Fantasy Roommates: Westring Romcom

The Portal

From the observation platform, I saw stevedores unhitch the engines and harness aurochs in their place. A whip cracked, and the aurochs marched into the shielding, a shimmer of ***energy,*** and were gone, like they'd stepped through a curtain. They called it aetheric shielding and it let things pass through, but not come back.

Internal combustion didn't work on the other side of the Iris. Neither did most modern tech. Nothing ran on electricity. Instead, they used magically charged crystals. Scientists had theories: semiconductor gaps, Faraday inversion, aetheric scattering, flashpoint drift, Curie point collapse, and half a dozen more, depending on who you asked.

This was how I got the job. Every place needed IT guys, and the Genesis Ring was no different. But they also needed people with a healthy imagination -- someone to help replace our reliance on gas, guns, and computer chips with what USGRE called arc-tech.

My old job still dragged me down like a weighted blanket. I remembered the cubicle, beige walls, recycled air, a door I couldn't see past. My boss hovered like a vulture outside the door to tell me about some manager's complaint report.

Everyone thought the elves, and whatever else came through -- would turn Earth into paradise. Even now, with the world full of beautiful, otherworldly creatures, we still managed to screw it up.

My boss had a new secretary, and he wasn't exactly hiding the affair. She was one of those new species from the Genesis Ring. Rumor had it they were sex fiends, drawn to humans, fat, bald, didn't matter, like bees to pollen. HR had given up enforcing workplace romance rules entirely.

Now everyone was in a relationship or polycule with one or more of these creatures. Couples became throupples. But somehow, even with all this free love from the Genesis Ring, money and power still got you to the front of the line.

I watched the ads on TV. Explorers, with their ball caps and hiking packs, walking into the light. Conquering this new world. And walking off with a harem of cat girls.

Now I was heading to the Genesis Ring, where alien women -- gorgeous elves, seductive catgirls, and amazonian orcs -- outnumbered humanity ten to one.

The world, the Westring, wasn't a sphere but a vast, spinning ring, a cosmic donut of rock and atmosphere. The portal remained anchored to our Earth, but on the far side, the entire structure rotated along its inner curve. Along this central seam, towns and cities were like dotted seams. From this vantage, the slow, stately progress of transport wagons along the main thoroughfare looked exactly like a train moving from station to station. The vastness of the ring meant that no matter how many humans went through the Westring absorbed. It was a new limitless frontier.

The klaxon went off, and the supply wagons clattered forward. Our turn.

I adjusted the straps of my hiking pack. The line moved. The Iris grew in the distance, purple and green swirling at its edges.

The line shuffled forward, Stoic and slow. The one drawback. Once you left Earth you couldn't come back. Something about not risking cross-contamination -- pathogens, aetheric residue, whatever might hitch a ride back.

But there was nothing for me on this side. And no matter how bad it was over there, it couldn't be worse than here, where humanity had just topped twelve billion. That's why they were encouraging us to move out.

Light curled in front of me, close enough to touch, like standing face to face with an aurora. My legs buckled.

"Come on, dude. Move."

I was pushed forward. My ears popped, the way they do on a plane during descent. For a second I was inside it, light fizzing around me. Then I was on the other side.

The sun and a fresh breeze hit me at once. We stood on a platform that overlooked the whole city. The heart of the city bristled with barbed wire and military housing, but at the margins, cobblestone houses and thatched roofs crept in. In the distance, spires rose up against the skyline, beyond that was a vast primeval forest where the more venturesome humans were exploring.

Below, on the wide switchback leading down into the customs depot, I could see my first street on the Genesis Ring. It was a wide avenue, two lanes thick with wagons pulled by aurochs. Strange, ostrich-like birds hopped along the edges, foot to foot. Riders used them instead of aurochs, faster, lighter on their feet.

American soldiers marched past in Kevlar armor, carrying pneumatic crossbows. They'd been here since the Ring was first explored. Around them, human civilians moved through crowds of elves, catgirls, orcs -- people like me, looking for whatever Earth couldn't give us anymore.

