Volume 9 - Animate Objects, Chapter 63 - Sweet Dreams

Yuisu opened her eyes to a blue-tinted room that was lit by moonlight streaming in through the blinds. She didn't feel tired at all, even though the sun wasn't even up yet. Huh, I guess I'll go ahead and get ready for work, since I'm awake, she thought, then she sat up and climbed out of bed carefully, so as to not disturb Haru.

Yuisu stripped off her pajamas, then she bent over to dig in her dresser for some panties when a voice came from behind her, in the bed.

"Dang, Yuisu, I am digging this view. Anyone ever tell you that you've got sexy hips?" It wasn't Haru's voice.

Yuisu froze, standing naked with one hand still in the underwear drawer. She turned her head very slowly and stammered, "M-M-Mara?"

Sure enough, Mara was on the bed, bright pink, smiling wide, and also naked. Of course, Yuisu had seen Mara naked before, whenever they bathed in the hot spring, but she could never get over just how young Mara looked. She's so little and flat-chested, but she certainly acts like a sexually mature woman. And she's apparently good in bed: I've heard Tsuen's moans… Her face flushed red and Yuri-su started to smile.

No! Don't get distracted. Yuisu stood upright and shook herself, trying to clear her head, but everything felt oddly fuzzy. There was something I was supposed to be doing… Or something that was wrong?

Before Yuisu could grasp that fleeting thought, Mara cried out, "Yep, it's me, and I'm in a helluva pervy mood." She pounced from the bed, her legs spread wide to embrace Yuisu. The lightweight arachne glomped Yuisu to the carpeted floor and smiled down at her, seductively blinking her six deep, black, alluring eyes.

Mara hugged her naked body tighter against Yuisu's, rubbing her small breasts against Yuisu's larger ones, and Yuisu finally gave in to the moment. She forgot all about getting ready for work, and all about Haru.

Ahh, nothing like a soak in the hot spring after a hard workout, Tsuen thought as she settled down into the steaming spring. The hot water immediately started to soothe the tense muscles in all four of her legs. Her upper body was out of the water, but that was just fine, since the night air was the perfect temperature for her bare skin.

Tsuen leaned forward against the side of the pool and propped her chin on her folded arms. She relaxed and closed her eyes, but then opened them again with a start. She had no idea how she hadn't noticed earlier, but a little transparent pink blob was sitting up against the fence a few feet away, quivering slightly, as if breathing.

"Quess? Is that you?" Tsuen asked.

The slime jiggled again and dark pink eyes appeared on its surface. It blinked sleepily, then looked at Tsuen. In a tinny, chime-like voice, Little Quess said, "Oh, hiya Tsuey! I was sleepin'."

Tsuen rocked her head back and forth on her arms and asked, "Do you always sleep in your tiny form?" Tsuen really adored Little Quess, but she hadn't seen Quess in that form for quite a while.

"Yep! It's easier to sleep like dis," the cute little slime responded, then bounced up close to Tsuen, within arms' reach.

"And do you usually sleep out here by the hot spring?" Tsuen asked.

The little pink slime looked around with wide eyes, realizing where she was for the first time. She answered, "Nope! But I'm happy to see Tsuey!"

Tsuen couldn't help but smile. "I am happy to see you too. I guess we don't really talk much, with my work schedule and you spending all your time in the cabin." As Tsuen mentioned the cabin, she turned to look at it, barely visible behind the trees.

When she turned back, Quess had transformed to her big, feminine version. She was sprawled on the wooden walkway and looking back at Tsuen with an odd, alluring look. She seemed to be 'wearing' a bikini bottom, but there was nothing covering her sizable, gelatinous breasts.

Tsuen blushed and stammered, "Uh, hi, um, Quess…" She averted her eyes and added, "You're not wearing a top, you know."

Quess sat upright, kneeling in front of Tsuen, and whispered, "And you aren't wearing anything at all… I have some catching up to do." Just then, her bikini bottom disappeared into her glistening surface, giving Tsuen an eye-level view between Quess's legs.

It's totally normal for us to be naked here. It's a hot spring, after all, Tsuen assured herself, still blushing furiously. And Quess is naturally flirty, so this is nothing new.

