Volume 5 Outline (Patreon)

• Coye's Week 1 - Coco
• we open narration telling us that the same day as his appointment and he and Shayla have just gotten back from slaying some monsters in the forest. They went through their routine, dropping off monster parts at Snyther's and turning in the quest at the Guild. Dorothy was being evasive so he had a chat with Tammy instead, and that went well.
• Shayla is complaining about how tired she is from expending mana all day keeping her pixie dust in.
• Coye still has trouble processing that but in a good way, it's over his head and he doesn't care. Shayla wonders if he has screws loose, most people wouldn't react to finding out they’re a drug addict like this.
• They're on their way home and Coye teases Shayla about all the fun they're going to have tonight. She mocks him that the foursome wasn't enough for him and Coye reminds her that he has the doctor's approval to start expanding his harem.
• Shayla groans, the last thing he needs is an incentive to start chasing more skirts.
• Coye admits probably, but it's nice to have the excuse.
• Shayla poses a question. If he was to throw caution to the wind and choose one of the Baddest Bitches to start going after, assuming there was no consequences, which one would you go for.
• Coye thinks about it and his first answer is Coco.
• Shayla is surprised, thought it would be Britni. Wants to know why.
• She's really cute and funny, you need any other excuse?
• Shayla reminds him that he shouldn't be poking around in their relationship, and Coye asks what if she's poking around my house? And points forward.
• Indeed, Coco can be seen in the horizon sniffing around the place. She is wearing a tank top that reads 'puppy slut', some jewelry, and some makeup. Shayla says shit and gets under the hat, while Coye calls out to Coco.
• As soon as she notices him she stops what she is doing and barks at him from afar, telling him to stay away. He reminds her that this is his house. Coco still growls but Coye approaches.
• He asks why she's here and how she found the place, Coco points out her nose is great. Too great. This place smells like mating.
• Feeling a little bold, Coye points out it's because he did a lot of mating last night. Coco is interested but wary, asks how much. Coye stresses a lot and her jaw falls a little bit.
• Coye finally asks about what she's wearing, and Coco reveals that she wanted Britni to feel better so she allowed Britni to dress her up today in exchange for many treats.
• Coye asks if Britni is alright but Coco rows at him and tells him not to worry about her, right now this is about the two of them.
• Coye doesn't follow, asking her what she means.
• Coco came here for a reason. Coye confuses her right now, he's been acting different and she doesn't understand it so she came here without anyone knowing.
• Shayla senses an opportunity, but is proven wrong when Coco says they're going to settle this through fighting.
• Things will make sense again when she reconfirms how weak Coye is. Coye doesn't really want to fight her but she stresses how hard last couple of days have been for her. She can't stop thinking about the weird way that Coye was acting and it made her head hurt.
• She won't outright ask him, but it's clear to Coye she needs this in order to feel better. He thinks back to how flustered she was acting the other day, and if he really did make her feel that way for the last two days then he feels a little responsible.
• Shayla encourages him. What Britni doesn't know won't hurt her, and she teases that Coco probably likes aggressive men. She goads him, asking Coye if he has what it takes to beat up a girl. Coye is indeed intimidated by the idea but is willing to try if it will make Coco feel better.
• He verifies with Coco that she just wants to spar, which is correct. Coye is actually a little excited. He hasn't ever really sparred with anyone but his father, let alone someone around his own skill level. He wants to know how Coco wants to do this, whether she wants him to use his fists or his sword with blunt edge art.
• Coco scoffs at him, saying he won't hit her anyway and he'll need all the help he can get.
• Sword it is, then.
• Coye changes out of his gear and throws on some casual clothes then meets Coco out on the field in front of his house.
• Coco is wagging excitedly, which is an amusing sight.
• Coco announces it's time to begin and the fight starts.
• Coco proves even faster than Byng, unsurprisingly, and Coye has problems keeping up with her. Luckily, he has eyes on the back of his head. Shayla warns him at the directions Coco starts coming in, and deflects her claws after each lunge.
• She pulls away and starts strafing around, eying him up. She feels more like a wolf than a puppy slut.
• Coye blinks a single time and Coco is gone, before figuring out she's jumped and is diving towards him with her fangs. He feels really bad about what he's about to do, but covers his fist in energy and punches forward.
• It was a feint- Coco wanted that to happen. She brings her bushy tail out in front of her face and glows red with the power of the Feral. We get a brief description of it. Coye has only seen it a handful times.
• This art transforms the hair on Coco's tail into a powerful shield which even with his Arts hurts his fist to make contact.
• Coco calls him weakling as he rears back, and then she runs forward, headbutting him.
• Shayla encourages him not to hold back because she's a girl, and before Coye is sent flying from her head butt, Coye grabs her by the hair. This keeps them in place and hurts her a lot.
• Coco stumbles back and for a moment Coye feels bad, but then he sees the look of joy on Coco's face. She's loving this. She tells him she didn't think he had in him, wonders why he took all their bullying until now.
• It used to be because he was scared, but now it's because he likes it. This frazzles Coco and makes her really upset, repeating her whole shtick about not understanding why he would like beta male things if he has the strength of an alpha.
• Coye teases a little, asking her if he thinks he has what it takes to be an alpha. She is embarrassed and tells him he's nowhere near the alpha that Britni is. Shayla applauds him for trying and Coye thinks about what she told him already. Be aggressive. He wasn't sure if he wanted to pursue Coco yet, but this opportunity in front of him was a good place to practice his assertiveness.
• Coye rushes forward with a feint, which Coco expected. He pivots and repeats the process, overtaxing himself to try and overwhelm her mind. Unleashes a flurry of false strikes. He can't keep this up for long, but it's enough to disorient Coco at Shayla's expense.
• He lands a pretty big blow on her chest. Coco realizes she needs take this more seriously and her body starts glowing red, coding herself in the feral. Coco's movements are faster and sharper, scarcely allowing Coye the time to dodge
• she lands multiple blows but Coye is able to minimize the damage each time, analyzing her and predicting where she would come from next. Eventually gets his chance and hits her on her head with his sword, making her dizzy.
• She's tired now and says the fight has lasted long enough. She doesn't want to use all her power on someone as weak as Coye, saying she's seen enough for now.
• Coye is glad as he's tired too. He plops down next Coco wondering if she'd notice how close they were, and asks if that helped her out any.
• It didn't. Coye is strong. Not stronger than Coco, according to her, but strong enough that she can't just write him off anymore. He asks if he still a runt, Coco snaps obviously, then realizes how close he is. She scoots away, blushing, telling him not to even think about mating with her.
• Coye finds humor in this and Shayla makes some snappy comment about it. Coye tells her that was fun, and that they should do it again sometime.
• Coco starts wagging her tail, but is upset. Britni probably wouldn't like it if she knew Coco was out here with Coye, but it's conflicting because Coco really did have fun with them.
• At Shayla's behest he asks why Britni has anything to do with it. Coco can make her own choices, can't she?
• This overloads Coco a little bit and we get a glimpse of some of her issues. Britni gets mad if Coco doesn't listen, and Britni has already been madder than usual lately.
• Shayla sees a glimmer of possibility that Coye could capitalize on in the future, before reminding herself she's not supposed to be encouraging his chasing of the Bitches.
• Coye apologizes but tells her she is welcome to visit if she wants again sometime.
• Coco is very conflicted, she says that Britni hasn't been playing with her very much lately, so... Maybe it wouldn't be bad to stop by for more sparring sometime in the future again? Coco likes playing, even if it's with a runt.
• Coye pushes his luck and tries to pet Coco. It ends with her freaking out and biting his hand, chastising him, and then running away.
• Shayla teases him for getting daring, asks if he had fun. He did. Shayla wants to know if he was holding back or not. He was, but Coco was holding back more. Shayla thought that Coco was just bluffing when it came to using all of her power, but Coye isn't so sure.
• Shayla asks if he thinks he would win, but Coye says he already did. He got to spend time with Coco which was a nice surprise. Shayla teases him but goes silent when he reminds her that no one is coming over tonight and they've got a lot of fun to have in order to start developing magic fairy powers. Shayla shuts up after that.

Dorothy 1

• Dorothy has had a long day. She's stressed, still thinking about Coye, and has spent most of the day in a daze mainly trying to avoid him. She didn't get as much work done today as she wanted to. Her thoughts were just too clouded.
• She and Tammy are at the front desk. Dorothy is still in a daze, Tammy eventually points it out.
• Dorothy tries to dismiss it but thanks Tammy for her concern.
• She gets asked if this is about Coye and she blushes. Of course not, why would it be?
• Tammy is of two minds. Helping Dorothy realize what she was going through might help, but it wouldn't be as entertaining as watching her figure it out for herself. She takes the path of most entertainment and phrases her concerns vaguely in a way that might hint at the truth but still not enough for Dorothy to realize.
• Dorothy feels weak and ends up asking Tammy whether or not things will ever get any better. Tammy struggles to comfort her, but comfort her she does. Tammy pulls something out of her vest, says she was saving this for when Dorothy needed it and gives her an envelope.
• Tammy checked the mail earlier today and Dorothy got a letter from her parents. This does perk Dorothy up, but she asked why Tammy didn't just give it to her earlier in the day. Tammy shrugs, saying if you don't want me to hold on to mail and handed out when it's most dramatically relevant than don't have me check the mail.
• Dorothy shrugs, saying that's fair. She knows how Tammy operates by now, and we hear little bit about her motivations.
• Dorothy looks at the envelope and smiled at her father's handwriting, but the longer she looks, the more a sense of dread starts to overtake her. Tammy asks what's wrong and Dorothy can tell- it's one of those letters.
• Tammy asks for clarification, sensing drama. Dorothy tries to put off the idea of checking it out but Tammy bugs her into doing it. Dorothy gives in, saying she might as well get it done with.
• Dorothy opens it up and reads a nice letter from her father. She smiles and we hear a bit about her life and upbringing. Not too much, just first taste. But her mother also wrote her, and the second letter is just as bad as she thought.
• Dorothy's mom is a tough, serious farmer woman who is very direct about what she wants- and she wants grandchildren. Someone to take over the farm when they're gone. She asks Dorothy if she's seeing anyone, recommends bagging one of those amazing adventurers who work for her. There must be some really hot ones who are also rich.
• Dorothy becomes even more stressed, Tammy asks what it was about. Dorothy fills her in and tells Tammy that she has told her mom many times she can't just marry an adventurer, she goes on about some of the ethical reasons as well as the personal ones why it's not allowed.
• Tammy shrugs and says they sound like excuses.
• Dorothy says even if they are excuses, there's no one in her life worth risking everything she's built for herself. Tammy asks no one? Dorothy can't give a straight answer, which is telling.
• Dorothy tells her friend that she's never even dated anyone before in her life. Tammy is unsurprised. Dorothy buckles down and says she's working on her career right now, there will be time to date and get married and have kids when she's older.
• Tammy says she will remind Dorothy that she said that when she's thirty-five and miserably alone.
• Dorothy gives a huge stress sigh

