32: Not-So-Secret
Eris hesitated outside the dorm room door, gave a little sigh, clutched the empty whiskey bottle in her hand a little tighter, then turned the key.
Yenni had vocalised her disapproval at Eris having set the runic alarm in the room for six in the morning, but ultimately grumbled and rolled back over to return to sleep. Yenni didn’t quite seem to notice that at some point during the night, Amber left the cuddle-pile the three had and went to sleep by herself in her own bed. Eris decided not to bring any attention to it- that was for Amber and Yenni to figure out on their own. She had other matters to attend to.
Entering back into her own dorm room, the very-early-morning light cast the faintest of illumination through the drawn curtains and revealed Bailey sitting up in Eris’s bed and turning to face the door. Wait, why was Bailey in Eris’s bed? Scratch that, Bailey was in her own bed and stirring at the sound, causing Eris’s eyes to widen at the sight of a taller female with a guilty look.
“Hey, Mango,” Jaxie said.
“Uhh, hi?” Eris froze. She rubbed her thumb over the glyph on the wall and made the runic light in the ceiling give off a faint glow- not fully on, just enough to let her see with relative comfort. As Bailey sat up in her own bed, Eris could see that she was dressed in skimpy but technically-modest sleepwear. Quickly piecing things together, Eris figured that Jaxie probably came over to see Eris shortly after she had gone on her little quest, and Bailey let her stay the night. Eris swallowed, steeled herself, then walked forward to hand the tank-top-clad Berserker the empty bottle.
Jaxie raised a curious eyebrow at the ink writing on the glass.
thanks 4 some fun! yenni & amber
“What’s this?”
“Proof that I’m more than capable of doing this myself.”
Jaxie’s brow furrowed. “Huh?” Eris tried not to wring her hands.
“I don’t need you holding my hand through all the sex stuff. Some help if I ask for it’s fine, but if I’m gonna do it with someone, I’m gonna be the one to do it. I don’t want you trying to set me up anymore.”
“Bailey knows,” Jaxie said solemnly. That made Eris blink in confusion.
“Uhh, yeah? She actually came up with the idea. On the topic, I’m gonna need one of those birth control potions...”
“Not that-” Bailey spoke through a yawn. She gave a leisurely stretch like a very content cat, then swung her legs out over the side of the bed so she could sit up properly. “I know you’re an Artificer.”
Eris’s blood froze in her veins. Every instinct told her to immediately deny everything. To say ‘Pfft, of course not! That’s crazy!’
The best Eris could manage was a wide-eyed; “Err- uhh, huh?”
Eyes flicked between Bailey and Jaxie, and the Berserker let out an uncharacteristically meek nod. “I’m sorry.”
“You… you told her?!”
Bailey immediately held up her hands to pause Eris before she could properly freak out, speaking quickly as she did so.
“It wasn’t her fault! I promise, it wasn’t her fault. Don’t get mad at her.”
Eris’s jaw bobbed a few times, truly at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Bailey sighed. “If you’re gonna blame anyone, blame me. She would’ve taken it to her grave if I didn’t drug her.”
That made Eris blink. “Wait, you drugged my girlfriend?”
Jaxie kept looking down with her guilty expression, and that alone was enough to make Eris’s heart twinge in her chest. Bailey lowered her hands back onto her thighs.
“It wasn’t anything serious, just some Infallible Fog so she would tell the truth when we talked.”
“… Why?”
Bailey slowly stood from the bed. “Because I thought that Jaxie was manipulating and emotionally abusing you into becoming a whore when you didn’t want to be one. I was just trying to help.”
Once again, Eris blinked a few times. “What? Jaxie wasn’t ‘emotionally abusing’ me!”
“Well I know that now...” Bailey shrugged. “But look at it from my perspective. My new roommate is super sweet and innocent, but has a really weird interest in becoming some kind of super-slut. Her girlfriend seems much more eager than she is, and is routinely setting her up with her best friend, then me, and then the new members of the girlfriend’s party after a single interaction. Then you pretty much end up on the verge of tears, getting really upset and asking why you had to be the whore. Like it or not, you were making it seem like Jaxie was forcing you into everything against your will.”
Eris could do little more than let her jaw hang open. Meanwhile, Bailey stepped up and gingerly reached out as if to see if Eris would pull away before gently placing a hand on the redhead’s shoulder.
