Volume 8 - Gratitude, Chapter 56 - A Big Warm Bed

It was almost noon, but the atmosphere at the house was sleepy and calm. Haru and Yuisu were still asleep in their room, which was fair, since they were out saving Misaki all night and didn't get home until nearly 5AM. Tsuen was at work at the Sports Club Kobold gym, and Mara was hidden away in her room.

On Iormu's big bed in the cabin, Quess snuggled closer to Iormu. Like usual, they were curled up together, reading books, making use of the heated floors and the large, comfy bed. In the past, Quess had mostly read to learn about the human world, in order to fit in, but now she was reading for fun. It was nice. But there was something else nicer…

"Hey, Iormu," Quess whispered, glancing over Iormu's face and body. Even without her makeup and her beaded clothes, Iormu was beautiful and exotic. Her long, purple hair spilled over her shoulders, framing the excessive cleavage that practically overflowed from her tank-top shirt.

Iormu glanced up from her latest mystery novel, placing a finger on her spot. "What's up?"

"I'm feeling a little hungry…"

Iormu set the book aside. "Oh, we can get some lunch if you want. I'm not hungry, but I wouldn't mind taking a break, if only to stretch out a little."

Quess shook her head, her yellow tendril swinging side to side. "Not that kind of hungry," she said with a little grin. Her normal dress vanished into her glistening surface, leaving her breasts bare and naked. Though she was technically naked before, since she never actually wore real clothes.

Iormu returned the smile. "Alright, Quess. So what's on the menu, then?"

Quess faked a French accent and said, "For zee first course, we have zee ever-exotique Iormu, served bare and fresh." She leaned in and ran a slippery but warm hand up Iormu's side. "And zen, we will have Iormu, sunny-side up and over-easy." Quess stretched her hands up and under Iormu's shirt, kneading her tummy and breasts. "And for zee dessert, Iormu post-orgasme: hot, wet, and quivering,"

Iormu blushed red and shivered. "That sounds… amazing," she whispered, then pulled Quess into a tight embrace. Though being intimate with a gelatinous woman had its challenges, Iormu found that it had one advantage that just couldn't be replaced: no matter how hard Iormu squeezed, particularly in the throes of passion, she never had to worry about hurting Quess.

She wrapped Quess in her tail and the amorphous slime enveloped her in return. Like Lamias, Jormungands mated for hours at a time, and since sexual acts actually energized Pink Slimes, Quess could go for even longer.

As a powerful Queen Slime, Quess had remarkable control over her surface tension, which let her kiss, squeeze, massage, or even penetrate without problems. She planned to put all of those to use over the next several hours.

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Mara sat on the couch in the living room, fidgeting and kicking her pedipalps, waiting for Tsuen to get home from her morning shift at work. Mara and Tsuen had reunited and tried to pick up where they left off, but there was a lot to make up for. Mara planned to do it right.

Mara heard the front door creak open and swing shut, followed by the clip-clop of Tsuen's soft indoor shoe covers against wood. Before Tsuen could head towards her room, Mara called out, "Hey, Tsuen, come over here!"

Tsuen stepped into the living room and started to talk, but Mara spoke at the same time.

"Um, Mara—"

"So, Tsuen—"

"You go first," Tsuen said, her hands suspiciously held behind her back.

Mara shook her head. "No, you," she responded, pushing a long package further under the couch with two of her legs.

Tsuen took a deep breath. "Alright… I got something for you while I was out today. Yuisu recommended it, so I hope you'll like it." She pulled her hands from behind her back and presented a plain plastic bag.

"Ooh!" Mara stretched up and greedily grabbed it, then reached in and lifted out the object inside. Tsuen immediately started blushing. It was a video game box featuring an anime-style picture of a very busty Lamia in a schoolgirl outfit. Mara read out the title and text on the front of the box, "HunieMon. A liminal spinoff of the surprise-hit erotic-puzzle game HuniePop!"

Mara grinned as she realized what it was, but then she quirked an eyebrow and looked back up at Tsuen. "You bought this? You realize it has sex scenes in it, right?" Mara thought back to how jealous Tsuen got on their beach vacation, then added, "Are you okay with me playing this?"

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Tsuen wrung her hands together and pawed at the floor with one hoof. "Uh, I was hoping we could play it… together," she mumbled.

Mara tossed the game onto the couch and leapt into the air. She grabbed Tsuen, wrapping herself around Tsuen's midriff and holding tight with all her arms and legs. She peered up from between Tsuen's breasts and said, "Oh, that'll be so much fun! Thank you, Tsuen!"

Tsuen kept blushing furiously, but she also smiled and returned the hug. After a moment she cleared her throat and said, "Um, didn't you have something you wanted to say earlier?"

Mara stopped snuggling Tsuen's underboob then said, "Oh yeah, I got something for you too." Mara dropped herself to the ground and scuttled over to where she'd been sitting on the couch. She reached underneath and pulled out a long object that was covered in simple pink wrapping paper.

She smiled sheepishly and held the package out. "Well, actually, I made some of it. I'm not much of an artist, but I think I mimicked the style well enough."

Tsuen blinked, puzzled at what it could be, then grabbed it.

