Volume 3 - Speedy Centaur, Chapter 19 - Work It, Baby

KNOCK, KNOCK!

“Mara, are you awake?” It was only 7AM, but Tsuen was fully dressed in lime-green runner’s shorts and a blue sports bra. Her bright magenta hair was pulled back in a short ponytail that matched her actual tail. She held something in her left hand as she knocked again with her right.

KNOCK!

“Augh, whaddaya want? ‘stoo early for this…” Mara’s voice grumbled from inside her room.

“We’re getting ready to head to the gym. If you don’t hurry up, you’ll miss the only ride there,” Tsuen replied. Through the door, Tsuen heard a thump that sounded like Mara falling out of bed. She was about to ask if Mara was okay when the door opened.

Mara stood there, rubbing her eyes with a tiny fist. Her face was several feet lower than Tsuen’s, so she had to crane her neck to look Tsuen in the eyes. Her red flannel nightshirt was barely buttoned and had slid all the way off one shoulder, showing a hint of nipple. “So early… I’m only getting up because it’s you, Tsuen… Just give me a sec.”

Tsuen blushed at the sight of Mara’s breast, then sighed in relief when Mara turned and stepped back in the room. The relief was short lived as Mara took the shirt off entirely, revealing her whole chest and her pink panties that had a teddy bear on the front. Tsuen turned away, saying, “I’ll let you get dressed. Meet us in the kitchen when you’re ready.”

Wow, she is out of it in the morning. Or she’s just really open about nudity… Or both, Tsuen thought, then remembered the thing she was carrying in her left hand. Aw, I wanted to give this to her when we were alone. She decided to wait in the living room for Mara to emerge from her room.

It didn’t take long. Mara stepped through the door wearing a blue tank top, grey shorts, and sporty striped socks on her palps. There was no reason to wear socks on her other eight legs if she was about to go outside.

Tsuen ran up, her rubber hoof-covers clopping against the wooden floor. “Mara, I have something for you,” she said excitedly.

Mara glanced up, eyes blinking and still in the process of waking up. “Oh?”

Tsuen presented the object in her left hand. It was a traditional Chinese umbrella, made out of bamboo and oil-sealed paper, and painted with an elaborate monochrome design. “I’d like you to have this. I brought it with me from China, and it has served me well. I hope it will do even more for you by shielding you from the sky.”

Mara’s eyes opened wide and she gently took the umbrella. She ran a finger over the delicate design, but she couldn’t make out the picture while the umbrella was closed.

“This is beautiful, Tsuen. Thank you.” She smiled up at Tsuen and moisture gathered in the corners of all of her eyes. “Thank you for everything.”

Yuisu’s truck pulled into a parking space. It was one of the only vehicles in the expansive parking lot. As she stepped out of the truck, Yuisu pondered, Could the grand opening even fill this giant lot? Maybe during tourist season…

Mara crawled across the driver’s seat and hopped out of the truck while Haru got out of the other side. Mara quickly opened up her new umbrella and held it close over her head. Like Tsuen had said, it protected her from the wide open sky and she felt safer under its cover.

When opened, its elaborate black-ink design could be seen. It depicted a wide valley that was ringed by mountains and hidden from the entire world by low clouds. Tiny drawings of centaurs ran across the fields of that valley. It was a reasonable guess that this umbrella was from Tsuen’s homeland, so Mara treasured it even more.

Yuisu ran around to the back of the truck. “Oh, one second, Tsuen. I’ll get the tailgate for you.” She unfastened the gate and lowered it, but Tsuen still had a tricky time getting down from there. “Remind me to look for a ramp for you on our way home tonight.”

“I will. Thanks, Yuizu,” Tsuen said as she stepped carefully down to the ground.

Haru had already started toward the front door of Sports Club Kobold. All together, the four women made quite a strange procession: a pure white harpy, a black-haired human, a tall brightly dressed centaur, and a bright pink arachne hiding under an umbrella.

Once inside, they were swarmed by kobolds. Actually, there were only two, but they were boisterous and they darted quickly from girl to girl, shaking their hands, making it seem like a swarm of them.

Polt, her dog-like ears perked straight up, cheered, “Welcome to Sports Club Kobold!” She gestured to the other kobold, who Yuisu thought looked really familiar. “This is Korbin, and he’s the owner of this franchise location. Go to him with any questions. I’m only here to help get things going, not to run the place, after all.” She smiled and wagged her tail as she stepped back and let Korbin take the limelight.

The fur on his face was a darker shade of brown than Polt’s, but otherwise he looked pretty similar. They both had short muzzles and big furry ears, as well as large claw-tipped hands. Korbin had a very broad chest and huge muscles that stretched his Sports Club Kobold branded t-shirt to its limits. Yuisu recognized him as the kobold she and Haru had seen on their first visit to Sam’s Butcher Shop all those weeks ago.

“Welcome, ladies, and thank you all so much for helping give SCK a test run, so that it can open as the best possible fitness experience for visitors of all kinds.” He beckoned with one large hand and started into the facility.

Once the girls were following, he continued, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’d build such an extensive facility up here in the mountains where there aren’t many liminals yet. Well, there are two reasons. First, I love this town like nothing else in the world. I’ve lived here for five years now, and I plan to spend the rest of my life here, sharing it with as many people as I can.”

