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Ilaria shot her eyes open suddenly to the sound of odd squeaks and churrs. She shot forward and sat in her bed, looking for the source of the sounds in desperation. Her eyes settled on her two daughters in the corner of the room, who were just unaware of the odd noises they generated while playing with each other. Ari took a deep breath as she got her bearings, but her heart never truly had a chance to settle down. She looked down into her lap and met eyes with this world's native Robyn.

"Oh, you're up." The squirrel fumbled around with something, which took a second to register as Ari's spats snapping back into place under her tribal dress. "I... uh..."

"It's... okay?"

"I was just... I mean, you look just like her..."

Ari pinched her thighs shut as her manhood slowly swelled in response, only then noticing that her limbs were one again reunited with her body. "You always were curious like that. I don't mind; nothing you haven't seen yet anyway..."

"...Huh?"

"Oh, right. Different you." The otter checked in on her oblivious kids for a moment, then adjusted herself once she determined the coast was clear. "You and I probably don't even like each other much in this world, do we?"

"I don't know if I am who you assume, uh..."

"Ari's fine."

"Ari. Maybe you really are a doppleganger." The rodent's eyes slowly drifted down to the large bulge in Ari's bottoms. "I've never seen one of you before, but you do a really good job at looking like my Ottah."

"So you two really are in love? That's nice to hear."

"Yeah. We're mad for each other." Native Robyn still kept her eyes on that bulge, transfixed by the size of it. "We... We're getting married when we... have our noble's permission..."

Ari rolled her eyes at the promiscuous squirrel. "You can have a look, hon. I really don't mind."

"But... I was just wondering why you'd even have one of those... And I've never seen one before, and probably..."

"Wait, you've never seen one? You mean you and your Ari have never...?"

Robyn's eyes bulged at the concept. "We can't do that until we're married! Besides, she's a woman."

"Well where I'm from we ~were~ married, and if I'm right your Ari isn't any different than me." Ari pulled down her spats and let the cool air flow beneath the drapes of her sirat. "Just look before your head explodes. I won't tell anyone."

"I, uh... She has a...?" Robyn checked in on the girls real quick, then lifted the cloth of the sirat. "Oh... Oh bloody hell..."

"It's not that bad. I was scared to show everyone who I really am, but when I fell for you I didn't care." Ilaria reached out with her mechanical paw and gingerly lifted her length skyward. "You actually liked this part of me a lot more than I expected. I'm sure things will be fine with your Ari too."

"Really?" Robyn leaned in close and got a really good look. "Can I... touch it?"

"Do what you like. I'm just happy you're here to begin with." Ari took away her somewhat dangerous contraption of a paw and allowed Robyn's own to replace it. "Gods... This is just wrong in a way..."

"Oh, I'll st--"

"No. It's fine, just... Don't worry about the details. Explore all you want." The rodent wasted no time in examining the firmness and shape all over, eventually playing around with the sheathe of the foreskin in a rhythmic fashion. "Mmm... Fuck, I missed that..."

"Does that ~please~ you?" The squirrel started to speed up her paws, adding some grip as well. "I-I'd like to know what you enjoy."

"Hard to screw it up, Pillow. Just... Gods..." Ari reached down and corrected Robyn's paw so she would give a more proper pawjob, the squirrel getting the hint promptly. "You don't know just how good that feels."

"So... Ari will like this? And men like this too?" Robyn slowed for a moment, but renewed the vigor of her strokes and then some. "Maybe we can push for our marriage sooner if I learn this, yeah?"

"Well there's something nice you need to know then." Ari wrapped a paw around the width of her swelling knot as an example, then removed it so Robyn had access. "When you're ready for a mess, give that a squeeze. It sets me off like a fountain every time."

"A fountain? Is that how it works?"

"Gods, you're even ~sexually~ repressed." Ari groaned as she started realizing that, even through the good qualities on her surface, deep down this wasn't her Robyn. "Just... You can stop if you want. No pressure, hon."

"No, I'm curious now..."

Before Robyn could give the coup de grâce, the twins threw themselves into the mix with their noses winking at the smell of sex. <What are you and mommy doing?>

<Is this sex?>

"Uh... I don't..."

