After the brief communication with their friends back home on Terra, life on Nillyna's estate became somewhat more bearable for Sonata and Grayscale. The homesickness that had plagued them ever since they laid eyes on Aquasa’s twin moons still lingered in the back of their minds, but knowing their friends back home were aware of their predicament plus their faith in Nillyna’s plan kept those negative feelings at bay. In the meantime, they could focus on other endeavors to keep their minds occupied without it feeling like a desperate distraction. For several days, under the guidance of Nillyna, Grayscale and Sonata slowly honed their magic skills, although the different natures of how Aquasa’s magic interacted with the snerrets proved to be a more daunting obstacle than any of them anticipated. Each lesson was attempted with a light touch to prevent any dangerous mishaps, with only a few small explosions unintentionally going off.
 
 
And when Sonata and Grayscale weren't attempting to refine their magic skills without losing any limbs, Nillyna and Lily were learning a lot from the snerrets as well, mostly in the culinary arts. None of them were anything close to a professional chef in terms of cooking skills, but Nillyna’s library had a few decent cookbooks containing recipes that, much like the fricassee they had before, had surprisingly similar names to foods found on Terra but wildly different ingredients and preparations (for example, the Aquasa version of “spring rolls” was more like a cold, elaborate meatloaf than what the snerrets were used to). Sonata and Grayscale also enjoyed describing and attempting to re-create their favorite familiar foods from home using whatever ingredients Aquasa had to offer, with varied results- their attempt at making pizza or chocolate lava cakes were both a disaster, but they were delighted to find themselves and their hosts enjoying their approximations of spaghetti and meatballs, mashed potatoes, reuben sandwiches, and even tacos, which Lily especially enjoyed. Unfortunately, Nillyna learned the hard way that she had a low tolerance for spicy food (the others, meanwhile, learned that sorcerers could literally belch fire after eating hot peppers).
 
 
During the rest of the day, Nillyna would spend much of her time researching or working on the Arcane Capacitor. The others offered to help however they could, but their lack of magical knowledge left them with little to do besides being an extra pair of hands to hold or lift something in place that Nillyna couldn’t lift with magic for one reason or another. Thus everyone else mostly just did their own thing; today, Lily was keeping Nillyna company as she worked, while Grayscale and Sonata indulged in their two favorite hobbies: sex and video games.
 
 
Sonata sat on the edge of their bed, tapping away at her phone’s touchscreen. Although her selection of games was limited to what few she had on her phone, they’d mix things up by attempting various challenges: speedruns, high scores, and in this case, trying to play Tetris for as long as possible while Grayscale sat behind her playing with her breasts. As Sonata tried to remain focused flipping and dropping the shapes on-screen, Gray’s small green paws would tease, squeeze, squish and bounce her heavy boobs around like scaly blue stress balls. In addition to this ongoing molestation, his hips rocked back and forth to grind his twin cocks up along her rump, leaving a trail of glistening precum down her backside.
 
 
“Nice,” Grayscale muttered, peering over Sonata’s shoulder as she cleared three lines at once. “Three lines, that’s three pinches.”
 
 
“Nnnffh… you little bastard…”Sonata hissed as Gray proceeded to pinch and pull on her barbell piercings, stretching her erect nipples and making the larger snerret spasm with pained pleasure. She loved having her nipples played with- it was why she got them pierced in the first place- but here it was borderline torture as she bit her lip while trying to flip a backwards L-piece around the way she needed. It was only when she let it slam into place that Grayscale released her nipples and simply went back to squeezing and squishing her breasts together, making her barbells clink against each other repeatedly.
 