Coye's Week 2 - Marlie

• Coye brought in his collection of cards to the Guild next morning, Tammy and Dorothy are at the front desk. Dorothy hides again even after he tells her he brought his cards. Her voice sounds tempted, but she insists she's too busy to look them over right now. Shayla says great, now we gotta go drop those back off the house before we go questing.
• Coye goes to the next room and looks at the quest board, noticing that there was an urgent quest posted for a strong monster that's been sighted stalking around outside the woods to the west. There are multiple flyers for it, suggesting someone might've already taken on. Coye picks it and asks Tammy if anyone else already took this quest. She doesn't know, asks Dorothy, but she can't recall due to how flustered she is.
• Coye accepts it and turns to leave, but Dorothy pokes out to tell him some of the monster's weaknesses. He's relieved, and Dorothy becomes flustered when he smiles cutely at her and thanks her.
• After he's gone, Dorothy remembers she did already send someone out. Tammy asks if it will be a problem, Dorothy isn't sure but doesn't think so.
• Coye makes the journey, it doesn't take long, and he hears the sound of combat coming from over the next hill. He finds Marlie battling the monster in question.
• He and Shayla watch how it unfolds. Marlie is in complete control of the battle's flow the entire time. She is talking to herself and making notes. After taking a few notes on the weapon she's using, they watch her use magic to summon a new one, where she repeats the process. The monster is nothing more than a big punching bag for her, and they watch her test a couple more weapons like this until she kills it.
• When it's done, Marlie calls out to Coye and says he can come out now.
• He explains awkwardly that he took on the same quest, Marlie says this makes sense. Dorothy was acting out of it today. Coye admits she's worried about her, Marlie isn't. She's seen that look before on Britni, and she can only handle caring about one person struggling with their feelings.
• Coye asks her about some of the weapons she was using and Marlie is impressed he's trying to make small talk. Coye tries to brush it off awkwardly, but Marlie asks if Coye is busy right now. No? She suggests he sits down and hangs out with her for a bit.
• Coye is very unsure about where this is going, and Shayla make sure to remind him not to mess with Marlie because of her dad. Regardless, Coye and Marlie sit down on the hill. Marlie drinks out of her canteen and looks really cool.
• Marlie starts off by saying she's sorry about Britni, tells him she has issues to work through and that he should really just try to ignore her if he can. Apologizes because she knows that he's apparently into it now.
• Coye brushes this off, he's used to it. He was bullied back when he was a kid, too. Marlie guesses that this bully was a demon, and Coye is surprised. Confirms she was a succubus. Marlie knows that Coye isn't racist but she picks up on the little hints of fear he has towards her. Figured there was something in his past.
• Coye apologizes, but Marlie says she's seen worse.
• Things are quiet and awkward. Even Marlie starts to look a little awkward before she asks him if he really wanted to see some of the weapons.
• He does, and she shows off the ones she was just using. Marlie becomes talkative- more than he's ever seen her. Friendly, even. During her talk she'll let a little bit about her dad slip and reveal she misses having all of her weapons. She talks about them for a few minutes but Coye mostly just listens, occasionally talking about his own favorite gadgets and tools.
• Coye tells her that lately he's been starting to feel like a sponge. He's a little empty inside, but he learned he likes filling himself up by listening to other people and hearing about their lives and their hobbies.
• Marlie says if she were more crass, she would joke about Coye seeming to be the type who likes getting filled up.
• Coye takes offense, and he can see that Marlie is smiling with her eyes.
• Marlie gets up and says she's going to head back to town- and it's best not to follow directly after. She doesn't want Britni to have a fit in case she sees them together. Coye wonders if that will really make her mad, Marlie doesn't want to find out.
• Coye asks if she's going to harvest any of the monster parts from her kill. Amused, she tells him to help himself.
• She turns to leave, only for Coye to ask her if she wants to talk again sometime.
• Marlie seems to consider this, weighing it in her head. Maybe if they meet up again like this by chance. Otherwise, it's probably for the best if they don't.
• She vanishes in a puff of smoke before he can say anything to that.

Dorothy's Week 2

• Dorothy is in the middle of eating a meal in her office, her drawers open to conceal a number of its hidden snacks. She's thinking to herself how nice it is to get a chance to just relax and eat for a minute. Things are somewhat slow today and she hasn't had to deal with Coye much, so it's all okay. She's about to take a bite of her lunch when the door busts open.
• A new Gold-rank adventurer, let's say a prissy red mage human called Blanche, storms to her desk. Dorothy feels something bad coming on and she asks him what's wrong.
• He is very dramatic and takes out a small crystal orb, placing it on her desk and asking if she remembers it. Of course she does, she was the one who sold it to him from the catalog. It's cracked.
• Dorothy has a feeling she knows where this is going and places down her sandwich, she tries to ask what happens but he says she probably knows already. It's a catalyst- a very expensive tool some mages use to pool mana and use as a battery.
• Dorothy tries to ask if he overcharged it, but Blanche is adamant he didn't and that he only charged it as much as he always did. Furthermore, he did some digging and found out he isn't the only mage who's had this problem with this product.
• Dorothy counters she warned him and that they offered a warranty which Blanche declined to pay for, but Blanche correctly points out how she shouldn't be selling defective products in the first place.
• Dorothy says he asked her about getting one and all she did was do her job, Blanche passive aggressively puts her down to her face. She tries to take the orb and says she will see what she can do about replacing it for a small fee, but Blanche wants a full refund.
• She's terrified to hear this, these things are very expensive and his is almost fully paid off. She can't do it, it will look bad on her quota, and more importantly it's against the procedures. All sales are final. It hurts her to say this, she hates the slimy tactics.
• Blanche knows he has the upper hand. He puts it very plainly that he's not going to be doing any more quests until this problem goes away. The Association screwed him over with a shitty product, and he expects her to figure it out for him. He asks Dorothy if her job is to help her adventurers or maximize the Association's profits.
• Dorothy says it's more complicated than that, but he isn't interested in hearing her rebuttals. He stresses what he wants again and then leaves, leaving Dorothy to stew over the new pile of stress.
• She takes a bite of her sandwich, but it doesn't taste like anything.

Intemission 1 - Byng's Ritual

• Byng has been in her camp all day, feeling lazy and cathartic. The restlessness in her hasn't let up a bit. It's nighttime and she's carving a little figure out of bone by the campfire, but she's not really into it.
• She thinks about Coye and their relationship, how good it's going. She also thinks about his goals in life and how as sleazy as they are at least he has some. She doesn't know how much longer she can take feeling like this, and in her frustration she whittles off too much of the bone and ruins her figurine.
• She wishes she had someone she could talk to about this. Her dad or mom, her tribes chieftain, someone who might understand her problems. Her eyes focus in on the fire. Someone comes to mind who might help, but Byng thinks against it. Her God has never really helped her before all that much, and she hadn't really been feeling all that religious since the challenge.
• Still, it's something, and Byng doesn't have anything better to do. Rather than simply praying to Kuhrkakk, she decides to actually make an effort on gaining his attention. It probably won't work, she doesn't know a thing about magic and the power of foreign gods are weaker in foreign realms, but it's a way to kill a night and pretend she tried to do something of value.
• Byng sets up a ritual, moving the rocks away from her fire pit so she can draw Grurguhrohkan glyphs around the fire with the blood of beasts. She changes into a furry bikini and starts painting similar patterns on herself as well, knowing full well she's gonna have to rinse off after this. She can only imagine what Suzette would say of the smell.
• She decks out the perimeter of her campfire in totems with animal skulls at the top, then decides it looks pretty good. She goes over to her food tent and picks out a bunch of different meats.
• She speaks casually, offering them to Kuhrkakk while apologizing for her shitty behavior as of late. She's never really reached out like this before, but she asks for advice. She calls herself a huntress without prey, and the answer keeps eluding her. What is she supposed to do now that she has what she wanted?
• There's only silence in response, which Byng expected. Then, right as she's about to insult the God, a fierce wind blows out the fire and it's replaced shortly after by a pale white and green flame that Byng recognizes from the stories. Her meat offering floats as they become wreathed in flames, taking on the shape of the animal they had been in life. These reconstructed beasts step out of the campfire and towards Byng.
• She's shocked and tries to crawl away backwards, but the beasts open their mouth and speak in a gentle voice in unison, greeting her in a comforting way. Byng confirms that this is Kuhrkakk, and the beasts say yes.
• Rather than being overcome by majesty, she's confused. If speaking to him was this easy, why doesn't everyone do it?
• Kuhrkakk says in Grurguhrohk, millions pray to him. Their voices are like endless arrows cast out into the ocean, only a few ever reaching their target. He can't be expected to answer them all, can he?
• Byng understands that but wants to know why her. Because to put it frankly, he has very few worshipers in Karnalle. As far as foreign gods go, his influence is incredibly weak. Besides, he's always liked Byng.
• Byng blows this off saying he never helped her before. Kuhrkakk counters that she never needed help before, not really. She's the type who does things her own way and gets them done, isn't she?
• Byng admits this is true. Why would he like her, though? She doesn't follow his rules and stopped caring about some of them.
• His rules are more suggestions meant to instill a dedication and appreciation for nature and the circle of life. He isn't going to smite someone just because they can't figure out a use for a monster's pinky bone. Career advancement is in a okay use by him, too.
• This is cool and all, but Byng doesn't understand why the God is reaching out to her.
• It's simple, he can give her a purpose which she currently lacks and she can help him in return.
• Byng is open to hearing him out at least but isn't ready to commit herself into becoming a shaman or anything. He doesn't want a shaman, only a champion.
• Karnalle is the most important realm at the center of everything, and every God from every realm wishes to have a foothold there. He puts it bluntly. Every so often he will point her at a target, and she will slay it for him using a special arrow that will convert the beast into a nature spirit upon its death. Converting the wildlife of Karnalle is much easier than converting its people.
• Byng asks what's in it for her. He tempts her asking doesn't sound cool to go off on big hunts to face insurmountable monsters the Guild would never point her at? It does, she is forced to admit, but that's not enough. He says she will be gifted magical powers as a reward every now and then, which Byng is down for.
• Kuhrkakk asks if it's settled, but the answer is no. Byng needs more.
• Kuhrkakk is impressed with her will, how she speaks to a God like they're nothing. Byng points out he said it himself, he has very little power in Karnalle. What's he going to do to her?
• He admits that's correct, then reminds her of her family, who is currently passing through the deserts. It would be a shame if the dunes were to shift and awaken some monster from its hibernation while they were present.
• Byng freaks out and he is quick to assure her he would never actually do that- he doesn't mind her speaking casually but she still needs to remember he is indeed a God. He asks if that's understood, when Byng reluctantly says yes, he asks what it was that she wanted in exchange for her help.
• She was only going to ask he continually bless her tribe with favorable hunts. Kuhrkakk points out how she feels guilty for leaving them behind, Byng sarcastically remarks wow you are a God.
• If Byng helps him, he will agree. His motives are thus-Karnalle has no deities in its pantheon who look out for nature. There is only order and chaos, light and dark, twin goddesses. All that the beasts of Karnalle have to protect them are nature spirits, and there are not enough of them.
• Byng believes this checks out with what she knows of Kuhrkakk from the stories and the like passed down by her people. He was a nonviolent entity who balanced the scales of hunter and hunted. It wouldn't be like helping a war God gain a foothold in Karnalle, at least.
• For now, just keep on training and strive to become stronger. She will feel his call of the wild eventually and it will be up to her whether or not to answer it. He states that she can even hunt her targets down with her lover if she likes, so long as she deals the final blow.
• Before the conversation concludes, Byng tries to get some sort of magic power from him as a sign on bonus. Kuhrkakk is not familiar with the term, Byng mentally thinks she's gone through Dorothy's playbook too many times and says he should give her something to show he means business.
• Kuhrkakk is again impressed by how ballsy she is, but he stresses how little power he really hasn't Karnalle and that he can't give her anything until the first beast is hunted. The conversation ends and the fire goes out, the meat turning into ashes in the wind.
• Byng is annoyed. Gods seem like they're more trouble than they're worth. You ask them for one thing and suddenly they want to send you off on some grandiose quest that will shift the cosmological balance of an entire realm.
• Byng doesn't think Kuhrkakk means anything bad, but she decides to sleep on it and call a team meeting tomorrow. She then goes to wash herself off in her pond, deciding to test out some soap Suzette gave her much to her dismay.

