1.6

A minute later, out of sight of the other three orcs, Granuk sighed. "I... may have been wrong," he reluctantly admitted in Orcish to the moaning rabbit-faun.

"Mnh?" she groaned, shakily looking up at him.

"This... 'Jim'... I can't deny how real the memories are. The feelings. The... thoughts." He huffed a small laugh, then continued in English, "I somehow doubt that even an Elvish archmagi could create an entire language, complete with words for things I don't believe exist on this world, and package that for anyone to use against an Orc, 'just in case.'

"Then why are you still raping me?" the rabbit-faun hissed.

"Because I am not Jim. I am less Jim than you are - or aren't - whoever you were on Earth. Though I imagine there was not much of a... shall we say, massive shift in how you thought about things, what you believed, what your morals were, when you turned eighteen-and-a-half? Jim was your average American citizen. Granuk is a proud Orc, eager to claim his trophies and put them to their proper use. Those two backgrounds, the difference in the minds, the thoughts... it's immense. And though Jim hates it, the reality is that I can't let you go; my Blood Brothers and tribe wouldn't understand, and you'd like as not be claimed by another long before you made it back to the forest. I won't create problems for myself for a vanishingly small chance that you might be able to escape.

"However, there is merit to us working together. Unique as our circumstances are, we are both displaced from Earth and are here now. Even I... even Granuk, traditionalist that he is, can see the wisdom in cooperating."

The girl managed to snarl through her ecstasy. "Cooperation where you are in charge, and I'm just your fucktoy," she spat.

Granuk frowned, then slammed her down his cock, penetrating deep inside the rabbit-faun and stayed there, causing her to mewl. "Consider the alternatives, little rabbit. I could hand you off to one of my Blood Brothers, or swap you for the unclaimed elf. The shamans of the tribe would no doubt find you fascinating, should you be available for them to examine and experiment with. And there is no possibility that I let you go now and my Blood Brothers don't track you down and claim you for themselves. Perhaps, some time in the distant future, there is a scenario wherein you can walk free of me, but you are here, and as far as anyone in the region is concerned, you are mine... or you will be theirs."

The hate on her face, though still present, dimmed as she reluctantly listened. "Can you... get out of me? It's hard to think with your... when you're..." Her face, already flush from their exertions, became a deeper shade of red.

The oni considered that for a moment, then grunted in agreement, sat, and lifted the girl off his cock before settling her back in his lap, his throbbing length straining against her bottom.

The rabbit-faun squirmed for a moment, trying to put some distance between her red, wet cunt and Granuk's throbbing cock. The orc's iron grip kept her still, and she eventually, begrudgingly settled in place, staring at a rock on the ground.

Eventually, after several minutes of thought, she asked, "What happens if I do... cooperate with you?" she hissed the word, venom dripping from each syllable.

"As much as you - and Jim - will hate it, you will be kept and treated largely as a trophy. My Blood Brothers and I share lodging, at least until one or more of us attain positions of import to the tribe. As such, you will be within their sigh at all hours. As much as I can, I will treat you with the courtesy you wish, but I'll not endanger either of our safety for it.

"For your part, I want you to teach me about these 'skills' you mentioned. Jim is intrigued, aliking them to his games from Earth. Granuk... is curious. And ambitious."

The rabbit-girl made a small, thoughtful noise. After a moment, she looked up, her gaze piercing Granuk. "You won't impregnate me," she demanded.

The oni blinked, startled by the stern words, the harsh glare. "Very well. I will not breed you."

A sharp nod, and the rabbit-faun looked ahead again. "So, you want to learn about skills..."

"Yes, but before that," Granuk interjected, "what is your name, little rabbit? It is becoming irksome to refer to you as some variation of 'rabbit-girl' or 'rabbit-faun' constantly."

She seemed to shrink. A murmur of her voice reached Granuk's ears, but he couldn't decipher the words. "What was that?"

"I'm a hare-faun!" she exclaimed. Then, quieter, she added, "And my name is Naemui."

Silence fell upon the two for a long moment. Then, slowly, Granuk began to shake, a rumble in his chest erupting into laughter as he struggled to stay sitting upright.

*****

Once the oni had regained control of himself, the two talked about the System - as Naemui called it - and how to interact with it.

"Though, given that you haven't seen it yet and what I experienced when I first... uh... 'merged,' I think it will be a while before you'll be able to interact with it," the hare-faun stated.

"Why is that?"

"I had a few days where Naemui and... who I was before weren't exactly getting along harmoniously in my head. Naemui didn't reject them as hard as you seemed to, but it wasn't exactly sunshine and roses. But, once the two memories had merged into who I am now, I was able to interact with the System."

