Trouble With Horns

5: Dance Floor

The town of Motregarnon was revealed to be a moderately sized place that straddled a moderately large river, with two bridges connecting one side to the other. From what the others had told me, the town was an important pit stop for cargo barges bringing lumber down the river before they hit the capital further downriver. Due to the strategic importance of the town, it had a rather large stone wall compared to its population. The stone caught the red rays of sunset in a super pretty manner and I found myself smiling at the scene.

There were apparently three reasons for the existence of the walls, wars with other nations, keeping the wild tribes further inland from raiding and making off with precious goods, and the biggest one... The creatively named Bleaklands to the south. A range of low rough mountains that seemed to have a constant pall of mist flowing through its many broken valleys. Those mist soaked valleys brought horrors that kept even the hardiest of adventurers inside the town at night without proper warding.

The idea of the mist rolling out at night, hiding death and terror… well it made me very thankful I found Jill and Aurugm’s group. Being outside in that crap would have sucked. I did not want to be eaten by some eldritch horror.

The guards took one look at us when we got to the gates and ushered us through. They looked very bored, so I assumed there weren’t a whole lot of barriers to entering this town. Once we were inside, I was treated to a sight you see in a lot of anime about this type of thing. Directly inside the walls was a market square in the middle of lazily packing up for the day. Non-humans roamed around freely, so it looked like there was a high chance I could use my demon form if I wanted to, which was a relief.

“We’re going to go and dump the cart that Aurugm’s been pulling for two days at our guild house, then head to an inn to stay for the night,” Jill told me as I walked next to her.

I glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow at that, “You’re not staying at the guild house?”

She shook her head, “No. Our guild has been expanding too fast. The house is too small and usually only used for storage with a few guards staying there to stop break ins from other guilds. Most of us have spread out among the nearby inns, many of which we own. Which leads me to ask, you helped us today. Might have lost one or two of our people but we came out with only minor injuries because you helped with those giants. Would you like us to pay for your room tonight?”

I missed a step for a second as I realised that yes, I had no money and if it wasn’t for Jill’s generosity here I would have been sleeping in an alley. Damn, I needed a source of income!

“Please!” I said, nodding enthusiastically.

 Jill smiled knowingly at me, but didn’t comment on my obvious lack of a plan in coming here.

Traveling through the town was pleasant and their guildhouse was pretty close to the gate we had entered. The guildhouse itself was a fairly standard medieval town house with a small warehouse taking up the back of the plot. A small passage led us into the warehouse where the party began to unload crates of goods from the small cart. It didn’t take long and once everything was stacked neatly against a wall we were off again in a hurry. They had been travelling for days and were eager to put their feet up and get a drink.

They chose an inn about a hundred meters down the street and we all piled through the door. I was last inside, and almost immediately I was taken aback by what I found. Now, normally when you imagine a medieval fantasy tavern setting, you think of a big wooden bar with a grizzled old man behind it. You think of rough wooden tables scattered around, straw strewn across the ground and pipe smoke trailing through the low rafters.

This place was none of those things, except the big wooden bar. It was as though someone had transplanted a downtown club into this world and then given it a fantasy flair. There was even a mirror behind the bar where bottles of expensive looking liquor were stacked on shelves. A stage was set into one corner, where a band was setting up. A dance floor took up a good chunk of the floor in front of the stage. There were even semicircular booths lining the walls and high tables with high stools in the center of the room.

The fantasy elements came in with the theme and decor. It wasn’t made of metal and plastic, it was made from wood and rough steel. Trophies from dungeons and boss kills hung from the high ceiling and walls. The lighting was provided via mage lights that wandered aimlessly near the ceiling like fireflies. The bar was a single huge chunk of wood carved to look like a chinese dragon.

I absolutely adored it. I adored the whole setup. This was my place!

“Whoa,” I breathed as I followed Jill and the others towards a large booth near the back.

“First time seeing an adventurer inn?” she asked with a knowing grin.

“Yeah. Oh yeah. First day in the game. This is so cool! Why is it like this though? I thought the devs were really into their immersion and lore and stuff?” I asked.

