The Party Paints

"Why don't we just hire others to paint? We have the gold!" Stefano aired his misgivings, but was still busy mixing gallons of paint into a bucket. Definitely shouldn't have mentioned that he would paint Mithra's cathedral from time to time. Shatter Sound is helping him mix paint but she was clueless with it as the mermaid and still needed Stefano's input. 

Unlike Gloria however, Stefano appreciated the werewolf's help, rather than being nothing more than a pair of eyes gawking at him. 

"Oh, you have better things to do?" Gloria, who was just in front of him chimed in, she may have asked the cleric but she quickly shut him down before he could even answer. "You don't! That's right, keep mixing, bud!" The mischievous mermaid purposely took the tone of a slave-driver just to get into Stefano's nerves. 

Granted that Gloria had been practicing the language for a while now, it was only this month that her grasp on the common language had drastically improved. She can add words along her other arsenal to tease with the poor cleric.

"Hey, if you don't get off my case you're going to be swimming in paint!" Stefano answered back in a tone violent enough to ever consider coming out of a holy man's mouth, but living with the mermaid had spiraled his self restraint.

Meanwhile, Antani and Ellamir were all over each other at Yulia's couch, lost in their own little world. They, too, had volunteered in helping to paint Yulia's house. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. From the kitchen, Yulia immediately attended to her visitor with glee. She's only expecting one other visitor this morning. 

Upon opening the door, Yulia was greeted by the comely smile of her succubus lover. 

A smile that was soon followed by the lunge that flowed into a heartfelt kiss. 

The eyes of everyone in the room were glued to the innocent union of the two horned lovers. 

"Look at those two go." Antani commented, even as her lover's arm was around her shoulder. 

"Are you jealous? You know you can request a kiss anytime you'd like." Ellamir closed in, the only reason she didn't initiate for their lips to touch, was because she wanted Antani to be the one to do it.

And for a moment, Antani was about to do just that, Ellamir braced herself for the luscious kiss, until Antani had passed Ellamir's lips and sultrily whispered in her ear instead, "After we've finished painting." 

Ever the tease, Ellamir could only grin. 

The tiefling and the succubus separated. 

"Magna, you came!" 

"Can't have you barging into my workplace again just to see me, honey." 

Their hands held, her heart pounding in excitement, Yulia proudly introduced her new flame to the rest of the party, "These two love birds are Antani and Ellamir. I believe you've seen them before. Ellamir, Antani, this is…my lover, Magna." 

Magna nodded at them and said her hello. Odd, the last time she saw the dark elf she had an eye patch. But with druid magic, it is easy to replace one's body part, although she could sense that her new eye was dripping in magic. 

Another odd thing that tickled Magna's fancy was how their colors both painted each other, Ellamir was coated in a strong blue aura that denoted unyielding tenacity, teasing and loving at the same time. While Antani was soaked in a consuming darkness that would have sent others running rather than become swallowed, a hue of darkness that's obsessive and caring at the same time. 

Their connection must be really strong for them to possess each other's tint like that. 

The Jovial mermaid rolled in front of Magna and introduced herself without Yulia's help. The mermaid possessed another blue color, one that is as blue and gentle as the ocean. But it was faded and transparent, which could only mean one thing. The person who imparted such color to the mermaid was already deceased. 

Yulia had introduced her to what she was told to be a werewolf. Intriguing since they were usually isolated in clans, away from civilization as they were deemed to nature's protectors. Shatter Sound's color? It was red, but like with the mermaid's, it's a now faded color

Magna's attention went to the cleric who had just finished mixing paint. Ironic, the man was a blank canvas. It wasn't that grave of a case for Magna, everyone bloomed at a different pace, some later than others. Although he was missing out on the connection he could be making. 

Wanting to tidy up the empty buckets, Stefano was about to open the door into what he was told to be Yulia's backyard.

"Wait, Stefano, don't open that!" Yulia shouted. 

Why, though? It was just a backyard. What's the worst that could happen to him? 