Coye's Week 3 - Byng

• Coye awakens the next day to Byng giving him a hand job while Suzette cooks breakfast. He's not sure was going on, but cool with it. Byng went over to Suzette's this morning and told her they had something to talk about then they came over here. Shayla let them in and because he's probably backed up, they agreed to get him a head start in dealing with it because they have things to talk about.
• Coye cums pretty fast, now he's more awake he asks what time it is. He slept in because of how hard he and Shayla were going at it last night. He's embarrassed, but Suzette calls them to breakfast and afterward Byng fills them in on what happened to her last night.
• Suzette is taking the center road as she tends to, saying she doesn't know enough about Byng's culture to know whether this God is worth trusting or not, but thinks it might disrupt the ecosystem of wherever it happens to and lead to more human casualties on hunts or nature expeditions.
• Shayla speaks up, and is able to give a few details about land spirits. The Gnarled Woods doesn't have any because of how evil the place is, but she knows a lot about them from her culture. Stories and stuff like that. They are almost always peaceful and nonviolent, existing more to deter humans than kill them. If a land spirit killed people indiscriminately, that would just draw attention to their territory. There's not much any land spirit can do against an army of angry villagers with torches.
• Suzette's concerns are mostly dispelled after hearing that and Coye doesn't see the problem if that's the case. He asks Byng if she thought her God was lying to her, Byng really doesn't think so. She tells a little bit about him, he's not that kind of God. He then asks what she wants to do.
• Byng admits that all this sounds really great to her and that wanderlust she'd been feeling is begging her to accept Kuhrkakk's offer, plus the magic powers are little tempting since she doesn't want to fall behind on whatever Coye and Shayla end up developing. More than that, though, she stresses that she's a huntress and that the idea of hunting down some of Karnalle's strongest beasts excites her to no end.
• Everyone in the cabin stresses that they support Byng's choice, with Coye pledging to come along with her whenever she gets her first target should she accept. This support pushes her towards the edge and she ends up deciding to pursue Kuhrkakk's offer. There is rejoicing.
• Suzette has to take care of the shop today, then asks what everyone else's plan is. Byng was actually hoping Coye and Shayla would train with her. Coye is down, but Shayla is confused. Byng says they're gonna be fighting together as a team so they should be working on their skills together, Coye reminds Shayla that she promised she would start training with him soon, and this would be a good place to start.
• Shayla gives in even though she is still sore from last night. Suzette takes her leave but tells Coye to visit her tomorrow with Shayla, and everyone goes out into the yard. Byng explains her idea for training. Coye isn't as fast as Byng is so he should focus on trying to catch her while dodging practice arrows she fires while dodging him. In the meantime, Shayla will practice her aim and mana control by shooting rocks at them both, keeping them on their toes.
• Coye is surprised at what a good plan this sounds like, and Shayla thinks it might be funny to see them getting pelted by rocks when they don't know it's coming.
• They spend the whole day training on and off, until everyone is exhausted. The effects are felt by everyone, Coye thinks this was much better than training on his own. Byng agrees, and even Shayla feels good after all that hard work.
• Byng assumes it's cool if she stays the night, Coye would love that. Byng teases that the hand job probably wasn't enough for him, he confirms, but something is on his mind he appears shy. Shayla pries it out of him and Coye reveals he was wondering if they could do a different kind of training tonight.
• Byng is definitely interested, and he brings up the way she praised him for acting like a man during sex the other day. Then he brings up Shayla told him he needs to be aggressive sometimes, and he knows Byng is flexible with what she likes and was wondering if she could-
• Byng finishes the sentence and asks if he wants her to act submissive for him like a good little girl. Coye is embarrassed, not the words he would've used, but...
• Byng wonders where this is coming from and Shayla tells Byng about his encounter with Coco the other day. Byng teases him for wanting to show off what an alpha he is, but Coye denies this and says he just wants more experience with being in control.
• Byng acts smug with him, saying she will help but he has to get started now and tell her what to do. Shayla says that she's going to sit this one out and watch them if that's all right, not only is she still sore but the training wiped her out.
• Sounds good and Byng awaits Coye's direction. He awkwardly tells her to go inside and get on the bed, but Byng tells him that's not very aggressive. He should be more demanding, try and surprise her.
• Coye thinks about it and then realizes they're already sitting on a big blanket together. They could just do it here. He tells her to get naked, and Byng teases him a little back but does what he wants. Watching his commands come to life is incredibly arousing to Coye and some of his inhibitions start to wear off.
• He reaches for his pants, but Shayla tells him why do it himself? He has Byng remove it and he watches with awe as she does. Coye isn't sure what comes next, but he gets reminded to just do and ask what feels natural to him. Byng tells him that when he's in charge, it's a good time to try and do things he wouldn't normally do.
• After thinking about what he wouldn't normally do, Coye asks Byng to stick her tongue out, she does, and he starts rubbing himself on. He enjoys this for a while before Shayla tells him he could go even more demanding. Byng's eyes are asking for more as well.
• Coye takes Byng by the hair and pushes himself inside her mouth, slowly starting to fuck her face. He does so timidly at first, getting drunk on the power, but it's not enough. He starts going harder, Byng making lots of sounds, Shayla praises him but tells him never to forget about his partner even when he's in control.
• This makes Coye order Byng to start playing with herself, and she hums excitedly against his cock as she starts to do so.
• Coye is loving how it feels, and in his drunken state he gets carried away, commands Byng to start sucking on him while he does this. She's very pleased with him and adores the way her lips tightened around him. He warns Byng that he's going to go deeper, and he starts to deepthroat himself inside her.
• Byng is overwhelmed by this, but as a race specifically made for sex, deepthroating came naturally to her. Gengaggi hardly have any gag reflex, and Coye is able to use her perfectly. It gets too much to bear and he cums inside her throat.
• Byng happily drinks it down and gets pretty close herself but not quite close enough.
• Coye is pleased as he pulled himself out, but he's still hard. Shayla taunts him for this but it's to be expected, he hasn't gotten any for two days, after all. Byng looks at him seductively, dripping his cum from her lips as she asks what's next.
• He orders her on her stomach and she assumes the prone bone position. Coye wastes no time shoving his cock between her thighs and laying on top of her. Byng complains that he's not putting it in, but Coye says she's close, right? Then as he starts thrusting in and out, he commands that she cum for him. The way he strokes against her lips gets her right about to do it, but before she does, he slips it in making her orgasm even harder.
• When she's done, Coye starts doing her while she's still sensitive and she whines for him to give her a break. He won't hear it- orders her to lay there and let her body however he wants. Byng is surprised at how aggressive he is being, but he repeats the order and Byng accepts.
• Coye works himself into a frenzy, fucking Byng until they reach another mutual orgasm and he pulls out, laying on the ground beside her. After groaning, Byng flops onto her side as well to look at him. He asks how he did. Byng thinks it was pretty successful but she turns to Shayla and asks their impartial judge.
• Shayla approves but is scared of what she saw, jokingly.
• Coye doesn't think it's gonna be a problem, but it was fun. He still thinks he needs more practice at it, and it's definitely not something he can just do without working up to it. Byng says that tomorrow she's going to go out and quest, so he should try it out on Suzette when they visit. Coye blushes at the thought of being forceful with Suzette, but says he'll try it out.
• Byng then gets up and gives Coye her hands so he can stand up, teasing that it's her turn the second they get inside. Coye turns bashful and teases her with a subservient remark that makes Shayla roll her eyes.

Dorothy's Week 3

• we cut to an incident at the Guild involving two characters who have been name dropped but not shown until now, Orlandis and Milse. They are a pair of adventurers who are hate fucking each other while denying how much they actually like each other. Orlandis is an elegant knight, Milse is a mage who skews towards pyromancy.
• In the cafeteria, Milse is yelling at Orlandis for visiting a brothel. She hurls one of the tables at him, he blocks it with his shield. Dorothy is watching in horror, trying to make both of them stop. Britni and Tiph are at the bar, encouraging this as it happens. Britni is drinking and Tiph is smoking a joint.
• Dorothy asked if there's some way we can settle this elsewhere, but Milse continues her assault, this time with her knight firing a shock wave back at her with his sword. It dents the wall and Dorothy feels the pain.
• Orlandis defends himself saying it was just the one time, and it's not like they're going out or anything. Milse gets frustrated, asks if it was really just one time.
• Tiph ruins this by lying about having seen Orlandis in loads of brothels all over Cransmere. Britni drunkenly agrees and adds that he had hit on her, too. Also a lie- every man in the Cransmere Guild was too afraid of Britni to ever think about hitting on her.
• Milse takes them at face value and is utterly destroyed, starts casting a powerful fire spell without a care for her surroundings. She manifests some sort of flame elemental, while Dorothy rushes to the nearest supply closet and pulls out a magical equivalent of a fire extinguisher.
• She snuffs out the flame elemental before it can get Orlandis and yells at Milse, reminding her that this isn't the place to have her lover's quarrel. Both of them snap at her saying they aren't lovers, and Milse reminds her this isn't her business anyway.
• Dorothy struggles not to cry as she reminds them that yes this is her business, they're destroying her cafeteria. Orlandis shrugged it off saying it's not like she won't take it out of their quest rewards. He doesn't see what the big deal is.
• Britni chimes in to throw a piece of gold at Dorothy's feet, taunting her not to be such a nag. That should help with the repairs, so fuck off and get out of the way. She's interrupting the show.
• Dorothy stomps over to the bar and tells the bartender to stop serving Britni, and in a rare fit of bravery she tries to take the bottle of mead from Britni's hands, only for Britni to not budge an inch. She vaguely threatens Dorothy into finding out what happens if she doesn't let go of the bottle.
• Dorothy feels fear and backs away, much to the amusement of Tiph, but looks at the bartender until he says sorry, he can't give Britni anything else tonight. They are annoyed but they leave after taunting Dorothy a little bit more, and Britni says the show is over anyway.
• Dorothy blinks and looks around, noticing that the two adventurers are now gone. She wonders where they went, but in only a few seconds she starts to hear the sounds of angry sex coming out from the nearest bathroom. Orlandis comments how fucking hot Milse is when she's mad, she tells him to shut up and give it to her.
• Blushing and defeated, Dorothy's knees give out and she falls back onto the bar stool. The bartender hands her an entire bottle of something strong and Dorothy looks at it, considers it, and takes a huge swig.
• Tammy opens the door to the cafeteria, saying she's done with her break and asks if she missed anything before seeing the scene of devastation. Dorothy stares back at her, then the scene ends with her throwing up the strong alcohol.