 
Though she cleared two more lines after this, the pile of blocks on the little screen began to grow dangerously fast, along with Sonata’s own pleasure. Grayscale chuckled softly to himself as his constant edging made her more and more visibly flustered, as well as audibly as her gasps and squeals of pleasure became louder and higher-pitched. Sonata’s tongue was lolling out of her panting mouth, her thumbs twitching clumsily as she felt her roommate’s thumbs once again pinch and twist her nipple once more, gritting her teeth as she attempted to guide a long piece down along a deep vertical pit along the far right side of the screen, one that would clear four lines at once if she made it. But before she could plunge that long solid piece deep into that coveted tunnel, Grayscale did some plunging of his own as his rattle-tipped tail snaked around her hips unseen before slipping up between the sopping wet folds of her pussy, the knobbly ridges of the orange-colored rattle rubbing up against Sonata’s upper and lower clits before suddenly vibrating with its telltale shikka-shikka-shikka-shik sound, flicking droplets of feminine juices in every direction (just as male snerrets have two penises, female snerrets have two clitorises located at the top and bottom of their vaginas).
 
 
“FFFFFUCK!” Sonata cried out, throwing her head back as she squeezed her phone to her breasts, trapping Gray’s hands to her tits as the sudden stimulation of her snatch made her shake and spasm with sheer bliss, her cries of desperate lust drowned out the sound effects coming from her phone. It wasn’t until a shrill, obnoxious noise like the “baa”-ing of a robotic sheep blared out from Sonata’s phone speaker did Sonata redirect her attention back to the screen, only to be faced with the words “GAME OVER” staring back at her in blocky white letters, the trademark Tetris jingle of defeat mockingly playing in the background.
 
 
Gray’s smug grin of victory was quickly cut short as he was suddenly forced to fall backwards onto the bed, pinned to the mattress by Sonata’s upper body and blinded by a curtain of long magenta hair falling over his face. As Sonata lay there panting in the afterglow, Grayscale’s limbs flailed about on other side of her as he uncovered his face with a few shakes and puffs of breath. “Fffpuh! Pfft! Sonata, get off!”
 
 
“Heh, I already did, thanks to you.” She huffed, teasingly grinding her rump against his still-throbbing cocks.
 
 
“You know what I mean!”
 
 
“Ah ha ha, I know, I know…” She finally rolled herself off to one side, lying on her back beside Grayscale, letting both of his glistening dicks spring up perpendicular to their owner. As they both laid there, panting and chuckling to themselves, Grayscale could feel Sonata’s tail slipping up across the inside of his leg to slowly coil around his lower cock, slowly stroking it with the aid of the copious amount of precum coating its length. She turned and smiled at the sight of Gray closing his eyes and moaning softly, his hips arching up from the feeling of Sonata’s tailjob. He looked so cute when he was getting teased like this, she thought. “Alright, so you won this time, you get to decide what position to finish in… what did you have in mind?”
 
 
With a groan, Grayscale mustered up the will to reach down to his crotch and take hold of Sonata’s tail, halting her stroking for a moment. With his other hand he pointed upwards as he responded, “I know just the one…”
 
 
Moments later they were assuming a new position of their own design- Sonata remained lying on her back, braced against a heap of pillows as Gray crawled atop her facing towards her hips, his own hips stationed above her chest as he maneuvered his tail around over her face, his rattle hovering over her mouth. Taking hold of his green-furred butt, Sonata’s head bent up and snapped her jaws around his tail, quickly gulping it down to make her throat visibly bulge. Her gulps slowed as she approached the base of Gray’s tail, stopping just before his rump. With some guidance from her gentle paws, Grayscale’s legs squeezed Sonata’s large breasts together, sandwiching both his dicks between them in an upside-down titfuck. After a couple slow experimental thrusts, Grayscale proceeded to slide his twin members in and out of Sonata’s cleavage. As he did so, he reached down towards her own genitals to pry apart her still-wet pussy lips, slipping his long orange tongue deep within the tight, hot recesses of her vagina.
 
