Volume 15 - Back to Business, Chapter 113 - Show and Tell

Friday night had always been the Wild Life's biggest night and that only became more true as new customers came to town. Thankfully, Rohe's job as a middle school math teacher let out early enough for her to leisurely shower and get dressed up and still beat the rush. There was only a short line and no cover charge when she walked under the nightclub's neon sign of a kobold holding a beer bottle.

At six and half feet tall, Rohe was tall for a woman, but she was still shorter than the friendly orc bouncer at the door. It was actually refreshing to be shorter than a man for once and she found it attractive, but she was pretty sure Mimi had mentioned that the orc was in a relationship. She was only 'pretty sure' because memories of drinking conversations were never perfectly reliable.

She showed him her ID, which confirmed that she was a graduate of the Exchange Program and didn't need a host chaperone, then made her way inside. Once her eyes had adjusted to the darker interior, Rohe beelined for the bar where she could already see the unnaturally pink hair of her favorite bartender.

Rohe took the seat all the way on the end of the bar, next to the wall. There were a couple other barstools available, but that one was ideal for her plans for the night: talking to her new friend.

The red-skinned oni waved and said, "Hey, Mimi. Been busy this week?"

The mimic blinked vacantly. "You have no idea. I've served so many new faces I can't keep 'em straight."

Rohe tilted her head and fluttered her eyes in an attempt at cuteness. "But you do remember my pretty face, right?"

Mimi stuck her tongue out and pretended to gag. "Cute is not your look, Rohe."

Rohe shrugged slightly, a practiced move that kept her shoulder-spikes from colliding with her head. "That's fair. I'm definitely more of a tomboy these days." Then she added, "Can I get my regular?"

"Already on it," Mimi said, then handed Rohe her standard large beer. "So you used to be cute and girly, once upon a time?" she asked, fishing for a certain story that Rohe had teased.

Rohe smiled and said, "Nuh-uh, you're not getting that story just yet." She lifted her bottle and said, "I want a couple of these in me first."

"That's what she said!" Mimi said with a lewd grin.

Surprisingly, Rohe didn't smile back. "Ugh, you wouldn't believe how many times I hear that at work. Teenage boys are like parrots, echoing the same dumb jokes at each other all the time."

Mimi nodded ponderously and said, "Hmm, I'll need to step up my game with some new material. I heard a really naughty joke last night, if you wanna hear it." Then she raised a single finger. "Right after this, that is." With that, she rolled away to check on another customer.

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The two women held a fractured sort of conversation for a couple more hours while Mimi tended to the ever growing group of patrons, and while Rohe got more and more tipsy.

At around 11, the crowd at the bar suddenly thinned, leaving just Rohe and a single couple who were snuggled close on the opposite end of the bar. Judging by the commotion on the dancefloor, Rohe could tell where everyone had gone, but not why.

"Uh, Mimi, what's going on?" Rohe asked. She was buzzed enough to be both very curious about the situation and unable to puzzle it out herself.

Mimi rolled up close and said, "Oh, it's 'E-leven', a new thing we're trying out. From 11 to midnight, we play some older electronic music that's good for dancing." She rose up tall over the bar, lifted by her tendrils, to get a better look. Then she said, "And it looks like May is stealing the show again."

"May?" Rohe asked.

"Kyle the bouncer's girlfriend. She can dance like no one I've ever seen. It's almost enough to make me jealous," Mimi said with a smirk.

Rohe nodded, "Ah, I think you mentioned her before." Then she downed the last bit of her bottle of beer and said, "How about you buy my next one, and I'll tell you that story?"

Mimi narrowed her eyes and asked, "The one about sex and scandal and blueberries?"

Rohe smiled mischievously. "The very one."

Mimi reached under the bar, into one of the many beer coolers there, then placed a large bottle of Asahi Super Dry in front of Rohe. "Deal," she said emphatically.

Rohe took a sip from her new bottle, cleared her throat, and began, "This was back before the Exchange Act was signed, before liminals were allowed to be seen by humans. I was fifteen, but no one had never told me about mankind."

"I lived with my parents deep in the mountains, and I was happy. I had always loved to learn about animals and plants and the physical forces I could observe. And I loved to explore."

"I found a beautiful spring with a waterfall and a soft sandy bottom, perfect for bathing, and I visited it often. But it must have been out of range of the charms that kept humans away from our house."