The door opened with a creak, Stefano's eyes locked with the wyvern's draconic slit orbs. 

The absurdity of opening the door leading to your friend's backyard, only to find himself eye to eye with a wyvern had frozen Stefano in place. 

"GRRWAAAAAAAAK!" 

The wyvern's draconic shriek blasted him in the face, making his hair wave from the air pressure. It thawed Stefano's muscles that were frozen stiff. 

Stefano slammed the door shut like his life depended on it. 

"Yulia, there's a monster in your backyard!" 

The tiefling grinned, "I know. I'm the one who put it there."

"Wait a minute, is that the same wyvern from our date last month? You didn't return it back to the ranch!?" Magna questioned her lover. 

"I returned Zarg, but I'd taken a liking to him, he seemed heartbroken when we were about to part. Why not take him in?" 

Although domesticated as mounts, Wyverns tend to be classified as an exotic pet. You can't get more exotic than a mini-dragon that requires tons of meat daily. Luckily, Yulia had a rather spacious backyard and the exotic mount registration with the city council went smoothly. 

The cleric was still at a disbelief, a gryphon or a pegasus he can understand, but a freaking wyvern? Add the fact that the tiefling herself was capable of flight. 

"Are you out of your mind, Yulia!? You have wings when you transform!" Stefano argued. 

"I do, but this wyvern is so cool, he can do tricks when flying!" 

"You know what, let's just start painting." Stefano raised both of his hands. He was done convincing her why it is lunacy owning a monster in your backyard.

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"Antani, stop it!"

Ellamir shouted as she was beginning to brush the wall with the beige paint. Meanwhile, her lover's brush was aimed at something else other than the wall.

"Stop what?"

Wearing a smug smile, Antani's unused brush glided along Ellamir's pointy ear, inducing a prickling but ticklish sensation on her sensitive pointed lobe. 

"Tsk. If you don't stop that, I'm going to make you regret it!" While it was true that she was a tad bit annoyed, Ellamir's anger was only feigned. 

Antani's grin widened, Ellamir's words were exactly what she wanted to hear. Her brush tickled Ellamir's ear once again as she taunted.

"Oh yeah, how are you going to make me?" 

Having had enough, Ellamir held Antani's wrist as it was mid brush and held high, the dark elf suddenly pinned her lover against the unpainted wall. With bated breath, Antani giggles, she anticipated what Ellamir would do, all while staring into her heterochromic eyes. 

Ellamir bit her lip, then said, "You're lucky we're not in our apartment."

"If you love birds could please not fuck in front of us, that would be great!" Yulia nonchalantly shouted as she was on the far end of the room, she herself was busy painting. She enlisted the help of her friends in hope that they could finish her whole interior in a day since tomorrow would be their departure towards Amazonian lands, but due to the lovebird's flirting, even a whole evening might not suffice. 

"Do you envy them?" Magna's tail wrapped around Yulia's. Magna has got to admit, the mood that the lovebirds were flinging across the room was starting to trigger her nature.

Yulia's tail squeezed tighter, a way to easily let her lover know how she felt even as her attention was on the wall in front. Yulia then halted her brush, she flashed her succubus lover a comely smile, before reaching in to sneak in a chaste kiss into Magna's cheek. 

A kiss that made Magna's heart skip a beat, she was so going to drain the tiefling tonight. 

"Why would I when you're right next to me?" Yulia said before resuming her task. 

"The correct answer." 

Hours have passed and it's now bordering on twilight. 

With the walls thoroughly painted, it was now Gloria's time to shine, the finishing touches would be hers. Using the magnetic runes on her wheels, the mermaid was able to roll onto the ceiling above. Humming the whole time, Gloria finished painting the ceiling with ease. 

As of now, the interior of Yulia's abode has been successfully painted beige. A task that she had held off for only god knows how long. 

But thanks to her friends, its drabness was now replaced with a kind of homely ambience. 

The party's day hanging out to paint Yulia's home now ends today. Tomorrow, they sail towards Antani's destiny.