1.13 – Copper Butterfly

No content warning needed, I think.

"Welcome to The Copper Butterfly! Are you looking for a room? I'm afraid we're—"

A pink-haired woman called out to the two from behind the bar. Maple's eyes were drawn to the single black wing protruding from her hip, and then up to the spiral horns on her head as she remembered what Rachel had told her about Succubi with only one wing.

Most of her body was exposed, with her chest only covered by something like a bikini top. A short skirt covered her lower half, and if the angle were right—which she often ensured it was—you'd see a skimpy black thong underneath.

Intricate dark pink markings twisted up her body and down one leg. Her pointed black tail floated in the air behind her, slowly swishing from side to side.

"Oh, that's them."

Rachel pushed her glasses up and waved them over from in front of the bar. The pink-haired lady must be her friend, but Maple was surprised it was someone who dressed so...provocatively. Succubus or not.

"I was starting to think you two had gotten lost. This is Sasha, my [Innkeeper] friend. And this is Maple and Emma, the Human and Soap Slime."

"Oh, how useful. You hardly ever meet Slimes anymore. And what a fascinating scent for a Human to have. Well, friends of Rachel are friends of mine. Welcome to my humble inn. First drink's on the house."

She set a full pint glass in front of each of them. A few other guests were in the room sitting at tables and being served drinks and food by the other waitstaff. None of the whom looked to be Succubi.

"Yeah, don't let it fool you. That's her pheromone skill."

"You told her about my classes already too? I really wish you wouldn't keep bringing it up to people. It's bad enough that it's even on my ID now."

Rachel's face turned slightly guilty.

"Sorry. But I did only bring it up to see if she had any insight. If anyone's dealt with classes like that before, it'd be a Succubus."

"And?"

Maple turned hopefully to Sasha. Her skinny black tail swished happily behind her, matching her amused smile.

"I've never seen either of them before. Succubi don't tend to get classes like that, though. A lot of variables affect what class you get, even something like the kind of person you see yourself as. Succubi are alluring enough on our own, and doing the thing that keeps you alive wouldn't really be labeled as something like [Slut]. My main class is a variation of [Innkeeper], for example. And the Skills I get tie into my needs and talents as a Succubus. Still, I'd say those classes are pretty unique. How'd you end up with them?"

"It wasn't on purpose..."

Emma remembered and had a slightly proud smirk. It wasn't good that it distressed Maple, but the Slime couldn't help but take the corruption as a kind of compliment. The Human hadn't been into other species or women before their fated meeting. Not that she identified too strongly as the latter—she would have just as easily chosen a male form. She could easily change it of course, it was just that the look she had going was already a part of her identity.

Maple trailed off without elaborating.

"Well, you don't have to say if you don't want to. I'm not a prude like four-eyes over here, if you ever did want to talk about it. Or if you wanted to do something besides talking~"

Rachel immediately protested the insult, and Maple became more flustered. The Succubus laughed at the both of them.

"Joking aside, like I told Rachel, I do only have one room available that the three of you will have to share for now. Maybe if someone had told me ahead of time, that could have been different. We're booked full for the next few weeks, as it stands. We really do need to expand soon..."

Sasha sighed, and then had a guest to refill. Maple and Emma were still sipping theirs. It was some kind of beer, and not something Maple would call a favorite, but it was free. Rachel turned to the two.

"So neither of you ran into any issues? Did you get work permits?"

Emma showed off her ID—something she'd never had before as she hadn't really acted like a person until recent—and Maple pulled her own out while grumbling about it and making sure to complain about the awful guards.

Emma poked her and gestured as she avoided mentioning Bailey in her entire rant. Maple swatted at her hand and continued not mentioning the Gnoll guardsman. Rachel watched this go on until Emma finally pulled out her notebook with an exasperated look. What a lack of respect for the vocally impaired—really, making her have to write.

She has a date with a cute Gnoll tomorrow!

The Soap Slime slapped the pen down and pushed the notebook over to Rachel. Maple looked up at her smug face and realized she'd forfeited her chance to control the narrative. Rachel's face barely looked surprised—which made it worse.

"Really? You've been here all of two minutes and already have a date?"

"I-it's not a date—we're just getting lunch. He just felt bad that his—compatriots—were such jerks, so he bought me and Emma a meat skewer with some kind of yum sauce. Well, Emma kind of stole his actually, but that's not the point. Then he offered to walk us to the inn and, yeah."

Sasha slid back over, sensing something fun to butt into.

"Sure sounds like a date to me. Really though, you and a Gnoll? They're fun, but for a Human you're pretty erm, open-minded? And I thought I'd sensed you two were uh...something?"

She looked between Maple and Emma and gestured vaguely. Emma didn't tend to hide things in general, and she was especially touchy-feely with her Human. No matter where they were or what they were doing. Maple enjoyed that about her; it reminded her she was there and made her feel secure.