 
Moaning around her throatful of tail, Sonata slid her own tongue down along Gray’s undercarriage, blindly probing at her jiggling mounds before finding their target to squeeze in between her tits to join his thrusting dicks, rubbing along the underside of his lower length back and forth in tandem with his humping, adding more wonderfully warm and wet sensations to his already over-stimulated penises. As Grayscale proceeded to kiss and probe at her pussy with his lips and tongue, he moaned as he felt Sonata’s wonderfully long tongue wrap around one cock before slithering around the other, stroking them both as she rhythmically squished her boobs from the side again and again. For Grayscale it was incredible- with every thrust, his sensitive cocks were getting squeezed, stroked, and slathered by Sonata’s tits and tongue, each one taking over for the other in applying pressure and pleasure along his spurting penises! It was a feeling no sex toy could possibly duplicate, and one that made him so thankful for Sonata’s presence in his life.
 
 
Sonata, meanwhile, was just as entertained for different reasons. Aside from Grayscale’s enthusiastic oral worshipping of her nethers, she revelled in the feeling of having Grayscale completely at her mercy, his twitching tail locked in her gullet and his most sensitive bits trapped in her tits and tongue, as well as the sight and sound of the little green snerret bucking and shuddering from her skillful ministrations, desperate for release but still trying to hold back to make this moment last. Yes, although he detested her teasing him for it, there was no denying that Grayscale was her favorite little prey-slut, and she savored every meal she made of him.
 
 
Sonata’s paws began to knead Grayscale’s rump, gently helping him guide his cocks in and out between her titflesh. At the same time Grayscale hugged Sonata’s hips to grab two pawfuls of pink-furred posterior himself, his small blunt claws firmly but harmlessly digging into her butt with the rhythm of their combined thrusting, slurping, sucking and squeezing. As his muzzle burrowed deeper into Sonata’s snatch, she emitted a long, amorous moan of satisfaction as she finally came, her pelvis pushing Gray’s snout nearly all the way into her pussy, lubricated by the copious fem-cum now threatening to drown him in her orgasm. Potent, concentrated pheromones flooded Gray’s senses as he shut his eyes tight and let out a muffled cry into her cunt, announcing his own orgasm as his hips started moving in short, rapid thrusts, making a loud PLAP-PLAP-PLAP-PLAP-PLAP-PLAP as both barrels of his boners unleashed rope after rope of cum that painted both their bellies white.
 
 
Pulling himself out of her vagina at last, Grayscale sat up upon Sonata’s bust, still humping away at her tits as he reached down to grab hold of her slickened mammaries, roughly mauling them as he fucked out the last few rounds of semen from his cocks, hissing and panting with his long orange snake tongue lolling out of his mouth, still dripping with Sonata’s juices. Finally he slowed his thrusting down to a halt, his ejaculations reduced to a series of small spurts slowly adding to the already sizable splatter of pearlescent seed that drenched both him and Sonata from neck to navel. As he sat there drawing in deep ragged breaths, arms now limp at his sides, Grayscale just stared down at the mess they had made, admiring their collaborative cum-bath.
 
 
Usually, he would save his orgasms for when he full blown fucks her, but certain “things” made it necessary that they leave out full vaginal penetration from their sexy games and stick to oral for the moment. It felt good, but it left Sonata feeling somewhat… “empty”? Although, just because Gray's members can't enter Sonata's body doesn't mean something else of his can't…namely all of him.
 
 
He then felt a tug on his tail.
 
 
With a sudden backwards lurch, Grayscale felt something warm, wet, and very familiar slide itself over his ass, the entirety of his tail now sealed in slimy tightness. Nearly falling on his face, Grayscale looked back down at Sonata, her eyes squinted near shut as her stretchy jaws began enveloping him butt-first, slurping and sliding over his thighs as his legs were forced to fold up against his chest like a stapler, her long purple tongue gently tucking his twin cocks away in her mouth to briefly tease them one last time. Grayscale groaned as he felt his tender, softening cocks get pressed against Sonata’s tongue and throat, constantly stimulated from the slow, constant slide along rippling wet muscle.
 
