Byto and Vyn’kai stared at Jora in horrified silence. She stood frozen at the console, her lips puckered in an almost comic pout, her eyelashes batting too slowly, too deliberately like some broken animatronic doll.

  Finally, after several heartbeats of tense quiet, she blinked and tilted her head. “What?”

  Byto nearly exploded, his chains clattering as he whipped his arms out. “WHAT?! Do you even know what you just did?”

  “Yeaaah, duh,” Jora said, her voice airy, like a cheerleader explaining how to spell “cat.”

  “I blanked his memory and sent him back. Like, we always doooo when we abduct the little hosts.” She tapped her nails against the glass screen as if she had just aced a test.

  Vyn’kai pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been doing that so often lately his skin was red there. His voice came out flat, ground down to the core. “No. Our procedure is to use the console to wipe their memory, and then send them back. Separate steps, not using your weird sex magic like… whatever that was.”

  “Yeaaaah, but we have totally used my stuff to make them forget before – its faster then whatever you like to do,” she said with a flippant shrug. “So, like, why is it wrong this time?”

  Byto’s jaw clenched. “Because you idiot, you just used it on someone we just gave [Influence Immunity].”

  Jora froze, then burst into a little laugh, covering her lips with one manicured hand. “Wait—he’s immune to, like, my sex stuff? That’s sooo weird!”

  The two men stared blankly at her.

  “That is literally what we just talked about,” Vyn’kai said, glaring, his voice drained of emotion. Shooting a look to Byto he whispered “Is she being serious right now?”

  Jora waved a hand, pouting again. “Whatever. [Influence Immunity] is, like, different from my seduction, right? Like apples and, um, sparkly apples?”

  “No,” Vyn’kai said, his voice deadpan as a corpse while somehow almost shouting. “Not like apples and oranges. It is all influence-based: [Psychic], [Pheromone], [Charm]. All the things you do every time you open your mouth.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  She tapped her lower lip, confused. “But… it’s always worked before. Shouldn’t our admin super god powers, like, override whatever thing he’s got?”

  “Gods,” Vyn’kai muttered, and then corrected himself, “No. That’s the thing. You all like to play at being gods, but you are just users of the system too. We all play by the same rules, his immunity now from his ability applies to you too.”

  Vyn’kai interrupted Byto before he could speak “And, no we cannot just bring him up here again – the error has been addressed. If we transported him now then erased it would like direct manipulation to stated guidelines.”

  Jora’s eyes glazed. She had already started staring off at the massive projection of the map, as if the little sea monsters doodled into the oceans were more interesting. “Whateverrr. It’s done. I’m ready to go. You guys don’t, like, need me anymore, right?”

  Byto looked down at Vyn’kai, leather creaking as he shifted. “Will this be an problem? Did we just screw everything worse?”

  Vyn’kai sighed and rubbed his temple again. “No. The memory wipe procedure was added later, after we got tired of early hosts realizing we’re Admins and whining nonstop for us to stop all the pain and death. It isn’t core system alignment, just procedure. Honestly, it probably won’t be a big deal.”

  “Good,” Byto said, his mood brightening instantly. He turned to Jora with a grin that showed far too many perfect teeth. “We’re good. Let’s go.”

  He hooked an arm through hers, and they started toward the back exit. Chains jingled.

  “So, what are you up to now?” Byto asked with a wicked gleam. “I’ve got a giant pile of naked mortals waiting back at the temple. Care to come share?”. He then waggled his eyebrows to drive his point home.

  Jora tilted her head and pursed her lips like she was pondering the mysteries of the universe. “Mmm. Only if you make them all do that thing I like.”

  “Which one?” Byto asked, delighted by her response. “There are so many. Do you mean them licking every inch of your body, or the whole face-sitting sacrificing themselves to you thing?”

  “The first,” she said casually, then giggled. “But we’ll see about the second after a couple hours. Depends if I’m likeeee, in the mood...and how hot they are.”

  “Oh, you’re naughty,” Byto purred, swatting her shoulder. The impact sent every exaggerated curve of her body wobbling, a grotesque symphony of jiggles.

  They vanished through the glowing doorway, their laughter echoing behind them.

  Vyn’kai waited until they were gone, the silence in the control chamber pressing in like a warm blanket. His shoulders slumped. The weariness rolled over his face so completely that it seemed to age him.

  “Just as smoothly as I expected,” he muttered.

  He turned back to the console, staring at the cascading code with the exhausted focus of a man on his sixth overtime shift. His fingers tapped absently at the controls.

  “Hm,” he said after a long moment, “looks like the [Bard]’s memory retention probably won’t be a problem after all. Looks like mom came to check on her daughters”.

  He leaned back in his chair, sighed again, and summoned his favorite lard encrusted popcorn.

  And with that, Vyn’kai settled in, resigned to watch the inevitable chaos unfold.