“I’ll be the first to admit that what I did was objectively right but morally wrong. I couldn’t sit back and watch you completely fall apart. Now I see that she wasn’t the one forcing you into this stuff, it’s you being an Artificer of Lust and needing sex to become more powerful. All Jaxie was doing was trying to help you along. Granted- she was doing it at a pace far beyond what you were comfortable with, which is a different issue, but it’s clear that she loves you more than anything else and only wants what’s best for you.”
Eris’s eyes flicked over to the meek Jaxie. This expression was so unlike her- she was always wearing a grin or her resting ‘bitch-face’, so downturned eyes, sullen cheeks and lips pursed with guilt was something entirely new.
“Sorry for pushing you so hard. I had no right to determine what was best for you or to force you down that path. I failed to acknowledge your feelings along with the consequences of my own actions, and I promise to follow behind you from this point on instead of shoving you into whatever comes next.”
Huh. Eris raised an eyebrow, noticing that Bailey did the same. Both girls stared at Jaxie before Bailey spoke.
“Fuck, do you have a script or something?”
Jaxie shook her head, then sunk her shoulders. “I couldn’t sleep, so it gave me a lot of time to think about what I wanted to say.”
The three girls looked at each other. When her and Eris locked eyes, Bailey nudged her head towards Jaxie as if trying to remind the redhead that she had an obligation to respond. She was still confused and a little overwhelmed by the rapidly-developing situation, but Eris walked over to the side of her bed and leaned down to pull Jaxie into the tightest hug she could manage. She didn’t say anything- she didn’t need to. Eris simply wrapped her arms tight and enjoyed the feeling of Jaxie doing the same. She heard Bailey sit back down on the side of her own bed, making Eris twist her head to look over without breaking the hug.
“How much do you know?”
“Just the very basics,” Bailey shrugged. “You have a skill that lets you gain Desire from sexual acts, and you can spend it to make your skills stronger. That’s literally it. Jaxie really didn’t want to talk about anything else without you here.”
Eris sighed. She pulled away from the hug, but made sure to grab and hold Jaxie’s hand while she shifted to sit on the edge of the bed facing Bailey.
“May as well start from the top.”
It wasn’t long until Bailey had abandoned her spot on the edge of the bed and had instead moved the chair at her desk over to the center of the floor so she could sit a bit more comfortably. Other than a few small questions here and there, Bailey listened to every word like a model student enraptured with a teacher’s lesson. She even had a little notebook and was jotting down important bits here and there. Meanwhile, Jaxie was completely silent, sitting beside Eris and holding her hand while the Artificer took point on the explanation.
Eris decided it wasn’t worth holding anything back. After all, the biggest danger of the information was simply that Eris was an Artificer in general, so the specifics of everything else was mediocre in comparison. The Gifting, every single one of her skills, the Obelisk, everything came out. After twenty minutes, Eris bit the inside of her cheek while Bailey let out a quiet whistle.
“Wow, that’s a lot to unpack. The Obelisk is actually some kind of portal that could only be used by Artificers, who also used it as a prison?”
Eris raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s what you’re interested in?”
Bailey shrugged. “You’re an Artificer- big whoop. I’ve already known that for seven hours. Sure, you’ve got some real funky skills and you’re physically incapable of hurting literally anything, but this Obelisk business is really intriguing. A prison that was made with the souls of seven Artificers and a poison capable of putting a deity into a coma? I mean, how did they even get the recipe for it? The person who made the damned thing is condemned in the depths of Grihm for the rest of eternity for being a petty bitch.”
Eris sighed. “There’s a lot of things we don’t know. All we know right now is that it’s been stable for the last four hundred years and seems intent on staying exactly the way it is. Besides, the Obelisk isn’t even the issue. The real problem is that I’m supposed to get powerful enough to make items capable of destroying the Hollow entirely and we don’t even really know what it is.”
Bailey braced her elbows on her knees and furrowed her face in concentration as she thought. “All of the Seven, and all of their Echoes died simultaneously with no apparent reason in what we call the Sundering, and then the world starts getting consumed by a dark corruption that turns everything it touches into some kind of monster. The only real theories humanity’s come up with is that the Hollow was what caused the Sundering in the first place, and then started spreading after it killed everyone that could potentially stop it. The other theory is that it happened because of the Seven dying. A lot of people think that the Hollow is just the world decomposing since the Seven are all dead. After all, a person’s body decomposes when they die, so why wouldn’t the world do the same?”
