Ulti sat by the front door of Cafe Corvo, the raven emblem over the door going from black and white to black and red as the neon tube through the middle of it blinked on and off. The blue-scaled lizard looked down at her phone - 2:29. Just a minute early, really, but she was as antsy as if the clock had said she was twenty minutes late. She fidgeted, trying not to crane her neck and look around the cafe, knowing that it would just make her look weirder than she already did.

And considering that she was all geared-up for an art session the way that she would have been back home, that was saying something. Three sketchbooks on the table, two cups of decaf coffee, no less than six colored pencils as sharp as they could be and three normal pencils sharper still, two erasers, a couple of pens - she’d brought nearly everything that she could pack into her bags and wished she’d had room for her tablet, as well. At least that would have been something to hide behind while she was waiting.

She fidgeted with her wristguard, trying not to think about the impending awkwardness. It was the first time in a month that she’d reached out to either Pater or Maria since the…vacation…and she was surprised that Maria had bothered to respond. The idea that they would both be silent - probably busy getting back to lives that they didn’t want interrupted with reminders of the lewdness that they’d all gone through - had been shattered with a surprisingly kind email.

One that reminded her that Maria was engaged, of course, and that the snake wasn’t looking for a repeat of what had happened, but definitely kind. Kind and…eager to talk.

What do you say after something like that? she wondered, looking down at her phone again. Is she even going to come around? Or is this just going to…

Ulti shook her head. No point in overthinking it. Best to just go forward and hope for the best and - well, if the snake didn’t show up by the end of the hour, then she’d head home. Or do some art here.

…Maybe head home. Some of the art that she was thinking of doing didn’t bear showing in public.

She picked up a pencil and got to work. The lizard got through half of a sketch before the door tinged, the bell over it ringing softly and -

“Oh, you’re already here?”

Ulti looked up to see the familiar white-and-yellow scaled snake from the lodge. Maria was still wearing those expensive clothes - the purse off her arm looked like it was worth at least four hundred dollars, and made of a well-brushed leather, at that - and everything else just looked like she’d walked through some boutique somewhere and walked out with all the best stuff. Her bosom was modestly contained - just like it had been back at the lodge before…all that - and yet she had a smile on her face rather than the sour expression that had been the only thing Ulti had seen for their first meeting.

“I thought that I’d be here first.”

“Well, uh, I do try and make sure that I’m on time. Honestly I’ve been here for…” She looked at her phone again. “About twenty minutes.”

“...And I thought I was scared about being late,” Maria muttered, shaking her head. “Regardless. It is good to see you again, Ulti. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re still in…those clothes.”

“As opposed to…”

“...Hmm. Fair. I am…” Maria shook her head, slowly sitting down and lowering her voice. “I am still…getting used to them again, if I’m honest.”

“What, the rich clothes thing?”

“Clothes at all.”

“Oh, thank god, you too?” Ulti dropped her voice, too, leaning in and whispering. “Do you - I mean - is it like they kind of…itch?”

“Yes! And the way that they just cling to everything - it makes me feel like I’m naked when I’m wearing anything tighter than pajamas.”

“It took me weeks to be able to wear normal underwear again. Without, you know…showing other things,” Ulti said, cheeks burning.

The two of them giggled, the reptiles unable to help it. Ulti didn’t know what was going through Maria’s head, but for her, it gave her such relief to know that she wasn’t the only one going through this. It felt like she wasn’t alone, that she wasn’t a freak.

At least, not like that.

They whispered back and forth, sharing thoughts about what had happened with their clothes - the fact that they liked being naked, that it was an effort to remember to get dressed some mornings, how they liked to take…naked pictures - and the other things that had happened. Maria hadn’t become bisexual, or at least, Ulti believed her when she said it; the other woman had that strong, can-do lesbian energy still, and she was pretty sure that would have shifted if that had changed. There was something about the whole woman-only way of living that did things, sometimes.

Not bad things, and not always, but it was kind of a feature.

Maria smiled, shaking her head.

“I am glad that you decided to meet me today. I had - have - someone that I want you to meet,” the snake said, nodding over her shoulder. “She’s waiting outside. She…”

“...What?”

“She…doesn’t know everything about what happened at the lodge.”

“...Who is she?” Ulti asked.

“My fiancee.”

The announcement nearly knocked Ulti off her chair. Fiancee, here? And she didn’t know that Maria and Ulti had -

“Calm down. I don’t - I’m not here to confess it to her. Not in public,” Maria said, shaking her head. “I just - I need her to know who you are, and feel comfortable with us talking. After what happened, I…”

“...I need someone to talk to, too.”

