Welcome to Valsa

Dione hummed to herself as she walked to Cydwen's place. Jev had taken the afternoon to take care of more paperwork with the bank, and she was left to her own devices. Cyd's house was just a short way down the path to the east, and it was always easy to tell when she was home due to the screaming of power grinders, the ringing of hammer on metal, or just the low roar of a hot forge. Today, it was none of those, but rather the flashing blue light of welding arcs accompanied by the sound of crackling electricity.

Familiar with the protocol, Dione grabbed a pair of dark-lensed glasses off of the cabinet inside the garage door before entering. A thick curtain blocked off the werewolf's working surface from the outside, so passers-by wouldn't be inadvertently blinded, so she didn't put them on, but she kept them on hand in case.

"Cyd?"

Cyd mumbled something incomprehensible that Dione took to mean "Hang on a second."

There were a few more flashes of blue before she called out, "Yeah, alright."

Dione peeked from around the curtain. Cyd had her welding mask up and was taking a long draw from a water bottle. She was glossy with sweat, and she had dark streaks of dirt along her face and arms, a common occurrence when she was working, even when it seemed like the task should be relatively clean.

Upon the metal table was Cyd's latest work. A half-dozen pieces of metal were cut and waiting for assembly, while upon the floor there were several others arranged and assembled into something which looked like a 3-foot-wide eggshell. Dione knew better than to ask what the piece would be when it was finished, as Cyd was famously tight-lipped about her projects until they were done, but from the pieces sitting about it looked like it might be a sculpture of a baby dragon.

"What's up?"

Cyd seemed to figure her work day was done, as she had turned and walked back into the house, without waiting for Di to follow. Di left her goggles on the counter as she entered.

"Could I get a ride into town? I need to buy a dress."

Cyd was already pulling her shirt off, and stepping into the bathroom. The door was left open to allow conversation, but the sound of the shower turning on roared out of the room.

"What's wrong with the one you're wearing?"

"I need a new one. It's for a date."

"Oh, with who?"

Di poked her head around the doorway to make a face at Cydwen, but only the werewolf's butt and legs disappearing behind the shower curtain had the chance to see it.

"Jev asked me out this morning."

"So he does know how the process works. That's good."

"Cyd!"

"Don't worry, kid, we'll get you sorted."

Cyd peeked her head back around the shower curtain, a streak of black still darkening one cheek, which somehow amplified her mischievous grin.

"So, you gonna put out?"

"Cy-y-y-d!"

There was a rude sound from behind the curtain as Cyd's shampoo bottle protested. Dione suspected Cyd had done it deliberately.

"Fine! You shower, I'll wait for you in the living room."

"I'm just sayin' it'd do you some good!"

"Going now!"

Cyd's house wasn't much different in layout from the house on the farm, except for the attached garage and a small second bedroom towards the rear of the house. As a result, Dione absolutely would have heard any follow-up comments from Cyd, but none were forthcoming.

The house itself was always in some level of disarray. Cyd spent a large portion of her time either outside or in the garage, so she rarely felt justified cleaning the place, and even though she didn't generally leave huge messes to clean up those which she did tended to stick around. Dione began absent-mindedly going through the assortments of plans, reference materials, and junk scattered across the table, tidying it up slightly.

The shower shut off, and Di could hear the ruffle of the towel. Cyd's voice piped up.

"You'd better not be cleaning up my stuff out there! Last time you did that I couldn't find the plans for the job I was working on."

"I'm not!" Dione lied.

"I mean it!"

"If I don't do it now, it'll never get done!"

Cyd came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel.

"I'm warning you! Leave my stuff alone or I'll tell Jev about how you fart in your sleep!"

"I sleep in my tree where I don't bother anybody with my farts! Unlike

somebody

who had to have a big chocolate ice cream binge right before the sun went down, and she let her werewolf digestive system deal with that!"

"That was

one

time!"

"Besides, you want me to have a relationship with

somebody

so bad that you wouldn't dare sabotage it, would you?"

