Volume 14 - Onward and Upward, Chapter 100 - Flower Viewing

On a beautiful morning in late April, there wasn't a cloud in the sky or even in the weather forecast. It was shaping up to be the perfect day for Iormu's Christmas present to Quess: three tickets to a day-long flower viewing bus tour.

Iormu left the cabin dressed in a flower-patterned black sundress with her long purple hair back in a single massive braid. It was much more manageable that way, and it was less likely to get tangled up in either of the slimegirls in her life.

In Iormu's arms, Pwess wriggled excitedly as a familiar Hummer limousine pulled to a stop in the Inn's gravel driveway. The young slime 'wore' a summery dress just as pink and translucent as the rest of her body.

Quess was in a similar dress, though it boasted a lot more detail and some impressive cleavage. She climbed inside the limo first, then Iormu passed Pwess up to her. Iormu slithered inside and the huge SUV limo lowered a couple inches from the weight, but it's sturdy suspension handled it just fine.

Pwess immediately started exploring the expansive interior. The last time she rode in the limo, she'd been too excited about ComicMon to really appreciate it. "Ooh, this is so cool! The chairs are sideways, and there's curtains on all the windows," she said as she clambered over the sofa-like seats.

Quess put a gelatinous hand on Pwess's head and patted her purple slime-hair. Then she smiled lovingly and said, "Pick a seat and buckle up, princess. I don't want to have to scrape you off the ceiling if we hit a bump."

"Okay, Mommy," Pwess answered. She obediently settled into a seat, but never stopped vibrating with excitement.

On the other side of the limo, Iormu was sprawled across all the seats. Since their little family had the whole limo to themselves, she figured she might as well use it. It wasn't often that Iormu could spread out so comfortably, after all.

As the limo Hummer rumbled off down the hill, Pwess bounced in her seat and asked, "Are we gonna ride in this all over Japan and see all the flowers?"

Iormu shook her head, but she kept it low since her horns could easily gouge the plush ceiling if she wasn't careful. The ceiling already had a discreet line of stitches where something similar must have occurred in the past. She answered, "No, we're only taking this to the bus station in Yamagata City, then we'll ride a bus to see the flowers."

It took about fifteen minutes to drive down the mountain to the town of Okayado, and another thirty to get to the much larger city of Yamagata. The highway between the two had to wind and maneuver through steep mountains, making the drive take longer than the distance alone would suggest.

Before long, Pwess was bored of looking out the window. Having grown up on a mountain, the mountainous terrain wasn't anything special to her. She leapt to her feet the second the limo came to a stop, cheering, "Yay, bus time!"

"Not quite yet, Pwess," Iormu said. In reality, it would still be ten minutes before the tour bus even started boarding, and another twenty before it would depart. "But you can play outside for a while." Rather than sitting idly for thirty minutes, Iormu and Quess decided to let Pwess run around and burn off some energy.

While her parents sat on a bench, Pwess ran all around the outside of the bus depot, climbing a couple trees and picking up twigs and pebbles in her gelatinous body. Some were on accident, but some she grabbed because they looked cool.

Eventually, Quess called out, "Pwess! It's time to go! And make sure you get cleaned up like I taught you."

Pwess squinted in focus for a moment, then with a single WHUMP, all the dirt and rocks and sticks were shunted right out of her body. They fell to the lawn unceremoniously and Pwess proclaimed, "K, all ready, mommy!"

"Good job. Now, let's get boarded and settled in," Quess said as she approached the bus. She turned to Iormu and added, "Hopefully it isn't too full for you to fit."

Iormu smiled. "It won't be. When I booked the trip, I asked if they could accommodate my size. They said it wouldn't be a problem at all, since these tours never fill up an entire bus, and the bus seats are removable. There should already be a big open spot for us."

There was indeed an open spot, but it was at the back. To get to it, the little liminal family had to pass by all the passengers that had already boarded. There were about a dozen other passengers, all human, and they were all surprised to see Iormu, Quess, and Pwess. Hushed whispers had started even before they boarded, when the approaching liminals had been spotted through the windows.

Iormu winced at the thought of having to explain her unusual family to a bus full of tourists. "Oof, I hadn't thought about this part."

Quess gave Iormu's scaly hand a squeeze and said, "Don't worry about it. I've got this." She put on her biggest smile and stepped onto the bus first. She bowed her head to the bus driver, a middle-aged man with a beard and a warm smile, and handed over her three tickets. Then she turned to address the passengers.

