Becoming Monsters is the creation and property of Ai Loves, setting used with permission.
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Chapter 2: Feast and Famine
Todd recovered much, much faster of the two in that room, was dressed and on his way to dinner by the time Jem had even gotten her towering form moving properly, much less properly dressed again. It was crazy. Completely insane. SUCCUBI didn't do that to her, male or female. How did this little level one twerp not only pull a full reverse on her best curse, but also completely and utterly sexually wreck her?
All Jem knew was that she would willingly crawl over broken glass to feel that again. Moreover, the terms of her mission for the next two weeks meant that she would be throwing herself at him, at every opportunity.
And let's face it, I probably would be with or without the compulsion.
As she rose and wrapped herself in her robe and Witch's hat, she noticed the altered perception of the room. The angles were different, everything was sharper and better-defined. The robe felt smaller... and rougher. It didn't reach quite as far down her thighs as before. A glance at the clock on her desk told her she had an hour and a half left of this. This... amazing state. One more thought occurred to her as she was reaching for the door.
He is LEVEL ONE. What is he going to be like when he gets some actual Class Progress on him? This, I gotta see... and so does every woman on this campus.
Todd, for his part, was in a state of shock of his own. Difference was, his autopilot was better. Halfway to the cafeteria, and he was halfway convinced that he had dreamed it all somehow. Losing his virginity? To JENNIFER LYONS of all people? No way. But the Status screen doesn't lie, it can't, and that screen told him he was more than halfway to level two after seeing zeroes there for three years.
Still dazed, he got quietly in line to wait for the doors to open. It wasn't long, he didn't get there quite as early as he typically would. Standing between a cute Slime girl and the most frat bro Minotaur he had ever seen, he contemplated life a bit. Data. Statistics. Math. He was good at that. What can you do when you get a data point like
that
, though?
The doors opened. The line wasn't long, most of the students would be arriving over the next couple of days, so it went quickly. The food was better than he expected, the variety much greater than he thought he'd find. Then again, given the extreme variety of Races, it made sense. A Workshop Elf who found anything healthier than hot cocoa to be deadly poison and a Protogen who needed extra silicates in their diet would not likely want the same things.
Salisbury Steak, gravy and rice, glass of water, some soup. Try not to get run over by the Troll who was rushing to the Raw Milk line. Like so many school meals since the Change, he found a quiet corner to sit and eat. In the peace, he decided to take a moment to do some people-watching. Always a fun time, especially when the people in question were in a new situation.
There were tables set up full of information pamphlets, students awkwardly shuffling around to find things that were relevant to them. Behind the tables sat an array of faculty, staff, and returning students just as bewildering as those going to them. Humans and angels. Red Birdfolk and an Otter in a lab coat. Someone who looked like a mass of tentacles with an eye in the middle. Someone else who gave the impression of being a two-dimensional blot of blackness.
It was with a sense of shock that he noticed Jennifer... Jem... walking around. Still slightly but noticeably bigger and curvier than before, her robe not reaching quite as far. It was real. She was going from group to group, finding all the little cliques and gatherings, seeing which she could infiltrate or dominate. At one such stop, a small bunch of Slime and Beastfolk women looked his way.
This... didn't seem particularly safe. Exciting, yes. Safe, no.
Todd got a bit nervous, and decided it was a good time to return his tray and make a lap of the tables, himself. The people who were hitting them before eating were going to get their food, the people who decided to eat first generally weren't moving yet. It would be quick. Todd was... well, when it came to things he might or might not need, he was a severe pack rat. Blame the RPGs.
Pamphlets and pages. Cards and call rosters. Trinkets and coupons. Even a job listing around campus, just in case. One bag open, one of everything he could get his hands on went into it. He shook hands, he tried to learn faces and names. There were only two tables he was turned away from. The two local Orders, a concept merging Fraternity and Sorority around a common cause.
Alpha-Omega took in specifically Angelic and Demonic Races, along with analogous ones which derived from spirits and the like. Theta-Delta took in Beastkin, Shapeshifters, and Werebeasts. Neither was interested in Todd the Human, so it seemed the Frat Life would not be open to him here. At least not for now. Todd wondered for a bit what the two would do if they saw a Kitsune, a spirit shapeshifter. He was relieved that it wasn't his problem to solve.
The tables would be there the next day. He decided to take his new stack of materials and get some initial reading done. He was thinking with Class Features, knowing he could trust himself to be able to recall any of it he really needed to, once he took it in. That he'd be able to start correlating things by the end of the weekend.