Finally catching up with Steph who was standing in front of a round cup like building. It looked like three cups were cut and interlocked together like a log cabin into a fourth larger cup. All around the edges were splats of bubblegum pink and baby blue on the silvery glass building as if someone hit the building with paint filled balloons. The button was a layer of dark polished wood that extended into being the floor from what the large open doorway showed of the interior. 

How’d a building even get here in the first place? I didn't see it from the library windows or when I went to the mini town either. Actually when I think of it, there weren't any of these stands set up yesterday at school either. Well whatever, I’ll just ask the owner.

“Ehm.” I cleared my throat loud enough that Steph looked over at me with a playful smirk as she chewed on something. When’d she get that?!

“Hiya! Took ya long enough.” She said happily as she handed me a rainbow stick candy. “I think Time went so slow for me that I even got us snacks. Or you’re just a slow poke.” She giggled at beating me here.

“Yeah and the smith you saw happened to be on the other side of the grounds. Those are some eyes.” I said before taking a bite of the candy. Watermelon, blueberry and something that tastes like candied apples is what explodes in my mouth.

“Yup, guess I’m the one with dragon eyes here.” She says with a smug smile. Maybe I’ll give you my wings…

“HAAHAHAHA!” the thought of Steph’s body hanging in the air while wings that fluttered from her hips popped in my head. She’d need at least two pairs to keep up right.

“What?!”

“It’s nothing.” I smiled back at her before walking toward the smith shop.

“No really, what’s so funny?” She asked as we headed into the shop.

 

Inside was actually really nice! My muscles felt like I was massaged and spent time in a warm bubble bath. Even Steph sighed, almost leaning backwards, she stretched her shoulder and smiled like she was savoring a bite of chocolate cake. Though I think it could be a little hotter in here, maybe I could chill near the furnace? Take a couple hot coals for the road while I’m at it.

The inside of the smithy was pretty nice. To the left were different weapons that were all in thick blue glass cases, on the wall was a giant sword that was as big as I was tall! Maybe that tall Oni could wield a buster sword like that, maybe Amanda could too? It kinda looked like a katana if a mad scientist used a growth ray on it and stitched a flickering lightning bolt into it. 

There was a spear that when I got close to it would release sparks like lighter and one next to it that would form a cloud where the pole met the blade. In a glass case near the wall floated obsidian daggers, they were anchored with black chains from the floor of the case. Yet they floated almost to the top of the case as if the thick chains holding them weighed nothing. Leaning on a black case was a shiny metal bat, the case was an open one with arms that held the bat. Buuuuut, the handle was free.

Wrapping my fingers around the handle, I was surprised how light the bat felt, almost like it was hollow.

“Hey, try charging mana into it.” Steph suggested with a curious look.

“No way. I’ve seen enough magic items that I'd be crazy to play with it. It could blow up or burn the whole room. Maybe summon entities from beyond this universe.” I argue but steph watches the bat instead of paying attention.

“Then, I’d let go of it.” She pointed at my hand still gripping the bat.

Looking down, the bat now had several rows of jagged lighting bolt-like blades waving up and down. The blades poked out from the edge of the handle and moved down to the edge of the bat like some sort of mecha revealing its arsenal hidden under panels. Oh shit! NO-NO-NO! PLEASE DON'T EXPLODE! The bolts melted into the bat before it shook like an animal that was trying to break free from it. Aaaannnndd pulling my hand away didn't do anything! Quickly stepping in front of Steph to shield her from the coming blast, closing my wings around us and scooping up as much of her tail in my arms.

…

…

..

…..

Tick. Came a rather unimpressive sound you’d hear from a dud. And waiting a few seconds led to an awkward ehem from Steph. Looking at her fed me the image of a pouting Steph. She looked me in the eyes with big eyes, brows pinched and a tiny frown on her face like I made a really bad pun.

“C-could you put me down….please?” She almost begged.

Once I placed her on the ground, her tail shook while she constantly scratched her chin with a ferocity like she was bitten by several bugs. Even her arm locked in her cast seemed to tremble like an egg eager to hatch now. “I-I’m not comfortable b-being touched.” She stuttered out with a breathy voice. Realizing that this might be her sickness coming back I offered to call Penny’s mom, showing the paper she handed me. “N-no, I’m alright.” she took a quick breath before turning to the other side of the smithy. “W-why, don't we check out the other side?” She said with a small almost forced smile.

“Alright but tell me if anything’s wrong and I’ll get help.” I cautioned her which she gave a slow nod in return. As we moved, her body seemed to only slowly inch forward like a caterpillar, first her front lifted up only to slowly move a little, then the rest pushed her forward another small bit, dragging the rest of her across the ground. Other than that she seemed to be ok, well other than her constant scratching.