She chuckled as I was ushered into the booth next to her, “It’s like this because it’s owned by an Adventurer. Incredible woman named Darb. She decided that she was sick of doing things the immersion way, and made this place instead. It even has real toilets. She paid some mages a sweet penny to get those made, let me tell you. The idea has been spreading too, even down to the capital.”

“Wow! I totally dig it. I am so keen. What’s the music like?” I asked, eyeing up the band of people who were obviously adventurers too.

“Pretty good. Some songs you might recognise from outside the game, some you might not recognise from inside the game. They struggled for a while until someone modified a spell designed to do sonic damage into a sound amplifying spell. You’ll see it when they start playing. Big blue orbs that pulse. It’s all quite impressive honestly,” she said fondly.

“Yeah wow. I’m impressed that’s for sure,” I said, eagerly awaiting the music and drinks.

At that moment, Aurugm stomped up to the table where everyone was chatting and said, “I’ve paid for the rooms. Darb says hello Jill. Now I must go and find my chair.”

He stomped off again after his report shaking the room slightly with his footfalls. Grabbing a larger chair from a stack in a corner, he dragged it over to us and sat down with a thump. I thought it was kind of nice that this Darb lady had even thought to accommodate the larger races.

When he was seated and happy, Aurugm leaned forward toward me eagerly, “She has been telling you about this place yes? But has she told you that Darb is her sister hmm? They make an intimidating duo they do.”

“Oh, really?” I asked, directing the question at Jill.

“Yup. Not going to go around bragging about it though. That would be rude,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

We chatted away at the booth for a few minutes before an NPC waitress came and asked us if we wanted anything. The party ordered a bunch of the food that was on offer that day, as well as drinks for everyone. The drinks turned out to be another surprise.

There were one or two sweet drinks as well as the traditional mead, ale and wine. Jill promised more were in the works but would take a while to get into circulation. I got a half pint of mead so I’d be buzzed but not drunk for when the dance floor opened. Nobody wanted to dance with a drunken disaster like I tended to turn into when I was pissed.

Speaking to this group was incredibly interesting. Their guild was a strange hybrid of PVE and mercantile. They had an arm that was focused on meeting the modern needs of adventurers who found that actually, outhouses sucked, and toilet paper was a must-have. The solutions they were coming up with were incredibly interesting. The toilets were magic in a way that despite it being explained by an enthusiastic young mage many times, I still did not understand.

The guy seemed more interested in impressing me though, and in a strange way I appreciated his interest. I wasn’t interested in him because he was a dude, but the idea that I was worthy of being hit on by this polite, nervous mage was cool.

It was during his enthusiastic explanation of the lights above us that I saw someone that did catch my eye. The chick who had so rudely greeted me as soon as I had spawned into the game was now sitting at the bar alone and drinking one of those sweet drinks I’d mentioned earlier.

I watched with interest as she flicked her long fiery hair out of the way to get to her coin purse, extracting it from inside the many folds of her strange robe. My drink stayed halfway between the table and my mouth as I watched her take a sip, then place her drink down and unclasp her robe at the neck.

My heart did a little backflip for a moment as my imagination ran a little wild, but I was disappointed. She let the robe fall to her waist where it was stopped from falling off completely by a belt. She tied it out of the way behind herself with the clasp. Rather than being topless as my imagination had so dearly wish for, she had on a tight singlet, along with what appeared to be a real bra. I was jealous of the bra. Well, I was jealous of the bra for where it was, but also because I wanted real support for these new boobs of mine.

Her incredible orange eyes met mine with a spark as she looked up, and it was as though a string of hot lightning had just connected us. She looked away quickly, but I’d seen her eyes widen in recognition of the moment, just as mine had. Unbidden, the memory of her cocky attitude this morning caused my breath to hitch. Damn she was attractive.

When I managed to tear my eyes away from her, I found Jill watching me with an amused expression.

“Am I going to have to tell Chester that you’re not interested?” she whispered into my ear.

“Oh, his name is Chester?” I asked casually, trying to hide my embarrassment at being caught.

“Indeed,” she chuckled softly, leaning back with an amused expression.

“Don’t judge me,” I shot back automatically.

“Oh I am not judging at all. I have absolutely no problems with lesbians, and anyone who does… I’ll point Aurugm at them,” she said grinning evilly, then turned to Aurugm, “Right Aurugm?”

