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The walk out of town had been without a lot of fanfare, but Nate might have been surprised by how many people proudly saluted Zericho as he sauntered along, who treated them to a regal nod in response. He seemed to be largely indifferent to the palpable respect that they were shown by those they passed by, the whole town still inspired by his speech from before, and prepared to repel invaders and lend their own volunteers to the rebellion. In all, the whole town seemed to be even more active than it had been the day before, as the people dug in to fight a war in earnest.

As the trio left town, the large gates closing behind them with a groan, Nate looked over to Zericho, "So, where are we headed next, exactly? I heard the name Xelto, but that's it." He was hoping against the pattern that had been established so far, and that this place wouldn't be filled with perverted imps, though he wasn't about to put money on that.

"Xelto the Firm." Zericho corrected, rolling his eyes at the memory of the next council member. "He ran a big prison back in the days when the Imps had to be 'retrained' and since most of them have gotten the message, he's been using the place as a training ground for the guards. Lots of rocks, lots of quarries, lots of sweaty miners." Zericho paused, his memory of the miners improving his mood and a smile growing on his face before he continued. "His kingdom is closest, and I figure if anyone can give us an idea on what is going on, it would be him. Hot, steaming mess though he is, he and the Warden are competent enough."

Nate sighed; of course, not only were they headed towards another imp city, this one wasn't even a cushy resort town, he hated to imagine what an impish day worker must act like, if the pampered rich were already total perverts. "May I ask why he's called 'the Firm', and guess ahead of time that it's a double entendre."

"How'd you know?" Zericho chuckled darkly. "He's pretty strong by our standards, and he's got a body like chiseled stone. Also, fair warning? He wears even less clothes than me." He laughed again at the look on Nate's face.

Nate massaged his forehead, "Of course not, because that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" He glanced up at Chiboom, "Remind me to fasten some sort of blindfold or something before we get there."

The orc only rolled her eyes as she continued onward, wearing her new armor and weapon proudly.

"So... how far is this place anyway?" Nate asked, now glancing down at Zericho, worrying about spending several weeks on the road.

"Only a few days, a week at most." Zericho gave him a side eye. "You don't think I'd subject myself to this for longer than that, did you? Trust me, I don't like it on the road any more than you do, kid."

For all his casual indifference, Zericho began to act a little more uncomfortable a few hours down the road. Instead of his usual obnoxious habits of pestering Nate or whining to Chiboom, he would start running to fly into the air and circle around to walk behind them, grumble to himself, and kept fiddling with his loincloth. He acted as though something was frustrating him to no end, and he could not find the means to resolve it.

Chiboom eventually had had enough, and with a sigh, spoke up, "Alright, what's the matter?"

Zericho stubbornly crossed his arms and scowled before he admitted the problem. "...I forgot to get a whore in town. I knew I should have grabbed one of the guys at the college, but there was all that stuff with the Charm and I wasn't thinking about it and it has been two whole days since I have gotten laid."

Both Nate and Chiboom barely reacted besides mutual looks of annoyance. "Oh no," said Nate, flatly as humanly possible, "the horror, truly a catastrophe."

Zericho glared at him and swept the boy's legs with his tail, then flew up out of his reach when he tried to retaliate. Between the two of them, they made Chiboom very sad that she had agreed to this job as they continued to antagonize one another for hours, before they eventually grew bored and resumed walking.

About four days had passed since they set out from Pjakes, and Nate spent most of his time trying (or rather failing) to practice magic. Oh, occasionally something would work: he'd make a flower grow, or some sparks would shoot forth from the freaky knife Zericho had gotten him, but for the most part, he got absolutely nothing. He looked over at Zericho as they got ready for sleep, after another evening of failed attempts. "You have any idea what I'm doing wrong?"

Zericho was silently humping the ground, and it took several moments before he paused and looked over at Nate. "What?" His eyes seemed unusually bright, and had only been growing brighter over the last few days. "I don't know. I can't focus. Ask me again after I finally lose it and screw a tree. I know what this is, I've just never actually had to deal with it before."

Nate facepalmed, Zericho's behavior had only become more erratic over the preceding days; had he been back home, Nate would've said that Zericho had a sex addiction. "How do you have so little self-control? I mean, my god, you act like going a week without sex is going to kill you!" He really couldn't understand it, sure sex felt good... he assumed, but Zericho was acting ridiculous.

"You don't understand: I'm an Imp!" Zericho snapped back at him, sitting up and doing nothing to hide his raging erection. "Sex is what we do! It's what we were created for! Hell, it's the only_good_ thing we were made for!" He gestured for Nate to look away before he began straight up rubbing himself through the loincloth. "And no, a week wouldn't kill me." He paused and did some mental calculations. "Two more weeks would make me seriously sick, but it'd take a whole year without fucking to kill me."

"Wait, what?" Nate was stunned, he'd heard of certain animals that had to have sex during heats or die, but for it to be present in a sentient species kind of boggled his mind. He shook his head, as he began to muse out loud, "Sounds like a hormone build up... maybe the imps back at the college will figure out which ones, it probably wouldn't be too hard to counteract. Sort of like insulin."

"...The hell would we want to counteract it?" Zericho asked, staring in bafflement from the other end of a very long cultural divide.

Nate's face scrunched up in confusion, "So you wouldn't die?" Sure he got that the imps were sex obsessed, but in a matter of life and death... then again, his own species was less obsessed, and that didn't stop them from being complete idiots when sex got involved. "Never mind, just me thinking out loud."

"Been a loooong time since an Imp went 'Poof!' from lack of sex, kid. Dad was always good about making sure we important people were always taken care of when it came to that." Zericho smirked, remembering the countless men who had lived in their castle to satisfy that very need. "An' don't worry, I ain't gonna let it happen to me, either." He paused and cocked his head at Nate. "...So you really don't wanna have sex with me?" It wasn't quite the whining or shocked tones he'd used before, he seemed genuinely curious now.

"Uh... I plead the fifth?" As Zericho tilted his head in confusion, Nate realized that the imp wouldn't understand that reference in the slightest. "I mean... I don't know, not really, I barely know you. And something tells me you're not looking for anything more than a quick fuck." Hopefully that explanation would satisfy the imp. The problem wasn't so much that he didn't comprehend Zericho's point of view (there were humans like that too, after all), but that the Imp had clearly never been in contact with Nate's.

"You'd want a long fuck?" Zericho asked him in puzzlement, and had to dodge to stick that Nate threw at his head. "Okay, okay! So you... have to know someone for a while before you fuck them? How come?"

