Before we begin, I'd like to thank Hellenberg, a friend of mine and a fellow writer on this website, for his help with some of the editing. If you're interested both in more stories set in the same universe, as well as a few very well-written pieces outside of it, do check them out -
here
. I recommend them highly!
Now, I hope you will enjoy the story of Lanica and Tarai - thoughts are always appreciated in the comments, be they critical or not. Without any further ado, let's begin!
---------------
Mud squelched underneath the leather boot, and Lanica didn't bother to hide her glower. "Blasted rain..." she grumbled in annoyance, with the precipitation only seeming to grow fiercer. "The weather was so nice in the forest! Why'd it suddenly turn into such a torrent?!"
"It's not that bad, is it...?" Tarai asked, confused. Frustratingly enough, the neko noted that the orkhai really didn't seem all that fussed by it. Perhaps recognizing the ire in Lanica's eyes, her tall companion turned her gaze away shyly. "I-I mean, some sun would've been nicer," she agreed, more quietly.
Shaking her head, Lanica didn't answer. "
I should've brought a hood or something,
" the catgirl thought as she ran a hand through her wet hair. At least they were getting close to where the neko wanted to go. Glancing sideways towards her newfound 'friend', she frowned as she saw Tarai's cast-down eyes. Despite what the neko was planning to do to the orkhai, she felt it'd be wise to at least treat her somewhat kindly for a while, if only to just to earn the girl's trust a bit.
It wasn't like she felt particularly bad about seeing Tarai like this, however - getting overly sentimental with a girl whose only purpose was to be soon turned into a freshly trained fucktoy to sell seemed rather pointless, Lanica reasoned. "Hey, look!" she called out with an eager grin to draw Tarai's attention to the small village they were getting close to. "Coilleside'll be a very nice change of scenery, I bet. A warm meal and a soft bed for the night wouldn't go amiss, don't you think?"
Judging by the way the orkhai's mismatched eyes lit up, Lanica knew Tarai was looking forward to it. "It's been a long day..." she agreed, but she nonetheless seemed a bit hesitant as she looked down the road. "You... I don't have much money on me at a-all," the tall orkhai admitted - not without some embarrassment - as she showed the neko a coin pouch that indeed looked rather pitifully light. "If needed, I can, you know, camp outside... It wouldn't be my first time doing that."
"Nonsense!" the catgirl protested. She had been hoping the girl could've paid for her own lodging, but there wasn't much she could do about that right now. "You're sleeping underneath a proper roof tonight, understood? It's the very least I can do to repay you!" Lanica said with determination as she glanced at the exotic girl. "
Besides, 's not like you won't earn me the money back many times over...
"
Tarai yielded quickly, and nodded with a grateful smile. Pleased as she was that the orkhai wasn't going to be all stubborn and bothersome, Lanica soon found herself mere yards from the door of a familiar, quaint roadside inn. "Come on, then! I don't want to be in this deluge any longer than I have to," the neko said, beckoning over to Tarai. Before the catgirl had even set a foot inside, the lively noise of a well-filled tavern made itself heard - and of course, the unmistakable smell of so many people. "
Ugh. I wish these humans would bathe more...
"
Inside at last, though, Lanica didn't care that much about the scent. Not now that she was warming up outside of the rain... and had such a shy, towering beauty with her. "
I can't wait...
" she thought, biting her lower lip with wicked delight at the thought of so many things that she could do to her new 'friend'...
---------------
Tarai's heart skipped a beat as she saw the beautiful catgirl look at her like that. "
She looks so interested... in me? Is she really?
" the orkhai asked herself, too nervous to do anything but look back with wide eyes. Thankfully for her, Lanica was the first to turn away as she gestured to the crowd of people - some of whom were staring at the two newcomers, Tarai noted to her shock.
"Find a spot for us two, alright? I'll get us some food and a room." And with that, Lanica left Tarai's side to go find a maid or someone else in charge. The orkhai hadn't noticed just how busy the place was, captivated as she'd been by the neko at first, but now she felt like she was in the middle of it all.
Already, some of the patrons' eyes were on the newcomers, and while plenty followed the enticing neko more than a few were left on Tarai. "
Do they need something?
" she wondered, not entirely comfortable with all the attention. With a quick swallow she walked through the hall past the rowdy gathering, but it wasn't easy to find a spot with all the people enjoying their food, booze and barely veiled advances towards the two attending maids. "Excuse me..." Tarai muttered when two human men blocked her way, apparently prefering to stand near their friends at the table for whatever reason.
One of them looked towards the orkhai with eyes that left little doubt that he was rather drunk, and his hearty smile turned into a sneer. "An orc... here?!" he spat, staring angrily at the woman that stood quite a bit taller. "The fuck makes you think you can just walk in here, huh?"