Lesbian? I was a guy in real life so I was straight right? Right? I had no idea how to be a lesbian. I needed like, a side shave for that right? And really big leather boots.

“Hmm?” Aurugm rumbled, turning in his seat to look at Jill.

“Anyone gives our young friend here shit for being a lesbian and you put that gigantic spear of yours through them,” she said with a gallows grin.

Damn this woman was scary!

“Aye. I’ll make sure of it,” he said, mirroring her expression for a moment before giving me a much softer one, “You have any trouble and I will fix it for you. With as much prejudice as they have shown.”

“Um… whoa. Wow, thanks guys,” I said, blushing a little at the way my new friends were closing ranks around me so quickly. They were good people.

“No problem sister,” Jill said, squeezing my shoulder.

After that I had a much easier time in conversation. Chester stopped trying to explain the minutiae of magical toilets to me and instead turned to a girl with a lot of knives who had been giving him periodic longing looks.

The food arrived, along with the drink and we got stuck in. It was good food too, not the best, but this was fantasyland and you couldn’t just order the spice you forgot and have it turn up on your doorstep in ten minutes via happy little drone.

Unfortunately for my new friends, I wasn’t the best conversation. I couldn’t help as my eyes and attention kept drifting over to the fire haired woman like she was exerting some gravity specifically over just me. I watched her rather cooly rebuff some dude who’d had a bit too much to drink, but otherwise she kept to herself, her food and her drink. I wanted to talk to her, but I was a bit too scared at the moment. This whole girl thing had caused my usual confidence to stumble a little.

By the time our food was finished and my drink was empty, the band had started playing and a few of the patrons had moved to dance on the floor in front of them. The music was indeed a mix of stuff I knew from outside the game and ones that had been created inside. I found myself smiling and moving slightly to a few of the songs. I had a problem with music. That problem was that if a track had a good beat, I couldn’t stop myself from moving and tapping along with it. If I didn’t catch myself in time, I’d be halfway to dancing in moments.

Jill noticed me bopping along with another knowing laugh and got out of my way with a joking bow so I could get out of the booth. I thanked her with a pleased and guilty expression, sliding out quickly to let her sit back down. I made my way down to the dance floor with apprehension and a large helping of excitement. I’d always had friends with me when I’d danced in a club or something before now, but I really really wanted to be down there right now, so I was telling the little knot of fear in my stomach to fuck right off. I wanted to see how this body moved!

I stood on the edge and closed my eyes for a moment, feeling the beat and letting my body move around a bit as it liked to do, then popped my eyes open with a grin. Fuck yeah let’s do this. I was hot, I was excited. Time to embarrass myself!

I lost myself in the movements, letting my new body show me how it liked to move when the thump of the bass passed through it. Some of my usual moves slipped in, but it all seemed to work, so I just let myself go. Fuck everyone else I just wanted to have fun! Within a song or two I found my rhythm and dancing happily by myself. It was odd how close the experience was to dancing at a club in the real world. Except, rather rudely, I found myself learning about the differences between being on the floor as a guy, and being on the floor as a girl. Some dude’s hand was on my ass.

I tried to move away, but the guy followed me, beginning to grind against me from behind. I stopped dancing, turned and glared up at him. I formed the universal gesture for fuck you in my fist and squished it against his nose, accompanying it with a challenging glare. His eyes widened and he looked like he was ready to escalate things and cause a scene, when someone pushed between us.

Fire hair girl was here, and she gently but firmly pushed him away with a hand to his chest, then turned to me and… oh. She had a broad self satisfied smirk across her face that caused my breathing to hitch. I felt a pressure on my lips, and realised I was biting them pretty hard. Damn she was so hot! I don’t just mean because her hair looked like literal fire. She had this attitude that made me… well it made me wet, which was an entirely new experience...

The guy was trying to figure out if he wanted to start shit with her now, when she pulled me by the hand further onto the floor. Making sure we had space, she looked into my eyes and gave me yet another cocky little smile, then placed a hand on my waist. I didn’t pull away, instead leaning into the contact slightly. I liked her hand there, although I was too overwhelmed by the warm intensity in my chest and stomach to have stepped away if I’d wanted to.

