It hadn't happened in San Francisco, but that was where the dream took her. She was back on the Embarcadero, sitting on a bench, the bay behind her and the city before her. From the empty space beside her came a voice:
"The newbie's late."
"He's only been down here for two days," said someone who was not yet called Mélodie. "He's probably not used to modern transportation yet." She leaned back, taking in the bright, clear sky through her sunglasses." Grandma wanted to give him at least a week before sending him out in the field so he could adjust, but he insisted."
Quick wasn't visible at the moment, but she could practically hear his frown. "She gets very annoyed when you call her that, you know."
"She gets very annoyed at most everything. Hey, the weather here is nice, huh?" As she said it, a warm breeze caressed the two of them. All around folks were about, both locals who were going about their day and tourists taking in the sights. "We should try to get assignments here more often."
He sniffed, invisibly. "I prefer the cold."
"Really? You're so tiny though. I'd think that you'd do better in warm weather."
"Humans think a lot of things about fey folk that aren't true. Is that him?"
"Where?"
"There."
"I can't see you, genius. I don't know where you're pointing."
"Left. Down the street."
"Ah..."
In retrospect, she wasn't sure how she'd missed him. Moonsinger clothing was pretty distinct, mostly for their tendency towards bright, vivid colors. This particular Moonsinger was wearing a robe of brilliant pink with a maroon tunic underneath. He was also wearing an expression of distaste as he looked about at the city around him, and when he came to a stop in front of her he said, "Are they all like this?"
"Gonna have to be more specific."
"Cities," he said, waving a hand off to his left. "You have paved over the natural hills and valleys of this place to make paths for your smoke-belching cars, and made false mountains out of glass and metal."
"I mean, I didn't. And hey, I think that tower over on the hill off in the distance there is very scenic."
He looked at it and sniffed impatiently. "The Rose should have done more to combat this. The state of the world... It is repugnant."
"Yeah, well, that's why we're here." She stood and stretched, then began walking. "There's a lot to fix, but we're working on it. One step at a time. By the way, how's your English?"
"Poor," he said without hesitation as he followed her. "I can read some of the signs that I have seen here, but conversation is beyond me."
"Right. Quick, tongues?"
The Moonsinger looked confused for a moment, then surprised, because a puff of glimmering dust appeared out of thin air and engulfed his face. He took it well, blinking only a bit. "One of the fey folk is accompanying us? I did not notice."
"Yeah," said Quick from somewhere around her shoulder, "I prefer to stay incognito, if it's all the same to you, especially when we're dealing with something this dangerous."
"Were you briefed?" she asked. "You know what we're dealing with, right?"
"Of course," said the Moonsinger. "I have disposed of many such creatures."
"Yeah, well, we're not killing it. Violence is acceptable only when it is the only option to prevent greater violence."
"Of course," he said with a sneer. "One of the prime tenets of the Rose and her followers. Clearly it has served her well so far."
She stopped and glowered warily at him. "Look, when you volunteered to do this you agreed to follow our code of conduct. If you're not willing to do that then-"
She was interrupted by a scream. It had come from the pier down the street. "Alright, hold that thought." Both of them broke out into a run, towards the crowd of people that was beginning to gather.
The dream shifted, as dreams do...
They were running through a forest. The sun was setting. They were going to run out of light soon, and when that happened, well... She was going to make sure that one of them was out of danger by then. She pulled the boy - he couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen - behind a particularly huge tree. His eyes were wide with terror and confusion as he looked up at her.
"Okay, listen, do you trust me?"
He nodded frantically. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice.
"Good," she spoke quietly and quickly. "That thing is still after us, but I have a plan. When I say go, run that way." She pointed. "After a few hundred feet you'll encounter a road. Go west on that road, that's towards the sun, and you'll find a village. You'll be safe there, it won't dare to enter a town. Do you understand?"
Before he could answer, the air was split by a horrible, bone-chilling howl. A very loud and very close bone-chilling howl. "Now!" she shouted. "Go! Run!"
