Interlude 3, part 2

There is an important distinction to be made between enticing an animal to like you, and convincing an animal to obey you. Snow was unparalleled in the former, which meant that she was never wanting for bestial companionship. The rats of Barovia has marshaled to her defense without even being asked, and probably wouldn't have pushed her into the woods if they had realized the wolves might hurt her. Unfortunately, she had almost no skill at getting creatures to do anything they didn't want to do.

"Oh stop that! You know you can't hurt any of us, growling just makes you seem disagreeable."

The wolf, which Gil had named Blackpaw, was pawing at the ice box. He was trying to retrieve the smoked goat meat within. Anyone who approached was met with fierce growling and the most vicious bites that he could muster. Of course, Blackpaw was limited to light nips that didn't break the skin, so the effect was somewhat spoiled.

"If you want a snack, you will behave yourself!" Snow reprimanded, "or else you won't get anything when we all eat together!"

She jabbed a spoon at the wolf, purely for emphasis. Snow might have had a chance with a more civilized creature, but Blackpaw was completely without shame. He'd lived his whole life within a macho parody of a real wolf pack, where the slightest infraction would be met with savage reprisal. Once Blackpaw realized that Snow wouldn't strike him, he dismissed her as a threat. Once he dismissed her as a threat, there was no chance he'd be obedient.

Gil wasn't sure if this would work out, but preferred to hold onto Blackpaw for the moment. He wasn't very obedient… or intelligent… or even particularly strong in the grand scheme of things. However, Blackpaw would serve adequately as a furry cannonball that could be launched at any kind of enemy. He wasn't incredibly powerful, but then again very few creatures could completely ignore an angry wolf.

Relatively speaking, anyway. There were universes that contained planet sized populations of people that had somehow evolved abilities that qualified them as superheroes among humans. In his first life, Gil himself had been able to magically blend into shadows and regenerate from minor injuries as long as he was exposed to moonlight. He'd managed to negotiate those abilities back more than once, usually when going to settings where minor superhuman abilities were common. Shame he wasn't allowed to keep them for this test.

••••••••••

Ireena still didn't quite trust Gil by day 4, and he couldn't really blame her for that. If he didn't have ulterior motives, he wouldn't have enough motives to justify waking up in the morning. He found one thing that he could do with Ireena: train. She wasn't an incredible warrior, but at the moment she had more formal training than Gil did.

They moved slowly, practicing the fundamentals together while Rose watched and coached them. Rose had been raised from birth in all of the traditional requirements of being a Barovian noble heir, which meant she'd received as much training as Ismark. Occasionally she'd possess Gil, and the difference in skill was incredible.

When he was possessed, Gil couldn't help but toy with Ireena. She was borderline incompetent with the blade, and she needed to understand that fact. For her own safety, if nothing else. If he'd wanted to, he could have swept her leg and pinned her down easily with his superior size and strength. As it was, he could disarm her within seconds even while following proper dueling protocols. From there, he could have done anything he wanted to with her slim, toned body. Anything at all. Any other assailant with even modest training could do the same.

It was only after Rose detached from him that Gil really considered what he had been thinking. Sure, he hadn't actually done it, but somehow having Rose sharing his body made him seriously consider pinning Ireena down, ripping off her clothes, and having his way with her. That gave him a devilish idea.

That evening, he asked Rose to possess him again. Ostensibly it was so that he could watch his own movements as he did a few katas. He had no intention of doing that. Instead, when he felt the subtle surge of aggression from the ghost, he took Snow by the wrist and pulled her to his tent.

"Bed, now." He growled. "You're going to earn your keep, maid."

Snow was startled, but accepted easily enough. It was, after all, in her job description. The princess hopped up and followed him to his small tent. They laid together on the bedroll, and Gil pawed at every inch of his maid. It was thrilling, naughty, forbidden, and intoxicating. He kissed Snow on the neck, then bit her earlobe just hard enough to leave a mark.

The part of him that Gil had trained to watch himself noted that he usually preferred letting his girls do the work. Not this time; Gil relished stripping the black and white maid uniform from Snow and ravishing her. There was no delicacy, or lead up. His maid was there for his pleasures and he used her as such. He thrust into her needy little snatch, pounding her into the ground.

