Two girls walk, hand in hand, along the streets of Perennial Bloom, the first one with rather gothic-like black leather apparel, tiny shorts, and a tummy-exposing top. It was sunny and warm enough, to lose her jacket, which was tied around her waist, instead of loosely on her exposed shoulders. Despite this starkly black apparel, her hair and eyes were purple, and she looked more cute and innocent than dangerous or scary. Perhaps it was the lack of any chains or spikes usually found tagging along with such clothing, or the metal frame belt buckler in the shape of a heart lessening the impact of the darkness.
Contrasting the black-clad girl quite intensely, holding her hand, was an ordinary-looking short-haired girl, with a bright green dress, the sort often associated with clueless village girls, who skipped and hopped around open meadows all day. Its hem was wide and circular and ended just before her knees, vibrant yellow flowers of different kinds were stitched on, made from bundles of string, instead of being printed on. The apparel fit around her chest rather snugly, showcasing her average bust, which was still more than the package of the girl next to her. Her gait was short, and steps unsure, looking like she'd fall over if they stopped walking.
In a rather conservative town such as this, the sight of two girls, of two women, holding hands so affectionately, so blatantly, was strange enough to attract the attention of whoever saw them. Especially the older folk would stare, and others would scoff or just ignore them like acknowledging their existence would take something away from them. But, thankfully, the streets with various flowerbeds, bushes, and trees around them, even near the town center, were mostly deserted. A sight common in smaller places when the summer vacation starts, even if the place was warming up, and appeared idyllic, most people desired a change of scenery. And as it was about mid-day, those who had actual jobs were occupied there, instead of out on the streets basking in the summer's day. Some students who hadn't traveled elsewhere were around at the central marketplace's area loitering, a common gathering area for that more urban environment for the younger generation. Iris and Floret pass by it from further away, only catching a glimpse of them.
Iris was especially glad, that to get to Mary's house, they didn't have to go through the market square, as her parent's flower shop was in the prime location there. Soon, it would be the season for tourists to arrive in their country, to their small capital, the busiest time of the year for them. Not that Iris had any plans to help out this year, or even be around for that, but that's getting ahead of things.
After a bit more of a walk, Iris and Floret find Mary's residence. It's a bit of a larger detached house than usual, with a wide ground floor, and a smaller second floor. Its wooden walls were painted with light blue pastel colors, every other protruding plank of wood in its vertical pattern a slightly different shade, turquoise and sky blue. The tiled roof is of a reserved red hue, rather suiting it actually. A common picket fence of gray-white circled the house, with its angled tips being painted with the same color as the horizontal planks behind them, a touch of controlled pink. The color scheme was a bit bizarre even by Perennial Bloom's standards, but somehow, it kind of worked.
We stop in front of the gateless gap in the fence. Iris smiles warmly from underneath her rose-knitted beret to me. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah." I squeeze her hand harder as an additional response.
We step on the path of stones across the well-cared yard, flower beds laid next to the house's walls, with circular patches of stones around them. There was also a two-sided lawn swing of proud timber, a small canopy over it, ideal for enjoying the summer. I immediately remember how my parents used to have one like that, and how we had frequently used it with Iris in our childhood. The gliding sensation returns to her mind, that such a unique and traditional yard decoration produced. She'd never seen any of them in the lawns of the bigger city they had moved to after.
As I look away from it, Iris is ready to meet me with a knowing smile, clearly, she remembered it too. We step up to the porch and stand before the dark blue door. We finally separate our hands and look at each other once more, before Iris knocks on the door.
We wait, but there is no response. I spot the doorbell next to it and reach out to press it too.
Ding Dong...
Nothing.
"Maybe she's out...? Should we have called her instead?" I ask, feeling a little out of place on a potential stranger's porch.
"At least the mailbox said it was her house... So..." Iris puts a hand on the door handle of intricately carved iron, pulls it down, and pushes the door open.
"I-Iris!" I whisper under my breath scathingly.