Coye's Week 4 - Suzette

• Coye and Byng messed around in bed the whole morning, and it wasn't until afternoon that she finally took off and Coye readied himself to visit Suzette like he promised.
• When he makes it there, he finds she is advertising for a Bard's performance. Vico D'Gallo, at the Stone Cold Tavern, tonight only. Coye is very excited, tells Shayla that Vico is one of his favorite bards and he almost never stops by Cransmere.
• Suzette comes out to greet him and asks if he knows this Bard, he does, Suzette reveals that Brick, the owner of that bar, asked her to advertise for him. She's not one to turn down a fellow business owner, whether they be a golem or human.
• Coye thinks that's nice, Suzette invites them in and has him turn the sign to on break for a while.
• Coye asks if there was any special reason she wanted him to stop by, and Suzette reveals she actually wanted to talk to Shayla today, not him.
• Shayla is surprised and put on the spot, but is open to hearing what's up. Suzette escorts them all into a spare room where a bunch of fabric is all laid out. Coye recognizes a lot of the clothes from the quest the other day and comment on it, Suzette confirms. She was going to sell them as is, but something of a golden opportunity came her way, she says as she looks at Shayla.
• Shayla looks at the room and figures out what she means, double checks that Suzette means her. Suzette clarifies that the clothes she made for Suzette are all wonderful, and everything Shayla is always wearing looks great, too. She thought it might be worth an experiment to see how much people would pay to wear clothing designed by a Pixie.
• Shayla wants to know she won't advertise it like that, but Suzette promises to keep it secret.
• Coye is supportive, he thinks it would be fun for her and then he wouldn't have to keep buying her fabric. Suzette agrees, pointing out that if this does well she will start supplying Shayla with whatever the hell kind of fabric she wants to play with at no cost.
• Shayla doesn't know what to say, she's really awkward when people do nice things for her. And what about the money? Shayla doesn't need money for anything, but Suzette reminds her they'll need money for the house eventually if they want to keep expanding it. It won't hurt to have two income streams if someone ends up hurting themselves on the job, Suzette looks to Coye, who defends himself saying he hasn't gotten injured anywhere near as much since he started going on quests with Shayla.
• Shayla needs to think about it and asks if she could look around here alone for a few minutes, Suzette and Coye agree and give her some space.
• They head back to the storefront and Coye asks Suzette how she thought of this. Fairies are legendary for their creativity, even though Shayla hasn't studied fashion design, it comes naturally to her just like breathing does to everyone else. Someone should be profiting off of Shayla- and it might as well be her.
• Coye can tell she's joking, though. Suzette confirms that she's also still trying to get closer to Shayla the same way she did with Byng. It's an attempt at buying her love. Coye thinks it probably worked, Shayla is very materialistic. Suzette is happy they have that in common.
• She asks how things went with Byng yesterday, and Coye remembers he was supposed to try out being aggressive on Suzette today.
• He tells her things went fine, they trained really hard and they had a lot of fun together. Suzette playfully asks what kind of fun they got up to, and Coye suggestively walks closer to her, telling her he can show her.
• Suzette is a little embarrassed about how forward he's being, reminds him that the doors aren't even locked so before he gets any cheeky ideas- and then he kisses her midsentence. It's a hard kiss.
• Suzette is taken aback by him, and he starts setting the pace, pushing their bodies up against the counter. Suzette resists, but not very hard. She asks what he thinks he's doing, and Coye explains that he wants to practice being more aggressive. She reminds him that Shayla could call them at any moment, and people might see them from the windows.
• Coye is groping at her, making it clear what he wants. He tells her to lean against the counter and he'll make it quick. She is flustered and still tries to remain in control, but ends up going along with his desires.
• Coye pulls her dress up from behind her, revealing her sexy panties which he lowers to her ankles. Then, he goes on his knees and starts to eat her out to make her wet. Suzette is getting into this now, holding onto the counter tight.
• She praises him for being a good boy, says she likes this aggressive side of him, too. She starts to get really heated up but before things progress too far, a customer opens the front door. It's an older woman, and Suzette freaks out.
• Coye stops for a moment, before continuing. He's too drunk on lust to stop.
• Suzette talks to the older woman and points out that the store is on break at the moment, so if she could please come back in an hour or so.
• The older woman leaves and Suzette looks to Coye with an angered expression, but is shocked when he isn't deterred at all and instead has his pants pulled down. She tries to wiggle out from under him, but he's applying some of his strength to keep her pinned.
• Suzette likes this, as hard as it is to admit. He teases her a little and then promises this won't take long before thrusting inside. Suzette is really excited about how dirty this is. Admittedly, it's something of a fantasy of hers to get taken at her counter like this, but doing it for real has an element of fear to it that makes it even more delicious.
• Coye is going at her hard, like he's trying to fuck her into submission, but before they get very far, the old lady comes back and Coye stops. The old lady hates to be a bother but her hips are hurting and she's out of tea, and she really doesn't want to have to come back out. She begs Suzette to sell her some just this once.
• Suzette is close to dying of embarrassment, but the old lady has bad eyesight and can't see what is going on. She only notices that Suzette has company behind the counter, then she apologizes for being rude. She didn't know Suzette had company over. Coye awkwardly greets the old lady, but is unable to stop himself from making slow movements inside Suzette.
• She is deeply mad at him, yet unbelievably aroused. Suzette tries to compose herself and tells the old lady to just take whatever she wants off the shelf just this once as thanks for being such a good customer.
• The old lady is very happy about this and hurries up out of their hair. Suzette has her lock the door for them on her way out. As soon as they're alone, Suzette takes control of the pace. She draws her hips back then pounds into his hard enough to dislodge him and send him falling.
• She looks down at him, mad at him and aroused. She voices how upset she is, but Coye tries to be cute and get his way out of it. He was just trying to practice, and it was really hot being seen like that. Suzette dreads about what new fetish he's woken up to now, before deciding a punishment is in order.
• She gets down behind the counter and mounts him, riding him hard right from the get-go. Coye is really into it but Suzette just taunts him and says we'll see how much you like it when we're done.
• She rides him to completion, but doesn't stop there. She keeps going and going, using a trick she picked up in a book about female domination called post-orgasm riding to torture him until he starts orgasm in a second time. Suzette gets sadistic pleasure from this, and Coye is left momentarily without energy- a rare sight.
• She asked him if he learned any lessons here today. Coye did, but it's the wrong one. He learned Suzette gives it to him really hard if he teases and annoys her first. Suzette wonders how mischievous he's going to end up becoming because of all that pixie dust, unsure of whether she was excited or afraid to find out.
• Shayla is at the entrance to the back rooms, hovering with her arms folded. She's not annoyed, more unimpressed than anything. She only wanted like five minutes to herself, tops, and they've been at it for twenty.
• Suzette claims it wasn't her fault, Shayla understands. Coye does end up apologizing, but Suzette only looks to Shayla. She asks if the Pixie could make her part-timer a slutty outfit that exposed to lots of skin. Coye starts to sweat, he says he'll help advertise again but he doesn't want to wear the outfit.
• Suzette has an evil expression, says what's the matter? I thought you suddenly liked exhibitionism, Darling? He embarrassed her greatly and he has to pay the price- especially if he wants to go see that Bard tonight.
• Coye senses he's not getting out of this and resigns to his fate, timid once again. Shayla asks if she can stay the night with Suzette to start work on making clothes, and Suzette's mood improves considerably. She loves the idea of company and promises to make Shayla the sweetest pie ever. Although Coye is very embarrassed about what he's about to do, he's very happy to see them getting along.

Dorothy's Week 4

• Dorothy is in the middle of registering a quest in the records room with a particularly dull-witted client. It's a vapid, Karen-like woman. They complain about the noise coming from the other room, Dorothy apologizes and explains they are having some unscheduled renovations.
• Dorothy is laying on the formalities, trying to play nice. The client starts talking about her problem- her neighbors are keeping a monster and it keeps breaking out of their yard and finding its way into hers, where it digs up her garden.
• Dorothy is concerned- you can't go keeping a monster in town. She asks for more details and starts to take notes like always.
• The Karen starts describing the beast, but Dorothy becomes less and less impressed. It doesn't take long to figure out the woman is literally just talking about her neighbor's dog. When Dorothy asks if that's the case, she tries to make it sound like a Direwolf.
• Client asks what difference does it make? The Guild is supposed to solve people's problems, right?
• Dorothy wants to know how she expects this problem to be solved. Karen says she expects the monster to be put down. Dorothy can't believe she has to explain to someone that the Guild does not kill people's pets under any circumstance.
• The woman winks tries to bribe Dorothy, but as much as she wants the money, Dorothy has principles and says she can't help them. The Karen leaves, offended. Dorothy collapses against the table. Aside from quests getting sent in by the Association, it's been a while since she landed any good contracts. She stresses about how she either has to make some big sale soon or put out some feelers for a really high-paying quest, or they might sink below the profit line.
• Tammy pokes her head in and asks how it went rhetorically.
• Dorothy asks Tammy to kill her, but Tammy refuses, saying she expects to wring much more entertainment from Dorothy over the coming years.
• Dorothy sarcastically asks why she keeps Tammy around, Tammy reminds her because her father is rich and pays Dorothy to babysit her under the pretense of employment. Dorothy slams her head against the desk again. She asks Tammy to ask her dad if he has any big, expensive quests he needs taken care of, but Tammy turns her down hinting that she doesn't like talking to her dad much.
• There is an awkward silence before Tammy offers to get Dorothy some coffee, but before she leaves she tells Dorothy she likes her drawing.
• Tammy leaves with a smirk as Dorothy looks down at her notepad only to realize she had been drawing a sketch of Coye, which she promptly rips out of her clipboard.