Ari shifted her legs to hide herself beneath her sirat, though her manhood still tented the fabric. "Girls! Get out of here!"

<But-->

Ilaria pointed to the door and then sloppily signed her intent. "We're family. You shouldn't... do anything intimate with family."

Both of the twins looked at each other, confused. <But you and Uncle Yoyo do that a lot. You also had sex with grandpa and-->

Ari stopped the girls there with her paws. "That's... I mean..." She pointed to the door again. "Just go. You're too young for this anyway."

<No we aren't.> The girls reached into their shorts and pulled out sticky paws that reeked of heat. <We recently became fertile.>

Ari's eyes went wide at that news. "The answer is still no. Now give us some privacy, you t--"

Without giving her mother any time to react, Mikhaila pulled down her shorts and sat on her mother's cock, one of her three hot holes randomly engulfing her up to its hymen. Michelle pouted as Mik stole the opportunity, but conveyed her sister's thoughts for her instead. <She really likes that. I can feel it too. Is sex always like this?>

Ari reached for her daughter's rump and lifted her off, but Chelle just filled the gap. "Fuck... numbers are against me here..."

"But..." Robyn sat back and blushed ferociously as she witnessed something so taboo and actually liked it. "They're your children, right?"

"They are, these brats." Honestly a bit angry and appalled at her whelps, Ari tried to remove Chelle with a stern expression. "You're too young. We can talk about this when you're older. Now--Ah!"

Chelle sat down flat, her fleshy petals of her flower squelching loudly around the top of her mother's knot. <Chelle says that hurt a bit. Is that normal? Yours didn't really hurt, right?>

"Gah... Fuck..." Ilaria grabbed her child's rump and tail to hold her absolutely still. "Shit, that was close." Ari was about to start removing herself from her child when her insides started to wiggle for lack of a better term. "Gods, stop that! Mik, get her off!"

Mikhaila stuck out her tongue and grabbed the base of her mother's knot with both paws, squeezing down just right.

"Oh, f--!" Ari instinctively bucked up into her pup's warm and quite active pussy, halfway knotting her as she blasted rope after thick rope of glowing cum into her daughter's womb. "Mik! Ah... You're... so grounded...!"

Chelle churred as her instincts were sated, though after a moment her sister wanted some of the action as well. Mik lifted her twin away and tried to line herself up with her mother's erupting erection, but received a slap to the muzzle before reaching her goal.

"You stop that, little girl." Robyn finally built up her nerve and held her paw ready for another strike. "You'll do best to listen to your mother."

Ilaria sat with her mouth agape, but soon reinforced the squirrel's push for power. "That's right. You don't ~ever~ do that again without my permission. You may only have one mother now, but you can't just push me around."

Mikhaila sat completely still, never once experiencing pain before now. Even Michelle pulled her dazed head up, their Link giving her a wakeup pinch all the same. <We're...> Mik pulled up her sister and hugged her tight as she started to cry. <We're sorry, mom>.

"You're in heat. It's not completely your fault." Ari huffed out a breath as she recovered from her own peak, then reached out to caress her whelps' cheeks. "I don't want you having sex until you at least understand when it's appropriate, and how to keep yourselves in good health. You're all I have left of... ~her~ and I want to keep you two safe."

<We'll try to...> Mik struggled to keep her content twin awake, and finished the answer on her behalf. <We'll try to stop as long as we can.>

"Now... do you need help too, Mik? We've already crossed that line, and I'd rather you're both satisfied..."

<We'll try to use the feeling from our Link for a while. You don't need to do that again, mom.>

"Thank you, girls." Ilaria pulled up her spats, completely ignoring the mess around her groin and allowing her sirat to soak up the whatever leaked out. "We, uh... We should check in with the others. Girls, you want to see Punk again?"

"Punk? Is that the wolf girl?"

Ari nodded and shuffled herself free from beneath her girls so she could stand. "Yeah. We need to talk about what we plan to do, and she can keep the girls busy."

"So... these are..." Robyn watched as the twins helped each other to their hindpaws. "They're ours? I mean... in the dream realm anyway..."

"Oh, they're ours. If you and your Ari ever have whelps, I can only hope they turn out just as amazing."

"And I'm... gone?"