Mimi could sense something interesting was coming, so she leaned close with an eager expression.

Rohe continued, "One day, while I was bathing, a human hiker must have stumbled onto me. I never knew he was there, but he took photos and tried to sell them online."

"It didn't take long for the Interspecies Secrecy Association to catch wind of that. They were especially hard on the man because I was under 18." Rohe paused to point at the spike on her left shoulder. "I looked mature for my age, but the Association could tell because my shoulder spikes hadn't fully grown yet."

"They arrested him on charges of distributing child pornography, then quickly cleaned up any traces of the photos. But once something's online, it can never really be deleted…"

Rohe shook her head and said, "I'm getting ahead of myself. The ISA also went searching for me, to see whether I was consciously involved in the breach of liminal secrecy. My parents heard about it through a network of other liminals, thanks to one who had overheard the ISA agents talking about me. Liminals really had to work together to stay hidden from humans back then."

"So my parents explained the situation to me, and it blew my mind. They were worried I'd be upset about the man spying on me, but I was much more interested in this new 'photograph' technology, and the fact that an entire race of people had existed just outside my view for so long."

"But my parents were terrified that the ISA would take me away, so they hatched a plan." Rohe suddenly took on a very teacher-like air and said, "Mimi, something you need to know about oni is that our skin can range from red to blue and is determined randomly at birth. It doesn't seem to be based on parentage, since my mother was blue and my father was a deep red." Her own light red skin wasn't close to either of those.

Mimi nodded, wondering where the story was going, and why she needed an oni-skin-color lesson.

Rohe answered the unspoken question, "The agents were looking for a young red oni, so my parents planned to change my skin color."

Mimi blurted out, "Oh my god, this is where blueberries come in?"

Rohe smiled. "Yep. They gathered tons of blueberries and smashed 'em up and made me soak in them. I had to get it everywhere just in case the agents conducted a physical examination. My hair got dyed too, but it conveniently matched my mom's."

She took a deep breath and said, "I never wanted to see a blueberry again after that. But it worked. When the agents came, they took one look at me and how purple I was and just asked my parents if they had any relatives in the area. We legitimately didn't, but we mentioned that some other oni had been traveling through recently, to give a probable explanation."

Mimi interrupted, "Did that really get the agents off your case?"

"Yeah, trying to locate the girl in the photo was more about due diligence than anything else, since they'd caught the guy before he told anyone else where he saw me."

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"But what about the internet photos? You mentioned they weren't fully deleted?" Mimi asked.

Rohe held up both hands in a 'hold on' gesture. "I was just about to get to that." She took a slow breath, then returned to her story.

"I stayed purple for a few days, just in case, but eventually I had to wash it out. I was able to wash my face at home, but I went back to my spring to wash the rest. I started to undress"—Rohe's face flushed redder as she recounted the scene—"but a man suddenly ran out of the bushes, babbling that he wasn't trying to peek."

"Well, 'man' isn't quite correct. He was fifteen as well, and his name was Kaito. He had golden sun-bleached hair, firm muscles, and a handsome face."

"We talked for a while, and he was very honest and kind. He admitted that he came looking after hearing rumors of oni in the mountains. At this point, I was just as curious about humans as he was about oni, so we traded information."

"Eventually, something that had been itching at the back of my mind came out. I asked how he knew I'd be at that specific spring."

"He turned red and said that he had recognized the waterfall from the photo."

"I mumbled, 'The photo?', wondering if that was short for photograph, that new technology my parents had explained."

"He meekly said, 'The one of an oni bathing here.' That was when I finally put the pieces together. I stammered, 'Y-you… you saw me n-naked?!'"

"Kaito just nodded solemnly."

Rohe leaned across the bar and loudly whispered, "Now, Mimi, you gotta understand that oni have strong sex drives and my hormones were going wild. And I'd met men of several liminal species, but none were as handsome as Kaito."

Mimi nodded. She of all people knew about high sex drives.

Rohe continued, "I was blushing and my heart was beating like a drum, but I came up with a plan. With all the confidence I could muster, I said, 'Well, it is only fair that I see you naked too.'"

"He yelped in surprise, but I nodded solemnly, mimicking his nod from earlier. Then I said, 'Yes, it is the only way for us to clear this blood debt.'"