Intermission 2 - Britni's lucky night

• It's the fifth night in a row that Britni has spent in a near blackout drunk state. It wasn't because of Coye anymore, not entirely, but now she was drinking to forget the pain of other things.
• Tonight, she ended up back at her favorite bar, which was hosting some famous Bard or whatever. Britni was happy, music made her think of her uncle, even though this clown didn't hold a candle to Bjarte.
• The music and the drinking has combined, putting Britni in her much rarer state of drunkenness- that of total happiness. When she's like this, Britni goes around making friends, telling jokes, and buying random people drinks. She is very popular.
• The Bard is taking a break from his routine, and Britni notices he's harassing a patron sitting alone in the corner of the bar. The girl seems uncomfortable, and Britni wonders to herself what is with this place and sexual harassment?
• Feeling bold because of her drunkenness, Britni decides to involve herself this time. She goes to the girl's defense and grabs the Bard's wrist. Britni threatens Vico, but warns him she likes bards. She will give him a chance to fuck off before she breaks his hand so hard that a healer won't ever be able to fix it.
• Coye then reacts to Britni's presence as Vico recoils in fear.
• Britni, in her happy drunk state, blushes when she realizes it was Coye. Then, she starts laughing and is overly casual with him. She sits down next him and throws her arm around his shoulder, telling Vico that Coye is a dude.
• Vico blinks a couple of times, asks why didn't Coye just say that. Coye was trying to, but he likes Vico a lot so he was a little starstruck and didn't know what to say.
• Vico apologizes and orders them both a drink before wishing them a good evening, then heads off to chase the nearest skirt who isn't Britni.
• Coye is now feeling awkward with Britni here. He's only seen this side of her a couple times, it was much more common for her to get sad or angry when she was drunk, but like she was now he had no idea what to expect.
• The drinks come, and Britni is just making friendly conversation. Coye is not averse to her presence like this. In fact, she's kind of fun. Britni asked what he's doing here alone, Coye reveals everyone else was busy. Britni teases him for being all alone here, but it works out because she's here alone too.
• She reveals that she's been drinking every night for a while now, and all her friends are tired of babysitting her.
• Coye worries about her and asks if she's okay, but Britni is casual about it and blows the question off. More importantly, this means they can party together!
• Coye is slightly drunk, but he has reservations about doing this with Britni. Britni teases him by saying a real man would party with her, then jokes about going to find a real man somewhere else. Coye responds to her bait and asks her to stay, claiming he can party like any real man could.
• He and Britni slam cups together after she praises him, and the drinks keep flowing. There's a montage of sorts with the number of drinks just increasing the longer the night goes on.
• The memory becomes blurry but we get little excerpts of things that happened. They danced together, Britni told him about her uncle a little bit, at some point they got on stage with Vico and sang with him. After that, there was a memory of the two of them stumbling through the streets of Cransmere at night. Someone puked, but neither is sure who did. Something about a house was mentioned, and then, blackness.
• We cut to the next morning where Britni is waking up with a minor hangover. We get some subtle hints to her trauma, adding that she's happy about her hangover since it means another night without dreams or something like that. As she is waking up, Britni realizes she's in the big spoon position.
• Coco's hair feels even softer than normal, she nuzzles into Coco from behind, but Coye makes some very un-Coco like noises which clues her in that things are not what they seem. If this was Coco, where was her tail? That stupid thing always takes up like half the bed, her thoughts exaggerate.
• Britni reaches for Coco's tail, only to find bare skin where the tailbone should be on her partner. Britni wakes up and looks around, finding an unfamiliar place and an unfamiliar bed.
• She tries to remember what happened last night, but that's a no go. She finally turned her attention to the person in bed with her, seeing Coye's blond hair and pointy ears makes her go stiff as a board.
• Pieces of last night flashed before her eyes, and surprisingly, her reaction is not horror. She is happy. She thinks that something might've happened between them, that maybe he had the balls to make a move on her when they were drunk, but then she realizes a crucial fact. She's still fully dressed and after pulling the blanket to check on him, so was he.
• Britni is fuming. What kind of man brings a drunk chick to his house, invites her into his bed, and then doesn't fuck her?
• She's offended. Coye is even more hopeless than she thought- she has to leave and consider options. Clearly, she's not bullying him enough. A real man would've taken advantage of her, that was always how it went in uncle Bjarte's songs. Slight rapey undertones in the way she thinks this, meant to make her seem concerned.
• Coye starts to stir, causing Britni to become fearful. She sees his sleeping face and freaks out about how cute he is. Britni has to go, the temptation for her to be forceful was too great for her. If she stuck around, everything would've been for nothing.
• She runs from the house, performing a walk of shame for something that didn't even happen. She is angry, embarrassed, and more than a little aroused. Electricity is coating her body- she needs to kill something.

Dorothy's week 5

• Dorothy was having a quiet morning. Tammy was off, so was up to her to work the front desk. So far, she'd helped several adventurers and the day had been smooth. She wondered what Coye was up to this morning, staring into her coffee and smiling.
• She’s starting to feel sad about how she's been avoiding him, but the thought of talking to him and catching up is making her incredibly nervous. She doesn't want to until her feelings are more stable- maybe in a few days. She's been having a rough week.
• Dorothy sighs and lifts her cup of coffee, hoping things will quiet down soon.
• Britni kicks the door down in her rage, startling Dorothy hard enough that she spills the coffee all over her chest and screams in pain. Britni doesn't care- she storms ahead to the front desk and yells for Dorothy to give her something to kill.
• Dorothy is crying from the pain as she rubs her chest, but Britni rolls her eyes and says it's just a coffee burn. All of her employees suffer worse on the job every day, she can suck it up. Dorothy cries about the door, too, Britni scoffs saying it’s not the first time she's broken the door down. Just take it out of her next quest like usual.
• Dorothy is really feeling miserable now all of a sudden, and Britni can sense that she's on the verge of a breakdown. While typically not one to give a shit about the Guild Mistress, Britni does feel a small pang of guilt now that she's calmed down a tiny bit.
• Britni ruffles through her bag, taking out a potion. First she takes the wrong one out, and we get a reference to the fact that Tiph makes Britni potions to suppress her dreams. Not worded so bluntly, more subtly. The next one is a healing potion, which Britni offers to Dorothy.
• It doesn't look like a healing potion Dorothy is familiar with, she double checks that this is one of Tiph's. Make sure there's not anything weird mixed in, but Britni assures her it's not for partying. Hurry up and take it, or she's going to rescind the offer.
• Dorothy is grateful for this very basic show of compassion, but Britni acts like a tough bitch about it. Once Dorothy feels better, Britni masks her kindness by telling the Guild Mistress she should use this opportunity to dress in something that makes her look less like an old lady.
• Dorothy feels bad and doesn't know what to say. Britni reiterates that she wants a quest, then asks if Dorothy knows where the fuck her friends are. Marlie left a while ago, didn't say where, Coco and Tiph went out to gather alchemy ingredients in the woods. Britni is annoyed that friends are never there when you need them- not like Dorothy would know.
• Britni asks for something that would let her kill as many monsters in the shortest amount of time possible. She doesn't want to go look at the stupid quest board. We get a call back to the Gargants, Dorothy saying there was a mishap on the job couple of days back and now we're getting reports of a huge swarm.
• Narration reveals that Dorothy feels comfortable sending Britni out on this job. The gap between silver and gold rank is a gigantic chasm- but of all her Silver-ranked adventurers, Britni is the closest one to closing that gap bar none. She wouldn't be surprised if the ranking committee, a stealthy cabal in the Association who determines when adventurers get promotion opportunities, recommended her for gold rank by the end of the year.
• Britni says that the quest is good enough for her, then stomps upstairs to get her gear ready.
• Dorothy is relieved that at least the Gargant situation will be taken care of, and then she ruminates on her ruined outfit. She takes a deep breath and reminds herself that the day will get better from here.
• The door opens up and Coye walks in, prompting her to freak out and run away to hide.

Coye's week 5 - Tiph

• it starts earlier than that. Coye is having a major hangover, and Shayla keeps slapping him around with her little hands. Suzette asks if she can't just heal his hangover, Shayla can, but then he wouldn't learn anything. He shouldn't be going out and getting THIS drunk without her there to laugh at him. She then awkwardly corrects herself and says without her there to take care of him. Suzette raises an eyebrow
• Coye stirs and Shayla uses her zap to get him the rest of the way there. Coye sit upright, he talks about the zap a little bit, setting up how it makes him alert and focused. He thinks about trying it in combat sometime, foreshadowing his use of it in the climactic battle.
• Shayla is mad at him for getting so drunk, Coye apologizes, Suzette is just happy he had fun. He wakes up, after breakfast Shayla and Suzette show off a lot of the clothes Shayla made. They were really good quality, Coye is really surprised. Suzette is even more so. She's going to have to put in another order from her source of the cheap clothes if these sell well, which she's quite certain they will.
• Coye jokes about retiring and letting Shayla spoil him for the rest of his life, but she reminds him she left the forest to adventure and see the world. This is just a side hustle.
• Speaking of hustle, Coye thinks today is another workday and he gets ready before escorting Suzette back to her shop and heading to the Guild, where we see Dorothy freak out like we already did.
• Coye picks out a quest and at Dorothy's behest he tells her which it is so she can fill out the paperwork after she's done doing whatever she's doing. She wishes him good luck, but Coye is concerned.
• He asks if she has any advice on the monster, but she doesn't. Believes Coye can handle it. This makes Coye more concerned, as she usually never sends him off without advice if he asks for it.
• There's not much he can do about it, so he leaves.
• The quest goes well, Coye chose something big and bulky so that he could work on his Triple Strike, but he doesn't feel much progress on mastering the art. He spends a couple of hours in the woods, killing three of these monsters and stripping them of parts, before leaving as the effects of the woods start to set in.
• Like clockwork, he visits Snyther's shop and makes an additional profit- his own side hustle.
• When he leaves, he notices Tiph and Coco are also on Lettimore street. Tiph is selling something to some working girls, and when he notices them, Tiph waves.
• Shayla warned him not to, but Coye says a little casual conversation won't hurt.
• Coco suddenly remembers she has other things to do and flees from the conversation before Coye can even say hi to her. He's a little let down by that, which Tiph teases him for. She heard about Coco fighting him and gives him a sarcastic compliment, which Shayla notices he takes at face value.
• Coye asks what she was up to, and Tiph is very candid that she was selling drugs illegally. Coye is a little stunned, and Tiph laughs at his reaction. She comments that it's all good, she doesn't make her sell anything hard. Just crap that gets people through their day, you know how it is.
• Coye is like do I?
• Tiph leans in and surprises him by opening his eyelids, commenting on his pixie dust usage.
• Shayla is annoyed, but Coye isn't that surprised she could tell. Tiph had her assumptions before, but this proved it. Tiph figures they are more alike than she thought, commenting how it's no wonder he was acting weird lately when he's been high like her the whole time.
• She wonders where he's even getting the stuff, but doesn't pursue that topic of conversation very far. She asked what he's doing around here, Coye explains he's been selling monster parts to that alchemist. Tiph is like no shit? You shoulda told me, she would give him something a lot more valuable than gold in exchange.
• Coye blushes, and Tiph starts to laugh about how she's joking. Shayla is really annoyed at how weak Coye is to this act but then he says he wouldn't mind getting her stuff every now and then if she helped him out with something.
• Tiph asks what, he brings up his low stock of paralytic oil. Tiph is a little impressed he uses something so powerful, even more so when he demonstrates a basic understanding of how to make it. His dad taught him some really basic potion making, but he's really bad at it.
• Tiph thinks about it, teases that Britni would be so mad if she helped him out. Coye asks what Britni has to do with it, and the mischievous side of Tiph is like, you're right. Britni doesn't have anything to do with this. Because it would make her mad and that would amuse Tiph.
• To make this amusing, Tiph says she can go whip him up some right now- she actually has the ingredients for it. Coye asks what she would want in return, Tiph can't think of anything so she'll settle with a favor as long as he promises not to turn it down. She teases that she'll hit him with something eventually.
• Shayla warns against this, but Coye thinks that sounds fair. He's an idiot, she thinks to herself.
• Tiph really doesn't know what she wants to ask, but doing it this way would provide her the chance for mischief in the future. She has Coye follow after her, saying her lab isn't that far.
• Coye is surprised she has a lab. She had a better one in Perlshaw, but this one suits her just fine for now. She leads him to her shack located in a ghetto and she undoes the lock, Shayla wonders how many more fucking alchemists they're going to visit. This is the third one, and she's getting tired of it.
• Tiph's lab is like a single room apartment, the only other room being a bathroom. It's cramped and there's a shitty mattress in a corner where she says he can sit. Tiph gathers all the crap she needs and then offers Coye a 'refreshment'.
• He looks at the bottle, recognizing it because she's often drinking it. He asks what it is, she confirms that it's mellowmilk. Tiph asks if he's ever done it, he says no, she's not surprised. She tells him what it does, it basically just chills you out a lot and make things funnier.
• Shayla notices the way he's looking at the bottle, ask if he's really considering this. Coye reasons that it's probably nothing compared to pixie dust, so he drinks it. Tiph is shocked, then starts laughing really hard. She really didn't expect he would.
• When she asks, he says he's been trying to change lately and that he probably wouldn't of done this before. Tiph is dismissive, she says people don't change that easy. Reminds him that he is on pixie dust and the second he goes off of it he's just going to end up the same miserable person he used to be.
• Coye doesn't say anything to that, knowing better than to say anything which could give away Shayla's secret.
• Tiph starts to make the nerverine for him, all while Coye starts tripping. He feels like he's melting into the mattress, becoming one with it, nearly unresponsive to Shayla. Tiph finishes up and says it needs to sit for a while, and she finds amusement in how high Coye is.
• She looks down at him, feeling somewhat sadistic as she remembers the other men who she did much worse to. Maybe teasing him little wouldn't be so bad? Not enough to break him, just enough to get some answers.
• She invade his personal space and sits next to him on the mattress, asking what Coye really thinks about Britni.
• He is unsure why she asks, but tells Tiph Britni confuses him, but at the same time, she worries him a little. Tiph doesn't understand, but Coye says Britni probably has a reason for being like this and she's never done anything *that* bad to him, so...
• Tiph tries to get a better reaction out of him, suggesting maybe he shouldn't take her shit anymore? Coye isn't sure what she means, but Tiph brushes it off. He's probably not man enough to give Britni what she wants, and the sooner Britni realizes that, the better.
• Shayla is confused, Tiph sure doesn't sound like Britni's friend sometimes
• Coye feels sad. He doesn't know anything about giving Britni what she wants, but he does hope she's able to be happy someday. Tiph has a moment where her mask slips and she's like what the fuck do you care about Britni?
• Coye doesn't know, but he asks Tiph if she's alright. Tiph tries to play nice about it, brushing off the comment again, but Coye mentions a few people have told him she seems a little fake, but he stops himself after realizing he's saying stupid shit while high.
• Fake? Tiph has been called worse, but it clearly irritates her. He realizes he shouldn't have said that, but she pretends it doesn't bother her. She mumbled something about how the only option some people have is to fake who they are, or confront what lies beneath. Tiph tells him that he's just as fake as she is, anyway, then decides that this conversation is annoying her.
• She goes back over to her station and her hand is trembling. She thinks to herself how lucky Coye is. If it weren't for her friendship with Britni and her stupid crush on him, Tiph would ruin him. This will be put in vague terms, but she's clearly agitated by their exchange.
• She bottles up the substance and resuming her fake smile she gives it to Coye. She is quick to try and get him out of her lab, asks if he thinks he can make it home like this or if he needs something to sober him up. Coye gets up and although he's sluggish, he is able to walk.
• He pockets the potion before making a decision he only ever would while he was high. He stumbles forward and gives Tiph a hug, thanking her for the potion.
• Her heart stops and she is like what the fuck is this?
• A hug?
• Yes but, why?
• Coye isn't sure. He kind of sensed that she needed one. Shayla takes particular note of his wording, wondering if he's starting to feel out the emotions of other people like a Pixie.
• More interestingly is Tiph's response. Shayla felt an overwhelming sadness from the girl, alongside fear and skepticism, but beneath that, maybe a tiny bit of happiness? It's hard to say.
• Tiph wiggles out of the hug and turns away, eager to put the mess behind her as she shoos him from her lab. Coye stumbles out on the street while Tiph stews over the interaction. She is adamant that she doesn't need a hug, how dare he get off like that. She wants to ruin him, but calms herself by thinking of Britni.
• She then ruminates on how it felt being hugged, then turns the lights off, gets on her mattress, and lights a smoke. Her expression is very conflicted.

