Volume 11 - Building Up, Chapter 82 - 'Twas The Night...

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Inn

no liminals were stirring, nor any human.

The presents were piled by the fireplace with care,

ready to be opened when the morning was there.

In the cabin, Pwess was nestled snug in her bed,

while visions of fizzy soda danced in her head.

And Quess in her slime-form nuzzled Iormu's huge chest,

who was coiled up tightly for a warm winter's rest.

The main house, however, was quite near to empty,

for the women there had hot dates in the city.

Haru and Yuisu had dressed up to the nines,

for a romantic dinner and sampling of wines.

Then Mara gave Tsuen her handmade yellow dress,

and the centaur insisted they put it to test.

She got approved by Will for a night on the town,

and she called for a taxi to ferry them down.

Then out in the night Chione heard a faint clatter,

and sprang from her bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window she flew like a flash,

tore open the curtains, and threw up the glass.

The moon shined bright on the new-fallen snow,

wondrously illuminating the world below,

when, what to her eager eyes should appear,

but a white-haired mothgirl who she held very dear.

That little winged woman, wearing a subtle smile,

she'd flown all the way up here, well over a mile.

More rapid than eagles, Chione and Actia darted,

and they hugged so tightly they couldn't be parted.

"Oh Actia! I'm worried!

You're later than you'd said!"

"Oh Chione! I'm sorry!

I got so distracted!

Every house, every porch!

The pine trees 'round town hall!

The lights were so pretty!

I got enthralled!"

Chione did not fault her, for it was moth-nature,

to follow bright lights wherever they may lead her.

After a pause to close the window, off they flew,

hand in hand, the young lovers were just far too cute.

In the distance was twinkling a town all alight,

Okayado 'round Christmas could light up the night.

Down the mountain and over tree tops, those girls soared,

to sightsee, flirt, and maybe later even more.

Miss Yuisu was dressed all in green, head to toe,

her hair pulled back so that her slender neck would show.

Her green dress was cut tight around tush and bare back,

and she loved how it really highlighted her rack.

Haru wore a long white coat and a short red skirt.

With wings like an angel, sharp talons that could hurt,

and both curves and muscles, Haru was smokin' hot.

Onlookers of both genders wanted what she got.

Haru's eyes-how they twinkled! Her smile, how merry!

Her teeth were like chainsaws, it was a bit scary!

Her love of fashion cast off to primal instinct,

she stuffed steak in her mouth like 'twas going extinct.

Across town, two other lovers caught a late show,

Mara and Tsuen watched it from the wheelchair row.

Everywhere else was made for people with two feet,

but Mara preferred Tsuen's back to any seat.

They enjoyed the film 'til it took a steamy turn,

and Mara got handsy with energy to burn.

Her hands slid up the silk of Tsuen's yellow dress,

and she started to fondle and knead and caress.

Tsuen asked her to stop, but the message was clear.

As the film ended, she had her phone to her ear.

They dashed from the theater, calling for a taxi

to get them home so they could really get sexy.

At the restaurant, the wine just kept on flowing,

and soon Yuisu was all red-faced and glowing.

Haru wasn't much better, and not equipped to drive,

so the tipsy pair waited 'til a cab arrived.

A huge hummer limo pulled up and honked its horn.

It was familiar, from the limo place reformed.

The driver was their friend Flare, the butterfly girl,

and she loved taking that bad-boy out for a whirl.

Already in the truck, Tsuen and Mara waved,

then the four girls rode home on snowy roads unpaved.

And they heard Flare exclaim, as she drove out of sight,

"Merry Christmas you all! Don't screw too much tonight!"

Early the next morning, Haru rubbed her temples with her feathery thumbs. "Oof, that was too much wine last night," she muttered to herself. Even though it did lead to some fun times with Yuisu…

Her talons clicked softly on the floor as she made her way to the kitchen to make a phone call. She carefully dialed her mom's number then sat down at the table and stretched her feet out with a moan. Ow, we may have overdone it a little with some of those positions. I'm not as flexible as I thought. She quickly dropped that line of thought when Kohaku finally answered the phone after five rings.

A sultry-sweet voice answered, "Hello? This is Kohaku. Sorry for the wait."

"Merry Christmas, Mom!" Haru cheered.

Kohaku's smile could be heard in her voice as she replied, "Merry Christmas to you too, Haru. It's so wonderful to hear from you!" After only the briefest pause, she asked, "So, how are things with you and Yuisu? You picked a date yet?"

"Mom…!" Haru said, embarrassed. She lowered her voice before continuing, "No, we haven't even talked about getting, um, married… We've got too much other stuff going on, between work and the inn construction."