“Thank you,” Maria whispered, shaking her head. “I just - it’s been impossible for me to sort through on my own. I - I was on the verge of hiring a therapist, but what are they going to say? That I just - that I had a breakdown, probably. That I was too wound up in what I was trying to be that I broke down to get what I needed, or something like that. They wouldn’t understand what happened to us.”

“I don’t think I understand what happened to us…”

Even if it was fun. Even if it had been hot, and embarrassing, and something that she’d never entirely do while ‘sober,’ it had been one of the best vacations of her life. The memories were just hazy enough to keep from being utterly humiliating while still leaving her with a strong sense of passion, lust, and…and giving into something that was so much more than she was. It sent a shiver down her spine and made her tingle, even now -

She reached under the table as something else tingled, nudging it back between her legs. No need to start tenting now.

“Anyway,” Maria said. “Rachel’s outside. Do you mind if I -”

“No, go ahead. I’m looking forward to meeting the person that you love so much.”

“Heh…Thank you.”

After getting a quick hand-squeeze, Ulti leaned back and watched the snake go back to the door. It was almost surreal; she hadn’t thought that she’d be able to spend any more time with Pater and Maria - particularly after a month of being silent herself - and now she was going to meet the woman’s fiancee. The idea that they were going to be close enough to do that was…insane.

The snake stepped back into the cafe followed by a salamander. The other woman was slightly taller than the snake, though far more of a beanpole when it came to build. She was used to salamanders having a little extra fat on their bodies (or was that geckos?), but this one was as smooth as could be, with a chest so flat that she almost didn’t quite look womanly, and while her hips had the right flare for egg-laying, it was clear that there wasn’t much going on there. Just thinking of someone like that laying eggs made her wince inside.

...Since when do I think of other people’s partners laying eggs?

If that was something that had happened during the whole stay at the lodge that she couldn’t remember, she’d like that cleared up real quick.

She stood up as Maria led the other woman over, holding out her hand.

“We haven’t had the chance to meet. Um. Obviously.” Ulti chuckled, shaking her head. “I’m Ulti.”

“Rachel,” the salamander said, taking her hand with a gloved one of her own. “Charmed, of course.”

“Don’t mind her; if you thought I was bad, she’s even worse.”

“You are hardly bad,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “I merely have standards. And I’m lucky that you meet every single one of them, dear.”

It was so strange to see the somewhat up-herself serpent blushing as she was kissed on the forehead. The way that Rachel just immediately had Maria in hand made her wonder if this was the way that they had always been, or if something had changed after coming back from the lodge. Either way, it was…striking.

“I will get us drinks,” Rachel said, gently pushing down on Maria’s shoulder until she was seated again. “The usual matcha, I believe?”

“Yes, please.”

“And you, Ulti?”

“I’m fine,” the lizard said, shaking her head. “Thanks - annnnd she’s gone.”

“She does that,” Maria said, shaking her head. “Scarily efficient, she is. And always one step ahead of me.”

“Right. About that. The lodge?”

“I told you, I haven’t told her.”

“Why not?!”

“Well, have you told anyone?”

“Well…no, but I’m not engaged to someone, am I?” Ulti hissed.

“It hasn’t come up!”

“She didn’t ask you what you did on vacation?”

“...Okay, perhaps then, but not since!”

Of the three of them, Maria had been the one she’d been least worried about handling the whole mystery badly. The snake was incredibly forthright about her opinions, she didn’t shy away from blunt honesty, and she had been the one most keen on calling things out during their time in the lodge. Even before they were completely lost in that buzzing pleasure, Maria had been the one to push for answers while Pater had been happy enough to go along with what happened and Ulti…

Ulti didn’t remember all the things she’d done, or why, but she remembered enjoying it. She shook her head, rubbing her forehead.

“Sooner or later, you’re going to have to -”

Buzz.

Buzz.

Both their phones started buzzing and vibrating at the same time. Usually, Ulti would have done her best to ignore it, but this time, something drew her to pick it up from the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maria doing the same thing. They both looked down, then looked at each other, and showed each other their phones.

Their screens said the same thing: “You have received three new texts from The Lodge.”

Ulti’s hands shook as she looked down at her own phone again. She could barely hear what Maria was saying; everything was drowned out by her heart hammering in her chest. The Lodge? Why? Why would they be reaching out now, a month later? Was it because she and Maria were together again? How would The Lodge know about that? Were they being tracked, or -

Her fingers moved without her being aware of them, and before she realized, the texts were on-screen. She read them to herself, quietly, silently.