Her thoughts were cut off when Quess reached out and placed a cool, slick hand against Tsuen's cheek. Slowly, tenderly, the hand slid down to Tsuen's chin and lifted it, forcing eye contact.

"Come join me out here, Tsuen," Quess said, beckoning Tsuen forward. She ran a tendril along Tsuen's neck and shoulder and added, "I can sooth your muscles better than that hot water ever could, and I can do other things for you that you've never even imagined."

Tsuen couldn't tell whether it was Quess's pheromones or something else, but her thoughts went all foggy and she heard herself saying, "Oh, Quess, that sounds wonderful."

Haru scanned the unfamiliar room, taking in the tiny amount of moonlight into her wide, golden eyes. Ah, this is Iormu's room. Though it's much messier than I remember, she thought. Blankets and underwear were scattered around the room, including a very large bra hanging haphazardly off a lamp. It looked like a hurricane of lovemaking had swept into the room, and then decided to set up shop permanently.

The bed itself was empty, so Haru's inquisitive mind jumped straight to the next mystery, Where's Iormu? Just then, there was a noise at the door. Haru turned and watched as it opened.

Iormu slithered into the room with a towel wrapped around her head but nothing around her naked body. She flipped on the lights and stopped in place for a second when she saw Haru, then continued forward. "Hi, Haru. How are you?" she asked in her deep, sultry voice.

Haru shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, I guess. Not sure how I got here through."

Iormu vigorously rubbed the towel into her wet hair, making her impossibly huge breasts bounce impressively. "Ah, bummer. I was hoping you had answers for me. I already took a shower earlier today, but all the sudden I found myself in the shower again with no memory of getting in."

As Iormu leaned over and switched to drying the other side of her hair, her breasts shifted like wonderful soft pendulums, and Haru couldn't take her eyes off them.

Iormu continued, "And then I come into my room, only to find you naked in here."

Naked?! Haru looked down at herself for the first time and saw that she was indeed totally nude. A quick glance around the room didn't find any of her clothes either. Judging by size, the underwear scattered everywhere was all Iormu's.

"Oh, god, I'm sorry Iormu. I don't know what happened! I don't remember anything," Haru rambled until the tip of Iormu's tail flicked up and pressed against Haru's lips, silencing her.

"Shush, Haru." Iormu's dark red eyes met Haru's with a very intense, intimate look. After a moment, she said, "Something's wrong here. I'm sure you feel it too, with your amazing senses."

Haru thought for a second, then nodded and said, "Everything feels too soft, too perfect. Fuzzy around the edges."

"Exactly." Iormu tossed her head back to flip all over her damp hair out of her way. It cascaded down her back, reaching all the way to the deep purple scales at her generous hips. Then she casually mentioned, "Also, I feel a strange pressure drawing me to you. Like a firm hand pushing us together."

Haru blushed a little. Her eyes kept drifting to Iormu's lips, or her breasts, or her curvy hips. Haru forced her gaze away, then said, "I feel that too. It reminds me of when Quess used her pheromones on Yuisu."

Iormu shook her head firmly. "No. This isn't Quess. I know Quess. This is something else, and I want to find out what."

She grabbed a t-shirt from the closet and tossed it to Haru. "Put that on, and I'll get dressed too. Hopefully that reduces these cravings enough that we can focus on this mystery."

Haru held up the shirt with her thumb-like digits and marveled at it. The purple t-shirt was so big that Haru could easily fit her wings through the sleeves and then wear it like a dress. She pulled it on, and then turned back to Iormu, who had put on a simple skirt and a t-shirt of her own.

Haru asked, "Where should we start, Iormu? You're the master detective, after all."

Iormu scratched her chin with a long black fingernail. "Hmm, I guess we should explore a little, see if this thing has a range."

Following Iormu's suggestion, they made their way outside and down toward the main house. Haru even took to the sky and flew around a little, but the odd feeling never faded.

Throughout the house, the same feeling persisted, but something else stood out more: no one else was there. No Yuisu, no Quess, not even the new girls Chione and Mimi. No one but Iormu and Haru, like the whole world was reserved just for them.

Haru was getting increasingly nervous. It was obvious something was wrong, but they weren't any closer to understanding it than before.

Suddenly, Iormu called out, "Hey, Haru! Come take a look at this."

Haru ran down the hall to where Iormu had opened Mara's room and was looking inside. "What is it, Iormu?"

