Your Featherlands CYOA Journey ~ Chapter 11 (Patreon)

“What are you going to do with Momo?” you ask. Princess Valina shoots you an amused, almost pitiful grin. She paces casually around the table atop which you are still bound. You squirm anxiously in your cuffs, hoping to drag out the questionnaire as much as possible.

“You’ll have to be more clear, I’m just the worst with names,” Valina says. “You know, I once had an advisor for two years, never knew the guy’s name. Always just called him Buddy.” Valina turns back to Doug, standing by the door. “Gah, now it’s going to drive me crazy. What was his name?”

“Stanton, your highness, and he is still your advisor after six years,” Doug says dryly.

“Stanton, that’s right!” Valina exclaims. “Oh, and I promise I’ll forget it by the end of the day. Ugh, I am just the worst…”

“The feline beastie I rode in with,” you snap. “Her name is Momo and she was taken away just before I was. What are you doing with her?”

“Ohhhh, the feilyne!” Valina says. “Yeah, Buddy did tell me that we had wrangled one of those…”

“What are you doing with her?” you ask again with a slight snarl. Valina thinks for a second.

“I mean, you can only imagine, right?” she says. “All I know is that she belongs to me now. And if she just happens to be in the position for punishment, then that’ll be what she gets.”

“Why is she even here then?” you ask.

“I take what I want, human,” Valina says. She stands with a regal posture, holding her head up assured of everything and everyone around her. In the torch light, the princess’s beauty, a brilliant blend of artificial and natural, is not lost on you. Her lips shimmer as she smiles. Her eyes glisten, her skin immaculately smooth. It blushes with a tint of lavender throughout, the main defining feature separating her from human genetics. Her gown flows as she drifts around the room, her eyes never leaving your bound, helpless figure. “Or at least daddy takes what I want and gives it to me, but that doesn’t sound as cool. And her kind, the feline beasties, are special. Rare, hard to catch, but they’re oh so cute and sensitive and valuable!”

“So you keep her as a pet, is that it?” you snarl.

“The princess has answered your one question, human,” Doug barks back. “You do not get to speak so openly to her.”

“Right,” Princess Valina says, clapping gleefully. “But don’t worry about the kitty cat, you and her are going to make such good additions to our team here.”

“Team?” you ask. Valina turns her back and walks over to a chest against the wall. She flips back her long, golden locks and opens the chest.

“Let’s see now, how is the human, guards?” Valina asked.

“Ticklish all over, your highness,” says the other guard. “Just like you like.”

“Goodie,” Valina says. “Just as to be expected. Your kind are so ticklish, I love it.” You wriggle more against the table, your heart sinking as you observe Valine sorting through her collection of tools. “Don’t worry, once we get this messiness straightened out and you pledge your loyalty to me, then we all can finally start having fun. Won’t that be nice?”

“I… I don’t even know who you are?” you say. “I’m not from here! I just want to go home!”

“Oh, well… then this might have to go on a little longer than expected while we educate you,” Valina says, her voice lifted with a slight hint of optimism. She picks up a thin brush and blows gently onto the bristles. They shift faintly to the stream of air. Valina smiles and turns back to face you. She walks gingerly back up to your bound body. Your eyes meet hers, sensing the delight in her staring down at the ticklish human in front of her. “Don’t worry, we take good care of all of our reformees. You’ll be loyal to Plumewood in no time!”

“I don’t even know what– eeeeaaaahhhhhheheehehehehah!!” you start to object before becoming overcome with a sudden rush of teasing tickles. Valina smiles as she guides the brush into the plush cavern of your armpit, the bristles gliding effectively across the ticklish skin throughout. The guards stand by the door as your ticklish giggles start to fill the room once more.

