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Chiboom sighed to herself as she went over the contents of the room carefully, making sure she had taken proper stock of everything. In truth, it wasn't as lavish as it had first appeared. Aside from being nicely decorated, it was actually just a well-stocked watch station. Still... why had he bothered? If he was as cross with her as he had appeared, wouldn't he have given her a more barebones location to work from? One could do with far less than this and still provide a completely satisfactory job on watch. It was strange, but she knew that her curiosity would have to wait for the morning, as leaving now would be a bad idea regardless of how he felt about her. She began to settle in, making sure she was ready for any sort of surprise attack from the remnants of the forces they had faced.

Zericho, for his part, was enjoying himself thoroughly. The guards had brought one of the captured Incubus to a nearby hill for interrogation, and the hapless creature was already the victim of the Imp's mischief. After telling them everything he knew, he had been forced to stand in the middle of the circle of leering Imps and was tossed a spear, which planted firmly in the ground, swaying lightly from side to side. Lovebite (for that was his name) knew what was expected of him as the drums began beating, and he started panting in rhythm before grasping the pole and swinging his hips to propel himself around it, circling and thrusting into it as the beat intensified and the eyes of the Imps gleamed in the darkness around him. He couldn't help but grow aroused feeling so many hungry gazes upon his body, and he was feeling less and less reluctant about showing off as every moment that passed brought him to new levels of excitement. His naked state left it blatantly obvious he was getting off to this, and the Imps began to jeer in whispers at him, making his face flush and his breathing grow heavier as the crowd closed in around him until Lovebite faced the fate he would have forced on them, had his side won the battle...

The next day, Julius awoke and stretched his wolfish body with a yawn. He sniffed at Nate curiously, then headed outside to have a smell around, promptly curling his nose at the faint, but tell-tale smell of an Imp orgy. He enjoyed the libido of Imps when it came to paying his way across the land, but he wasn't feeling very charitable when the creatures who had paralyzed him the night before got to have the pleasure Nate declined. Grumbling to himself, he began to search for his clothing to get dressed, only to realize that it had gone missing. It didn't take a brilliant mind to deduce that the Imps had paid him back for teasing them the night before, and he sat down with a growl as he tried to figure out how to regain his garments.

Nate himself began to wake up soon after Julius stepped outside, yawning and stretching as he rose from the bed. He tended to wake up much earlier here than he did back home, likely due to having to go to sleep earlier, there being not much in terms of light sources after dark other than dim candles and the like. It also didn't hurt that his bed tended to be a lot more comfortable than sleeping on the ground, like he had most of the nights he had been in this realm. He was starting to feel pretty sore most days in terms of his back, and had been looking in his book to see if there was some spell he could use. Regardless, he got up and slipped what little clothes he hadn't worn to bed back on and left the tent. Although he didn't have as sensitive a nose as Julius, he still smelt the faint signs of the orgy held last night, although unlike him, he wasn't sure what it was exactly. He peeked around, wondering where the Lycan was--or if anyone else was nearby for that matter.

He didn't have to look far : there were colorful Imps flapping all over the camp. Though they seemed to be doing little in the way of productivity, they at least kept beneath the edges of the hill so as to stay out of sight of any potential Incubus or Succubus scout. Most of them were just wandering around, flirting or snickering amongst themselves, in a good mood from the show they'd watched the night before. Some seemed to be making breakfast under Xelto's supervision. The gray Imp nodded at Nate when the human stepped up to him, enticed by the smell of food, and handed him a flat stone that had some kind of fried meat, what looked like fruit, and a large orange flower with unusually thick petals. "Good morning, Lord Nate, I hope you slept well?" Nearby, Julius was still in wolf form and pouting as he waited for Xelto to order his Imps to return the lycan's clothes.

"Oh, um, thanks for the food. And I think so, I mean, all things considered." Nate laughed awkwardly, "I'm not used to sleeping on the ground." He looked down at his plate, enjoying the smells drifting from it, the meat in particular smelling like bacon, but was curious... "Is this flower part of the meal?" He asked just to make sure. A military operation didn't seem to be the place one would go to expecting garnishes on their plate.

"Of course!" Xelto assured him, piling up another plate with larger servings. "We should reach the Bizarre Boughs by roughly mid-day, so please prepare for departure, Lord Nate. I will take this to Lady Chiboom, and when I return I expect that Lord Julius' clothes will have been returned!" This was emphasized with a glare aimed at the Imps in general, who did their best to look innocent (that is, they utterly failed at it). With a snort, Xelto flapped into the air and headed for Chiboom's room to knock politely on her door.