Ilaria stood still for a few seconds while she stared at her robotic paw. "Yeah. I don't think you have to worry about that here, though. You get to live a long and happy life with your Ari. I'm sort of jealous, actually."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Robyn stood as well now and tried to help Ari out of the room, though the assistance wasn't really necessary. "I don't mean to fan any coals."

"No, it's not your fault. Just be content with what you've got and I'll do the same." Ilaria looked down to her late wife and forced a smile. "Deal?"

"Aye." The two caught up with the others, finding the twins literally hanging from one poor arctic wolf amidst various friends. "Seems they've got lots of energy. Hmm... I'll go tend to the front. If you need me..."

"We'll get you. Go do what you need to do, Pillow."

Native Ari walked over and sighed as she watched her love escape to the front of the building. "I don't know what that name is, but stop it."

"What? Pillow?" Ari Prime hunched down when her clone's eyes gained some jealous anger to them. "Fine, she wasn't the same person anyway. So what's the deal, guys?"

"Lulu? Is it me or do the girls smell like--?"

"We'll talk about that later, Yoyo. Just... ignore it for now." Ari looked around at various mugs and plates of food strewn about. "Did I interrupt you guys? I could use something to eat too."

"I thought demons ate souls..."

Carbon scoffed at the native Ilaria and offered his plate of food. "You weren't out long. We were just wasting time and trying to figure things out."

"And she still thinks I'm a demon?"

Native Ari sighed and poured herself another mug of ale directly from a keg. "Well what am I supposed to think? What exactly are you then, if not a queen of the underworld?"

"Faefolk..." Punk raised her voice as she tried to calm down the kids. "We're from the fae realm, but we've gotten lost here."

"Faeries, huh?" Native Ari took a look at the various glowing bit of the group and nodded. "Seems you're lacking your glamour, Punk. Were you here to collect dreams or something?"

"Yeah... Yes!" Punk finally shed her two friends and stepped forward. "I'm lacking glamour, and I came here to empower myself. My friends came to help and keep me safe."

"Well I've never met a fae before, but it... sort of makes sense." Native Ari tapped her match's arm and sighed. "It would explain why that artifact only works with her. We simply lack the magic."

"Exactly."

"So where did you all enter this realm? If you all came from the dreaming realm, there must be a large portal of some kind."

Carbon stepped in and pointed upward. "Did you hear a big bang earlier? A sudden rush of wind?"

This world's Ari took a moment to parse what happened. "I thought it was a sudden storm, but it was you?"

"Yes. We came here in a vessel that was damaged."

Yoyo somehow gained the twins' attention and was now wrestling with them. "We left some of our group to fix the ship, but I'm not sure we have the magic to get back home. We need a muse."

"Muse?"

Evelyn stretched as she 'woke up' for her host. "In terms of fae lore, that means a source of magic. Fuel."

"Oh. Yeah, we need a muse." Carbon reached for his own beer and flipped open his mask to take a swig. "With enough magic, we should be able to start figuring out a way home."

"Then... Hmm..." Native Ari took a moment to think of a plan, but shrugged and sighed in defeat. "I'd like to help you, especially now that my Robyn has taken a liking to you. The truth of the matter is that I only know of one source of magic on our realm, mana, and it's locked up by our nobles."

Ari Prime swallowed a bite of fish before voicing her idea. "Maybe we can buy some from them? We've got lots of valuable things."

"Perhaps. I haven't known a spriggan to barter." The native Ilaria turned to Carbon and quirked her head. "They might trade with you, though. You look similar to them. Are you some other type of woodland sprite?"

"I'm... complicated." Carbon huffed and drank the last of his ale. "And these 'spriggan' of yours probably won't like us, to the point of killing us. We need another--"

"Ah, bugger!" Both of the Aris shot towards the hallway after hearing Robyn. "Just slow down, yeah?"

"Robyn?" Native Ari rounded a corner and found her squirrel bent over a bar top, a Yangurran dressed in light armor pressing up against her. "Gods... Lord Vimir..."

"Robby!?" Ari Prime rushed over and knocked the alien down. "Are you alright? Gods, he was raping you..."

The 'noble' stood himself up and pulled out a sword. "You'll pay for that, wench!"

