Fantasy PHANTASMA: SCHOOL OF THE STRANGE

[CSA]

Lily knew that brushing teeth wasn't the most fun thing in the world, but it was important to Anya's hygiene that she do so every day. To that end, even if the Neko complained, Lily would be sure to make her.


The Alraune rinsed her mouth after brushing thoroughly, and crawled into Anya's bunk. It would be easier for Susie to tell them the story if they both used the ground bunk, after all.


"I'm ready," said Lily, smiling.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"It is good to maintain healthy teeth after all." Susie said. Along with getting enough Vitamin C so you can keep those teeth. ...Damn scurvy, awful disease. She thought to herself.


"Anyhow, just finish that up and get yourselves settled." Susie said as she scratched at her head. After a few seconds of scratching, she moved her hand towards the book as she kept her finger on the page of the story she selected. "And er once that is done, I'll read it. Kay?" She blinked as Lily finished up, and crawled into the bunk. "Well, er that was fast."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Anya crawled into her bunk, and sat in Lily's lap, making herself comfortable. Since they were sleeping together tonight anyways, this would be okay probably.


"I'm ready." she announced to the elf. Storytime was about to begin.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie approached the bunk and sat down cross-legged. She opened up the book fully as she glanced at Anya and Lily. With a smile she placed down one of her fingers upon the page, "Now then, this is the story of The Peasant and The Devil." Clearing her throat she glanced down at the pages, and adjusted a strand of hair that hanged in front of her face. Susie glanced back up at the two and began reading.


"Once upon a time there was a clever, wily peasant, whose tricks could be much talked about. The best story, however, is how he once got the best of the devil and made a fool of him. One day the peasant had been working in his field, and just as it was getting dark he was getting ready to go home when in the middle of his field he saw a pile of burning coals. Filled with amazement he walked toward it, and sitting on the top of the glowing coals there was a little black devil."


She again cleared her throat, "Ah erm, excuse me, just pondering on what voice to assign the peasant. Can't er, have storytime without er, doing other voices."

 

[CSA]

Lily put her arms around Anya while the girl sat in her lap and listened intently to Susie's story. Lily's eyes were wide with wonderment and practically sparkled with excitement as she looked from the pages of the book to Susie. Lily just couldn't keep herself from smiling.


Someone was actually reading her a bedtime story.


"Ooh, voices, right," exclaimed Lily, "Do whatever voice you feel most comfortable with, because it's the main character and we'll probably be hearing from him most."

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie pinched her lips together as she mused upon the voice to give the peasant. When she finally settled upon a voice, she continued to read.


' "You must be sitting on a treasure," said the peasant. ' Susie's lips contorted into an evil smile as she held out her left hand and curled her fingers as if they were a claw. She read the devil's lines in a much more deep and menacing voice, as compared to the peasant.


' "Yes indeed," replied the devil, "on a treasure that contains more gold and silver than you have ever seen in your life." '


' "The treasure is in my field and belongs to me," said the peasant. '


Susie read out. She paused for a moment, "The treasure was on that peasant's land. But the devil wasn't going to part with his treasure so easily! Instead the devil thought of a shrewd idea." She coughed out, as she flipped the page to the next part of the story and continued to read.


' "It is yours," answered the devil, "if for two years you will give me one half of everything your field produces. I have enough money, but I have a desire for the fruits of the earth." ' Susie smirked as she read out that part, and wagged her finger. "Of course, the devil was dealing with a rather clever peasant. And he had an idea up his sleeve."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Anya cuddled up, basking in the comfort of the moment. Her eyes grew soft, and she couldn't help but wear a smile. She hadn't been held and told a bedtime story since Papa....


"Was the idea to hit him?" she asked the elf.

 

[CSA]

Lily was very impressed by the theatrics of the simple bedtime story. Then again, Susie was a ventriloquist so it followed that she would be good with voices and movements. Lily just didn't often consider her talents in that area because they were usually overshadowed by immensely powerful magic that could bend and break reality itself on her whim.


"You're really good at this," whispered Lily, who was obviously impressed.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie blinked at Anya, "What? No. That's a different story." She glanced back down at the book as she cleared her throat yet again.


' The peasant entered into the bargain, saying, "To prevent any dispute from arising about the division, everything above the ground shall belong to you, and everything beneath the ground to me." '


Susie smiled. "The devil was quite satisfied with that, but the cunning peasant had planted turnips. Now when harvest time came the devil appeared and wanted to take away his crop, but he found nothing except the yellow withered leaves, and the happy peasant dug up his turnips. So the devil did not get any crop, because of our peasant's shrewd little scheme." Susie paused for a moment, before making her hand claw like again.


She growled out the devil's lines, with an seething fury. "You got the best of me this time, but it won't happen again. Next time what grows above ground shall be yours, and what is under it shall be mine."


 
Susie coughed, "Anyhow... Our peasant was a shrewd one." She began to finish reading the book.


' "That is all right with me," answered the peasant. But this time, when planting time came the peasant did not plant turnips again, but wheat. The crop ripened, and the peasant went into the field and cut the full stalks off at ground level. When the devil came he found nothing but the stubble, and he angrily disappeared into a chasm in a cliff. ' She read out before quickly making hideous deep snarls for the devil voice, clearly upset about its misfortune. Holding out her left hand she wiggled her fingers as she simulated the devil jumping into the chasm.


' "That's the way one has to deal with foxes," said the peasant, then carried away the treasure. ' Susie finished up as she closed the book. "Er a-ah, so uhm, what did you think of it?"