He bolted. She wished she could have followed him, but it would catch up to him for certain if she didn't distract it. She rushed out from behind the tree, and there it was: an enormous wolf, taller than she was, with a mouth of blood-covered fangs. It ran past her quicker than a blink, after the boy.
"Hey, ugly!" she shouted. "I'm the one you want!" She hastily cast a spell of binding before it was out of her sight, and all of a sudden its legs locked up. It hit the ground with a howl and a yelp, but it didn't stay there for long. With a mighty wrench of its back it shattered her spell like it was nothing, causing a sharp, stinging pain in her head, and then it was upon her. Quicker than a a creature so large had any right to be it was mere feet away, its jaw open, ready to tear her to pieces. She only just barely had time to cast another spell: a shower of fire and sparks, right in its face. The heat made it close its mouth but the force of it wasn't enough to stop its momentum, and the wind was knocked out of her as its massive head knocked her bodily into the tree behind her.
She was dazed, but still conscious. "Alright, big boy," she said woozily, "let's see how much human you have left in you." It was frantically pawing at its own face, still dazed from the light and heat, and before it could recover, she cast one last spell: a spell of undoing. It was a difficult one, and she wasn't sure that she'd be able to do it, but it was that or be eaten. She could feel the magic permeating the wolf's body, giving lupine form to a human man, and so she began to strip it away...
"There you are."
Her blood turned to ice.
"I have found you."
She scrambled up from the cavern floor. The spells! She shouldn't have cast those spells! She knew that it was dangerous, but she'd had no choice.
"I told you that you couldn't run from me forever. There was no use in hiding."
It was pitch black, deep under the earth, but somehow she could see him anyway. He was floating eerily in the darkness, withered and gaunt, with eyes like pale stars.
"You have taken something from me. I will take it back."
She tried to run, but with a mere thought he was able to control her body like a puppet. She felt herself walking towards him. Mad with terror, she frantically tried to cast every spell that she knew, one after the other, but he deflected them all like butterflies in a hurricane.
"You got the best of me the first time because I was still waking up. That won't happen again." He extended a gnarled hand. She turned around, presenting her back to him. She saw herself from outside her own body as he reached out, nearly touching her...
"Man, that was pretty fucked up, huh?"
She blinked. "Huh? What?"
"I said, you fucked up my order." The customer on the other side of the counter was so short that the top of his head didn't even clear her shoulders, but he was scowling at her with all the overconfident aggression of an angry chihuahua. "I said no onions on my burger. There's onions on this." He lifted the top bun to demonstrate.
"Sir," she said, the exhaustion of a twelve-hour shift with no breaks creeping into her voice, "you can just take them off."
That was, apparently, the wrong thing to say. His face turned bright red. "It's not about the fact that I can take them off! I told you to make it without onions and you ignored me!"
"Sir," she repeated, "I didn't make it, the kitchen did. If you want them to make you another one I can-"
"I don't want another one! I want my money back!"
"Alright! Alright, fine. Here." She opened the register and counted out the cost of a cheeseburger. Once he had his refund the man tossed the burger on the counter and left. Whatever. She was just glad he was out of her face. The next customer came up to her register.
"Excuse me," he said. "Aren't you going to clean that up?"
She sighed and looked towards the line of other customers behind him. It extended out the door, down the street, so long that she couldn't even see where it ended. She just wanted to rest. Just a little nap. She laid down on the floor and...
She was in a cottage. It was tiny and cramped - she was sitting on a plush bed that was mere feet away from the crackling fire of an old cast-iron stove, atop which there was a large pot of something bubbling and delicious-smelling. Beside that there was a shelf covered in oddities: crystals and trinkets and odds and ends, and lots and lots of books. Outside the little round windows, there was a snow-covered forest. It was night, but the little room was bright and warm and cozy.
"You'll have to tell me how you got out of there sometime." It was Naomi. She was wearing her witch outfit - gossamer silk and lace complete with a second plunging neckline below the first, to show off both pairs of her large, full breasts, as well as the wide-brimmed hat.
"The Macdo?" she asked, confused.
"The cave. I bet it's an exciting story."
"Oh. It is," she said, "but I can't really tell you about it. Or anyone. If word got around who I really am..."
