ROUGH DRAFT - Coye 6 pt21 (Patreon)

Going to be renaming the way I do rough drafts. One draft can at times be multiple chapters, so I'm thinking this is the better way to number it. Just calling it part instead of chapter. This is actually the rough draft for chapter 29, for instance.

-------

Contrary to how things usually went, Coye didn't wake up that night and no additional sex was had. Emotions were so high and things are so peaceful that everyone passed out as soon as the snugglefest began. Dorothy was at peace, Coye was happier than could be, and Shayla was strung out on whatever Faelink shenanigans her body put her through. Things were so lazy and relaxed that morning that if there wasn't a distraction no one would have woken up as early as they did.

Interrupting that lazy morning was a knock on the door. Always responsive, Coye sat straight up and wiped his eyes before taking a quick glance at Dorothy by his side. He smiled deeply. While her posture wasn't as bad as Byng's, Dorothy was in a much lazier position than she was last night and looked pretty sloppy in an adorable way. Then he got concerned when he was unable to locate Shayla at first, only to notice that her wings were glowing behind Dorothy's thick hair, meaning she was laying on the pillow next to Dorothy's head. In other words, she was fine.

The knocking continued, making Dorothy stir as he remembered to address his visitor. "I'm up, I'm up..." He mumbled with a raised voice. "Who is it?"

"It's your woman! The green one, I mean," Byng cackled on the other side of the door. "And the dark, brooding, big titty one is here too." Coye thought he could hear what sounded like Suzette sighing.

"I'm sorry, darling. She insisted on stopping by and, well it's already nearly noon, so..."

"Hey, at least I remembered to knock this time! Aren't you proud of me, short-stuff?"

"Yeah," Coye shrugged, unsure of what was going on. He yawned and then without thinking stated, "let yourself in, I guess..." Before plopping his head back down on the bed.

The door was locked, but they both had keys and Byng excitedly made use of hers. The door swung open revealing the both of them, Byng wearing her adventuring gear and Suzette in a casual low back tank top sweater and leggings, her hair done up in a bun. Immediately, they both notice his mistake.

"Oh, shit..." Byng scratched the back of her head.

"I knew this was a bad idea but you wouldn't leave well enough alone, would you?" Suzette sighed again and looked away.

"Hey- it's not my fault he wasn't fully awake!"

Byng's loud voice brought Dorothy into consciousness. She stretched out in bed, exposing more of herself to the onlookers at the door. Suzette had the courtesy to look away but Byng was openly taking in the view. Dorothy's eyes fluttered open and she lazily sat up. Her hair was ruffled again, but not nearly as bad as it was before she washed it. She couldn't see that well without her glasses and after reaching for them on the nightstand she realized the green blob across the room was another person. Specifically, Byng.

"Oh, hey. Sup, Dotty?"

She blinked. The fairy struggling in the net of her hair helped further daughter awake, as did the morning air on her exposed breasts. Breasts that Byng was openly staring at. At first she was convinced this was a dream and Dorothy lazily waved at Byng from across the room with a smile.

"Good morning..." She yawned.

"Dorothy, dear-" Suzette coughed to get her attention but didn't look, instead covering Byng's eyes. "You might want to cover yourself."

"Eh...?" The strange suggestion made her tilt her head and wonder what she meant, until at last her full awareness was restored and she realized what was happening. She burned red with flush, covered her chest with the blanket, and performed an embarrassed scream.

"Fuck- why are you yelling?!" Shayla fell out of her hair, plugging her long ears.

Believing there was now actual danger, Coye woke up for real this time and stumbled out of bed to locate his sword. When he saw Byng and Suzette at his door, however, he realized it wasn't necessary. "Byng? Suzette?" He blinked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You said we could come in!" Byng threw her hands up defensively, but a second later she processed the fact that Shayla was tangled in Dorothy's hair. "Hey, wait a second... Did you sleep on top of Dotty or something? How did you wind up caught in her hair?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't?" Shayla snapped her fingers and switched into a nightgown. "What's it to you?"

"I thought I would be the one who got to touch you first besides Coye!" Byng crossed her arms.

"Now now, Byng, there's no need to be jealous..." Suzette said although it was obvious from the way she looked at the Pixie she felt similarly. "Do you need us to come back later? I assumed nothing happened since you didn't drop Shayla off, but clearly we were mistaken..."

"Things sort of happened..." Coye looked over at Dorothy on the bed. "What do you say?"

