Becoming Monsters: in the Mirror

This is still a noncanonical fanfiction to the Becoming Monsters series, by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

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Chapter 9: Choices, Choices

Whitney managed to drag Sarah away from her projects around 11. We all managed to catch some rest, though Lucy and I were delayed. Significantly. Ahem.

Saturday dawned cool, but it was the afternoon that held my interest. We all got dressed and out the door. I figured out fast that I wasn't the only one slipping treats to the yarrb, either, the laughs from that going up until the bus arrived. I dragged everyone out to the Quarry. An open pit, which used to be mined for stone. Nobody worked there these days, which made it ideal for what I needed.

"Okay, everyone here has new tools and trinkets. Couple of us have new abilities, too. This afternoon is for training up. If you think you can recover it in a day, I expect it to be used here."

Lucy understood immediately. She knew how I liked to run things, she helped me write them and stick to them when we were originally making them habits. We had made sure to charge the new shield charms and start charging my new Gold Battery before getting to sleep. The shields wouldn't solve everything, they could only hold enough juice for about five or six seconds of defense, but it was enough to give teammates the chance to peel aggressors off of our back row. She had another trick as well, her newest Rote, a Shield spell like the one she had used against the skirmisher. "I can take the time to improvise Heat Metal, I can't take time on the defense"

Whitney got to her warmups. Her sword moved entirely unlike normal weapons, and though she could and had ripped pylons out of the ground to bash people with, it was a thing she had to get used to. Within fifteen minutes, she asked us to throw occasional rocks at her to see if she could strike them out of the air. Might not have hit all of them, but enough flew like a home run derby that we were more than willing to call it a win.

Sarah started testing her new wand, apparently satisfied with its performance. Feeding it chips of her mana, she leveled it at various targets with wildly varying outputs. I couldn't tell what she was doing, but after each shot she examined it for the most minute details.

My practice... wasn't as pleasant.

"Remember when I mentioned that we were going to

discuss this further

?"

So, I was resistant to Fire, thanks to Mirror Shield and Lucy's own Flame Ray. She also knew how to downstep the blasts to beginner level, and that I now regenerated. This translated to us stepping about fifty feet apart and playing laser tag with jets of fire.

Lucy had another advantage. She could shield. I

had a shield

, which was not nearly the same. She also had a much, much deeper mana pool than me. Before long, Sarah and Whitney paused what they were doing to stare, to which Lucy reacted with a glare of her own, a blast of fire in their direction, and an emphatic "this is a PRIVATE discussion!"

It took about ten minutes before I had to tap out. Good grief. I did not

ever

want to be on the wrong end of that for real. I'd managed to tag her exactly once, but I was dotted with slowly-healing burns all over. One of those was in the front of my torso, if she had been firing for real I'd be dead or nearly so. Instead, I plopped onto the floor and got munching on protein while my regen did its slow work. Lucy sat beside me, all smiles. On occasion, one does need to get the mad out directly. Glad I could help. Glad it was done. "Feeling better, love?"

"Oh yes. Wasn't really mad anymore, but I just had to make sure I always follow up with that kind of promise."

Face, meet palm. I wasn't going to object, I asked for the training after all, but ow. I wasn't done, either, but what I would be doing with Sarah and Whitney would not require my significantly-depleted mana.

Or... so I thought.

"Hey! Looks like we're not the only ones who like to practice here!"

Really? Really. I wasn't expecting peace, but I didn't want to be practicing in front of George and his guildies.

"And it looks like they're adding another person, another Demon."

The last bit was from someone I recognized. The third of yesterday's trio, the one who wasn't likely laid out in bed today, who had not been on the wrong end of a

Shield Against Shadows

striker. He was outside of Scan range for the moment, but dressed in hardened leather with a rapier at his side. Not one of those fencing foils, either.

George frowned at him. "Not our business, Mike. They're under contract."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. And you know what? I think they're bluffing. Overstating their abilities." He pointed. "Mr. Guild Leader Demon over there didn't do any showing off, either. Wonder what he's like to lead this bunch?"

I sighed. "George, you said he needs practice? Fine, if you've got weapon padding or a healer I'm game. Hope you understand I'm not going to show off everything I've got, a guy needs to keep SOME secrets."

