Volume 5 - Slime Time, Chapter 28 - Too Many Questions

“Welcome home, Haru!” Yuisu practically cheered as she pulled Haru into a hug.

After the hug, Haru smiled but tilted her head questioningly. “What’s with the hero’s welcome? I wasn’t gone that long.”

“You could say I’m in a bit of a mood, alright?” Yuisu answered with a half smile. Her green eyes gleamed as she swept them over Haru’s body, pausing almost imperceptibly over specific areas. “Would you like to visit my room?”

Haru knew a predatory look when she saw one, and she could tell Yuisu’s question was definitely more like a demand. Before Haru could even nod in consent, Yuisu grabbed her by the wing and started pulling her down the hall.

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A few minutes later, in the guest room down the hall, Quess’s tendrils quivered suddenly. She had been absentmindedly nibbling on a flower, but a much stronger source of nutrients was calling out to her. Even through her closed door, she could sense the wafting pheromones.

Quess stepped out of her room and followed the scent, thick and sweet, around the corner. Immediately, the source was clear; if sexual energy were visible, a pink-purple cloud of it would have been billowing out of Yuisu’s room.

The door was slightly ajar, letting the sounds and scents of the lovemaking inside escape. Did Yuisu leave the door open just so I could absorb some energy? I didn’t think she’d actually do that for me… She really is a gracious host, Quess thought as she silently approached Yuisu’s room.

Not wanting to risk interrupting their moment, Quess carefully leaned against the wall next to the door and sat down. She basked in the warm energies pouring from within. The flow of energy was so strong that Quess had to consciously focus on storing it all. Not wanting to pry into Haru and Yuisu’s private life, she tried to tune out the sounds coming from in the bedroom, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Suddenly a voice cried out in passion, almost inhuman in its ecstasy. After the first trembling squawk, Quess could hear more quivering sighs and then the sweet whispers of another voice. Once again, Quess attempted to ignore the noise and focused on taking in all the tantric energy, but mere moments later she was distracted again.

“Yes, yes, Yuisu!” cried Haru’s voice from inside, and with it came another wave of potent energy for Quess to absorb.

No way, again so soon?! Quess marveled. What’s her technique? She tried to keep calm and just keep storing the incoming vitality, but her curiosity won out. Quess leaned over and turned to peer through the gap in the door. Just a peek, of course, she assured herself as her eyes took in the dimly lit room.

Quess’s gaze settled on the edge of the bed. Haru was laying naked on the bed, but Yuisu was kneeling on the carpeted floor. She was also naked and she had a harpy leg over each shoulder.

CREEEAAAKK! Just then, the wooden hallway floor creaked loudly under Quess’s shifting weight.

Yuisu pulled her head back and turned toward the sound, and saw a pink slime girl, with her crown askew and a shocked expression on her face. While Quess flushed even pinker, Yuri-su just grinned and held up two dripping fingers in a ‘V’ shape.

Quess jumped up and fled back down the hallway to her room. She had already stored up enough energy, after all, and she was never meant to see all of that. As she sat in her room, full and sluggish from the feast she had just gorged herself on, Quess couldn’t help but recall what she had seen.

Was it ‘V for Victory’? she wondered, thinking of Yuisu’s raised fingers. Or was it a peace sign? A strangely erotic gesture of friendship and forgiveness? Quess laid flat on the floor and looked at the ceiling. Or was it the number two? Was she counting orgasms? Had she been hoping all along that I’d watch, just so she could boast?

Quess quivered from tendrils to toes at the thought. “An admirable blend of power, philanthropy, and perversion. I must remember to never again cross Yuisu,” Quess whispered to herself as she slipped into a veritable food coma.

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“For those just tuning in, we’ve got a major new development in the ongoing story about the Satyr Nation,” said a female reporter on the TV. “We had previously said that the all-male satyr race needed to breed with human women in order to reproduce, however we are now receiving reports of the existence of female satyrs. We’re going live to Dr. Arima, who has more information.”