For the first time in a while, Jaxie spoke.
“If either of those theories are true, how’s Eris supposed to do anything against that?”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Eris gripped Jaxie’s hand a little tighter. “You can’t exactly stop a body from rotting. You can delay it, but the only thing that’ll actually prevent it altogether is to make sure the person never dies in the first place. And if the other theory is correct that the Hollow was what killed the Seven in the first place, how am I supposed to have a chance of completely destroying it after it’s spread and consumed over eighty percent of the world?”
Eris gave a deep, defeated sigh and let go of Jaxie’s hand so she could bury her face into her palms.
“If one of those theories is correct, then that means I either have to resurrect the Seven from the dead or create a weapon comparatively powerful enough to kill every single one of the deities at the same time and hope it works on the exact thing that already did it.”
Bailey offered a sad smile. “No pressure?”
Unfortunately, Bailey’s seven-o-clock alarm went off and signified that the girls needed to start getting ready to go about their days. Jaxie still looked guilty when she gently nudged Eris’s shoulder.
“Are you up for a session? To get Desire?”
Eris smiled sweetly and grabbed hold of both the Berserker’s hands. “Jaxie, sweetie- I’m not mad at you. It was just you constantly trying to set me up with everyone making me feel inadequate for what I have to do. I will always be ready for you, whether we’re getting Desire or not.”
Of course, Bailey piped up as she strolled to her closet to get dressed. “If you want, I can join the session and give you some extra Desire. Every bit counts, right?”
Eris blushed and looked at Jaxie. She simply stared back as if to silently say ”Your choice.” Eris gave a shy nod.
“Sure. If Alex is okay with it, then you can join.”
“Alright,” Bailey grinned. “Well, why don’t we all go and head down to the Hub together? You said you meet up there for your sessions, so you can go and ask Alex if she’s cool with this, and I can make a pit-stop at my shop to manage my overnight brews. Then we can all swing back here for a good ‘ol morning foursome.”
Eris felt like her cheeks would combust, but she ultimately nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” She turned to Jaxie. “Did you want to get your toy?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Eris saw Bailey shift her head. “I’ve got plenty of toys here already, so you can take your pick if you don’t feel like bringing one over.”
Right. Forgot to mention that. Eris paused, then cleared her throat in an attempt to keep composure.
“No- it’s umm… I made a dildo and a strap-on harness for Jaxie. Everything else I’ve made is normal, but the dildo got a special enchantment because my sin is Lust and it’s… well, a dildo.”
Bailey raised an eyebrow. “You’re first level and you managed to put an enchantment on a dildo?”
“Not intentionally!” Eris blushed. “It just kinda happened on its own.”
“First level and accidentally placing enchantments…” Bailey muttered under her breath, then shook her head to refocus. “Alright, what kind of enchantment?”
“Well, first it has a stat boost providing a Minor bonus to Pleasure, which I guess is specifically because of my Lust and stuff. The actual enchantment lets the user feel some of the Pleasure from the person they use it on. If it’s hooked onto the harness, then it makes the person wearing it feel all the Pleasure through the strap-on like it were, you know… real.”
Bailey blinked several times, aghast. After a few moments, she seemed to shake her thoughts back into order. “I need to try that- like, right now.”
Eris blushingly smiled into her lap. “Ask Jaxie, it’s hers. She needs it so she can cum.”
That made Bailey pause even more effectively than the reveal of what the dildo did. “Huh?”
Both girls looked at Jaxie- Bailey for context and Eris to let the uncharacteristically-silent Berserker speak. Jaxie looked a little uncomfortable, just like when she first told Eris and Alex about the situation.
“Uhh, long story short, I’m a futa stuck in a female’s body. I’ve felt this way my entire life but the Gifting didn’t change me like I needed it to. I can’t even touch the pussy between my legs without feeling sick to my stomach because no part of me sees it as being mine, so the only time I’ve ever cum was when Eris gave me the dildo. That clear things up?”
Bailey gave an intrigued nod. “I see.”
To Eris’s delight, Jaxie did manage a small grin. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you fuck Eris with it though. Try it all you want.”
The three girls went about their morning business- Jaxie going back to her room to retrieve the magical strap-on, and the two crafters making a quick trip to the CDF. Alex was waiting patiently outside Eris’s shop. She went from panicked to blushing very quickly when Eris informed her that;
One: Bailey knew about Eris being an Artificer, and;
Two: She wanted to join this morning’s Desire gathering session.
