Gaea and Mbali in: Disco Fever Chapter 1 – Anger Issues CW: Mention of nipples and underwear, cursing, swearwords, anger, sadness Gaea tried to put on her friendliest, flirtiest smile as she looked up to the bouncer in front of her. With her 170cm, she wasn’t exactly the smallest woman, but compared to the guy in front of her, most people would’ve looked small. The bull towering in front of her was at least two meters tall, maybe even more. His dark horns, slightly bent forward and upward, along with his thick upper arms certainly added to his impressive stature. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt, black pants and carried a set of thick protective gloves on one side of his hip. If you asked someone, “Hey, describe a security bouncer to me”, there was a good chance the result would look quite like him. The job certainly suited him. His stance and expression, though, were quite relaxed. He looked slightly over Gaea’s head, and his arms hung loosely down on both sides. He looked quite relaxed, with none of the “crossed arms, angry look” attitude. Gaea took another step forward towards him. The light from the club’s sign, hanging above the door both of them were standing in front of, was illuminating him in a quiet…pleasant way, emphasizing his muscular build nicely: his arms, as well as his serious face. The walls of the building were made of dark stone. Wet from a previous onset of rain just an hour ago, they reflected the sign’s light with a wet shimmer. The club used to be a brewery, or something like that, if Gaea remembered correctly. She went here often, well, as often as you might expect from someone who prefers to be at home. But sometimes she needed to let go and just burn off some energy. She took one more step towards the bull, concentrating on her smile. She looked up to him and spoke in a tone unusually sweet and innocent for her. “Heeey, soo, erm, I fear I don’t have my ID with me. But…I’m sure you can see I’m old enough, soo, that’s not a problem, riiiight?” She bent slightly forward as she spoke. The loose, deep-cut shirt she was wearing already had a pretty low neckline, and the thin layer of fishnet top under it, along with her provocative pose, would certainly make for a distracting view of her cleavage. Her bust was quite sizable, an advantage, at times, of her body weight. And if this weren’t enough, the V-shaped white stripe of fur in between her otherwise black fur that ran just above her breasts would be an additional attention-catcher. The bull lowered his gaze as she talked, his brown eyes looking into her blue ones with an unfazed, nearly bored expression. He must’ve heard excuses like these hundreds of times. His wide chest rose as he took a deep breath. Gaea' tried her best to keep up her smile, not sure if she should lean into her innocent or flirty act. Her heart beat quickly with excitement. With slow, deliberate moves of the fingers of his right hand, the bull made a fist, his eyes watchfully on her face. His arm extended… And with a soft, careful bump, he playfully hit one of Gaea’s shoulders. “Gaea, will you ever just go in without giving me some stupid, cliché bouncer lines?” One side of his mouth rose in a slight smile. Gaea chuckled, straightening her posture again, grinning at him widely. Her words now followed in her usual, slightly raspy voice. “Aww, but you’d miss that, wouldn’t you? You’d get bored just standing here with no one trying some stupid shit, wouldn’t you?” “Oh, don’t worry, I barely spend an evening here without people trying ‘stupid shit’. Also, I know you’re in your 30s.” “Rude!” Gaea replied, her arms crossed, pushing up her breasts. The bull shook his head, his lips parting slightly as his smile widened. “Get in there, and have fun.” “I will!” She replied with a cheerful smile, swaying her hips as he passed by him into the building, her short black tail with the green tips equally swaying from left to right. The knee-length skirt she was wearing had a hole cut out in the back so it wouldn’t weigh down or cover her tail. Several steps in, he heard the bull’s voice once more. “Hey, but seriously, you got your ID with you? In case one of the other guys needs to check later?” Gaea turned around and lifted the little bag she had strapped to her hip with a thick belt. “Yep, everything I need in here!” The bull gave her a nod, and Gaea stepped further inside. The evening was still young, comparatively. The place rarely got too crowded before midnight, so she could quickly approach the little counter and pay the entry fee. The place had been her go-to-disco, or club, or whatever, for years. Depending on what “party”, as they called it was running, they had three areas with dancefloors with different music and, obviously, several little bars and places to sit down and relax. Gaea usually only frequented the part where metal, gothic and similar “heavy” and “dark” kinds of music were played. The other areas usually played more electronic stuff, or 80s music. Also, her go-to area also had most of the Goth girls. Gaea could remember that one time when a shortstack opossum girl passed her, wearing a kind of under-boob-bra that didn’t even cover her nipples fully. Gaea had to grin thinking back to that moment. She was in a good mood for the rest of that night. But even when barely covered boobs were involved, she wouldn’t usually engage with other people on her own accord. It wasn’t about the people. Well, except maybe some occasional watching and drooling over sexy bodies. But usually she’d just switch between dancing, jumping, screaming to music, refilling the lost sweat with drinks, and repeat, until she felt her entire power spent. And this was also her plan for today. She strolled through the club, the corridors and areas illuminated in different colors, most areas only dimly lit, and the sound and bass from the different areas audible in most of the parts. She let her gaze wander through the crowds as she passed through the areas and hallways. Nothing crazy special that caught her attention, but certainly some really cool outfits. Some girls with really short or tight skirts or dresses, sexy curves that made her slowly turn around to do a double-take at some points. Some guys with handsome beards, a pair of deer guys with really impressive antlers. Pleasant atmosphere, cool people. Her chest felt light, and she was in a good mood. When she reached her destination, the dance floor, small compared to the more electronic areas, was still empty. Most people were standing at bars or were just leaning against pillars, talking to friends. This was nothing unusual at this time, and Gaea wasn’t one to shy away from being the first on the dance floor. She was good at tuning out people, so she didn’t have a problem with shame or reservations. She stepped onto the dance floor and just got with the flow of the music. Loud electric guitars, some electronic background music, a good mix of different fitting bands. Gaea never learned to “dance” in a classical sense, especially not “classics”. She basically just allowed her body to go with the mood. She moved on the spot, wiggled her shoulders to the rhythm, nodded along and swayed her hip and tail. They mixed the music well. Some fast songs with incredibly fast guitars that fired her up to move faster and in wider angles, but also some slower, darker and moody songs which allowed her to relax, move slowly, and catch her breath. Over time, more people joined the dance floor. One guy with a particularly nice butt randomly decided to stand just a meter in front of her as he danced. She enjoyed the show without stopping her own moves, a happy little grin on her face. After a bunch of more songs, she decided to take a brief break. She could feel some sweat wetting her fur, and she wanted to make sure she hydrated properly. There was no fun in an evening if it ended with her collapsing. She ordered cherry juice. Not a drink she often had the chance to drink, but this club served it, so she made use of it when she could. The cold, sweet liquid felt nice. She enjoyed the feeling of it slowly running down her throat and brushed the chilled glass along her forehead, cooling herself down a bit. She exhaled deeply, leaned back her head a bit and just relaxed for a moment. Some more songs passed, Gaea checked her phone, read some silly social media messages and posted a photo of her cherry juice. She had mostly tuned out the music to the level of entertaining background noise, when she heard a particular drum part starting. She raised her head and opened her eyes wide in excitement just as the song’s vocalist started shouting the song’s recognizable chorus in an aggressive, guttural voice: “Flooooooor!” The voice vibrated through the hall. Gaea put away her phone and quickly gulped down the last bit of her drink in one quick swoop. She couldn’t miss this one! She slammed the glass on the bar and quickly made her way back onto the dance floor, immediately dancing along once more. Or, more fittingly, to thrash, headbang and jump along. The song was nice to begin with, but when played on the dancefloor, it was absolutely powerful and awesome. Gaea jumped in all directions, careful not to hit any of the other guests, banging her head and singing along the best she could. With each sudden move of her head, her green, fluffy hair with the white streak was thrown back and forth, and her breasts jumped up and down following the rest of her body. This was awesome, so much fun, this was what she was here for. After a few minutes, the song ended. Gaea was sweaty, but exhilarated and happy. She grinned to herself, panting, slowly catching her breath again. She remained on the dance floor for several more songs. Luckily, the following songs were a little less action-packed so she could recover a bit. A while later, Gaea made her way to one of the club’s toilets. It was past midnight by now, and more guests filled the corridors. She entered the room, which was lit by blue fluorescent lamps. A light to prevent people from injecting drugs, at least that’s what she had been told. She got into a cabin and pulled down her skirt and underwear. As she relieved herself of her drinks, she leaned back her head lightly, relaxing her neck from the previous head-banging. She would feel that in the morning, but it was worth it. She watched herself in the mirror as she washed her hands. She smiled and gave her mirror image a little wink. Her gaze wandered down. She enjoyed her cleavage. Looking good today. She left the room. Maybe she should check out the other areas for a bit. At times the electronic music, while not really her cup of tea, was still nice to dance along to. She turned around a corner into one of the more open bar areas where she could see the frame of a familiar body. “Heeey, big guy!” She nudged the side of the big bull bouncer with one fist the same way he had done with her before. He turned towards her and gave her a smile as his eyes met hers. “Hey Gaea, seeing your wet fur, I assume you’re having a good time?” “Yep, just as my big bull ordered! How about you? Door duty over?” “Yeah.” He nodded with a smile. “Rick has it for the rest of the night, just some roaming now.” “I appreciate you keeping me saaaave!” She spoke playfully and leaned her shoulder against him. Leaning against the big guy felt like leaning against a wall. That was fun. “Trying my best, my lady.” He joked, the expression completely out of place for his look and attire. “So, same shifts next month? I gotta make sure I can continue to get on your nerves every time I’m coming over.” The bull’s expression grew serious. He looked into her eyes with a mix of sadness and surprise. “Haven’t you read the newsletter?” “Newsletter?” She raised one eyebrow. Her voice sounded defensive and confused. “Fuck no, I don’t sign up to every newsletter of all places I go to. What about it?” The bull’s expression turned to one of care. An unnatural smirk indicated he would not enjoy what he was about to say. “The place…we’re closing down. The place was sold, we’ll shut down in three weeks.” “YOU WHAT!?” Gaea shouted at him, her lips parted and her pointy teeth bared. Her eyebrows were close together in an angry look. Her cheerful mood from before was gone in an instant. She could quickly feel her anger rise, her heart beating fast. Anger, not directed at him, just...in general. “Yeah, I know. It’s very recent, we were all hit by it quite…”, his voice was deep and calm, but was cut off by hers before he could finish his sentence. “NO! Fuck no! You can’t do this shit to a girl! You can’t do shit like that to me!” She was angry. Unreasonably so. Anger was her way of dealing with bad news. And sadness. It helped her hold back tears. Her voice was loud and desperate and easily drowned out the calm background music of the bar. Several people turned around to watch their interaction, but Gaea couldn’t care less. “Listen, I know it’s fucked up…” The bull stayed calm. He was used to deescalating situations, too many drunk people he had to frequently deal with. “Hell yeah, shit’s fucked up! FUCK THAT! How can you do this, I…I, aaah, fuck that!” She shook her head, breathing quickly, trying to calm down with little success. “Can…do you have time? Can we go up to the roof? Talk about it?” Her voice was a little calmer, some of her desperation was audible now. “The…” His reply sounded even more sad and disappointed. “We can’t let anyone on the roof anymore. New owners are already dropping by hours before closing, taking measurements of rooms and stuff. If they see us randomly allowing patrons up…” “YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!” Her anger flared up once again. “You even take THAT from me. The last fucking bit, not even that fucking grace period, nothing!?” Gaea clenched her fist. She could feel the anger in her chest fighting against the tears welling up in her eyes. “Gaea, I’m sorry, I know, but…” “NO! Fuck that! You all can bite me! I hate this shit anyway, fuck it!” With a quick turn of her heels, she stormed off along the corridor. She pushed two people to the side with her shoulders as she made her way out of the hall. The bull stayed in the same spot, looking at her and sighing with disappointment. Gaea passed some more corridors, angrily hammering her fist against the walls after every turn. She reached one of the seating areas where people sat down to relax in between dances. Filled with anger and disappointment, she sat down on one of the high chairs at the small rectangular tables. She planted her elbows on the table and buried her head in her palms. Her breathing was quick. Gaea wanted to calm down, but…if she did that now, she’d only start crying. She sighed with her eyes closed. She could hear more of the relaxing electronic music and crowds of people chattering, but she didn’t care. She just sat there, not sure what to think or how to act. She just needed…whatever. Something. Just some silence. “Hey, are you alright?” She heard a female voice call out to her. A calm sound of care in it. But she wasn’t in the mood to be talked to. She raised her head at the unknown voice and replied angrily. “WHAT?!” She saw the face of the person who had addressed her. A young hyena woman with brown fur and spots wearing a dress and several big, colorful earrings in warm colors. The woman’s face greeted her with a gentle but worried expression. Gaea was still angry, but the worried look made her realize how harsh she must’ve sounded just now. “What…what do you want?” She asked a little calmer, but the anger was clearly still swinging in her tone. The woman in the dress seemed unfazed by Gaea’s harsh tone. “I heard your argument with that guy. Well, part of it. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. He didn’t do anything creepy to you, did he?” “What? Did any…” Gaea pondered for a second. Sure, all the bystanders who didn’t know him, or her, weren’t aware what the argument was about, obviously. Gaea slowly realized how much of a ruckus she had just made. Not that she would’ve cared right now. She sighed deeply and lowered her head again. “No…he…Rock is security here. He…he didn’t do anything…he’s alright.” “Ah, okay. Rock? You know the bouncers here?” The hyena’s voice was calm and friendly. She spoke with an accent. Something African, but of course Gaea wasn’t exactly sure what exactly. Not that it made any difference. “Yeah, sure, all of them, I’ve blown them all!” She lashed out in a fit of desperation, her eyes looking down at the table. Three, four seconds passed with no reaction, so she looked up. The hyena still stood there, looking at her, her expression neutral with a hint of worry. Gaea took another deep breath and ran the words through her head again. She was obviously not thinking clearly. She looked up to her again with a hint of shame in her expression. “No, I…” Gaea spoke in a weak, less emotional tone now. “I didn’t, of course. I…I know him. Know some of them. They’re good guys. I’m…sorry, I’m just not in a good place right now.” The hyena’s expression changed to a little smile, happy that the Tasmanian Devil was seemingly calming down. But Gaea didn’t see this. She directed her gaze toward the table again. She could see the hyena's hand slowly lowering down onto the table. Her fingers were slender, and her claws were covered in dark orange nail polish. “Mind if I sit down?” Gaea heard the warm accent. “Whatever…” She replied, shrugging and making an aimless gesture with one of her hands. She could see her sitting down in her peripheral vision. For two or three minutes, none of them spoke a word. The hyena sat equally silent as she did herself. Then she heard the pleasant accent again. “So…what was the argument about?” Gaea looked up at her. She was still feeling horrible. But her anger was replaced mostly by…tiredness and disappointment. She finally took the time to really look into the hyena’s face. Her face was slender and quite beautiful, the tip of her nose black and her eyes, as much as Gaea could see in the room’s dim light, as orange as her nail polish. Most prominent, though, was her hairstyle. A fluffy kind of mohawk or fauxhawk, brown or maybe dark red, slightly combed over to one side. Gaea liked her hair, even if she couldn’t really concentrate on it right now. “It was stupid.” Gaea sighed weakly. “How stupid?” The hyena inquired in a playful but gentle tone. Gaea shrugged and shook her head. “He, erm…” She finally forced herself to make full sentences again. “He told me that the club would close down soon.” “It seemed to make you quite emotional. Is this place so special to you?” The first part of the question would’ve angered Gaea again. Who was this person to judge her for being emotional? No one would have the right to do that! But her tone wasn’t judgmental at all. Gaea took another deep breath. “No, I mean…yes. Not really. Fuck it, whatever.” “Want me to get you a drink?” “Whatever…” The hyena got up from the chair. “What would you like?” “Coke.” “Diet or regular?” “Do I look like someone who drinks diet stuff?” Usually, Gaea would’ve grinned or chuckled when making such a comment. She was aware of her weight and enjoyed using it as a source of jokes. But she wasn’t in the mood for jokes now. The hyena passed by her chair, and while slowly lifting her head, Gaea forced out some more words from her throat. “Bottle, please. I…don’t drink from open drinks I get from…” “I know, don’t worry, that’s smart.” The hyena’s answer sounded friendly and supportive. Gaea put her head back in her hands again. After just a minute, the other woman returned, sitting down on the chair. She pushed a closed bottle of Coke in front of Gaea and dropped a thin, small bottle opener next to it. “Thanks…” Gaea mumbled. Her hands grabbed the bottle opener and removed the cap from the bottle without looking up. She pulled the bottle closer, weakly placing her lips on the top. Damn…she would need to lift and tilt the bottle now to drink. She sighed. With gentle moments, the hyena’s hand moved towards her face and, before Gaea fully realized, put a colorful plastic straw into the bottle. Gaea looked up into her face. The hyena was smiling. A gentle smile. Gaea’s chest started to feel a little lighter, and she tried to, at least a little, return the smile. “Thanks…again.” “No worries,” the hyena replied. Both of them took some sips of their drinks. Gaea enjoyed the cold. She certainly needed to cool down. “I’m Mbali.” The hyena told her in a friendly tone. “Gaea.” Gaea replied. “Like the goddess? Gaia?” The hyena inquired. Gaea chuckled. “Yeah. What about ‘Mbali’?” “It means ‘flower’.” “Heh, so both of our parents were Hippies or something.” Gaea’s lips curled into a little smile. “I guess not really, but they all seem to have good taste, regardless.” Gaea just nodded and sipped from her straw. “So, what about the place? Why does the place shutting down hit you so hard?” Gaea let out a grunt. She didn’t really feel like talking. To a stranger out of all the people. But on the other hand, she wanted to vent. “Because I’m an idiot.” Gaea said in defeat. “How so?” Mbali’s voice sounded warm and caring, even though she had to raise it, considering how many other people were talking around them. “I…fuck, I don’t know how to say it.” “Slowly?” Mbali smiled. Gaea looked into her eyes again. The way Mbali talked and her expression forced another little smile from her. “I’m…not so good with people.” “You don’t like them?” “Yeah…no. Like…I’m not a misanthrope or something. It’s just…being…being with new people and in new places is…exhausting. I feel this…pressure around my chest. And it really, I don’t know, sucks the power from me. I…I feel like I have to…always be defensive. It’s exhausting. I don’t know, I’m…I’m just dumb.” Gaea let out another sigh after having said this. She took another sip of her drink and absent-mindedly played with droplets of the drink on her lips. “I don’t think it’s dumb.” Mbali shook her head gently. “The feeling of ‘needing to prove yourself’ and having to adjust to a new situation can be exhausting.” “Other people seem to have no problem.” “Maybe they’re just better at hiding it?” “Heh…possible.” “And this place is fine?” Gaea took a deep breath, followed by a little yawn. All the emotions kind of tired her out more than all the dancing before. “It’s fucked…the…situation. I know this place. I know most of the staff. I know the patrons, kinda, I mean, I know they usually leave me alone. I know who to go to if I need help. I just…I know this, you know? I even had an arrangement with the bouncer you saw.” “Rock?” “Yeah. When…when I needed to calm down, or just when I was in the mood, he’d unlock the staircase and let me spend some minutes on the roof. Just…relaxing. Watching stars or shit. And now…now I can’t…can’t anymore…fuck.” Gaea shook her head slowly. She felt emotions welling up again, a thick lump in her throat. She swallowed and slammed her fist on the table. “I’ll…I’ll have to do it all over again. Or…or just stay at home.” She continued, sadness in her voice. “And now, in addition to all of it, I feel like a weak idiot! Stupid shit, can’t even handle my own fucking life.” Mbali listened patiently and pondered for a moment before replying. “You don’t seem weak to me.” “Yeah, i wish.” Mbali grinned and leaned in closer to Gaea. “Hey, you shouted at some two meter big hunk of a guy without batting an eye. That doesn’t seem weak to me.” Gaea chuckled and shook her head. Mbali was wrong, but her words were nice. “Strong people…don’t lash out at their friends.” Some seconds of silence between them, some slurping from Gaea taking another sip. “How was your evening?” “What?” Gaea was confused by this sudden question. “Up until the argument. How was your evening?” Mbali still had the caring smile on her face. Gaea sighed. She closed her eyes and thought back to the moment before everything was horrible. The moment she winked at herself in the mirror. “It was nice.” She spoke in a soft tone. “I was…dancing. It was really fun. I, heh, damn, I was so sweaty already.” She chuckled. “Sounds great. I’m only here for the third time, or so. But I’m having a pleasant time, too.” Gaea looked up to her again, her expression a little confused as to where the conversation was heading. But somehow, the talking helped her feel a little better. “And then you decided to take a little break, trying to calm down aggressive women storming through the club?” Gaea grinned weakly, still disappointed in herself. “No.” Mbali shook her head. “I decided to see if a fellow woman might’ve had an unpleasant experience with an unruly guest and needed some help.” “Mh. That’s…that’s nice of you.” "You get used to it. Some clubs are…unpleasant. We have to take care of each other.” “This one is fine…I mean…it was.” Gaea sighed again. “I’m really sorry I cannot do more for you. About the club.” Mbali spoke with honesty in her voice. “It’s okay. I’ll…I will be okay. It’s late, I need some sleep, and… life will go on. I just needed to vent and, well, I guess I could, a bit, thanks to you. So…thank you!” “I’m happy if I could help.” Mbali spoke with a smile. Another moment of silence between them. “So…the two meter guy with muscles is called ‘Rock’?” Mbali asked with a grin. Gaea chuckled. She could feel her breathing get lighter again. The talking and venting really seemed to have helped a little. “That’s not his real name.” She said with a smile. “It’s a nickname. I think he didn’t even get it from friends, but, I think, from some drunk guy that was shouting how he wouldn’t ‘be stopped by some dumb rock’…before Rock stopped him from getting in.” Gaea grinned. Mbali joined in her chuckle, her voice more gentle than Gaea’s. “You seem to know quite something about the people here.” “I enjoy learning about people. Well…the ones I feel good around.” “Do you have many people like that?” “No…maybe…two or three.” Gaea hung her head. She had once more lashed out at one of the few people she actually felt good around. “That’s good. Those are the most important people.” “I guess…” Gaea took another breath and then looked up at Mbali again, her voice a little stronger again. “Listen, I’m sorry. This was…it was shit. Sorry you had to see all that. It’s a fucked up evening. Sorry if I made you worry, okay?” “No need to be sorry. If I could be of any help, I’m happy.” Gaea smiled lightly. “Yeah, I…my chest feels a little better…lighter again.” Mbali looked down at Gaea’s chest, her eyes wandering over the fishnets and revealing cleavage. She looked back up into Gaea’s eyes. “I like your style. Those are beautiful clothes.” Gaea chuckled and felt a little warmth rise to her ears. She finally took a moment to look at Mbali’s attire. She had already seen the collection of several different earrings on each of her ears and her cool hairstyle. In addition, she was wearing a dress from some soft-looking natural material in many different warm colors. The dress must've reached down just enough to cover her knees. On her upper body, the dress nicely wrapped around her chest. There wasn’t much of a cleavage, just a little, and Gaea’s boobs certainly were bigger, but still, Mbali was slender, her breasts had a nice shape pushed slightly up and to the sides by her dress. And she had a cute face. “I…like yours as well. The dress looks really good on you. Not like something I’d expect in the metal or electronics hall, though. You here for the 80s stuff or something?” Mbali smiled warmly. She seemed happy that Gaea was finally in a better mood. “Not necessarily. I enjoy the general atmosphere. I’m not here for a specific hall or music. I was just in the mood for going out, and, well, wearing any kind of dress.” “Well…it looks good on you.” Gaea repeated herself. “Thank you.” “Soo…” Gaea pondered what to say. She wasn’t really used to talking to new people here. “Are ya living far from here? You said you haven’t been here too often before?” “No and yes.” Mbali chuckled with a smile. “I live about 40 minutes from here. So, it’s certainly fine to reach. But I’m usually in places that are less noisy, more relaxing. Parks, sauna, spas, such things. Not that I mind the music, of course. I’m just usually more in the mood for the other things.” “Ah, I can understand that,” Gaea replied, “I…I don’t know, I just like to just really burn off energy, dance and jump around until I’m all sweaty, and then drop into my bed like half-dead.” She grinned. “Oh, that really sounds fun. At least the sweating part is something that sauna works out fine for, as well, though.” “Hehe, I can imagine.” Gaea searched her memories. “I…some years ago I was staying in some bungalow where we had our own sauna. I used that in the evenings. It was nice. I’ve never been in a public one, though.” “It’s nice.” Mbali said with a nod. “I mean, if you’re fine with being nude among other people, of course. But I really love the warmth, especially in winter.” Gaea chuckled. “Yeah, I mean, as you can see from my attire, I wouldn’t really mind the nudity part.” “Ah, come on.” Mbali looked down and up along Gaea’s upper body. “That’s not thaat much that you’re showing off.” “Heeey!” In a mock upset tone, Gaea pushed up her breasts with both hands to emphasize her size. “Hahaha,” Mbali laughed in a lovingly warm voice. “That’s not what I meant! Don’t worry, I was not intending to disrespect your cleavage.” Both of them chuckled and smiled, Gaea dropping her hands again. Gaea grabbed her little bag with one hand and put it on the table. Mbali looked at it and checked the buttons on it. “Ooh, pansexual pride?” She exclaimed with a cheerful smile. Gaea chuckled as she opened the bag. “Aaah, yeah. I mean, I’m…not really dating or anything but…yeah.” “Hehe, no no, that’s all fine, same, really. It would be a shame to limit oneself, right?” Mbali said with a smile. “Yeah, right!?” Gaea sounded cheerful as she ruffled through her bag with one hand. “I mean, women! Have you seen women!?” “Exactly!” Both of them let out a joyful laugh and smiled at each other. Gaea was certainly feeling better again. The hyena was a fun one. Gaea pulled a little pack of chewing gum from her bag. “Want one?” She offered the pack to Mbali. “No, thank you. I’m more a person for sweet stuff.” “Aw, that’s a pity. I only have a t-shirt that reads ‘hot stuff’.” Gaea said with a little wink as she put back the chewing gum after taking one for herself. “Hahaha, now, I would love to see that one.” "I mean, who knows, maybe you’ll do at some point! I mean, like…maybe we’ll see again if you ever feel the need to calm down angry women again?” Mbali shook her head with a playful grin. “I wouldn’t mind, but I’d very much prefer instead to share the dance floor, maybe, with a slightly less-angry woman?” Gaea smiled, but then remembered the current situation, a frown replacing the smile quickly. “Yeah, I mean…for as long as it’s still possible.” Mbali looked at her with a caring expression once more. “Mhh…when will the place close?” “Two…or three weeks, or something.” Gaea answered in a somber tone. “Alright.” Mbali spoke in an energetic and optimistic tone. “Are you free next Saturday evening then?” Gaea felt another gentle rush of warmth to her head and ears and couldn’t prevent a smile rising to her face. “I mean…yeah, yeah, should be fine.” She nodded. Mbali smiled and reached down to one of her legs at the side where her dress was open, revealing one of her thighs. Surprisingly, she pulled out a thin wallet from it and handed Gaea a card with her name and phone number. “You can give me a call if you would like.” Gaea’s smile widened as she took the card, looked at it, and quickly put it into her bag. “I’ll do! Do I need to wait three days so I don’t seem desperate or something?” She grinned playfully. “Haha, noo!” Mbali smiled. “Feel free to call or, maybe better, write me whenever.” Gaea grinned and moved her head left and right lightly in happy excitement. She took a deep breath and finished it with another small yawn. “Alright…I, well, I guess I better head home now, anyway. Being angry kinda tired me out.” Mbali gently got up from the chair, as did Gaea. “That’s understandable.” The hyena replied with a gentle smile and took a step forward towards Gaea. She looked into her eyes. “Will you be okay?” Gaea smiled and nodded gently. “Yeah. I feel better now. Thank you.” Mbali gently spread her arms, just a bit, at the height of her hips. Gaea looked at her spread arms, listening in to her own body, checking her mood. Then, with a gentle smile, she closed in on Mbali and wrapped her arms around her. Gaea needed a second to check her body’s reaction. It…didn’t feel exhausting or weird. That’s good. She gave her a gentle squeeze and moved her hands up slightly, realizing the hyena’s upper back was not covered by her dress. For just a moment, she enjoyed feeling the warm fur and the feeling of her shoulder blades underneath. After another second, both of them opened their embrace and smiled. “Have a nice evening, Gaea. Relax a bit.” “Will do. I’ll text you. Thank you, Mbali.” They nodded at each other before parting. With a little smile on her face and a pleasant warm feeling, Gaea walked toward the exit. She stopped in her tracks. With a deep sigh through her nose, she realized there was still something to deal with. She turned and walked through the bigger bar areas until she once again found Rock’s impressive wide frame. With a shameful expression on her lips, she sighed and swallowed before stepping up to him from the side. “Hey…big guy?” Rock turned to her. With a slightly uncertain but friendly expression, he looked at her. “Hey Gaea. Good to see you’re still here.” “Yeah…I…I was just about to leave. And, well…Rock, you know…” He smiled. “It’s alright, Gaea. It was…a difficult evening.” She appreciated how he wanted to help her keep the topic short. “No…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. You know me. I’m not good at keeping my mouth shut.” “No, you are not.” He grinned and let out a small laugh. She dropped her shoulders and nudged him playfully. “But…seriously. I’m…I’m really sorry. It’s not your fault. It’s…it’s just…fucked, you know? You…will you, I mean…do you have a new job already?” He smiled, thankful for her sympathy. “It’s okay. I’m financially okay, and I’ll have an appointment next week, so maybe I can actually start the same job at another place, two cities from here.” “Hey, that…that’s cool. And, hey, if it’s a good place, well, maybe…maybe tell a friend of yours about a good new place to dance, okay?” His smile widened. “I will do, Gaea, don’t worry.” She pushed close to him and wrapped his arms around the side of his chest. She wouldn’t be able to wrap them around ALL of his chest, but feeling his warmth against her, and his muscles gently pressing against her soft chest, was a nice and relaxing feeling. And not unattractive either. He wrapped one of his arms around her, pulled her close and ruffled his big hand through her fluffy hair. “Are you getting home safely?” He inquired. “Uh-huh,” she nodded. “I’m taking a taxi home. Thanks.” “So, we’ll text? And…who knows, maybe see at the next place then?” “Yeah. Although…I think I’ll drop by next Friday. I…talked to someone today, and maybe we’ll party here one last time next week.” “Ooooh?” He grinned at her. “Are they cute?” Gaea smirked. “Weeeell, you know…she kinda is, yeah.” “Hehe, you go, girl.” He gently nudged her with his fist. “Alright then. See you, Rock. And say ‘hi’ to your partners, will you?” “Will do! Have a good night, Gaea!” “Saaaame!” With their amends made, Gaea finally left the place, calling a taxi with an app on her phone. She grabbed into her bag, pulling out the little card once more. Today was exhausting. Emotionally even more so than physically. But, in the end, maybe things actually took a quite pleasant turn. She smiled to herself. She might actually sleep nicely tonight. Chapter 2 – Instant Messages CW: Underwear, non-sexual nudity, light sexual innuendo Gaea had slumped down in the back of the taxi. Pressing back into the seat, she closed her eyes for a moment. The evening had been so emotional, until now she didn’t really feel how tired she was. First the dancing, then…the emotional outburst and last, the conversation with her new acquaintance. Now, sitting in the seat, she felt how exhausting all of this had been. Physically and emotionally. “Made quite the fool out of myself…again.” Gaea thought to herself. “Rock still seems to like me, though…that’s good. Hah, fuck me…” She let out a deep breath, feeling her shoulders and chest sink and the tension from her body relax a bit. Payment, address entry, all that stuff she needed for the taxi was handled through the app she used, so she didn’t really need to say anything more than a little “Heya!” when she got into the car. She liked that. She wasn’t in the mood for more new people today. Even though, of course, meeting the hyena turned out quite pleasant in the end. Gaea opened her eyes. The gentle vibrations in the car nearly put her to sleep. She pulled out her phone and Mbali’s card from her little bag. Looking at the card once more, she smiled again and allowed her brain to go back to the last half hour or so of their conversation. Her mind wandered as she absent-mindedly created a new contact in her phone for Mbali. The girl was kind of cute, wasn’t she? Her spots were nice. And her eyes. And feeling her warm back when they hugged in the end felt quite pleasant. Gaea felt a little warmth in her chest thinking about it, but then shook her head, thinking to herself. “Way to make a great first impression, you idiot.” Her expression switched back and forth between disappointment about herself and happiness about the unlikely meeting. She had typed down the number. The profile picture was empty, just showing a big “M” in a circle. She didn’t have any photo of the hyena to set as a profile pic, of course. “Such a pity…” She tapped the “comment” field of the contact. She wouldn’t really need any reminder of who this contact was as “Mbali” was not a common name in her list of acquaintances. But she kind of felt like it, anyway. “That cute hyena gal.” She smiled a little when she had typed that down and saved the new contact. Gaea put away the card, keeping her phone in her hand as she closed her eyes once more, leaning her head back on the seat. The driver would surely wake her up anyway. Her phone vibrated in her hand. The surprise of the sudden motion made her jolt up again. She looked at the display, still unlocked, so she hadn’t actually fallen asleep just jet. A notification had popped up at the top, the icon a silly, cartoonish coyote with a speech bubble reading “Yip!”. The text next to it read: “Mbali is now using Yip-ee.” Gaea hesitated just a second but then tapped the notification just in time before it could collapse itself to the top. Mbali’s chat window opened. “Your conversation with Mbali is still empty. Write something nice to them!” The cartoony coyote that was the app’s mascot exclaimed boldly, giving a thumbs-up and a speech bubble with a big exclamation mark. Gaea’s eyes wandered higher. She tapped on Mbali’s name and her profile opened. No status text, but she DID have a profile pic, an actual photo of herself. Gaea moved her phone closer, a smile forming on her face. Mbali WAS kind of beautiful. Her eyes looked even nicer now, on a photo with some proper light. And the thin black line of her lips looked cute in this picture. Gaea grinned happily and tapped the menu button. “Save image to gallery.” She tapped along on her phone, once more opening her contacts app, setting the photo as the local image for Mbali’s contact entry. But…no more messages for today. Too tired. She locked her phone, put it back into her bag and dropped back against the seat, closing her eyes once again. —- Gaea opened her eyes. Feeling the taxi stop fully in its tracks pulled her from her brief nap. The driver didn’t even have to wake her up. She looked out of the window to see her house. Wishing the driver a good night, she left the car and entered the building, sleep-drunk and exhausted. She made her way up to her apartment, passing some others, opened the door and stepped inside. She forced herself into the bathroom to at least brush her teeth before bed. Stumbling into her bedroom, she pulled both her shirt and the fishnet top underneath over her head in one swoop. Next, skirt, belt and bag, all of it lazily dropped onto the floor. She reached around her back, opened her bra, dropping it down right next to the other things. She let out a deep breath through her nose. Her bras were comfortable, but she still enjoyed the freeing feeling of getting rid of them at the end of the day. Gaea pushed herself onto her bed, the soft fabric of the fitted sheet brushing against her chest and belly, and pressed her face into her pillow. With one arm, she aimlessly grabbed for her blanket, and once she got hold of it, pulled it over her body. The orientation was completely wrong, only covering a third of her body, but her fur kept her warm enough most of the time, anyway. She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. “Enough for one day, sleep now.” She thought to herself as she finally drifted into a much-needed slumber. —- Gaea opened her eyes. The early sunlight of the dawning Saturday came through her bedroom window, the blinds only closed halfway. She liked this way of waking up. At least in the bright months, waking up with natural light was more pleasant than buzzing alarm clocks. Her thin blanket was wrapped wildly around her, covering most of her chest and back and parts of one leg, pulling on her fur as she turned. She raised her head lightly. “Ugh…” She let out a sound of discomfort. As she had expected on the previous day, the head-banging had left her with some muscle pain in her neck and shoulders. Was she getting old already? “Nah!” She thought to herself. She just needed to do this more often, strengthen her muscles. “More often”…not that this would be possible anymore in the future. At least not in “her club”. She sighed as some of her emotions from the previous day resurfaced, albeit much tamer than yesterday. Gaea tried to push away the blanket from her body, but with how tangled up it was, it was to no avail. With an audible grunt, she sat up in bed, her painful neck and head only reluctantly following suit. With her head slumped forward, she untangled the blanket and let it drop to her knees, baring her chest and chubby belly. She stretched her arms, rotated her shoulders and gave both her belly and her boobs some gentle scratches with her claws. “Ugh, time for a shower,” she uttered into the empty room. Gaea got up from the bed, shook off the blanket from her legs and took some steps towards the door. She bent down, once again reminded of her complaining neck, reaching into her bag, pulling her phone out from it. She had forgotten to connect it to the charger that night, but it was still at around 25% charge. Enough for now. She left her bedroom, carefully stepping over her skirt and tops on the ground, and approached her bathroom through the short hallway. With her free hand, she pushed down her pair of panties. Black ones, no fancy frills or anything, but fitting well to both, the skirt she had been wearing as well as her fur color. Shaking her legs a little, she dropped it on the bathroom floor before sitting down on the toilet. She scrolled through her phone, as was proper for this day and age. No crazy news, well, not crazier than usual. Some people on her social feed posted food pictures, some links to new movie trailers that she would check out later on her TV. Gaea closed her social media app and opened the chat app with the cartoon coyote. Mbali’s automated “your contact joined” message was visible on top. The little contact thumbnail brought a smile to Gaea’s face and helped her push aside the negative thoughts from yesterday a little. She tapped the chat, once more greeted by the coyote telling her to start a chat with Mbali. “Yeah, yeah, I’m on it already!” She playfully complained to the coyote. She pondered what to write, two of her fingers aimlessly tapping empty parts of the chat screen. “Hey…thanks again for yesterday. Hope ya got home alright.” She pondered again, one finger hovering over the “send” button. She added a friendly emoji and sent the message. She finished her toilet business and grabbed one of her big towels from a bathroom cabinet, hanging it over the radiator next to her shower. Her phone gave a quick vibration. Surprisingly quickly, she unlocked her phone to check the notification. Mbali had answered. Gaea felt a surge of excited happiness well up in her and, with a smile, opened the chat. “Good morning, Gaea! I’m happy to hear from you. I got home just fine. I just finished my drink yesterday and drove home after that. How about you? How are you feeling?” “Neck hurts.”, Gaea typed, followed by the emoji with nervous sweat on its forehead. “Oh, from ‘blowing all the bouncers’?” Mbali made use of Gaea’s quote from the day before, followed by an emoji with a wide grin. “God…,” Gaea said to herself, shaking her head. She really talked some shit yesterday. But if she quoted her like that, Mbali didn’t seem to mind too much. Maybe. “Nah. Banging, yes, but only head-banging. ;-)” “Aww, poor you. I hope you’ll feel better soon. The pain aside, how is your mood? Did sleeping help a bit?” Gaea’s expression grew just a bit sad. She hated it when she pushed her problems onto others. But what’s done is done. “Yeah. I’m okay. I’ll manage.” ”I’m sorry, again.” ”Really.” Gaea wrote the three individual messages in quick succession, quickly adding another not to wail on for too long. “Feeling sticky and dirty, I’ll be taking a shower now, but I’ll get back to ya.” “No need to feel sorry, dear. You had a harsh evening, it’s fine. :-)” ”Showers are nice, just had one myself, here:” ”[download image]” Gaea tapped the button. Mbali was so nice. It made her regret even more how she had lashed out at her in the beginning. The picture had finished loading. It was a photo of Mbali’s head, smiling. She looked just like yesterday, only that her hair was still shining with a slight wetness and looked a little flatter. “So nice.” Gaea thought to herself before replying. “I just woke up, and you already showered and fixed your hair? Fucking early birds! :-D” “Hehe, actually, no, my hair looked like that after drying. It’s surprisingly low-maintenance somehow, I lucked out.” “Bite me!” “:-P” Gaea grinned and put her phone down on a cabinet. She really needed a shower now. She opened the acrylic-glass door of her shower and turned on the faucet, waiting for the water to turn pleasantly warm. Just a few seconds later, she stepped into the stream and closed the door behind her. Gaea closed her eyes and let the warm water run down her body, drenching her hair and fur. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth. Breathing out, she enjoyed the relaxing feeling. Home, warm water and Mbali’s friendly messages. She finally felt a bit more relaxed and happy now. She’d manage. After a bit more time of just enjoying the pleasant feeling of water on her body, she turned it off again and grabbed a bottle of hair-and-fur shampoo. She started spreading the thick liquid between her hands and rubbed it into her fluffy hair. She made sure to soak all of it sufficiently, grabbing the bottle once more in between to reapply more of the liquid to her hands. Once her hair was all soaped up and heavy with the mix of water and soap, she went on to cover her fur likewise. She covered her whole body, bending over to reach her legs and feet, happy to get rid of the sweat from the day before and, on some emotional level, also wash away some of her worries. As she reached her chest, she playfully grabbed and rubbed her boobs with some gentle pressure, the pleasantly soft curves slightly pressing through the space between her fingers. Equally, when rubbing soap onto her backside, she turned her head slightly, trying her best to ignore the aching neck, took a look at her butt and gave herself a little slap on it. She chuckled lightly. Of course, her own body wasn’t anything crazy special for her, but she had to admit, her meeting and now the messages she exchanged with Mbali made her feel a bit…playful. Gaea was interested in men and women equally. That said, in the few cases where she actually managed to meet people that she felt comfortable around. But when it came to men, she was usually more aggressively teasing, while with women, well, she enjoyed acting a bit more bashful and enjoyed “being taken care of”. But of course, all that was just “the usual case”, and she wouldn’t put artificial limits on herself. She let out a happy, nearly squeaky, little sound and gave her boob another squeeze before turning on the warm water once more to rinse her fur from the soapy foam. After Gaea finished, she left the shower, grabbed the big towel and stepped under a simple body-blow-dryer fixed to the wall, turning it on with the press of a button. Acting like a big hand dryer, she stood under the device, enjoying the warm air it was blowing at her. She liked the comfort of it, but still opted to also use the towel to aid her in drying herself. The electrical device alone would still need unnecessarily long on its own. But it was a pleasant bonus, and the warmth was certainly welcome. Sufficiently dried, she shut off the device, quickly threw on a bathrobe, grabbed her phone and was about to leave the room. Just as she was about to step through the door, she turned her head, once again reminded of the pain in her neck, and looked into the mirror. Her hair looked big and impressive, but certainly not as “fluffy” as intended. Gaea’s hair was certainly not “low-maintenance”. She shrugged. “Fuck it, no one’s gonna see me today.” Gaea ended up on the couch in her living room, cuddled up in her bathrobe with a bun of small pillows. The sun was shining through the windows, and she once more had her phone in her hands. Her living room was rather typical. The biggest room of the apartment, flatscreen TV and gaming console and several cabinets and shelves with books, comics decorations, several of them Tasmanian Devil themed. Several posters of fictional characters she liked lined the walls, and a big bowl of chips sat on a table in front of the couch. Chips from yesterday. Or the day before that? No matter, she was sure they’d still taste fine…enough. Gaea was considering stealing a bit more of Mbali’s time with messages. She felt a little giddy with excitement, but also didn’t want to come over as too forward…wow, did she really just think that about herself? Holding back? She? She chuckled. She enjoyed having crushes. Was this a crush already? Kinda? Something like it? If you’re wondering if you have a crush, that’s usually an indicator you have a crush, isn’t it? “Oh!” Thinking about crushes, her mind jumped to another one along these lines. Bryan was a friend of hers whom she had known for some years now. They were usually in regular contact, and their relationship had basically developed equally quickly, albeit without an aggressive breakdown to start it off. They shared many hobbies, he happily matched her flirty behavior, and they ended up becoming great friends. They also ended up making out and having sex on several occasions. If she had to describe their relationship to others, it would’ve been easiest to explain it as “friends with benefits”. But Gaea didn’t like labels very much, and especially not that one. She never knew if “friends with benefits” would correctly convey the “crushing” and romance parts of a relationship. “Fuck labels.” Gaea said aloud. Either way, Bryan was currently on a two-week vacation, one more reason she didn’t need to bother inviting him to accompany her to the disco. That, and she also had to do a drive of a bit more than an hour to get to her. Nothing too crazy, but not always working out when she had sudden ideas. If Gaea hadn’t have met Mbali yesterday, she might’ve vented, by text, to Bryan about the whole disco debacle today, hoping he’d find time to reply in between. Maybe it was a good thing it wasn’t possible. She would’ve hated interrupting someone’s vacation with such a depressing topic. But now that things were, well, okay-ish… She opened her chat app, tapped on his name, opening their really long chat history. She smiled at his profile pic the same way she did at Mbali’s. The tiger was an attractive guy, a bit taller than her, well-built, not as buff as Rock or anything, but good-looking, and he had a cool hairstyle. Not totally unlike Mbali, actually. And he was equally caring, well, as far as she could judge Mbali’s “caring levels” so far. She tapped away. “Heeeeey dude! What’s up!? Hope you’re relaxing. Guess who might have a silly crush!” She sent the message with a grin. As she didn’t know if he’d find time to reply soon, she turned on her TV and followed her original plan to check out some of the movie trailers from her social feed. She grabbed the bowl of chips from the table and leaned back. The first trailer was about a kind of funny “buddy-cop” movie. Gaea chewed down some chips. She grinned to herself as she followed the trailer. “The bunny’s cute. I’d totally ‘fuck the police’ when she came to investigate.” She chuckled. Halfway through the second trailer, her phone vibrated. Bryan had already replied. “Ohhhh? That’s lovely to hear, I’ve got a crush on you, as well! <3” Gaea rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about ya, silly!!” “Awww? No love for mee!