"Take a look for yourself." Iormu gestured into the room.

Haru stepped in and immediately squinted and rubbed her eyes. The bedroom looked like Haru remembered it, from the first and only time she'd ever seen it, months ago. And just like her memory of that time, the room was blurry, literally. The plushies and the wall-scrolls in the room were all smudged and blurred beyond recognition.

"Ugh, it hurts my head just to look at it," Haru said as she darted back out of the room and into the hallway.

Iormu watched Haru closely. "And what is your impression of it?"

"Well, it's about as blurry as my memory of it. I've only been in Mara's room once, and I don't remember anything specific about it."

Iormu nodded thoughtfully. "As I suspected. It seems that our surroundings are limited by our own memories, or at least a blending of both of ours."

Haru tilted her head and wondered aloud, "So this isn't reality? It's built from our memories… like a dream."

"Exactly!" Iormu cheered, her eyes alight with excitement. She really did love a good mystery, and this was shaping up nicely. "I think we may be in a dream, or at least I am. I don't know whether you're anything more than another memory come to life," Iormu teased.

Haru glared at Iormu and said, "I'm pretty sure I'm real. Maybe it's a shared dream? Is that a thing?"

Iormu chuckled, her bounteous breasts jiggling. "I've done a lot of sleeping in my life, and I've never had a shared dream before. But, let's operate under the assumption that it is. What now?"

"There's that thing about pinching yourself," Haru suggested, then moved to pinch herself in the leg. She didn't expect it to be very effective, thanks to only having a feathery thumb-like digit instead of real hands.

"Ouch! That hurt." Haru looked down, then froze in shock. She had genuine, skin-covered, five-digit hands at the joint of each wing. "Uh, Iormu… I seem to have just dreamed up a pair of hands."

Iormu slithered forward for a closer look. "Fascinating! I've heard of lucid dreaming and being able to take control of dreams, but I've never experienced it myself." She scratched her chin in the thoughtful way she often did, then took the wooden pipe from her lips. She gestured with the pipe at Haru and said, "Hmm, this is a very interesting development, dear Haru."

"Uh, Iormu? Where'd you get that pipe?" Haru's eyes climbed higher and saw a checkered wool hat was now perched on Iormu's head. "And that hat?"

"From the same place you got your hands, my dear harpy," Iormu said, thoroughly enjoying herself now. She stuck the pipe back in the corner of her smiling mouth and said, "I'd say we've confirmed the dream theory. Now we just need to figure out 'why us?', and 'why now?'"

Haru was a little preoccupied with her newfound hands and wasn't paying any attention. She massaged her face for a moment, pinching her cheeks with her new fingers, then put both hands on her chest. She squeezed her boobs through the loose t-shirt and let out a gasp. They're so soft and squeezable! No wonder Yuisu's grabbing 'em all the time.

Then Haru's eyes went wide and settled on Iormu's considerably larger breasts. Seemingly on their own, Haru's hands reached out for the cushiony orbs, but Iormu's tail flicked up and slapped them away.

Iormu gave Haru a stern look and said, "Focus, Haru. This dream may well be some sort of trap, set to bedevil or harm us."

Bedevil? Speaking of devils… Haru thought, then said, "Say, Iormu? What do you know about Devils, or more specifically, Succubi?"

Before answering, Iormu adjusted her deerstalker hat. It was the spitting image of Sherlock Holmes' famous cap. "I'm afraid they are rather outside the realm of my knowledge. Why?"

"Because Agent Will sent a succubus to stay here for a couple nights. She supposedly arrived today, or is it last night? I'm not sure what day it is. In any case, I haven't met her yet," Haru said.

Iormu lounged against her coiled tail like it was an armchair and puffed on her pipe. Rather than smelling like tobacco, the dream-pipe's smoke smelled like old books and vanilla, a very pleasant and refined scent. "And you think the succubus may have something to do with our present predicament? That she cast a spell on us, perhaps?"

Haru nodded vigorously. "Yep, and it would explain that constant erotic feeling in the air." Even now, Haru was having a hard time keeping her hands to herself, and she'd given up on reining in her roaming eyes. "Succubi are supposedly all about that kind of stuff."