With a red face but an excited expression, Alex agreed and the three girls went up to Bailey’s shop while she spent a few minutes going over some key steps. Eris couldn’t help but be awe-struck by the work of a higher-level Alchemist. Bailey’s laboratory was befit for someone of her level with temperature-regulating cauldrons, runic crucibles that could switch effortlessly between heating or cooling, and enough glassware in the form of beakers, boiling flasks and graduated cylinders that even a sturdy rock would be intimidated by how much was present for smashing. Meanwhile, she slipped on a pair of thick, green-lensed goggles presumably for protection (despite wearing a crop-top, short-shorts, and flip-flops) and went to business managing half a dozen in-process concoctions.
One, she piped out of a gallon-sized cauldron into a series of volumetric flasks that were quickly stored inside of a small fridge. Another was a dormant liquid in a beaker that started gently bubbling and hissing when Bailey dropped a few grains of powder inside. The weirdest was a wooden bucket holding a murky purple liquid, but not for anything about the concoction itself- it was the way that Bailey stirred it. Three quarters of a stir clockwise, then three full stirs counterclockwise, a straight cut across the center, and a repeat of that process two more times.
It was almost disappointing when Bailey pulled off the goggles, hung them back on a hook, then stepped over to one of the many racks of vials and spent a minute to store a few products that she seemed to have just finished. Eris was busy Inspecting the contents of one of the beakers, which turned out to be a kind of magic-resistance potion, when Bailey tapped her on the shoulder and smiled.
It was just a few minutes later when all four girls were stepping back inside the dorm room, with Alex blushing a lot more than the rest. Bailey offered a grin.
“Is this the part where we strip? I’ll start.”
With that, Bailey unceremoniously pulled her shirt up over her head and let her large breasts flop free. Eris saw the way both Jaxie and Alex’s eyes widen at the sight. After all, this was their first time seeing Bailey’s tits (as far as Eris knew), and the princess wasn’t stopping with her shirt. Once it dropped onto the bed behind her, her hands went right to the waistband of her shorts and slid them down her smooth legs along with her panties. Left in her full, naked glory, Bailey smiled. She even stretched her arms out above her head and arched her back to strike a pose for Jaxie and Alex who practically had their jaws on the floor.
“Ah, never gets old. Your turn.”
After Eris stripped herself down, it didn’t take very long for Jaxie and Alex to do the same. Eris was an inch and a half away from letting her blushing face connect with Jaxie’s in a kiss when Bailey chirped up.
“Wait a second. I’ve got something.”
Eris flushed and turned her gaze to the nude Bailey bouncing towards her closet, then reaching up towards the potion rack stored inside. She thumbed through a few options, which gave Eris plenty of time to admire Bailey’s amazing ass while the blonde stood on her tiptoes, until she eventually found what she was looking for. When she walked back over, she had two vials. The first was a familiar birth control potion that she handed to Eris.
“That’ll cover for anything we’re liable to do right now, as well as last night.”
“You’re sure?” Eris asked. Bailey nodded.
“Yep. The potion lasts for twelve hours, and during that time it makes a person completely infertile. It’ll take the baby right out of a guy or futa’s baby batter, and it’ll neutralize any fertilization of a female’s eggs. In fact, the potion’ll work until the eggs hit the uterine lining, so a girl can chug one of these down a week after getting laid and it’ll still protect her ninety-nine percent of the time. Any time within two or three days and getting knocked up is a statistical impossibility.”
Surprisingly enough, Bailey’s eyes locked onto Jaxie when she held up the other vial holding a thin, watery liquid. It was opaque like dark blue paint.
“This potion lasts for about twenty hours. During that time, it’ll function exactly as you’d expect it to, although you can’t get anyone pregnant with it. Go nuts.”
Jaxie’s eyes widened, and Eris cast a curious Inspect towards the vial.
Phallus Philter
Portions: 1
A vial filled with a well-crafted potion that temporarily changes a vagina into a penis. This potion has no effect on individuals without a vagina. Created by Bailey Geriege. Made from ejaculatory fluid from Naomi Vanleigh and Bailey Geriege, blood from Bailey Geriege, evaporated silver, troll urine, durma roots and water.
As if remembering something, Bailey turned her smile to Eris.
“Don’t worry- it was only a few drops. For the blood, at least.”