"Of course, of course. Wouldn't want him to come knocking on our doors looking for you, huh?"
She shuddered at the thought. "What are you making there? Soup?"
"A potion," said Naomi with a mysterious wink as she stirred the contents of the pot. "You can have some when it's finished. It needs a few more things first, though."
"Like what? Maybe I can help."
"I think that you can," said Naomi, her eyes sparkling. "Come here. Stand behind me."
She did. The contents of the pot were brown and dark, like a hearty stew. The shining curls of Naomi's fiery red hair filled her vision, along with the scent of flowery shampoo. "You know," she said, "it's not often that I meet women who are taller than me."
"Well, I happen to be a pretty extraordinary woman," said Naomi with a grin. She reached back and grabbed her hands, placing them on her round hips. "Go on. You know what to do."
She did. She pressed herself into Naomi's back, her hands exploring the smooth silk that clung to her soft curves, moving slowly upwards until she encountered two somethings that were squishy and warm and heavy and delightfully large, each too big to fit in her hand. Given that the top of her head barely reached Naomi's shoulders this was the only pair that she could easily reach, but that was fine. She ran her fingers over them, feeling bare skin when she got to their upper curves, and Naomi cooed with pleasure.
"Almost there," she said encouragingly. "Keep going."
She tugged at the lower neckline of Naomi's dress, freeing them by feel alone. She could tell just from the way that they were rubbing against her palms that her nipples were hard. And leaking. "Someone's eager," she said with a giggle.
"You'll find that I have plenty to spare. Go on. I know you know how."
She did. She squeezed at Naomi's areolas, in that way that she was getting to practice quite a bit more lately, and inhaled sharply in surprise at the intensity of the streams of milk that splashed into the pot.
"Mmm, that's it," said Naomi happily. "But we're going to need a lot of milk for this recipe, so..." There was a soft noise as she freed her top pair and joined in, all four breasts creating a symphony of splashes as an absolutely absurd quantity of milk was added to the pot.
"It must feel so good, having two extra..."
"It's wonderful," whispered Naomi. "Although I - ah! - I don't normally have an extra pair of hands to help me do this properly."
"You can call me any time. I'll be happy to help you with this whenever you'd like."
"I bet you would." Naomi wiggled her butt, pressing it up against her erection, and turned, a catlike grin on her face. "That's enough for the potion, but I'm still so full." Her breasts, each the size of her own head, were crisscrossed with the faintest hints of veins, and her nipples were a delightful shade of deep pink. "What are you gonna do about it?"
She wrapped her arms around Naomi's waist and pulled her backwards, so that they both fell onto the bed, one on top of the other. She was, suddenly, absolutely buried in boob, her vision completely obscured by the soft, warm flesh that had nearly completely engulfed her head. They were both naked now, and she could feel the wet heat of Naomi's pussy grinding against her dick.
"Fuck me, Mistress," said Naomi in a voice that was suddenly quite different. "I need you. Fill me up, please."
She slipped inside, shivering with delight.
"Oh, fuuuck..." said Naomi with a throaty moan. "Just like that. Fuck me." She didn't sound like herself. In fact, she sounded almost like...
"Knock me up!"
It was like a splash of cold water. "Wow, uh... Are you not on birth control? 'Cause I can maybe get into that if it's a roleplaying thing, but not-"
"Breed me! Oh god, yes! Yes!" It was definitely Yuriko's voice. Even though her head was still buried in the depths of Naomi's breasts, she could feel the warmth of the sun on her face. "Oh, fuck! Cu- cumming! I'm-"
---
Mélodie woke up. Sunlight was streaming through the window, and there were noises coming from next door. Moans, mostly, and the occasional wet slapping sound. God, again? Was this an every single morning thing for those two?
Groggily, she rolled over and bent her pillow around her head so that her ears were covered, hoping that she could get back to that dream. It had trailed into nightmare territory there in the middle, but the bit with Naomi was nice, she wanted to see more of that. Unfortunately, the pillow wasn't doing much. She could still hear them going at it next door. They weren't being that loud, but Mélodie had always been something of a light sleeper. It helped keep her safe, in her regular line of work, but right now it was just an inconvenience. Oh well. Figuring that as long as she was awake, she may as well get up and start her day, she dragged herself out of the comforting sheets of her air mattress and went to the bathroom.
