The two girls arrived at Eks’s inn room. It was a rather sizable room with crimson carpeting and beige walls. There was one bed in the room, a king-sized bed large enough to fit two people. The mattress was covered by an attractive red blanket. At both sides of the bed was a wooden nightstand. On each of the two nightstands was a silver-colored lamp. Apart from the bed and nightstands, there were also a pair of dressers along one of the walls and a full-length mirror in the corner.

“What do you think? This is where I’m staying. Not bad, right?” Eks mused, plopping down on the large bed, the mattress bouncing a bit with the movement. The blue-haired cat girl twisted around, her red eyes on Viola. “Sit,” she ordered, patting the spot next to her.

Viola obliged, taking a seat beside Eks. The orange-haired bunny girl glanced over the room. She had to admit that it wasn’t bad for sleeping arrangements. Actually, it was quite spacious for such a thing. For a moment, she wondered if all the inn’s rooms were like this. Actually, now that she thought about it, where was she going to sleep?

“What are you thinking about, Vi?”

“Just wondering where I can sleep. Mind lending me some money for a room?”

“Nonsense, Vi. You can stay with me,” Eks chirped happily, a huge smile of her face. “We can be roommates!”

“...but you only have one bed,” Viola stammered, that familiar blush settling in on her face.

“I don’t see the problem. This baby can easily fit two,” the cat girl stated matter-of-factly, patting the mattress as she did. “I’ll take the left. You can have the right.” Eks scooted over to the left side of the bed before laying down. “Go on. Give it a try. It’s nice and comfy.” She almost seemed to purr as she said the last part.

“O… K…,” Viola leaned back, looking rather red. “I-It is rather nice.”

“It is, right? So you’ll stay with me?” the cat girl turned onto her side, facing her flustered friend.

“S-Sure,” the bunny girl squeaked, still on her back.

“Great!” Eks watched Viola for a moment, a smirk gracing the cat girls face. Without warning, she gave the bunny girl a quick tap on the shoulder. Comically, Viola leapt out of bed and fell flat on her face. “You OK? You really need to work on that.”

“Just peachy,” Viola moaned as she staggered to her feet. At least she wasn’t blushing anymore.

Eks sat up and yawned, stretching her arms. “I could go for a drink. What about you?”

“You want to go drinking?”

“Yup! You want to come with?” The cat girl was beaming. She quite clearly wanted to drag the bunny girl along with her.

“I guess I could.”

“Great! Come on!” Eks eagerly grabbed Viola’s hand, earning a slight blush from the bunny girl as she began to pull her towards the exit.

“Wait a moment! Where are we going?!”

“Tavern! Let’s go!”

***

Viola and Eks walked up to the tavern’s bar. It was getting late, and there weren’t many in the tavern at the moment. The only others in the tavern currently were a pair of gentlemen and the barkeep. The gentlemen sat not at the bar but at one of the wooden tables. Their eyes followed the girls as they approached the bar. One of the gentlemen was thin with short brown hair. The other was bald and beefy, a real muscleman.

“Hi, Eks! Who is this you’re with?” the barkeep greeted the cat girl. Her name was Elise Silverleaf. She was a friendly elf with mid-back-length brown hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. The 172cm tall woman had the pointy ears one would expect of an elf. She was dressed in a pink crop top and white hot pants. Her legwear were white thigh-highs, and her footwear were pink shoes with 4cm heels. For jewelry, she wore golden earrings and a golden necklace.

“Hi, Elise! This is Viola Balewind. Vi, this is Elise Silverleaf. Say hi, Vi!”

“Hi,” Viola greeted the elf before taking a seat on one of the bar’s wooden stools. Eks plopped down on the stool to her right.

“The regular?” Elise questioned the red-eyed cat girl, earning a nod in response. The blue-eyed elf placed a huge bottle of brandy in front of the grinning cat girl. A moment later, she added a pristine glass to its side. As Eks started to pour her own drink, the barkeep turned to Viola, inquiring, “What can I get you?”

The orange-haired bunny girl ponders the question a bit. “Actually, what do I want? Coming here was Eks’s idea.” She continues to mull the question over for a bit, bringing her right hand to her chin in the process. “I guess I’ll have a martini. That’s a thing, right?”

“A martini it is.” Elise set to work making the martini for her. A moment later, she was placing it in front of the bunny girl. “Enjoy.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Viola looked at the drink, the martini, in front of her. It looked simple enough with a few olives sitting in it. For some bizarre reason, she was kind of apprehensive to try it. Also, she could feel Elise’s blue eyes watching her as the elf waited for her to try the drink. In short, she found this whole scenario a tad awkward. What if, for instance, it was so bad she gagged? Elise seemed nice. She certainly did not want to risk hurting her feelings.