Kohaku cut in, "I know, I know. I'm just giving my baby a hard time." She chuckled for a moment, then stopped and spoke away from the phone's receiver, her voice a little muffled, "Yeah, it's Haru. Wanna talk to her too? No? Alright."

Haru narrowed her eyes. "Mom… Who was that?"

Cheerfully, Kohaku replied, "On that was just William. He wished you a Merry Christmas."

"Agent Will?!" While Haru had said that she was okay with Agent Will hooking up with her mom, now that it was happening, she was struggling with it, hard. "What's he doing there?" she asked accusingly.

Kohaku either didn't notice Haru's hostility or ignored it. She calmly replied, "Officially, he's here on business, preparing things for some diplomatic meetings. But right now, he's spending Christmas with a lonely lady who appreciates the company."

That quickly diffused Haru's attitude. She still felt bad about leaving her mother alone, and about not visiting her since Haru left suddenly almost a year ago. "Oh, okay… Tell him 'Merry Christmas' from me too." Haru idly flexed her talons, building up the courage, then quietly said, "I'm sorry for not coming to see you yet, Mom."

"It's fine, Haru! I know you'll come visit someday. Maybe you could bring Yuisu along too. William said he could get her clearance to enter the country."

Haru shuddered at that. Facing my old squad-members would be hard enough, but coming out of the closet and introducing Yuisu to them is too much. Finally, Haru replied, "Maybe. I'll think about it. Well, I've got to go. The other girls are starting to wander into the kitchen for breakfast, and then we'll be opening presents."

"Alright, Haru. Call me again soon! I love you!"

"I love you too, Mom," Haru said, then she hung up the phone just as a chipper and hungry centaur clip-clopped into the room, practically dragging a very sleepy pink arachne.

After breakfast, everyone made their way to the living room to open their Christmas presents. It was still early in the morning and the atmosphere was sleepy, with everyone lazing about in their pajamas.

Yuisu and Haru were curled up together on a comfy chair, Tsuen was kneeling on the floor with Mara snuggled between her front legs, and Chione was on one end of the couch, fighting to stay awake. She'd only been back from her date with Actia for about an hour and it was far past her normal dawn bedtime.

Coffee and hot chocolate helped to wake the girls up a little bit, but that was nothing compared to the blast of noise that came from the back door.

"It's Christmas, it's Christmas!" an echoey voice sang out. It was Pwess, singing at the top of her lungs. "It's present opening time! And I hope they're all mine!" She tugged and pulled on her moms' hands, dragging them toward the living room.

As Quess rounded the corner, she smiled and waved at everyone with her free hand. "Good morning, everyone, and Merry Christmas!"

The five women lounging around the living room all wished a Merry Christmas back, much to Pwess's delight, and she joined in with a shout of "Merry Christmas!" She pulled harder, quickly bringing Iormu and Quess into the living room.

Iormu was still shivering from the cold outside, so she let go of Pwess's hand and bee-lined for the empty space in front of the fireplace, seeking precious warmth. This left Quess to wrangle the wriggling slime-child into her lap as she sat down on the couch.

Iormu was the closest to the pile of presents so she took up the task of passing them out. As she grabbed the presents and passed them toward their owners, she said, "Feel free to open these as soon as you get them, since with this many people taking turns would take forever." She smiled over at Pwess, who was still wiggling impatiently and looking at the presents with wide, glistening eyes. "And Pwess doesn't have that kind of patience."

As though there had been an unspoken rule to not go overboard, there were only a few presents for each person. Well, except for Pwess. There were more gifts for her in the pile than for everyone else combined.

For nearly an hour, the sounds of tearing paper, happy laughter, and heartfelt thank-yous rang through the house. While some more intimate gifts had been exchanged the night before, there were still plenty of gifts between couples. When the wrapping paper and ribbon settled, seven women and a little girl were eager to put their new prizes to use.

Haru had already put on her gift from Yuisu: a custom-ordered blue bomber jacket with white and gold trim. It fit Haru like a glove, and reminded her in the best possible way of her old executrix uniform. It even had pockets with huge wing-friendly zipper pulls.

Yuisu, on the other hand, had darted off to her room to make room on her manga shelf. Haru had given her a special-edition boxed set of a yuri manga called 'Cat and Mouse Game', which Yuisu absolutely loved. The series hadn't hit mainstream popularity when it first came out, but ever since liminal-kind revealed themselves to the world, the story about girls with animal ears and tails had boomed in popularity. This boxed set was a high-quality reprint of the first ten volumes, and it included some color pages for the first time.

