren’t taking more people into the guild until after the test starts up, sorry.”
The tall guy shrugged, “Well then. Maybe next month I’ll be seeing you. Good hunting to you.” The other two mumbled goodbyes then the trio of guys headed for the stairs.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” Karen muttered. She looked at Alburet, “We good for gnolls?”
“Should be. Gerald and Marysue should be on in a few hours, so we can pick them up to hit the camps. Until then we’ll have to prowl for singles.”
“Here I was thinkin’ ya had given up tha’ pastime, once ya got me,” Stacia mock pouted at him with twinkling eyes full of mischief.
“Well, a man with my stamina needs a few women to keep him satisfied,” Alburet shot back without thinking.
Karen ran a hand across the back of his neck, “Oh really?”
“So ya do be wantin’ a harem then, asthore?” Stacia added quickly.
Face palming, Alburet sighed, “I yield, ladies, I yield. I spoke without thinking. Please have mercy.”
Karen pouted, “Teasing isn’t very nice.”
“Says the woman who teased me vigorously when we met, as I recall.”
Stacia giggled, “Ya recall complimentin’ me on me nature this morning’, asthore?” When Alburet nodded, she continued, “I will nay object to havin’ others join us, it be part of me nature. I know ya have reservations about it though, so for now it be just us. Iffin ya want to expand later I be more than willin’, okay?”
Karen began to smile, “If he does Stacia, let me know.”
With a deep sigh Alburet shook his head, “We going hunting today?”
Karen took the arm Stacia wasn’t on, “Of course. Today we are hunting Summoners…” she said with an Elmer Fudd voice.
“Rabbit season,” Alburet muttered as he started walking them towards the stairs.
Stacia looked a bit confused, “Why do we be huntin’ Summoners?”
They said hello to Kim on their way past while Karen tried to explain the idea of the Looney Toons to Stacia. Stacia was still frowning when they reached the portal room. She was nodding though by the time they reached the edge of the woods. “So it be like a hand puppet show of silliness,” she finally nodded.
“Close enough,” Alburet said to stop the conversation, as he had already summoned Tiny and two Bobs. Knowing that they would be tackling only a single gnoll at a time for now, it made sense to up the damage instead of having two succubi.
As they started into the woods, Tiny took the lead. They soon found the first trail and settled into wait for the first patrol. They fell into the pattern they had used before, with Stacia Dazing the gnoll so they could surround it. Then Alburet would hit it with his axe full of flames, killing the spores on its back. Finally, Tiny grappled it so the others could attack with impunity. After the dead gnoll was looted they would move off to the next ambush point and repeat the process.