Nate shrugged, they were starting to delve into murky territory, "I don't know, I guess I just feel uncomfortable otherwise." Thinking back, all of his crushes, all two of them, had been on girls he had known for a while. Well, there was that one time he thought he might have a crush on his lab partner, but he wasn't sure how he felt about that guy.

"So... how long does it usually take?" Zericho asked him, his expression still puzzled. The idea that sex meant anything more than having a great time with another guy, or girl for the rare imp, and then going about the rest of your day was a new concept to him.

"Um... I don't know? Couple of weeks, I'd guess. If we interact regularly." Nate realized how this might sound to Zericho and quickly amended, "Not that it happens with everyone!" Better not give the Imp any ideas.

"Aw, Chiboom's gonna be so disappointed!" Zericho snickered. Given that he was not immediately cleaved in half, it was safe to assume Chiboom was asleep, or at least not listening to them. "Alright, alright. It ain't how I do it, but if that's how you get it up..." He sighed and laid back down, gently groping himself as he tried to wrap his head around the concept.

Nate quickly got ready for bed, rolling out his bed roll, and rinsing out his mouth with a swig of water before climbing under the sheets. He still insisted on wearing clothes to bed, with the missed opportunity for ogling still disappointing Zericho every time.

The day before, Zericho had been so pent up that he was twitching everywhere. Today, he looked oddly serene as he flew above Chiboom and Nate, his eyes focused on the dark shape in the distance as it slowly revealed itself to be a monolith. Nate let out a long irritated sigh when he realized that the dark stone structure took its shape from a very familiar piece of anatomy. Zericho remained composed as he landed next to them where the pathway turned into an open plain fields strewn with rocks. More than one rock had been roughly carved into vague shapes, while others were elegantly smoothed into works of art, almost all of which were focused on either the male form or specifically male bits of anatomy.

"When Imps were punished, they had to work the stones for their penance." Zericho explained to Nate's inarticulate groan.

Chiboom glanced up at the flying prince, "What's got you in such a good mood today? Excited that you're about to get some?" She knew the answer, but maybe she'd get lucky and Zericho would answer with a serious, 'No, I have to organize the troops.' or even a, 'Yes, and we're finally there.' It would be nice if the prince started acting more... princely for once.

"Oh, I'm just happy about finally having the possibility to get things actually done again. With that firm-assed idiot at my beck and call, I'll be able to do some serious damage to the Incubi." Zericho said seriously, flapping just ahead of them and then rising higher into the air to look around. "Now keep your eyes open for those hard cheeks of his, he likes to 'observe while camouflaged'."

Both Nate and Chiboom were floored by the answer, and looked at one another, wondering if something seriously wrong was going on. Still the continued on the path, passing by several more sculptures. Soon, they came along a set of statues formed into the shape of imps and Nate made sure to keep his eye above waist level, them all being naked. That said, he appreciated their quality: they looked almost lifelike. "So what does he look like?" Nate asked as he noticed something, one of the statues seemed somewhat out of line with the others, strange.

Indeed, most of the statues were Imps in more penitent or defiant poses, as they reflected the moods of the Imps who had been forced to carve them, but this one was facing away, his arms raised and flexing, and his legs tensed. As Nate leaned closer to investigate, Chiboom would detect the almost imperceptible noise of a crossbow being slid into place.

The orc dived, pushing Nate out of the way as a bolt whizzed past where he used to be, and stuck itself in the dirt. "Shit, stay down kid!" They were exposed, dangerously exposed. In the middle of a field like this? Even least incompetent of archer could snipe them out. She rolled off Nate into a crouched position behind one of the statues opposite the side the arrow had come from, and began to furtively look for the archer.

Zericho put his hands on his hips and glared. "Really?" He asked the open air in general, making it unclear who he was addressing. "Knock it off, Yalzaz. Don't even try to feed me a line about 'protecting me from kidnappers'."

There was complete silence for several long moments before a sulky voice answered him. "...They might have been kidnappers. I couldn't be sure."

"Uh-huh." Zericho walked over to the arrow that had been fired at Nate and inspected it, then sniffed the tip. "Kidnappers you shoot at with an aphrodisiac?"

Another long silence. "...If they are your bodyguards, they're not very good."

Chiboom snorted as she stood up from her position, "Please, you think this kid's a bodyguard? As much as I wish I had some professional company, I'm the only one guarding the prince right now, the kid's just a tagalong."

There was some disembodied grumbling from the unseen sniper, but Zericho ignored him. "You okay, kid?" He addressed to Nate.

Nate nodded, still stunned silent by what had just happened. He had almost just died... the closest he had ever come to that was that time his car skidded out last February. "I... I'm okay."

Zericho nodded, then approached the 'statue' that Nate had been inspecting, glaring at it for a few moments before turning to the other two. "You might want to clear out. I'll be fine."

Chiboom's eyes went wide for a moment as she realized what was happening, "Shit, that's a good disguise, you must have a magical component on it, otherwise I would've been able to see through it. Xelto, right?"

The Imp 'statue' slowly turned around, still flexing and making it a point to display himself as openly as possible while he did so. "Aye. Yalzaz was quite wrong about your abilities. You protected the Prince's companion and deduced my identity. I am pleased that you are protecting our Prince."

Fully revealed, Xelto was stark naked and noticeably more muscular than Zericho or any of the other Imps Nate had met thus far. He was also completely naked and erect, but although it still made him as uncomfortable as ever, it was hardly a shock anymore. "Your highness, I am pleased to s-"

"Shut up." Zericho flew up and firmly kicked Xelto's chest, knocking him off of his pedestal and onto his back on the ground below. "How dare you presume to speak in such informal tones in front of your Prince..."

Xelto froze, and then scrambled onto his hands and knees, bowing his head low. "I... I forgot my place, your highness. Please forgive this lowly rock his hubris."

Zericho flapped down to him, a disgusted sneer on his lips. "If give you a chance to apologize and you waste my time by making words?" He extended his foot into Xelto's face. "There are far better uses of that mouth than filling my ears with your drivel."

Nate's eyes went wide, and he quickly turned around and plugged his ears, much as he had done back at the fountain. Meanwhile Chiboom just sighed and sat down on a nearby rock, knowing that this might take a while.