She entered the bedroom, fluttering her eyelashes innocently. Cyd was now wearing a pair of tight-fitting black jeans with no shirt, searching through her wardrobe for a top to wear. Dione placed the pile of papers that she had assembled onto one corner of the bed and sat down beside it. Cyd grabbed a shirt, a hot pink top with the word "Garbage" emblazoned across the front in green and green and black sequins.

The two bickered as Cyd readied her hair and makeup, and then they closed the place up, hopping into Cyd's old imported pickup truck and heading for Severna. Dione didn't usually care for the city much, having too many people and too little greenery for her tastes, but it was hard to deny that it had far better options for shopping than the small town of Valsa. BigBuy had recently opened a depot within Severna, meaning purchasing online through them was now possible, but infrastructure in Emmarine was simply different than in the Eastern continent, and BigBuy's insistence on keeping their supply chain consistent with the rest of the world's meant the selection here was poor and delivery significantly slower than places like Garnaca or Jeund.

Getting to the outskirts of the city, Cyd pulled off the highway and parked the old red truck at the GemLift station. Rumour had it that they would be expanding the station network as far south as Selrington in the next few years, meaning there was a chance it would come directly through Valsa, which was an exciting prospect, but the project remained in political limbo. The two women purchased tickets from the vending machine outside of the terminal, then queued for a cart destined for the city centre.

The GemLifts were a system of small carriages that held 10 people or so and operated on a constant loop through the city. Passengers would queue up for the appropriate loop, call a cart for their destination, and a carriage would pass every 30 seconds or so to ferry people away to their stops, the carts hovering over the raised tracks powered by the glowing blue gems which gave the Lifts their name. The system didn't seem quite as efficient as the trams or buses that were common elsewhere, but they were fully automated, relatively private, and allowed direct travel from one point on the line to any other likely without more than 1 or two stops. Not having any moving parts or electronics meant that at the end of each loop, the carts were simply immersed in water, magically dried and sent back out, meaning they were kept fairly clean too. However, if you ever forgot something in the cart it was basically gone forever unless a good Samaritan caught it before it returned for cleaning.

Given that it was early afternoon on a weekday, there was virtually no travel from the outskirts of town at this time, so Cyd and Dione were not forced to share their lift with other passengers. They decided to sprawl out together on the wide benches intended for passengers with larger body types and watch the city whiz past them. Even though she wouldn't admit it, getting to go into town was a rare enough thing for Cyd that even she was excited, and Dione didn't even bother hiding her excitement. They both counted down the stations as they whizzed past until the cart they were riding in slowed and pulled off the main track at their destination.

Severna didn't tend to have the huge skyscrapers that were common in modern cities elsewhere, a handful had risen in the ruins of the Potters district after the war, but in most of the town you knew you were in the heart of the city because there were shops everywhere, the roads were an incomprehensible mishmash of dead ends and alleyways, and everywhere you looked were canyons of stone, glass, and concrete, filled with people making their way from one place to the next. Some stores had small plastic bushes outside their doorways, ostensibly to make them seem slightly more approachable, and the larger streets had some trees, bushes, and planters lining them, but Dione found it just overwhelmingly unnatural. It never failed to leave her feeling like a mouse that had just recognized that it had walked into a trap.

Cyd grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her down a side street, disrupting her thoughts.

"C'mon, I know just the place."

Cyd allowed herself to be led down a couple of blocks, eventually ending up at a building with a staircase leading to a level below ground. A black sign over the staircase featured an arrow pointing down the stairs with the words "Hidden Elegance" in a looping silver script, and the windows to the storefront hidden within the stairwell featured three metallic female mannequins, each wearing a different kind of racy lingerie. The rest of the window was blocked off with thick black velvet drapes.

"Cyd..."

Dione expected Cydwen to be teasing or joking, so it surprised her when her friend looked at her with full earnestness.

"Look, maybe something happens on this date, maybe it doesn't. If it does, you're telling him you've been planning for it, that you're both willing and eager. If it

almost

does, then you can leave him wanting more, and let him see exactly what he's missing out on. And if it doesn't, well, then at least we don't need to come back into town next time."

She pulled open the door, guiding Dione in. Most of her reluctance seemed to have eased.

"Besides, you're not the only one who's shopping today."