Quess spoke clearly and confidently, channeling her old royal persona, but dampening it with the modesty that she'd learned, "Hello, everyone. I realize my family and I look a bit strange and maybe even scary, but I assure you we're just here for the same flower tour as the rest of you. We're happy to chat if you have any questions, and I hope to get to know you during our wonderful day." She ended the introduction with a respectful bow and a shimmering smile.

The other passengers nodded and mumbled greetings of their own. They weren't fully comfortable yet, but they'd certainly warmed up to the idea of having liminals on the tour. Whether or not they cared about Quess and Iormu's same-sex relationship wasn't as readily apparent.

Quess strode proudly down the aisle to the open spot near the back and Iormu followed. The jormungand's body fit barely within the narrow aisle and she wasn't able to slither too far to either side.

Pwess had been walking alongside Iormu before, but for the narrow aisle she decided to climb on Iormu's tail and ride instead. She smiled adorably at the other passengers as she passed, and her wide, glistening eyes and cute mannerisms warmed their hearts.

The family settled into their spot where two rows of seats had been removed from one side of the bus. Iormu's coiled tail occupied the open floor and all three of them sat comfortably side-by-side on a bench seat.

Iormu looked around at the other passengers and was surprised at the average age. Other than the young Pwess and the impossibly old Iormu, every single person was middle-aged or elderly. She turned to Quess and whispered, "I expected to see some young lovers on dates, but maybe this just isn't romantic to the youth these days."

Quess nodded, sending ripples through her body. "That sounds right. From what I've learned from the younger customers at the flower shop, they'd rather do something exotic and spontaneous. A bus tour just isn't exciting enough."

"Ahh, I see," Iormu said with a nod of understanding. She'd been awake in this time period for a while, but it was hard to learn about human culture while stuck up on an isolated mountainside. She did like to socialize with the Inn's guests, but other liminals weren't a great source of human perspective, for obvious reasons.

"However," Quess added, "I expect we'll see some younger people at some of the most remote stops. Or more accurately, we might see some cars rocking."

Pwess heard that, but she didn't understand Quess's innuendo. She tilted her head and asked, "There will be other kids? But why would kids rock cars? Is it a game?"

Iormu blushed and said, "There might be other kids. And, uh, don't worry about the car thing, Pwess."

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Their first stop was at a scenic overlook, just off the highway. Everyone filed out of the bus to look out over the field down below, which was completely covered in flowers. Blossoms of red, yellow, and pink shone beautifully in the sun, rippling slightly in the wind. The breeze carried some of the flowers' scent up to the overlook, which got two of the tour members salivating.

"Mommy, I wanna get closer to the flowers!" Pwess whined. She leaned against the heavy wooden railing and then stretched her pink body out like a snake to reach further and further over the edge.

Quess was right there next to her, savoring the smell. "I know, princess. I do too, but we need to wait. We can touch the flowers at the next stop."

Iormu darted up behind them and swept the end of her tail out to gather up Pwess's reaching tendrils and bring her back in. "Don't lean too far out. It isn't safe," she said sternly. Slimes were remarkably durable, so Pwess probably wouldn't get hurt if she fell, but getting her back up the hillside would be no easy feat.

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"Okay, Momma. It didn't let me smell them any better anyway," Pwess said as she condensed back into a humanoid shape. Once she'd reformed her feet, complete with bare soles and ten cute little toes, she took off toward the bus, shouting, "Let's go to the next stop now! I wanna eat the flowers!"

Several of the other men and women raised an eyebrow at Pwess's desire to eat flowers, but some of them smiled. They couldn't help but be reminded of when their own kids had been that age.

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After a short drive, the bus arrived at a public park that was known for its daffodils, a flower better known in Japan as 'narcissus'. Pwess was the first one off the bus and Quess was just behind, trying to keep up with her eternally energetic daughter. Iormu kindly waited for the other passengers to exit before taking up the entire aisle with her body.

"Mommy, over here!" Pwess called as she sprinted for the closest flowers. She skidded to a stop and put her face right up near the white and yellow blossoms. "These are really pretty!"

Quess's gelatinous and voluptuous body jiggled as she ran to catch up, then she knelt down next to Pwess. She said, "Oh, you're right, Pwess. Now, do you know what the different parts of the flower are called?"

Pwess hummed in thought for a moment, her voice going echoey. "Hmmm, there's the petals!" She pointed at a daffodil's six pure white petals, and then at the plant's long green leaves. "And the stem and leaves!"

Quess had a proud smile on her face as she nodded. Pwess was around the mental maturity of a five-year old human, but her ability to learn was even better, at least when she was interested in the topic. "That's right, but there are other parts too. See the bright yellow part in the middle?" she asked.