Intermission 3 - good girl

• we cut to the Baddest Bitches' dorm room, where Coco is angry and Marlie is chilling out pouring over a scroll of ancient weapons. We get a little description about their room, how it's full of clothes and various knickknacks which attest to their personalities
• Coco reveals she doesn't understand what is going on. She thought things were good now that she established dominance the other day, but she's still confused whenever she looks at Coye.
• She's stunned that he waved at her. Asks Marlie if she can believe that.
• Marlie points out that it's a basic social interaction, but Coco won't hear it. Marlie asks if it would make more sense to her if Coye came up and sniffed her ass, but Coco is deeply disturbed by the idea.
• She says she doesn't do that to people anymore, she learned! Marlie folds up the scroll and then asks Coco what would make things better.
• Coco says that Coye should learn his place and stop acting so cheeky with her.
• Where is his place? Underneath Coco!
• Marlie asks Coco to think about that for a minute, and she blushes before yelling not like that!
• Marlie says this is something she should probably talk about with Britni once she's done with her latest binge drinking session.
• Coco's ears and tail droop, she thinks Britni would be mad at her. Besides, Marlie is the only one who listens to Coco's feelings.
• Marlie pats the foot of her bed, where Coco then curls up. She grumbles about how it feels like no matter how long she lives in the human world, Coco thinks she won't ever get used to people.
• Marlie says she will, if she wants to.
• Coco wants to know what that's supposed to mean, Marlie points out that Coco is dense, but not that dense. She knows exactly what Coco's body and her instincts are telling her about Coye, and she's avoiding it.
• Coco is really ashamed and scared and mad. Asks Marlie if she can blame her.
• Marlie doesn't blame her for keeping it inside. They're both thinking of Britni.
• Coco brushes it off saying it's no big deal, she's felt these feelings before.
• Marlie counters- for Britni, who you started fucking.
• Coco starts barking her, insisting she doesn't want to fuck him.
• Right, you just want him to know he should be underneath you.
• Coco does not walk into that one, saying she's smarter than that, which Marlie congratulates her for.
• Things get quiet and Coco asks Marlie what she would do if she was Coco.
• Marlie asks whether Coco wants the actual answer, or the answer that wouldn't make Britni hate her. Coco's response is silence, then, she allows Marlie to pet her.
• Marlie does so, and Coco mumbles about missing the forest sometimes. Marlie comforts her, calling her a good girl and that it will be okay.

Coye's week 6 - Shayla

• Coye awakens the next morning in his bed, but he is very groggy and tired. It's raining outside. He looks around, then finds Shayla over at the table. She's messing around with some of the blank clothes Suzette dropped off here.
• She looks at him with concern and irritation, saying fucking finally.
• Coye asks if he slept in and she reveals its past three in the afternoon.
• Coye jolts awake, ashamed. He never sleeps in that badly, and can't believe it. Shayla can, asks him how much of yesterday he remembers.
• What do you mean? He asks, only to then remember bits and pieces of what happened. He says oh, wait.
• Shayla sighs. First he comes home drunk, and then the next day Coye comes home high as fuck. 'You have any idea how hard it was to lead you home like that?' She was almost convinced Tiph had spiked the drug with something stronger than mellowmilk
• Coye blushes and apologizes, he thought that getting high would be fun. Shayla asked if it was and he admits that yes he had a good time. Coye joins her at the table and slumps over it. He's still feeling pretty groggy, so they assume he must be sensitive to that mellowmilk junk.
• Coye is determined not to let it bother him. It's a rainy day, anyway so there's no use in stressing about the fact that he isn't going to get anything done today.
• Shayla says that he gets to spend a whole day inside with her today. After the week they've had, it will be nice to just stay indoors.
• Coye grabs a snack from the pantry and they start talking about the week. Coye wants to know if Shayla thinks he did good this week, she wants to know what he means by good.
• He tried a lot of new things and made pushes to get closer to some of the Baddest Bitches. Shayla gives him credit that yes, he had a pretty good week when it came to all that.
• She asks him if he feels any different. He doesn't think so. She's glad, she was worried all that aggressiveness training would get to his head. He says he only did it twice.
• Coye wonders when the magic powers will start happening, Shayla teases that if he's trying to get between her legs he should try a more subtle approach. He laughs but says he really means it. He smiles at her dopily, to the point where she starts getting weirded out.
• She gets that he's excited but he doesn't have to creep her out like that. He can't help it, he's just feeling really thankful for Shayla. She's skeptical and ask if he's still high. No, he's just happy to be with her.
• She bashfully admits that she is happy to hang out with him too. She senses a shift in his mood and asks what's up.
• Coye asks for Shayla's female intuition advice. She doesn't like where this is heading but is always there to help him out. He wonders if Dorothy hates him now or something. He's tried to talk to her all week but she just keeps doing the same thing.
• Shayla doesn't have it in her to be catty about this. He really is upset over the way she's been avoiding him, so she gives some tender advice. Give Dorothy some space and this will probably pass, she thinks. Even if it doesn't, he has three other girls who know how to appreciate him.
• Coye apologizes for being so needy, but Shayla comforts him and says she wouldn't have it any other way. She likes working on his bullshit. Coye reaches out and scoops Shayla up, then kisses her. She doesn't try and act embarrassed about it like she usually does.
• She brings up he's been doing that a lot more lately. Is that a problem? No, not really. Just an observation.
• Coye gives her another kiss, it lasts longer, but when he pulls away she asks him gently if kissing her sucks compared to the others. Coye likes how tingly her magical lips feel, but she tells him to be honest.
• Coye Instead fights back, telling her she needs to stop being so negative. He kissed her because he wanted to, and he did it without thinking about anyone else in comparison.
• Shayla acknowledges it's hard and Coye teases that he likes working on her bullshit.
• Shayla sighs and asks Coye if he wants to fool around for a bit. He does.
• After giving Shayla kisses around her body for foreplay, they get on the bed together and begin making love. Shayla is grateful for the attention and she ends up asking him to say he loves her, and after he does, it keeps escalating.
• After he says it for the fifth time or whatever, he teases her about now who's the needy one. She tells him to shut up, but he teases her more instead. Coye asks if she's excited that they might get the power to change shape and size if the fairy knight stuff is true
• she is, and it's very noticeable. Coye asks which would she prefer, if he was as small as Shayla or-
• obviously she wants to be as big as him. The two flirt about what kind of things they would get up to one day when that happens, but Shayla becomes negative and asks what if it doesn't? Coye says they would find another way. There's all kinds of magic in the world.
• Shayla asks him to hurry up and finish, she's starting to feel really emotional again and it's annoying.
• The climax happens and they are both very happy and in love. Before Shayla says I love you back, the door opens and Byng bursts in with Suzette behind her. She was holding a parasol for the both of them.
• Byng says they came to visit, but they realize they were interrupting something and she awkwardly walks backwards.
• They both apologize while Coye laughs. Shayla takes care of her bloated stomach and invites them in, makes some wholesome comment about the more the merrier and the like. Coye is really happy about how awesome his life is and the chapter ends on sort of an anime freeze-frame. Not literally but that's the vibe I'm going for, to contrast the next chapter.