"One second." She called out, having already woken up and most of her armor back on already--she was so used to wearing it that putting it back on was always one of the first things she did in the morning. She opened the door and was rather surprised to see Xelto there with breakfast... This was getting a little suspicious. "Do you bring breakfast to all the troops?" She asked with a joking smirk in an attempt to brush off the weirdness. "Because that doesn't seem like a task someone of your rank would bother with."

"You are a guest of our Prince, and must be treated with the utmost respect." Xelto's tone was not just cold: it was absolutely frigid. "No matter my personal feelings towards someone who behaves and speaks as you do." He handed her the plate. "Please be advised we will be moving soon, and make any preparations you feel are required."

If anything, that allowed her to go ahead and guess that the fancy tent was indeed a coincidence, or at the very least not based on his feelings. Either that or he was a really good liar. "Well, thanks. You don't have to do this from now on though. If you really don't like me I don't think having you get me breakfast every morning will improve our relationship."

"Perish the thought." Xelto replied drily. "Thankfully I shall remain here while you escort the Prince into the Bizarre Boughs, which we should reach by midday, and beyond, so this will hopefully be the last morning we share together."

Chiboom had one last thing to say before he left: "You're good at what you do by the way." The gray imp turned back towards her with confusion all over his face as she continued: "Any commander worth his rank shouldn't take crap from other troops, especially independent entities that are only serving under you temporarily, like say, myself; it's bad for troop cohesion. You're doing a good job."

Xelto stared at her for a long moment, then his mask of professionalism slipped into... not a smile, but at least less of a glare. He nodded once in acknowledgement, and flapped away to round up the rest of the swarm for their trek.

Zericho wandered over to where Nate and Julius were finishing their breakfast, Julius apparently having recovered his clothing, and sat down on an Imp who had gone down on all fours to provide a seat for his Prince. "So...?" He directed his question at Nate. "Did you two... Cuddle?" He waggled his eyebrows as though platonic snuggling was some sort of scandalous act.

Nate wasn't sure what offended him more, the fact that Zericho was using another imp as a goddamned stool, or the fact that... actually no that was way more offensive, but the whole mocking him thing wasn't cool either. "Aren't there any... I don't know, actual chairs you could use around here? I imagine they're a lot more stable and ethical than people. Also shut up."

"What? I'm serious! You aren't into the sex, so I figured that you would consummate by cuddling. Also he likes it, so there." He patted his seat's hip, who replied with a pleased cooing noise.

Julius rolled his eyes, but offered an orange flower to Zericho, who politely refused. "Nate and I enjoyed ourselves, and that is all you need to know." The lycan informed the imp, and resumed eating his second helping of meat.

"Fine, fine, just don't ever expect me to be your footrest or anything." Nate too had helped himself to seconds, finding himself a little hungrier than usual this morning. "What kind of meat is this anyway?" He asked as he picked at his fruit, enjoying the sweet flavor more than the saltiness of the fried meat. "Is it deer or something like that?"

"Oh, well we were toying with an incubus last night, but eventually we got bored with him and..." Zericho gestured carelessly, and Julius choked on the mouthful he'd just started to swallow. "...went hunting and managed to bag one of those big horned rabbit things. Smeerp, I think they're called?"

Julius glared at him balefully. Nate had been on the verge of retching and added his own glaring. "Please don't make cannibalism jokes, I really don't want to find out that some species we're visiting actually does that, but I've eaten it anyway thinking you're messing with me." Geeze, for all he knew before now, that could've been a respected tradition in Selenium. Good way to end up with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

"No one practices cannibalism to my knowledge, but it's a common accusation," Julius quipped, happy to provide some information. "If you want to badmouth someone's species, you call them cannibals. Orcs, Minos, my own people... we've all been accused of devouring our own kind or other sentient species. Which is absurd, of course!" He laughed, displaying letting his sharp teeth shine in the light and unwittingly undermining his own point before tearing into another piece of meat.

Minos? Nate wondered for a minute, then realized it was probably some type of minotaur. He'd ask later to make sure, when he wasn't holding back a snarky remark about how in his home world fictional werewolves did exactly that. "So... we're heading to the fairies next, right? Zericho, you said they're really annoying? Anything else I should know about?" After all, in stories back home, fairies ranged from peaceful creatures that flew around in flowers to... well, he had read the original Peter Pan and Tinkerbell was actually a major bitch.