"Yeah! What's that?" Pwess asked as she leaned even closer to the flower for a better look.

"That's the corona. Not all flowers have it though. Flower petals have another name that matches that one: corolla."

"Ahh, okay. Corona and corolla," Pwess said as she processed the information. She got close enough to the flower to get a deep whiff of its scent and even taste some of its pollen. She liked it, a lot. Then, without fully realizing she was doing it, she opened her mouth wide and ate the entire daffodil blossom.

Then Pwess looked up at her mother and smiled bashfully. "Wush 'at okay?" she said through her mouthful of rapidly dissolving flower.

Quess chuckled, but shook her head. "Just this once. From now on, we should only eat the flowers further in, and not too many, so that the park still looks pretty for the other visitors."

Meanwhile, Iormu was sunbathing on a warm patch of concrete she'd found next to an informational sign. She glanced over the sign, which was about daffodils, their history, and their uses. She wasn't paying very close attention, since flowers were much more Quess's thing, until she got to the section about poison. It turns out that all parts of the daffodil plant contain a toxic chemical called lycorine, which can cause nausea and pain in most animals and humans.

Iormu sprang up from her cozy coil and slithered like lightning toward Quess and Pwess. "Wait! Don't eat those!" she called out. The sign said that it wasn't lethal and the symptoms would pass in a few hours, but she definitely didn't want their lovely family outing ruined by daffodil poisoning.

Pwess was the first to look up at Iormu, and there was still a bit of green daffodil stem sticking out of her mouth from her latest snack. She smirked and said, "What's your problem, Momma? I like these and I'm gonna keep eating' em."

Iormu pulled back in shock. Pwess was often stubborn, but never so rude. Iormu turned to her fiancée and said, "Quess, help me out here. Daffodils are poisonous, so Pwess shouldn't eat them."

Quess turned and looked Iormu in the eye with a fierce glare. "Oh, and who made you flower expert, huh? Last I checked, I'm the one that works with flowers all day!" Bits of white and yellow flowers drifted inside Quess's body and even her head, which was a very unusual look for her. After she snapped at Iormu, she grabbed another daffodil, plucked the blossom off its stem and moved to stuff it into her open mouth.

Great… thought Iormu with a sigh. It seems that the poison has a different effect on slimegirls. Instead of nausea or pain, it makes them rude and selfish.

With a flash of her clawed fingers, Iormu snatched the flower from Quess's hand and tossed it away. Then she rose up tall and imposing over her fiancée and said, "No, Quess. These flowers are poisonous and you will eat no more." Her voice was dark and powerful, like a rushing river.

Quess froze in place, her hand still clenched around where the flower had been. "Oh," she said meekly as her senses came back to her. "So they are. And they're messing with my head. Hang on."

She squinted her eyes, focused intently, then secreted a blob of green, white, and yellow goo. It contained all the bits of flowers that had been floating in her, along with any lycorine that she'd absorbed. As the discarded blob fell to the grass, Quess turned to help Pwess.

Pwess had watched the conversation and Quess's poison expulsion, but she wasn't particularly interested. She grabbed another flower and yelled, "More for me!"

"No, put that down, Pwess. It's bad for you," Quess pleaded.

Pwess resisted for a while, but her mothers eventually succeeded. Using promises of better flowers later, they finally got her to stop eating daffodils and to spit out all the poison she'd taken in.

The no-longer-toxic Pwess frowned and said, "I'm sorry, Momma and Mommy. I didn't mean to be all mean." Her voice was sorrowful and tinny, like a mourning bell.

Quess wrapped her in a slimy embrace and said, "It's not your fault. I should have known better, especially with my job." She smiled and added, "I'll find some safe flowers at the next stop and we'll eat those together, okay?"

Pwess grinned up at her and nodded. "Okay!"

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The next leg of the tour was a bit longer, giving Quess plenty of time to chat with other passengers while Pwess played with Iormu. Slimes were some of the least relatable liminals for most people, since they shared so little physiology with humans, but Quess had charisma to spare. She hit it off wonderfully with two old ladies and a middle-aged couple.

"How old is your daughter?" one elderly woman asked in a raspy but kind voice.

"About seven months," Quess replied nonchalantly.

The woman blinked and leaned her ear in closer. "Did you say seven years?"

Quess smiled and said, "No, seven months. Pwess was born on September 30th. Slimes reach toddler maturity almost instantly, then continue growing at about four times the pace of human children. But she's at about the level of a five-year-old, if that helps."