As Tsuen carefully tore off the wrapping paper, Mara started to ramble, "I decided on this because I thought it'd be cool if you had one to match mine, and it would look nice with your yukata from the sakura festival that I modified for you, and I wanted to show you how much the one you gave me matters to me, and—"

She was cut off by a loud gasp from Tsuen as she finished unwrapping her present. Tsuen put one hand to her mouth and stared in awe at the object held gently in her other hand. It was an umbrella made of bamboo and black silk. From the little she could see while it was closed, there was a white design painted on the surface, making it a perfect companion to the white umbrella Tsuen had given Mara, so long ago.

A tear of joy ran down Tsuen's cheek as her gaze shifted from the present onto the nervous pink arachne. "It's amazing, Mara. I love it…"

Mara grabbed Tsuen's free hand and started tugging her toward the front door. "Let's open it up outside. I can't wait for you to see what I painted on it."

Tsuen smiled down at Mara. "Sure."

At the door, Mara grabbed her own umbrella, then tugged Tsuen outside. "I was inspired by the little centaurs on the umbrella you gave me, so I put little arachnes on it, and some spider webs too!"

On the porch, Tsuen slowly opened the umbrella and held it so she could see the painted surface. Sure enough, it little silhouettes of arachnes were scattered about, but unlike the hidden valley setting on the other umbrella, this one depicted a forested island.

"It's beautiful," Tsuen whispered, then she asked, "Is this your homeland? Maratus?"

Mara grinned wide. "Yep! Me and all my sisters grew up there. I'm the only one that moved to Japan, though."

Tsuen kneeled down and hugged Mara. "And I'm very glad you did." She planted a little kiss on Mara's lips, then said, "How about we go play that game now? I'm kind of curious how someone made a puzzle game erotic."

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Haru sat down at the dinner table, already salivating over the delicious smell of cooking meat, then blinked and looked around the empty room suspiciously. "Hey, Yuisu. Where is everyone else?"

Yuisu stood at the stove, wearing an apron that said, 'Kiss the cook, AFTER she's done cooking.' She lifted a lightly-seared burger from the pan and tossed it onto one of the two plates waiting on the counter. She called back to Haru, "It's just us tonight, Haru. There was a note on the cabin door that Quess and Iormu weren't hungry, and Mara and Tsuen are busy."

Haru tilted her head. "Busy? I saw them dragging Tsuen's futon to Mara's room earlier, but even if they relocated all of her stuff, it wouldn't take that long."

In response, Yuisu just smiled and said, "Listen."

Haru's pointed ears twitched as she listened carefully. Over the sizzling of the cooking hamburger, she picked out a strange keening sound coming from down the hall. Haru's first instinct was that it was a sound effect from one of Mara's video games, but it sounded more natural than that. It was kind of high, wavering, and melodic, like a cross between a song and a… moan.

"Ah. That's what you meant by busy…" Haru muttered.

Just then, the moan rose and escalated into a neighing cry that could mean only one thing, making Haru and Yuisu both blush.

Yuisu brought the two plates of burgers to the table, making sure to give the medium-well cheeseburger to herself, and the rare and cheese-less one to Haru. "Well, it's great that they're back together," Yuisu said as she sat down.

Haru pulled her plate to herself and awkwardly grabbed the hamburger. Burgers were just about the trickiest thing she could manage with her hand-like wings. Before taking her first bite, she responded, "Oh definitely. Tsuen was getting so serious, I was worried she was going to go all drill-instructor on us."

Yuisu nodded in agreement, and added, "And Mara made a new friend during their break. It sounds like she and Actia have been going shopping for their otaku stuff together." She paused to take a bite. After swallowing, she continued, "From what Flare told me, Actia finished her homestay, so she has a free-range pass to go anywhere, but she barely uses it. I think getting out of the house has been good for her and Mara both."

Haru devoured the hamburger quickly. It was delicious, but her mind was already somewhere else. "So, Yuisu, want to show them up?"

"What do you mean? Show who up?"

"Mara and Tsuen," Haru replied.

"Uh, I still don't know what you mean," Yuisu said, nibbling a bit of her cheeseburger.

Haru smiled and leaned forward. Her eyes were sharp and focused, in the way they got whenever she got competitive about something. "You heard Tsuen's moan. I bet I can make you moan louder."

Yuisu blinked, then bit her lip as she realized what Haru was implying. "Well, it isn't really a competition or anything, and it's weird to try to be heard, and—"

"Shush," Haru cut her off. "Do you want multiple screamingly-good orgasms, or not?"

That brought out Yuisu's pervy side real fast. Yuri-su nodded vigorously and immediately started toward her bedroom, leaving the dishes strewn on the table. As Haru got up to follow, Yuisu wondered aloud, "I suppose Agent Will's stupid plan worked. All six girls in this house hooked up at the same time."

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Across town, in a small, cozy apartment, Agent Will suddenly sneezed. "Somebody must be praising me," he mumbled, then he went back to filling out a huge stack of forms. It sure did take a lot of paperwork to assign a new homestay to a host. He'd gotten pretty quick at it, though, and he was pretty sure that he hadn't forgotten any steps this time.

This'll be the smoothest new arrival yet, he thought. Yuisu won't have anything to complain about when the new girl arrives tomorrow.