AnnouncementOne of the characters is revealed to be trans in this chapter. I tried not to make a big deal about it because I wouldn't want it to be a big deal. Someone notices, there's an, "oh, ok," moment and that's about it. It doesn't require a big conversation to expin or anything like that so there isn't one.Izumi was ecstatic when she met them in the hallway, practically bouncing off the walls. Apparently The Inn would take care of moving her belongings while they were out. That’s what had happened to her when she moved out of her old party’s suite.
Everyone trooped downstairs so that Izumi could turn in her room key and pick up her new suite key. Then they all went right back upstairs to the fourth floor.
The fourth floor was a single shop. There was a door off the nding that opened up into it. Inside were holographic dispys of various features. Everything from furniture to additions to their rooms, to full room additions to their suite. The dispys flickered between various styles of architecture and design.
They were greeted by what could only be an advanced form of automaton, verging on the edge of an android or robot. At least if it didn’t have a rge key twisting around on their back. It was shaped like a man, and even had a bit of a beard going on. It was dressed in rough cotton with a leather apron over top of everything.
“Welcome. My name is Dave. How can I help you dies today?” It had a slightly tinny sound to its voice, but spoke and moved quite naturally.
“Hi, Dave,” Rana stepped forward. “We’re looking to add a bathroom to our suite.”
“Come over this way and let’s see what we can find that interests you.” Dave turned and walked deeper into the store. Rana hurried after it, and the rest of the group followed behind.
They didn’t have to go far before Dave stopped in front of a holographic bathhouse looking room. It looked to be Greco-Roman in design and was basically just a rge swimming pool. Tall columns bordered the pool with lights hanging down from the ceiling.
Then the dispy flickered and it suddenly looked very Japanese. There was a small shower area on one side, and a round pool surrounded by volcanic rock filled up the rest of the space. A small waterfall cascaded into the pool near the top of the room.
“Can you show me something more Anpuvian?” Rana asked.
“Of course, miss,” Dave answered. It reached toward the dispy and a small holographic keyboard appeared in the air in front of it. Dave typed a few commands into it and the dispy suddenly changed.
Now, the room was ringed in small, red trees. There was a small showering area in the front of the room. After that was a series of three round pools, each a little rger than the one in front of it. The smallest pool in the front sat higher and flowed over the back into the next pool. The middle pool sat above and flowed into the final, rgest pool. Steps were set leading down to each of the pools, with rge ndings around each pool. Rana hummed in approval.
“Why are there three pools?” Lilit asked.
“Each one is a different temperature. It goes from coolest to hottest,” Dave indicated the pools moving from the front to the back. “You’re meant to start in the first and once you’ve grown accustomed move on to the next pool”
“Not everyone uses all the pools,” Rana added. She turned back to Dave, “Are the pools individually adjustable?”
“Yes, ma’am. There is a control panel set next to the door to allow you to make adjustments as well as on the sides of the pools themselves. They can be programmed to dispy multiple temperature scales as well.” The key in Dave’s back continued to tick away.
Rana asked about tweaking a few aesthetics and Dave showed her how to make choices and adjustments to the model. She spent several minutes moving things around and changing little details. Lilit was beginning to become bored and her attention drifted to other models nearby.
There was a smaller dispy with bathroom design add-ons. One of them was a bathtub feature. Lilit wandered over and began looking at the options she could mess with. First she messed with the homeworld base. For the most part things stayed the same. The biggest differences she noticed were sizes and depths. Out of curiosity, Lilit asked Rana how to spell Anpuvian so she could look up bathtubs from her world. An error fshed with a small message indicating that Anpuvians didn’t have personal baths and used showers or public bathhouses for cleaning themselves.
By then Izumi had wandered over. “Oh, check out Skaah tubs. That’s where I’m from.”
Lilit pulled up the model for Skaah and wasn’t at all surprised at how shallow it was. She was surprised, thought maybe she shouldn’t be, that it was rge enough to fit a dozen goblins. “That’s rather rge,” Lilit pointed out.