 
He gasped as she put her hands against her neck to lift him up more into the air, letting gravity assist in Grayscale’s descent down Sonata’s hungry gullet. She gradually picked up the pace, with each sudden short drop he took announced with a lustful, almost theatrical homph… homph… homph… As his arms were forced upwards by the stretchy membranes connecting Sonata’s upper and lower jaws, Grayscale whimpered and wriggled about like a fish caught in a net, not to try and fight back or escape- his efforts were far too weak for that anyway- but to simply as a reaction to the persistent peristalsis pulling him to his fat, as well as the sensation of her tongue probing and licking along his front, savoring the salty-sweet seed he had basted himself with moments before.
 
 
Only his head and forearms were visible now, the rest of Grayscale’s body now just a quivering bulge going down along Sonata’s neck and chest, her belly just starting to bulge out from his tail slipping into her upper stomach. Grayscale let out a hushed gasp as his mouth was briefly invaded by Sonata’s tongue in a pseudo-kiss, sucking on it as the slick serpentine organ slipped back out from between his lips to curl over his face, pushing him down as Sonata gave one final gulp that sent him sliding straight down to her stomach.
 
 
HOMPH!
 
 
Sonata sat back up on the bed, partially pulled forward by the sudden shifting mass inside her, pushing her belly outwards into a Grayscale-sized sphere that settled onto her lap, her prey curling up into a fetal position to get comfortable. Cradling her snerret-filled gut in her paws, Sonata took a deep breath and let out a soft, victorious belch.
 
 
”UUURP! Mmm… that was sooooo satisfying, Gray. I never get tired of your taste… especially when it comes with extra sauce.” As she spoke sweetly to her devoured prey, Sonata slowly rubbed her belly in soft circles, feeling Grayscale’s shifting form within while also gathering up a pawful of cum that coated her tits like a sugary glaze, bringing it up to her mouth to sensually slurp off her fingers with lustful moans before declaring, “deee-licious!”
 
 
With a heaving grunt, Sonata stood up and stretched her arms up high, her belly gently swaying about as she shook the stiffness out of her bones. “Well, I think I’m gonna go clean off all this mess we made.” She patted her belly affectionately while slithering towards the washroom. “You just kick back and relax in there, love… my stomach will clean you up just fine.”
 
 
After a quick rinse and toweling off, Sonata came back out of the washroom, still stuffed with Grayscale but clean of any evidence of their carnal escapades. It was then that a knock on their bedroom door could be heard. “Come in!”
 
 
It was Nillyna, who was only briefly taken aback by the sight of Sonata with a bulging midsection, but quickly regained her usual stoic composure. “Sonata, um, Grayscale… I just came to let you know that dinner is ready.”
 
 
Sonata beamed. “Oh, good! Well I hope you made plenty of food… I am eating for two after all!” She said, patting her snerret-filled stomach playfully. A muffled, barely audible sound of disapproval towards her silly joke called out from the confines of her belly, making Sonata roll her eyes with a huff. “Okay fine, one second…” She turned away from Nillyna before rearing her head up and bending over, freeing Grayscale from her guts with a well-practiced regurgitation. His fur damp but clean of all cum, Grayscale quickly toweled off and joined the other ladies in walking down to the dining room.
 
 
—
 
 
Nillyna, strutting through the corridors of her mansion, her guests walking (or slithering, in Sonata’s case) next to her, contemplated how much her life has changed. Some months ago, the sight that had just greeted her in Sonata and Grayscale’s room would have been more just than a little awkward, it would have downright terrified her. And it wasn't just the fact that it wasn't unusual for Sonata to have Gray in her belly at any given time, her perspective on such things had shifted when she began her relationship with Lily.
 
 
She was no longer terrified, or disgusted, by the thought of herself or someone else being devoured, it had become just another habit of her life, especially when her and Lily were in the mood for “certain” things when they deeplywere in the mood for something kinky.
 
 
Though that wasn’t to say she had any regrets. She had found love on a level she never realized existed, as well as had friends now that more than understood the kink. When compared to her life before, when her days were either spent on deciding which new arcane discovery needed either refinement or partaken in, or how much she should charge her next client, she was much happier than she ever was before.
 