"You should be fine, you're stronger than most fairies, even the big ones. Besides they're allergic to human blood, so they can't do much anyway." Zericho dismissed the potential threat with a wave of his hand.

"Mind you, they do specialize in some powerful magic, so they can hurt you without making you bleed." Julius amended sternly, unwilling to disregard the fairies so easily.

"Sure, if they weren't focused on looking and acting so squeaky clean all the time, like a bunch of wanna-be paladins who don't even have the stones to pick up a sword." Zericho shot back, annoyed at Julius for taking the opposing viewpoint and leaning forward on his cowering chair.

Julius was getting angrier by the way the Imp was willing to sweep a potential danger under the rug. "Which is just a cover for their own serious cultural upheaval, and might be a symptom of some very serious problems!" He snarled, leaning forward until his own nose was a short distance from Zericho's own.

Oh god. This reminded Nate way too much of holiday dinners. Waaaay too much. Except he wasn't at the center of a love triangle with his overly political relatives,making this even more awkward, something he'd previously thought impossible. He shrunk in on himself a bit, "Guys, can we please not kill each other at the breakfast table?"

Julius snorted, and sat down on his haunches with a huff. "I would not sully my claws or fangs with the blood of such an arrogant brat anyway." He declared, taking an angry bite out of his breakfast.

"Did you just call me a 'brat'? You clearly don't know what you're talking about!" Zericho likewise sat back, though now his living seat had acquired an Imp standing behind him to act as a back-rest for Zericho, and another Imp laying down on his back in front of him, proving a comfortably warm place for Zericho to put his feet. "Can you believe this guy?" He asked them, blissfully unaware of the irony.

Nate just looked kind of sad as he watched the two of them before sighing and picking up his plate. "What should I do with my plate?" He asked with a glance around. He tried to ignore the two being huffy.

"More blossoms." They chorussed, and then blinked at their unintentional agreement. Julius cleared his throat and clarified. "They're good for you, and they prevent sunstroke."

"Also, they make your breath smell nice, which is always a plus." Zericho added, as one of the Imps beside him carefully fed him from a plate that another Imp was holding.

That was a bit weird, but at least they seemed to agree on something for once. "Uh, I'm actually finished but I'll grab some more for the road." As he passed by Julius, he realized he could probably make a really bad, 'doggie bag' joke right now, but doubted anyone could understand, much less appreciate it. He made his way over to where the blossoms were still being served and piled a few onto his plate. He'd find somewhere to store them.

Julius and Zericho regarded each other a little less balefully, but they didn't try to talk to each other. Mainly because Zericho had begun giving his Imp foot-rest a foot job while the others watched enviously, but partly because the prince and the lycan had so very little in common. As Julius turned his attention elsewhere, Zericho's foot trailed down the lowest Imp's heaving stomach, and rested lightly on top of his groin for several seconds, as the orange Imp whined softly from desire. When Zericho started to press his foot down, the other Imp began thrusting his hips up, only to be firmly pressed back down by Zericho's other foot and a stern glare. He began rubbing again, encouraging the erection into full hardness before flipping the loincloth up with his toe, and trailing his sole along the exposed length of it.

It was, of course, at this point that Nate returned, carrying his plate of blossoms. "What's that sou-" He fell silent rather quickly as he realized what that panting noise was as he glanced down towards the source, quickly redirecting his gaze before he saw too much. "Oh, for fucks sake!" He turned to Julius, an obvious blush on his face. "I'm heading back to the tent if anyone needs me." The human quickly left, passing by Chiboom as he left, only saying hi quickly as he passed.

Just as Chiboom approached the table, and was about to ask why Nate had left in such a hurry, she saw her answer, sighed, and facepalmed. "Of course."

"Does he dislike feet?" Julius asked a nearby Imp, preferring to interrogate a stranger before asking the vile Chiboom. The Imp in question gave him a distracted shrug, entirely consumed with the sight before him, like many of the other Imps were. The lucky orange foot-rest's cock was sliding between Zericho's toes now, as the Prince lazed on his living throne and adjusted his position in order to rub with both feet, as the low Imp squirmed helplessly, oozing precum that aided Zericho in sliding his soles over the throbbing dick. Julius was growing bored with the display, and so he rose to go follow Nate, his spot quickly taken over by several Imps who wanted a better vantage point.

