The Lady Harlot, pristine and made ready during the trip, held in the docking pattern over their new destination. On the radio, Liddy argued with traffic control.
"Listen, Lake River control! I am not setting down on the fishing docks! I am here to service the local nobility, and I can't do that if they get overwhelmed by the scent of rancid fish! So either get me a docking slip somewhere rich or I'm setting down on someone's lawn and blaming you!" Liddy paused for a breath.
Ving stood next to her, shaking her head, hands on the controls. It had been a good solid hour of screaming over the radio with several different operators. She had a good view of the city as she turned the ship in a lazy arc around it. The long river that ran through it fed into the lake the whole city surrounded before carrying on to the distant ocean. One small part of the lake had high cliffs that descended into a sandy beach as you followed the water, all around it were the most expensive houses and thus their prefered clientele. She waited in silence with Liddy as the operator was hopefully making docking arrangements.
Down the stairs, Vile and Tonna had been listening but grew bored waiting for a response.
"Why don't we just land wherever and go see the clients?" Tonna asked.
"It's not legal in most places. The ship is a safe haven where we can do whatever. So we take advantage of that. But not if the clients don't want to make the trip," Vile responded.
"Do you get a lot of clients?" Tonna inquired before clarifying. "I mean, you personally. I can't imagine either of us finding many willing men outside of that city where everyone was one of us. Foxy is at least the same basic shape as all the other women, and the others don't look that different."
"Except for the wings, gills, scales, ears, and so on. I hear you though, and I had issues at first. The thing is, there are always people who either have no standards as long as they can put themselves inside something wet, or they just happen to be attracted to you. I find it common for men of power to enjoy being with a powerful woman so they can turn off their dominant side. I'm pretty much the apex of that."
"Yes, but not me." Tonna gestured to her self. "If you take away the snake body, I'm not a robust and powerful woman. I wasn't tiny but always shorter than men and I liked it. I loved feeling overwhelmed with the bodies of my lovers."
"It doesn't really matter for clients though." Vile paused to rephrase. "I mean, just walk and talk with confidence in yourself like you probably did before and the clients will respond. Yes, the snake body and extra arms and the snake hair will bother some people. Just like my blood red skin, powerful frame, my hooves, and my horns." Vile paused to touch the horns that had grown to several inches of ivory. "But even Inky has to deal with men who don't like her skin colour. Mari, her ink. Emma, her borderline childlike appearance can go either way. Liddy's less than impressive breasts."
"I heard that!" Liddy shouted from up the stairs.
Vile grinned as if she had intentionally said the last bit loud enough. "The point is, people are weird and there are always deal breakers that have little to do with being Emberborn. So, accept that you won't be on everyone's menu like every woman on this ship has to do, and work with it. Granted, we have a 'Trixy-er' time..." Vile paused to dodge some thrown objects from the bridge. "...than most, but we can only change so much. After that, it's how we present ourselves and the interests of the clients. If we are lucky, we get men who look at us and hire us out of extreme curiosity."
"I suppose. I still wish the holy girl was able to break my curse. She said she would look into it more, but she didn't seem confident it could be broken."
"Until then, you will just have to enjoy your snake body and the advantages it affords you. I'm willing to bet those extra hands would feel amazing on my skin."
As Liddy resumed yelling over the radio, Tonna took the verbal hint and the even more obvious hint of Vile pulling the silk covering her breasts to the side. As she put her four hands on them, two gripping her flesh and two on her nipples, she felt a pair of tails sliding along her scales. She opened the scales that covered her womanhood and felt one tail tip pushing inside her body while the other teased the flesh around the penetration.
As Vile pushed her breasts into Tonnas' face, she mingled her tongue within the snake hair. It felt so smooth and the writhing snakes wrapped around her tongue gently.
Tonna couldn't wrap even her own elongated tongue around the massive breasts she was holding but nonetheless worked to cover every inch of them with her saliva. She moved her own tail to wrap around one of the legs of the demoness before returning the favour and penetrating deep inside with far more flesh than any other man had put inside her. Her smooth scales made it easy to slide in and out, even if she hadn't been wet with anticipation, but it did make the more forceful thrusts easier still.
Vile clenched fiercely as her body reacted to the vigorous climax from the hard entry into her body. Forcing in her second tail alongside the first, Vile pushed them both into the snake-woman as deep as they could penetrate, writhing about within her core. The two women held each other as their bodies spasmed in simultaneous climax.
