Observation

"That wasn't bad," said Andrew, wearing a cheeky smile as he lay atop Penelo's bed on his side, appending, "If things don't work out with your childhood friend, I certainly wouldn't mind an encore performance."

Hearing Andrew's words, Penelo exhaled a sigh and reiterated, "I told you already. Vaan and I are more like brother and sister..." while using a damp cloth to wipe her body and scrape his semen from her insides. She didn't mind that Andrew had cum inside her, as she fully expected him to do so, but the amount was slightly alarming...

Changing topics, Andrew gestured with his chin toward the pile of gold, asking, "Are you going to be okay with all of this? If you need help moving it somewhere secure, I can give you a hand."

Following Andrew's gaze, Penelo's brain stalled a bit when she set eyes on the pile of gold. She hadn't considered it, as she never expected such a windfall, but she didn't have the means to protect such a treasure. She trusted Migelo implicitly, but five million Gil was more than the store made in an entire year after overhead...

"Come here..." said Andrew, gesturing for Penelo to move closer. She was a little hesitant at first, but after a few seconds of deliberation, she moved over and climbed atop him, asking, "Did you want to keep going...?" with a hint of trepidation in her tone.

"Nah, I just enjoy having cute girls sit on my lap," replied Andrew, placing his hands on Penelo's butt and giving it a playful squeeze as he asked, "I imagine you're curious about how I was able to bring out this much gold, seemingly out of nowhere, right?"

Though she hesitated again, Penelo eventually nodded, responding with a faint "Yes..." while doing her best to ignore the heat emitting from the hard object pressing against her still-exposed ass.

"I'm going to give you a similar ability," said Andrew. "All I ask in return is that you keep it a secret and not misuse it. Sound good?"

Without waiting for Penelo's response, Andrew sent her a friend request, adding, "If you're willing, say yes. After that, I'll explain a few things, ask a few questions, and then be on my way."

Feeling that she had already jumped off the deep end, Penelo accepted Andrew's friend request and listened to his explanation about the basics of his system. He didn't tell her about the existence of other worlds, but he explained the chat and item box functions so that she could store the gold and contact him if she needed help or was feeling horny.

"This is incredible..." remarked Penelo, placing away the gold and a few other items by simply touching them. She could understand how it could be misused, but with Andrew warning her that he would take it away if he discovered she was exploiting it, she resolved never to do so. Even more so since the powers he vested permitted her to don and remove her outfit instantly, a remarkable convenience...

"Glad you like it," said Andrew, waiting until Penelo had stored away all the gold to ask, "Now, before I leave, I have a few questions. Like, when is the Consul's Ceremony and the consequent fete supposed to transpire, timewise?"

"The ceremony should have already taken place," replied Penelo, meeting Andrew's gaze as she used the Equip Menu to remove her outfit, exposing her lithe and athletic body. His brows perked as she did so, but instead of asking what she was doing, he grabbed her ass, raising it so that his glans was poking against her tender and somewhat swollen entrance.

Taking a deep breath, Penelo held it as she lowered her hips, accepting a little more than half of Andrew's member before exhaling sharply, taking several quick breaths, and appending, "As for the fete...it is scheduled to take place after 7 PM. Why? Are you planning to sneak in? I might be able to help if that's the case..."

"You're cute when you're earnest," remarked Andrew, wrapping his tail around Penelo's waist for support, enabling her to tentatively sway and rock her hips. Then, in response to her proposition, he answered, "But, assuming I choose to sneak in, I don't need help. I just wanted to know when it was so that I could be ready if something happened. As for you, you should worry about yourself, that childhood friend of yours, and the orphans you were willing to sell your body for..."

Though she got the impression Andrew was a big fish she had allowed to get away, Penelo nodded in affirmation and replied, "I understand..." while placing her hands on his remarkably toned abs for additional support. The money he had given her was enough to change her life and the lives of all the people she cared about, but the power he vested her was like the gift of a Djinn or some kind of Faerie. Thus, even if it was a bit silly of her, she wanted to leave a more meaningful impression on Andrew, hoping it would incentivize him to make good on his promise if she were even in peril...

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"All things considered, this is quite the beautiful city..." remarked Andrew, standing atop one of the buildings flanking the royal promenade that ran all the way from the southern gate to the palace, a magnificent structure formed primarily of white stone. The central structure supported a grand archway more than eight meters across, but what caught Andrew's gaze were the six towers encircling it, each set with massive blue crystals that powered the city-wide Paling in the event of an air raid.

Drawing Andrew's gaze, a shadow cast over him from above, causing him to look up as a frigate-shaped airship flew overhead, standing out quite a bit compared to the metal behemoths piloted by the Empire. It even had a number of sails and an open deck, denoting it as an older model that had been upgraded with modern trappings, particularly a series of eight ring-shaped hover engines, each emitting bright blue light.