“Oh, that’s because we bathe as family units. It’s great for bonding!” Izumi seemed earnest. Lilit decided to take her at face value.
“Ok, but I need something deeper if I want to cover all of me.”
“Pfft. Where’s the fun in that?” Izumi wiggled her eyebrows at Lilit.
Lilit decided to ignore her. For her own sanity. Instead she called Awenda over to ask how to spell her homeworld.
“Well, I’m not technically from there. I was born on a colony world in another sor system. But it should be the same for Lanchili as it was on Bisyeh.” Awenda answered.
“Wait, your people were interstelr?” Lilit asked, sounding astounded.
“Well, yeah. Why? Were your people not?”
“No. We were probably a few generations from even thinking about colonizing pnets in the same sor system. Wait, is everyone else that far advanced as well?” She wondered if she was the primitive in this situation.
“Nah. My people never bothered with the stars. We were happy where we were. Although some people did like creating fantasy worlds to explore in cyberspace. That’s the closest we got to other worlds.” Izumi said.
Before she could get more distracted by asking Rana who was still busy pying with the bathhouse features about her world, Lilit input Lanchili in to see what their bathtubs looked like. When she did, she was a little confused.
There was a small enclosed shower like space. But there was no showerhead, and the floor looked like it was covered by sand. Next to that was a tub that looked like it would reach up to Awenda’s neck, but she’d have to be sitting with her legs bunched up or crossed to fit. And then there was another small shower space on the other side of the tub. This one with what looked like misters all over the wall.
Lilit stared at the unusual setup for several seconds before turning to Awenda. “What is all that?”
“Yeah, I noticed none of you seemed to have scales, so a lot of this stuff you wouldn’t use.” She pointed to the sand covered shower stall. “This bsts warm sand across our scales to help with molting and to keep our scales polished. Then we’d soak in the water in the tub here,” she pointed to the tiny but tall bathtub. “Then we’d step in here and have scale oil sprayed on to keep them from getting too stiff or brittle.”
She stepped forward. “Actually, how much does this cost? My scales are feeling a little tight.”
Lilit stepped aside so Awenda could inspect the dispy. She tapped away on the dispy’s holographic keyboard for several seconds, adjusting a few features. She chose a tub that seemed a little shallower and much closer to a length Lilit was familiar with. And added what looked like a set of dryers.
“Huh, looks like a basic setup is thirty-five gold pieces, and with my tweaks it’s only thirty-eight gold pieces.” Awenda murmured to herself.
“That doesn’t sound that bad,” Lilit said. Awenda jumped a little. She looked over her shoulder with a chagrined look on her face.
Lilit pulled up her account on her Delver. And…she was down to thirty-two gold, five silver. If the prices were simir she was out of luck for now. She let out a deep sigh. “Mind if I check how much mine would actually cost? Unless you’re going to get yourself one.”
Awenda shook her head and stepped back, “No. I want to see what happens with Rana. Besides, I bought some scale oil when we bought health potions. I just might need some help rubbing it in everywhere.” She looked hopefully at Lilit.
“I would love to help with that,” Izumi jumped in front of Awenda.
“Thank you.”
Lilit stepped up to the bathtub dispy and quickly navigated to her own world’s bathtubs. As much fun as it might be to try bathtubs from other species, she knew she’d fit in this and be compatible with all the features. Yep, basic tub was thirty-five. She checked out some of the options. Looked like a garden soaker tub with jets was going to be thirty-nine. She was not getting one today. All the more reason to hurry up and go through a dungeon.
Rana stepped away from her dispy. Looking over, Lilit couldn’t really tell the difference in what was dispyed now and what Rana had tweaked about the design. She shrugged as Rana stepped in front of the group.
“Ok, so the bathroom costs 130 gold pieces. Also, this is run by The Inn and they don’t negotiate prices.” Rana rolled her eyes. “I have seventy gold. If I put up fifty-five, that should leave me enough to get a backup weapon. That is if you all can chip in twenty-five a piece.” She looked around at everyone, “So, what do ya say? Want to get a bathroom?”