The women were dressed in everything from medieval gowns to modern streetwear. The only thing they had in common was how much they wanted to be looked at. There were more beautiful, barely-clothed bodies than I'd ever seen. A dusky-skinned elf girl balanced an amphora almost as big as she was on her head. A rabbit woman's curves strained against her cop uniform as she wrote out a parking ticket like it was the most normal thing in the world. Curvy, busty, skinny, lithe -- every shape was on display, like variety itself had been the point.

My head spun with all of it -- the crowd moved forward, peeling off toward wherever they were headed.

I heard two voices.

"Mr. Merlin?" Then, brighter: "Yoohoo, we're over here!" A giggle followed.

A dour man in a business suit stood beside a gnome woman barely reaching his hip. His bushy mustache hid whatever expression he had. The gnome was expressive enough for both of them.

She wore a pink business suit, cut low enough to show off cleavage courtesy of a push-up bra. Her hair was pinned up, a few loose strands framing her face and drawing the eye to her full red mouth.

She looked up at the dour man, eyes bright with something eager -- like a dog waiting to be told it had done well.

The man nodded, barely.

It felt like a performance -- the kind you might see from an adult actress or exotic dancer. But everyone said this was normal on the Ring. Something in their society made them practically worship humans. Human men most of all. Scientists were still questioning if it was viral or pheromonal or strong cognitive brainwashing. But the beings of this world -- and they were mostly women, ten to one -- worshiped us.

Soon there was wild consternation, as people on Earth were gathering these new immigrants into their own harems.

"Are you Tim Merlin? My name's Mr. Doun. I'm your cultural relationships rep at Astral Communications, and this is, uh, Glitzy -- she's my personal assistant."

Glitzy gave a Miss Universe smile. "Secretary," she corrected. "I'm here to help you be as comfortable as possible. Both of you." She glanced between us.

The man rolled his eyes. "My name is Mr. Doun. We've sent you an email with a current map of the city -- it's growing so fast the map changes constantly -- plus the bus schedule and directions to your office and company-provided housing. You'll want to head there first and meet your roommates."

"Roommates. The job never said I would have to share housing with roommates."

"Company policy is to shack newcomers up with residents. To help with culture shock."

I didn't have a good history with roommates because of my autism. I needed the same three foods on rotation, the same walk to work, lights off by eleven -- and every roommate I'd ever had treated that like a personal insult.

"Roommates. How many roommates will I have?"

The man flipped through his touchscreen pointedly. "It says here you will be having three. Good luck. You'll have your hands full."

Meeting the Roommates

It was hours before I found the address, down a jagged fault line of a side street. The locals eyed me like a curiosity, as if I were the strange one, and they weren't all dressed like characters from a fantasy anime. You had all the standard options, like orcs, and elves, and dwarves, but with crazy twists. One checked her phone. Another had a TV blaring through an open window.

The cottage was built of tile and brick, seeming to hang off the hillside -- a ramp curling up beneath it to keep the whole structure level. Planters covered every conceivable perch, producing an explosion of flowers. Beautiful fragrances flowed across the front step.

But there was also the nest of cables and satellite dishes added onto the original construction, spreading like spider webs. They crisscrossed above my head, humming with power. The civil engineers were building out, overlaying this hamlet with modern infrastructure.

The address on the door matched my note, so I worked up the nerve to knock. I gulped audibly. I didn't have good luck with meeting new people. I'd be meeting my neighbors for the first time. My first real encounter with the natives of this new world.

The door opened and my jaw dropped. The young woman standing in the door was gorgeously cute.

She looked at me with eyes like when the sun hits the water just right.

Her frame was so tight, she looked like one of those gymnasts. There were all kinds of degrading words that someone on Earth might call her. The one that stuck in my head was a piece of ass. It was crude, yes, and degrading. But something about the way she arched her back made me feel welcomed.