“Might as well get this over with,” the bunny girl figured. If she just sat here staring at the thing, it would just get more awkward. Timidly, she took a sample sip, and her green eyes widened. “This isn’t bad! Turns out Elise makes a good martini! I really shouldn’t be surprised though. I mean, she is a barkeep. It would be weirder if she didn’t make a good martini. Guess I was worrying over nothing.” Viola took another sip and smiled, Elise smiling back.

Viola looked to her right, at her blue-haired companion. The cat girl was already starting to look drunk. Well, it wasn’t surprising considering the rate she seemed to be slamming back the brandy. That was a full bottle of brandy that Elise gave her, and it looked like Eks was making good progress towards emptying it. Sure, the bottle was still mostly full, but the cat girl had to have already been through more than one glass of the stuff from the looks of things. That was a big bottle after all.

***

Viola took the last sip of her martini, putting the empty glass down afterwards. The tavern seemed to lurch around her. She was definitely drunk. She leaned forward, utilizing the bar to help prop herself up. An uninvited hand brushed her left thigh. “For the love of… Will you cut that out already?!”

Sitting to her left was the thin man. He had a glassy look to his eyes, quite clearly drunk. At some point, the two men approached the girls, taking seats around them, the thin one to Viola’s left, the beefy one to Eks’s right.

“Sorry. Sorry,” the thin man apologized to the bunny girl yet again. This had been going on for quite a while now. “It was an accident.”

“Sure it was,” Viola thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Just like the time before that and the time before that. Clearly, he must be suffering from some disorder where he keeps accidentally brushing thighs. Does he think I’m an idiot? Maybe he’s just that drunk.”

The bunny girl jolted as she felt his hand again. “Seriously?! Quit that! I’m not joking!”

“Sorry. Sorry.”

Viola glanced to her right. Eks had almost finished that bottle of brandy, and her glass was currently empty. Her attention, though, was currently on the beefcake next to her. She was happily prodding the muscleman’s bicep as he flexed it. He was, of course, drunk as well.

“Vi, check it out. It’s like a rock, and it’s so big,” the cat girl called out with a giggle, looking back towards the bunny girl as she did so, her words slightly slurred. It was actually kind of impressive that her words weren’t more slurred considering how much alcohol she had consumed.

“I’m really not interested.”

The muscleman seemed to be enjoying every bit of having a woman as beautiful as Eks pretty much hanging from his arm. “I’ll show you something really big if you accompany me back to my room,” he addressed the cat girl cockily.

Eks blinked once and then again. She returned her attention to what was left of her brandy. “Not interested,” she replied before chugging the rest of the alcoholic beverage straight from the bottle. “That’s the stuff.”

The buff guy went red in the face before turning away from the cat girl. He was sure he had her, but then she turned him down. “Dumb slut,” he muttered under his breath.

“What did you just call me?!” Eks sprung to her feet quicker than once would expect for a drunk girl. In truth, she looked outright livid.

The muscleman stood up as well, swaying a bit as he did so. He was drunk after all. Somehow, as muscle-bound as he was, he looked a lot less stable than the cat girl. “You heard me,” he growled intimidatingly.

“Just what we need, a literal bar fight. Maybe I should have just stayed at the inn,” Viola thought, looking between the two.

“Just calm down, everyone,” the thin man interjected, stepping up to the other man. “That is no way to talk to a lady. Apologize!”

“I guess the serial thigh-brusher is finally making himself useful. At least my thigh is safe for now.”

The muscleman seemed to just get madder and threw a punch. The punch landed right on the thin man’s face, causing the target to collapse to the wooden floor. Elise darted out from behind the bar to the poor sap. “H-How many fingers am I holding up?!” The elf girl didn’t get an answer, the guy was out cold.

“You want some of this?” the muscleman said, bulging his muscles as he pressed himself forward. Eks countered by pressing herself into him. That’s right. The two were pressing their chests together, trying to get the other to back down. Well, their chests weren’t actually aligned all that well. The muscleman was clearly taller.

“Apologize or else,” Eks threatened.

“Make me,” the big guy countered.

“This is just getting ridiculous at this point.”

“Three,” Eks started counting down.

“Three?” The muscleman said, furrowing his eyebrows in a mixture of anger and confusion.

“Two,” the cat girl continued the countdown.

“Oh, I see. You are trying to scare me with a countdown. Like I’d ever back down to a woman.”

“One.” If anything, the guy’s comment seemed to piss her off more.

“Why am I suddenly feeling primal dread?!”

“Time’s up.” Eks slugged him square in the face. As big as the guy was, his massive muscles wound up doing squat for him. All it took was one punch from the cat girl, and he was out cold.

“You’re pretty strong,” Viola commented as Elise walked over to check on the newly knocked out man.

Eks placed a few bronze coins on the bar. “Let’s go home.”