He loved every moment. He wanted to kiss every inch of Snow's body, squeeze and bite her breasts until they bruised, and demand that she clean him with her tongue, all at once. When Rose left, she fled immediately from the small tent the moment she realized what she had done. Gil chuckled, and cuddled in close to the spent young Snow. She had a dazed expression, but not at all a displeased one.

••••••••••

Rose avoided Gil for much of the next day, which he found amusing. He was fairly sure that Rose's possession operated by layering her personality and desires over another person's. They would meld together, reinforcing one another in some places and canceling each other out in others. Hardly the most powerful form of possession he'd seen, but it had a lot of potential. For example, a total stranger would have few if any opinions about Gil, and thus would see him as a companion when possessed by Rose.

It also revealed that Rose was, at minimum, bisexual. Possibly even a lesbian, given her reaction when Gil tried to go in for the kiss. It wasn't ideal for him, but knowing that would allow him to plan around it. She seemed somewhat repressed about it, but that could be addressed. Gil would be perfectly happy with a ghostly lesbian wingwoman, and if she was (or could be arranged to become) bisexual? Even better.

He had high hopes that she might refine her abilities. Certain actions, like refusing to kiss Gil as Snow, tired her out far more quickly than others. The more she made her host act out of character, the more quickly they would expel her. If she could maintain more sense of self and focus her energy onto key topics, Rose might someday be able to turn just about anyone into a sleeper agent.

Gil decided not to push her too hard just yet. She actively avoided discussion of that scene, and he was ok with that for now. If she'd decided to completely stop possessing him or Ireena, that would have been a different kettle of fish entirely. Thankfully, Rose seemed to genuinely enjoy merging with the living members of the retinue, Gil included.

At one point, she'd even taken over Snow in order to spar with both Gil and Ireena at once. It was at least a close fight, unlike the others, with Rose narrowly beating both of them. Of course, after that Snow had just about collapsed; Rose had overclocked the poor girl's body to bring it in line with her own living capabilities. That was probably one of the worst injuries for the week. Gil and Ireena had needed to cook, since Snow couldn't even stand.

They had all brewed a pot of healing tea, and agreed to dial back on sparring. Ireena and Gil had each accumulated dozens of small welts and bruises as well, since they didn't exactly have proper training swords. They'd made due with wrapping the swords in several layers of cloth, blunting the edges substantially. Instead, they pulled out the deck of Tarokka cards from the Durst hunting room and played a few hands.

••••••••••

Gil, like many successful beta testers and few successful field agents, was a bit impulsive. He got bored playing cards after a few hours, especially against only one person. With Snow still out of commission, he decided to finally commit to spending a few credits. He couldn't buy Rose's magic, which he would have if given the option. Instead, he opted for a cheaper and more pragmatic choice.

Money Changer (2 credits): A skyblock extension which includes a counter where you can change currency from one type to another with minimal loss of value. This is based on a complex set of calculations to assess the relative buying power of the currency in its native setting. As such, currency from a world with plentiful and easily purchased resources is typically worth more. You may also convert credits from one type to another, at a loss.

When Gil pressed the button on his tablet, the skyblock shuddered. All three of the living residents clung to the nearest furniture as the world shifted. Tens of thousands of tiny particles formed a cloud around our tiny floating island, caught in a howling wind. Over the course of several minutes, the dust coalesced into a new cube, similar to the one they were sitting on. Fifty foot, by fifty foot, by fifty foot.

Once the shaking stopped, which had really been more alarming than actually dangerous, Gil was the first to inspect the new expansion. Instead of a small grassy field and a tree, the new block was topped by a clean white marble floor shot through with gold veins. It reminded Gil of nothing so much as a bank. On the center of the marble platform, a 3 foot by eight foot countertop formed from the coalesced particles. Three plates, two gold and one silver, sat quietly atop the counter.

