NOVEL NEXT Ch.72; At Another Friend’s
Damn does it feel weird today! I just feel like I want to melt into the floor! lucky for me, school's out early today and tomorrow for these Friday holidays they want to celebrate. Also, where is the mark? He texted me that he wanted to talk to me after school but he didn't show up! I waited twenty minutes outside my class with a group of five lamia staring at me for some reason and another fifteen near the school entrance only to end up in a stupid staring contest with a giant Oni! He didn't even ask anything, just stared at me but he did make it really hard for other students to pass in front of him with his mana raising whenever someone walked between us. And the lamia didn't leave me either! they followed me until I left the front gate, what the hell do I need protection from?! My left hand is enough to spook people!
Sighing, I unlock the door to my house and quickly step inside before the succubi start patrolling my block! walking over to the couch, i drop my bag and spill over it, not even caring that my stupid chest is pinching or my wing got pinned under my arm.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” I shout into the couch cushion.
Yesterday was super fun if I ignore being almost blown up a second time! but besides that, I felt like I learned a lot about fairies but who the hell are the board or this delta guy? Also where did Rez go? It didn't sound like they found her when I asked Bri.
“What the heck does, ‘she’s here’ even mean?” I grumble to myself. “Either the pixie’s hiding or you have her.”
Turning my head to the TV, I shake my head free of those annoying thoughts, grabbing the remote, jumping to different channels. One is a cooking channel with a really tall lizard man and….a lean, muscular guy with flame blue skin and horns that point upwards until the tip where they curved backwards. His eyes were a dark wet blue, the only color came from his glowing red pupils while he wore a smirk that even made my wings open slightly.
Wait! Wasn't there a reporter that pulled my attention before too?!......I'm guessing this is an incubus then? Leering at the guy on the screen, the camera pointed at his back, his muscular triangular back. zooming in on how his purple dress shirt just hugs his amazing frame and that beautiful posture.
He turned to look at the camera, his eyes widening in surprise or shock. "Did he see me looking?!" I quietly whisper to myself as my wings tremble and I lean closer to the screen. The guy smirks a big fanged grin while giving a friendly wave making the audience scream and my wings flap at his muscles moving. Wait when did I get up? Damn incubus and your charm magic!
Grabbing the remote I quickly changed channels again, flipping to a movie channel.
"What do you mean I can't help you fa-...Sir…" hesitated a red demon girl with spiked ram horns. She looked lean, muscular and feminine like a comic book superheroine.
"You will stay here and watch our kingdom in my absence!" Said another taller red demon with similar horns. He was dressed in a nice coat with gray fur on the collar. He raised his voice with a stern face only to pause for a second, his face looking slightly sullen before quickly taking a breath and approaching the girl.
"I'm sorry…for being forceful." He looked at the ground with a serious expression. "I wan- I need to know you're sa-capable of protecting more than yourself. Please protect my treasure while I'm gone." He asked showing a hint of vulnerability.
The girl clenched her fists for a moment before loosening her fists. "Then watch yourself out there. Besides! We haven't finished our battle from before, I know I'll beat you." She said defiantly but her eyes seemed nervous?
The two awkwardly stood around, one would go for a hug while the other a hand shake. Each try ending in failure as the other would try the opposite goodbye before robotically switching to a other's last action. After a few seconds of this they both sighed before the girl offered her arm and the other took it, gripping the forearm tightly. Shaking each other's arm, the girl gave one last stern look, her eyes glowing like blue candle flame.
"If it gets hectic then you protect yourself and get back safely. Mom would die a second time if you left me alone again." She said with an odd grumbling purr in her voice.
“Being a young Targe you really act like a ventgladus.” He said with a large smile on his face. His words made the girl’s widen with blazing excitement. “Not till your third rouge moon.” He quickly added, making the girl frown like they weren't going to the park together.
“I’m eighteen! I’m old enough to not be babied!” She argued with an odd grinding noise to her voice.
“You said you wanted to experience life as a demon after your lumieres, you even pushed a pact.” He retorted.
I watched the movie a little longer until the channel showed the film name before commercials. the banner showing the name, ‘The Chronicles of Passionne: First Steps’, in a fancy curly cursive font. Hmmm, not bad….
Looking up the name on my phone told me this with a quintilogy and this film was the second of dramatic retelling of the demon and the hero. OH! It’s about that historical event I learned in class! Looking deeper, it turns out this has several remakes and reimaginings, one with space aliens and robots and a few high school anime and cartoons based on the plot points. Maybe I can watch this with mom later? I could even check for an magi-
‘Hey is it ok if I ask for a favor?’ Popped up a message from Steph.
'Sure, what's up?'
'Could use some help with some a few payloads of groceries my parents dropped off'
'I'd do it but kinda alone and milky is acting up lately'
'Alright, just give me a tour of your place and I'll call it even.'