Her hair was cool, punky and colorful. Her thighs were massive, giving her a kind of stockiness that was still undeniably sexy. She looked like a cherry bomb.

She wore a translucent taupe tank top. Through it, I could see the shape of her nipples pressing against the fabric, her areolas dark shadows beneath the damp, sweat-soaked cotton. Outside it was hot and parts of the fabric of her shirt were damp with sweat.

Below, I caught a glimpse of her panties, tight against her ass, and the long line of her legs down to a pair of small, delicate feet.

"Hi," she chirped. Her face was open and inviting, but there was no flicker of recognition in it. Faces were hard to read sometimes. Did she know I was coming?

Her face broke into recognition.

"You're the human. Tim, right, Tim Merlin. Gods, no one at the agency said you were coming."

She looked me over again. "You're a man."

She said it like she'd just won a shiny new prize.

She glanced at what she was wearing, or not wearing, and squeaked. Her face flushed red. One arm made a bar across her breasts while the other cupped her sex.

"Sorry. My name is Roxy. We weren't ready for you. Here, umm, follow me."

She grabbed my hand, turned, and hopped into the house. My brain, which was currently BSOD and rebooting, finally computed. A pink tail curled out from the base of her spine, just above her peach-shaped ass. Her ears were long and wide, twitching like a mouse's.

She led me into the house. The house was clean and rustic, like a cottage you might see in those vacation rental ads. It was compact with exposed beams. The kitchen I passed was stocked with herbs, some stored in glass jars, others growing in pots.

We passed into the living room, where the furniture was covered in quilts and open windows brought in fresh air. There was a game system in the corner. There was a girl sitting on the couch facing it. She was tiny, maybe smaller than Roxy, with long rabbit ears. She was wearing a silk kimono tight to her body. The controller dropped from her hands as she stared at me in shock.

"Tim, this is Willow. She didn't know you were coming either."

Willow blushed. "We thought you were coming tomorrow. I was planning to dress up."

Willow was sexy in a smaller, more fragile way than Roxy. Whereas Roxy's breasts threatened to explode out of her tank top, Willow's were smaller, more of a suggestion than a statement. I could see her nipple peeking from inside the folds of her kimono, dark round little knobs.

"Hi, I'm Tim. I guess I'm your new roommate."

"Wow," said Willow. "You are the first human I've ever met. I mean, like, in person."

"Really?" I asked. "I've never seen anyone like you. Are those rabbit ears?"

"Rabbit ears?" Willow's nose scrunched in a way I found incredibly cute. "These are my ears."

"She's a lagomorph," said Roxy. "Isn't she sexy?"

Of course, she was, but all I could do was look at her long, fuzzy ears. They looked incredibly soft.

"Stop it." Willow blushed again. I realized I was staring. But she wasn't talking to me, she was talking to Roxy, who was softly kissing her neck.

"And I am Roxy!" She arched her back, so her large breasts lifted, pointed toward me. "And I am a Muridaean, and the most fun you can have in a juice box."

She gave a sharp salute.

"Pleased to meet you, Roxy." I stared at the jiggle physics on display. I couldn't help it. Roxy looked excited that I was looking.

"Do you like fighting games, Tim?"

"I guess. I'm not a pro or anything. I mostly mash buttons."

Roxy laughed -- beautiful chimes. "Yeah, that's all Willow does too."

"Stop it," Willow laughed. Her blush had spread down to her chest.

"You wanna play with us? Loser gives up the controller."

"Sure," I said.

Willow got off the couch and sat on the floor. Her kimono rolled up, exposing coltish legs and dainty green painted toes.

Roxy patted her empty seat. "Here you go, big boy."

"Yes, please take it. You're our guest," Willow said.

I won the first three rounds before I started to wonder if they were throwing it. Roxy's jaw tightened on a loss, and I decided probably not.

"Pick someone harder," Willow said, from where she'd curled up on the floor.

