Acclimation

{Liri}

{Year 14}

Over the course of 14 years, Liri had learned much about these new surroundings.

For one, she had found out rather quickly that the reason Alteria had said that it wouldn't be an issue for Liri to have children even though she was a complete lesbian was because the race she was reincarnating as happened to be hermaphroditic in nature.

In other words, Liri had a dick. It was placed just above her vagina, both genitalia trying desperately to share that small space known as Liri's crotch, and it just sat there throughout Liri's life so far, taunting her.

She hadn't even thought to ask about this possibility before when she was speaking with Alteria. It had simply never come to her mind.

This unfortunate fact had presented quite a few issues over the last couple of years. From random boners at terrible times to a lust so strong inside of her that Liri had started rubbing one out pretty much every day just to keep her sanity. She'd received far more than she'd asked for.

Her anatomy wasn't even the strangest thing, however. No, these people were. The ven who Liri was currently growing up with were so different from what Liri had known growing up in America.

For one, they were polyamorous. Liri had found out about that one fateful day when she was five years old as she caught her mother, one of them anyway, making out passionately with someone who, as far as she could remember at the time, wasn't her wife. At first, Liri had been scandalized, only to find her other mother later walking in and making out with the same woman just as fiercely.

And, now, she was discovering something else.

The fact that, apparently, Liri wasn't an exception. Everyone was intensely sexual.

Like, for example, the girl sitting in front of her, desperately trying to get Liri to fuck her.

"Come oooon~" She said. "Not even a kiss?"

"Tess, I'm telling you," Liri argued with her, "if we… if we do that, I don't know if I'll be able to stop."

"So?" Tess asked, the other ven raising a brow curiously. "What's the problem?"

"Are you- the problem is that I… I'm not ready," Liri told her.

This moment had Liri feeling a storm of different emotions, all raging in her heart.

She'd died a virgin in her previous life. She'd never been faced with so much as the suggestion of sex, or someone to call her girlfriend, let alone something as casual as this.

It felt surreal to come face to face with such a proposition.

"Really?" Tess asked. The raw confusion on her face was honestly annoying. "Why?"

[This is exhausting.]

"I'm just not."

She was half-lying. In a sense, she was ready. Every day, she woke up, and went to sleep, painfully horny.

However, she'd been caught too off-guard for this.

It took a while but, eventually, Tess left Liri's home disappointed and frustrated, becoming the third ven this week that Liri had to actively prevent from trying to fuck her.

Sighing, Liri fell back on her bed. Now that Tess was gone, she had no reason to keep trying to hide her massive boner.

[This is so annoying,] Liri thought as she looked down at herself. [I'm too used to being able to lust for people without any signs or whatever. Now, whenever I get horny, this *thing* gets rock hard! How do you deal with this!?]

Then, Alma, one of her mothers, entered through her door without a care.

"Hey!"

"M-MOM!"

Liri quickly took her quilt and threw it over herself. Though she was still pitching a tent, this was the best she could do.

[Agh! Why is it so hard to hide it!?]

"Weeeell, did you do it?" Alma asked with a proud smile.

"W-What? No," Liri replied.

"Wait, really?" Alma asked, raising a brow, showing a similar level of confusion to that of Tess. "I could have sworn she was into you."

"S-She was, but… Anyway, why are you asking me this? Aren't you angry?"

Back when she was in high school, in her previous life as Miranda, Liri had heard a few stories of other people's parents being pissed that their daughters did so much as kiss someone. Right now, though, here was Alma asking her if she just fucked with the utmost nonchalance.

"Why would I be angry? My daughter's popular," Alma winked at her. "You make me proud!"

Liri was stunned to see that reaction, to say the least.

"Anyway, Lys is cooking up some soup. Be sure to eat it while it's hot."

"… Got it."

On that note, Alma closed the door and Liri went back to her sulking.

[… Look, I don't mind that this place is so open about sex and all, but… Could they tone it down a little? This is bad for my heart.]