By the time that she was done showering and brushing her teeth the neighbors had apparently finished their business with each other. That, or they were just doing it more quietly now. They clearly had a very active and healthy sex life, and that was nice, but she was probably going to have to talk to them about keeping it down in the early hours of the morning. Or maybe not. It would probably embarrass them, and Mélodie didn't actually mind it as long as they weren't going to wake her up early every morning. Perhaps she'd wait a few days and see how common of an occurrence this was.
Still naked from the shower, she idly turned and craned her neck to look at her back in the mirror, and her thoughts were immediately disrupted. She blinked in confusion at what she saw, backing towards the mirror until she was sitting on the counter just to make sure she wasn't imagining it.
The wound on her back was gone. Or, well, it wasn't gone, but it was healed. Yesterday it had still been red-and-purple, on its way to healing, but definitely not there yet. Now, though, there was nothing but a thin, silvery line running down her back. It was still noticeable - there was no way that a wound that big wasn't going to leave a scar - but it was just that: a scar. As if it had happened years ago.
O-kay. Okay, okay, okay. She had been healed. When? And how on earth had she not noticed? It had still been red and inflamed yesterday morning, so it had to have happened at some point between then and now. She went back through the day in her memories. After she woke up she had gone to the gym. Unlikely that it happened there. Back to the apartment, and then to the mall. Could it have been something in the magic shop that did it? No, no, she had been specifically paying attention for anything magical in there, there was no way that something or someone could have healed her without her noticing. After the mall it was...
The Tree. She'd spent some time under it yesterday. Could that have done it? She remembered somebody mentioning to her that it had magical properties. And she had eaten a fruit that was growing almost directly underneath it. She was going to have to look into that. It seemed unlikely that just walking around a bit underneath it and eating a fruit that grew next to it could have such a powerful effect on her, but what else could it have been?
This part of the United States was supposed to be a low-activity area, which meant that the magic that happened here was almost all human-driven, well-catalogued, and not dangerous or interesting to the types of people who were looking for her: it was supposed to be mostly just Gifts and self-realization, with maybe a handful of non-dangerous magical critters running around in the less populated areas around the town. The giant tree was an oddity - in retrospect she was quite surprised that nobody had told her about it before they'd sent her here, but she could believe that her peers had simply missed it if it was just a really big tree with minor magical properties.
Healing - and especially healing that worked this quickly - was not a minor property, though. In fact, it was exactly the sort of thing that the Moonrise Institute typically took a great amount of interest in, so how could they possibly have missed it? Blanchepierre wasn't a huge city, sure, but she had personally been sent to places much more remote than this to investigate things much more mundane than a healing tree.
Her phone rang in the other room, and she jumped in surprise. This was the first time that she had received a call in... Well, since she had gotten here, at least. Still naked, she scampered back to where she'd left it charging beside the air mattress and answered.
"Mélodie! Hello! This is Linette, from All Shapes and Sizes."
"Oh!" Her heart leapt. There was only one reason that she would be calling her, right? "Hi. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to let you know that I received your application and your background check has been completed, and everything looks good, so I'd like to offer you a job."
Yes! Thanks, Quick. "Fantastic! Before I say yes, though, could I have a few hours to give you my answer? I've gotten a few other offers, you see, and I need to think on them a bit before I decide."
"Oh, of course, of course. Take all the time you need. Or, well, not too long, eh?" She laughed. "Do you need my number? It's the same one I'm calling from."
"No, I've got it. Thank you so much, and I'll let you know either way before this afternoon. Is that alright?"
"Works for me. I'll keep an ear out."
"Thanks, Linette. Talk to you soon."
After they said their goodbyes, Mélodie hung up and immediately pumped her fist into the air. Yes! That was great news, and this was one of the jobs that paid a bit more, too. The only reason that she hadn't said yes right away was because she wanted to go to the mall and accept in-person, and maybe negotiate for an even higher pay or more hours. There were some things, like sex, that she was not willing to use the preternatural charm that her Gift granted her for, but getting a living wage wasn't one of them.
