Fiona stretched her legs and had on her bathing suit, ready to test out the jacuzzi later in the evening. The water was hot, steaming in the cool fall air, and she had even added a few arcanist lights in a string across the patio, to give a little bit of visibility.
She didn’t have to wear her swimsuit. Strangely enough, nudity was tolerated in the public bathhouses, and everyone seemed quite chill with it. She reddened at the thought of the first time she had gone, she had been so embarrassed, not knowing what to expect. It had been a nonstop display of firm muscles and soft curves everywhere, from every species.
One thing is for sure: nudity was not exactly a concern in the city. From what she’d heard from Bonnie and Greg, there were designated places for it. The bathhouses, and communal areas, typically in residences. Quite a few people participated in it, and after a couple of months of seeing it, it became normal to see–but, as she found out, not as normal to participate in.
She glanced down at her elven body–she worked out, went on runs with Bonnie, did lifting and other activities, now that she wasn’t swinging her hammer at monsters. But having a six-pack of abs, and still having a few girly curves, was new for her.
She hadn’t taken care of herself quite as well as this, back on Earth. She glanced skyward, with one of the moons on the horizon, her breath becoming a frosty fog. She rubbed her arms, feeling the chilly air. She looked forward to soaking her muscles from a solid jogging session, after Bonnie and company had left.
“Now, it’s just you, and me, and a pool fit for…plenty,” Fiona sang while twirling a wine glass and a bottle she’d opened before coming out by the side of the jacuzzi. She lifted a leg to climb into the enticing water, bubbling gently, and pondered something.
Should she just say the hell with it? She had a killer body that she took care of, compared to what she used to be. She hadn’t been out of shape, just…plain.
Why am I still alive? Was it because the world was ending, and a god or goddess needed a survivor to spread the tale? Was it because I bailed out of that bus, and fought a battle I had no hope of winning and was ready to die that day? Was it a cosmic chance encounter? Her gaze fell upon the winged heart on her wrist, which was fluttering softly. Almost as if reacting to her, Wingding shrugged its wings softly. I guess you don’t know, either, do you?
Two flaps later, she had her answer. Maybe the answer lies in what I think happened? What do you think, Wingding? She didn’t know how to read wings quite yet, but it almost appeared the wing ‘feathers’ spread out like a hand, trying to gesture something. Almost like sign language. The exchange almost made her forget how chilly it was outside, and how her skin prickled with goosebumps.
She closed her eyes and made a decision. “I’m making the best of this life, Wingding. I built something in my old life, and even though I hated working in that store sometimes, people loved that place. They loved what I built, and what I brought to the people living there. Maybe I need to do the same thing, here?” she asked aloud.
One very enthusiastic flap gave her the affirmation she needed. Yeah, you’re right. We can do that, here, too. I don’t wanna change the world. I just want to make my little slice of it better.
She grabbed the sleeves of the upper half of the water gear, and pulled it over the top of her head, and her chilly experience outside got even chillier, in the quickly fading twilight. Arcane lights were visible in the gardens forming the heart of the communal area, the plants and vines browning with the approaching winter. A few hardy gourds and…something like a pumpkin were present, with the vines withering and the fruits still very much edible.
Should I take off the bottom half? Yeah, you know what, I'm going for it. That came off too, and she quickly clambered into the pool. She let out a gasp--that water was warm. Almost scalding hot, but she slowly eased her lithe form into the tub after a brief adjustment, grateful for that therapeutic warmth and gentle massaging of her body.
Especially her legs. Being on her feet all day, working retail–even minus her other physical activities–was a bit demanding, and she let out a loud sigh of delight. “Oh, yes, Wingding, this is the best,” she said with a pleasureful groan, and draped her arms on the back sill of the tub.
Flap.
She glanced around, noting a few kids still playing tag in the commons–and a bearlike mom scolding them from one of the open doors, telling them to come inside before they fell and cracked their heads on something. A kitsune couple were walking and talking merrily on a small footpath through the commons. They stopped to kiss in the cover of an evergreen–but visible, from her vantage point. Above, the stars slowly came into view, and she loved that unobstructed view. The lighting wasn’t overwhelming like it was, back on Earth. It was like watching the starry nights in rural Vermont, where she went camping.
But, none of the constellations were the same. She frowned, and couldn’t find any she recognized. Sitting down, and for the first time, enjoying this world, was an experience she hadn’t afforded herself since her arrival. She’d have to find new ones–or crack open an arcanist datapad, and find out the equivalents here. She glanced to the side, and gently poured a small amount of wine, before setting the temperature of the tub down.