Once her dick had softened up, Liri went out of her room and found Alma already enjoying what Lys had brewed. A delightful smell reached Liri's nostrils, one that nearly made her start drooling.

In addition, she found Jen sitting next to her mother, with some of that soup as well.

"Ah, Liri. Tess didn't look too happy. Did everything go well?" Jen asked.

"Y-Yeah, we just… Yeah."

"Oh, alright then. Keep your secrets," Jen replied with a shrug.

As strange as it was that Alma was so supportive of Liri having a sex life, it was even stranger that Alma was sitting down next to the woman who, Liri guessed, routinely had sex with her wife.

If she was back on Earth, she felt like the instant the two saw each other a fight was to be expected. Instead, both of them casually had dinner together and even ate from the same food Lys made.

"Don't go building up anyone's hopes, though," Jen said. "If you just don't like someone, that's fine but you have to make sure they get that."

"She's right," Alma said as Lys hummed a song to herself while she cleaned some clay plates.

"Well…" Liri trailed off.

[It's not like I'm not attracted to her, it's that, well... I dunno, I think I wanna at least just wait till I'm 18 again before I start doing any of this.]

"I remember like ten years ago, this one poor girl didn't know I had already chosen a life partner," Jen said. "She came onto me, and I just thought she wanted to have fun, but no. She had much more serious intentions than that."

"Sounds stressful," Liri replied.

"It was," Jen confirmed with a voice that sounded like she'd grown used to breaking women's hearts over the years. "So, always make sure you're clear with whoever you're dating about what your intentions are."

Liri had started her soup later than everyone else but finished it first anyway. As Miranda, days where she'd eat only once or twice were common. Here, she had an insatiable appetite.

"Done," Liri announced.

"It's not a race," Alma told her with a laugh.

"I-I know… Can I go out for a sec?"

"You don't need to ask," Lys said, as she took her bowl from her hands. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Liri muttered, and the girl quickly exited the house.

It was nighttime. A few torches were lit up, letting Liri see most of her surroundings. She didn't plan on going anywhere too far, she just wanted to sit down for a bit.

Dragging her legs and feeling the cold air embracing her, Liri found a small bench and promptly sat down. A few others who were outside, walking late at night, greeted her. Though, in some of their eyes, Liri saw some barely hidden attraction.

[What kind of sexual aura did that goddess place on me?] Liri wondered, looking down at herself. Her breasts were getting bigger and bigger every year, and already she had the kinds of curves that would put her previous self to shame.

Alma had been right. She was popular. Very popular, actually. To the point where it was actively getting in the way of having peaceful days.

Meaning that out of the forty to fifty people she went to school with, maybe thirty of them had tried to hit on her at some point or another.

It had taken all of her willpower to reject them all. On the bright side though, it seemed like she wasn't going to have trouble with that goddess's request.

At that moment, Liri looked up and glanced at another of the goddess's gifts. One that wasn't visible to others unless they looked.

Her Soul Rating.

[… It's up to 500 now,] Liri noted.

In this world, people, animals, and monsters had Soul Ratings. Simply put, this was a barometer of sorts, indicating how strong a thing was. To Liri's knowledge, there were three ways of raising one's Soul Rating.

1. Training.

2. Killing an animal or monster.

3. Killing a person.

As scary as it was to think of people who raised theirs by killing others, there was no way that she could think of to tell how much of a person's Soul Rating was owed to them committing murder.

The main problem right now, however, was that Liri had no reference for what constituted a high Soul Rating. All she knew was that every day, she could feel herself becoming stronger. Maybe this was why she had such an appetite, and her body was simply trying to keep up.

The only other person whose Soul Rating she'd been keeping track of was her mother, Alma.

Alma was a warrior for the village, and she had a soul rating of about 700. With that in mind, she figured it could be possible that, with minimal training, Liri was nearly at the level of a fighter in her prime. However, if the distance between 500 and 700 was larger than she thought, Liri may still be only as powerful as a regular teenager.