Ilaria Prime shot a look at the alien, especially after spotting his blood-tainted prick. "Like fuck I will." The alien swung his weapon, but struck against a metal limb to little effect. "Not working, asshole."

"How are you...?"

Ilaria created a hammer out of thin air and used it to smash that sword out of the attacker's hand. "You dare rape a poor, defenseless woman?"

"Bitch." The Vimir pulled out a pistol of some kind. "Too bad for you and your... Wait, there's two of..."

Ari Prime used the distraction to grab the alien by the wrist and wrench the weapon out. "Fuck all of you idiots." She pulled the little guy up and over, allowing him to flop onto the ground. "Now you'll pay for hurting her."

"A-Ari... don't..."

"Sorry, Robyn. I can't stand by and let them hurt you anymore."

Ilaria Prime dropped down onto her false knee, planting it directly onto the Yangurran's chest. She reached down and pinned the alien's head to the floor by his neck. Then Ari started punching his crystal face mask with her metal paw until it smashed inward. She took a moment to watch the asshole squirm in pain, then resumed her punching.

Oddly Robyn dropped down next to the two in protest. "You'll kill him!"

"That's the idea." Ari Prime snarled as she dealt the final blow, glowing chartreuse sticking to the crevices of her machine arm. "He was a sorry sack of shit. I just did him a favor."

"No!" Robyn collapsed over the alien and checked for any signs of life. "I was finally getting his approval! Now...!"

"No... No, this can't be happening..." Native Ari walked over in shock and huddled over her love. "He was our lord... He had every right to our maidenhoods before you..."

"He said he would approve the marriage..."

Ilaria Prime stood and backed away, absolutely stunned at the responses she was witnessing. "I didn't... I thought he was..."

"You just ruined our chances of getting married!" The native Ari tried to grab her counterpart but didn't want to leave her squirrel alone. "Now we'll be killed for this!"

"No you won't." Carbon slipped into the pub and huffed as he thought of their options. "We'll clean up and hide the body. Then we take the blame when we steal every ounce of what we need, and leave you two as victims. It might work if we're lucky."

Ari Prime circled the body slowly, her brain not quite comprehending the reactions in the room. "We'll... Yeah, we'll cover it up and refocus the blame on us. I'm... I'm sorry, Robyn..."

Carbon eased the squirrel off the dead body, then unceremoniously scavenged the alien's breathing system. "I can use his weapon. Maybe you could too, Ari. It requires a Link." He turned to the already-distressed natives and tried to alleviate the mental load some. "It's magic, and it's useless to all but some fae."

The prime of the two grabbed the pistol with her good paw and nothing happened, but upon sending some nanites to cover the handle the whole device powered up. "I'll use this until we reach the ship." Ari tried to swap to her other paw with its two less fingers and found the Link remained, but she couldn't figure out how to hold the pistol properly with either side. "Err... I'm not sure if I should like or hate Prisma's design right now."

"Well you'll know which you like after you grab this body. He's larger than me."

Ari sighed and shoved the weapon into her modest cleavage for lack of a better holster. "Right. Let's get this cleaned up."

"Wow..." Robyn pushed a few saplings out of the way and walked into the open, the Starbreeze looming over the tiny squirrel. "You said it was a ship, but I didn't think it was a floating castle."

"In my realm this was your favorite toy." Ilaria Prime followed behind and gave Robyn a pat on the shoulder. "She's technically a frigate because of the systems... uh, the tools installed on-board. I think she's more in the cruiser volume range though."

"Just about. She was a bitch setting down." Carbon shuffled out of the woods with the kids and gave them their inhalers. "I'd say the power output of those engines is destroyer or battleship level though. Here, girls. You look winded."

The docking hatch on the side opened and Adrian came out, waving from afar. "You made it! Is Ari alright?"

Iolvin exaggerated a nod and picked up his pace. "Yeah, Lulu's fine. Little bots are fixing her up easy enough."

"That's a relief." Dee moved aside as Viola shoved her way outside. "I'm glad you guys are back, too. This brat's been nothing but an ear sore."