"Um..." Dorothy peeked out of the blanket she was hiding under two consider the options. She was hoping to have more fun with Coye this morning, but this was important, too. "I... I wouldn't mind if everyone came in. It's your house, Coye. I'm just a guest and they have every right to be here just like I do..."

"You heard the woman. Give us a few minutes to get dressed."

"Do we have to?" Byng played up her mock disappointment.

"This time, yeah," Coye shot her down and Suzette shook her head and then closed the door.

"You sure you're ready to meet the family?" Shayla fluttered to Dorothy's shoulder and petted her cheek reassuringly, her new crush still in full effect. "We can push this off, you know."

Dorothy was resolute and shook her head. "I'm sure. I want them to be here so we can all talk together."

"As long as you're sure." Coye was supportive and handed Dorothy a bundle of her clothes, then started getting dressed for himself in loose pajamas. Once everyone was decent, he called out for the girls outside to come and join them.

"Congratulations, dear," Suzette clasped her hands together and smiled. "I take it everything went all right?"

"I would say about as good as they could have... ahaha... It's nice to see you again, ah... Suzette. Byng."

"Always a pleasure, Dotty. Nice tits by the way."

Dorothy burned a crimson shade and lowered her head as she slunk to the table. "I'm... glad you like them...?"

Shayla fluttered into Byng's face and crossed her arms. "Behave yourself, you animal! She's still adjusting."

Byng raised an eyebrow and looked at Coye, pointing at Shayla and Dorothy. He nodded his head. "It's a whole thing. We'll catch you up to speed."

"No doubt you will," Suzette agreed. "In the meantime, I'll start up on a nice breakfast for us, shall I?"

Despite the table only having four chairs and Shayla usually insisting she deserved one entirely for herself, she was sitting cheerless between Coye and Dorothy. Byng sat to Coye's other side, staring at Dorothy with a wide, catty smile on her face the entire time. She didn't say a word, but she didn't have to. The tension was killing Dorothy to the point where Coye had to intervene.

"Is there something you wanted to say, Byng?"

"Hmmm... No, I'm just taking in the sight. This has been a long time coming, y'know. Now that it's here it's like, wow! There she is. Going to take some getting used to."

"Then what's with that smile on your face?" Shayla asked, suspicious.

"Just wondering about how it went down, that's all," Byng's excitement started getting the better of her. She leaned over the table ever so slightly, staring Dorothy straight down. "How was it? My man is something else, isn't he?"

"You don't have to answer that," Coye blushed and lowered his head. To his surprise, Dorothy nodded meekly.

"It was... the best moment of my life, bar none..." Dorothy was able to speak from the heart, and she couldn't stop smiling when she pictured everything that happened the night before. She even squirmed a little, still sore down below if only a bit.

"I know that feeling, gahaha!" Byng slapped her knee. "For real though, Dotty, I'm so damn happy for you."

"Thank you... I still don't know how to take any of this, but I'm sure I'll get more used to it..." She looked at Coye for support and he extended his hand to her over top of the table. She took it and smiled even wider at him. Because it was right in front of her, Shayla's jealousy acted up and she put her hand on both of them as well but said nothing.

Right before Byng could inquire further, breakfast was ready and Suzette started piling things on the table. Dish after dish came, making Dorothy blinked in confusion. Had she always been making this much food, or did it manifest out of nowhere? Whatever the case, every last dish looked amazing. The chef's she employed at her Guild weren't the best in town, but they were fairly skilled and Dorothy enjoyed the benefit being the boss and getting to tell them to cook whatever she wanted for her at any given moment. This was a lot better than that, though.

Dorothy hadn't eaten a meal half as good as this since she last visited her family three years ago. It was so good she almost wanted to cry, but that would've been a massively overblown reaction so she held it back. Still, it was amazing to the point where she couldn't stop. That worked out just great because of how much damn food there was, and everyone must've been hungry because there was little banter throughout breakfast and instead everyone focused until they were done.

Byng finished up first, then started leaning her chair back , teetering dangerously on the edge of falling over. As soon as Dorothy took her last bite, she said, "I'm a pretty good cook too, you know. Don't think Suz has all the talent here, gahaha!"

"Oh, is that so? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given the culture you come from, ahaha... I'm looking forward to tasting your food sometime, Byng. If you'll be kind enough to share, of course..."