 
As for Sonata and Grayscale, they only had two thoughts going through their minds. The first was how appealing Nillyna looked as she led them through her home; for she had foregone transmitting her wings into any form of clothing, leaving them elegantly folded behind her back, and walked in the nude; they didn't know if she was trying to entice them, or if she was just that comfortable in her presence. The second thought was in what they were having for dinner.
 
 
“So, what's on the menu tonight, Nilly?” asked Gray, his stomach choosing that particular moment to growl.
 
 
“Oh,” said Nillyna, snapping out of her reverie. “Well, I was skimming through that cook book you both have been compiling, and I stumbled upon what you refer to as ”indian curry”.”
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale exchanged nervous looks. “That sounds lovely, but what about you, Nillyna?” Sonata asked. “I thought you weren’t too keen on having spicy food again after taco night.”
 
 
“Oh, the curry is only for you two,” Nillyna said with an understanding smile as she opened a pair of glass doors leading out into the garden outside. “I have something else in mind for myself.”
 
 
As they entered the garden, a stone path lead them to a rounded terrace in the middle of a cozy clearing, surrounded by extravagant plants and swaying palm-like trees, where a round table carved of black marble with matching seats awaited them. On either side of the table were two plates each ladened with a generous serving of what did indeed look like curry, although the rice was a shimmering gold color, and the leafy topping was purple, though both were smothered in a sumptuous coating of steaming red-brown sauce with hearty chunks of meat and vegetables. A large marble pitcher sat in the center along with two tall glasses ready to be filled.
 
 
Grayscale and Sonata approached the table curiously, each taking a seat followed by a long whiff of the curry. It smelled absolutely delicious, although the setup out here, romantic as it seemed, still left them slightly puzzled. “Hmm, this smells really good Nillyna, but where’s your plate?”
 
 
”Oh, I won’t be needing any dinnerware,” Nillyna said cheerfully, strolling around them with an enthusiastic spring in her step that made her insectoid abdomen bounce about like a wagging tail above her pert ivory booty, before she stopped in front of a large round shrub dotted with blooming morning glories that shimmered in iridescent patterns like chunks of bismuth. “My dinner is right here in the garden.”
 
 
Before either of them could inquire further, she took hold and pulled on one of the bush’s branches to bring one of the larger morning glories up to her face, whereupon a long, thin, tongue-like proboscis whipped out from between her lips and plunged into the flower’s center. Nillyna closed her eyes as she took a long, soft sip of sweet nectar from the plant, her feathery antennae curling and uncurling as she savored the sugary substance.
 
 
Grayscale and Sonata could only stare in wonder as they witnessed Nillyna perform this primal yet oddly sensual act of feeding. Some part of them realized they shouldn’t have been too surprised at the sight of her feeding from a flower like this, although it still made them more aware of Nillyna’s nature as an insect. One would think her long antennae, six limbs and glittery black eyes would remind them of that more often, but her silky pearlescent hair and fur, humanoid lips, and lovely breasts and buttocks tended to make them overlook her insectoid anatomy. The revelation of this proboscis was an unexpected reminder for both of them, but not an unwanted one: Sonata briefly pondered the possibilities such an appendage could do to other sort of “flowers” she could think of.
 
 
Nillyna gave one final sip of the flower’s nectar, retracting her proboscis back into her mouth, the thin tip now encrusted with gold pollen that she casually slurped up like the delicious dusting of a cheese puff. Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, Nillyna looked back at Sonata and Grayscale with a grin, lightly chuckling at their curious stares. “I don’t usually partake in nectar-drinking amongst company, I will admit; amongst my fellow Lepidopterans, it’s seen as a primitive indulgence, akin to someone eating raw meat or even pissing in a river.” She gently let go of the flower, letting it spring back up into place. “But personally, I find it quite… liberating, or perhaps “humbling” is a better word. I value tact and sophistication as much as anyone of my social standing, but sometimes I just need to unwind and remind myself that I am still an animal beneath it all. And to be honest, this nectar tastes far better than some wines I’ve sampled.”
 