"I'll have you know, I would have helped if I even barely understood how your machines worked." The wild dog stretched out in the sun, eventually laying down in the grass. "I am not adapted to your ways yet, and this girl knows little of technology."

"Well maybe you should have picked an older host..." Carbon shook his head as he jumped into the airlock. "Dee, how's the ship? Any breaches?"

"The ballast tank blew a patch again, but it was high up so we didn't lose much. We should still be orbit-capable." Dee took a moment to think of anything else. "The rest is checking out, but the reactors are still off-spec. They're stable, but the readings on the oxydium in the fission core..."

"Eve guessed it might be a bit odd." Carbon opened the inner hatch with a Link to the computer, the airlock not really needing to cycle while on the surface. "I'll check the telemetry on that flight. If we're right, the oxydium should be resonating at a different phase frequency because of the... realm shift. Oh, and we're faeries now. Just go with it."

"Huh?" Dee stood back as not one, but two Ilarias entered the vessel followed by a very medievally dressed squirrel. "Y-You... You found...?"

"It's fine, Dee. We owe them a rather large favor so they're on our side for now." Ari Prime ducked under the inner hatch and headed straight for her room. "I'm getting armed. I suggest you do too. We're going on a raid."

"A raid?" Dee paused as the younger twins passed by to the central lift, huffing on their inhalers. "What the hell do we need to raid?"

"More oxydium. Carbon and Eve did the math, and we killed the potential of most of the fake stuff." Ari waited for Dee to catch up before ducking into the captain's quarters and going for the closet. "We need more in general to make sure we have enough power for the return trip, but if it's the real deal it won't burn out. We get more tries to go home, given some recharge time."

"I don't even want to know where you figured that out."

"I didn't." Ari found her pistol and bow, then tossed her tablet over to the smaller otter. "Robyn did a lot of testing making this new engine work. She figured that under gradual use, the best we get is four months out of the artificial oxydium's half-life or whatever."

"Helping us even now..." Dee checked the tablet and nudged towards the aft of the ship. "Mind if I borrow this for a bit?"

"Go ahead. I backed it all up to the internal computer too, in my personal folder." Ari finished strapping her tools of destruction to herself and stormed out the bedroom towards the command center. "We're leaving soon, so grab a weapon from the stash below. I'll see what I can do about the girls."

"Yeah, go take care of them. I'd hate to see something bad happen to them."

"That's... yeah, sort of my thinking too." Ilaria slowed from a jog to a walk as she found her destination, her wife's urn. "Hey, Pillow. Wish me luck."

As expected, the girls came running over in all their hyper-activeness. <Don't be sad, mom.>

"I'm not..." Carbon came into view and the girls glommed onto him for a moment. "Hey, Carbon. Can we talk about the girls?"

"We have a raid to conduct..." The hybrid stopped ignoring the twins and caved into their need for attention. "Hi, little ladies. You pay your respects yet?"

The girls shrugged at the idea and explained, <But both our moms are alive here.>

Ari rubbed both her whelps on the head and pulled them over to the mantle. "But they aren't your real mothers. Now go on, you two..."

The twins walked over to the mantle and placed a paw each on Robyn's urn, giving Carbon the opportunity to chat. "So what's up? It important?"

"They went into their first heats." Ari walked over to the port window and peered outside. "Is there anything I need to know, or can I just... take the normal precautions?"

"Hmm... Eve?"

The flower girl fizzled into view and quirked her head in thought. "Ouschee don't run in the family, so this is mostly speculation here. From what your elders have seen, they have--"

"~Nope~!" Carbon walked over and snapped a tendril to the processor in Ari's back. "I'm not repeating all that. Tell her yourself."

Evelyn gave Ari a moment to turn around and then restarted. "Your children will have a constant sex drive until they can aid in reproduction. For all I know, they might be able to have children themselves. We haven't checked their mature sexual organs yet. Ellie should be able to help there."

Ari returned to gazing out the window, not wanting her children to sneak glances of her lips. "Do you think I should lock them in their room, more or less? How bad will it get?"

"If you satisfy their craving for fresh genetic material, they should be in control for a day or two. Aside from that... yeah, they'll be pretty wild. Maybe we should have someone stay behind to watch them?"

Ari turned back to the ethereal girl and shook her head. "I... may have given them what they wanted already."