“No need to start you off so rough right away,” Valina says. “We have all the time in the world to play, what with you being mine and all, human. Just know, as long as you intend to defy me… it can always get worse. But for now, I just wanna get to know my new human toy.” The bristles swipe as softly as feathers, yet still manage to scratch at the ticklish mounds of skin beneath your arm. Each pass of the tool sends flurries of stimulation through your person, your nerves bursting against the bristles leaving itching effects against your pits. Your mind slowly melts back into the same ticklish panic you’ve felt many times since finding yourself in the Featherlands, yet as far away from the only friends you’ve made, you feel more helpless than ever.

“Gaaaaaahhhheeehehhahhahhahaaa!! Stahahahahaaap it!!” you beg. Valina giggles. She tosses her hair back, drinking in your ticklish laughter with absolute delight. The brush glides in circles inside your armpit. Its bristles find and scrape against your most ticklish stretches, leaving you squirming restlessly against the table. The device is similar to others you’ve encountered so far, and under the direction of another with more innocent intentions could provide enjoyable tickles, but you can feel the merciless impression gazing down upon your body.

“Coochie coochie coo, little human,” Valina says. She giggles as she watches you laugh and squirm beneath her touch. “I’ve always wanted to play with a human and now daddy finally caught one of my very own!” The tickles flurry through your senses, still managing to push the perception of your own ticklishness beyond what you had expected. It’s still manageable, reducing you to mere endless giggles except full laughter, but you’ve learned enough to expect more from such devious forces.

“Naaaeeeeeehhhahahahahaaaha!! I caahahahahahan’t!” you squeal. You pull at your binds, shifting anxiously against the slab. Your lips creep up into a wide smile as your giggles fill the room. The brush dances across your skin. It dips into the soft, plush hollow of your pit, each stroke leaving behind effects that continue to compound the ticklish effects. Valina grins as she observes how you react to the stimulation. Pleased by your dwindling composure, she reaches across your body, adding five scribbling fingers to your other stretched armpit.

“Tickle, tickle, tickle…” Valina taunts. “You’re going to be laughing for me for a long, long time…” Her nails, long and firm, begin skittering against your pit. While the princess guides the brush in hapless patterns in one, her fingers stretch and scribble in the other, feasting on the ticklish mound. The torturous tingles clash together in the middle, surging ticklish stimulation through your entire upper body. They pulse through and attack your nerves, activating more of that coveted response that comes spewing from your mouth in big, boisterous laughter.

“No, no, naaaaaahhhhhhahahahahahahahaaa!!” The tickles flood through your body. You flail against the slab beneath the chattering giggles of the devilish princess. She tickles with an abrasive, unfeeling approach; knowledgeable enough to reserve your energy while quickly pushing your limits early. Her brush and nails explore all over both of your ticklish pits at once. Her laughter taunts your own. Her royal, perfumed scent teases your nostrils as your breathing becomes strained. You toss your head side to side, her hands grasping at air and toes curling down below.

“Such a ticklish little human,” Valina taunts. She traces the brush in spirals and circles across your pit. She digs in with her nails on the other side, leaving you thrashing and bucking in place. You’re already so worn out from the previous ticklish assessment that you find yourself fading quickly. You whine through your laughter. You groan and gasp for air. You laugh against the surging tingles rushing through your senses, leaving you little means of comprehending much else.

“Gaaaaahhhahahahahahahah!! Pleeehahhahahse!!!” you beg, hoping she would at least break to taunt you for doing so. Instead, Valina simply giggles. Her brush continues to explore your underarm hollow while her nails skitter and scratch wildly across the delicate mound. Tears come to your eyes. Your head falls back, your back arching and hips bucking. You pull and pull at the binds holding your body so vulnerably exposed, every passing second of ticklish torment emphasizing your total helplessness.

“Awww, you’re going to be so much fun to have around,” Valina says, finally pulling back her hand and brush. Relieved from the tickles for the time being, you heave for air. The room has regained its dense musk. Enclosed body odor from your heated expulsions add to the humidity of the room with minimal air circulation. You huff and lay your head back as Valina shifts down your body.

“Ple-please…” you beg.