Finally getting control of myself, I smiled warmly into my savior's eyes and reached up to link my arms around her neck, starting to dance along to the new song that was being played. I got a pleased grin in return, and just like that we were dancing together, rocking and swaying to the music. My heart was beating wildly, in part because of the music and the dancing, but mainly because this chick was awakening something inside me that I had no hope of suppressing. Shit she was gorgeous, and not only that, but she was pursuing me.

She was good, better than me at dancing by a significant margin, but this wasn’t some choreographed thing where the moves were set in stone. I was here to have fun, and it seemed she was too. My arms stayed around her neck and the feeling of my soft skin against hers was incredible. My eyes drifted to her neck where my hands touched them. It was long and slender, with dips and curves that just needed to be kissed.

Meanwhile, her hands were firmly on my waist, making me very conscious of just how thin it was. This was so so very different to what I was used to. I loved the way it felt when I twisted or rocked my hips and there was a big of friction as her hands caught up. It felt wonderful. I was getting drunker off her than I ever would off drink, and I wanted more.

We moved closer as we danced, until we were deliciously pressed together from boob to hip. My nerves were singing with sensation and due to her slight height advantage over me I found myself looking up into those bright eyes of hers. When I saw them filled with a searing desire that I knew was mirrored in my own, I had a momentary surge of confidence.

My head tilted up the inch I need to in order to bring our lips together, and my awareness of the world narrowed with a snap. The contact between us sang to me with a soft raw stinging feeling that I desperately craved more of. She growled into our kiss, and pulled me closer against her body even as her warm lips gently moved against mine. I god what was I feeling? How could making out on the dance floor feel this damn good? Was this what chicks felt all the time, or was there something else going on?

I struggled to keep dancing as the sensations of our kiss caused my skin to burn with need for her, and I almost cried out in sadness when she pulled away. She turned, weaving through the shifting crowd of dancers to the edge of the floor. Had I done something wrong? I stood there, abandoned and feeling almost sick with disappointment when I saw her turn back to me.

Through the crowd I saw her cock an eyebrow and motion with her head towards the door that led out the back of the Inn. Oh! I felt a giddy grin bloom across my face in response, and followed her off the dance floor. I dimly noted Jill watching me from behind her drink back at the booth. She knew where I was going, good.

When I got out into the cool night air, I looked around for the girl with the fire hair, and saw her disappear into a nook behind the stable. I was a little apprehensive, maybe this was a trap? Was she going to try and stab me again?

As I cautiously followed her into the nook, she turned and smiled a little sheepishly. There was no sword, and I realised she actually wasn’t carrying any weapons at all the moment. She must have also known that I was an unarmed fighting player, so this was actually kind of brave on her part.

Advancing slowly towards me, she softly said, “I don’t normally do this kind of thing, but… you turn me on so bad. I want you.”

“Oh,” I chuckled warmly, “I thought it was just me this whole time.”

“Yeah, definitely just you,” she breathed, rolling her eyes and placing a hand on my stomach.

She pushed me slowly backwards until my back was against the wall and her hand on my stomach like that was sending lovely little sparks of warmth radiating out into my body. I reached for her hips at the same time that she pressed forward, closing the final distance between our bodies. Our lips connected with a fire to match my fists and her hair as we sought to know the other again with warm lips and teasing tongues.

I felt movement at my stomach as her gentle hands began to unbutton my shirt from the bottom up. Something about the way she was able to keep kissing me with such intensity while also concentrating on the buttons threw more fuel to the fire that was burning in my core. An involuntary whimper left my throat when her delicate fingers finally gained access to the skin of my stomach and hips. She began to trace swirling patterns across my skin that drove me crazy. I growled in need and frustration at how teasing she was being and took a firmer hold of her hips, using it to flip us so our positions were reversed.

Now pinned against the wall rather than me, she didn't lose any of her audacity. Instead she bit down on my lower lip with a breathy chuckle. Oh that voice of hers. It wasn’t as raw and sexual as mine, but it still sent little shivers of anticipation down my spine

She released my lip, gently running her tongue over where it was swollen ever so slightly, while her hands changed trajectory across my burning skin. They moved up gradually until they met my binding, finding it loose from the dance we'd shared earlier. Her fingers worked at it deftly, pulling at the wrap until she had my boobs free. Her mouth left mine then, and I groaned at their absence. Again with that low and throaty chuckle her lips landed on my neck, placing slow soft kisses across my soft skin and down to my collarbone.