Xelto's grey eyes went wide as the foot was presented to him, and almost immediately he opened his mouth and dragged his tongue along the pointed toe in front of him, licking off the dust of the road without hesitation and lowering his head so that Zericho could use his face as a footrest. He licked circles around Zericho's toes before sucking on the tip of each one, lapping the sole of the royal foot with his reverent tongue. When Zericho moved to put the clean foot down, Xelto immediately extended his arm so that the Prince's foot would not touch the ground, and eagerly repeated his ministrations to Zericho's other foot, as the Prince's expression of contempt slowly morphed into one of sinister satisfaction.

"Now, isn't that better? Life is good when you remember your place, isn't it?" Xelto nodded eagerly, his eyes glowing a soft white as Zericho's eyes began to blaze green, hitting each other with mutual lust spells to heighten the encounter. When Xelto had finished with his other foot, Zericho carelessly wiped it off on his face and then flew over to the pillar he had just knocked Xelto off, discarding his loincloth and getting into position on top of the pedestal, presenting his bare ass to the other Imp and looking over his shoulder.

"Well? Come prove what little worth you have to me." Xelto needed no further encouragement to fly up to join Zericho on top of the pillar, and stroking his cheeks with reverence. His heavy breathing was the loudest sound in the field for several minutes as his strong hands squeezed and groped Zericho's princely ass like the royal treasure that it was, before he took a deep breath and lowered his face to begin kissing and nipping at it, earning a growl of approval from the Prince. Soon he was licking it even more fervently than he had attended Zericho's feet, kissing and slurping over every inch of Zericho's glorious globes, before he pressed his face between them and began to lap at the entrance within.

Zericho's breathing grew a little ragged, and his face lost some of its composure, but his arrogant smirk remained in place as he pushed his ass back against Xelto's face, briefly cutting off his air just to see the muscular Imp meekly submit to him and not resist for even a moment as Zericho utterly used him for his own pleasure. The Prince relented and shifted forward again, as Xelto gasped for breath and resumed servicing him with renewed earnest energy. Eventually, he drew back and knelt with his hands on Zericho's hips, his dripping erection mere inches from the Prince's ass, and visibly trembled with eagerness. "My Prince... may I...?"

Zericho put his chin in one hand and idly contemplated the sky, looking over in amusement at his two companions, and knowing the unseen Yalzaz was masturbating furiously as he watched. After what felt like an eternity to the pent-up Xelto, he gestured carelessly. "Try not to disappoint me."

Xelto plunged inside of him without another word, earning a delighted gasp from Zericho, who tensed up just to feel the stronger Imp enter him more insistently, driving it deep within him and then dragging it out only to resume the penetration with greater force. Zericho was no passive partner, though, and as soon as Xelto began to fuck him for real, he was driving his own hips backwards to meet every thrust, his shapely butt swallowing every inch of Xelto's rock-hard cock as the two Imps fucked furiously on top of the stone pedestal. At one point, Zericho turned around so that he was laying on his back as Xelto drove into him, and then shifted on his side with one leg over Xelto's shoulder, grunting in approval as the older Imp screwed him with a patriotic fervor. The sound of their skin slapping against one another was difficult for even Nate to keep out, as Zericho made up for all the lost time with this eager service-top who gave him the dick he'd been so desperately craving.

This went on for some time, with both of them changing position now and then just to draw it out longer, and while it probably seemed far too long to both Chiboom and Nate, it seemed like only minutes to Zericho before Xelto was shouting and unloading inside of him. This finally set Zericho off, and he was soon unleashing the pent up cum he'd been building up for a week, until it overflowed over the pedestal and over the sides to the ground below, before both of them collapsed into winged heaps with lazily lashing tails.

Nate was still blushing, but the muffled sounds seemed to have ended, and he unplugged his ears. He still didn't turn around though, "Is it over?" He asked, hoping desperately that the answer was yes.

Chiboom sighed from her seat, she had been averting her eyes, but she could tell they had finished, "Yup, although I suggest you not turn around unless you want to see the two of them in a puddle of cum." She stood up and made her way over to Nate.

Nate shuddered at the thought, and covered his eyes as Chiboom wordlessly guided him past. The kid would have to grow up sometime, but for now, she actually thought it was kind of cute in a way. Sort of like having a younger brother, instead of all the idiot older ones back home.

Zericho stretched and languidly examined the exhausted Imp next to him. He still couldn't quite grasp Nate's ideas about sex. Why would you want to know this idiot for weeks first when you could have his dick right then and there? Zericho didn't have to make friends with someone to enjoy them, after all. Oh well, it was Nate's loss in the end. The Prince tried to rise, but his legs were still too wobbly, so he flapped his wings and rid them of the excess cum before rising into the air and letting himself drip-dry. "You two alright?" He teased.

Nate nodded with a blush, still not looking back, "Just peachy, thanks." God, he was such a child when it came to stuff like this, he really was; but he couldn't help it! The mere thought of what had just happened made him feel very uncomfortable to say the least, as well as a mix of other emotions he couldn't quite identify.

Zericho chuckled and idly flew around the hemicycle of statues, waiting for Xelto to recover and make himself useful in a different way. "Oh, by the way, it gets a bit cold around here at night. You two might want to invest in some bedmates!" He suggested sweetly, the lay having restored his cheekiness to full capacity. "I'm sure we can find one or two who can keep their hands to themselves!"

Nate continued to blush and shook his head, "How are you so casual about this? You literally just fucked a guy out in the open!" The rational part of his brain understood by now that this was probably the norm for Imps, but the part of him that also ensured he had never actually talked to any of his crushes about going out clearly wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"Why wouldn't I be casual about it?" Zericho demanded, folding his arms. "It's just something fun you do with someone else! I mean, you don't freak out when you publically..." He paused and ran down his rather sparse mental checklist of non-sexual activities and selected the most innocent one he could imagine "...Hold hands with a guy, right?"

Nate continued to blush, it wasn't going away any time soon. "Uh..." How was he supposed to broach this subject?

Zericho waved his hands, thinking he had erred. "Wait, my bad. Hold hands with a lady, then. Or hug, I guess. Hells, even just kiss 'em? You can't seriously tell me you do that behind closed doors!"

"I...I don't..." Nate fell silent.

The Prince was suddenly giving him his full attention, and Nate could feel those strange eyes studying him. "Don't what? You don't like that stuff?"

Nate gulped, he had never told anyone about this, "I... don't know."

"You don't know?" Zericho looked at him dubiously. "What, did they squeeze your hand too hard? Hug you too tight? Help me out here, what was ambiguous?"

Chiboom was about to step in, Nate obviously ready to break down, when he blurted it out, "Because I've never actually been with anyone before, ok?! Sex or romance or... fuck! There, are you fucking happy?!"

Zericho's dark eyes were wide with surprise. "...What?"