"I'm picking at random."

"Pick someone harder randomly."

Roxy lost again and made a sound like a stepped-on squeeze toy. She dropped her controller in her lap. "Okay. Stakes."

Willow pulled her knees tighter to her chest. "Here we go."

"What?" I said.

"When there are stakes," Roxy said, turning to face me fully, one knee coming up onto the cushion between us, "the winner gets to tell the loser to do something. And the loser does it." She said it the way you'd explain a rule that was completely reasonable and had always existed.

I looked at Willow. Willow was looking at the ceiling.

"She's going to win now," Willow said, to no one in particular. "She always wins once there are stakes."

Roxy picked up her controller and smiled at the screen. "I know," she said.

I watched Roxy deliberately choose the next character, a cat girl with white fuzzy mittens. I'd been played -- she was going for combination moves. The cat girl's tail swayed as she shifted her weight. So did Roxy's, whipping around with anxious energy while her fingers danced on the controller. I couldn't tell which one was copying the other. I was KO'd in seconds.

She jumped up on the couch and did a victory dance, her tail whirling around her like a hula-hoop, but all I could stare at was her ass, and her boy shorts clinging tightly to it, swaying like a mesmerizing figure eight.

"Cat girl? That's pretty funny considering you look like a mouse," I grumbled.

"Shirt," she said, smiling wickedly.

I chose obedience and pulled my shirt over my head. It was weird being shirtless with strangers, but not so different than being at the beach. I was suddenly aware of the paleness of my chest.

I was always awkward around girls, but here I was way out of my depth. I had walked through the door forty minutes ago. That was the part that got me, not the flirting, but how routine it was, like I'd been assigned to them along with the lease. Fine. If there was one thing on this planet I was actually good at, it wasn't going to be conversation. These girls had been playing for a year, tops. The Iris only opened last spring. I'd been playing my whole life.

Roxy sniffed the air. "Yum."

"What?" I challenged.

"Roxy, stop it. Tim, you just smell really good to us. Really, really good. It's your human pheromones. Please, don't take it personally," Willow said.

"Yeah, you smell like Molly feels," Roxy added.

"What, like that drug from EDM scenes? How do you even know about that?" How did this whole thing work?

"We have clubs here." Roxy smiled invitingly. "I love to dance. I'll take you with me next time."

She swayed back and forth, holding the controller, her breasts bouncing to an inaudible electronic rhythm.

"I can't dance." Even as I said it, I knew it sounded lame.

"Sure you can, you just need the right teacher."

Willow gave Roxy a glare.

"I love dancing too, but now I'm going to love beating your ass," Willow challenged.

It was Willow's turn, and I watched them both battle it out on the screen. This time I paid attention. Roxy was aggressive. She liked to overwhelm her opponent, like her aggressive intimacy with me. But Willow had a way of playing defensively and turning her enemy's moves against them. She would appear defensive, but suddenly snap into aggressive, as soon as Roxy made a mistake. Both girls had clearly been playing this game together for a while. They knew each other's styles, and the fight quickly started to look like a choreographed dance. Willow won this time.

She looked down for a second. I thought she was going to ask Roxy to do something, but instead she turned to me.

"You have to take off your pants." She whispered it, her face as flushed as an apple.

It embarrassed her, but she said it anyway. Shyness mixing with desire.

"That's not part of the rules," I said.

"We're the hosts. We get to make the rules," said Roxy.

"You're in on this too then?"

"Off with the pants."

I sighed and stood up. I wiggled out of my pants, almost tripping over my own feet. If there was a cool way to get out of jeans, I didn't know it. I finally kicked them off.

Both girls were now openly staring. Roxy bit her lip. Willow's ears were bright pink and pulled to the sides of her head. I wondered if Willow's ears were more talkative than she was.

"All right, you're up, big boy," Roxy said, handing me a controller.