"Then... Oh, really?" Eve and Carbon looked at each other, but they understood how the Rihzyet family worked by now. "They'll eventually have a need to redeposit those genes, and it can often be worse for them."

"We'll deal with that later. If you think they'll be fine for now though, I'm... cool with..." Ari saw movement from the corner of her vision and checked the cause, a scantily-clad girl being chased and harassed by some Yangurran soldiers outside. "Okay, we have a problem. They found us, and they're taking it out on some poor girl."

"What?" Carbon severed the Link and checked the window, his paws instinctively heading for his pistol. "We have to take them out--keep them from reporting back."

"Just what I was thinking." Ilaria slammed a comms channel on the wall and the intercom opened up ship-wide. "If you've got a gun you're aiming it to port. We have company and they can't leave."

«Sis? Dee and I just got our guns--»

Ari mentally barked out some orders to the other two that could listen. «I'm hopping out there with Carbon and blasting them. There's a girl there so be careful when you join us.»

«Got it, Lulu.»

"Ready to go." Ari led the way, drawing the attention of her children to the point that she had to stop and redirect them. "You're staying here for a while. If you can repair something, that's great, but you can just stay in your room and play too."

<But we-->

"No 'but's, Chelle. It isn't safe for you outside so I want you to go to your room. And stay away from windows, too." When the twins finally agreed with two matching nods, Ari returned for the airlock behind Carbon. "Let's kick some ass."

"Well aren't you the proper action hero?" Carbon pulled up his shotgun, but after thinking about the potential hostage he went for the accuracy of his pistol instead. "Kill them or don't, but none get away. We can't have them attacking the Starbreeze when she's in this state."

The airlock door cycled and Ilaria pulled up her bow, an arrow already nocked by her wobbly mechanical paw. "We'll see what I can still do. This arm may need some upgrades though."

"It'll do for now. Just be careful with the tension on the string and I think you'll do fine." Carbon leapt out the airlock and landed into a somersault that ended with him on one knee. "Got 'em. They're still distracted."

Ari hopped out as well and strafed into position, spying the Yangurran soldiers as the girl broke free and they gave chase. "Ready? Fire!" That arrow pulled back, then snapped forward in a shaky but adequate path through a soldier's chest. "One down!"

Carbon fired four rounds from his 1911 pistol, two smashing into the faceplate of another soldier. "Three left. Watch the left one!" Carbon fired the rest of his magazine but only landed one shot to the guy's armor. "Fuck, out!"

Ari loosed another arrow, but this time her odd paw flinched and caused the tip to ricochet off that lucky soldier's armor rather than pierce it. He pulled up a rifle of some kind, only to have his chest obliterated by a high-powered slug that left Ari's ears ringing. "Huh? Oh, thanks, bro!"

Iolvin dropped his rifle in the grass rather than wait for it to charge, then pulled out his C96. "You got it, sis. Uh..."

Ari pulled out her Mjolnir and fired two loud blasts into another enemy as he tried to attack, not really wounding him but sending his plasma shot skyward. "Fuck."

Carbon loaded another clip and pointed to his mask. "Headshots!"

Ari flipped a switch on her pistol and braced it with both paws, then sent out the remaining sixteen bullets in a flurry of automatic fire. "Oh, shit!" The result was one seriously riddled alien with his mask, as well as whole suit, full of leaking holes. "I'm out! Last one!"

A blast of searing heat passed right between the twins, smacking loudly against the Starbreeze's hull. Carbon and Iolvin immediately countered by blasting several rounds into the final Yangurran soldier, but in the end he seemed to survive the ordeal. Before a second salvo could be fired, Ilaria ran up and formed a knife out of nanites. She straddled the alien and stabbed away, a single long roar growing louder and louder with each impact.

Carbon holstered his weapon and slowly approached the otter, then wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Ari? Goddess... Baby Lulu, what's wrong...?"

Ari slowed her vicious assault, slowly transitioning her war cry into a tear-laden scream. "It... d-doesn't h-help..."

Carbon ran a paw down Ari's arm to finally stop the stabbing, then brought the other to run through her hair. "It never does. Believe me, I know." He gave Ari's neck a few tender kisses and relaxed as she calmed down. "I ~knew~ you were taking all this too well..."