As their bodies relaxed, they kissed, both their long tongues wrapping around each other between their mouths, Vile's totally overwhelmed by the snake tongue. When they finished, they noticed Liddy on the steps with a hand between her legs and the other holding the headset to her ear.
Liddy shrugged. "They put me on hold again."
****
Conna wasn't sure what Tonna had been doing, but as soon as they docked, she came out and laid lengthwise along the railing on the side of the ship. Now she laid, rather uncomfortably looking with her tail on alternating sides, with her head and body near the door. Her breasts barely covered by some very thin silk, she essentially put herself on display. Conna made a confused noise when Juno came out to join her on guard duty. Juno made an appreciative one at the lovely breasts basking in the sun.
"This way clients can see me, and if any get interested, I get them first. Otherwise, I just get to bask in the sun," Tonna answered without them really asking.
Conna nodded in understanding, then nudged Juno to attention as Liddy came out the door to pause and appreciate Tonna before moving on. Hannah came out next with Astra and Blaze in their combat kit to make Liddy look more important. They all spared a glance at Tonna who was resting all four of her hands on her belly in the sun. Cat followed after but failed to notice Tonna as she caught up with Liddy. The two of them were wearing expensive outfits that looked like elegant dresses, however the corsets were designed to show off a bit more skin than the style usually allowed. They wanted to look like nobility but not blend in.
****
Ving adjusted the dress Paje wore. It wasn't quite her size but the space meant for a pair of wings was ideal for showing off the ink on her back. She put some clip pins into the clothing to keep everything in place. Easy held Paje by the breasts to keep them covered as Ving did her work and smiled at Paje the whole time. It was easy for them to fall out since they only barely covered the breasts above or below. The ink on her belly was also on display.
"Alright," Ving stated oddly, her lips busy holding extra pins. "Take it off and put it back on. See if everything stays where it's supposed too."
"Um... miss?" Paje asked.
"Oh, sorry." Easy apologized and let go of her breasts.
Paje smiled, Ving laughed, and the dress dropped to the floor. Paje then picked it up and fit it back over her body.
"Perfect!" Ving exclaimed. "Everything is still in place."
"Ready to start seeing clients?" Easy asked.
"I think so. I mean, I really want to have my first time with a man."
Ving's jaw dropped, as did the pins held in her lips. "That's going to be expensive for some lucky bastard."
****
Hannah stood with the escorts while they watched Liddy and Cat flit about the forum talking with the nobility. There wasn't a conventional trade hub that they could have posted to or at least one the nobility visited, so they resorted to casual mention. She watched as both Liddy and Cat expertly enticed and dealt with any unkind words with class and grace. It wasn't long before everyone was murmuring about them. Unfortunately, the local duke was ill and not receiving visitors. They would have to resort to spinning rumours with any clients who visit the ship and hope word made it back to the Duke.
As they made their way to leave, an arriving aristocrat noticed them. He made a quick glance downwards and an approving smile when he saw Hannah. At first, she thought he had been staring at her breasts, though to be fair, he probably did, but he had settled on her weapon. She touched Astra to let her know she was hanging back and waited until the man felt comfortable enough to approach her after the others left.
"You are the only one here with a weapon that isn't polished gold or whatnot," he commented by way of introduction.
"It's seen its share of use but it's clean, it works, and it's always loaded," Hannah replied. She liked how the man seemed to appreciate the fact.
"Are you available for hire?" he asked, taking a quick glance down again, but only so far as her breasts.
****
Inky stood face to face with the bodyguard who had been a full head taller than her but was now bent over slightly from the strike she had delivered to his gut. Normally, bodyguards stayed on the docks, but this one had insisted on joining his master. That was typically
allowed as long as they went aboard unarmed. So far, he and his master refused to disarm for their stay. He was about to threaten Inky when he heard the sound of a machine gun having its action worked, charging the weapon for firing. Laurel had it resting on the railing, aimed at him, in a blatant display of overkill. Conna and Juno already had their rifles aimed at him.
It looked just about ready to go completely wrong when Liddy arrived back on the docks. She took in the scene at a glance and understood exactly what was wrong. After walking up the ramp, she put herself between the bodyguard and Inky - who took a step back.
"Sir, if your bodyguard wants to commit suicide, there is a perfectly acceptable cliff nearby that would prevent him from getting his blood on my ship," Liddy addressed the noble.
He started to reply in a condescending tone, "Listen, Captain, I-"