Haru and Yuisu snuggled on the couch, only half paying attention to the TV. Tsuen and Mara were playing a card game on the floor, but Tsuen had set her cards down and was watching the news story intently. Quess sat a few feet away in an armchair, sitting perfectly upright and looking every bit the role of queen. Just by being there, she was actually enjoying a light snack, thanks to Haru and Yuisu’s displays of affection.

The scene on the television changed to a bland room with an elderly man in a lab coat. “Thank you, Kyoko. I am here with a genuine female satyr, or satyress, and we have some amazing new insights to share. Thank you for joining us, Shire,” Dr. Arima said.

The camera panned over to include a cheerful red-headed girl with large horns and goat legs. She wore tiny overall shorts, clashing strongly with Dr. Arima’s stuffy lab coat. “Glad ta be here,” she said with an odd lilting accent.

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“So if I’m understanding this correctly, you are an envoy for an entire country of female satyrs?” the doctor asked.

“Aye, that’s correct. We had nae revealed ourselves ta humanity before, but now we’re willin’ ta join the global community. We’ll also be followin’ the hoofsteps of other liminals and be participatin’ in Japan’s cultural exchange program.”

“So what triggered this change of heart, Shire?”

“Well, that would have ta be the story about the all-male Satyr Nation. Prior ta that broadcast, my country thought that all satyrs were female! It seems that the two communities had been fully isolated from each other fer hundreds, if nae thousands, o’ years.”

The doctor straightened his glasses. “Aha! By keeping themselves secret from humanity, they had stayed secret from each other as well. But how can a species survive as a single gender?”

Shire smiled sheepishly and said, “A satyress can breed with any human male, and that union’ll always produce another female satyr. It seems the same be true for male satyrs with human women, except always resultin’ in a male satyr baby. Both countries had ta steal away humans in order ta reproduce.”

“What an excellent summation, Shire. And that brings me to the most exciting announcement of the day: Male and female satyrs can mate, and it seems that a satyr baby of either gender is possible!” Dr. Arima ran his hand through his greying hair. “Needless to say, the two satyr countries are in talks right now to reunite and thus reduce their dependence on human partners.”

He turned to the camera and smiled enthusiastically. “Now this is only speculation on my part, but I bet other two-gendered extraspecies races can reproduce with humans in this same way. But this also raises an even more exciting question! Could other liminal species, currently believed to be all male or all female, someday find their other half, lost to time and history?”

The feed cut back to the reporter in the studio, Kyoko, who was fluttering her eyes at the camera. “Imagine an entire race of lonely liminals finding their long lost love! Ooh, it’s so romantic!”

Tsuen turned back to the card game and picked up her cards. “What he said is true you know,” she said casually.

“What is?” Mara asked.

“The part about other races reproducing that way. There are both male and female centaurs, but they can interbreed with humans too.”

Mara leaned forward, curious. “Really?! And does the centaur’s gender determine the baby’s?”

Tsuen shrugged. “Possibly. I’ve only personally heard about a female centaur, a famous jouster, mating with a human. In that case the baby centaur was indeed female.”

Mara rubbed her chin. “Well, that’s how arachne always breed. Having both male and female like you centaurs is weird.” She turned around and scanned past Haru and Yuisu, muttering, “I already know how your people reproduce…”

She cast her gaze on Quess. “So, Quess… how is slime babby formed?”

Quess looked caught off guard, and not just by Mara’s reference to an ancient internet meme. “Uh, um, uh...” She shook herself and straightened back up. “That’s no question to ask of a queen!”

Mara giggled. “Are you too prude to talk about it?”

Even Tsuen joined the teasing. “Or she doesn’t even know!”

“I do too know! A queen must know a great deal about a wide variety of things.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah? Then what’s with all the stalling, your slimeness?”