Nate quickly sped up in pace, leaving a sighing Chiboom behind; she looked over at the Imp, "Real smooth, prince."

"What?!" Zericho snapped at her defensively. "How was I supposed to know he was... I don't know, chained up in a basement or something?" It was probably very fortunate for him that Nate was out of hearing range by that point.

Chiboom continued to sigh as she massaged her temples, "Look, I am going to go find us a place to sleep for the night. If there's any place in the Impire still safe, it's here, so I can trust you to take care of yourself. Til then, I suggest you go have a chat with Nate. You two need to sort a few things out."

"But he always yells at me!" Zericho protested, clearly believing this was some vast failing on everyone else's part that this kept happening to him. When Chiboom continued to look unimpressed, he folded his arms and grumbled. He retrieved his loincloth and conjured a small raincloud to wash himself off, not caring about wasting his magic with the mood he was in. Once he was reasonably clean, he donned his only scrap of clothing and flew off in the direction Nate had taken.

Nate was sitting down upon a bench he had come across and trying to collect himself when he saw Zericho land in front of him. He looked downwards, ashamed, "I... I'm sorry I yelled at you back there." He smiled sadly, "Bet you think I'm extra pathetic now, huh?" God, he had been hoping for some kind of friendship with Zericho, but he probably just flushed it all down the drain with that little explosion. He was such an idiot.

Zericho was aware that this was yet another situation where he was supposed to grasp the significance without being told directly, but he was no more enlightened than he had been ten minutes ago, so he approached Nate cautiously. Asking questions was no longer safe, it seemed, but he had to try if he was going to solve this latest mystery. "...Why did you yell? What did I say to make you mad?"

Nate sighed, "I don't know. It's... I guess it's kind of a sensitive topic. I've never talked about it with anyone." He glanced over at Zericho, "And no one's ever really asked before."

"...Can I ask you about it some more?" Zericho felt fairly proud of that question, as it seemed this baffling experience was teaching him something in the way of non-Imp related tact.

"I..." Nate gulped and nodded, "What do you wanna know?" Seeing as Zericho wasn't yelling at him, things were going fairly well.

Unbeknownst to Nate, there was little to no danger of Zericho yelling at him. While he would raise his voice at times, he was far too comfortable with the role of a seductor to lose his cool and start shouting. So he took another hesitant step closer and asked the question that had been most pressing on his mind. "Why did you never do any of that stuff with anyone?" He really hoped it was not because Nate had actually been imprisoned and isolated, because he had no idea how to handle that.

Nate shrugged, "No one ever asked me, and I was always too scared to ask anyone." He looked at Zericho sadly, "You know, I never tell anyone about my condition if I don't have too right? That's 'cause like 75% of people break off the relationship in the next month or so." He smiled sadly, "They never say it to my face though, not most of the time at least, they just stop seeing me you know? It's actually kind of worse, at least I know what's going on when they tell me."

Nate had gone from angry to sad, and while Zericho knew this meant that he wasn't going to start yelling again, it was not a notable improvement. And he wasn't sure how to begin addressing what Nate had told him. What did having a 'mental health problem' have to do with having sex with them? Oh, but Nate liked to get to know people for a couple of weeks before sex, right? So they broke things off before then, and so he never got to the sex part. So that was why he'd never done any of those things. It still seemed really stupid, but at least it made some sort of logical sense. He wasn't sure how to proceed, so he chose his words carefully and as honestly as he felt was safe. "...You know no one here gives a flying angel fuck about your mental health issue, right? I mean, you don't wanna do that stuff with me, fine. But before you go back to your crappy world, you should at least try the hand-holding part with someone."

Nate shook his head, wishing it was that simple, "No. It's not just that, my..." He sighed and looked back at the imp, "The medicine I take, one of the side effects is that it lowers my libido. I just don't really get horny to begin with. I'm afraid that even if I did try it with anyone I... well I wouldn't be able to... you know. And even if it that wasn't an issue, there are shitloads of people back in my world, why would anyone want me? I'm not good looking, I'm awkward as hell, and I'm not even sure what I want myself."

Zericho found himself wishing that an Incubus would attack them or that Yalzaz would shoot at them again, because at least those things were something he knew how to deal with. He had no idea how to handle a clearly delicate situation so he decided to do it his own way and hope for the best. He squared his shoulders, looked Nate in the eye, and spoke plainly. "In case you didn't notice, have been hitting on you since you got here. Any Imp would be happy to do almost anything you'd want to do. Your world sounds worse every time you talk about it. And my taste is impeccable, so you're clearly good looking." He left out the part where his standards were 'Male' and nothing after that. "Also, aren't you fixing your mental health issue with magic now? Maybe you aren't getting that awful side effect anymore." He thought back to Nate's sad confession in the hotel room and folded his wings. "What I'm saying is: You aren't in your crappy world anymore. You're in Serenium. You don't have to let your baggage weight you down. You want to get to know someone? Go ahead! You want to figure out what you want? No one is gonna stop you! You want to... not have the side effect? You are being cured by magic, we can fix that." He began to speak faster, more sure of himself. "You keep acting like we're back on your world, but we aren't! There's nothing to be scared of! Well, besides the Incubi that is, but they're after me, not you, and Chiboom can handle them. You keep getting mad at me, but how about you get mad at those low as Hells expectations that you have from your world? Yell at them! Show 'em who's the boss here! Do something crazy and watch nothing bad happen! You are sad and mad and you don't have to be if you don't want to! ...I think you're just doing it cause you're used to it, maybe? But why do that when you can be happy if you want to be?"

Nate began to tear up slightly at Zericho's speech, no one besides his parents had ever even approached that level of believing in him, of wanting him to feel better. "I..." He knelt down and wrapped his arms around the Imp, "Thank you." He smiled through his tears as he hugged Zericho.

Inwardly, Zericho sighed a very deep sigh of relief that he had not screwed that one up. Evidently, he could inspire more than just a crowd of loyal citizens. He had been very nervous when Nate started to cry, but it was not the bad kind of crying and then quite suddenly he was being hugged, and he froze. He had been hugged many times in his life, but mainly by naked Imps or concubines, and very rarely by crying men who he'd made feel better with a speech. And never ever by Nate, who acted as though Zericho was repellent to him somehow. That he was hugging him now surprised the Imp greatly, but he overcame his trepidation to hug him back. "Hey, I'm the Prince. I gotta lead these flying dildos against a demonic horde, the least I can do is point you at your real enemy. So give it hells, okay?"