“You know, surrender yourself to me and all of this will go away,” Valina says. “Well, maybe not ‘go away’, but it does get more manageable for those who work with me.”

“What do you want?” you sigh defeatedly.

“I… I just told you,” Valina says with dry bewilderment. “Surrender to me, aid me in my conquests, refer to me as your princess, and of course play with me when I request it. It’s really not that difficult.”

“Fine, just–”

“Nuh uh,” Valina says, leaning in closer. “You think I want your words, human? No, you haven’t earned the right to surrender yet. That comes later, when your position here has been thoroughly belabored. Until then…” A swipe of Valina’s nail up your bare sole sends a gasping shock through your body. You whimper, a chill rushing through your body for a lasting moment of emphasis. Your muscles clench while you prepare yourself for more familiar ticklish torment. “Remember: you are mine. Now and forever.”

The brush finds its way to the center of your sole. Your foot recoils, your toes curl, but little can be done about the flurry of tickles stoked by the feathery swiping of the bristles up and down your arch. A steady rush of tickles courses up through your senses. Your foot flails against the brush’s scratching bristles, but Valina keeps the device firmly in contact with your ticklish sole.

“Aaaaaaahhhhheheeehehehehehahahaha!!” A flurry of giggles breaks through your lips. Your muscles grow tense once more as the tickles take back over. Your arms and legs tug at the binds holding them against the rack. Your head sways side to side. Your chest aches as it rises and falls, your jaw beginning to share a similar effect to the ticklish waves crashing through you. All the while, Princess Valina looks up at you. Her eyes study you in the dim light as the specimen she had waited so long to experiment on, the toy that she had pined for so long to play with. You feel her glee in every brush stroke, taunting you just as much as anything that comes out of her mouth.

“My, I really got lucky when daddy found you,” Valina says, giggling with no discernible intention to stop. You’re still not entirely clear how you came to be caught by her guard after falling victim to the trolls back at the camp, but you try not to drive yourself mad, racking the questions still circling your mind. Your venture through the Featherlands had become a lesson of adaptation and environmental assessment, with every day bestowing just as many answers as further mysteries.

“Aaaaaaahhhhheheehhahahaha!! Gaaaahhahahahahah nahahahahat my feeeheheheheheet!!!” Your voice floods through the dim chamber, coupled only by Valina’s taunting and the rattling of the metal in the cuffs keeping you tethered. The brush fluffs up and down your squirming foot. Every pass comes with a bursting array of tickles, all compounding and becoming more and more difficult to withstand. Your sensitivity grows as your composure wanes. Your head swims. Your breathing becomes heavily labored. The tickles pour up from your incredibly sensitive feet to ravish throughout your entire body, making you little more than a vessel of laughter.

“Heehee, awww, poor human can’t take the tickles of the Featherlands?” Valina teases. “Tsk, tsk, we still gotta toughen you up. Or maybe we don’t and just keep you as sensitive and ticklish as this for all my subjects to play with! Awww, wouldn’t that be so much fun?” Valina proceeds to add her other hand to your other foot. Once again, tickling with both the brush and five scribbling fingers sends your sensory fury soaring. Her fingers scribble wildly against your soft, defenseless foot. The princess tickles with a gleeful lack of mercy as she stands over the slab, staring down at her newest toy, howling with laughter before her.

“GAAAAAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAA!!! NAHAHAHAHHAAOOOO!!!” The tickles pour through your figure. They ravish your senses, causing your limbs to tug violently against the cuffs. You feel them coursing against both of your soles at once. The tickles come swiftly and with a ruthlessness conducive of the dismal and bleak environment in which you’ve found yourself. You’re again thrust into a circumstance of withstanding the tickles coursing through you, unable to defend yourself. You can only lay back and take the tickles bursting up through your soft, inviting soles while your tickler continues to taunt your disposition.