After getting her address and using maps, I was pretty surprised how close she lived. Her house was in between mine and the school in the same neighborhood, though it was closer to our school. but it’s been awhile since I’ve been to someone’s house outside of work in my old world, dinners with higher ups, parties at summer or winter homes. Most of it didn't really matter, I was only there to better my position or get a client to sign off or explain our projects and the expected final product. It wasn't too fun, watch what you say, both sides leading the direction of the project looking for faults in your discussions. A few even tried to piss me off by hyper focusing on minor details, some wanting to see how I handled pressure or demand a better deal. fuck, one guy went as far as doing a dinner talk only to decide on signing with a comeptor of our’s the next day, guy probably just wanted some ass kissing. It took me four hours to drive up to the city he lived in too….
but anyway, I found her house and it’s in the larger section of the neighborhood for monster races past six feet. I think it was funny a race closer to average human height is living it up with bigger races but judging by the roads here, well I can understand why. The sidewalk here was wide enough for three vans and one small car to easily drive through with little problem and the people here were using it as two way traffic. Minotaurs, large oni, huge lizard people, ogres and large werewolf like monsters walked up and down the sidewalk. There were even a few lamia twice the size of Steph, their full tail length taking enough space for almost an average cars and a half. There was another snake woman with coils of hissing hair, lazily gliding across the floor like a mega alligator.
Walking here wasn't different from anywhere else sadly. Everyone who saw me or felt my mana instantly pushed to the sides of the sidewalk like some living puzzle pieces. Some looked at me before hiding their face behind surrounding people or objects. Others tried to look smaller, which didn't help them as lamia coiled into tight balls, those werewolves crouched clutching their knees. This ended up pushing others out into the middle of the street or pinning people into each other like a packed train.
Luckily for everyone, Steph's house was pretty close so any pedestrians wouldn't have to be some poorly constructed wall for long. And her house is pretty big, maybe wide is a better way of putting it, it looked like someone took your average single story home and stretched it until it filled most of the land and sat a nice three or four stories tall. What little land there was, was filled with tall grass that smelled like walnuts and lemon, reminding me more of an herb garden than regular grass. her front doors were wide enough for two of me and had a weird looking lantern with swirling lights inside it like fireflies. her house was a nice sky blue color with white pillars and sidewalk which felt really warm!
At her door I knocked on it a few times before I heard a weird jingle. looking to the side of the door I saw a small intercom with a speaker.
“Coming right down! I’ll jus- *Squish* “Milky! Didn’t tell you to do your business in your bowl!” ‘WOOW WOOW’ *squish* “NOOOOO! bad girl! I didn't ask for more!” Steph shouted at what sounded like her dog.
The door opened after a few moments, Steph’s eyes poking out with a slightly red face, she was in a baggy cream purple hoodie but her tail shimmered more than normal.
“Sorry… My mire-dog just made…conditioner on the floor…” Steph said sheepishly.
“Conditioner? It didn’t poo-” I began before Steph covered my mouth.
“Please don’t say that word! I don’t want to think of it that way!” She begged me which I gave a quick nod. “Sorry about that…mire-dogs ugh….help keep lamia scales clean and glossy so please mind milky…” She said, rubbing her cast as she led me into her home.
Inside her home, her hallways were wide enough for me to open my wings and still have room for three people! To my right was a huge room with a dinning table big enough for a long horn cow and several cushions on the floor that rested in little alcoves in the floor. All along the walls were pictures of lamia hugging each other, some of large family gatherings others of random moments. sitting at the park, tasting food, making some necklace, there’s even a drawing of a blue dog framed on the wall. really most of the house seemed made with twice the size and space in mind, plus most if not every piece of furniture was made part of the floor or walls. Even the flooring was heated, even though it was some reddish wood, it felt really nice in here.
There was even a few layered poles in what looked like a living room. It was a pole that had a groove cut into it like a screw, the pole connected to a platform that had several pillows and stuffed animals facing the tv. On the walls hung a few spears with odd shiny blue tips and feathers, a large painting of a, oozing blue snot spla-
*WOOW WOOW*
“whua-” before I realized it something blue and wet splashed into my face, it felt like watery glue mixed with soft putty. Trying to grab it, my hands raced to pull it off but instead they sunk into it, my face and hands were plastered together. Trying to pull my hands away from my face only stretched the goop before my hands were pulled right into my face, smacking me!
“Milky! bad girl! I told you my friend is coming to help!” Steph cried at something.
*Woa Woa*
With that the goo came off my face like running water and hit the floor with a wet splash sound. Without waiting I took a deep breath, catching every second of beautiful air and sweet beautiful oxygen!
“Sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! I even put her in her room!” Steph apologized to me before giving something on the floor a murderous glare.
*WOoow*
“Oh no you don’t! Your googly eyes aren't going to get you out of this one little lady!” She shouted.