He stopped by a large window. It looked out onto a steep mountainside that still had a bit of snow hiding in the trees. “The second reason is that this town is about to become a major tourist destination. This Sports Club Kobold franchise is just one piece of the larger plans I have in store. By next winter, I hope to have a full scale ski-lift and lodge in operation on that mountain. And of course, that facility will be just as open and accessible to all races as this gym.”

“But that’s enough about that. You’re all here to work out, so let’s get you started.”

Korbin directed the group to a massive room filled with exercise equipment of all kinds. The ceiling was very high, and Mara had left her umbrella at the front desk. She walked very close to Tsuen’s side, using her as cover. Thankfully, they merely passed through the room on the way to the changing rooms.

“The female changing rooms are on the left, male on the right, and we have a few single-occupant gender-neutral rooms in the center.” Korbin stopped and stood outside the door. “There’s no one else in the facility right now, but it still wouldn’t feel right for me to go in the women’s rooms, so I’ll let Polt walk you through.”

They followed Polt in and marveled at the expansive changing room. Polt said, “We try to not only accommodate everyone, but also make things intuitive enough that people feel welcome and in control.” She pointed at a small sign depicting silhouettes of a variety of extraspecies races, including a lamia. “Pictorial guides like this will indicate the limits and accommodations of each feature of the gym. For example, this shower dispenses only warm to hot water, for the safety of our cold-blooded guests.”

“If you see any signs that don’t make sense, let the staff know so we can improve.” Polt started back towards the door. “Go ahead and get changed if you need. Korbin and I will be waiting in the hall.”

Tsuen and Mara were already dressed for exercise, but Haru and Yuisu needed to change. Haru had insisted on wearing her stylish torn jeans and a white button up blouse for fashion reasons, and Yuisu wore jeans and a sweatshirt because her weak human body didn’t have the same resistance to the cold mountain springtime that the liminal girls had.

“Stand still, Haru,” Yuisu said with sigh. “I can’t help you with your jeans if you keep wiggling.”

“Well, maybe if you’d stop grabbing at me… It tickles there.”

Tsuen turned and saw Haru standing with her pants pulled down around her thighs and her black side-snap underwear half-undone. Yuisu was crouched in front of her and she was pulling on the top of Haru’s jeans. Tsuen blushed and looked away just as Yuisu gave a another yank that accidentally brought Haru’s panties down along with her jeans.

Yuisu was once again face to face with Haru’s bundle of fluff. Both of their faces flushed vivid red and they each fell backwards in surprise.

Mara laughed as she followed Tsuen towards the door. “Get a room, you two!”

Four hours later, exhausted and out of breath, Yuisu complained to Korbin, “Are you telling me that my 100 meter dash only counts as fifteen seconds of exercise?!” The girls were not happy to learn that only the time spent actively exercising would count towards their eight-hour goals.

Mara joined in the whining, “This system is broken! I guess we’re supposed to game the system and just jog for eight hours?”

Korbin waved his palms. “Now, now. I didn’t make the rules. It’s something Agent Will wrote up, and it seems to have its flaws. In any case, if you don’t worry about the numbers and just drop by a few times a week, you’ll get your hours no problem.” He smiled, showing his long canines. “You should be thinking about your fitness. That’s the real prize here!”

Yuisu sighed. “He has a point.” She looked up at the other girls, who had all been pushing themselves as well. “Want to call it a day and come back tomorrow?”

They all grumbled their approval and made their way to the changing room for some much deserved showers.

The next day, and every day that week, the four women returned for some diverse exercise, trying out everything in the facility. Tsuen particularly liked the treadmills, since she could run with a partner without worrying if they could keep up. Mara also liked the treadmills, since she could run with Tsuen. She hadn’t outright said anything yet, but it was pretty clear to everyone now that Mara had a major crush on Tsuen.

Haru favored the chest fly machine to work her wings and pectoral muscles, and the inverted sit-up bench for her abs. Yuisu’s little gym at home had both of those, but those versions would need some major modifications before they’d be usable by a harpy.

Yuisu took to lap swimming like an otter to water. She hadn’t really swam since middle school, but getting back into it had felt remarkably natural. It felt odd at first to go off and swim by herself instead of exercising with the other girls, but it was only for an hour each day, and it was nice to have some alone time occasionally.

When the two weeks had passed, all the girls had far surpassed their eight hour minimum, as well as solidified some good fitness habits. On the day of the grand opening, Korbin had invited them to see the spectacle.

“Welcome, people of all species, to the grand opening of Sports Club Kobold!” Korbin gestured at the large neon sign over the front doors. “For today only, the entire facility is open to everyone, free of charge. Going forward, we offer great monthly and yearly plans. Give us a try, and I know you won’t be disappointed!”

He saw Tsuen standing out in the crowd as a landmark and made his way to the girls. “I’m glad you could make it. Things will be pretty busy today, so you may not want to do your normal routines, but I do encourage you to walk around and see all people working hard for their health. It is quite an inspiring sight!”

They took him up on the recommendation and wandered the facility. Humans and liminals alike were using all sorts of equipment. There were several common liminal species like harpies and centaurs, as well as some rare species such as a shark-mermaid and an oni. The girls were all a little surprised at the number of extraspecies guests.

“I didn’t realize there were this many liminals living in town,” Haru said.

Yuisu nodded. “Agent Will had mentioned to me that a few other hosts lived in town, but most of them only have one homestay. I bet that most of these people traveled quite a ways to get here. Very few extraspecies-adapted facilities exist right now, so we’re lucky to have this only fifteen minutes from home.”