 
Grayscale and Sonata nodded and smiled as they helped themselves to the curry Nillyna made, finding it absolutely delicious. Though it didn’t taste quite like any curry they had eaten back home, it had its own unique sort of savory, spicy flavor that left a simmering tingle in their mouths that warmed their throats and tickled their sinuses. Reaching for the pitcher and pouring himself a drink to wash down his meal, Grayscale discovered the beverage of choice was not water as he had assumed, but a sparkling, cyan-colored liquid that shimmered with an almost fluorescent blue sheen once it settled in his drinking glass. Sonata noticed this as well, and both of them silently compared it to other fictional drinks they’ve seen, from magic potions in video games to weird sci-fi cocktails like Romulan Ale or Pan-Galactic Gargle Baster. A quick taste revealed it to be a mildly sweet but quite refreshing bubbly beverage that Nillyna revealed to be Hovermelon seltzer.
 
 
“Don’t worry, neither you nor anything at the table will be floating away,” Nillyna explained as she finished feeding from another flower before moving on to another bush. “The juice is far too diluted to have any noticeable effects. Now if it were fermented into a hard beverage like Hovermooth, that would certainly lift your spirits.”
 
 
Grayscale stopped halfway through sipping his seltzer to turn and look at her. “Wait, “lift your spirits”? Nillyna, was that a pun?” He said with a bemused raised eyebrow.
 
 
“What?” Nillyna muttered, before blushing with realization. “Oh! I suppose it was… goodness!” She giggled lightheartedly at her unintended jest. “Feeding from flowers tends to do that sort of thing for me, I suppose.”
 
 
Sonata laughed as well, before finishing off her glass of seltzer and setting her cup down. “Speaking of flowers,” she said as she poured herself another drink, “Where’s Lily? Is she not joining us?”
 
 
“Oh, she decided to realign with her plant-body and catch some wild game for dinner tonight,” said Nillyna, peeking out from behind a bush ladened with flowers that looks like a cross between a sunflower and a blue tulip, licking nectar from her lips. “She's adapting to civilized life fairly well, but every now and then she has to indulge in her predatory instincts, or she goes a bit stir crazy.”
 
 
“Heh, us snerrets can certainly relate to that,” Grayscale said, smacking his lips happily after finishing off the last spoonful of his curry. “Buying fresh food from restaurants and supermarkets is certainly preferable to hunting and gathering like we had to do eons ago-” He suddenly froze in place, biting his lip as he looked down to see a familiar cotton candy-colored tail slowly wrapping itself around his waist.
 
 
“...But even after all that time,” Sonata continued with a wicked grin, resting her head on her steepled fingers as she watched Grayscale get coiled up to his shoulders. “Our predatory instincts still tend to rise up and grab us, don’t they?” Without moving from her seat, Sonata pulled Grayscale out of his own seat to swing him around to her side of the table, wrapping her arms around her ensnared snerret prize and hugging him close, teasingly nuzzling his cheek as he squirmed and wriggled in her tail’s grasp. “Either way, nothing beats a fresh, warm meal in your belly…” She licked his face with a slow, audible slurp of her tongue. “...isn’t that right Gray?”
 
 
Gray grumbled as he winced from the squeezing pressure of her tail around his chest and neck. “Rrrgh, y’know, it’s rude to bring your own food to your host’s dinner table…”
 
 
“What? Who said anything about me bringing my own food?” Sonata replied with mock innocence. “I’m just adding to the conversation!” She suddenly pulled Grayscale closer, whispering seductively into his ear. “But since you’re offering, I can always save you for dessert…” a quick, wet lick to his ear made Grayscale shiver with fear and delight.
 