"Careful what you wish for," Shayla shivered, memories of her dehydration plaguing her mind and inflicting her with a phantom pain.

"Just make sure you're in the mood for something salty," Coye warned as he pushed his plate in.

Dorothy didn't mind salty food, not if her copious amounts of snack bags hidden in her bedroom and office were anything to go off of, but she was fearful of how bad it must've been.

"Well, in any case... Thank you so much for cooking, Suzette."

"You really are just the daintiest little thing, aren't you?" Suzette cocked her head in amusement.

"Um. I'm sorry...?" Dorothy lowered her head.

"You shouldn't be. I just find it funny how thoughtful and appreciative you are. It'll be nice to have you around if only to help balance things out..." Suzette gave Byng and Shayla a quick yet noticeable glance, both of whom acted as if they didn't know what she was talking about. "We will be seeing you around more often, won't we? I don't want to misunderstand here."

Dorothy looked to Coye for confirmation, only to see him already smiling at her. His hand extended towards hers under the table and she took it after a moments hesitation. The support made her feel bold, like she could accomplish anything while they were together.

"Yes... It's official. Coye and I are now t-t-together." Dorothy squeaked, her voice cracking from admitting to someone new for the first time.

"Fucking finally!" Byng cackled like mad which sent her falling backwards in her chair. Instead of hitting the ground and hurting herself, the skilled huntress managed to somehow turn this into a dodge roll and make it look like she planned it all along. She gave a thumbs up, saying, "are you gonna fill us in on the details, or what? How hot and heavy are we talking, huh? C'mon, give me something to work with here!"

Shayla grinned like a cat. "It was pretty damn steamy, now that you mention it..."

"Can you guys chill? You're breaking my new girlfriend!" Coye pouted as he placed his hand on Dorothy's shoulder. True to his word, she was steaming out the ears and her face was redder than it would've been if she were in a hot spring.

"I'm... I'm fine... j-just... Not used to any of this..."

"Perhaps you can give us a less explicit account of how things went, if you're willing to share?" Suzette leaned in, doing her best to appear supportive if only to counterbalance Byng and Shayla's rudeness. She was truthfully amused by how innocent the girl was, but wasn't going to make it any worse for her than it already was.

"Do you want to tell them, or should I? A lot happened last night."

"So I've heard, gahaha!"

"I, um ... I don't mind if you tell them. I think I need a moment to silently sip my tea and ruminate on the fact that this is all happening to me..." Dorothy replied, her eyes distant and her voice low.

"If it makes you feel any better, I promise I'll try and ease up..." Shayla wrestled with her conscience, her newfound devotion to the Guild Mistress winning out over her nature to tease. "And so will Byng."

"I will?" Byng asked, dodging an orange peel that magically flew at her face. "Fine," she grumped. "But I'm not going to be happy about it!

Now that half of the class was behaving themselves, Coye gave an abridged version of everything that happened last night, looking on and off for Dorothy for her permission to see if she was comfortable with everything he was sharing. She never told him no, so he delved into just about everything. When they got to talking about Coye's father and how that was relevant, the girls had a few things to say.

"Hold up. While they call him muscled mountain?" Byng asked with slight worry in her voice. "You're done growing, right? I mean, I'm not shallow enough that I'd pack my things, but-"

"I take after my mother," Coye laughed softly. "Or at least that's what I've always been told. Don't think you have much to worry about."

"Phew. Had me going for a second, there!" Byng exhaled, happy that her cute little femboy wasn't going to inextricably morph into the kind of man she'd left her Homerealm to escape from.

Suzette had different concerns.

"Now when you say platinum rank, I don't think you understand that does nothing for a layperson such as myself. Is there perhaps something you could do to better illustrate the scaling? Auguris is gold, wasn't that right?"

"Um, it's not exactly the best measure, but there is a shorthand way to imagine it. A skilled gold-ranked adventurer is roughly strong enough to defeat most monsters capable of leveling an entire city. Platinum -ranked adventurers are the sort you turn to when an entire province needs protecting. At that level, you don't do much work beyond sitting around and waiting for the next apocalyptic disaster..."

"I... I see..." Suzette's hand trembled. "And you don't think your father would have a problem with such an older woman being around his son, do you?"

"Of course not," Coye laughed at the very thought. "He'd be happy as long as I'm happy.

"Thank the goddesses above and below..." Suzette sighed in relief.'