“Thank you for your stay at The Lodge. As it has been a month since your stay and there’s been no review from you, we thought we’d get in touch. Just as a reminder of our gratitude, please find enclosed a file for your stimulation and satisfaction. Thank you.”

The file opened almost on its own. She had barely tapped the screen when the audio started playing, and -

Static. Low, barely audible, but completely impossible to ignore. It was the same static as had been playing from the busted TVs in The Lodge, the same static that had made it impossible to think after a while, the same -

“Oh god…”

Ulti finally looked up from her phone. Maria was leaning over the table, her face burning bright red against her lighter scales. She was panting, her nipples standing out ever so slightly against her top and -

And Ulti realized that she wasn’t in much better shape; her cock was starting to come up, poking against the front of her pants, and her cheeks burned as she realized that she was looking around. Not to see if there was anyone staring at her, but in hopes that someone was, that there would be someone in the cafe that was going to turn and look at her and see -

She forced herself to sit down, her face as red as it could get, and Maria did the same. They knew better than to cover their ears; there was nothing that would keep that sound out. And their phones didn’t respond when they tried to turn off the volume or stop the file; it just kept going.

“Why won’t it stop?” Maria whispered.

“I don’t know. I just - I can’t help but -”

“Oh, no…”

“What?”

“Ulti, look…look behind you…”

The tone of fear and embarrassment did not make her want to do any such thing, but she couldn’t not. She slowly turned, trying not to make it obvious.

Sitting behind her, just a few feet away, was a monkey female that was leaning back while looking at her laptop. One window had a word document open, but the other -

She’s watching porn. She’s watching porn in the middle of a cafe and - oh god, she’s bending her leg up to -

Ulti whipped her head around, her glasses heating up from the blush on her cheeks and starting to streak with fog. The soft ‘squelch’ of a digit sliding into a pussy filled her ears, and her pants felt all the tighter as a result.

“You saw it too?” Maria whispered.

“I saw…She must have just opened it…”

“The static…it’s affecting more than us, this time.”

“Oh god…Oh, god.”

“We need to get out of here. We need to -”

“Maria. Ulti.”

Rachel had returned. The taller woman put a pair of coffee cups on the table, then rested her hands on Maria’s shoulders. Neither of the two seated women could bring themselves to say a word.

“Is everything well? You two seem very tense.”

“Everything is…fine, Rachel,” Maria said, looking everywhere but at her phone and her fiancee. “We were just chatting. We had a few things come up and -”

“You are too stiff. We will fix that.”

And then - to Ulti’s absolute astonishment - Rachel grabbed Maria’s shirt by the waist and yanked it up. One moment, the snake was modestly dressed; the next, she was stripped to nothing but her bra from the waist up, and it was a very skimpy bra, at that. Ulti’s cheeks burned hotter and hotter still as the snake’s breasts hung down a little, shown off to everyone in the cafe -

Or…should have been. She was aware that there were a few looks their way, some approving nods, some gropes below the table, but…nobody said anything. It just…happened.

“Here,” Rachel said, pulling Maria back against the chair. “Arms down; you know that trying to cover up just gives you more stress.”

“...S-something you want to tell me, Maria?” Ulti stammered.

“...Did I mention Rachel is…um…a dom?” the snake squeaked.

A - oh god. Ulti sank further into her chair as Rachel looked down at her, the salamander cocking her head to the side.

“Do not slouch.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. Sit up straight, if you wish to be seen properly. You’ll give yourself muscle spasms if you keep doing that.”

“...”

“Do it, or I shall adjust your posture myself. If you are to be Maria’s friend, then I will see to it that her standards are met, as well. I will not tolerate a bad influence on her, so if you will not improve yourself, you will be improved.”

Ulti bit her lip, sitting up straighter in her chair. The salamander nodded.

“Good. Now - Maria, your bra is too tight. Off with it.”

“But -”

“You are going to give yourself pain. And besides, it’s not as if you need be modest; you have a fine pair.”

“...Is she usually like this?” Ulti whispered as Maria reached for her bra hooks.

“No. She’s not. It’s…”

The static. They both knew it. Just like they both knew that this was going to get worse before it got better. They should stop it, throw their phones in the trash or something, or…

Or…

Why weren’t they?

...Oh god…we’re already affected…and…and if she’s as affected as me…she’s already loving it, too…