Holding onto the edge of the bench, Liri inhaled slowly.

[… I can't deny it, though,] she thought, smiling to herself. [I do like it here.]

Setting aside the fact that her chastity was in danger pretty much every hour of every day, this place was comfortable. So comfortable. The people of Elmira were kind and open-minded. Even though Liri couldn't say she was friends with everyone, she also hadn't met a person she genuinely didn't like yet.

The area itself was also quite unique. Back in America, Liri had lived in the city all her life. The most trees she ever saw came in the form of her occasional walk past a park. This was her first time in such a rural place. The fresh air, the soil under her bare feet, the sense of nature all around her... It was all so entrancing.

Before she could get lost in it right now, though, she heard someone call out to her.

"Liri?"

The girl looked up and found Lys approaching her.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Liri straightened up. "I just… I wanted to stretch my legs a bit.."

"I see… May I sit with you?"

"Heh, I guess it's my turn to say it. You don't need to ask, mom."

"Ah, well then, excuse me," Lys replied before sitting down next to her.

For a moment, the two of them remained in silence before Lys asked:

"Have you considered what it is you wish to do?"

Honestly, Liri expected that question. She knew this was either going to be about that or what happened with Tess, and Lys seemed a lot less interested in that part of Liri's life than Alma and Jen were. Instead, she wanted to know about Liri's goals.

The problem was, Liri didn't know what she wanted to do just yet.

She still hadn't seen enough of this world. Still didn't know what she could do in this village. All she knew was that, before she turned 21, she'd have to put a baby in someone. That was about it, though.

"I… I still don't know," Liri replied quietly.

"That's okay," Lys quickly told her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "But have you not found anything you like yet?"

"N-No, not yet," Liri replied. "If you wanna recommend anything, I'll consider it," Liri offered.

"I do not want to make any choices for you," Lys quickly replied. Liri felt like that was thoughtful of her. "However, I suppose I could show you an option or two. As could Alma. Would you like that?"

"Yeah," Liri replied. "I'd appreciate it. I mean... I wanna learn where I can go in life."

It was a question she hadn't produced an answer to in her previous one either. Thanks to the goddess, many painful memories had been swept out of Liri's mind, but she could still remember what her life was like in its final days. The emptiness she felt. If she could avoid that here, then she wanted desperately to do so.

"I see," Lys replied with a smile. "But, my path, and Alma's path, they're… They aren't paths people normally take. I'm a priestess, Liri. Your mother is a warrior. I fear that showing you what we do may be a waste of time."

Liri giggled when she heard that. It seemed her mothers didn't know just how desperate Liri was.

"I don't mind finding out what that stuff's like, though. If… If you want me to visit the Temple with you, or if mom wants me to train with her, I really don't mind either way."

"Truly?" Lys asked.

[She asks that like it's weird... Are ven who want to become priestesses or soldiers that uncommon?]

"Yeah," Liri replied with a smile. "Besides, you two are amazing. If I could be like either of you in a few years, I'd love that."

She genuinely did feel that way. Lys was as kind a soul as Liri had ever encountered, either in this life or in her previous one, and Alma was incredibly charming. For once, she actually had role models.

She couldn't remember what her previous parents were like, as had been a part of her request to Alteria, but she wondered if they were anything like this.

Lys giggled, her cheeks flushing slightly.

"… In that case, how's this? Tomorrow, you and I will head to see one of the Mother Trees."

Liri tilted her head.

"Outside the village?" She asked slowly. She could count the number of times she'd gone outside of Elmira on one hand, and none of those times were too far.

"Indeed," Lys replied with a smile. "I will show you the true essence of nature. Why it is that I work to preserve it. Why I work to maintain a connection with it. Then, if you still feel like the path of a priestess wouldn't bore you to tears, then... We'll see what happens."

In all honesty, Liri felt rather excited.

"Yeah!" She replied. "Let's do it!"

"Alright then," Lys replied, standing up. "Come. We'll want to rest early so we can be ready for the long walk tomorrow."