Nate slowly pulled away, and with a shy look at the purple prince asked, "Why do you care anyway?" After all, Zericho didn't seem like the warm and fuzzy type.

Zericho folded his arms and sighed. "Look, we're kind of stuck together for this trip, and it's going to really suck if you're miserable and mopey the whole time. So if I can help you with that, it makes my life way better. Okay?"

Nate smirked sadly, "I figured you'd just leave me behind instead." He scratched his head awkwardly, "So, even if it was for a selfish reason, thank you. Not a lot of people gave a crap about me back home."

"I'm a selfish guy." Zericho said with a shrug, then gave a pause. "So... why do you want to go back so bad?"

Nate sighed sadly, "My parents are there, they're probably worried sick about me, wondering if I'm dead or not. And I do have one or two friends..." He shrugged, "Besides, it's not like I know anyone here besides you and Chiboom."

"So? Go meet some people. I can promise you right now that not one of them would care that you have a mental health problem. Hells, I talked to hundreds of people in town! Oh, remind me to show you my speech sometime. I was on fire!"

Nate chuckled, "Why do I have a sense you mean that in a literal sense?" He looked at Zericho as he realized something, "You know, we haven't had many conversations like this. I mean, we've been traveling together for over a week now, and I barely know anything about you besides the fact that you're a prince and you like to fuck a lot."

"Well, there's not much else to know," Zericho admitted with a smirk. "I'm a prince who is up to my neck in guys most of the time, and I want to get back to that after I fix this pesky little 'invasion' thing." He made a dismissive gesture that indicated how the demons were a minor problem he could correct in under an hour.

"Well, you have to have other hobbies, if you fucked guys all day you'd get seriously dehydrated, not to mention all the strain that would put on your..." Nate blushed, "But, yeah. You must do something else."

Zericho tilted his head in consideration. "...Nah, I don't really have hobbies. I have to get tutored in a lot of stuff like politics and spells and dancing, and then I have to trawl through a list of the guys my dad wants me to go through to select the father of his heir." He rolled his eyes. "If they didn't come with nude images, it would be the most boring thing ever."

Nate had to admit that sounded like the type of life a member of a ruling royal family would have and- "Wait. 'Father'? I mean, unless you're planning on adopting but that kind of defeats the point of hereditary rule."

The Imp looked baffled. "What the hells would a mother have to do with it? Only a guy can knock me up. I could get one for the political ties, but dad keeps pushing me to get a guy with stronger magic so we can beef up the bloodline."

To say Nate was confused was a massive understatement, "I'm sorry, but did I miss the part where you're a girl? Or something like that? Because last time I checked you had a penis." He backtracked quickly, "Not to say that there aren't girls with penises or anything but..."

Zericho's confusion lasted a few more moments, and then realization dawned. "Oh, right! Some species need ladies to do that. No, I just store up a lot of magic inside me, and I can get knocked up and give dad the heir he wants. That's pretty much my only official job." He chuckled. "Dad is gonna be soooo embarrassed when he gets rescued by his glorified broodmare."

"So that's why I haven't seen any imp girls..." Nate fell silent, as a look that Zericho couldn't identify fell across his face. He stayed that way for quite a while, too, fairly motionless.

Zericho was amused by his reaction at first, and then grew concerned and crept closer. "Uh, kid? You okay?"

Nate seemed to snap out of his trance, turning to Zericho with what could best be described as a look of resignation, "Yeah, no, I'm fine, just... fuck it." He threw his hands in the air, "Fuck it! Why not?!"

The Prince didn't even bother to hide his laughter. "Really? This is what freaks you out? Finding out my royal job is to get knocked up? That's what breaks you?"

"No, sorry, I just got stuck picturing that image for a moment. And these past few minutes have been really stressful, I guess I just needed to vent or something." Nate chuckled lightly, doing his best to take this all in stride, "Still though, that's kinda weird; I mean, back in my world, there are a few species with only one gender, but they're all pretty basic, like insects and stuff, and it's always female, not male."

Zericho tilted his head. "Wait, then how do they...? No, never mind, I don't wanna know. Want to go find Chiboom and see if one of the other idiots has shown her to the prison yet?"

Nate sighed, looking in towards the large structure with a shrug, "I guess. Might as well." He turned to Zericho, "You really think someone would want me, I mean other than the way Imps apparently want anything with a penis?"

"Oh sure." Zericho waved a hand dismissively. "When you aren't yelling you aren't half-bad." He grinned at him. "And I have legions of admirers, and I'm like this. You'll be fine."

"Was that you, admitting you were something less than perfect?" Nate smirked, "Because if not, tell me, I want to make sure my bracelet's still working."

"I know that I'm not what most people say they want." Zericho admitted carelessly, then he turned to Nate and grinned. "But I'm what they fantasize about at night."

"Yeah, well, no accounting for taste I guess." Nate began to look about, "So, this place is basically just a giant fort now?"

"The jail, you mean? Yeah, something like that. You'll see when we get there." As they walked, Nate would see more and more depraved statues, as well as some attempts at legitimate sculpture, and even some attempts at depicting the female form. Though it was clear from even the most detailed carvings that none of the sculptors had ever seen a naked woman before in their lives. Gradually, the rocks got closer and closer together instead of being randomly scattered, and they came upon large piles of random rocks as they walked. When they came to the largest pile yet, Zericho stopped and gestured. "Here it is! Ain't it something?" The 'Something' that it appeared to be was a random collection of junked statues and filthy sculptures, though it did look roughly the size of a three story building. It appeared that Xelto or another Imp had lead Chiboom in the right direction, because the Orc had arrived ahead of them at their destination and was waiting for them at one of the natural arches under the pile of stones.

"Yeah, yeah, 'something' is definitely one of the words you could use to describe this place." Nate didn't mention that other words one could use were, 'ugly', 'horrible', and 'an architect's nightmare'. He instead followed Zericho as they made their way over to Chiboom, "So, what's the news?"

She looked over Nate with a wary eye, "I take it you're ok now?" When Nate assured her he was, she turned to Zericho, "Your 'friend' tells me that we'll be sleeping in what used to be the guards barracks; except for you of course, he said you could sleep wherever you want, along with some other things that I won't say, cause praising you that much would make me vomit."