"So, you think because Jim and Granuk are extremely at odds, it will take longer for them to merge? And therefore, it will take until that time before I can interact with the System?"

She nodded, and the two fell quiet for a moment. "Regardless," the oni said eventually, "tell me what you can about the System. How it works and what you can do with it."

According to Naemui, the answers were 'reactively' and 'not much.' As far as the hare-faun was able to tell, the System mostly kept track of progress and gave hints towards future opportunities. It measured a range of things, evaluating them using a simple, vague alphabetical scale, using 'F' as worst, and moving back to 'A' as proficiency increased, with 'S' as best. Among the various thing measured were characteristics, which measured physical, mental, and social capabilities; skills, learned things like swordsmanship, carpentry, or driving; talents, which usually affected skills in some way; traits, which were inborn biological or mental features; and attributes, which tended to be stand-alone effects or abilities.

"Your damned orc pheromones would count as a trait," Naemui gave as an example.

"And you said you have an attribute that gives you resistance to negative effects?"

The hare-faun stiffened. "Yes."

Granuk frowned. "But you were affected by the sleeping gas?"

She growled out an annoyed sigh. "I can choose to allow specific effects through and I guess one of the main ingredients in those fucking bombs you used was an herb I use as a sleep aid. At least, that's what the System notification said." She made a grumbling sound. "And the initial impact of your pheromones is just a ridiculously powerful aphrodisiac, which isn't inherently negative."

Good to know, Granuk thought. "And the System actually uses English?"

He could feel the hare-faun rolling her eyes. "Of course not, I don't even recognize the symbols the System uses, I just... instinctively, artificially know."

"Artificially?"

Naemui shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, that's just how it feels."

The orc thought for a moment. "How do you... access the System?"

She was silent for a moment. "I just... think about it, I guess, and it comes up. But I'm not sure you should try."

"Why not?"

"The notification I got that said I was able to access the System implied that I was only able to because everything was generally harmonious up here," she bobbed her head side-to-side. "Given how disharmonious things seem to be in your thick skull, I doubt you'll be able to. And if you are, then I don't think it'll be enjoyable."

Granuk grunted. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

The hare-faun blew air in a condescending fashion. "Your funeral," she muttered.

The orc shook his head, then stared into the middle distance and let Jim come forward, both hoping to use the reincarnated man's memories of gaming and various menus to provide a revelation.

Menu? he thought. Pause?...Start? What if I try to picture a menu...?

For several minutes, Jim tried various ways of summoning the System. None of them worked, and Granuk slowly became more and more frustrated with his alter. How did you access a menu for your 'games' from your world? he finally snapped.

Usually, it was bound to the Esc key...

A sensation, like trying to read with crossed eyes, stirred at the back of their mind. Both personalities fell silent. Surely it can't be that easy... Jim pondered.

The Esc...ape key... Granuk thought, and was rewarded with that same sensation. That was for most... computer games, right? And you mainly played those, not... consoles.

Mentally nodding, Jim tried again. Escape! he demanded. The sensation repeated, stronger.

Escape! Granuk tried.

Escape! Jim imagined the sensation of reaching out to press the key.

Vertigo, as though from a rocking boat, struck them. What...

As the two shared that thought, an entirely different feeling struck them, a feeling of being comfortably wrapped in a blanket.

What the hell is this? Granuk growled.

What's going on? Jim wondered.

And within an instant, that comforting feeling vanished.

The two minds were silent for a moment. Didn't Naemui say something about... being unified? Jim suggested.

There's no way it could be that simple, Granuk denied unconvincingly.

Can't hurt to try! Jim replied.

Grumbling assent came from Granuk, and the two steadied themselves, taking a deep breath together, as they thought, firmly, Escape.

Stars exploded across their vision, and a splitting headache nearly made them pass out. Even through that, something forced itself into their cognition: They were being affected by Soul Disalignment, caused by a lack of unity between the mentalities that made up Granuk and Jim, and it was being exacerbated by their attempt to interact with the System, resulting in physical symptoms. At the same time, there was a congratulations for overcoming the barrier that prevented Disaligned souls from accessing the System.

Beyond that direct information dump, the two 'Disaligned souls' - or perhaps, technically a singular Disaligned soul? - were vaguely aware of the System awaiting their interaction, very much akin to a menu. However, the excruciating pain and vertigo prevented them from even so much as reading anything within that menu, let alone acting upon any information therein.

Close! Jim gasped.

Make it stop! Granuk snarled.

And suddenly, the pain, the discomfort, was gone, not even a lingering sensation remaining.

They were almost surprised to find that they were lying down, Naemui crouching over them in concern. Concern, and - when she saw that they were alright - condescension. "Told you," she accused.