“Haha, does the ticklish little human have sensitive little feet?” Valina jeers happily. Her brush wafts up and down the entire length of your foot. Her nails work deep into your toes, scratching at each one down the line. Valina switches the tools swiftly to keep you trapped in a seemingly endless assault of ticklish laughter. Sweat runs down your body. Tears stream down the sides of your face. You buck and thrash against the rack, screaming with laughter as the petite princess toys so devilishly with your ticklish feet.

“STAAAHHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAAAP!!!” you howl. You bounce and pull against your binds. You whimper through your laughter, gasping for air after a longer bout than you expected to take. Princess Valina continues to taunt you. Her light, fluttering voice accentuates your crying laughter with ‘coochie coochie coos’ and ‘tickle, tickle, tickle’s. She plays with your sensory torment with as much glee and apathy as she does your body. Her fingers scratch over every inch of both of your ticklish feet while the every bristle of the brush explores throughout each of your ten delicate toes. When you begin heaving and croaking for air through your laughter do the tickles finally cease, granting you the mercy of uninterrupted breathing once more.

“Don’t think you’re done just yet,” Valina says, smirking as she eases up the other side of the rack. “I’ve been dreaming of tickling a human since I was a little girl. You and I are going to have so much fun together!” She bounces a little, her hair flopping in rhythm. She comes up to your midsection, looking over your exposed belly. You struggle to catch your breath. You look at her from behind sweaty, pleading eyes, your mouth hung open tiredly. You can barely get a sound out before the tickles start up again, in a concentrated five-finger scribbling against your stomach.

“Naaaaahhhhhahahhahahahahaaaaa!! Pleeehahhahastaaahahaaaap!!” you cry out through groaning breaths. Valina smiles widely as she digs her skittering nails down against your stomach. Your hips wriggle and writhe against the rack. You thrash about, your most vulnerable area unable to escape the princess’s ticklish whims. She giggles and continues her assault of teasing phrases, making it well known how trapped and helpless you are.

“You can’t beg your way out of this, human,” Princess Valina says. “You have nothing to offer me except your undying loyalty… which you’ll give up eventually anyway.” Her finger gnaw into the center of your belly. The princess lowers the brush down to your skin, circling your navel. You shake your head. Tears pour down your face. The tickles come faster and harder as Valina’s hand circles the perimeter of your ticklish tummy. The brush descends down closer to your navel. The bristles tease the outer area before finally slipping inside.

“NAAAAAAAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!” Shrieking laughter bursts from your mouth. Your muscles contract, your back arches hard against the cuffs keeping your body spread taut. Valina’s eyes widen. She grins with delight at your explosive reaction.

“Oh wow, have I found another sweet spot?” the princess asks. She bite the tip of her tongue as she dips the brush more into your belly button. The scratching bristles circle around the inner ring. Each fiber spreads to a different minute stretch of ticklish skin, creating a singularly bursting ticklish effect as it twirls by the most casual of motions. The slight application sends an explosion of tickles ravishing through your senses. Coupled with the gnawing scribbles of Valina’s vacant hand, you throw your head back as all you can do is laugh.

“GAAAHHHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! PLLEEEAAAAHHAHAHAHA!!!” Your body trembles. Sweat trickles down your figure. Your exhausted physique fatigues in tandem with your mental faculties. The tickles resonate throughout your burning body. In the moment, you’ve returned to a mindless state of desperation. Your laughter seeps through groaning cries, your hope for mercy swiftly dwindling. The tickles that bloom from your navel persist with maddening coverage, able to keep you trapped in a constant tempest of ticklish torment. You try to wiggle your midsection away, but Valina’s hand keeps up with your motions. She smiles down at you while her other hand dances five fingers across your belly.

“I hope you don’t hate me, little human,” Valina says. “I really do want us to have fun together. I think you’ll really come to like it here once you finally give in, mind and soul and all that.” She twirls the brush further into your navel. Her fingers gnaw at your belly, traversing around the center in a slow, methodical circle. Your stomach quakes with your laughter, never escaping Valina’s ticklish touch. Deep groaning laughter bursts from your throat. Your body fights back tiredly against the impulsive convulsions, unable to stop the tickles from searing your nerves.

“NAAAAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAOOOOO!!!” You cry out. Your chest and jaw ache. Your head pounds. Your heart races. You can barely keep up with the air necessary to breathe, let alone laugh. Tears gloss your cheeks. Your hair drapes with sweat. Valina continues to ravish your tummy with ceaseless tickles, pushing your limitations further and further. Your head grows light. You feel the dizzy onset of faint rising. Though as the tickles continue and laughter flows like a rushing river from your mouth, a familiar sensation begins to take over, a foreign impulse you’ve still yet to fully understand.

“Ahhhaahahahaha!” Valina shouts. The tickling stops. The princess stumbles back, retracting her hands from your body. She doubles over, laughing and clenching her sides. Whatever happened did so too quickly for you to realize, but you’re left with a familiar sensation, a release of the energy you had studied so much to harness. Steadily, the princess’s laughter comes to a soft panting. She stands up and stares back at you in disbelief.

“Are you alright, your highness?” Doug asks, stepping forward.

“It… they shocked me…” Princess Valina says, her eyes wide and confused.

“It did?” Doug asks.

“Do you need assistance, your highness?” the other guard asks. You look over tiredly as the princess shakes her head.

“No, I… I’m fine,” the princess says. “Just… take it to the cells. We’ll deal with this… curious matter later.”

“As you wish, your highness,” the guard says. You lay back, straining through your own exhaustion and loss of air. The guards begin freeing you from the rack as the Princess slips out, looking back just before leaving.

“Very… curious…” Princess Valina says.

You’re taken back to a lonely, dark collection of cells, the dim dwellings of the palace above. The floor is made of stone and slightly damp everywhere. Torch lights flicker off of the watching walls. Distant laughter and murmuring could be heard echoing through the chambers. You peer through tired eyes into the cells that you pass. Each seem to be filled with other prisoners, yet no one that you can immediately recognize. Your feet are dragged just off of the floor as the guards carry you to a cell of your own.

The guards stop and lay you gently on the floor. It’s hard and unpleasantly damp. You recognize the interior of a cell, seeing a sleeping cot covered by a thick, wool blanket. The air is a comfortable combination of cozy and chilly, yet the scents are musky and slightly stale. It all matches the diminutive way they've dressed you for your new disposition within the Featherlands, stoking far more questions than answers. You find yourself reverting back to wanting this all to be some elaborate dream, but you know what you’ve experienced has been far too potent not to be real.

The door shuts and locks behind you. You retreat immediately to the cot. You take a seat and, upon noticing it to be more comfortable in your fatigue than you expected as well, lay yourself down. You close your eyes and groan, your head still swirling from the ticklish assessment. You think back to everything Princess Valina said. About where you are, about who she is, about what intentions she has with Momo. You can only make sense of it relative to what you already know about the Featherlands. You huff, knowing there’s still plenty of gaps in knowledge that you still haven’t learned yet. You curse yourself for not studying harder back at the elven commune.

The guards saunter off, leaving you in the dark, damp dungeon, with nothing but the distance, echoing voices to keep you company. Or so your dismal perception would have you believe.

“H-hello?” you hear a voice whisper from the darkness. You open your eyes and turn to the cell next to yours, sharing the same bars. Against it, Momo clings her fingers around the steel, peering at you through the gridded beams.

“Momo?” you ask. “You’re… here?” You stand and walk up to the bars, staggering slightly in exhaustion. You can see the light blue hue to her accenting ears. They look damp and dark in the dimness of the catacombs. Even there, however, her eyes still sparkled through a wide expression, her tail wafting lazily behind her. As you approach, Momo backs away sheepishly. She rubs one arm and looks down at the floor, one bare foot hiding shyly beneath the other.

“Did the princess… visit you?” Momo asks.

“Yeah,” you say. “Did she hurt you?” Momo shakes her head.

“No, just a pretty… thorough tickling assessment from her men,” Momo said.

“Yeah, I got that too,” you say.

“I am to meet with her later,” Momo says. “I can only imagine why.”

“Why do you think?” you ask. “I… I’m sorry, I’m still very new to all of this.”

“You know more than you think, human,” Momo says. “She probably wants us to join her regime, but I cannot do that to my family.”

“Regime, what… what is happening?” you say. You try to calm your tone, attempting to hide the frustration in your confusion. You steady your breath and look back at Momo, standing in the middle of her cell. “What do you know about Princess Valina?”

“I know that she’s been–” A hard clank echoes through the halls. A distant door slams and heavy footsteps begin to draw nearer.

“Oh, pretty kitty,” a gruff, heavy voice announces. “Her highness is ready for you. Heh heh…” You and Momo turn toward the voice. Momo’s ears stand up alert before slumping back defensively.

“Who is she?” you ask with urgency. “What is this regime? What’s she going to do to you?” Momo stands stunned and frightened. She backs away toward the cot in her cell, rushing to fetch something from underneath. The footsteps get closer and closer, the shadow of a large figure peeling across the wall against the restlessly flickering torch light. Your eyes dart between both, not knowing what to expect of the approaching guard. Your eyes grow heavy, your heart pounding as Momo fumbles with something beneath the bed.

“Wait,” Momo whispers. She stands, holding something in cupped hands, and rushes back over to you. “Here, take these.”

“I… what?” you ask. Momo approaches and swiftly grabs your hand through the bars. She places a small collection of something in your palm before pulling away.

“I found those in her garden, it’s why they caught me,” Momo says quickly. “Eat one. These can grant abilities in humans beyond what they are capable of. This will help you escape, but you must only eat one. Otherwise–”

“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…” the approaching guard calls out. A large, green-skinned beast turns the corner. He’s dressed in hide and chain mail armor, but carries no weapon on his person. He towers over both you and Momo, with a girth that far exceeds your combined figures as well. You can barely make out many facial features in the dimness of the dungeon, but you can hear the gleeful smile in his voice. Keys jingles as the beast fidgets with a rusted ring, inserting one into the lock of Momo’s cell.

“Leave her alone!” you cry out.

“Oh ho, feisty one,” the beast chuckles. “Just like a human, so I’ve heard.” The beast approaches Momo and grabs her by the wrist.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Momo says, walking with the creature as he tugs her along. “Just one!”

“Alright, alright, enough out of you,” the beastly guard says. “There’s only one noise out of you we want to hear here. Heh heh…” Momo catches one last glance back at you as the pair turn the corner, just out of your sight. You huff, wanting to call out more threats, but you’re left reflecting on your previous brazen reactions and how they’ve landed you in such a situation. You sigh, trusting that Momo will still be okay if there exists some utility that Valina sees in her. If tickling is the worst thing she undergoes, you know she’s well equipped for it, as a Featherlander.

You step back and examine what it was that Momo left you by the wafting orange lights of the torches. You look into your palm. You see what appears to be three types of small fruits, almost like berries, but recognize none of them.

One is bright red. It has a skin that shimmers in the light, reflecting the glow of the fire. It has an oval shape and is much skinnier than the others.

One is dark green. It is round and has small harmless spines around it. You brush it with your finger and feel a soft texture on the outside.

One is blue. It is the largest of them and has small bulbs protruding around the skin. It secretes a juice from the hole left over from where it was plucked.

You gaze down at the selection, remembering what Momo said about ‘giving helpful abilities’ and ’only eating one’. You have no reason not to trust her, as she appears to be your only immediate source of companionship. You swallow and look over the choices. You think for a moment, not knowing what any of them will do to you, but if the abilities are as helpful as she says, then the sooner you choose one, the sooner you may be able to make your escape from this palace.

Which berry do you eat?