Now I wanted revenge. One skill that I've had as long as I can remember is the ability to lock in, no matter what was going on around me. I might be half-naked, next to two scantily clad beautiful girls, but I could still flip a switch in my brain and go focus mode.

The only thing I saw was the LCD screen. There was a direct line connecting the character on the screen to my fingers on the controller. It was like I was part of the game, or the game was a part of me, like an extra limb.

This time, I dominated her. I was countering her moves as if I could see them before she even committed to them. Moves chained together, and my avatar threw hers into the air and juggled her there, until her health bar collapsed into nothing.

The room was quiet. The girls looked at me expectantly. A part of my mind told me that I was misunderstanding the situation, and I was going to make a fool of myself.

The sound stuttered in my mouth. "I guess Willow, you should take your kimono off."

Shyly, Willow smiled and slowly pulled the silk off each of the corners of her kimono. Her naked body was slowly revealed. Her breasts were delicate with dark nipples against her freckled chest. They were cute tiny breasts, pointed slightly upward, with nipples the color of dark wine. My eyes panned down her white belly to between her legs, where I saw a swatch of reddish yellow pubic hair.

I wanted to put her down on her back, to have my body tower over hers, and to pull her long legs up and apart. I wanted her to look up at me with those shy eyes from below. Almost like she was scared, but not exactly.

"Doesn't my girl have the cutest tiny titties?"

Roxy wrapped her arms around Willow to cup her breasts from below and lift them towards me, as if inviting me to touch them. Willow's blush spread down to her belly.

"Stop it. It's your turn."

Roxy grabbed the controller with swagger. "You ready to show us what you got under those pants?"

My eyes wandered hungrily over Roxy's bountiful chest. Those breasts just begged to be played with. To squeeze, to kiss, to bite. I realized that I was horny as fuck and that didn't bode well for me winning this match.

"Right," I said. I pulled my eyes away from both girls. When I had first started playing, I was mostly running on instinct, and what I had learned from other fighting games I had played. But now I had a feel for my character, his strengths and weaknesses, and also Roxy -- I knew how she played. She was reckless. She did nothing halfway. She tried to overwhelm you.

When the countdown stopped, I was ready. Her character, her sexy little cat, pounced, and I riposted. There was a flash of light, and her character flew back. I knew Willow would have used this time to back away, and keep her distance, and that was what Roxy would expect. Instead, I played like Roxy. I leaped in and started fast jabs at her as soon as she hit the ground.

I took half her health bar away before she was finally able to defend herself. I could tell she was thinking about doing the exact same thing to me, so I backed off. I heard her huff on the other side of the room. Not so cocky now, are you, I thought.

Then it occurred to me that I was going to be able to tell her to take her top off, and that she was going to do it, and I was going to see those voluptuous porn star breasts on her body, and that maybe I could make her do other things too.

So I got distracted.

Out of nowhere, Roxy's cat pinned me into a corner, forcing me to retreat behind a desperate guard. My health bar dwindled to a precarious, flickering line before I finally reclaimed my rhythm.

At that point, we were both just feinting at each other, waiting for the other to make a mistake.

"Are you ready to show us your joystick, gamer boy?" Roxy crowed, her eyes wandering hungrily over my lap.

"Perhaps I'll just slide my joystick between your heavy racks," I shot back. The words were out before I could filter them. Roxy actually faltered, her avatar missing a beat as she processed the dirty talk.

The input landed clean. Screen went white. Her cat went up, spun twice, and came down on the arena floor like a dropped bag of groceries.

"Fuck yeah!"

I said that out loud. In a room. With people in it. Who was I?

Somebody gasped, and it wasn't me. Willow was up on her knees behind Roxy on the couch, arms around her ribs, hands under the tank top, not being subtle. Roxy's head went back against her shoulder. Her legs came open. Neither of them was looking at the screen anymore.

The victory screen sat there being smug on my behalf.

"That's not fair," Roxy said, which is what people say when it is completely fair. Her tail went *tk tk tk* against the cushion.