Dorothy's Week 6

• Dorothy is in the middle of a panic attack. She is strutting around her office in terror, clutching a piece of paper in her hand.
• Tammy says it can't be that bad, can it?
• Dorothy says yes, it's very bad.
• Tammy asks her to calm down for a minute and let her read the letter, Dorothy tries to relax and then hands it off.
• We get to read the letter now, informing Dorothy that the Association is sending someone to conduct a performance review today. Tammy wonders why they wouldn't give her a warning, Dorothy says it's so she can't try and manipulate the records at the last second or anything like that. Makes sense.
• Tammy asks what Dorothy wants to do, Dorothy is brushing her hair in a panic and straightening her outfit. Dorothy asks Tammy to come over here and smaller and tell her if she smells bad, Tammy refuses that is not in her job description.
• Tammy suggests that as a last ditch effort she could go ask Eschal for something to calm her, Dorothy says that she can't do this inspection while she's high, but Tammy thinks she might come off as more professional if she was.
• Dorothy cracks, asking if it's that bad. Tammy says yes it is kind of bad.
• Dorothy sucks it in and says fine go see if he has anything for anxiety. Tammy leaves the office and a Dorothy sighs.
• Tammy reenters the room almost instantly, making Dorothy think that was fast, only for the inspector to enter with Tammy.
• I will come up with some corporate sounding title other than inspector when it's time to actually write the chapter.
• This inspector is a very grating type of woman- the type of corporate staff who is all smiley and immaculate even as they are sizing up every last piece of you. Very fake and inauthentic.
• Dorothy greets the inspector as warmly as she can but it's clear she still a bundle of nerves. Tells Tammy to go prepare some coffee or tea or whatever she wants, but the inspector says that won't be necessary. Teases Dorothy that she doesn't want to come off like she's trying to bribe her, right?
• Dorothy blinks. Bribe? With coffee? The offkilter joke does not land with her, making things very awkward.
• The inspector has Tammy leave and she starts walking around Dorothy's office. She's already taking notes on a clipboard and Dorothy feels like she is naked before a wolf.
• Inspector asks Dorothy why she believes the Association sent her here. Dorothy figures it has something to do with the Guild and its struggles to remain profitable.
• Yes, something like that, but it's also a performance review on Dorothy in particular. Dorothy starts to apologize in case her performance is lacking.
• Inspector says it very much is. She had high grades during her Association Academy years, and frankly, they are expecting more of her. Dorothy's predecessor had his flaws, but the Guild was much more profitable under his leadership.
• Dorothy remembers her predecessor and we get some vague details about him and her relationship with the man who was essentially her flawed mentor. Sure, he got things done, but it was off the books where he was problematic.
• Before they begin in earnest, the inspector wants to look around the Guild for herself. Alone.
• Dorothy consents to this and inspector gives a fake smile before going off. Dorothy paces around her office for an entire hour, maybe more, trying desperately to remain calm. She chewed her nails and was barely suppressing the jitters.
• She can't stop thinking about the inspector going over every little detail. They hadn't fixed the door yet, what if they inspect her bedroom, Coye's old dorm has that lock on it he installed, is Eschal working on any experiments he shouldn't be? Do they care as long as he's bringing in a profit? So many questions go through her mind that it paints a very pitiable picture of her. I want there to be a major sense of dread that the reader experiences alongside Dorothy here.
• Finally, the inspector comes back in and Dorothy isn't prepared. She makes it clear that she's nervous and she apologizes in advance to the inspector, who admires Dorothy's honesty.
• Inspector goes over a bit of what she learned. She talked with a few adventurers and employees, as well as looked around the building. Building-wise, the place is fine. Adventurers have a habit of kicking in doors, and she did notice the lock but that's not something they're going to give her a penalty over. Dorothy is relieved.
• The adventurers she spoke with did not paint a very kind picture, however.
• Some of the comments are very obviously from Britni and Tiph, but we get a host of other complaints ranging from trying too hard, annoying, way too pushy about sales, stuff like that. Dorothy is very afraid, but the inspector reveals none of that matters, so long as they bring in gold. Adventurers are meat and Dorothy is the grinder. Make them go out and earn tons of money, then make sure they spend as much of it on the Guild as possible.
• Dorothy doesn't say much to this, it offends her, even though she knows it's pretty par for the course as far as the Association is concerned.
• The view of her employees is a more pressing matter. She gets the impression that Dorothy has trouble controlling them, which Dorothy admits to. This causes her to lose out on work doing things that shouldn't fall to her typically
• inspector suggests Dorothy get creative with the way she motivates them. She does however praise Dorothy for Tammy's unique circumstances, and that it was a very good move to get in good with one of the most influential lords in Cransmere. Tammy also spoke highly of Dorothy, as did Eschal.
• Dorothy has some slight relief at this, but then the inspector pivots and says they need to talk about more important things. Gold.
• Inspector goes on to talk about the pillars of a guild's income. Questing, service fees, medical fees, subscription services, and purchases from the Guild catalog.
• Dorothy has a good medical fee percentage, decent subscription, and above average purchases. Service fees are down- Dorothy reveals they had to fire some chefs a while back - but the biggest pillar is questing.
• Inspector says that a Guild Mistress isn't just someone who sits behind a desk all day. She needs to be out there mingling with nobles and sucking up to them, convincing them to solve all of their bullshit problems through the Guild for as much gold as possible.
• Dorothy tries to make an excuse as to clerical work holding her up, but the inspector bites back coldly saying she wasn't sent here to listen to excuses. She was sent here to tell Dorothy how to do her job. Dorothy shuts up, the inspector condescendingly praises her.
• She tells Dorothy that this isn't the end of the world. Some Guild Mistresses are better at some things than others, and if you can't squeeze rich merchants and noblemen dry, she should focus more on her adventurers and wringing them for all their worth.
• She can see the Dorothy has something to say, and allows her to speak. Her adventurers already don't like her very much. The inspector laughs.
• Dorothy gives a soul crushing 'yes, of course' response to that and promises to work harder on all aspects.
• The inspector takes pity on Dorothy and says she can be creative with the way she earns her gold if she has to be. The Association doesn't care how you do it, so long as you give them their cut.
• Dorothy worries that she's talking about something illegal, but no. She's talking about performing events or milking the townspeople somehow. Brings up Bourgeaux's Guild and its fighting arena, along with a few other examples of guilds that have special features designed to milk the populace.
• The inspector points out that Dorothy is smart, and her grades in the Academy made the higher-ups believe she would be a safe choice for a Guild Mistress. That's all the Association wants from Cransmere- a safe, stable Guild with a moderate income.
• It's not outright said, but Dorothy understands the implication that she's failing the already low expectations the Association has for her. She feels miserable.
• The inspector sums everything up nice and tidy. You're not in trouble, but you need to be doing better or else you will be. Dorothy understands, and the inspector smiles and starts to take or leave after polite closing statements.
• She lingers at the door, then suddenly remembers one other topic she wanted to discuss. A few people she talked with mentioned that Dorothy had a close relationship with one of her adventurers in particular- Coye.
• Dorothy almost dies of mental anguish- she can't handle thinking about him right now. Tries to downplay it.
• The inspector downplays it herself, saying while a relationship with an employee is against the code of conduct, things happen and the Association can be accommodating.
• Truthfully, the inspector went over the records of everyone in her Guild before coming here. She asks Dorothy you know who his father is, right?
• Coye has told her he was to be a very high-ranking adventurer, but...
• Inspector laughs at that, calling it an understatement. We get a first name drop- 'Muscled Mountain' Bronson. One of Arrark's only platinum-ranked adventurers who is semiretired.
• Dorothy starts to feel weak, wants to know where the inspector is going with this. She heavily implies that if Dorothy got close to Coye and managed to get his dad into doing some work for her, the Guild's financial problems would be a thing of the past and the Association would look much more favorably on Dorothy in general.
• Dorothy asks for clarification, wants to know if she's telling her to-
• inspector reiterates she's not telling her to do anything, she's pointing out a ladder that can pull her out of the hole she's dug herself. If Dorothy can make her own ladder, then she sure as hell better start soon.
• The inspector leaves and Dorothy is a wreck.
• Her biggest take away here is that even her own feelings don't matter- they're just another tool she's expected to make use of. The Association really doesn't care about anything as long as they get money. She wonders if the problem with her predecessor wasn't that he was doing things off the record, but that he wasn't cutting them in.
• Dorothy tries to walk towards her desk, she needs to open some cards, have a snack, something to calm her nerves. The room seemingly stretches out before her eyes until her desk looks like it's miles away. Every step is a struggle to keep her balance, and she experiences a great pain in her heart.
• Dorothy clutches her chest and can't breathe, then topples over on the floor.
• Her inner monologue is begging her body not to give out on her. She can work harder. She can do anything. She won't let her family down, everyone in her life sacrificed so much to get her here that she can't disappoint them now after everything.
• Her thoughts become more negative, before eventually she gives in. She calls herself stupid for trying so hard, and that this is all pointless. Maybe she should just-
• Dorothy passes out from an anxiety attack.

Coye's Week 7 - Dorothy

• Coye had a great night. They all had fun together both in and out of bed, this morning, he's in the middle of sex with Suzette. Being is totally passed out and oblivious, Shayla is drowsy.
• It's a very casual early-morning fuck, with her laying on top of him.
• A knock on the door startles them, Coye asks who is it.
• The person on the other end speaks up, revealing that it's Tammy and she is very distressed.
• Coye asks if she can give him a few minutes, but Tammy doesn't care and says she's coming in. Wait, the door is locked.
• Tammy lock picks it and enters. She looks at the post orgy display and doesn't even bat an eye.
• Suzette is very embarrassed, even more so when Coye's exhibitionist streak acts up and he orgasms. She is beside herself while he can't help apologizing.
• Luckily, Tammy is in the middle of an OCD episode. She's rambling and it seems to be bad. Suzette's motherly instincts kick in and she gets up without regard for nudity, put on a robe and walks towards Tammy.
• She tries to comfort her and placed her hand on Tammy's shoulder but Tammy avoids it saying that touching her will make it worse. She doesn't know Suzette yet. She gets her to look in the opposite direction while Coye gets dressed at least, and they cover up Byng.
• After Tammy slows down a bit she reveals the situation. Dorothy had an anxiety attack yesterday and she's in bed ever since. She's awake, but she won't talk to anyone. Eschal treated her.
• Shayla figures that must've been what she was sensing whenever she was around Dorothy this week- she could feel the negative energy building up.
• Coye is super scared for her and wants to know what he can do to help. Tammy thinks he might be the only one she'll talk to. They're close, closer than she and Tammy. Coye wants to know what he would even say.
• Tammy says anything that would get her up and working again.
• Suzette has a flash of motherly anger. It sounds like work is what did this to her in the first place.
• Tammy takes in a deep breath and apologizes. She knows that Dorothy is what matters here, but she has a condition as well. She doesn't like talking about it. She says she's not lazy, her mind is just constantly unfocused even with alchemical medication. She can't actually do much work.
• Suzette chastises her even so, and Tammy is genuinely apologetic that her condition probably contributed to Dorothy being in the state she's in. She says that she will try and keep the front desk running, but she's been struggling with it all day.
• Coye realizes this is a bad situation for both of them. Tammy seems like she's already doing everything she can, and that coming here was a last resort. He says he'll come and talk to her, Tammy is grateful and says she'll go back to the Guild for now. She leaves and Coye consults with Shayla and Suzette.
• Suzette is quite worried, and even Shayla has empathy for Dorothy. Coye asks them what they think he should say to her. Suzette thinks that sometimes what you're saying isn't that important as long as you're saying it, and that he should just to talk to her.
• Coye wants to know if Shayla is coming or not, but she shakes her head. It's not about her personal gripes with Dorothy- those don't matter. She thinks this is something Coye should really do himself. Suzette is in agreement, Dorothy probably needs genuine company, not Shayla feeding him what to say.
• This makes Coye nervous, but he understands and was already thinking along those lines.
• He prepares himself and grabs a snack for the road, asks them to fill Byng in when she's awake and that he will come back later and let them know how it all goes. Suzette agrees to that, says it's lucky that the store is closed today.
• Before Coye goes, Shayla gives him special encouragement. Tells him that Dorothy is probably suffering a lot right now, and more than anything else, he has a talent when it comes to making girls feel special. Shayla says Dorothy needs that more than anyone else she's ever met. She was wrong about her, it just took her longer to admit that, and she's sorry. Tells him to go do what he does best.
• Coye is filled with motivation and he quick steps away towards the Guild.