 
A sudden “ahem” interrupted the snerrets’ intimate shenanigans, their attention suddenly snapping towards Nillyna as she stood once again with her usual regality on the opposite side of the table. “I’d hate to interrupt, but there is something important I need to tell you two.”
 
 
—
 
 
“I'm afraid for the next few days you will have to make do without my company,” said Nillyna as she, Sonata and Grayscale made their way through the corridors of her mansion, intent on retiring for the evening, especially after such a satisfying meal.
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale gave their host a look that was equal parts curious and equal parts concerned. “Oh, what's going on?” asked Sonata.
 
 
“It's time for me to go and retrieve the Seismospheres,” Nillyna answered, her talisman cane clacking against the floor with her even stride.
 
 
The truth was, the Seismospheres had been ready for days, but Nillyna had been reluctant to go out and retrieve them. Sonata and Grayscale had been a little more emotional than usual after their brief contact with their friends Sepia and Mono from their homeworld and Nillyna had been concerned about their mental well-being and had decided to keep an eye on them in case anything happened. Though, now that they seemed to have calmed down somewhat, now was as good a time as any to retrieve the Seismospheres. She couldn't get the snerret's home without them.
 
 
“So you managed to get in contact with that dealer?” Grayscale asked.
 
 
“Indeed,” Nillyna answered. “If I disembark tomorrow, I should be back in roughly three days.”
 
 
“Really?” Sonata asked, pulling her hair back to look at Nillyna with both eyes uncovered. “What about your teleporting magic? Is this place even farther than Kirin-Town?”
 
 
“Distance isn't the reason for the extended period this journey will take,” explained Nillyna, “the Meadow of the Tetra is protected by a magical barrier that prohibits swift entry. It always takes me an exceptional amount of time to be allowed access.”
 
 
“Meadow of the Tetra?” inquired Grayscale.
 
 
“Correct. The meadow is the central hub of their society, where the Tetra conduct much of their trading. There are things that you can buy there that can be found nowhere else in the world. But very few outsiders are allowed in, and even then, getting past the barrier unharmed is a trial of its own.”
 
 
“Unharmed?” Grayscale muttered. “What sort of barrier is this, a bunch of flying sawblades or something?”
 
 
“If only,” Nillyna replied morosely. “It hardly looks different from any other magical barrier, and can be easily walked through, with one major caveat: anyone who walks through it with intent to steal anything is immediately incinerated.”
 
 
That brought Sonata and Grayscale to a halt. “Incinerated?” Grayscale said with an expression of shock on his face. “They couldn’t just toss them out at least?”
 
 
“Yeah, that seems way too extreme!” Sonata added with a wide eyed expression of shock as well.
 
 
”It’s certainly brought a lot of… criticism,” Nillyna admitted with a hint of disapproval. “Unfortunately, the Tetra view ownership and trade in very high regard and view thievery as the greatest dishonor. Not to mention, the magic used to fix it is very old, very powerful, and difficult to refine without terrible risk. At best, those who try to enter are always given fair and clear warning before they attempt to enter… though it doesn’t always deter would-be thieves. It's because of this that I think it's best I take care of this on my own and you two remain here, rather than accompany me, like you did in Azhore.”
 
 
As they continued their walk down the hall, Sonata crossed her arms. “Hold on, we’re not planning on stealing anything anyway! Why should we be worried about-“
 
 
”I wasn’t accusing either of you of such a thing,” Nillyna snapped, “My concern is more in regards to the fact that you two are literally not of this world. You’ve seen first-hand how Aquasa’s magic reacts to you both differently; I don’t even want to think about how the security field would react if either of you were to attempt to cross it.”
 
 
Both the snerrets glanced at each other worryingly. Neither of them said anything, but both of them could tell the other was likely imaging either gigantic explosions or nightmarish mutations.
 
 
“…Yeah, that’s a fair point,” Grayscale remarked. “Sorry we didn’t consider that.”
 
