7.15 – Filling Them In


    Astrid excused herself shortly afterward under the guise of ''letting Zoey get some rest.'' In reality, Zoey knew she just needed time to think about what had been revealed. She wondered if she could have handled the talk better. There''d been no time to n since Astrid had been the one to confront her, rather than the intended other way around. Her cheeks burned from how, apparently, it''d been <em>easy </em>to see through their attempts at subtlety.


    She''d been awake for close to twenty-four hours straight, so she went to her room, washed up, and put on her sleeping clothes. A quick teleportation trip through the portal-door and she arrived to Rosalie''s room across the d''Celestin estate. Delta was there alongside the blonde, both girls already in their casual nightwear. Delta was sprawled out on the bed taking up as much space as possible, and Rosalie was seated on the edge flipping through a small notebook with a frown. They both nced up as Zoey arrived.


    "So? What was that about?" Delta asked. "Why''d Astrid drag you off?"


    "She knew."


    "She … knew? As in—?"


    "Yep."


    "Oh, boy."


    Rosalie groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I <em>told you</em> you weren''t being careful enough."


    "It''s fine," Zoey said. "We talked. I ended up telling her everything."


    Delta''s eyebrows shot up. Rosalie also seemed rmed. More than the foxgirl, even.


    "Everything?" Delta asked.


    "About my ss, I mean. Why we were—doing it in the first ce." There was still the matter of the world ending and what little they knew about the shard eaters. She hadn''t gone over the skills not relevant to her either, like those rted to her burgeoning temple.


    "How''d she take it?"


    "Good? I mean, she wasn''t grossed out or horrified or anything. Mostly, she blushed a lot and then excused herself."


    Delta considered. "Yeah, that''s as good as we could hope. She seems like a bit of a prude, I think."


    "You and I have vastly different definitions of prude," Rosalie said dryly.


    Zoey agreed; she wouldn''t call Astrid a <em>prude</em>. Just not as open as Delta had been their first meeting. Perhaps she was more open than Rosalie, for that matter. But Zoey didn''t have the advantage of an incredible ice-breaker like the first shard had been.


    "Either way, she needs to think on it. I believed her when she said that she''ll keep our secrets. She said she''ll only tell her father if it affects her n directly. And she''d talk with us beforehand if she feels like she has to."


    Rosalie nodded slowly. "Reasonable. If she doesn''t seek you out first thinge morning, I''ll see if I can talk with her first."


    "She didn''t seem upset," Zoey offered. "Just surprised, and flustered. I don''t think it''ll be a problem. Though—I''m not entirely sure if that means she''ll want to, you know."


    Delta wiggled her eyebrows and made a lewd gesture. Zoey ignored her, but yes, that was the implication.


    "In any case, it''s a problem for tomorrow." Rosalie tucked away the notebook she''d been reading and shuffled into bed. "I''m tired. Save any insatiable desires until morning, please. I want sleep first."


    Delta snickered. "She''s such a romantic, isn''t she?"


    Zoeyughed, but she was wrung out too, and she knew Delta was as well. She flipped off the light and climbed into bed with her two girlfriends. They snuggled in on either side of her. After the exhausting day they''d had, sleep found them quickly.


    ***


    Zoey woke upst among the three of them. Rosalie and Delta had already extricated themselves from her side, sadly, and were sitting up in bed, murmuring about something.


    "I mean, neither of us? That''s a first. There''s always been <em>some </em>advancement."


    "Maybe Zoey did? We don''t know for sure yet."


    "Maybe I did what?" Zoey asked.


    The two girls nced at her.


    "Ah, sorry, didn''t mean to wake you," Delta said, raising her voice from its whisper. "Were we too loud?"


    "''S Fine." Zoey yawned and stretched out, muscles sore from the vigorous activities yesterday. Burning through so many spells had left a lingering not-really-but-sort-of exhaustion. Something close to mental strain, but not that either. The invisible magical muscle, whatever it was, had been worked thoroughly. "What are you two talking about?"


    "Advancements. Neither of us got one, on any of our runes. Did you?"


    Zoey paused, then checked. Even if she couldn''t read her <em>tab anima </em>herself, she knew when she leveled by a tingling on the back of her neck. A supernatural sense.