Dorothy's week 7 - Coye

• Dorothy is awake, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. Everything is numb, her mind, her body, everything. Ever since she woke up this morning she's been a victim of nostalgic thoughts that won't stop plaguing her.
• Her family, her village, the library of Dawnstead, the day they saw her off to the Academy. None of these are explained in detail, just snippets that make her feel worse.
• The key take away is that everyone in her life is done so much for her, and she's a twenty-six-year-old failure who can't do her job right. After all the gold they spent put her through school, it turns out she wasn't the genius everyone thought she was. She was just some farmer's daughter who liked to read.
• Dorothy thinks that this is what all her hard work gets her, and she doesn't see the point in ever leaving her bed. She'll just find another way to disappoint someone.
• There's a knock on the door, which she assumes is Tammy. She doesn't feel bad about leaving Tammy to do all the work- but she's not vindictive about it either. She just doesn't care about anything in this state. They can fire her if they want a Guild Mistress who will do a better job.
• She hears Coye's voice calling out her name, and she moves for the first time that day to look at the door. She answers him, then wonders why she did that. She didn't want to move at all today. She's barely wearing anything right now, so she bundles her blanket around herself.
• He says he heard about what happened, but she stresses that she's okay now and he can go away.
• Coye wants to know if she really wants him to go away.
• Something about it opens Dorothy's heart a little bit and she reveals that she doesn't know what she wants right now. Then she corrects herself- saying she does know. She wants to quit her job.
• Coye tells her then she should do that if it would make her happy. Dorothy is shocked he says that.
• He asks where she would go. She tells him she's from southwest Arrark, her family has a farm out near Priddlesby. Coye's never heard of it and she's not surprised. It's south of Dawnstead past the bay. Coye understands that's a really long ways away.
• Dorothy agrees, then admits she would miss him for what it's worth. He would miss her too, doesn't see a reason he would ever go and visit those parts.
• Dorothy is silent but says she can't stay here just because she has one friend who would miss her. Coye clarifies that wasn't what he was getting at. He's not asking her to stay because he would miss her- he's not asking her to stay at all. He just wants her to be happy.
• Dorothy becomes emotional and it takes her a minute to reveal she wouldn't be happy if she went home, either.
• Coye asks for clarification, Dorothy tells him a little bit about her life story. Just a bit. Her parents and everyone in her village pooled together gold to send her to the Association Academy when she was fourteen. Everyone wants to work for the Association- the pay is potentially enormous. So of course, the Association charges a premium for the entrance exam and the tuition cost for four years of schooling.
• Thanks to that charity, she's not in tons of debt, but she could never return home when everyone in town would look at her and think 'I guess we were wrong about her' or worse.
• Coye understands how horrible that must feel. He doesn't really want to go back to his hometown either, but the reason is a lot stupider. He was bullied a lot and even after everything he's been through, the idea of running into his childhood bully again face-to-face still kind of scares him. That, and seeing all the other bullies.
• This anecdote makes Dorothy laugh a little bit. She apologizes, telling him it's not stupid. Says he's been doing pretty good for himself despite that rough start.
• Coye says he found a way to make it work, and that maybe Dorothy needs to try and do the same. Dorothy asks him how he found a way, and Coye jokes drugs. Really hard stuff.
• She laughs even more, unaware that it's not a lie. She's been on different medications from Eschal, but none of them really help. He says that Dorothy has the brain most insistent on being sad and stressed that he's ever seen.
• Coye wonders if there's an award for that, more laughing.
• Coye asks if he can come in, and she starts panicking, rambling how dirty everything is and how she is not fully dressed. The biggest reason she's against it she keeps to herself, that being she has no idea how she would handle being face-to-face with Coye right now.
• That's okay, he was just checking.
• She's sorry he took all this time out of his day to comfort her, he tells her not to be. If anything, she should be sorry she didn't call him sooner. Dorothy blushes and asks what he means, and he reminds her of his promise to always be there for her when she has a problem.
• Dorothy can't breathe, but it's for a different reason now.
• Dorothy reminds him that it would be inappropriate, but she finishes the thought by positing they already have an inappropriate relationship, don't they?
• Coye finds the courage to tell her that inappropriate relationships are his favorite kind, and she blushes.
• Dorothy tells him he can't just keep saying things like that. It's not fair. It's making her want to stay even though every part of her is telling her she should give up. Coye thought she couldn't stay just because of one person, she jokes she underestimated how much one person can mean to her.
• Coye doesn't know what to say to that, but she quickly asks him what he would do in her situation. He thinks about it and tells her to work less.
• Dorothy says she's trying not to work at all, but it isn't going very well. Coye tells her to stop joking for a minute and that he's serious. She's trying to do a million different things at once, she never sleeps, she never takes time for herself. If she just slowed down then her performance would probably increase a lot. Try to do a couple of things every day, and do them well instead of the inverse.
• He quotes Shayla and says to take one day at a time.
• Dorothy wants to try doing that but things are just so hard. She tells him about the inspector yesterday, obviously leaving out the part where it was implied she should seduce Coye. Coye had no idea that money was that bad around here.
• It doesn't matter, though. All it means is he has to start working harder to bring in more money for this place.
• Dorothy doesn't like that, she couldn't live with herself if he started working himself ragged trying to help her. He's just one person.
• Coye has a surprisingly bold moment- owing to his training at being aggressive- where he tells her to shut up. Something submissive awakens in her, but not very explicitly. She finds it very comforting being told what to do.
• Coye then explains she's just one person, too. He understands that she feels guilty about everything people have done for her to get her to where she is, but Dorothy needs to just accept she can't do everything herself. She needs to understand it's okay to ask other people for help and that it's okay to show weakness instead of locking it up all inside until something huge like this happens.
• Silence ensues, Coye asks if she is still listening. Dorothy snaps out of it, thanks him for saying all of this. She asks him what she should do now.
• Coye thinks she should take the rest of the day off. Tammy is struggling, but she'll understand. After that, he tells her to see how she feels tomorrow and try to get back to work at a slower pace. Give it one more day before she decides on anything drastic like quitting her job or moving away.
• Dorothy answers submissively, Coye almost thinking he hears a sexual lilt in her voice from the way she says it. He calls her name again and she snaps out of it. She says that sounds like a good idea, and that he should tell her what to do more often, and she is unsure why she just said that.
• Coye says she always watches his back, so he will do the same for her.
• Silence. Coye hears the floorboard creaking as Dorothy walks towards the door. She then sits and reclines her back against it, asking Coye what he's going to be doing today.
• He says he's not going anywhere until Dorothy feels better. Feeling emotional, she says she could keep him here all day if that was the case. He would stay all day if that's what it took.
• Dorothy is overwhelmed by emotions, her heart beating at a relentless pace. Dorothy asks if it would be selfish to intentionally keep him here all day.
• He encourages this and commands her boldly to be selfish, which excites her. Dorothy then says it's been a long time since they talked about his quests, and she would love to selfishly listen to him talk for as long as he's willing to.
• Coye jokes that he is kind of soft-spoken in his throat might start hurting after a while. She teases whether or not he can afford some cough drops from Eschal. Coye reckons he probably could, Dorothy says he better start talking, then.

Changes to the day of the fight

• I've already outlined and rough drafted the fight between Coye and Auguris, but there will be some changes made to accommodate all the new material that takes place before it.
• The day will start by explaining Coye stayed at Dorothy's door for nearly the entire day until she got tired and decided to rest. He then came home and found everyone waiting for him still, and he explained the situation. Shayla isn't upset, but was rather proud of how he handled it. Suzette went home so she could open the store next morning while Byng stayed over another night, wanting to go to the Guild with him tomorrow and tell Dorothy that Byng has her back from now on, too.
• The lead up to the fight will be similar, only that Byng will now be present. Dorothy is very happy to see Coye, but things then transpire as I already wrote them. The major difference is that now there's a lot more emotional build up and the reason Dorothy takes it so hard is because this was supposed to be her attempt at one last day.
• Byng and Suzette will be present during the fight, making occasional commentary.
• Tammy running the bets will now be presented as a form of stress relief, with her making up for the day of stress she had at the counter yesterday.

Changes to after the fight

• the scene with Coye in the sickroom will be very much the same
• that night, we will still see Britni and Coco going at it, but Tiph will be excised from this scene and given a different one. The focus will be more on what Coco is feeling and the disappointment in her relationship with Britni.

Tiph's new scene

• unlike in the original plans, Tiph is planning to break Coye 100% behind Britni's back.
• His actions in the fight and the way the crowd changed opinions of him and the way everyone started treating Dorothy made her sick. He didn't really change, he's just faking it. Like she is.
• We get some detail as to her 'breaking' habit. She has a large folder hidden in her lab detailing what she's done to certain men who annoyed her in some way or another. It's been a long time since she's done this- her life with Britni got her to give up one of her darkest hobbies.
• There is brief hesitation regarding how Britni will kill her if she goes around her back like this, but if Tiph is successful, she will be saving Britni some time, proving he's not worth all of her effort. Tiph wonders maybe she should have done this in the first place, but it was too much fun watching Britni struggle to gain his attention.
• She clears her corkboard of all kinds of alchemical notes and put a quick sketch of Coye at the center. For the next couple of hours, Tiph works up into a frenzy where she cross-references her folder for ideas on how to break and humiliate Coye, adding all kinds of notes to the board.
• By the time she's done, she's created a gigantic flowchart of possibilities and different angles to attack from. This should cover every hypothetical situation, she thinks. All of them end with the same results- Coye being outed as a lame and pathetic little masochist in front of the entire Guild.
• When she sees it all laid out before her eyes, Tiph feels pride followed by shame and hesitation. Maybe this isn't a good idea? Britni really loves him in her own fucked up way.
• Tiph brushes her concerns off and remind herself not to be weak. She crawled her way out of the gutter, worked hard to get where she was today, and all it ever brought her was spiteful hatred.
• She throws a flask of acid at Coye's sketch at the center of the board, saying that if she can't change then nobody can.

Marlie intermission

• a new, short segment I want to add is Marlie alone in their dorm room with Coye's sword. It would primarily be narration about Marlie and her family and how demons have special powers passed down in their bloodline.
• One of Marlie's is the ability to speak to the soul of any weapon.
• She lays out the cracked pieces of Coye's sword and wills the weapon to reconstruct itself, before taking out a whetstone to give it a good sharpening. Her sharpening skills are immaculate, and Coye is likely to be shocked the next time he uses this weapon.
• Marlie hopes he enjoys it, thinks today was something else. She's starting to see what Britni sees in him, if not in the same way.
• She can tell the Coye takes very good care of the sword which is a relief. She's still tempted to steal it and keep it for herself but she can sense the weapon's desire to remain with Coye.
• The short segment ends with Marlie beginning conversation with the sword and asking it to tell her everything about Coye.

New ending

• there will still be the chapter where Coye is at home doing bedrest, where Auguris and Marlie drop by, but afterwards there's going to be an epilogue of sorts.
• Coye enters the Guild the next morning fully recovered, and he finds that a lot of people were waiting for him in the entrance hall to congratulate him and try to be his friend.
• He tries to push his way through the crowd, saying he has something to do but he's open to talking to everyone later as long as they remember what he said- don't make Dorothy's life any harder than it already is.
• Bunch of them look ashamed, Shayla congratulates him for being so demanding. He brushes it off, it's hard to talk like that but he really wants to make sure as many of them get the message as possible.
• They let him pass to the front desk where Tammy is, he asks where Dorothy is after some light banter with Tammy. She is in her office, so he goes there and knocks, explains who it is. He opens the door and steps inside, showing Dorothy he brought his collection of cards and was wondering if she had time to check it out.
• Dorothy gives him a wholesome smile, and the book would end with her saying she always has time for him.