Chiboom was going to talk to Julius for a bit, but let him go, turning to Zericho with a look on her face that one would best read as unimpressed. "Why do you keep doing this kind of thing around the kid? It's obvious it makes him uncomfortable. I wouldn't mind, but I do kind of have to make sure the two of you don't kill each other." Honestly, she knew that Nate seemed pretty pacifistic relatively speaking, normally using words rather than action, but everyone had a breaking point.

She would have had to raise her voice to be heard over the moaning of the orange Imp, but even then Zericho was too focused on what he was doing to listen anyway. The sensitive soles of his feet rubbing up and down that dripping cock, the adoration in the eyes of his audience, the helpless moans of the Imp beneath him...! This was how you started the day off right. His feet slid faster and faster until the Imp came with a shudder, coating his stomach and chest with his own cum, and panting weakly as he was swarmed by Imps eager to lick him clean.

"Nate? Are you alright?" Julius inquired as he waited outside of the tent, not wanting to intrude.

Said human in question had been finding a suitable pouch to place the blossoms in, most of the ones they had were currently kind of dirty. He was still a little flustered from earlier, which was making the task a little more difficult than need be, "Uh, yeah, I'm uh... fine." An obvious lie as he rummaged through a bag.

"Nate?" Julius' voice acquired a slight canine whine to it as his ears tilted downwards and his head tilted to the side. "Please tell me... what is wrong?"

Ah crap, the dog whine. He didn't even have a dog and it cut Nate to his core; he reached over and pushed the flap open, signaling it was fine for Julius to enter. "Help me find something to put the blossoms in that isn't filthy, I'll... tell you when we're done with that."

Julius perked up immediately, his tail began wagging, and he approached his task with gusto. Eventually, they located a small bag that would be clean enough to hold the blossoms, and as a bonus, they could tie it to Nate's belt and allow him easy access to the snacks as they walked.

"I doubt I'm gonna get that hungry, but hey, better safe then sorry I guess." Plus he could give some to others. "Thanks." He smiled a bit awkwardly, and seemed to be slightly nervous. "So uh... yeah, about earlier..." Nate sighed, "It's... really awkward to have this conversation but uh, well, for one, public sex isn't normal back where I come from, it's really taboo. And I'm not against it or anything!" He quickly added, "I'm just, really not used to it, at all."

"Oh...! I had no idea your culture was so modest, Nate." The idea seemed to please Julius, who wagged his tail at his adopted master. "I suppose that makes things a little awkward, traveling with an Imp?"

Nate nodded with a blush, trying not to remember incidents that supported that statement, "Yeah, uhm, it can be. I mean, most of the time I just try and act like it's nothing but, uh, I mean, unless you count porn, he's the first time I've seen it in person." He was kind of hoping Julius got what he was saying with his last few words.

"He is the first time you've seen someone have sex in public?" Julius asked guilelessly, his head tilted, but after studying Nate's expression for a few moments, his ears flew upwards. "Oh! Oh, I see... Sex is... generally taboo in your culture?" He asked tentatively, treading on unfamiliar ground.

"No, actually that's the weird part, except for public sex and nudity, it's really thought highly of for the most part." He shook his head, "Uhm, yeah, I'm a virgin but uh, by 19, most people back home would consider that a little abnormal. I've... never really had a relationship that went further than friends. I mean..." He sighed, trailing off, "It's kind of complicated."

Julius' ears tilted downward, and he let out a soft whine before lowering his head and gently nuzzling Nate's hand. "If you want to talk about it, I'm all ears..." He pushed his head under the human's palm to let him feel said fuzzy ears for himself.

Aw, crap, this was really sweet of Julius, but he wasn't sure what to say. "I've uh... I haven't had many friends or anything like that for a while. There's some complicated stuff going on in my life right now, besides being transported here, and it kinda scares most people away... not that I'm the most social person out there."

The lycan stared up at him and then nodded. "I think I understand. But when you feel comfortable, you will talk to me?"

Nate nodded slowly, smiling sadly, "Yeah... thank you for listening."

Zericho, meanwhile, had been enjoying himself thoroughly as he basked in the adoration of his subjects, the lone dominant in a swarm of submissives, and it only occurred to him long after the fact to wonder where the others had gone. He took wing to find them, and eventually wandered to where Nate and Julius had almost finished rolling up the tent. "Oh, are we leaving already? Too bad, I was just starting to enjoy myself."