After catching my breath, I looked at where she was yelling at to see a blue fruit jello cake? It had a head that was molded in the shape of a fluffy shih tzu with a red bow floating inside where its brain should be while its eyes looked cartoonishly big and looking in separate directions. Its body was more like a large gelatin cake with white bubbles and some orange slices floating inside it freely like the insides were just water.
*WOoow* whimpered the blue jello dog, its whole body vibrating and jiggling.
“I guess… it probably sensed my mana and freaked out.” I finally said to Steph who was now holding Milky in a glass bowl with her tail.
“That’s why I had her in her room so she wouldn’t freak out and try to take you out.” Steph said giving the dog an annoyed side eye. “She just disappears and pops up in random….” She began when I pointed at the now empty bowl. “Oh my GODDESS! where did you go!” Steph shouted in panic as she began to scan the area, her head swinging side to side.
“I didn't see where she went, I looked at you and back to Milky.” I explained as I scanned around cautiously, I didn't want another gooey surprise attack.
*WOOW WOOW* came an excited bark from above us.
Both me and Steph froze as we slowly raised our heads to find Milky sitting on top of some very tall cabinets that stood a good feet taller than me. The gooey dog sat nestled between a few boxes with Its huge eyes with a long blue tongue as it panted looking more like a smug grin in my opinion.
“Milky! you get down here this instant!” Steph shouted at the dog as she tried to stretch to her full height which only made it to a inch or two above me. the dog looked at her, tilting her head before barking and spinning in a circle. “Milky! No! if you’re no-” She called to the dog only for it to trip and fall off the cabinets and hit the floor like a watermelon, exploding into a pile of blue goopy mess on the heated wood floor.
Steph just stood there staring at the mess for a second before sighing and tapping the floor with her tail. “Right! Why am I even worried! Come on, those groceries aren’t going to move themselves into our fridge. Parents are too cheap to pay for that.” Steph grumbled as she slithered away from the dog now pulp on the floor.
“Steph! Your dog?!” I called her in surprise.
“Don’t worry about it…I forget half the time but she’s a mire-dog. An annoyingly dramatic one!“ She shouted.
looking down at the pile of mush with surprise and some worry. does she not care about her dog dyin-
*Wooooow* whimpered the mush pile.
“You’re alive?!” I watched in shock as the blue plup pulled together, forming her dog as if nothing happened to it. “You’re kinda like a slime huh?” I mumble to myself but the dog just gives me a head tilt as if I spoke an ancient forgotten language.
Following Steph, I found several table sized boxes and large coolers stacked in a tiled room.
“These are all from my parents….They probably saw how big some lamia get and so they send lots of veggies, meats and even some fish!” She said with a hungry smile.
Looking at the boxes I saw a few tagged or stamped with, from Starwbae and fragile. “Starwbae?” I said to myself in surprise.
“Yup! My parents own a decent sized store there and an uncle of mine runs his own little farm too! That’s actually where half this food comes from.” She told me.
“That’s cool! My mom comes from there too, she says there’s a good taco place there.” I said.
“Oh yeah! Then she must be talking about Senior Sanchez! That place has lots of tasty tacos and amazing fried fish! The way it flakes when you pull it apart and the seasonings!” Steph held her cheeks as stars glowed in her eyes. “Heavenly!”
Grabbing her boxes I began to move them into her large walk-in fridge. “Then I'll make sure to stop by if I get the chance!” I said with an excited smile.
“If you do go there then just be careful, they don’t get a lot of reptile monsters there so you’ll probably get a lot of attention.” She warned me.
“Really? Any reason why?” I asked as I grabbed another box.
“The air’s a little too breezy for my liking, sorta like ice cubes rubbing up and down my back. Other than that I don't know….. Though there is a legend that the one who established the town used some warding magic making the crops grow better. Maybe it keeps the air more fresh than other places?” Steph said as she clawed at her arm cast.
“Well you know how it is, small towns and their secret histories, though I hope it’s for a good reason and not something creepy.” I said nervously.
“Oh yeah! I like my horror to be strictly on the screen and not breaking down my door.” Steph chuckled.
“Same!” I quickly agreed.
After taking care of her groceries, Steph brought me over to her living room, It had a really big TV and several couches. multiple potted plants that each smelled like breezy perfume and a sky light that let sun pour right onto the couches.
“I know it’s not much but I think I owe you my thanks for helping me out today.” She said as she pulled out a brown box.
I opened it to find a copy of Deluxe-man a complete collection! “Why’d you get this?” I asked trying to hold back my bubbling excitement.
“Weeeell. You did say this one was super interesting so I was hoping you’d watch a couple episodes together.” She said slyly looking at the floor.
My eyes widened as I instantly popped up in front of her. “Would I ever! It’s been a long time since I last saw this! I hope you enjoy the epic theme song!” I said as I opened the case.