Gil studied the plates and found that each had a word inscribed upon them. The two golden plates had "give" and "take" written upon them, while the silver one had "manifest." The golden plates were easy; when he placed a golden coin from Barovia onto the Give plate, the Take plate started to glow. He couldn't touch the glow, until he thought of Rim Elm and it condensed into a handful of small silver coins marked with stylized Gs. He took one, and the gold coin vanished from the Give plate. The glow faded, but when he took all of the silver coins away there was still a faint golden corona around the plate. That vanished as Gil pulled a few Barovian copper coins out of the Take plate.

The manifest plate let him turn his binding credits into tokens that resembled poker chips. He couldn't turn them into cash or vice versa, but he could theoretically turn one kind of credit into another. One normal credit could turn into 3 binding specific credits, which could be turned from one type to another at a two to one conversion rate or back into normal credits at a ten to one conversion rate.

Gil thought about all sorts of possibilities, but honestly preferred to keep his credits exactly as they were. He'd accumulate stamp and sphere credits in due time, and didn't want to risk wasting his highest value currency on something he could get with just a little patience. He might kick himself later if it turned out that some kind of extremely valuable perk was only a few credits away in the stamp or sphere shop. He decided he would rather be that future Gil, instead of the one who burned all his resources just to find out that the pickings were slim.

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. Gil deliberately tried to nap as much as possible, so that an all nighter in his next world would be more plausible. Barovia was probably a terrible idea to return to immediately, and The Lands Shrouded in Mist were probably a bad move too. Gil really wanted to finish off Zeto, but wasn't really sure what to do with the rest of the day once he arrived in that world. In all likelihood his next trip to the Lands Shrouded in Mist would be when he ran out of healing leaves. They were way too useful to go without, at least until he got a proper healer on-staff.

That meant either The Queen's Forest or a new world. Gil thought of the visit to the dwarves as essentially an off week; a nice, low impact world to return to whenever he needed to bide his time. Maybe if he got a Talent perk and a good trainer, or he didn't have anything better to do. New world it was, and would probably continue to be as long as he had empty slots to fill.

Brockton Bay: High potential danger, additional mission granted.

Fuck/Marry/Kill- there are three girls in the Brockton Bay Wards; Shadow Stalker, Vista, and Flechette. Have sex with at least one, kill or sell at least one, and capture at least one one. It is your choice who, but you need to spread it around and order doesn't matter.

1- 2 credit, Character card: Cow Lady (My Hero Academia), unlock target tracker upgrade

2- 5 credits and Greater Waters of Lethe

3- 8 credits and Shroud Binding

Conclusively win a physical conflict with any member of the gang Empire 88, bonus if they are a parahuman member. Indirect attacks and ambushes are allowed.

Reward: 1 credit, Bikini Armor (skintight latex supersuit), Unlock Armory Extension

Bonus: 5 Credits, Waifusion

"High danger, eh?" Gil mused, pulling a few stacks of American 20 dollar bills out of the Take plate. He took a look at the magically produced currency. "Oh shit, it's a modern era US setting? Nice! Almost as good as Japan."

••••••••••

Target Tracker Upgrade: Adds the option to track named mission targets to the compass app.

Greater Waters of Lethe: causes someone to completely and permanently lose all episodic memories of their life and become very suggestible for around half an hour. During this hour they will uncritically accept anything the contractor tells them as absolute truth. Their personality, values, and even deep traits like sexual orientation can shift radically to accommodate these changes. In many cases, though not all, the drinker will proceed to fabricate a full set of memories built around what they were told, which they will "remember" over the course of 2-7 days. This new set of memories primarily exists to explain away any inconsistencies and reintroduce them to any skills or specialized knowledge they may have while reinforcing whatever they were told. One use.

Bikini Armor: a suit of impractical looking armor that will nonetheless provide excellent protection depending on the hotness of the wearer. In ideal conditions, where the Bikini Armor is the only thing worn and both hair and makeup are immaculate, it is roughly equivalent to a full suit of gothic plate armor worn over ballistic padding, all while being drastically lighter and more maneuverable.

Waifusion: allows the combination of two retinue members, or a retinue member and a character card. All traits (physical, mental, powers, personality, etc) that the user wishes to preserve will be incorporated into the final result, while all traits that they wish to eliminate will be discarded. Sell price will also be combined.