Lucy muttered next to me "yeah, I don't see any convenient bedrooms around here anyway." We all laughed, down in the quarry, and Mike thought it was about my line. As the

Golden Age

folks handed out weapon padding, I surreptitiously activated the half-charged Gold Battery. It wasn't even close to a full charge, even for me, but I felt much, much more comfortable afterwards. Some of the mana in it was Lucy's originally, it almost felt like she was giving me a hug.

"Alright! Terms of the duel are to go to unconsciousness, tap out, or 50% health! Stay on the rocks, boundary is the quarry! Do not kill your opponent! Other than that, all's fair! Ready?"

I was starting at 75% health. Bit of a handicap.

"Begin!"

The padded rapier was out and coming at me before the echoes could get back to us, clanging off my hastily-raised shield. He reacted quickly, dodging my first couple of short sword strikes, forcing a couple of surprisingly painful defenses, and meeting my third attack... which he decided was a bad idea immediately and got some distance. This particular pace wasn't going to tire me out, but I figured I'd check his reaction to known abilities.

He danced around the first couple of Flame Rays, but actively deflected the third. His sword glowed for a bit when he did, so I decided to take a chance on it. I motioned the same way as the last couple of rays, but this time threw my latest acquisition. I cast Combat Disenchant.

The sword did not explode into a million pieces or shed components, but the glow went out like a snuffed candle. My next cast was the old reliable Lightning Net, and much to his surprise when he dried to deflect it the net caught him cleanly. With a mighty beat of my wings, I closed the gap between us and clocked him on the side of the head with the padded sword. There really wasn't enough juice left in the pool to do it with magic.

He tumbled into a heap, much like his friends had. Lucy was right, this one was

very

satisfying.

"Kinda glad you didn't make any bets this time. Duel completed!"

The kid... Mike... sat up slowly. I offered him a hand up, which he took. "You're acting dependent on an enchantment. Gotta stop, you won't always have it and it can be denied." Sarah looked a bit irritated at me for saying that. I'd apologize to her later. "I lead this group as a Tank out of necessity, and variety support caster by preference. I'm also the tactician, planner, and logistician, and always have been for my guild. Please respect that I know what I'm doing, at least well enough for your Guild Leader to approve contracts with me and mine."

George clapped, then laughed a few times. "Surface Hunters were always an odd breed! Nobody in

Golden Age

even tries to wear that many hats! Think your folks will be able to hack it in the Labyrinth?"

"At least as long as your folks will! Wouldn't have put up the sign otherwise. Ladies, let's go. I know they have some training to do, and we need to get some preparing done tonight."

As we walked out of the pit, we heard George starting to lead his people in warmup drills. I might have talked a good game, but the direct facts were that I only did that well because I was up against one of their juniors. Their third string, or at best bottom of the second. Once George himself was back up to full form, he would likely be able to wipe the floor with the four of us at once. I had to get better. Just as much as I needed the ladies to.

The bus was slow during the day, traffic getting in its way. Sarah seemed deep in thought. "Copper for your thoughts? You look like you're contemplating the secrets of the universe."

She shook her head. "Not this time. Just noticed you used my main trick out there. But... you need to get better at it. That sword was shoddy, it looked like a practice piece they handed out as a crutch to help someone level. Remember I mentioned that the batteries could be made from Copper and Silver? Well, they won't help me level anymore, but I think they'll help

you

. Suits me just fine, levels don't give me most of my abilities."

I gave it some thought on the way back. The first half of what she said was true enough. I needed the boost, and those would do for at least a bit. The last sentence was the problem. High-leveled Enchanters were exceedingly rare, but her particular brand of it could very well help in person if it came down to it. That meant I needed her to keep up, and

that

meant she couldn't just sit on her heels and tinker or make toys. For now, what she wanted to do aligned with what we badly needed. Give it a week, and it would no longer be the case. I'd have to deal with the discrepancy by then.