"But it's open soo...?"
"I bet we could go in half the houses here if we went by that logic! Barely anybody even locks their doors around here!"
Iris shrugs with her arms and enters the house, I reluctantly follow. Immediately, we hear music emanating from somewhere further in the house. "Mary?" I ask, but it's apparent, she won't hear us.
I close the door and we set aside our shoes next to pairs of simple sneakers of medical white, tall boots, and other footwear. We go further in the short corridor of very lightly painted blue walls.
There are two closed doors on both sides, and the corridor then leads us straight into the kitchen, with the living room in the same space to the right. A large wall-sized window looks to the backyard.
A few paintings of landscapes, a framed portrait of what looked to be her family, and then a picture of many white-coated individuals, colleagues of hers, no doubt.
We follow the music down the main corridor to the left, and it gets louder and clearer. I could make out that there were vocals, but they were not in a language I could understand. A female singer with a rather high-pitched voice sings lyrics rapidly and happily. Maybe it was edited with effects a bit too much, or for some other reason it sounded a little artificial.
There are no lights on in the corridor, and we both missed any obvious light switches earlier, so it's a little dim in the windowless space. Six doors in total line the walls, and one at the very end. Below the seventh door, light emanates, seeming to also be the source of the sound.
As we get even closer, we begin to hear Mary's voice, she's singing along to the song in a strange language. Me and Iris look at each other nervously, with vicarious embarrassment, but keep on going. It wouldn't be very nice of us to interrupt... whatever she was doing, especially unannounced, but we've come so far already. I'm sure Iris felt the same way, this morbid curiosity spurring us onward.
As we're right up to the door, the floor shakes a little bit as well, and we can hear footsteps from inside. The music is a little too loud for my liking even through this door.
Iris puts her hand on the handle and counts down with her other hand's fingers.
3...
2...
1...
Iris presses the handle down and pulls on the door. Nothing happens. She smirks at me and then pushes the door instead, and it opens to bright lights blinding us for a moment. The room's curtains are pulled on the windows, the bright lamp above shining the only light inside. The room is quite big, and its walls are lined up with glass cabinets, with many shelves. Inside of them are many, many figurines. On the left side, characters from many popular, even mainstream TV shows are lined up, many of which even I recognized, and on the right, are those of various exaggeratedly proportioned female bodies with seductive poses and overly muscular men flexing, hailing from some sort of different genre entirely.At the back wall, the figurines have a distinct theme, angels, demons and humans, mostly all female. Many of them are entirely naked, some with pregnant stomachs and womb tattoos, some of them are so large, that their details are totally visible even from the doorway. And above this grand collection, this shrine, are multiple posters. "Arcane and Lustful Season 1" shows the cast of characters starring in the show, most notably, "Lacej the burdened," a pale human woman portrayed from multiple angles, naked and pregnant too. Much in the same state is "Nezletina, the future savior" in the season two poster, except she was a red-skinned demon. And lastly, "Dislaney, the pure" a resplendent winged angel, no pregnant picture of this one, but equally naked, starring in the latest season's poster.
And in the middle of this all, this room showcasing some sort of unusual branch of culture, is Mary. Her back is turned to us, and she's dancing to the music, singing along quite well, having the time of her life. She's getting a proper workout with her energetic performance, for her skin is glistening with sweat. Yeah, did I mention yet, that she's wearing a skimpy costume, red devil horns on her head, sprouting from her short black hair, a devil's tail that sprouted from inside of her bikini bottom, which was basically a string, at least from the behind. She sings to what appears to be the chorus and shakes her shapely ass, the tail swishing along it.
I look at Iris, lost, and sort of frightened, I admit. My expression must have been a dictionary example of confusion, encompassing the phrase: "What the hell is going on?" Mary hasn't noticed us yet, perhaps we could just leave, and take this secret to our graves. Iris returns the similar "We're totally out of our depth here" -gaze, but then the unthinkable happens.