Lilit spoke up first. “I can’t afford a bathtub for just my room, so I’ll throw in my share for a bathhouse we can all use.”
Izumi and Awenda quickly agreed. Everyone transferred Rana their portion of the money. Rana returned to the bathhouse dispy and spoke with Dave for a few moments. She handed over the gold and turned back around to the group.
“Dave said the bathroom should be finished setting up within an hour. Should we go weapons shopping to kill time?” Rana asked.
“Sounds good to me,” Awenda said. Lilit and Izumi nodded their heads in agreement.
The group went back to the stairs and traveled down one flight. They were back in the dungeon merchants hall again.
“Everyone ok with going back to Slokenra’s? She seemed to know her stuff.” Awenda asked everyone.
Lilit shrugged. She wasn’t in the market for anything new today. She was just here with everyone. Were they friends, she wondered as they headed deeper into the merchants’ hall.
Everyone else agreed so that’s where they headed. Slokenra greeted them warmly when they entered her shop.
“Have you had a chance to try out the wing-shield?” She asked Lilit excitedly.
“I did. I’m still getting used to the fighting style, but it seemed to work well enough and kept my hand free to grab things.” Lilit beamed at Slokenra.
“That’s brilliant. So, what can I do for you today?”
“Oh, this time it’s all of them that need assistance. We wanted to get some bludgeoning type weapons as backups. We had problems with the skeletons in the training room.” Lilit answered for everyone.
“Ah, that’s a good idea. Undead are a favorite of lots of the dungeons.” Slokenra sounded excited. Lilit wasn’t sure if it was for the sale or for the excuse to talk so many different styles of weapons with everyone.
Over an hour ter the group left with lighter pockets than they went in. Awenda chose a warhammer that was little more than a shortened sledgehammer. It was very crude, but effective. Rana had opted for a quarterstaff with steel capped ends. Unfortunately Izumi hadn’t found anything ranged that would work well against undead. She was going to head to another vender nearby that Slokenra had recommended to see about getting a wand of lesser fireball. Slokenra assured everyone that it would be safe even in close quarters.
Everyone else headed back toward the staircase and their suite. It should have been long enough for the new bathhouse to be added to the suite and everyone was getting excited.
Izumi caught up to the group right before they entered the suite. It looked like she’d run the whole way back. She was a little winded, but obviously excited.
When they got to the hallway at the back of the suite there was a new door down the bedroom hallway. That would be Izumi’s new room. At the very end of the hall instead of along it sat another new door. This one was a set of double doors and almost certainly belonged to the new bathhouse.
Lilit followed the rest of the women down the hall. Everyone allowed Rana to push open the door and be the first person in the room. From the smile on her face, she was quite happy with how things had turned out.
Lilit and the rest followed on her heels. Inside the room was steamy and dimly lighted. Some details that Lilit hadn’t noticed before popped out at her. Immediately as you came in the room was a small changing area with benches and cubies to put clothes. Towels were stacked on the other wall on a table.
Just past that was the small showering area with a half dozen little showerheads hanging over drains and soap dishes on the walls. From the changing room and through the shower area the floor was tiled in marble with bck and gold veins running through it.
Then there were the actual baths. Everything in that part of the room was tiled in reverse. A bck marble with white and gold veins. Steam rose from each of the pools. The smallest of which would easily fit a dozen people at a time without anyone rubbing against anyone else.
“Ok. I’m going to go grab some clean clothes and then I’m coming back to soak. That looks so luxurious,” Lilit practically moaned. She could almost feel her muscles loosening just looking at the hot pools of water.
Everyone else nodded in agreement and they all hurried from the room. Lilit quickly grabbed a new dress and underwear. Beside the boots there was now a pair of sandals she assumed were for the bathhouse. She slipped off her fts and slipped on the sandals before heading out of her room.
She was the st one to make it to the bathhouse. Everyone else was stripping down, and Lilit found she couldn’t take her eyes off of any of them as she hovered in the doorway.
