Volume 2 - Arachne Attack, Chapter 13 - Leaving the Nest

Haru closed the front door behind her, hung up her jacket, and shook herself vigorously. A few clumps of fluffy snow fell to the entryway floor, but some had already melted into her hair. She’d been out flying around the property, making a feeble attempt at hunting, but mostly just killing time. She had decided to stop when the falling snow getting in her face made it more trouble than it was worth.

“Now what?” she said to herself as she wiped her feet on the mat. She didn’t have any shoes to take off, but she still needed to make sure she wasn’t tracking anything in past the entryway. She looked up at a clock on the wall. It was still two hours before Yuisu would get home from work and Haru was having a hard time waiting. “I guess I’ll take a hot bath. That’ll burn some time, at least.”

Her hopes were dashed when she entered the laundry room and found Mara there. She was stripping off her clothes, getting ready for a bath of her own.

“Oh hi, Haru.” She didn’t even bother to cover herself, leaving her bare chest in plain sight. Her breasts were so small, the term ‘perky’ wasn’t fully applicable; other than nipples, there was barely anything there to be perky. “I was about to take a bath. Want to join me?”

Haru flushed red. The fact that Mara was an adult, and a sexually-minded and lesbian one at that, was still very much at odds with Haru’s core perceptions of her. Seeing her naked, or being seen naked by her, brought up way too many questions and odd feelings to deal with right now. “Ah, no thanks. I was just here to—” Haru looked frantically around the room for an excuse. Her eyes stopped on the washer-dryer. “—do some laundry! But I forgot my basket. Silly me! Bye.”

Haru thought she heard a chuckle behind her as she fled the room. She actually did have some laundry to do, and it would burn some time, so she trudged to her room. She spent long enough gathering her dirty clothes to ensure that Mara would be mid-bath, then returned to the laundry room.

As she sorted her delicates into a separate pile, her thoughts drifted to Yuisu, Yuisu likes sexy underwear, right? All of mine are pretty utilitarian, especially my bras. Getting a strapless E-cup with any real support is hard enough, so I don’t have any lacy ones. She started a load in the machine and stood up. I suppose I could get a bra with straps, but it’d kill the surprise if I need help putting the dumb thing on…

She returned to her room and dug out her iPad. Keyboards and tiny touchscreen phones were out of the question, but a large tablet worked pretty well for her thumbs. After a few minutes of browsing the internet, Haru had decided two things: there are panties and bras out there, even for liminals, that are goddamn sexy, and… she couldn’t afford all the ones she wanted on her tiny budget. It was time to make a couple phone calls.

Two hours and some cashed-in favors later, Haru had landed an honest-to-goodness job. First, Agent Will had given her special approval to work in town, with some heavy restrictions on travel and hours, of course. Next, she called up the butcher, Sam. She had spent hours chatting with him during her and Yuisu’s weekly visits, and Sam had expressed borderline reverence for her ability to smell out good meat, so he was happy to hire her part time.

When Yuisu got home, she was thrilled with the news. It wasn’t until Haru’s first week of work that they realized the true downsides of the arrangement…

Haru’s feathers bristled up. “You got all night shifts again?! Can’t you trade with someone else?” She brought a feathery fist down on the table, jostling breakfast.

Yuisu frowned. “Believe me, I tried. They really need me on night shifts right now. I’ll try to put in for day shifts next week.”

“Another week of missing each other. Sam’s Butcher Shop closes right when your shift starts. Maybe if we’re lucky you can high-five me as you drive past,” Haru griped.

Yuisu put a soothing hand on Haru’s shoulder. “Come on, we’ll see each other more than that.” She pushed Haru’s plate towards her. “Cheer up and eat. You’ve gotta head out soon if you want to be there when Sam does that cattle-slaughter demonstration for the agricultural college. You’ve been looking forward to that for a while, right?”

Haru smiled. Yuisu really understood her, and she put up with Haru’s carnivore side especially well, for someone that had no idea how meat was made until a few weeks ago.

After Haru had double-checked that she had all her official identification documents, she left for work. Mara, never a morning person, slogged into the kitchen a few minutes later.

Yuisu set down the newspaper and smiled up at Mara. “Good morning, Mara,” Yuisu said in a chipper tone.

“‘Mornin’,” Mara mumbled, still not fully awake.

“Still pretty out of it, huh? Want some coffee?”

“Wha?... No…” She raised a palm in a ‘no thanks’ gesture, and two legs mimicked it involuntarily. “Not unless you want me to be helpless and impressionable for some reason…” Three eyes winked suggestively at Yuisu.

Yuisu tilted her head. Haru’s mannerisms were rubbing off on her. “Huh? What’s that have to do with coffee?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? Caffeine is like alcohol for arachnes. Gets us pretty drunk.” She smiled a mischievous smile and took on a sultry tone. “Though if you want to get drunk with me, and see where it takes us, I’m up for that.”

Yuisu’s cheeks went red. It seemed to be the response Mara was going for because she laughed aloud. “You are so fun to tease, Yui.” Rather than continuing her flirty teasing, Mara said, “Thanks for that. I’m actually pretty awake now.” She dug some frozen sausages out of the freezer and started them in the microwave.

Mara climbed up on a chair across from Yuisu while she waited for her food to cook. “Haru already left for work, I assume?”

Yuisu took a sip of orange juice. “Yup, she flew down to town a few minutes ago.”

Mara sighed. “Must be nice, flying around in the open, traveling around town, being outside.”

“I bet we could get approval for you to get a job too, Mara.”

“Oh, that isn’t it at all. I don’t want to work. I wish I wasn’t so afraid of, well, outside.” Mara folded her arms on the table and laid her head on them. “When I arrived here, I didn’t break into the house because I was cold, or because I got bored.” Mara took a deep breath, then said. “It was because I was terrified.”

Mara peered up at Yuisu, who was listening intently. “I’m agoraphobic, the fear-of-open-spaces kind. I can’t handle being outdoors at all, and even being in a car that’s driving through them is pretty hard on me…” She lowered her gaze. “Sorry I hid all that from you, Yuisu.”

Yuisu gave a kind smile. “I’m just glad you feel comfortable enough now to share that with me. Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do to help.”

Mara smiled and ran her tongue along her lips. Back in her flirting mood, she said, “You know just what to say to get a girl hot for you, you know that?”

Mercifully, the microwave dinged and Mara prioritized her food over continuing to torment Yuisu.