"You know you love me." Zericho assured her, and turned to Nate. "Alright, let's take the grand tour." Once they stepped inside, they were forced to make several turns beneath the piled stones, and Chiboom would probably notice the Imps that watched them from almost-concealment. It was when they reached the staircase that Nate would receive his first surprise about the jail, as they descended a staircase of carved marble that was lit with orbs of light on both sides, to a much more spacious and well-lit hallway that was likewise smooth marble floors, walls and ceilings, lined with more tasteful nude statues and heavy doorways. "This is the main entrance, most of the doors are traps, so don't open them. The real entrance changes daily, so you'll be getting an escort while we're in here. The old jail cells have been repurposed, and they're boring anyway so we aren't going there, and the guard barracks are down there somewhere." He waved his hand vaguely off to the right. "Alright, I'm headed to the warden's office! You both hungry?"

Nate nodded, he didn't eat much on the road, when all they had was dried fruit, jerky, and the occasional animal that Chiboom managed to snare. "I could use a bite." Chiboom agreed, she knew from a lifetime of being on the road that you should stock up when you could.

"Great, we'll have roast boar. You two can stay here, the barracks are probably having their daily orgy right now, and if we wait a few hours you can get there for the card games instead. I'll go tell the warden to set out a table for five." With that, Zericho flew up and down the hallway, carefully counting the doors before he selected one and opened the heavy door with improbable ease before zipping through and vanishing behind with a heavy thud.

Five? Nate mouthed to himself, wondering who else was involved. He then sighed as the purple imp slipped away, "What, only daily?" He commented sarcastically and glanced up at Chiboom, "Did that Xelto guy tell you where we'll be eating?"

Chiboom nodded, "Yeah, there's a small dining room for him and the high ranking troops." She made her way down the hall, ducking through every archway, "Come on, this way. Watch your head."

Nate followed, not having to duck as much as Chiboom, but the crampedness was still irritating. He really hoped that the dining room had normal sized chairs and dining equipment, otherwise this would be pretty crappy. That said, he had noticed that Imps had very large hands for their size, so he could probably handle the utensils.

The directions Chiboom had been given were accurate, and they stopped at the correct door and knocked. After several minutes, a suspicious red Imp wearing the top half of a butler's uniform opened it and peered up at them, then glanced down, muttering to himself and nodded. He pushed the door open and held it open with his hips, bowing to them. "This way, Dame Chiboom and Duke Nate." The two looked at each other in bewilderment at the titles, before looking into the room. This hallway had polished wood for flooring, and tasteful artwork on the walls, though almost all of them depicted males in some form, and eventually opened out to an ornate dining room with a large table, over which hung a chandelier that abandoned all subtlety. The Imp who had let them in swooped over their heads and landed in the room, closing his eyes and speaking loudly. "Announcing! Duke Nate and Dame Chiboom! Esteemed escorts of our most noble Prince!" There didn't appear to be anyone else in the room, but then, they hadn't noticed Xelto earlier.

Nate leaned over and whispered at Chiboom, "Okay, there are three options here, either the bracelet really has worn off and this room is actually full of people, or these statues are in fact all posing imps, or this guy is a little unstable instead of me." Chiboom rolled her eyes as she inspected said statues, wondering if these perhaps had the same enchantment as Xelto; either that or they were just really well-done statues.

It was several minutes before they received an answer, in the meantime the Imp who had announced them had flown up and out of the room, though neither of them had seen which way he had gone. Nate had passed by one of the portraits when he had heard a chuckle behind him, and turned to see the picture he had just passed smile at him, as the blue Imp in a formal outfit within began to move, and stepped out of the portrait and flew into the room. "My apologies for the ruse, but I have learned to be cautious in my role as Warden. I am Xaga, I believe you already met my son, Xelto?"

Chiboom sighed and massaged her temples, "-fuckin hate magic." She murmured before turning her attention back to the warden. "Yes, we have sir. An honor to meet you." She bowed her head, and Nate awkwardly followed suit, wondering why they were doing this with him, but not Xelto or Zinoe; then again, they had met this imp clothed and not fucking Zericho.

Nate smiled clumsily, "Nice to meet you, Xaga; Zericho and your son should be here any second." Assuming Zericho hadn't decided on a second round of course.

"He is already in the building, he is just having trouble finding his formal clothes for tonight." The older looking Imp sighed. "Such is the price of going naked all the time." He gestured to the chairs. "Please, sit. Our food will be here soon, and I would love to hear more of your adventures with the Prince. I had thought it impossible for anyone who was not one of his fawning admirers to stand his presence for long, so you have both impressed me already."

The two nodded and sat down, glad to learn that, although they were smaller than they'd like, they still had chairs for larger guests, "Zericho isn't so bad..." Nate smiled, trying to not say anything too negative about him in front of one of his top allies.

"By Imp standards? Certainly not! He is nearly the ideal Imp. Confident, composed, dominant, and in possession of power almost as vast as his sex appeal. We were very disappointed when he turned down the throne. For non-Imps?" He shook his head. "They breathed a sigh of relief when he refused the crowns. Most do not feel an Imp's instinctive desire to be dominated, or more rarely, to dominate. Many cannot understand why we love our Prince so. Please, there is no need to stand on formality for stories. Go ahead." He urged them politely.

Nate was surprised to learn that Zericho had turned down being a king. In retrospect Zericho had implied all that earlier, but he had been distracted by the ... other implications of the conversation. Chiboom just smirked, "Well, I'll start off polite. He's not the worst client I've ever had to guard. I mean, he's up there, but I've had people who were genuine scumbags, not just annoyingly egocentric."

Xaga nodded. "It's a pleasure to hear that his bodyguard holds him in such high esteem! Or rather, not the lowest esteem. And you, young man?" He addressed to Nate.

Nate blushed as Xaga turned to him, he always felt awkward when other people would back talk people that weren't in the room, never really wanting part of it; now he was being essentially asked what he didn't like about Zericho, "Well, like you said, I imagine a lot of it comes down to the fact that we come from different cultures."

The Warden chuckled. "Fair enough. But I feel I am being ungracious to you as your host; you seem uncomfortable. Is there any way I can set you at ease?"

Nate wasn't sure what to say, so Chiboom spoke up instead, "Yeah, not to be rude, but I need to ask, you don't have one of those cooks that'll put his semen in the soup or something, right? Because I've had that happen before, and I can't say with a straight face that the cook in question is still alive."

The blue Imp broke into a laugh. "Ha! No, fear not, noble bodyguard. We know how most prefer their food prepared. Besides, considering how often we taste it, we prefer different flavoring for our nourishing food." He added casually, though his tail flicked with amusement at Nate's reaction.

Nate did his best not to make any strained noises, instead he just continued blushing, and tried to say something relevant to the conversation, "Uh, so we're having roast pork tonight?" Technically, he wasn't supposed to have pork, but even his dad barely followed that tradition, so he didn't really mind.