Tsuen had already received her favorite present the night before: the yellow silk dress that Mara had made by hand over the last month. Also, in typical Mara fashion, Mara had given Tsuen self-serving gift: a huge bottle of the same kind of mead that had gotten Tsuen very drunk and very lewd at Mimi's party.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mara's present from Tsuen was quite classy: an ornate black and white lace parasol. Its gothic look was a perfect match for several of Mara's gothic lolita outfits, and it made a wonderful callback to the original parasol gift that had kicked off their relationship.

Pwess received a mountain of presents, including tons of toys and dolls, as well as a bunch of Disney movies. At the moment, however, she was far more interested in all the candy she'd received from everyone other than her moms. She was sampling everything and ranking how much she liked it.

Right off the bat, she found that she didn't like anything with chocolate, nougat, or nuts, since they didn't dissolve well inside her slimy body. Sugary candy, however, dissolved perfectly and it kicked the little slimegirl into overdrive. She was even more hyperactive than normal, zooming around the house and playing with as many toys at once as she possibly could.

During a moment of relative peace, while Pwess was playing with a toy car in the hallway, Iormu passed a plain envelope to Quess. She blushed a little and said, "I didn't want this to get lost in the pile of presents, so I kept it aside. Here you go."

"Oh? What is it?" Quess mused as she slipped a tendril under the flap and carefully opened the envelope. Inside was a colorful brochure that was absolutely covered in photos of flowers, as well as three shiny tickets. Each ticket was a reservation to a day-long bus tour to several of Japan's most beautiful and famous flower fields.

The tip of Iormu's tail flicked back and forth nervously as she mumbled, "I wanted to go somewhere as a family, and I thought you and Pwess would like all the flowers. The reservation isn't until April, but—"

Iormu couldn't finish her sentence, because she was suddenly enveloped, literally, by a positively giddy pink slime. Quess plastered Iormu with kisses, and then finally pulled back enough to say, "This is the best gift anyone has ever given me! Thank you! I love you!"

Iormu giggled and said, "I love you too, Quess."

Suddenly, Quess's face grew serious and she said, "On that note, I have another gift for you."

Iormu twirled a lock of her purple hair around a finger and she coyly said, "Hmm? Really?"

A small white object was drifting inside Quess's body, moving down her arm, and eventually into her hand. It emerged from her palm, and Quess offered it out to Iormu. It was a small white box, just a couple inches across.

With a quizzical look on her face, Iormu used her long nails and plucked the box from Quess's hand. She pried it open and realized it was a jewelry box. Inside was a very ornate ring made of a deep rosy-gold metal and covered in brightly colored gemstones.

Iormu's face lit up and she clasped the little box to her huge bosom. She kept staring down at it and said, "Oh, it's so beautiful, and it matches just perfectly with my other jewelry!" She looked up from the ring to thank Quess but froze in confusion at what she saw.

Quess had stepped back a couple feet, and she was kneeling on the floor, looking up at Iormu. Then a pink tendril of her 'hair' stretched out and gently claimed the ring from inside its box. Quess took the ring, held it in both hands, and offered it up to Iormu.

Quess's voice rang out clear and true, as if every drop of her love had coalesced into pure, vibrating crystal, "Iormu, the love of my life and the mother of my precious daughter, will you marry me?"

There was only a second of silence, during which the other girls in the room stared in shocked stupor, then Iormu said, "Yes! Oh, by all the gods, yes!" Iormu coiled her tail around Quess and squeezed her in a hug so tight it would have been deadly to most creatures. "Of course I'll marry you, Quess!"

Just then, Pwess scooted into the room, pushing a toy car and making VROOM-VROOM noises. She'd heard the conversation and seen enough movies to have a little understanding of what was happening, but she just didn't find it as interesting as her new toys. She slithered past the jubilant group, going for another lap of the house, but she was suddenly picked up by two strong, scale-covered hands.

Iormu, beaming from ear to ear, kissed Pwess on the forehead and cheered, "Get in here and hug your moms, Pwess. We're gonna get married!"

Pwess just liquified and squeezed through Iormu's fingers to escape. As she converged back into her normal shape she said simply, "That's nice, but I wanna play."

Quess stretched an arm into a shape like a huge ladle and scooped Pwess up with it. With tears of joy glistening on her transparent cheeks, Quess said in a wavery voice, "You can play in a bit, but mommy wants a hug right now."

She didn't fully understand why her mommy was crying, but Pwess finally spread her little arms and joined in as her moms hugged each other tight. "Don't cry, momma 'n mommy. I'll still love you even after you're married."