"Holy shit!" Byng's excitement got the best of her. "I sure know how to pick 'em, I guess. I knew you were hot shit, short-stuff, but I didn't know you came from such good stock..."

"Uh... thank you?" Coye scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

Then, Byng shook her head out of nowhere and ruffled her messy hair. "Gah, shit. Stupid fucking breeding impulses... You have no idea what hearing that just did to me."

"I can smell what it did to you," Shayla scoffed. "You and your nasty ass pheromones!"

Dorothy hung her head in shame. "So that's what that was..." She mumbled.

After Shayla snapped her fingers and got rid of the malodorous miasma, the discussion continued until they explained most of what happened. They covered how the first meeting Shayla went but left out the immortality bit for now to better focus on the positive, but that was going to come up sooner than later. Dorothy had been adjusting this entire time and by the end of the explanation, she was feeling a lot more comfortable about being here and being with the others.

Now that she was a bona fide member of the harem and everyone was finished congratulating her, Dorothy had something she wanted to say. She lowered her head, saying, "I really want to say thank you for how loving and supportive you both have been this whole time. I'm still so confused by everything, happier than I've ever been, but confuse all the same. As the lowest ranking member of this arrangement, I... I ask that you'll take good care of me from now on and that I'll try my best to do the same!"

Suzette and Byng both found this incredibly amusing.

"You shouldn't give me power over you. I'll abuse it." Byng warned. "Not because I mean or anything, just because it would be funny, gahaha!"

"Er-" Dorothy gulped.

"What she means to say," Suzette raised her voice over the gengaggi, "is that you don't even need to ask that of us. There is no ranking. Hasn't Darling already told you as much himself?"

"I did," Coye grumbled. "But I guess it hasn't sunk in."

"I'm sorry..." Dorothy lowered her head even further. "You're already asking me to deal with so much happiness. The fact that you want me to believe you really love me just as much as you love everyone else here and that there are no favorites is... well... almost too good to be true."

"It's only weird if you make it." Coye insisted. "Why can't it just be what it is?"

"I... hm... I don't really know..."

Breaking her silence, Shayla fluttered up to Dorothy's head and laid across it like a pillow, her hand giving the top of Dorothy's head some reassuring pats. "Everything about this is going to get easier the more time you spend with us, babe. I know it's scary to have to live up to me, and Byng and Suzette too, I guess, but for as much shit as I like to give Coye... well... look. I'm a fucking Pixie, for fuck's sake. If he can somehow convince me there's nothing to be jealous about, that should really tell you something."

Explaining it in such a way made the monster fanatic understand immediately. "You know, that's... Really reassuring, actually. Thank you, Shayla."

"It's what I'm here for."

"So, about this," Byng could no longer hold her curiosity back and she pointed at Dorothy and Shayla together. "Mind explaining what the fuck is going on here?"

"Funny story," Coye laughed at the suddenly defensive Pixie. And then he elaborated, running over the details of what Dorothy figured about their powers.

"So what, you psychically rubbed off on her the same way she does on you?"

"That would be my best guess," Dorothy offered.

"That's fair," Byng thought. "After how many traits he's stolen of yours, it's only fair you end up with one or two of his."

"Oh, shut up. This isn't a big deal. Now, if you want big deal you should ask Coye what his big plans are for the future." Shayla teased.

"Oh, got some new goals, did you?" Byng smirked. "Let's hear it! They better be ambitious, I'm not gonna tolerate my man slacking off, gahaha!"

"Well," Coye scratched the back of his head. "I've been told their a little too ambitious..."

For the last bit of explanation, Coye finally told them some of the more worrying details. Both Byng and Suzette were upset to hear some of it, but they really didn't know what to think when he started getting into what the whole thing did to him. How it changed his mind and reaffirmed what he wanted out of his life. Thus, Coye told them how he wanted to continue taking life one day at a time, chasing new experiences, while also looking for a source of immortality for he and everyone he loves. To say things got awkward after that was an understatement.

"Fuck, dude. You're not just aiming high, are you?" Byng had a strange look on her face. Half star struck and half confused.

"I can't afford not to."

As the oldest, Suzette appreciated the idea on a surface level. "Well. Never let it be said that anyone can temper your expectations, Darling... that's... I can't think of a word to what that is. Unrealistic isn't enough to do it justice, but foolhardy isn't strong enough..."

"I can think of a few words," Shayla smirked.