"Roast boar, yes. It's a bit of a treat because we've been saving this one for a while, but we are happy to use it to celebrate the Prince's arrival. Do either of you drink alcohol?" He raised his wine glass for emphasis.

Chiboom smirked, "I'm an orc, it's essentially required, so I wouldn't mind a little. Just nothing too strong, I should stay at least somewhat sharp while I'm on the job."

"And you?" He directed at Nate.

Nate shook his head, "No thank you, I'm good." It wasn't a smart idea to mix his medication with alcohol, and he didn't want to experiment if it was or wasn't the same with the bracelet.

Warden Xaga smiled graciously, and rang a small bell on the table next to his plate, and the red butler Imp from before flew down from somewhere in the ceiling to land on the table, looking as dignified as someone without pants could manage. "You rang, sir?"

"Yes, Yobal. Please start seeing in the guests, and then go check on dinner." The Warden smiled at the other two as the Imp on the table bowed, forcing Nate to avert his eyes, before he flew up and circled the shameless chandelier before vanishing.

Xaga folded his hands in front of him and seemed content to smile serenely for several minutes before Yobal's formal voice rang out. "Master Overseer, Xelto!" The gray Imp, wearing formal if confining clothes, entered through the same way that Chiboom and Nate had, and bowed to them before taking a place at his father's side. Xaga smiled fondly at him and took his hand to kiss it affectionately before he sat down.

Xelto seemed slightly uncomfortable in his clothes, as he kept fidgeting with his shirt, and actually blushed when his eyes met Chiboom's or Nate's own. "Ah... I would like to apologize for my shameless display before. It was not my intention to upset either of you with my proof of loyalty to the Prince."

Nate just blushed back and sighed, "It's okay, Zericho was the one who started it..." Although he really would've appreciated it if they could've waited to, at the very least, say look away or something of the like. Chiboom, meanwhile, just shrugged, it wasn't like she hadn't experienced this kind of thing before: she had grown up in the Impire after all.

Yobal called out again, "High Snitch Xiggle!" Just as an orange Imp strolled through the entranceway, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a very thin-looking loincloth as he took his seat on the other side of Warden Xaga, and nodded at Chiboom and Nate. The upper half of his face was concealed beneath the hat, but the visible half wore a self-satisfied smirk.

Nate had to contain a snort, 'High Snitch'? He knew by now that the imps had very little in the way of subtlety, but, really, they didn't even bother calling him, 'Head of Intelligence', or even 'Spymaster'? Well, he definitely looked like a 'High Snitch', he couldn't be more devious looking if he tried.

"And now presenting the guest of honor!" Yobal declared, audibly excited. "The Royal Scion of the Impire, Crown Prince Zericho!" At this the other Imps leaned forward and tilted their wings down, keeping them level with the ground as Zericho sashayed through the entrance, his own wings extended above his head as he took his seat at the other end of the table, with Chiboom and Nate on either side of him. He gave his companions a smirk and held his wings aloft for several more seconds before folding them behind his back, prompting the other three Imps to do the same.

"Well met, loyal subjects of the Impire." Though it was clear this was all part of a formal ceremony, the expressions of the Imps suggested that no one was taking this very seriously, as their amused expressions matched Zericho's smirk. The Prince picked up his spoon and lightly tapped one of the glasses in front of him. "This banquet is begun."

To say Nate was lost, was just a minor understatement; he felt out of place at normal parties, forget formal ones where the majority of attendees were perverted monsters that thought fucking in public was totally okay. So he just sunk into his chair and remained silent, trying his best to get a read of the atmosphere.

Yobal returned through the entranceway, pushing a cart with covered dishes, the largest of which he unveiled with a certain flourish as the roasted boar, which he set on Zericho's side of the table. There were salads and several pastries, but also numerous drinks, which outnumbered the solid food by a large margin. While the Imps took small portions of the boar and fruits, they seemed to largely be drinking from several different glasses, and didn't touch the larger portions.

Chiboom meanwhile, had already started to pile food onto her plate, albeit in a strangely smooth fashion, one that gave off an air of business, not pleasure.

The Imps drank in silence, which might have been uncomfortable for Nate even if they gave no sign that any of them considered it awkward. When Zericho finished his bowl of soup, he put the spoon down with some force, and the other three Imps looked at him intently as he sat back and gestured to them. Warden Xaga nodded to him. "As you wish, my Prince. High Snitch Xiggle? Please give your preliminary report."

Xiggle smirked cheekily, his hat still hiding his eyes, "Very well. As you no doubt know my prince, the capital has fallen completely, and is firmly under demonic control, it is currently acting as their main outpost. The forces there have largely remained still, no doubt to protect themselves from any attacks, of which there have been several by 'heroic' generals, all failed." He took a long sip from his cup, licked his lips, and continued, "The main force of the demonic horde has been coming in from our eastern border, as you might imagine. They hit at the same time as the castle was invaded, and overtook it in a matter of hours, they've been making their way west since then. They've had some trouble with a few of the larger cities there, in particular, Morvba still remains strong; but for the most part, if they can keep up their pace they should be able to conquer the empire in roughly three months if we are unable to put together a force to combat them." He shrugged, "Any questions?"

Zericho scowled and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "How in the infinite hells did they suddenly appear in the castle? We had plenty of wards against teleporters. And how did they mass at our border like this without our intelligence catching wind of it?" He directed this at Xiggle with a glare.

Xiggle sighed, as if bored, "Well, you know the wards can only provide so much protection my prince, they can, in a sense, be overloaded if a strong enough, or multiple teleportation spells, are cast at once. That is likely what occurred at the castle, although we have very few accounts of the incident, as you may imagine. As for the border, it seems that... well it seems that the demons had decided to go a very old fashioned way, one that the idiots under me never thought to check for; they dug tunnels."

The Prince slapped his hand over his forehead and dragged it down over his face. "Ugh... Right, well that's just another hole we have to patch up in the intelligence network. Hope you didn't have any plans for the next decade, Xiggle. Dad will want you to make our spy network impregnable, assuming he doesn't just fire you for letting this happen on your watch." He waved impatiently at the three other Imps. "And what was so flaming important about taking our Impire in the first place? To break those wards you'd have to burn out spell-casters of significant power, if not outright sacrifice a mage with serious mojo. And that's the best case scenario! What could possibly prompt them to risk so much to conquer us?"