"Totally fair," Willow said from behind her. Her ears had gone flat back along her skull, which I was starting to understand meant she was enjoying herself. "You set the stakes, Roxy baby."

She put her mouth against Roxy's ear. "Or you'll be a bad roommate."

Roxy made a noise.

"And a bad girl."

"No," Roxy said. "I can't have that." She was looking at my shorts, well, through my shorts.

"I don't know what to ask for."

Which was a lie, and every person in that room knew it was a lie. I had a list. The list the most hedonistic and sex-mad part of me had been writing since I walked into the house. The problem was that saying any item on it out loud would require me to be a different person -- somebody who'd done this before, or could at least counterfeit it convincingly -- and this morning I had been standing in a line on a different planet.

Two women were waiting on me. I ran out of words the way you run out of stairs in the dark.

"You know what she really likes," Willow said. She was looking straight at me when she said it, and I understood I was being handed something. "She loves it when you play with her titties."

"Not that," Roxy said. "Anything but that. That one actually works on me."

Willow lifted the tank top. Roxy wasn't wearing anything under it and never had needed to. This Willow was a different Willow from the one I met an hour ago. That one felt like prey. This one was predator.

I put my hand on her. Warm, and heavier than I expected -- the whole weight of it settling into my palm like it was supposed to belong there. My hands seemed to know what to do without me. My thumb went across her nipple and she made a sound that I viscerally reacted to. It was a whimper. A hungry whimper. A frustrated whimper. A begging kind of whimper.

I latched onto Roxy's nipple, sucking hard, the heat of her skin flooding my mouth as her taste--sweet, salty, faintly like sweat and something wild--hit my tongue. My cock throbbed against my pants, already leaking, but that pull on her tit calmed the storm in my head, like the Iris portal's chaos finally shut the fuck up. Willow's tongue worked the other nipple in wet circles, her moans vibrating through Roxy's chest. Roxy's body arched between us, her whimpers turning into sharp gasps that made my balls tighten.

"Fuck, yes," Roxy breathed, her voice cracking. "Suck them harder, both of you. God, it feels so good." Her hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer, while her hips rocked forward, seeking more. I could smell her arousal now, thick and musky in the dim room. Willow's fingers slid lower, parting Roxy's thighs, and I heard the slick sound as she rubbed over Roxy's clit.

I pulled off the nipple with a wet pop, my breath hot against her skin. "You like that?" My voice came out rough, alpha edge creeping in.

sped, voice ragged. "Don't fucking stop." Her back arched hard, tits pushing into both mouths. "God, yes--just like that. Suck my tits. Both of you. Forever."

"I want to spend the whole rest of the day like this," Roxy moaned, hips rolling. "Get high. Lay on this couch and you to nurse on my titties."

Willow pulled off with a wet pop, lips shiny. "But our poor roommate. What will we do for him?"

Roxy turned and drunkenly stared at my cock. "I want to see it."

My cock sprung free.

The girls got on their knees, eyes wide and fixed, as if it were a holy relic. Roxy's tail thumped the floor in a steady, eager rhythm while Willow's ears twitched forward, straining toward it. Their hands hovered, not quite touching, fingers trembling with the effort of holding back. A soft, shared breath escaped them as my cock bobbed there, almost pointing at the ceiling, waiting.

Roxy's tits were shiny wet baubles. I could have held my mouth on them forever. But this, this might be better. Two hands delicately wrapped around me. My cock twitched and they hopped in excitement.

Arrives, the Goddess

"What are you doing, girls?" A melodious voice cooled the heat-charged room.

I looked up to see an elf. An elf. Like a figure in some high romantic painting. Her eyes were bright, shimmering with a striking emerald intensity. Her face. It was a flawless, elegant, heart-shaped face, haloed by golden hair. She stood gracefully in the entryway, looking down at our tangled, half-naked group with undeniable amusement in her eyes.

"Sif!"