Nate frowned at him, "Yeah, I know." He resumed packing his things while Julius tied up the tent, feeling a bit peeved at what had happened, but was trying to let it go. It... it wasn't like Zericho had done anything wrong technically, it just still made him uncomfortable.

Chiboom was quick to follow after Zericho, having kept an eye on him from a distance, not exactly wanting an up close view, after having grabbed all of her things. "So, everyone's just about ready to go?"

"I am!" Zericho grinned, stretching luxuriously as he enjoyed being the one person who didn't have to carry any of the luggage. Royal privilege aside, Imps were not at all suited to walking long distances with extra weights to drain their already pitiful strength. Julius frowned at both of them, but made no comment as he gently pulled Nate's pack away from him and shouldered it resolutely.

Chiboom raised a brow but said nothing, not exactly shocked by the lycan's attempt to further court the human. Nate however, was a bit surprised for a moment, "You don't have to do that." He said, moving to grab for his bag.

Julius darted away from him, a playful smile on his face, and looked not unlike a dog playing keep-away with his master as he stood temptingly close, but still out of Nate's reach.

Nate rolled his eyes with a little smirk after a few seconds of trying to grab it, "Fine, if you want to carry it that bad. Just know that if you want to stop you can give it back to me."

Chiboom herself only watched silently, before she glanced up at Zericho for a moment.

Zericho actually seemed amused by the game, and looked disappointed that Nate hadn't tried to keep at it. When he felt Chiboom's gaze, he turned to her and frowned. "What?"

She shrugged, having just been wondering how Zericho felt about the whole thing, and was satisfied now, "Nothing." The orc started on her way, leaving Zericho a bit confused.

Nate followed her quickly enough, glancing back at the two as he did, "Let's go, guys."

The day's march was largely uneventful when it came to outside trouble, but a swarm of bored Imps found their own ways of making trouble. After about an hour of flying like the professional soldiers they pretended to be, they lost interest and began to play tag with one another, swooping and gliding around in a flurry of activity, and they were soon grabbing at the more intimate parts of their target's body, as Zericho sighed and dutifully floated in front of Nate to block his vision with one extended wing as Xelto fought to restore order among the swarm and herd them in the right direction.

Chiboom rolled her eyes at the unprofessional behavior of the troops, but was not surprised; most Imps were want to behave this way. Nate himself shielded his eyes a bit so he wouldn't have to watch, and turned to Zericho, "It's fine, you don't have too... wait, how are you floating without using your wings?"

"I'm magic." Zericho reminded him in a deadpan tone. "I could float everywhere if I wanted to, I just can't be bothered to waste the energy."

Nate was going to say that he hadn't casted a spell, but decided to drop it, knowing his knowledge of magic was lacking to the point where Zericho probably had an explanation.

Fortunately, despite the shenanigans of the unruly Imps, their pace remained the same, and by late morning they could see the trees in the distance, glittering faintly as the pink, blue and green leaves rustled as though a breeze was blowing. The Imps above drew closer together, slightly unnerved by the raw magic they could feel emanating from the trees, and looked at Zericho for reassurance. "Relax, you lot. We rule, remember?" That non-sequitur seemed to comfort them, and they proceeded the rest of the way to the trees in proper formation, though they stopped a safe distance from the edge of the forest as Xelto bowed deeply to his Prince.

"We must leave you now, but know that we shall fight valiantly for you, and never doubt that we shall do everything in our power to-" He paused when he saw the split spade tip of the Prince's tail in front of his face, and looked up at him for permission before reverently kissing the tip and earning a pat on the head.

"You didn't screw up. Now scat!" This last order was shouted, and his swarm was only too happy to obey and scattered back in the direction of the gaol, with Xelto pausing only to bow respectfully to the other three (and pause for a moment and bow slightly deeper to Chiboom) before he followed them back and left the four companions standing at the edge of the Bizarre Boughs. Zericho straightened his shoulders and tugged up his loincloth. "Alright, people, brace yourselves. This is gonna get... cute."

Chiboom could only smirk at the general as he left, before sighing deeply at Zericho's orders, "They're fine if you know how to deal with them." She said to Nate, looking over at him, "Just don't get too angry at them, they think it's their job to make you happy and they won't stop until you are. Just pretend everything's fine and they'll leave you alone for the most part."

Her advice was met by a nervous nod, as they followed the prince into the forest.