    "Nope," Zoey said, blinking in surprise. "Huh. You''re right, that''s the first time. It''s always at least one of us." And recently, usually multiple. She <em>did </em>have powerful skills geared specifically toward fast advancement.


    "Could be because we''re reaching the higher ranks," Rosalie said. "We can hardly expect to advance once per shard at <em>fourth </em>advancement."


    Delta frowned. "That''s logical, blondie, but counterpoint—we have a goddess on our side. It''s totally because of the shard stabilizer that we didn''t."


    "I think she''s right," Zoey said. "The loot was terrible too."


    "The loot was above average, for a fourth-advancement shard," Rosalie said dryly.


    "It was below <em>our </em>average, though," Delta countered. "And you know it. Don''t be pedantic."


    Rosalie inclined her head. "Nevertheless. We <em>are </em>reaching higher advancements. It would make sense if we''re slowing down in progression."


    "Sure, but also no," Delta said. "It''s totally because we stabilized the shard. We''re not doing that again, right? Boo. No more. I demand perverted shards!"


    "So long as Astrid isfortable with it, I see no reason not to."


    "And if she isn''t?"


    Rosalie grimaced. "Let''s feel the situation out first before we make ns. As I''ve been saying."


    "Even if she isn''t thrilled about the sex part," Delta said, "I doubt she''ll turn down insanely amplified experience gain. And unbelievably good loot. Even if it has weird requirements attached. Besides, she doesn''t have to join in herself. We can handle the lewd parts. Hell, most of the time it''s <em>Zoey</em> dealing with it anyway. Thatst shard, I didn''t even get scooped up and groped by vines. When I <em>did</em> try to have some fun, I got stuffed into a chastity cage."


    Rosalie raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and chose to address Zoey instead of the gremlin. "There''s still a chance she''s thrown into <em>something</em> if she enters a shard with us. So she needs to befortable with the possibility. But, again, let''s feel out the situation before we make concrete ns. I think odds are high she''ll be—" She pursed her lips. "Amenable."


    "Pretty sure she''s checked all of us out at least once," Delta said,ughing. "And it became way more obvious once she had her Bloodlust ramped up. Lowered her inhibitions I bet. I think she <em>especially</em> likes blondie''s ass." The foxgirl poked Rosalie''s leg with a delighted grin. "And <em>methinks </em>the attraction is mutual. Blondie''s been stealing looks too. Right? Right? Our two front liners are hot and flustered for each other? We''ll get some steamy tank-on-fighter action soon?"


    Rosalie swatted away Delta''s poking finger, trying to re at her—but it was mitigated by the blush that rose brightly on her cheeks. "Control yourself. And no. I merely respect her work ethic."


    "Oh? So you''re <em>not </empatible?"


    "W-Well, that is to say, rather, it''s not that—"


    Even Zoey couldn''t help but snort at the fumbling stream of nonsense that came from Rosalie''s mouth, as she both tried to maintain her dignity and acknowledge that their newest party member <em>was</em>patible with her tastes.


    Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms. The refined princess would never pout, but she came close to it. Zoeyughed and pushed her over, delivering a series of quick kisses to cheer her up.


    It worked. She was protesting and smiling a few seconds into the assault.


    It more than worked, actually. Having crawled overtop the blonde, their positioning did more than wipe the pout off her face. She was blushing hard and breathing fast in only moments.


    Oh?


    Zoey remembered that all of her recharging during yesterday''s shard had been with Delta and Maddy. Rosalie had needed to y interference. Thus—she was flustered and worked up after a full day of not having her own fun.


    A grin split Zoey''s lips, and she sat up, straddling Rosalie. Her fingers yed with the hem of Rosalie''s shirt.


    "What''s this? You''re breathing a little hard, princess. Did something happen?"


    Rosalie huffed. The smile had changed into a wide-eyed, flustered look.


    "I do need to recharge," Zoey mused. "Haven''t filled up since before the boss fight, so I''m basically empty." She leaned forward and murmured into Rosalie''s lips. "Mind helping me out?"


    "I could—I could be persuaded."


    "Good answer."


    And Zoey knew what she wanted to do. There was a potion from Sabina''s most recent batch of experimentations that she hadn''t made use of yet, which she had been highly anticipating. She pulled it out now.


    <em>[Potion of Gooey Transmutation]: Temporarily transmutes a living being''s body into a gel-like substance.</em>