Resisting the urge to fly up and take a closer look, Andrew returned his gaze to the palace and muttered, "Now, the question is...when do I take action? If I prevent their capture, Basch is as good as dead. But I can't stand by and watch the warriors of the Resistance be slaughtered, can I...?"

Though his plan was to accompany Ashe and her party on their journey, not derail it, Andrew felt a moral compulsion to use his foreknowledge to circumvent or lessen tragedies. He knew that Vayne, the newly appointed Consul and main antagonist, had staged the fete to lure out and annihilate Resistance forces using the information provided by a traitor. Andrew had no clue how numerous the forces of the Resistance were, but they had to be a few thousand strong if they were brazen enough to assail the palace and attempt an assassination on the eldest son of Archadia's Emperor...

"It's weird..." muttered Andrew, smiling sardonically as he added, "I suck at standing by, but every time I intervene, I end up having little to nothing to do after the fact..."

While Vayne doubtlessly had a countermeasure Andrew couldn't recall, the fact remained that he could break into the palace and potentially kill the new Consul right then and there. Without a main antagonist, the story would be derailed, but tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of lives would be spared. However, as a consequence, Andrew would deny Ashe and her companions their fate, irreversibly undermining their growth in a way that could jeopardize their entire reality without external aid...

Shaking his head, Andrew muttered, "Whatever...I've always known that I can't save everyone, and the deaths of the Resistance aren't on my head, but the leaders who failed and betrayed them..."

Taking a seat, Andrew resolved to let matters take their course as he had done in Planetara(FF8). There, he could have easily lent his aid to Esthar in the wake of the Lunar Cry, but he chose to remain in Deling City. As a result, millions lost their lives as the monsters overran the city. He could do little after the fact, but if he had taken action to prevent the Lunar Cry outright, he could have, theoretically, saved them all. Compared to that, overlooking the deaths of a few thousand suicidal Resistance fighters was borderline inconsequential...

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As the sun crept over the horizon and the fete officially got underway, Andrew was waiting for the 'festivities' to begin when Penelo sent him a message, stating, 'I'm worried that the friend I mentioned previously has snuck into the palace. If you see a boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a metal vest, please tell him to return and not do anything dangerous...'

Taking a few moments to ponder his response, Andrew responded with a curt, 'I'm not in the palace.' He thought to respond with something more cryptic, but that would only cause Penelo to question him further, forcing him to ignore or provide her with a proper explanation. By simply stating that he wasn't at the palace, all she could do was feel exasperated at her friend's, Vaan's, recklessness.

'Oh...then I'm sorry for bothering you...' replied Penelo, causing Andrew to feel a pang of guilt. Unfortunately for her, he had spent the last five hours resolving himself to watch thousands of people die, so a bit of guilt wasn't enough to alter the course he had decided upon.

'You're not a bother,' assured Andrew, adopting a faint smile as he added, 'Rather, I consider it a privilege to exchange correspondence with a cute girl. The more, the merrier.'

'Then...if you're not busy tomorrow, want to come by the shop? That way, we can talk in person...' replied Penelo, catching Andrew a little off guard. He had deliberately done his best to leave a lasting impression on the pig-tailed girl, but he didn't expect it to be so...effective.

All but making up Andrew's mind, Penelo tacked on, 'I've a new dance I'd like to practice, but it requires two people...'

'Sounds like fun,' replied Andrew. Though, if everything went to plan, they would likely have to postpone their 'recital.' His expectation was that Vaan would be captured alongside Ashe and two other main characters, a Sky Pirate named Balthier and his scantily clad, rabbit-eared partner, a Viera named Fran. If that happened, Penelo would doubtlessly request that he help Vaan. Andrew intended to say yes, and, as a result, Penelo should be captured by a group of Sky Pirates that hold a grudge against Balthier.

Though he ordinarily wouldn't permit one of his women to be placed in jeopardy, Penelo's capture was fairly significant as it took the party to a plot-relevant location and heralded their meeting with several important figures. Andrew would save her if she were in genuine peril, but his plan was to wait until the rest of the party received news of her kidnapping to take action. Of course, that was just his plan. If Penelo got frightened and pleaded for him to come and rescue her, he would teleport over and beat the shit out of her captors on the spot.

Noticing one of the imperial airships on the city's periphery begin making its way toward the palace, Andrew closed the chat window and focused his eyesight, allowing him to zoom in on whatever he was looking at. The image wasn't clear, but he could make out black dots fighting against grey dots in the palace's courtyard, particularly around a large fountain. Then, when the airship reached the airspace above the palace, explosions rang out as it proceeded to bombard both friend and foe alike.

Furrowing his brows, Andrew rose to his feet, popped his neck, and began to stretch his legs as he had been sitting for hours. Then, as bluish-white light enveloped his body, he floated from the roof and darted toward the oversized airship like a lightning bolt. After all, he may have decided to let matters take their course on the ground, but the sky was fair game...

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