Roxy leaped to her feet and over the couch without a single trace of shame. She threw her arms around the newcomer and gave the elegant elf a tight hug. My eyes roamed to Roxy's full breasts squeezed between the two bodies, Roxy's wickedly buxom body contrasted with Sif's austere beauty.

That unexpected arrival instantly brought everything to a grinding halt. Blushing furiously, I scrambled to gather my scattered clothes and got dressed as quickly and as decently as my clumsy hands allowed. Willow pulled her silk kimono back over her shoulders, tying the sash tightly, though her rabbit ears remained flushed a deep shade of pink. Meanwhile, Roxy didn't seem bothered in the slightest, practically vibrating with energy as she introduced me to Sif, who continued to look at the three of us with an arched, highly amused expression. Finally, Sif asked her politely to put her shirt back on.

Neither Roxy nor Willow seemed genuinely concerned that Sif had just caught us in the explicit beginnings of a wild game-room spectacle; if anything, they treated her entry like an exciting turn of events.

"Hi," I managed to stammer out, extending a hand after smoothing down my shirt.

"Hi," she returned smoothly, taking my hand in a firm yet remarkably soft grip while looking at me with a bemused expression on her face. Her touch sent a light spark up my arm. "I hope the girls have made you comfortable."

"Yeah," I said. "I feel right at home."

Roxy and Willow smiled and hung on each other.

Dinner started and it was amazing. Willow cooked. The kitchen was well stocked with fresh ingredients. Roxy made everyone drinks, a strange fizzy drink that tasted like a Capri Sun, and made me pleasantly relaxed.

Sif sat across from me at the low wooden table, leaning back with effortless grace as she filled me in on the inner workings of the company. She spoke about Astral Communications with a polished, professional authority, outlining what I should expect on my first morning and introducing the structure of our department. When she mentioned her boss -- describing her as a dragon who managed corporate policy with an iron claw -- I chuckled, assuming it was just a colorful human idiom, though the knowing glint in Sif's emerald eyes made me second-guess myself. She seamlessly transitioned into the latest office gossip, giggling softly as she revealed how the secretarial staff had been thrown into utter hysterics upon learning that a human male was joining the team.

Meanwhile, Roxy chimed in with boundless enthusiasm about the city's vibrant nightlife, describing neon-lit clubs where human electronic dance music was taking the local scene by storm, enhanced by the powerful aphrodisiac and psychedelic potions that were putting all human club drugs to shame. From the kitchen, the mouthwatering aroma of fresh herbs and roasting meats drifted out as Willow chimed in, excitedly telling me about upcoming forest festivals, seasonal markets, and traditional gatherings nestled deep in the surrounding woodland. It sounded mostly like an excuse for hippy chicks to get naked and have sex underneath a tree.

As the drinks kicked in, the girls became giggly, leaning closer across the low wooden table until the air felt warm and charged. I told stories about Earth -- simple things about suburban strip malls, bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway, and the mundane grind of office life -- and they seemed to find everything equally hilarious and utterly fascinating. Every detail about human life was met with wide-eyed wonder, soft gasps, and melodic laughter that echoed softly in the cozy room.

Willow brought out a bottle of wine, a vintage from this side of the Iris. I could see little glowing lights like fireflies floating in it, illuminating the rosiness and casting the room in a red tint. The glass bottle shimmered under the dim lights, radiating a soft warmth that seemed to fill the ambient space between us.

Sif was regal, and incredibly classy. While Roxy and Willow stared hungrily at me, Roxy rubbing her tits against the side of the table, and Willow hopping in nervous energy on her stool, Sif's composure never faltered.

She sat back with an effortless aura of nobility, her serene emerald gaze assessing the room while the other two girls practically vibrated with excitement beside her.

The wine was incredible. The air became warmer and balmier, felt warmer and balmier anyway, and my skin tingled with new sensitivity. Sweet honey flowed across my tongue with every sip. Heat pooled in my chest, expanding outward to my fingertips in heavy, lingering waves as the strange glowing particles dissolved against my palate.