Home was subdued. We all had more preparation to do. Whitney had to be taught how to put her latent mana into our batteries or charms. Her whole pool was barely enough to register, but it was more than zero and she wasn't using it otherwise. Sarah was finishing more projects. Batteries, components, and a couple of things that looked like chokers. Plus a basic pine wand for the Sorceress to have as a holdout weapon. Lucy had to plan and rest, and I had to make sure we were on the same page about what she needed to look out for. Specific reagents we needed, monsters I needed to know about, and

Golden Age

tactics and capabilities that she'd have eyes on.

George was cool, but I had a sour taste in my mouth about the rest of them I'd met.

Thing is, George had been absolutely correct about Surface Hunters being a different breed than pure Delvers. Up top, the hard part was tracking down the problem and eliminating it with ruthless efficiency. The faster the better, to keep them from harming bystanders and terrain. Resource management wasn't an issue, you had one target and that was that. Surface hunters, as a result, tended to be under leveled and heavily focused on mobility and offense. Underneath, though, it could go for a long time. Dumping your mana pool in the first two fights meant you were useless for the other dozen you might face.

At the end of the day, there was one more detail we had to discuss. A more delicate issue, given how we had spent the last half hour of our evening. "Love, I can see directly that you are about to run out of Hunger. You need to feed, badly, either tonight or tomorrow. If you get injured Below, you are going to risk going feral." She... didn't like that. At all. She never did. "You options are to either ask our houseguests, go to the Red Lights again, or try to get a refill from a neighbor on a Sunday. Two out of three of those risk not working."

Her pout was cute, but not helpful. It took a while, but she relented. She would need to have sex, with someone other than me, in the next 24 hours. For my part, I wouldn't need to feed for a long while if I didn't want to. The sheer amount I had been getting recently had my levels higher than almost any point since the Change.

With a resolved look, she suddenly stood, and strode out of our bedroom. I figured I'd let her be, but I could hear from both of the others that she was bound and determined to get done. She came back less than ten minutes later, looking like the cat that got into the cream then found out it was soy milk. Her Aura, at least, was showing stronger. We cuddled, and slept well.

I woke up a hair earlier than usual, still holding her. It was nice to just be like that, her peaceful breathing in my arms, the faint sounds of the city barely waking up outside. It helped. My brain was still trying to go in too many directions at once, recent ability gains had given it some extra juice but not a whole lot of extra ability to focus. I was trying to balance the one day of peace I could actually get my hands on against the need to prepare for an uncertain future and a contrary one demanding that I find a way to get us away from danger. It had been a long week.

Still, no matter how comfortable a handful of boob and an armful of wife were, it was still a new day dawning. She didn't wake up as I got up, she needed it and I intended to let her have the rest. Coming out to the living room was a very different kind of surprise. Whitney was laid out on her cot, quite nude and facedown. Sarah, in only underthings, was apparently giving her a massage the likes of which the amazonian Berserker had never remotely had in her life.

"... yeah, riiiiight up here, bit north of your wings, those muscles are super tense. Probably from the sword work yesterday. You need to stretch better, that had to be hurting." Sarah was really leaning into the muscle group bridging her shoulders to her wings, moving up to the traps and shoulders. Whitney was moaning in a very thorough mix of pleasure and pain, panting like she was sprinting when Sarah let up. The smaller demoness placed a finger on a spot on the spine, just beneath the wings, and apparently found something. Her hands made an odd cupped shape, she tensed herself, and suddenly thrust down into the joints. Whitney's back cracked so loudly that it sounded like a tree falling over, and she lay limp. Even her wings were splayed out on the ground.

Sarah stood, looking understandably smug. She reached down and put on that hoodie, turned to look at me, and simply said "the bodies of the Races are some of the most complex and fascinating magical constructs in existence," as if that explained everything. We went to the kitchen to get the day started.

I got an idea, as I put on the coffee and pulled out the milk. "You think you can do that for Lucy? It's been a bit stressful around here. She could use it."

Sarah looked at me like I was a pre-schooler trying to figure out which end of the pencil was the right one. "After what she came out and did last night? I'd run a marathon for a lotto ticket with that as the prize."

I decided not to ask. I could directly feel both of their Auras, after all, and both were lower by a solid margin than last night. Twenty minutes later, Sarah won the lottery.