"Go easy on him," Dorothy chastised the fairy on her head.

"I know it's silly, but I'm not going to defend myself beyond that. It is what it is, and I'm gonna do what I want to do." Coye shrugged. He was acting a bit standoffish but it came from a place of determination rather than malice.

"I'm going to say something that might shock everyone here-" Byng put her hands down on the table for dramatic effect, then stared down everyone else. "But I'm gonna stand by my man."

"Wow, you're right. That was shocking." Shayla rolled her eyes.

"I know, right? Gahaha! For real, though. This might be a little over my head but I'm all for it."

"As am I... It's a lot to spring on someone during the first date, but..." Dorothy thought to herself, wondering if it would even happen. That was irrelevant, she had a job to do. "It's my job to support my adventurers in achieving their goals. On top of that, I know it might be naive of me, but I must admit... when Coye says he'll do something, I'm inclined to believe he will..."

"Thank you, both of you..." Coye was surrounded by love and support on all sides, leaving only the rational and mature one to question where things were at.

"That's all well and good, and I have no problem with what you're suggesting, but you're absolutely sure this won't consume you and become some overwrought drama? I love you, Darling, and I have no interest in watching you destroy yourself for everyone else's sake."

Coye imagined the kind of thing Suzette was implying. Whereas Dorothy saw him as the hero of an old romantic adventure story, Suzette was worried about him becoming the protagonist of a tragedy. They were two sides of the same coin and it was easy to picture him going down that path. At least before yesterday, that is. Coye now felt as if he had most of the negativity out of his system and if it ever came back he didn't imagine it lasting long- not with everyone who loved and supported him.

"I'm not going to let that happen," Coye declared. "That's all I can say about that."

While hardly convincing, Suzette must've been affected by his compelling charisma which inspired confidence in everyone else. Even her best defenses couldn't hold up against his self-assuredness and she gave in.

"I suppose I'll have to hold you to that," she sighed.

"I'll make sure you don't go full on self-destructive either, short-stuff!" Byng played up Suzette's concerns, leaning in, ruffling his hair and then kissing him on the cheek with a wide grin. "I'll see if Kuhrkakk has anything to say about immortality next time he hits me up."

"Sounds good, I was gonna ask..."

"Um..." Dorothy paused. "The Grurguhrohkan god of hunters and beasts? Byng, what exactly are you implying by that...?"

"Oh, shit... think I forgot to report that whole thing to you..." Byng squinted her eyes. Like any adventurer, she was supposed to relay big changes in her development and skill set to her Guild Master. A God making promises to give you special skills and cool gear was probably something that should've been told. She filled in Dorothy, who was now dumbstruck.

Once she had her wits about her, she gave Coye a weak smile. "I'm going to have to get used to strange things around you, aren't I...?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "But between gods and fairies I think we pretty much at the ceiling on that."

"Tempting fate always works out awesomely," Shayla nodded with mock approval.

"So was there anything else we needed to be caught up on?" Byng jumped from her seat and hunched over the table, propping herself up by her elbows.

"I mean we could always run through what happened in bed last night but I think it's for the best you guys find out about that first hand..." Shayla teased, delicately running the tip of her finger in small circles against Dorothy's scalp. "Up to you, though, babe."

"I don't think I can handle that right now at all, ahaha..."

"Well, if that really is everything, I have to say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Welcome into this little family we've been building over the last month, Dorothy. I'm truly happy for you." Suzette smiled, then reached under the table and rested her hand on Dorothy's thigh in a sweet and reassuring manner. The gesture was thoughtful and effective, bringing out appreciation and calmness in her.

"You're my (Orcish word I forgot + don't want to look up right now) from now on, Dotty. That means I'm here for you whenever you need it! Don't forget that. Coye's not the only one you are can count on, got it?"

"And the same goes for me," Shayla stood, flew away and rested on Coye's shoulder. "But I think you got that much by now."

Dorothy looked at the three other women and her caring, supportive boyfriend and felt things she hadn't felt in a long time. Safe. Reassured. Free. Expanding the number of people she had there for her was an unprecedented feeling. She didn't even feel guilty about how everyone was treating her and offering to help if she ever needed it. This felt right, somehow. Like she was meant to be here and that they really would do anything they could to help.

Dorothy hope she would get used to this, because it was one of the best feelings in the world.

"Well? What do you say, Dorothy?"

"Thank you for having me... I can't say that enough. Thank you..."