Within the shop, the lights were slightly lower than might be expected. Following the interior walls, small alcoves lined with racks surrounded mannequins modelling the apparel. These were well-lit, with spotlights shining down into the alcoves from the ceiling, while the rest of the shop had a darker, almost dungeon-like look. Torches held in sconces flickered along the aisle, illusory blue flame flickering from them, casting more light than normal flames, but no heat at all. Glass shelves lined the middle of the store, holding fancy lotions, soaps, and oils.

Cyd pushed her further into the store. From behind the counter in the middle of the shop, the two clerks looked up. The store was otherwise empty of people. One of the girls behind the counter, a blue-skinned Dragonblood woman smiled at them and approached as they entered. She wore a vibrant blue bra under a mesh top with a blue tartan skirt. The blue bra pushed up the woman's prodigious assets, creating a prominent valley of cleavage that glinted with iridescent scales.

"So, what're we looking for today?"

Before Dione could answer, Cyd had already jumped in.

"My friend here has an important date planned. We're trying to get her set up to really wow him."

The woman gave Dione a once-over, looking thoughtfully around the shop. Her eyes lighted on one of the mannequins on the far side of the shop and she headed towards it, motioning them to follow. The mannequin in question displayed a complex garment held together with straps and chains. The shopkeeper riffled through the garments on the racks surrounding it, withdrawing a similar piece in black rather than the red on the mannequin. She guided Dione to one of the changing rooms.

"I don't think this is..."

Cyd interrupted.

"Trust the process. Try it on, if you don't like it, we can go for another."

Dione muttered to herself but tried on the lingerie. The store clerk had to make a few exchanges to get the sizing right, but they quickly found one that fit, though it took a lot of twisting and adjusting of the straps and the chains to get them to sit correctly. The metal of the chains felt cold and heavy against her skin, and she felt like it would almost certainly not be something she could wear under a nice dress. With no one else in the store, she stepped out of the booth sullenly to show Cyd.

"I don't like it."

"It looks good, you look good in black!"

"I don't like it, it's too heavy and I feel like I'm being weighted down."

Cyd pointed at another, that Dione couldn't see from where she stood.

"How about that one?"

The clerk left and came back with a different garment, this one in a seafoam green. Dione tried it on. It was a 2-piece with a bustier and thong. The cups were cut low and made of a sheer material that showed the wood pattern on her skin through it. The nipples were blocked from direct view by a band of darker green lace, the darker skin of her areolae only just barely peeking out from each side. The matching thong panties were similarly sheer and looked as though they threatened to reveal everything except for a strategically placed patch of opaque material at the cleft of her legs. A garter belt was included, but without stockings to hook on to, the belts hung lamely down her thighs. She twisted to look in the mirror at her butt and found that the green material lay nicely there, as well.

She poked her head out the curtain of the changing room to get Cyd's opinion, but neither she nor the draconic woman were anywhere to be found. The other woman that had been manning the counter, a slender elf woman with gleaming purple skin and white hair stood there ready to greet her.

"Your friend saw something which caught her eye and Lealla went to help her try it on. How's the fit? Can I come in and check it with you?"

Dione stepped to one side, allowing the employee entrance.

"Oh, that's cute! It looks really good on you!"

She positioned herself behind Dione, looking over her shoulder at the reflection in the mirror. The slender elf was a good 10cm taller than her, granting the woman a mostly unobstructed view. She tugged slightly at the straps of her shoulder, adjusting their length, then stroked down her sides, smoothing any wrinkles or folds out of the top.

"Green is very much your colour. I can't pull it off at all."

She rested her purple wrist alongside Dione's waist to prove her point.

"So, are you happy with this, or did you want to look into something else?"

Dione was about to answer but was interrupted by a moan from the far side of the shop. The elf woman started to giggle slightly, before masking it as a cough.

"It... er... seems your friend may have found something she really likes."

Dione sighed.

"Of course she would..."