She heard the small swish of elementals working hard to cool it down, and the water went from near scalding, to a mellowing heat that felt like bliss on her skin. She leaned back and submerged to her chest, and let out a sound of delight. A low purring sound by the tub indicated Tucker had taken an interest, who was sitting on the patio, eyes glimmering with curiosity.
“What about you, Tucker? Do big cats like you swim?” she teased. “It’ll take you forever to dry off, though.”
Tucker pretended he hadn’t heard her. He licked his paw vigorously before eventually settling down next to her, in desperate need of head scritches. Even though her hand was wet, he didn’t seem to mind, and purred gently.
“Yeah, mommy dearest needed to slow down a bit. I can’t believe I find myself saying that! Who knew that this was a path I’d ever thought I’d enjoy?” she called out. He arched his head into her hand, purring and stretched up to the sill of the tub, and tapped the surface gently. He wrinkled his nose, before losing interest.
“Guess it’s not for you, huh?” Fiona laughed.
“Mrrr.” He did stand vigil next to her, while she took a sip of wine from the glass she’d carried with her.
She wanted to get two glasses and a bottle, and a plus one out here, when she got the chance. Darla was a loveable flirt, but she had a boyfriend. She was pretty sure Bonnie and Greg were going to start dating at some point. They had that chemistry with one another, the subtle one that grew over time, between people who worked in close contact with one another.
Or Lucy?
Why am I drawn to complication? She let out a low tsk sound. That would be super complicated. Dating the future queen? Assuming Barry's ass isn't thrown out a window for all his idiots moves? And not even by me.
“What do you think Tucker, think they got Tinder for Cepalune?” she asked casually as stretched her legs out in the tub. The cat shook his head, and she froze.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
That cat had done that again, like he knew what she was saying. How smart was this cat? She’d found him, the runt of a litter, and taken him to the camp where they had been staying on a treasure search in some old ruins, before the campaign against Douglas the Red.
“Tucker, if you’re someone who was magicked across the universe, and were stuck as a giant cat, you could tell me,” she assured him. “Or, I’m slowly going crazy in this place. Kinda hard to tell. Either way, I love this world. I love…being part of it, you know?”
One slow blink later, Tucker let out the sound of a cat throwing shade at her by yawning, and meowing at the same time, before curling up next to the jacuzzi side. She peered at the cat intensely, and let out a soft laugh.
“Guess you agree with me, huh?”
“Mraaaow.”
She leaned back against the tub and took another sip of wine, just her and her cat. She pondered the future. She would like to have someone to share this with. But, she wanted to do it on her own terms, and for herself. Sooner or later, she’d pay off this bogus tax trap, and then, she was going to take a hammer to Barry’s backside, to send him to low-Cepalune orbit.
Her eyes widened at an idea she’d had earlier, and a toothy grin emerged. “You know something, Tucker, I gotta go check with Greg on something. I wonder if I can pay this bill in pennies. One second. How big is a coin?”
She pulled out her arcanist pad and did some quick numbers. She loved this idea, and it was sure to be an absolute slight at that blonde-haired jerk. “Tucker, I have an evil idea. I absolutely–”
Poke.
Her eyes widened at the poke on her thigh. Tucker was not in the tub, he was sleeping on the ground.
Poke.
She glanced to her right and saw something in the water, slightly amorphous, and a pair of beady eyes peering up from the water. It let out a small sound.
“Meep.”
“Kyaaaaaaaa!”
She hadn’t screamed in a long time. After facing death once, monsters in this world hadn’t given her the urge to scream in terror. Not dragons, not giant wargs, not the knife-wielding kobolds, not the rodents of peculiar size, nothing.
Except for this intruder in her jacuzzi, and she leaped from the jacuzzi in a shower of hot water, steamy vapors, and a fully nude, frazzled elf screaming like a little girl. She instinctively reached for her hammer haft that whipped into her hand, thanks to the recall enchantment. Her teeth were on edge, and she was ready to pulverize this would-be attacker.
That amorphous blob peered up from the edge of the tub, with a pair of googly eyes and something resembling a mouth in that jelly-like substance that formed its body. It let out a low moaning sound, and almost smiled at her. She was ready to smash this thing into goo.
“LEWD SLIMES! I’m gonna make you into alchemical potions if you don’t clear out, you perv!” she screamed, hammer in hand and utterly naked and heaving with fury.
“Moooo.” the translucent green slime didn’t have a care in the world, and bobbed on the surface of her jacuzzi. Not only that, but another one bobbed to the surface–a bright blue one, now? It too, had a pair of googly-looking eyes it used to see around, and bobbed in the gentle current of the tub.