'"B-Blood debt?" Kaito said, shivering with fear."

"I said, 'Oh yes, in Oni culture, any unfair exchange results in a blood debt. If it can't be made fair, the debtor's life is forfeit.' That was all a lie, of course."

Mimi laughed aloud and said, "I like your style, Rohe."

Rohe grinned and said, "Well, Kaito agreed and stripped, and I liked what I saw. Kaito was an avid hiker and climber, so he was more muscular than most boys his age, but very lean and handsome by oni standards."

"But then he said that he'd only seen a single blurry photo while I got to see him naked in person, so now it wasn't fair in the other direction. I couldn't argue with his logic, at least not without admitting the blood debt thing was a lie. So I stripped naked."

Mimi looked like she had something she wanted to say, but she was holding it back. She waved for Rohe to continue.

"Kaito looked very confused, and I thought that he didn't like how I looked, but then I realized my body was still dyed blue. I explained that it was a disguise and I had come to the spring to wash it off."

"Kaito nodded, but his eyes were glued to my chest. Blue or not, he liked what he saw."

"I shyly blushed and jumped in the water. As I was scrubbing myself, I looked over to find Kaito still naked, sitting on the shore with his knees tucked to his chest."

"I said, 'What're you hiding for? I'm on display out here. Do you want another blood debt?'"

"He mumbled something I couldn't make out. I approached him, standing tall right in front of him. 'What was that?' I asked."

"In the most wavery voice, he said, 'Uh, I uh, got aroused…'"

"I asked what he meant. I knew the word, but not why it would make someone hide. I told him to just stand up."

"I still remember his exact words: 'I can't show you this. It would be rude.'"

"I replied, 'Hiding yourself is what's rude,' then I grabbed his arms and lifted him upright. I was a bit bigger and a lot stronger, so it was no trouble. Then I looked down and saw something else upright."

"Hey, Mimi," a new voice interrupted, "Can I get a glass of water?" It was Chione, approaching from the front door where she'd been working the line. Then she saw Rohe and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

As Mimi filled a glass with ice and water, Rohe looked at the gargoyle and said, "No problem. You're a friend of Mimi's too?"

Chione nodded energetically. "Yep, we've been besties for years and years! My name's Chione." She offered a stony hand.

Rohe shook it, but in her tipsy state she put a bit too much force into it. Thankfully Chione could barely feel it. "I'm Rohe. It's nice to meet you."

Mimi handed Chione the water and said, "Rohe's been in a few times. She's my favorite customer, and a good storyteller."

Rohe teetered on her barstool as she turned to Chione and said, "Hey, do you want to hear my story too? It's at a really good part."

Mimi fiercely shook her head. "No, she'll pass. She isn't into, uh, the male physique."

Chione pouted. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good story."

Mimi looked her dead in the eye. "Rohe was just about to describe a man's throbbing cock."

Chione pivoted on the spot. "Mimi was right. I'll pass!" she said as she walked briskly away.

Mimi couldn't help but giggle, then she turned back to Rohe with a smile. "You were saying?"

Rohe resumed, "Oh, he was throbbing alright, but also embarrassed and so damn adorable. He was really worried, like he'd committed a grave sin, and I felt bad for him. Without thinking, I pulled him into a hug, but that just pressed it against me."

A glint appeared in her red eyes. "And my naked body being pressed against him only made him harder."

Mimi had a thirsty look in her eyes. "Then you screwed, right?"

"Like rabbits," Rohe answered with a grin. "We did it laying on the moss, and on our knees in the shallows of the spring, and even up against the trees. We came back to that spring every day for weeks. It was amazing while it lasted."

Mimi's smile faded as she realized the implications of that last sentence. "So why'd it end?" she asked.

Rohe patted Mimi on the forearm and said, "That's a sad story for another night. For now, I'm gonna get on the dance floor and see if I can find a man to press against me. Remembering that stuff has me horny as hell."

Mimi giggled in understanding. "Alright. Have fun out there, Rohe," she called after the departing oni. Then she shifted her legs uncomfortably and tried to distract herself with wiping off the bar. The story had made her horny too…

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Refreshed by the cold water, the freshly embarrassed Chione went back to the door. "Thanks for filling in, Kyle," she said, waving to the massive orc, "I can take door duty again."