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Does this mean if I start a garden, I'll be able to fight demons?" Anya asked, eyes alight with wonder and craftiness and thoughts of fighting off hundreds of devils with sheer willpower and also swords.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie gave a nod towards Lily, "A-ah w-well I'm glad you enjoyed it." She then turned her attention towards Anya and giggled a bit, "Possibly, possibly not. It surely isn't guaranteed, and our peasant was fairly fortunate the devil wasn't as clever as himself."

 

[CSA]

"You should read to us, er, Anya more often," concluded Lily.


The Alraune nodded. She couldn't let on how much she enjoyed these childish stories being read to her, because Lily was cool. Being read to during bed time was not. She had an image to keep up.


"Anyways, I'm pretty smart, so I bet I could have beaten him. Anya, you would need a silvered blade. Or was it cold iron? I think it was silver. Anyways, you would need one if you wanted to fight it."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Well there are many ways to beat devils, many, many stories about that. Many, many stories about the devil getting his due." Susie noted. She paused for a moment before glancing towards Anya, "Oh! Right, if you ever want er, me to read again in the future, all you need to do is ask."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"You should read every night, Susie!" Anya smiled, adjusting her weight on Lily's lap. This was comfy.


The cat pulled up the blankets over her own lap.


"If you read a lot, it puts you to sleep. Right, Lily?" she asked.

 

[CSA]

"Yeah, there are a lot of devil-fighting stories," replied Lily. It was probably because Humans were so weak and they found devils frightening. Stories about ordinary people overcoming them were probably comforting for the weaker mammals; it was actually kinda cute.


"Anyways, I guess reading puts you to sleep, but I don't really know about being read to, Anya," replied Lily, "Nobody has ever really read to me before. Maybe it does, though."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"E-every night y-you say?" Susie inquired, as she blinked at Anya. She scratched at the back of her head with her left hand, as she continue to hold the book with the right. "Er ah, I could uhm, possibly do that...y-yeah." Susie blinked at Lily as she spoke of the fact that nobody ever read to her before. "And yes, oh so many devil-fighting stories. All are quite fun to read. And er, I uh, think it could depend on the person, possibly on whether or not reading puts them to sleep."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Reading is sleepy work, you should go to bed. With us." Anya said, patting her bed with a 'pomf'.


The cat stared expectantly, unblinking.

 

[CSA]

Lily looked down at the Neko on her lap before looking up at Susie and staring expectantly as well, scratching Anya behind the ears.


"I wouldn't mind it, Susie," said Lily, "I think we have enough room if we kinda squeeze together."


Lily also patted the mattress with Anya. If the Alraune couldn't make this look appealing, then nobody could. Ever.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie stared at Anya, for a moment, before blinking at her. "Oh. Oh!" Susie shut the book carefully as she got up, "You are absolutely right." Moving the book back under her right arm she lazily rubbed her eye with her left hand. "I should get back to my bunk, riiight after I put the book away." She noted as she walked back to her closet to return it from whence it came.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Oh. I guess me and Lily are sleeping alone, then. Together." Anya replied, unsure whether to frown or smile. Scooting off Lily's lap, she flopped down onto her back with a 'pomf', and looked up at her alraune friend with a smile.


"What are we gonna do on the bed? Sleep? Play more games?" she asked.

 

[CSA]

"Eh? Are you sure you don't want to sleep together with us on the same bed, Susie? I'm probably really comfortable."


Then again, Lily didn't actually expect the Elf to acquiesce so easily. Susie still probably didn't like to be touched, even if she was alright with being bound. It was a little odd, but Lily was sure she'd seen odder.


"Well," Lily replied to Anya, "if I can't get her to, I suppose it will be just us. But that's not bad at all; I'm actually kinda looking forward to this. It's not really time for more games, though. I think we should probably just sleep."


Lily made herself comfortable under the covers, and looked over at Anya with a smile.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Er a-ah, w-well, it would be rather erm packed." Susie said as she put away her book and headed back in the direction of the beds. "I'm u-uh, not sure it'd be all that er, comfortable, with such er, little space. Especially, if er, any of us were um r-restless." She noted as she peered at Anya's bunk with Lily still there, judging the amount of space available.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"that's fine, Susie, but there's still some room and it might fit most of you." Anya said, patting the space next to her before turning to face Lily. Smiling, she cuddled up, nuzzling the alraune's chest and neck as she wrapped her arms around her.


This was an unbelievably comfy way to sleep. It smelled like flowers and also peanut butter a little bit. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes as her ears flicked against Lily's cheek, letting waves of sleep wash over her.

 

[CSA]

"Au contraire, Susie, it's because it's cramped that it will be so comfortable," said Lily as she put an arm around the Neko that had cuddled up against her side, "Look at Anya, she's already asleep. You could take her back or, if you wanted, I could make some room on my other side for you to get in on. I bet it would feel really nice."


Speaking of feeling nice, having Anya's ears flick against Lily's cheek was surprisingly comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable for sleeping. Lily tried to gently position Anya so that the girl wasn't flicking her so much.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie smiled a bit when Lily used the phrase 'Au contraire', thinking it was cute use of it. She shook her head a bit. "A-ah, well, I s-shouldn't erm, t-take her off." Susie noted at the suggestion that she could move the Neko off and out. "Er no, s-shouldn't do that. A-and, er, probably should go back to my bunk, u-unless it isn't structural sound or..." She scratched at the back of her head. "Ahm, something like t-that."


"T-though I do er, appreciate the offer of making room on the other side. A-and maybe it er, would be nice..." She noted as she idly placed her hands in the pockets of her sleeping pants. "If er, that is uh the case...Er uh, m-maybe I should uhm entertain the uh, p-possibility."