“Oh, just move right in, did ya?!” she snarled. Tucker lifted his body slowly to peer at these pests, having not even been disturbed by her shrill scream. He patted at one of the bobbing slimes, who reached out a slight tentacle of goo in response, almost high-fiving the cat. “Tucker, kill it! It has invaded my holy sanctum!” She snarled. Tucker shook his head and looked almost…disapproving.
“Mow.”
“Tucker, it’s a monster! It’s in my tub! And it brought friends–”
Two more slimes bobbed up, mottled green and blue, and smaller than the other two. They all let out that low cooing sound, and sounded utterly delighted at the heat of the tub, bobbing up and down. The two smaller slimes almost looked like…baby slimes?
Fiona groaned, and looked down at herself, still naked, and just noticing how chilly it was. She grabbed a towel to get dried off, and hastily donned her still-dry swimsuit. “Oh, you four are not staying!” she fumed. “I didn’t invite lewd slimes to join me in my private tub! Go find another person to bother!”
“Chuuuu.” They didn’t have a care in the world, and Fiona glanced at her hammer before laying it down on the patio table. Smashing them would also likely smash her well-earned tub, and she groaned and put a hand to her face, utterly disgusted by this scenario.
“This is why I can’t have nice things, Tucker.”
“Mrow.” Tucker responded by patting at the slimes, who seemed to enjoy being bobbed up and down, and Granny came out the back door of her apartment, sounding concerned.
“Fiona, what’s wrong? You screamed like you were fighting some demon spawn!” Granny called out, dressed casually and her hair let down for the evening. Fiona pointed to the slimes bobbing in the pool, and not even having the words to describe this situation. Except, Granny started with a belly laugh. “Oh-hoo-hoo, Fiona, that’s a blessing! Those are Marthicus slimes! They’re totally benign, they can’t harm you.”
“They poked me and spooked me! Lewd slimes, Granny!” she bellowed out. Granny laughed even harder.
“Their eyesight is pretty bad, dear, they might not have even seen you in there. Oh, goodness, hang on.” She worked her way down to the patio, and let out a low chuckle as Tucker continued to use them like a toy ball, and they let out cooing, contented sounds. Granny leaned in, and patted one of the smaller ones on the head, where it made a louder cooing sound. “They love the heat, dear, especially this time of year! They’re a domesticated slime. Rare, too!”
“They’ve invaded my future love nest,” Fiona snapped as she ran her fingers through her damp hair, and bundled tight against the chill air. “What am I gonna do, they’re a family of slimes! I can’t smash them!”
“No, I daresay, you shouldn’t. They’re great to have around, actually! They dissolve nasty substances, ward off garden pests, and can also exfoliate the skin!” Granny declared proudly. Fiona glanced her way, skeptical of that claim. A dreaded notion started creeping into her consciousness.
“Say what? Have I been murdering environmentally beneficial slimes this whole time, and making them into alchemical reagents?” she asked nervously. Granny responded by draping an extra towel over her, since she was shivering. “I’m not cold, Granny. I’m a northern girl, I can handle the cold.”
“And you’ll chatter so hard, you’ll crack your teeth,” she responded with a small tsk sound; eventually, Fiona did lean into the automatically warming towel, baked with a small enchantment stitched into the seam work. “Ah, there, see? Anyway, the slimes love the heat and moisture, and if you take good care of them, they’ll keep the tub clean of grime and germs.”
Fiona raised an eyebrow and an ear at this. “Really?”
“Cuuuu.” The large green slime gave a wave with one of its tentacles and a wobble of its eyes, as if approving of this suggestion. Fiona sighed in resignation.
“Okay, guys, but seriously, it’s not a home for you! Clean up your slime trails, try not to dissolve anything that isn’t edible, and please, no lewd poking,” she growled.
“Coooaaa, cuuu.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘Yes, ma’am'. Granny, do you speak ‘slime’ out of curiosity?” she asked. Her landlord let out a deep-seated chuckle.
“Sometimes I think you’re just blessed with fortune, Fiona.” She glanced anxiously at her wrist, where Wingding was flapping contentedly.
“Really interesting choice of words, Granny. Well, time to dry off. Guys, don’t leave a mess,” she called out to the slimes, and they all waved lazily with a slimy appendage. She headed back inside with Granny still laughing at the spectacle, and Tucker rubbing against her leg and purring contentedly.
Well, one thing was for sure: her tub had been blessed, alright. Just not in the way she thought it would be.
The next day, she put out a signpost, and hummed cheerily before heading off to the emporium. Things were changing, and for the better...
Community hot tub for Baker’s Way Plaza.
Rules:
1. Don’t bully the slimes–they keep it clean!
2. Maximum of six at a time.
3. Feed the elementals if they get hungry.
4. Clothes optional, but no lewdness.
5. Have Fun!
Newly Broke Heroine: End of Volume One
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