“I’m not stalling! I’ll have you know that slimes are so superior to your races that they can reproduce with anyone they want!” At that, Quess’s eyes flicked to Yuisu for an instant, but no one else noticed.

Haru tilted her head. “Any species? Really?”

Quess nodded arrogantly. “A slime can choose the best possible mate with the best survival features, from any species or gender, to continue the flawless legacy of the subterranean kingdom.”

Mara crawled closer, legitimately curious now. “Oh yeah? How’s that work?”

Quess squirmed a little. “Well, uh, they use some of their partner’s… what do you call it…”

“Sperm?” Mara guessed.

“Love juices?” Yuisu offered.

Tsuen glared at them for being such perverts, then said, “DNA?”

“Yeah, that one!” Quess’s mental state was degenerating quickly, and her voice had started to take on a sonar-ping sound. “You mix the deenay all up and then put it in one part of you, then you split in half!” She waved her hands in the air. “Tada! Two slimeys! The new one gets her persal… personat… personality from the other mama or papa!”

Yuisu and Haru exchanged a glance, wondering what had just happened to Quess. Not only were they still cuddling, but their escapades the night before should have given the slime plenty of stored energy. Quess shouldn’t have been starving, but she sure was acting like it.

Yuisu was rather concerned. “Are you okay, Quess? You’re getting a little… ditsy again.”

“Quess is fine!”

“Then why are you acting, for lack of a better word... dumb?”

“I already told you, silly! Being smart is hard. You all ask lotsa questions, so I hadda make up lotsa answers. Lying iz hard!”

“I knew it!” Haru jumped up from the couch, nearly dumping Yuisu onto the floor.

Quess’s eyes went wide and she crouched back against her chair, pulling her legs to her chest.

Haru stepped forward. “I bet she’s been lying about everything!”

“Scaryyy!” Quess cried, then she shrunk down into a ball. Within a couple seconds, she had fully reverted to her blob form. She cowered in the corner of the chair, covering her eyes with her single yellow-tipped tendril.

Yuisu grabbed Haru by the back of her jeans and said, “Stop it, Haru. You’re scaring her.”

Haru took a deep breath and sat back down on the couch. “Fine, but I don’t trust her, not even when she’s tiny.”

Tsuen saw Quess and clapped her hands together and smiled. “Yay! She’s cute and cuddly again!”

“…yay… that’s so great…” Mara said unenthusiastically, already jealous of the attention the Quess-blob was getting.

Tsuen scooted forward on her knees and held her arms out to the slime.

Quess stopped hiding and bounced into Tsuen’s waiting arms. “Quess likes Tsuey!”

Yuisu sat upright and leaned forward. “Aren’t any of you worried about how quickly Quess got stupid? She should have been well fed for a while still…”

Tsuen hugged Quess to her chest as she said, “Well, she said that it was hard to answer all your questions. Maybe that burns through her energy really fast?”

Yuisu scratched her chin. “That certainly would make some sense. The last time she shrunk was right after I grilled her on her homeland.”

“So she isn’t naturally smart, and has to strain herself to keep up? That’s so sad,” Tsuen said and patted the Quess-blob gently on the head.

“Don’t be sad, Tsuey!” Quess said in her echoing voice. “Big Quess says she doesn’t like being small, but Big Quess isn’t the boss of me!”

Yuisu and Haru tilted their heads in unison, and Yuisu asked, “Are you, uh, a different person than ‘Big Quess’?”

“Yep! There’s Little Quess and there’s Big Quess!”

“Uh huh…” Haru thought for a second, then threw her wings in the air. “That only raises more questions!”

Yuisu leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and said, “Just one more question, Little Quess. Are you okay with staying small for a while?”

The little slime bounced happily. “Yep! Even Big Quess is okay with that, ‘cuz you’re asking. Big Quess is in love with you!”

It was fortunate that Little Quess wasn’t very observant, because the dangerously jealous look that appeared in Haru’s eyes would have terrified her.