Awenda had the same red scales that were scattered like freckles across her face and hands running down the rest of her body. They grew rger and closer together as they went down her body. They ran mostly along the sides of her body, but there were a scattering all across her torso. She had a ridge of scales running down her spine that were the same red as the others, but flecked in gold. They ended just above her very fit, firm looking butt. She had small, pert breasts adding softness to her muscur frame. When she turned around, Lilit was able to make out a defined six pack of abs.
Rana had the same dusky fur running down her entire body. She was also much curvier than her clothes and armor had indicated. Rana had rather rge breasts tipped with dark bronze nipples. It was harder to make out the muscles rippling underneath her fur, but she was still obviously in great shape. And between her legs was a golden colored cock that put Lilit’s st girlfriend to shame.
Lilit was gd Rana felt at home enough with them to bare herself in front of everyone. Lilit’s st girlfriend’s dysphoria had made her uncomfortable undressing in front of anyone she wasn’t intimate with.
Izumi was built more like a runner. She was slender, but with muscur thighs and calves. She also had probably the roundest butt of everyone there. Her skin was a dark, muted green except where she would wear a swimsuit. Those areas appeared to be much paler green from not being exposed to the sun. She was also leering at the other women, which is what finally shook Lilit out of her own staring spell.
Lilit averted her eyes and fully entered the dressing room. She quickly took off her clothes without looking at anyone else, stuffing them in a cubby. She followed the others to the showering area. She kept her eyes on the tiles in front of her as she quickly scrubbed off the day.
Lilit followed behind everyone as they all slid into the first pool. She did her best not to stare at anyone else again, but it was so hard with everyone just sitting there naked and beautiful. Her little gay heart was pounding away in her chest. Izumi seemed to not have the same hang ups as she sidled up close to Rana and they began whispering back and forth.
The first pool was like a warm bath. Just enough to get her skin to redden comfortably. She leaned back and let the heat soak into her muscles. Lilit and Awenda sat quietly in the pool and tried to rex.
“So, when can we move to the next pool?” Awenda asked a few minutes ter. “This is nice, but I prefer my baths a bit hotter than this.”
“Oh, we can head to the next pool. There’s no time minimum or anything, and you’re welcome to skip any of the baths you want.” Rana answered.
“Great,” Awenda said. Then she stood up and promptly climbed out. Lilit shrugged at the others and they got out and followed Awenda to the next pool.
This one was just on the edge of almost too hot. Lilit winced as she sank into the bath. It took a few minutes, but it soon became comfortable. Leaning back, she decided she didn’t want to risk entering the hottest bath. This one was as close to perfect as she was going to get. She could already feel her muscles loosening as she rexed.
Izumi and Rana were giggling together across the pool. Awenda had sat a bit closer to Lilit this time. “You doing ok?” Awenda asked.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just, you expressed unease about that,” Awenda nodded toward Izumi and Rana who were now slowly kissing.
Lilit blushed. She hoped it looked like just a flush from the hot water. “I wasn’t worried about that per say. I was worried about any of it coming between us.”
“I wouldn’t worry. We’re all adults here. You’re the only one not used to multiple partners. It might take time for you to get used to the idea,” Awenda scooted closer and pced her hand on Lilit’s thigh. “But I think we’ll all be here when you’re ready.”
Then she stood up and made her way to the next pool. Lilit stared after her in disbelief. Had Awenda meant to hit on her? Was she saying what Lilit thought she was saying? And did it make a difference in how she felt if the others did like her that way?
Lilit couldn’t come to any conclusions right now. Especially not when she was alone with Izumi and Rana making out across from her. Lilit stood up suddenly, needing to be anywhere but here. “I think I’m done. I’m gonna head to my room.” Izumi threw a thumbs up over her shoulder. Rana didn’t seem to notice. Awenda waved as Lilit started making her way back up the steps toward the changing room.
She quickly dried off and put on some clothes. Her body still felt hot and flushed. And with fshes of Rana and Izumi floating through her head, she wasn’t sure this feeling would be going away anytime soon.