It took me about ten seconds of describing what I saw to Lucy for her eyes to absolutely light up. In the last four years, we had tried to find a masseuse multiple times. All three of them had ended with the person in question attempting to take improper liberties with my wife, one of these three attempted to be forceful until she literally burned down his studio in self-defense, so one of the simpler indulgences of our Pre-Change times had dropped off.

Lucy was gloriously nude perhaps a minute after, laying facedown on the cot after Whitney got up. It was sometimes easy to forget how amazing her rear end was when she was facing towards me so much, I was rather appreciative of the view. So was Sarah, who was back to bra and panties, already breathing hard as she looked closely. I could tell she was doing her best to plan, but her concentration was being very sorely tested. Considering what we had recently seen that concentration do, that was saying something.

She started normally enough, warming my wife up with light pressure coming up her back. Though Lucy did not possess the wings that most of her kind did, her back had a lot of the muscle for it and was always tense from supporting her amazing breasts. Sarah's hands found many, many spots of tension and soreness, my wife's panting and moaning growing moment by moment. Her shoulders visibly relaxed under Sarah's ministrations, and the panting turned to high-pitched vocalizations of approval as she worked her way down those arms, putting deep pressure into the tendons of the wrist and hand.

Lucy could barely keep herself still when Sarah moved to her amazing hips and rear, digging down into the juncture where her tail was supported by her torso, then up its sinewy length. I knew how sensitive she could be there, and Sarah worked the spade tip directly. The Succubus writhed as her masseuse worked her way down her shapely legs, working the stabilizers that gave her gait that hip-swinging and hypnotic quality. Her feet popped like miniature firecrackers as the toes and arches were realigned.

Then she rolled over. As great as the view from behind was, it couldn't come close to this. Sarah worked her way slowly back up my wife's legs, the muscles of the thighs giving way to her ministrations. Lucy's hips could flex more than a Human's, Sarah's hands pushing deep into the dexterous muscles within her pelvic cradle. Her eyes snapped open at the sensation, even I hadn't realized those would get sore like any other. Next came her sides, and then her spectacular chest. Lucy's pectoral muscles were carrying a proud burden, and those huge breasts were made from firmer and more resilient stuff than most of humanity. Sarah's hands sunk in deep, her face became rapturous joy, as she found stressed muscle underneath and released it. My wife's face soon matched it.

There wasn't much after that. Some work on Lucy's delicious neck, which had extra work supporting her horns. Some light pressure to her temples. It was done, and nobody in the room could seem to move.

Whitney was the first to speak. "Someone please tell me you got that on video. I was straight until this week, but that is way behind me now."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, getting myself back under control. The room was absolutely full of lust right now, focused on my wife, but if I didn't get my own in check that direction would change. I'd be buried under the ladies, and right now that could be dangerous for all three.

No matter how pleasurable it might be, said the little devil on my shoulder.

I instead walked back to the kitchen and my much-cooled coffee, thought about golf, and willed my blood back up to my brain. The others came and joined me some time later, the waffles more like a brunch by the time they did. "Alright! I'm calling today a rest day. Lucy, you will spend no mana unless you're at a hundred. I'd tell you to stretch and prepare, but I think that part is done." Both she and Sarah smiled. "Sarah, how much of our equipment is going to be safe for her to carry at once?"

Sarah thought. "The battery, wand, and one of the shield charms. Second identical one might interfere."

I nodded. "In that case, I want to make sure it is as charged as we can get it today. Sarah, Whitney and I will empty our pools into it before bed. Sarah, today is your day to experiment on those theories. Let me do the disenchanting on any rejects, I need the practice. Whitney, are the wings fully functional or just for sprinting?"

She was quiet. I was patient. I eventually won. "I can fly, theoretically. I'm just bad at it, so it's more like a super jump." She seemed embarrassed.

"Trust me, I get the feeling. Mine pull from my Hunger pool, so I don't get much practice. Still, since I know you probably won't enjoy being cooped up, and since you can easily survive an oops, I'd like for you to take a walk from rooftop to rooftop today. I do it on occasion, and being able to take the high road when you need to is going to serve you well. Last thing. Sarah, if you could do any one project, anything at all, what would it be?"