 
Nillyna smiled as she stopped in front of the guest room door. “It’s quite alright, my friend, you didn’t know. It’s best I go alone regardless- I’ve earned a good rapport with the Tetra, and considering the… nature of this transaction, I would hate to put either of you or Lily at risk.”
 
 
“Oh, Lily’s staying here too?” Sonata asked.
 
 
”Indeed… But I’m sure you three will be able to “entertain” one another in my absence.” She giggled, giving a sly wink to the both of them.
 
 
Grayscale’s ears pricked up while Sonata gave him a sideways glance. “You sayin’ we can fuck your girlfriend while you’re gone?”
 
 
Sonata snorted in amusement. “Seriously, Gray?”
 
 
“No no, that’s precisely what I’m saying,” Nillyna confirmed, much to Grayscale’s delight. “Lily and I have already discussed the matter. She’s expressed a desire to have sex with both of you more than once, and I trust both of you to do so with the same care and respect you show to each other.” Nillyna’s smile suddenly turned to a frown. “That… wasn’t too presumptuous of me, was it?”
 
 
”Oh no,” Grayscale replied, waving her off with a paw. “we’re no stranger to uh, open relationships with others. I mean I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t had the same feeling towards Lily.”
 
 
“Likewise,” Sonata said with a lustful grin.
 
 
”Plus, it’s not like I could accidentally get her pregnant,” Grayscale joked. “Um, can I?”
 
 
Nillyna shook her head. She wasn't even sure her girlfriend could even conceive; her humanoid body was mostly for show, after all. “Oh no, that won’t be an issue. Lily's humanoid body, despite its sophistication, is basically just a lure used to lull intelligent prey into a false sense of security. She genuinely doesn't possess any genuine reproductive capabilities in that section of her being.”
 
 
That bit of information was a bit unnerving for the snerrets. To think, the beautiful, elegant humanoid body of the plant-girl that they had been conversing and bonding with was basically the equivalent of an angler fish's lure? It was both intriguing and a little unnerving. They both couldn't help but notice the similarities to a certain anime villain. Hopefully, Lily didn't eat the mother of the protagonist that would emerge later on in this tale.
 
 
“Weren’t you two on some form of birth control, anyway?” Nillyna asked, snapping them out of their anime induced reverie.
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale glanced at each other nervously. They had mentioned it to Nillyna in passing some time ago, but it wasn’t until now it was brought up again. “Actually,” Sonata asked, “that’s something we wanted to talk to you about, Nillyna…”
 
 
“We were taking birth control,” Grayscale explained, “We both take a special pill that prevents pregnancy, but it only lasts a little over a month, and we’ve been here longer than that.”
 
 
“That’s why we haven’t had any, well, “traditional” sex in the last couple weeks,” Sonata continued, making a suggestive gesture involving making a circle with one hand and thrusting a finger in and out of it with the other. ”Otherwise I’d be gravid with like a dozen eggs by now.” She shivered a bit at the thought- partly because she had no desire to be a mother at the moment, but mostly because she had a pregnancy fetish regardless of that. “We wanted to ask you if there were any alternatives available here on Aquasa that we could possibly use in the meantime.”
 
 
Nillyna’s antennae sprung up in surprise. “Oh my! Why didn’t you ask me about it sooner?”
 
 
“I mean, you’re already doing so much for us,” Grayscale explained with a shrug. “We didn’t want to bother you with-“
 
 
”Oh, it’s not a bother at all!” Nillyna exclaimed, reaching out to take Grayscale’s paw with one hand and patting it reassuringly with that same hand’s upper counterpart. “In fact, I think I know just the solution for your predicament… I don’t have it here at my estate, of course, but the Meadow certainly will.”
 
 
“You sure?” Grayscale asked.
 
 
Nillyna nodded with a blush. Aside from the usual rare items and ingredients, one of the vendors she frequented sold a wide variety of sexual paraphernalia and erotic literature, although she herself only went there for the latter category of merchandise. “Indeed, but for now, I must prepare for departure… sleep well, both of you.”