 The other side had floating nails that hover above small pedestals. A bunch of small boxes with a clear plastic window showing a gray liquid that shifts and bubbles as you tilt the box. On a shelf are metal plates that are shaped like fish scales, circles, rectangles and a segmented one with odd bumps on it. On a nearby shelf sit several spiky crystals inside of white vials with blueish windows. Waving my hand near them seems to get the crystals to move, their spikes reaching out almost like little grabby hands. Steph giggles from watching the crystals reaching for me, my hand goes left, they reach left. After a little teasing of the crystals, Steph points out a folded fan, the kind popular in asian countries, this one is made with black almost mirror-like metal for the arms. The fabric in between the arms is white and when pulling the arms open reveals a large flower with thin petals with several petals flying around it painted on the fabric.

An idea popped in my head, I have a relatively pretty face, sure there’s supermodels and even other women that look godly. Buuuuuuut! I pass as a beauty-a HANDSOME beauty that is. Quickly I hide my face behind the opened fan, only revealing my eyes and with a smirk, I turn to Steph.

“What do we have here? Such beauty and wonderful features to boot! Such is my luck!” I say as I wink my eyes at her and lean to the side, trying to look more curvy. Am I doing it right? Push out the hips as far as I can, pull in the waist aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnd….Now my back is burning, great!

I hold the painful pose long enough to see Steph’s face turning a dark shade of tomato red, even her ears seem to camouflage with her flushed face. Her arms twitch as if she was holding back from punching  the wall and her tail vibrates enough to make audible thumping sounds on the wooden floor. A small smile forms only to be twitched back into a frown and back again. Her pupils shift from large black dots into sharp diamond slits which she doesn't blink, instead staring at me. Her tongue curls and glides over her lips every time her smile returns from her forced frown. Her free hand is gripping her cast as if it was the last limited edition Deluxe-man figure, The cast even creaks as she seems to force her fingers into the cast.

This doesn't look like her sickness. NO, it looks like the face my ex made whenever I wore a tux or anything that even looked vaguely like formal wear. Shit.

“Steph? Um, your tail is acting weird-” Steph slowly leans forward taking a deep sniff as if her favorite meal was presented to her hot from the oven.  Her body isn’t twitching anymore either, instead she moves her shoulders side to side and her tail glides, coils and slowly swings across the floor.

Her small smile widens and continues past what a normal human could do. Only stopping once the corners of her smile almost met the corners of her eyes, revealing several pointed teeth where her molars should be. Oh fuck no! Is this what a lamia version of hangry is?! She looks ready to eat me….and fuck me at once!

As I try to back up, Steph slithers closer, her tail bunching up like a row of big fat tires. Before I could change tactics and move to my left, she lunged at me, using her tail like a spring and pounding me into the wall. But thanks to this body, it feels a little more like a gentle push than a heavy hit. But instead of enjoying the durability of my body, I worried about the wild Steph who’s actively trying to pin me to the wall. Her toothy smile glowing every now and then, her tail coiling around the wall creating a barricade, blocking off any possible retreat all while she deeply sucks in the air with each breath. I couldn’t exactly push her off me either. Her eyes bore right into me the way someone found exactly what she needed. she’d immediately entangle me if I tried to escape, ending in me possibly exerting more force than she could handle. And I don’t want to put her into a body cast. My damned claws could easily end up stabbing into her like a turkey, leading to a bloody snake kabob.

Maybe I could use my tail to distract her? Or knock her—----------you know, she looks pretty needy. Maybe she just needs a little meaty tail to fill her up~? Wait! I can’t take advantage of her, clearly she isn’t in her right mind.

But everyone’s like this, bet there’s lots sneaking off to do a little exploring~. 

“AAaahhhhahhHH~!” Steph suddenly moaned. Without noticing, my hand had acted, drifting downwards to her chest where it was softly massaging her soft mound. That’s when I felt a firm tugging, shifting pressure on my tail, I could feel Steph wrapping her tail around mine! Her tail squeezed upwards, then pulled downwards, massaging my tail as if it was a dick and sending soft sparks up my spine. But she didn’t hold a slow pace as her tail began pulling and coiling up and down my tail faster and faster. While her burning red face leaned closer until half her face was hidden between my weights.

“Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmhmmm~.” She hummed, sending dizzying vibrations through my tits and into my core. I could see her eyes peeking up at me from behind my breasts with a foggy haze before she took a deep breath through her nose, devouring my scent like a fresh apple pie.

“That feels amazing…..” “Wanna go to the private tents?” “I’d love a bite of that mana!”