Shocked by his outburst, Tarai stepped back. "I-I'm just here with a friend!" the orkhai stammered, not at all having expected such aggression. "We don't mean to cause any trouble!"
"Your kind not causing trouble? Yeah right," the intoxicated human growled, but as he looked her over the anger seemed to mix with something far more lecherous. "Maybe we'll have to show you your place, huh? You're not too hard on the eyes - for an orc cunt..."
"You sure she's not a knife-ear?" his scrawny partner butted in. "She's tall, sure... but I bet she sucks just as good as any elf whore."
Tarai didn't know what to say - people never talked to her like this before. They stared at her with a hunger in their eyes, and a brazen confidence that left her speechless. "Suck them off...?" she thought in disbelief. "N-no, I-"
"That's not an elf, are you blind?" the taller man interrupted the orkhai as he looked at his colleague incredulously. "An elven whore wouldn't be this tall - and look at those shoulders, they'd definitely not be so broad! This is an orcish cunt, no doubt about it...
"Right, and I'm supposed to believe that face is an orc's? She's way too pretty for that, idiot," the other spat back, before his lecherous stare went down to Tarai's long legs and all the way up to her ears. "She's still more lithe than any orc that we've had to fight off. If you tell me those stupid ears or that skin belong to anything but a frigid dark elf, you must've gotten hit in the head too often, Roy..."
"Why don't we settle this with a closer look, huh?" the first guard grinned, and his friend smirked pervertedly in clear agreement.
Anger and fear began to well inside Tarai, but what could she even do in a tavern full of people who saw her as a mere stranger - at best? "I'm not going to-" she began, but as one of their hands moved in to grope her clothed chest, she fell silent, wide-eyed.
Then, acting on instinct, her palm crashed into the scrawny chest of the brazen man who'd touched her first, sending him tumbling backwards into a crowded table of onlookers. It was hard to distinguish between the shocked gasps and mutterings of the onlookers, but even then Tarai could hear him lay there, groaning in pain.
"You bitch!" the first man shouted as he stepped closer and reached out towards Tarai, who'd readied her arms into a defensive stance despite her panic. "Gonna be difficult, huh? We'll teach you-"
A delicate hand smacked him away. "Leave her alone," Lanica reprimanded him, and hearing the neko's voice was so very comforting to Tarai after what'd just happened despite the anger in her tone. In one hand, she held a tray with some food. "Don't you guards have something better to do than harass my friend?"
Surprise from the neko's interruption gave way for a taunting grin on the faces of the men. "Ah, this bimbo's yours, huh?" he asked Tarai as the two humans blatantly undressed the busty neko with their eyes. "We know how to treat a good pussy, don't we?" the human laughed, nudging his smirking companion.
"Maybe the two-copper whores you can afford like to pretend that you're a passable fuck, but I've got no interest in a drunk idiot," Lanica noted coldly, and as if her words hadn't been harsh enough some of the listening patrons didn't even bother to hide their mocking laughter. "Sit down and drink your damn beer, go bother someone else or just sulk the whole night - I don't care in the slightest, human." Her free arm wrapped around Tarai's waist, and despite the tenseness the orkhai felt a bit of relief. "She
isn't
yours, got it?"
Whatever cockiness the two'd had in their posture vanished quickly, but the first man stepped closer with humiliated rage in his drunk eyes. "I'm not going to let a
fucking neko whor-!
"
"ROY!" an older, gray haired man bellowed from the table next to them. He wore a similar uniform to the other two, but judging by his age and more elaborate garb he must've been their commander. "You two've embarrassed yourselves enough - we're here to celebrate, not hassle some strangers, understood? Let them through," he ordered, and even though the standing guards looked ready to argue for a moment, they apparently thought better of it. The commander turned towards Tarai and her friend with a quick nod. "Sorry about that, girls. We'll leave you to it."
With a victorious smirk, Lanica pulled the orkhai past the two guards that were helpless to do anything about it. Really, Tarai was very happy to leave that situation behind her as the neko led her to a small table all to themselves a bit further in the inn, and when the two finally sat down the taller girl couldn't hide her sigh of relief. "Thanks..." she said quietly to her rescuer, a small, grateful smile on her lips. "I really didn't know what to do there."
"It's fine," Lanica replied calmly as she looked around the room before inspecting the orkhai a bit. Perhaps she saw the lingering unease in Tarai's face as the orkhai occasionally glanced at the other people, as something made her look at her companion with some concern. "Are you okay? No one's going to bother us now, I bet."
Honestly, Tarai wasn't feeling okay at all. Her smile faded slowly as her gaze fell to the table. "I've heard humans don't a-always trust my kind, but they never treated me like that before..." the orkhai shared with hurtful confusion. "People were at least polite when my clan visited their markets - why'd they call me a whore out of nowhere?"