"Oh," the older woman managed through her surprise. "That's impressive!"

The middle-aged man leaned in then. In a hushed tone, he said, "So she's just a slime? Not half, uh, naga?"

Quess nodded. "She got some aesthetic features from her other mother Iormu, who's a Jormungand, by the way, but she's fundamentally a Queen Pink Slime like me."

Of the four humans gathered around Quess, only the younger woman seemed to react to the 'other mother' part of that sentence. The way she winced suggested that she wasn't comfortable with the lesbian relationship, Pwess's lack of a father, or both. Quess decided not to pursue it.

She wouldn't have had time for that conversation anyway, since the bus soon arrived at the next destination. Once again, Pwess was eager to explore, so Quess excused herself from the others and joined Iormu and Pwess as they wandered the flower-filled park.

This particular stop had neatly trimmed grass lawns in between vibrant flower beds. Pwess loved the feel of grass on her feet, so she was more interested in running than eating flowers, at least for the moment.

As Iormu watched Pwess zipping around, she asked, "Did you talk to Pwess about not damaging the flower beds?"

"Yep," Quess said. "She won't eat any visible flowers, or take too many. And all the flowers here are safe to eat, too."

Then Quess slid close to Iormu's side and said, "On the topic of flowers… The other day, I was talking to old lady Kawahara who owns the flower shop. She said she's been really enjoying her time off, and she wants to retire for real."

Iormu's eyes went wide with worry. She asked, "What does that mean for your job at the shop? Is she closing it down?" Quess's job was their only income, and even though the exchange program covered most expenses, they needed to save money for Pwess's future.

"No, nothing like that. Actually, she wants to sell me the flower shop," Quess said. Her voice was level, but she was practically bubbling with excitement.

Iormu smiled wide and nearly shouted, "That's amazing!" The shop's just a little two room part of a larger building, Iormu thought, so we could actually afford to buy it. And then Quess would start bringing home even more money!

Quess continued, "She also said she wanted to move south, where the winters aren't so harsh." She paused, then dropped the really big news, "She offered to sell me her house too."

With surprising speed, Iormu wrapped Quess in a hug that would have broken bones if Quess had any. She cheered, "Oh my gods, we could have our very own home in Okayado? It's too good to be true!" Her massive tail whipped through the air with audible speed as she wiggled with happiness.

But then she stopped and her expression fell. "It's literally too good to be true," Iormu said. "We can't possibly afford to buy the shop and a house right now. If we buy the shop, that house would be long sold by the time we had a savings again.

Quess just smiled and gave Iormu's shoulder a loving squeeze. "Maybe we can buy both. I heard about a thing the Extraspecies Exchange Program is doing, where former exchange participants that choose to stay in Japan can get financial assistance toward their first home purchase."

"Former participants," Iormu said with a frown. "We still have to put in our time in the program, Quess. I looked into it before Christmas, when we were first talking about moving out. It takes a minimum of a year to graduate from the Exchange Program and become a formal resident of Japan. You may be nearing it, since you met Yuisu first, but I'm still a few months away."

Quess's smile didn't fade even a little. She said, "Exceptions can always be made, and you know Agent Will would help us."

Iormu nodded at that. He wasn't the most responsible person, but he had always come through for them when they needed it most.

Quess added, "You already put some time towards a similar exchange program in the USA which he might be able to count retroactively, and we've got another reason right there." She pointed at Pwess, who was dancing around in the grassy field, having a wonderful time. "I'd say that having a child puts some major pressure on the Exchange Program to let us graduate and get our own home."

A hint of a smile crept onto Iormu's face. "Yeah, I suppose that's true." Suddenly the amazing opportunity to own their own home seemed not only possible, but within reach.

The smile turned into a grin as Iormu said, "Let's make sure to mention that Pwess needs schooling, too. If we move into town, I'm sure we could find a program where she'd be with other kids her own, uh, age."

Strictly speaking, the other kids in such a class would be much older than Pwess, but she would grow and outpace them quickly. Because of that, Iormu had considered homeschooling, but that would deprive Pwess of much needed social interaction.

Quess wrapped a gooey arm around Iormu's waist. "Good point. I'll call Agent Will and pester him first thing after we get home. But for now, let's forget about that heavy stuff and play with Pwess!" With that Quess took off at a jog to join Pwess, who was rolling in the grass and nibbling a bright orange flower.

"Fine. If we must…" Iormu joked, then she slithered through the sun-warmed field to join her beloved slimegirls.