Iormu scratched at her chin in thought. "That is certainly an excellent hypothesis, Haru. However, if this is a magical dream, we are still no closer to escape than when we first arrived."

"I don't think the girl that Agent Will sent would want to hurt us. Maybe she causes erotic dreams naturally? It would explain why she couldn't stay at the hotel or at Agent Will's house." Iormu nodded agreeably, and Haru continued, "So if the dream isn't dangerous, we can just wait it out."

Iormu got a sly look in her eyes and she said, "If we're going to wait out the night, we might as well spend it doing something interesting."

Haru blinked several times. "What do you mean?"

"I've seen how you've been staring at me Haru. I do like being appreciated, and I'd love to return the favor. It's just a dream, so why not experiment a little?"

"Would that be alright with…" Haru couldn't find the name to finish the sentence. Does Iormu even have a girlfriend? For that matter, do I?

The line of thought was washed away in a wave of attraction and Haru found herself saying, "So, I heard the tip of your tail is an erogenous zone…"

Yuisu stepped into the kitchen to find an odd trio already sitting at the table. Tsuen was uncharacteristically drinking coffee with her breakfast, while Mara was half-asleep and nibbling a sausage patty. Quess was sipping at a tall glass of apple juice and she looked rather frazzled and overwhelmed.

Yuisu rubbed her eyes and made her way to the coffee machine. She wanted to ask what the three girls were up to, particularly Mara, since she was rarely up so early, but Yuisu was too tired to really care. Maybe after I get some caffeine in my veins…

When Yuisu sat down at the table with her own very black coffee, Tsuen spoke up. "You don't look so good, Yuisu."

Yuisu said, "I didn't sleep well because of a crazy dream."

In unison, three voices sighed and said, "Me too."

All four girls' eyes went wide and the glanced at each other suspiciously. Mara broke the silence by mumbling, "Yuisu was in my dream."

Yuisu blushed red and blurted, "Wait a minute… you were in my dream, Mara!"

Quess and Tsuen glanced at each other for a second, but Tsuen looked away shyly.

Yuisu noticed and asked, "Were you two in each other's dreams too?"

Tsuen whispered, "With the hot spring?"

Quess nodded. "With the hot spring."

Mara glanced suspiciously from Tsuen to Quess and back. "Wait a minute… did you two have a sexy shared dream? Without me?"

Tsuen opened her mouth but before she could reply, Yuisu harshly whispered at Mara, "If your dream was the same as mine, you have no right to be jealous."

Mara cringed, closing all six eyes. "Oof, yeah, that's fair." She looked at Tsuen and said, "I'm sorry, Tsuen. I did sexy things in my dream without you."

Tsuen blushed and mumbled, "It's okay. I'm sorry too…"

Just then, Haru strode into the room, looking a little tired, but otherwise alert. She called out, "You guys had shared dreams too? Pretty crazy, right?"

Yuisu nodded sleepily, then her eyes went wide. If us four were in each other's dreams, then who was in Haru's?

Haru stepped up behind Yuisu, crouched down, and snuggled her cheek. Then, as if she had read Yuisu's thoughts, she whispered, "I got Iormu. It was amazing. You?"

After a moment of envy, Yuisu whispered back, "Mara. I learned some new techniques too."

Tsuen was trying hard to ignore the lewd whispers, and she finally interrupted, "You sound like you know something, Haru. What's going on?"

Haru stood up, her wings still wrapped around the sitting Yuisu. "Me and Iormu did some detective work, both in and out of the dream. Turns out, we have our three newest arrivals to thanks for last night's little adventures."

When the other girls stared in mild confusion, Haru continued, "According to Chione, who I only slightly interrogated, Chione, Mimi, and that visiting Succubus, Lethe, got drunk on some stolen booze. Then they decided to thank us for letting them stay here by having Lethe give out some sexy dreams."

Haru looked around at the sleep-deprived faces in the kitchen, then she chuckled and said, "As I think you all can deduce, she messed up the pairings. Hopefully the dreams were still fun?"

Mara nodded a little too eagerly, Tsuen turned red again, and Quess just wore a wide, satisfied smile. Yuisu nodded distractedly, but she was watching Quess.

Quess was glossier than normal, and her pink coloration seemed more vivid too. I guess she just got a really filling meal last night, with all those erotic dreams in the house?