I could hear the voices of the people outside the smithy, the realization that they could feel our mana broadcasting steamy times to all who passed by. Shit! We might be hidden in the corner but all it’d take was one persons curious enough to-

“Wowie! Hey mister, mind if I could make a couple sketches of this? I’ve been looking for inspiration for my art work and I think this would look amazing!” came an energetic voice.

My head snapped to the voice, finding a teen? A young woman? Big sparkling sapphire eyes looking up at me with an excited smile stood a short girl with pale pink hair cut like a guy’s wind blown hair. The worst part is that she was already drawing on a sketch pad like her life was going to end in the next two seconds. Just like Emily, her hands were a blinding blurr only stopping to change the page. The sight of her made my heart plummet into the ground and my face sank as if I aged a thousand years. She had turned to her fifth page.

“By the burning beard! Rosie! Why can’t you leave people alone!” Shouted a large shiny beetle man who rushed out from behind a counter. The additional person only makes gravity wrap a million tons on my shoulders, as I wished it would kill me now. 

“But I asked for permission already! Why can’t you let my artistic blood flow!” The girl shouted, stomping her foot and puffing out her cheeks.

The glossy almost metal beetle looks at me with tired eyes like a stressed parent finding their kid inside the dog kennel, petting the meanest dog there. Then his eyes widened with shock before pulling out familiar looking candies from his belt pouch.

“Here, this’ll calm you and your friend down.” He began, showing me it was the same candies Emily gave me for my burning desires. Pulling my hand away from Steph’s chest ended with her giving a whining moan. While the beetle man and I were looking at each other, my face cringing while the beetle’s silvery eyes awkwardly looked away. 

 

After giving Steph the candy, the beetle kindly giving her a pillow to cool off on and taking my own candy. The beetle and I kinda just watched her like she was going to explode. And the girl was staring intensely at me as if she was trying to shoot lasers at me or use some x-ray vision, either way she had seen most of it, if not all of it. And I wasn’t really in a talking mood. Yet she pelted me with questions anyway.

“So how big would you say your wings are? Do you think Eye emeralds would look good with your scales? How much of her would you have devoured? How much do you think she would swallow? Have you lost your second virginity or was this your first go? Are you an ass person or a boob dude?” Rosie kept asking while writing in a notepad and nodding to herself like she knew the answers. Pelting me with more and more shame as it went on.

Luckily the beetle guy walked up, picked the short girl up and placed her on the other side of a door. “Here. Go make a figure.” He said handing her a small ruby like gem shaped like a star. Rosie looked at him with huge eyes.

“KAY!” She cheered, running deeper into the room. The beetle closed the door and locked it, sighing and rubbing a sponge on his shiny shoulder, bringing it to a glittery polish.

“Sorry.” was all he said before moving to face a counter at the back of the smithy.

I wanted to take off but with Steph half out of it, I'd rather not drag her around in that state. Her hair was a little messy and the pink t-shirt she wore wasn't filled with holes but it didn't look undamaged….. I may have left a small cut or two….

Sighing internally, I turned to look at the beetle guy. He didn't wear clothes besides several belted straps with boxed shaped pouches wrapped around his waist, left shoulder and down his right leg. His armored body looking similar to a stocky human body without skin from behind. Only his upper back bulged into a half sphere that protected where the ribs would be and his shoulders. it only changed shape near the near, angled like a popped collar and exposing a curved neck. And his arms were tapered cones ending in four fingered hands.

I didn't want to talk to him but with Steph’s clothes like this, shame was something I had to swallow. Taking a breath, I walked over to the guy.

“Do you have any shirts on sale? My…..friend's isn't looking too good.” I asked, holding a forced neutral face as best as I could. It felt like I was going to crap myself from just looking him in the face.

Without turning the beetle guy’s large shoulders lowered. “I think I have something.” he said in a gruff, ‘I’ve eaten eighty year old smokers’ kind of voice. Moving behind the counter, he stood in front of a black cube with a tablet hanging above it. He began to press and slide his fingers across the tablet, searching for something before tapping twice. After a second or two, the black cube began to twist and spin, beeping twice before the top of the cube folded in on itself and a long rail raced out of the cube and right into a hole in the wall behind us. With ratcheting click the side with weapons folded like a giant cloth, the floor and ceiling pressing together in the middle and becoming a wall. The wall then shifted up, taking the floor with it like turning two pages in a book, pressing into the ceiling.

With a second click, the wall opened like parting doors as another wall pushed forward with shelves and clothes hanging on metal racks.

“Wooooow!” Came the mystified cry of a certain now awake snake girl. “I didn’t know this was an item house!”