"Killing th-them... doesn't bring her back..."

Yoyo started walking to the girl as she hid beneath a cloak. "You get to see her again, though."

"That is _ not _ my Pillow." Ari nearly chucked her knife at her own brother for that comment, but held back her outburst and dissolved the tool from existence. "I'll never have her back, and this cruel joke of a world isn't helping."

Yoyo sighed as he felt his sister's torment, but tried to focus his attention on the girl instead. "Hey... Hey, are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

The girl backed away, her white tail flaring out before she curled back up under her cloak. "S-Stay back!"

"Oh, shit. Is that...?" Yoyo fought through flailing arms and pulled back the cloak, finding yet another Ashe dressed in some lavish, sheer silk wraps in what might be a ridiculous version of Ari's sirat. "We've got another Ashe here, guys."

"Another?" Carbon looked over to confirm, but his eyes went wide as soon as they hit the wolf. "Watch out!"

Yoyo threw up a shield of solid air, but a flash of light from Ashe's paws caused it to start oozing away. "The fuck?"

"I said get back!"

Yoyo did as the new Ashe demanded, not wanting to cause any trouble. "You got it. Just take it easy. We're trying to help you."

"But you're one of ~them~. You glow..." Suddenly the native Ashe froze and looked right at Iolvin with her dead, but glowing eyes. "No, you're different. You're like this castle here."

Carbon left Ilaria for a moment and moved in closer for a better look. "She's... infected, maybe? See that glow to her?"

Yoyo moved so the girl was in his shadow and did indeed spot a faint ice-blue glow to her flesh that resembled his own. "She's like us. But I thought this Earth didn't have all that tech..."

"Unless my counterpart leaked it somehow." Carbon eased in closer and offered a paw. "Let me help you up at least. You're blind, right?"

"I'm cursed, yes." Ashe took that paw to stand, but then immediately put some distance between herself and the gang. "I sensed this aura in this castle and hoped for a counter spell or a ward."

"Oh, that's the deal..." Carbon took a large step back to build the Arctic wolf's trust. "So you can see magic, can you? Mana?"

"I see the auras of mana. It is perhaps the only benefit of the siphoner's curse." Ashe pulled out a crystal of some kind and it started glowing brighter and brighter, only to spark out like a dead light bulb to nothing. "Damn. I can't capture this aura."

"But you can see it, right?" One of the dead Yangurrans' communicators started twinkling with an awaiting message, causing Carbon to reach down and touch it. "We're fae who require a large source of mana to return home. Perhaps you can guide us to a storehouse for some."

"Carbon? This isn't good." Eve pulled up the message left on the communications device. "The main base tried to check in with these guys, but we killed them."

"Just fake a message back." Carbon diverted his attention back to the wolf girl. "Ashe, would you help us poor faeries?"

"You're not faeries. Faeries are made of magic, and they don't ~require~anything. You're flesh and blood." Ashe 'looked' at the ship and then back to the hybrid. "But there's a chance I'll be cured if I can study you, and it won't help if you get yourselves killed while searching."

"Carbon, we--"

The mustelid silenced his companion as he again offered his paw. "We have a deal then?"

Ashe tried to grab his paw, succeeding on the third attempt. "We do."

Evelyn stomped on her host's toes and forced his attention. "We need to get moving, idiot! All of the comms crystals are cracked so I'm out of options. They'll come looking for the team soon."

"Oh. Oh, fuck." Carbon shook his paw and then hastily went to help Ilaria to her hindpaws. "We just lost the luxury of time, people. The home base just asked these guys for an update and got nothing but fuzz in return."

"Crap. Sis, we have to move."

"Wha...?"

Carbon pulled the larger otter up forcefully and handed her pistol to her. "We're working against the clock now. Either we hit them now, or they corner us in a dead ship with no defenses. You in or out?"

"What?"

"In, or out? Can I rely on you right now," Carbon asked as he went back to the ship for more ammo, "or are you staying to watch the kids?"

Ilaria looked at the dead soldiers and then to the Starbreeze. "The best defense, huh...?" She found her bow and gave it a kiss for good luck. "I'm in."