Her phone beeped again. Goodness, she was popular this morning. She grinned when she saw that it was a text from Naomi, and by the time that she finished reading it she was feeling downright elated:
Hi Mëlodie! This is Naomi from Mysterias yesterday. I have good news for you!!! Once Arch came down I chewed him out and he felt really bad for missing a job candidate because he was tripping balls, so he said that you're welcome to come in any time today and he'll give you an interview! He also told me, and I quote, "If she seems even a little bit competent I'll hire her on the spot. I needed that position filled a week ago" but you didn't hear that from me ;)
Better and better. The Tree and her back momentarily forgotten, she began to type out a reply thanking Naomi when she got yet another notification, this time for an email. Oh, she had a lot of emails, actually. Figuring that they were probably mostly rejection notices from the pile of jobs that Quick had helped her apply for, she opened her inbox.
Yep. A whole lot of 'We regret to inform you...', blah blah blah. Except... Two of them weren't rejections. She opened the first one, from the hiring manager at one of the places she had visited Downtown, a bougie little high-class burger joint called Bleuburger. She hadn't actually interviewed at that one, only filled out an application, but apparently, ...your application and résume impressed us so much that we would like to offer you a position. Without an interview? Was that even a thing that happened in America? Or anywhere? "Fucking hell, Quick, good job," she muttered under her breath. She hadn't been paying much attention when he'd been filling out the forms for her, but apparently he'd been doing an amazing job of it.
The second email held a similar story. It was from a make-up store, again Downtown, called Bella's Beauty. Again, they were so impressed with what Quick wrote that they wanted to hire her without so much as an interview. Whatever he put on those forms must have been amazing, because Mélodie didn't know a damn thing about makeup. She vaguely remembered trying to wear it once or twice soon after she began transitioning and immediately deciding that even though she was a girl, it wasn't really her sort of thing. She almost deleted the email without a second thought... But then she saw the pay that they were offering her. Good lord, that much for a sales associate? If she took this job she would have no problem whatsoever paying rent and all of her other expenses, even if they didn't give her full-time hours. Maybe it would be worth it.
And then there was still Cat's offer from yesterday, for work at the bubble tea shop. It had been less than twenty-four hours and she was now practically swimming in jobs. She'd been so stressed about how she was going to support herself here, and now a pile of solutions had been poured into her lap. All she had to do was decide between them. She was going to have to do some math...
-~o~-
Time's up! What've we got?
The results after 12 people voted
Bella's Beauty 41.67% (5 votes)
Mysteria's Books and Oddities 33.33% (4 votes)
Cat's Tea 25.00% (3 votes)
All Shapes and Sizes 0.00% (0 votes)
Bleuburger 0.00% (0 votes)It's voting time once again! We've got five options here, but be warned! If the first place winner is one of the two low paying jobs, Mélodie will not make enough money to pay for her living expenses, and will take the runner up as a second job. If the first place winner is a medium or high paying job, she will not do this! Vote accordingly. Also, as always, if you want to make a suggestion for something that Mélodie should do that isn't a poll option, feel free to post it in the comments or send it to my Curiouscat! A few of her actions have already been influenced in this mysterious way...
What job should Mélodie take?
-
All Shapes and Sizes: If Mélodie chooses this job she will end up spending a lot of time with Mason, the four-armed guy, and Aura (whoever that is). The pay is medium.Bella's Beauty:If Mélodie chooses this job she will end up spending a lot of time with ??? and ???. The pay is high, but she doesn't know anything about makeup and might not be good at selling it.Bleuburger:If Mélodie chooses this job she will end up spending a lot of time with ??? and ???. The pay is medium.Cat's Tea:If Mélodie chooses this job she will end up spending a lot of time with Iris, the bubbly girl with the amazing hips, and ???. The pay is low.Mysteria's Books and Oddities:If Mélodie chooses this job she will end up spending a lot of time with Naomi, the four-breasted witch, and ???. The pay is low.
Vote here: https://strawpoll.com/j5j6ujz66
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