She lavished extra attention on it, even stopping just long enough to whisper, "You're beautiful."

Something in my heart thumped like a bass drum when she called me that word, and one of my hands left her hip of its own accord to wind its way into her hair. Her hair was so soft and warm. It looked like a fire, and also seemed to be giving off a warmth of its own. Or maybe that was just how turned on I was.

With the new avenue of control I had in her hair I urged her kisses towards my breasts. That first flick of her tongue across my nipple changed my life. Changed everything. I would have dropped into the dust had she not reversed our positions again, once more pressing me into the wall. It's not that my nipples were overly sensitive, although the way her tongue and lips were working proved that was true, no it was the glow in my heart that almost dropped me to my knees. I leaned back and enjoyed her attention with heavy erratic breaths.

Oh fuck, she was moving again. Her hands were tracing the curves of my sides as she knelt in front of me. She looked up at me through dark of the evening with those fiery eyes crinkled into a sly smirk, then got my pants undone in one little motion. Oh god, it was all I could do not to beg her to go faster. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, she pulled them down until she had enough access, then she looked up, her expression asking permission. I nodded eagerly, entirely done with words now, not that we’d exchanged many, and she gave me a bright cheeky little smile before she dove in.

Her tongue flicked teasingly across the outermost folds for a moment and I groaned, my pelvis lifting up of its own accord to seek more substantial contact. Another heat inducing chuckle and she pushed me back against the rough wooden boards, her blessed tongue following. She dove a little deeper this time, warming me up in a manner I was all too familiar with, but now it was me under that tongue. A circling motion around my clit brought a surprised giddy laugh from my lips, and she once again had to push my rebellious hips back.

My god I needed her to stop teasing me! I pushed my fingers into her hair again with both hands this time, but she resisted my initial push towards my pulsing need and I had to relent. Her hair was so incredibly soft, and I contented myself with the feel of it between my fingers even as she worked at me in earnest.

Her tongue moved nimbly, tracing a line here and pressing down there with skill I was almost envious of, until I was letting out short gasping, disbelieving gasps. Was this what I had been missing all this damn time? Was this what people spoke about when they told me of the loving sex they had with their partners? I'd always relished the giving, the worshipping of my partner as I brought her to climax, but I had never realised that this is what it felt like. I should have been charging by the hour all these years!

She pulled back for a moment to gaze up at me from between my thighs, a devilish little grin on her face for an instant before she moved back in and suddenly I had no time for thoughts of the past. It was just that sweet connection between us as she showed me how she adored my body. She showed me how much she'd enjoyed our dancing and our wordless flirting, she showed me pleasure, and then with a broad flat press of her tongue across my most sensitive of areas, I was gone.

Brilliant bursts of sensation rippled through me with abandon, and my mind was undone for a moment as I was lost to everything but my orgasm. I dimly heard myself moaning into the chill night air while she continued to gently coax my climax to new heights, until I had to wriggle out of her grasp to stop from completely passing out. My legs shook and my heart thundered in my chest. That had been… there were no words. She stood quickly when she saw how insteady I was, gathering me into an embrace to keep me from falling over as I was rocked over and over by the aftershocks of pleasure she had given me.

We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity while I slowly came down from the whole experience and my body slowly came back under my control.

With my face nuzzled into her neck like this, my words came out muffled, “Holy shit.”

“Careful, someone who looks like a demon when she’s mad shouldn’t be using words like holy,” she teased.

“Mmmm, whatevs. I’m a rebellious demon,” I said giggling and nipping at her neck with my teeth, “Your turn?”

She hummed with indecision and shook her head, seeming to deflate slightly. Carefully, gently, she propped me up against the wall and stepped back. Her expression was odd. She looked happy with the state she’d put me in, but her eyes hinted at something else beneath the surface.

She turned and walked a few feet away, then hesitated looking back at me with the flicker of a smile, “See you around.”

Damn. What a wild night, I chuckled to myself as she turned the corner. It had been… educational.

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