The blue-skinned woman had been watching her carefully since they'd entered the store. Dione was, of course, oblivious, but Cyd caught the little signs. The way she'd bent over when searching through the clothing racks, looking back to ensure that Cyd was checking out the goods. Which, of course, she had been. The woman's legs were slender and muscular and while the skirt she wore hid a lot of the definition of her ass but allowed her long, tapering tail a chance to swing free to balance her, and the way she bent over highlighted her sizable chest.

The thick, scaled tail tickled along the back of Cyd's calf as the woman passed by to grab the green set for Dione, accompanied by another glance behind to gauge Cyd's reaction. Cyd couldn't deny that the attention was welcome. Despite that, it hadn't been her intention to engage with the dragon-woman. Today was supposed to be for Dione. And yet, she hadn't lied when she'd said she wanted to pick up something for herself. There was a corseted top which had caught her eye on entering the store, a black leather piece with small spiked studs following the boning. It was exactly the kind of thing she liked to wear during gallery exhibitions, something which would bring attention to her, and by extension her art.

Dione seemed to be taking a long time changing, so Dione wandered to look at the top which had caught her eye. She was going to ask the dark elf woman behind the counter for assistance, but the Dragonblood woman silently appeared at her side, an incredible feat given Cyd's heightened senses and the woman's clicking talons.

"Can I get you something to try on?"

It was the first time that Cyd took a good look at the woman. Thick scaled ridges extended from the frills that served as her ears, following along her brow, her cheekbones, and her jawline in thick sapphire blue protrusions. Along her hairline, collarbone, and down the midline of her body from the notch at the base of her neck to where it disappeared into her skirt, were similar thick flat scales. Those along her hair coalesced into a pair of scaled horns, which swept back along her skull. The rest of her skin was covered in much finer scales, which reminded Cyd more like those of a fish. Her arms and legs both changed to being entirely covered with the thick armour-like scales past the elbow and knee. Her hands were slightly larger than most with three fingers and a thumb, each capped with an onyx black talon that had been filed to little more than a stub, likely to prevent damage to the delicate merchandise. Meanwhile, her legs featured long, digitigrade feet which ended in three toes capped with claws which looked to remain razor-sharp, and were decorated with small gemmed decals.

Most captivating, though, were the woman's eyes. They were an incredible electric blue from the pupil right to the outermost edges and seemed to flicker and spark like the discharge of Cyd's welding wand. In place of her eyelashes was another ridge of thick scale, which was highlighted with black eyeliner. Surprisingly, she didn't have slitted pupils like some of the cat- or lizard-folk did, but rather perfectly round ones, surrounded by a ring of silver.

The woman's lips curled in a slight grin and Cyd realised she was staring.

"Yeah, I'd like to try this on, if I could."

There was a flash in the woman's eyes. An expression that Cyd couldn't read flashed across her face.

"Of course. And would you like some help getting it on?"

There was a hopeful lilt to her voice. Despite the gorgeous woman's advances, Cyd almost turned her down, looking back at Dione's changing room. But her own voice came back to her, the criticism she'd given Jev the day before.

We sleep when we're tired, eat when we're hungry, and fuck when we're horny...

Cyd could feel the hunger of her werewolf side bubbling up. Certainly, there wasn't any harm in letting Dione wait for a bit...

"Sure, I could use a hand."

Cyd watched the Dragonblood woman catch her colleague's attention to wordlessly signalling her to attend to Dione. She grabbed a few sizes of the top from the rack and guided her to a different changeroom, following behind her as the curtain closed.

"Alright, I'll just get you to take off your shirt for me."

Cyd followed the woman's instruction, the hot pink top being discarded into a corner of the changing booth along with her purse. The cool air of the store quickly got her nipples standing proudly, each one pierced with a silver barbell.

The woman moved behind Cyd, loosening the ties of the corset and helping her guide the garment over her torso. Cydwen felt her brush against her lightly, then chuckled slightly and swore. There was a slight tugging from her side.

"Sorry... My shirt got caught on one of these studs."

There was a little bit of rustling, and the mesh top joined Cyd's in the corner of the room. She pulled taut the laces, and the corset cinched up. Cyd's breasts rested happily within the bust, the corset presenting them to their fullest. One scaled blue hand slid along her side and up to her chest, the long fingers curling up to caress Cyd's left breast through the cup of the garment.