Xelto cleared his throat, and his gray face flushed. "Firstly my Prince, my apologies. Our military was shockingly incompetent throughout this entire affair, and there can be no excuses for that. Because we conquered the five kingdoms that make up the Impire through surprise and seduction, our troops have never been formally trained, and many did not believe there would ever be a need for a significant fighting force when our powers act as a natural deterrent against aggression. Many troops have paid for their negligence with their lives." He paused, and seemed to wilt a little in his chair before he recovered and continued. "The generals that the esteemed Xiggle spoke of attempted to use the same swarming tactics of the past to secure victory over the demonic hordes, but it seemed that they were prepared for such things and lured many of our troops into various traps, slaying or capturing them en masse. They prevented communication that would have warned the other generals of the counter-measures, and so we lost many of our forces to outdated maneuvers."

Zericho's scowl was deeper and grimmer than Nate had ever seen, and his green eyes stared through the wall in front of him before they flicked back to Xelto. "And now that the survivors have been enlightened...?"

"We lost many of our forces in the failed swarming attempts, and quite a few of our number were in the castle when it was taken. The survivors have scattered and are either in hiding, or have attempted to find some authority to lead them in attempts at resistance. We have fallen back on guerrilla tactics and numerous traps to waylay the demonic forces, but they are usually only effective when our enemies have been separated from the main forces, and we do not have any reliable means at this time to damage the bulk of their army in direct attacks. I can say with some pride that our sabotage and ambushes have slowed the invading forces from the East, but I must shamefully admit that we are still losing ground. Without a new and effective means to repel the demons directly..." Xelto let the ominous statement hang in the air.

Zericho said nothing for several moments and then turned to Xiggle again. "Alright, High Snitch. Your best guess as to why the Demons have such a raging hard-on to take our collective ass. Go."

Xiggle chuckled at Zericho's question, "Well my prince, either you haven't been keeping up, or your father elected not to tell you, but a treaty with the goblins is in the works." Zericho seemed surprised by this, but Xiggle continued, "Or, I suppose I should say, was in the works, it's obviously dashed now. But yes, we had a treaty in the works with them, and I imagine the demons weren't too fond of the idea of our Empire growing any more powerful."

"Dashed nothing!" Zericho snarled, banging his fist on the arm of his chair with enough force to make the others jump. "If they think they can wriggle out an alliance just because of a little invasion they have another think coming! I'm getting their plump green asses on board even if I have to bear the Goblin King's son!" He sat back, fuming to himself and thinking out loud. "They hit the castle first because dad was our best defense. His Fisher King spell lets him channel his magic into the Impire and the Impire's magic into him. If they had hit our border without taking him out, they'd have all been captured or blasted to dust in a matter of days. Dad could channel the power of an army of Imps and..." He paused, and narrowed his eyes. "...He could channel magic and make it stronger..."

There was a period of uncomfortable silence before Xelto spoke up again. "There is some other good news I can report. It seems your father's attempts to gain goodwill among the non-Imp citizens has succeeded past our wildest expectations, as numerous local resistance forces that are neither in the sex worker trade or directly profiting from the Impire's policies have taken up arms against the Demons. Our foes have come well prepared for our own magics, and have not hesitated to put Incubi and Popobawa at strategic locations in order to take advantage of our... inclinations. But they were less prepared for the aggressions of the local Minotaurs, or the Lavado citizens, or the might of the Kibbizim. While their victories have been as welcome as they are unexpected, I regret to report that they cannot sustain themselves against the continued attempts of the Demons to conquer our lands."

Nate squirmed slightly, this was extremely uncomfortable, and he had no idea how Chiboom just kept eating like there was nothing going on. They were discussing war plans for god's sake, at the dinner table! Hundreds of lives, hell, thousands, rested on what was being decided here. That just kind of blew his mind; that type of power, of influence, it scared him; he was just glad he wasn't the one being called on.

It was unfortunate that the Warden believed in being a good host, because he thought that excluding guests from a discussion was rude, no matter the topic. "Lord Nate? Lady Chiboom? Do you have any thoughts on this matter?" His tone was kind, and no one would begrudge them a simple shrug and no comments at all.

Chiboom silently swallowed a mouthful before responding, "Well, obviously you need a better army, have you considered trying to conscript species besides Imps, I mean the other races do out number you in the empire." It was, to her, the most obvious solution after all.

As eyes turned to Nate next, his eyes went wide and he froze. "Uh..." He wracked his mind for anything to say, anything at all, that wouldn't make him look like a complete idiot. "Not... really? I mean... I agree with what Chiboom said, it sounds like you need a bigger army. And, do you guys have any allies who might be willing to help you?" There, that wasn't completely horrible, right?

The Imps collectively avoiding looking at anyone's eyes as they considered the most diplomatic way to answer that suggestion. "Ah... Well, as it happens, the policies of the Impire might be somewhat... outdated. It was felt by the late, great General Yolb that 'anyone who can't fly or cast spells on our level has no business being in our armies!' and considering our main form of offense was the swarming tactics my son mentioned, this was perfectly sensible. It... clearly requires some revision in light of recent events."

Chiboom snorted, not surprised at the foolishness of the imps, "Obviously. I always wondered why you guys wouldn't let the other races into your army, not that you have many clambering to join, but still, figures it'd be a stupid reason like that."

This seemed to make them all pout like scolded children, but Xaga turned his attention to Nate's second suggestion. "Ah, actually I believe our wise King was considering just the arrangement that Zericho suggested, in that he bears the son of the Goblin King in order to secure an alliance with them. Such a gesture would almost certainly seal our arrangement and win us some badly needed allies in this war." It was said in the indifferent tones of a scholar, as though it was only a footnote from an interesting piece of history, but the way he pointedly did not look at Zericho said it loud and clear: Xaga felt Zericho should do exactly that to aid their war efforts.

Zericho was ignoring all of them, still in deep contemplation.

Nate looked over at Zericho, mind reeling; the idea that he would get pregnant to secure an alliance, well aside from the fact that his mind was still saying it was biologically impossible, it seemed really fucked up. And not in the weird way things had been fucked up since he got here. No, more in the, that is definitely the morally incorrect thing, kind of fucked up. Still, he guessed that if royal families were still a big deal, then so would alliance based marriages, and it was Zericho's choice. "Well, Zericho?"

"Hmm?" Zericho looked up at having been addressed directly and stared at Nate. "What? Oh, getting knocked up by the Goblin King. Yeah, sure, I don't mind. Guy's got a nice ass. More importantly, I was thinking that I might know a way for us to fight back. Xaga? How fast can you get me to Zygzayg the Tease...?"