After a moment to process what had just happened, Granuk growled low, his hand snapping out to grab the hare-faun by the throat and pull her into his grasp as he sat up. "You would do well to remember your place, little rabbit," he warned, lightly choking her with one hand as the other pinned her hips against his.

Naemui struggled for a moment before, with visible effort, relaxed. "So we're back to this," she quietly accused.

"I've told you before, there's only so much you can do before the others take too much of an interest," Granuk growled. "I have no interest in breaking you - you're far too valuable to me for that - but you can't simply do whatever you'd like. Especially when we reach the tribe."

"But we're alone, Granuk!" she spat. "Nobody's here to see me 'misbehave,' nobody can accuse you of being soft on your fucking pet. Or are you saying I have to be the perfect mind-fucked little whore for you, keeping my legs open just hoping that you'll grace me with your damn cock? Even when you want me to teach you about how this shit works?" She snarled. "Tell me what's in it for me in that scenario!"

Once again, a war raged in Granuk's head. The oni insisted that every misstep she made away from prying eyes was dangerous, habit-forming, and would just lead to trouble. Jim retorted that the orc just wanted to rape Naemui on a whim, and that allowing her to be herself as often as possible would surely be beneficial - keeping her in a metaphorical cage would just irritate and anger her.

Given the proof sitting in his lap, Granuk had conceded the argument quickly. "That is... something I am still struggling with. My whole life I never thought of females as..." The silence was palpable. Gritting his teeth, the orc made a slight change of topic. "As long as we are talking about your behavior... there is something we should consider: can you convincingly act as though you have succumbed to my pheromones?"

The hare-faun stiffened. "I am not letting you affect me."

"Can you act the part?" Granuk insisted.

"That doesn't matter, I'm not allowing your pheromones to affect me!"

"They already do! You are resistant, you said it yourself; that's different than immune. And unless you're the best actor in two worlds, the risk of our ruse being discovered is too great."

"So I should just cave to your whims and give up?!"

"You could activate your attribute while being affected, couldn't you?"

"But if your pheromones fuck with my head that much," she gestured back toward the camp, and the dozen other women who were mostly under the orcs' thrall, "how would I even think to activate it?"

"I'll tell you to."

Naemui snorted. "What, I should just trust you?"

The oni sighed. "I want to know many things. About the System, about the world beyond our lands... and you being mind-fucked won't help me - women enthralled by orc pheromones tend to be... preoccupied with sex with their master. I would eventually be able to get answers out of you, but those answers would never rival what you'd be able to teach me without being affected by the pheromones... assuming you'd actually cooperate with me."

She was glaring at her captor over her shoulder, but a thoughtful look in her eye and her silence encouraged Granuk to continue. "I would have you use your attribute as much as we safely could - you don't seem to be a fool, and given our circumstances, two brains are better than one. But wherever your... lack of being under my thrall would be troublesome, you'd have to submit... and trust me. For the immediate future, we both seem to want the same thing - a way to avoid the curiosity of my tribe. Me and my pheromones can provide us cover, while your information could potentially be the way we figure out a solution. Our only alternatives leave me almost certainly at odds with my tribe after you escape, or the parts of me that are Jim are plagued by guilt by well and truly subjugating you to my pheromones - it would happen eventually." The faun started to protest, but Granuk waved away her objections. "What I did earlier today I can repeat indefinitely, Naemui. You'll be soaking in my pheromones, which means you'll absorb my orcish regeneration. You're resistant, not immune. Eventually, you'd break, if I subjected you to today's treatment for days, weeks, or possibly months on end. You'd never even fatigue a muscle or be chafed raw."

The hare-faun ground her teeth, frustration and anger flaring across her face as she thought. After several long moments, she met Granuk's eyes. "I don't trust you. And I don't like this plan, or the position it puts me in." Her gaze lowered, and the orc could feel Naemui's disappointment as she admitted, "But I can't think of a better plan that would have a snowball's chance in hell of getting your approval..." She glared at him, "Which, as much as I'll acknowledge that screwing you over and escaping would be a dick move, I can't help but feel like you might deserve it." She took a deep breath, her eyes closing as she let it out as a sigh. "But I'll play along."

Granuk nodded, his mouth opening to respond, when he felt her tense, a long, aroused moan spilling from her lips. Her eyes opened, and a lazy, almost eager smile split her face as she ground her hips back against his. "So hot... I'm so hot..." she whined, her body writhing in his grasp.

Did she just... Jim goggled.

Granuk sighed. "That's quite the step for not trusting me..." he muttered, before impaling the panting hare-faun on his cock, standing and walking back to camp, Naemui cumming with every slow step. "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow