Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-34263048-20180502162326/@comment-33398500-20180514172802

All right... let’s have a look...

As I stepped over toward the square, which was rapidly filling with mamono as the buses let out their passengers, all of them looking rather haggard as they had come practically on a moment’s notice. Once all the buses let out, I realized that there were likely more mamono here seeking refuge from the other kingdom than the actual population of our village.

However, as I grew near to the crowd with the rest of the people from the village who actually had housing capable of holding a mamono, it was a rather grim occasion, as the mamono looking at us now seemed to be beckoning to us to accept them. I hadn’t actually met a mamono before, but the sheer number of different beings were staggering to me, though none of them seemed to be the horror that the church liked to make them out as being.

I shook my head slightly as my neighbour seemed to be sizing up the girls in the crowd like he was at a buffet or something, whilst idly scribbling notes on a small pad in front of me “All right... some of these girls seem a fair bit bigger than I expected... I guess I should take them in... probably the only one with room to...” as my parents had been keen on entertaining large groups of people, the house had been larger than it needed to be, even if the scale of the furniture were still normal.

Approaching the crowd, I saw a snake girl with blue scales, gesturing to her, causing her to perk up, as she had seemed rather down as I was walking around. “Please come with me so we can get this sorted... miss... umm...” as I had been told to decide whom I would be sheltering beforehand so we could get registered properly.

“Sarah...” the lamia then stated as the two of us continued to look for others that I could be of help to.

However, as the house could easily hold at least another two mamono I continued to walk, now spotting another like her, though slightly larger, not to mention her slightly larger ‘assets’, though I attempted to ignore that for the moment, though her green scales seemed to be of a different type.

However, as I approached this other girl, I noticed she was clinging to someone: a cow-girl who look across at me somewhat awkwardly as I approached. “Miss... umm... miss...? I was wondering if you would accept...”

“Her too.” A cute voice rang out from the ‘snake-girl’.

“Wait, what?” I asked in response.

“Her too! Her too! Ako goes nowhere without Aiko!” she contested loudly, not moving from clinging to the girl who was apparently named Aiko.

“If you wish to help her, you’re better off going with it... she can be VERY persistent...” the slightly embarrassed cow-girl responded, drawing several nods from the group.

Sighing slightly, I nodded, conceding, before gesturing to the two “Well then, come on, Ako and Aiko will both be staying with me as well then...” going with the three of them now to get them registered, the attendant from their resettlement group now going over the documents.

“Bless you, sir...” the attendant started “Lamias and Wurms are cold-blooded, they wouldn’t fare well in the winter... but if I could trouble you take just one more into your home...” she started. That was a bit much, as three was already pushing what I could do, but I decided to hear her out. “She might potentially become overtly aggressive if we cannot find her somewhere to stay...” the worker started, clearly straining for words to try to describe her. “She’s right over there... and coming over...” as soon as she pointed, I could hear someone approach from behind me.

“Is this the guy I’m staying with? Sweet! I think I got the lucky roll!” the voice from behind me giggled excitedly as I turned to see... what? She was some manner of mamono, obviously, but with wings and a strange, spiked tail.

“This is Kate, she’s a manticore...” the attendant then commented, before now registering her as well before I could protest and handing me three quite large books and a fourth smaller one. “These books document what one can expect from the mamono you have taken in, how to care for your girls properly, and potential issues that could arise... good luck, sir...” before moving on to the next family taking people in.

Stepping away from the table, I tipped the pile slightly, the three larger texts being about ‘lamias’ ‘wurms’ and ‘manticores’, the smaller volume detailing ‘holstaur’ care, evidently Aiko would be less trouble than the others anyway. “Come on, cutie! I wanna go home~” Kate suddenly bursted out, before I led the group along back to my house, a good distance away from the main village.

“Th-thank you, mister...” the lamia suddenly told me at a certain point along our journey back “...I-I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it...” she admitted “...the attendant was right, cold-blooded mamono won’t last in a tent community in the winter...”

“A-ako neither...” the wurm then spoke.

“Part of the reason she clings to me, I think...” Aiko commented, gently stroking the wurm’s emerald hair as we continued walking. “...I’m warm...”

“That’s not all!” the wurm protested feebly, still not letting her go.

“I know, dear... I know...” the holstaur reassured her.

“Don’t worry, you adorable wurm, we’re all going to have a lot of warmth from now on... this cutie just volunteered for it~” Kate then declared excitedly, before practically commanding “Now hurry up and get us home, I wanna show you how grateful I am~”

Practically glowing bright red, I felt myself getting shuffled to the center of the group as we made our way back to my house. “It may be a tight fit in the house with four of you... I was only expecting two or three, but I think we can make it work...”

“What, with sleeping arrangements?” Sarah then asked, a look of devilish amusement on her face as the five of us entered the house, before Kate added “You do know we only need one bed, right?”

Trying to ignore this, I began to give them a tour of the house, which would be their home for the foreseeable future “Come, help me out here, Aiko...” I muttered quietly once I got next to her.

“Why? Watching you squirm under her suggestions is adorable~” the holstaur commented, grabbing me by the arm and pressing herself to my side while we walked, Ako now wedging herself between the two of us.

“You’re right... cutie is warm...” Ako stated, as if this surprised her.

“My name’s not ‘cutie’ it’s Victor...” I informed them, trying to stop them using that as if it were my name.

“So?” the manticore then asked, amused at my current predicament. “Name or no, you’re our host, our cute host at that, so you can’t escape us wanting to thank you for it~”

As soon as we happened upon my bedroom, while I was, in all seriousness, trying to figure out which rooms would be their bedrooms, they shoved me in quickly, with me falling onto my bed, before the entire group of them rushed me as one, Kate jabbing me in the side with some sharp object as she said “Time to see what you’ve signed up for~” even as two long bodies started to wrap around my legs.

Here’s hoping I can still work...