"Careful, the wines in our land can be strong," said Sif. She reached over and touched my cheek. Her finger felt amazing sliding down my jawline. A tingling electric current seemed to trace the path of her delicate skin against mine, making my heart kick violently against my ribs.

I gulped. Overstimulation hit me, and not the good kind. The room began to spin subtly at the edges, the colors growing far too vibrant and the lingering hum of the room swelling into a sharp buzz in my ears. I stood up, shakily. "I think I need some air." I knocked over the stool, the heavy wood thudding against the floorboards as my vision flickered.

Sif was holding me. "It's ok," she said softly, her hands steady against my trembling shoulders. "Breathe." Her touch was a firm, grounding anchor against the sudden rush of heat and noise crashing through my senses.

Her voice brought me back from the brink of sensory overload, grounding me back into the room. I closed my eyes and desperately followed the rhythmic breathing patterns my therapist had taught me back home. Four beats in, hold, four beats out. Slowly, the ringing in my ears faded, replaced by the steady thrum of my own pulse calming down.

When I opened my eyes, Sif was staring intently into them. Looking into her shimmering emerald gaze, I felt like I could see an entire constellation swirling within them.

"Ladies, our new roommate has had an exciting day," Sif said, breaking the silence as she turned her composed gaze toward the others. "How about we let him get some rest?"

The two girls pouted in unison, but their disappointment was brief as they immediately turned and eagerly raced down the hallway to show me my new quarters.

The bedroom was simple and rustic, empty except for a sturdy wood-framed bed crafted from thick timber beams and draped in heavy quilted blankets. The cool touch of the hardwood floors felt soothing against my bare feet.

"You can ride with me to work tomorrow," Sif offered smoothly, leaning against the doorway. Her graceful frame effectively blocked Willow and Roxy, who were hovering right behind her looking like they wanted to leap straight onto my mattress. "The company provides us with an auroch cart."

I scratched the back of my neck, feeling a warm rush of gratitude. "Yeah, thanks, I appreciate that."

"Good night," Roxy called out playfully over Sif's shoulder. "I recommend sleeping in the nude. That's what I do. These summer nights can get pretty warm."

"Don't be afraid to wake me up if you need anything at all," Willow added, her rabbit ears twitching as she winked. "I also sleep in the nude."

"Both of us," Roxy chimed in with a sly grin. "We actually sleep in the exact same bed. Nude."

An hour later, I was lying flat on my back in the stifling dark, staring blankly up at the wooden beam patterns on the ceiling. Every small sound in the cottage seemed amplified. Through the thin wall separating our rooms, the soft, rhythmic creak of bedsprings was accompanied by unmistakable whimpering and delicate lapping sounds coming from Willow and Roxy's shared bedroom next door. My erection tented the heavy quilt like a teepee, my pulse thumping against the waistband of my shorts as I wrestled with the utter impossibility of getting to sleep. I repeated the thought like a nervous cadence, wondering how on earth I was going to quiet my racing mind or find any rest before my first day on the job. Tentatively, I reached a trembling hand beneath the covers to stroke myself, hoping to relieve the agonizing tension and give myself half a chance of drifting off, when the sudden, distinct creak of floorboards in the hallway right outside my door brought me to an immediate halt.

I froze instantly, holding my breath as my heart slammed against my ribs. There was definitely someone standing in the dark corridor just on the other side of my door. It couldn't be Roxy or Willow; the muffled whispers, gasps, and creaking bedsprings were still clearly continuing through the wall. That meant it had to be Sif. The bedroom fell into such a heavy, suffocating silence that the heavy thrumming of my pulse felt like the only sound in the entire house. For several endless seconds, whoever was out there stood completely still, as if listening for any movement from inside my room. Then came another faint, cautious creak, the sound of someone slowly stepping backward onto the hallway runner, followed by the soft, almost silent click of a neighboring door latch shutting ti