This month really kicked me in the butt. Just when things were slowing down, thinking I could catch up, MAY happened. Mentally, I'm doing better, so just lot of stuff to do. Sorry if this one is submitted a day late, Ch 53 was a beast to edit.
PREVIOUSLY ON BM: What it means to actually delve in the dungeon, avoiding deadly traps and trudging freezing tundras. The girls are about to meet The Honey.
********************
Chapter 48: Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Honey In A Dungeon?
"Warm!" Dolly expressed, everyone thinking the same thing as actual heat blasted and seeped into their frozen bodies. Within seconds, the warmth became painful when nerves resurrected, informing frozen women they didn't like being LT Tom Kazanskyed.
"I...well, it's warm," Miaka said, voicing her musing as tactfully as possible.
With a twelve foot ceiling (3.7 m), the bunker accommodated most Races, Dolly clearing with plenty of headroom. Two comfortable looking couches sat in the center with three hallways leading off to other rooms. The walls were constructed out of material in a honeycomb painted over with a pleasant coral shades. Prominent pictures of wildlife and forests hung from the combs, one a picture of Mount McKinley (or whatever the new name was supposed to be, Honoka couldn't remember). In one corner, a small glass stand held a folded American flag and a few medals, including a Purple Heart. A pleasant hosting room, all around.
It was also a dump.
As Honoka gingerly shuffled a hoof along the ground, she shifted garbage out of the way to discover russet carpet underneath. Wrappers, discarded cans and bottles, half of the trash was flimsy trays of microwave meals. There was enough food in various stages of decay for a
strong
odor: not yet puke inducing rancid, still definitely ripe. Honoka imagined flies creating a thick fog over the filth if any such bugs could survive this far down in the dungeon.
In fact,
Honoka thought, looking at the garbage in a new light,
why isn't the dungeon eating all this?
Movement from the corner of her eyes turned Honoka towards one of the hallways. Ducking her head to keep from scraping the lower ceiling of the hallway, a tall woman hesitantly straightened herself into the room. And even though Honoka should have been the most empathetic to strange Races or judging a person for who they were instead of what they looked like, the allocated holstaur couldn't stop flinching when she saw the other woman for the first time.
"..." The other woman opened her...mouth...to speak, but nothing came out. Over seven feet tall (2.2 m), there was no hiding that she was an anthropomorphic wasp. Covered from antenna to elongated toed feet in black and yellow patterned chitin, both sets of thin arms folded underneath sweatered breasts like she was smuggling a pair of frozen turkeys under there. Her head was exactly like a wasp's, two large compound eyes on the side of the inverted drop shape, three smaller eyes in the center, a giant pair of mandibles clamped closed at the point of the head. Behind her, two sets of veined diaphanous insect wings fluttered nervously, sounding a deep periodic buzz in the room. Most of her legs were covered in sweats, though her hips rode below her abnormally long chest without midriff while a massive insectoid abdomen trailed behind her, the minute flicking of a spearhead sized stinger thrusting in and out in the same nervous pattern as her wings. Her clothing was red and blue, a faded American flag stretched across the chest of the sweater, but with holes and stains and ratty enough Goodwill wouldn't take them.
Wasp
was the immediate reaction, but Honoka spotted some differences. Along parts of her exposed exoskeleton and on her forearms and shins were patches of thin hair colored the same black and yellow as her carapace, a good portion growing behind her antenna and draping behind her head. It looked fluffy and silky, but it also moved oddly, as if there was something else setting it apart from normal hair. Also, Honoka found her eyes unnaturally drawn to the woman, the telltale sign of an unnaturally high Charisma score.
As usual, Honoka's curiosity was misconstrued as creepy staring. Fortunately, Quinn was quicker on the draw and stepped forward with Dolly, both wading through garbage fearlessly. Quinn and Dolly didn't talk about it much, but they were both thirteen when the Change happened. They grew up watching the world look at them differently, that same world forgetting beastkin and cheetaurs were people underneath the fur. They vowed to do something about it.
No matter the shape, no matter the oddity, a person remained a person. And no person should ever feel they were alone.
"Howdy! Name's Quinn." Quinn said, holding out her hand, using her other hand to push back the parka hood. Dolly also pushed back her hood, beaming a giant smile to the insectoid woman.
At first, the woman flinched harder than Honoka had, staring down at the furry paw like it would bite, buzzing her wings loud as an idling big block engine. After a silent and awkward minute - both Dolly and Quinn patiently waiting and smiling - the wasp woman hesitantly unfolded her lower arms and reached out a hand with long fingers resembling tarsal claws, twitching violently before grasping her chitin appendage around Quinn's hand.
Neither moved, hands held in place, when everyone noticed the body of the wasp woman was shaking. Miaka and Honoka gave each other sidelined glances, but Quinn and Dolly remained calm, waiting on the other woman. Thick golden fluid built up under the five eyes of the insect woman and slowly oozed down. With a wracking sob, the wasp woman leaned her head down and tenderly moved Quinn's hand along the side of her face.
"I...I...I haven't had anyone touch me since just after the Change." The woman's voice, no longer distorted by a scratchy speaker, was at odds with itself. It sounded like a Beauty and the Beast metal band singing harmony. On one stereo, it possessed this airy, soothing quality associated with an angel choir. Then it layered a gravely, harsh undertone to it like a bear angrily gargling gravel. It wasn't what Honoka expected. Honestly, with what this woman looked like, Honoka was expecting the words to buzz. Shows her what growing up watching cartoons taught Honoka about real life expectations.
Voice aside, that didn't change the compassionate otter's response. Quinn smiled wider, moving forward slowly, reaching around and hugging the lonely woman, Dolly close behind. As the sobs turned into a full-on bawl, Miaka and Honoka finished the group hug, more than a few tears from the others holding the wasp woman. In one fashion or another, everyone in that room knew what it meant to be alone.
"...so...
*sniff*...
um, my name is Abra," Abra said, giggling a little yet still holding everyone fiercely, as if ending this moment would wake her from a dream.