Kyle smiled but shook his head. "Nah, I got this. I like working the door, and you need more experience with the rest of the job." He pointed back into the club with a thumb and added, "Maybe start with a sweep of the booths and the women's room for any, uh, trouble."

"Oh, alright. Will do!" she said with a cheerful salute. The job could be tiring, but it was always varied and interesting enough that she was rarely bored.

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Chione spun around and went back into the club, but the men waiting in line kept their eyes on her as she left. She didn't seem to realize how good she looked in her short pleated skirt and slightly-too-tight Wild Life t-shirt.

At first, Chione wasn't sure what Kyle meant by 'trouble', since altercations rarely happened in the booths or in the women's restroom. The bar and dancefloor were where most fights broke out. Then she saw the kind of trouble Kyle had been referring to.

In a corner booth, tucked away almost entirely out of sight from the dance floor, a couple was deep in a very intimate kiss. In fact, they had their hands up under each other's clothes, some of which were coming undone.

The club had to follow ordinances regarding indecent exposure, but they also had to intervene if a human and liminal ever got close to breaking the Interspecies Protection Act. Outside of specifically-approved marriage, sex still violated the Act.

"Um, excuse me?" Chione said, far too quiet to hear over the loud music.

The couple didn't notice, continuing to make out and paw at each other vigorously.

Chione turned up her volume. "Excuse me! I must ask you to stop," she nearly yelled.

That got their attention, and the man and woman peeled their lips off each other and turned in unison. Chione saw then that the woman was definitely a liminal. She had furry ears and forearms, with paw-like hands. The man was most likely human, with straight black hair covering one eye. They were both wearing primarily black clothes with indecipherable logos on their shirts.

Damn, Chione thought to herself. She was really hoping they were both liminals, so she could just tell them to keep it clean in public. But he looks human, so I think I need to file a report… Chione dreaded this part of the job, since it could break up happy couples. It was really similar to why Haru had quit her career as an executrix for the Harpy Nation.

As if reading her mind, the woman blurted, "Wait! It's okay! We're engaged, so it's okay for us to, uh, you know…"

While Chione's eyes had amazing vision in the dark, they weren't so great once flashing lights were thrown into the mix, meaning she hadn't gotten a good look at the couple. The woman's voice seemed familiar, so she blinked and gave them a closer inspection.

Fuzzy ears, red eyes, some sort of metal-band t-shirt, Chione thought. Then it hit her. "Wait, are you… Lyca?"

The woman blinked in turn. "Chione?"

Unlike her other housemates, Chione had never visited the Zoic Inn and had only met Lyca briefly when the werewolf had paid the main house a visit. But that was almost two weeks ago. I thought her stay at the Mountain Lily Inn had ended?

"Yeah, that's me," Chione answered. "But what are you still doing in town? And what's this about being engaged? You were boasting about your new boyfriend just two weeks ago."

Lyca grinned from ear to ear, her massive sharp teeth glinting in the dim light. "Well, on the last night of our stay, Akahito proposed! Since I'm an Exchange Program graduate, it was easy to get the marriage approved."

The man, apparently named Akahito, nodded along, then quietly said, "Yep. Then we extended our stay at the inn, making it an early honeymoon."

Chione burst into a smile of her own and said, "That's wonderful! I'm very happy for you both." Then her smile faded and her face grew stern and stony. "But regardless of your approved marriage, while you're in the nightclub you need to keep your clothes on and your hands outside of them."

Akahito and Lyca blushed in unison. They babbled some apologies, then Lyca said, "In any case, it's getting late, so I think we're gonna head back to the inn. Tell Yuisu thanks again for letting us extend our stay on such short notice. It's just been so great in Okayado, with the club and hot spring, and all the other liminals around."

Akahito, looking a little tipsy compared to the sober Lyca, added, "We're actually thinking of moving here. Maybe just a summer home, if the next album hits it big."

Chione nodded firmly. "I'll let her know, and it's great that you're enjoying it here. I've gotta get back to work, but I'm sure I'll see you around!" With that, she waved and resumed her circuit of the club, looking for any other trouble or overly-affectionate couples.

The nightclub was winding down so the closest thing to trouble she found was a man passed out in a booth. She woke him up, made sure he had some water and a ride home, and went on her way.

To the drunk man, she looked like an angel, a beautiful guardian sent from above. He might have fallen in love with her, had he been able to remember the encounter.