But it was slightly embarrassing at times. Especially now as Emma rubbed up against her and gave her a peck on her cheek in front of everyone. And then giggled silently at her Human's embarrassed expression.

"We are—it's just um, open kind of? But she's my—um...girlfriend?"

She felt nervous saying it for the first time, actually. They hadn't ever really talked about it or labeled their relationship like that before. Was that even the proper term for them? It wasn't like they were exclusive.

Emma had already assured her she wasn't going anywhere any time soon though, and they definitely meant more to each other than any of the other relationships they might have in the future. What did you call that though? Maple wasn't familiar with poly relationships or terminology, and she thought it really might have helped here.

But what if Emma didn't feel that way after all, or if—

The Soap Slime happily nodded confirmation and smooshed into Maple. All of her anxiety and uncertainty melted away. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The butterflies in her stomach remained. Emma felt the same way she did, and there was nothing to worry about. She had a girlfriend now. She'd had a girlfriend all this time, but now it was official? She'd said it out loud for the first time—announced it to the world.

She's my girlfriend. Maple repeated it in her head, and just felt so giddy. Her face turned red as she stopped being able to focus on the conversation—and they all stared at her. Sasha brought a hand up to her chest.

"Aww, that's so sweet. Young love is just adorable."

Emma happily played up the cute couple bit while Sasha fawned over them and Rachel just rolled her eyes.

"Well, we are sharing a room for now, and I have strong senses. I hope I don't need to ask you two to keep it appropriate—"

"What—we wouldn't—not in the same room, jeez..."

"Hmmm. Anyway, you two should think about what you want to do in the near future. I'm going to find a more permanent residence myself, but it sounds like housing is as scarce as ever. Sasha's letting us stay for free in the meantime because she's a friend, but she needs to make a living too."

The duo grew more serious as Maple almost groaned. There was so much she needed to do. She didn't even have more than the single set of clothes she'd arrived in, and her Earth clothes had already attracted plenty of stares on the way there.

Emma didn't seem worried as she wrote.

I will procure employment and funds. Worry not, my dear succulent Maple.

The Slime batted her jelly eyelashes at Maple and got a chuckle before Maple spoke.

"We can pay now too of course. Charlotte did give us all those coins."

"Charlotte? Is that what—she—is going by now?"

Rachel nodded and Sasha turned back to Maple before the Human could ask what that meant exactly.

"Anyway, don't mind her. She's always so serious. The inn's doing more than fine, so there's no rush. I'd offer you jobs myself, but again, I wish I'd known sooner. I just got a bunch of new-hires, so it's really bad timing."

That was generous, maybe even overly so. The distrustful part of Maple wondered what else Rachel had shared with the Succubus before she got here, but she couldn't complain overall. Sasha ended up giving them dinner for free shortly after that, and ate with them while catching up with Rachel.

Exhaustion hit the Human with a vengeance once she'd finished eating. She and Emma retired to their room, all the way up on the 3rd floor. They would share the bed, while Rachel got a kind of large futon on the floor. She would have traded out of respect, but the floor was supposedly better for the Arachnid woman.

It occurred to Maple then that she'd never seen how either Arachnid slept. Rachel assured her that it wasn't as complicated as she thought, and bid them a good night before returning to the dining room.

Emma snuggled in and then tried to initiate their usual routine.

"Hey, stop that. We're sharing a room—what if she comes back?"

The Soap Slime made a sad pleading face, one of her most powerful weapons.

Maple still didn't budge, so Emma changed tactics, smirking as she wrote.

Just real quick? It'll feel good~

"It would...But, no. At least for just one night. I promised we wouldn't. We can find somewhere private tomorrow."

The Slime deflated at that, and it took the last of Maple's effort to not just give in. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time they were skipping a night.

Which was fine. They could go one night without doing anything lewd, right? She didn't want to be a slave to her class—not that she was. She'd prove she still had self-control right now, and then not worry about it ever again.

"C'mere you, we can still snuggle at least."

Emma wriggled herself into the nooks of Maple's body as usual. Her figure stayed mostly humanoid, but deformed to fit snugly against her green-eyed Human. Maple's mind wandered dangerously as her girlfriend pressed against her.

Rachel probably wouldn't be back for a while, and maybe she'd even intentionally given them this chance. And of course she could skip a night any time—it was just sex. Skipping tonight wouldn't really prove anything, it was just unnecessary. Didn't she remember something about it being good for you, because of um, endorphins? What it would do for sure was help her sleep. And alleviate the longing dominating all of her thoughts.

It continued in this way as she lay there and resisted the urge to act on any of the very reasonable ideas it presented to her. It was sheer exhaustion from walking all day, rather than willpower, that won out in the end as she fell asleep.

Rachel crept quietly into the room. Maple and Emma were already asleep. She removed her glasses and carefully put them away into their wood case. Then she positioned herself over the futon on the floor and curled all eight of her legs up around herself. A dozen pillows let her roll onto her side, and even onto her back, in comfort.