Chapter 4: What Rules Are For

"Now that we're all here, we need to go over the important rules again. I know you've all heard them before, but I want to reaffirm them just so we're clear."

Davis, June, Gracie and Evie were all in Evie's living room. Gracie and Davis sat on the couch, Evie on the chair next to the couch, and June stood leaning against the wall. "June, you can sit down if you want," Evie said, motioning towards the empty chair across from her own. June just sighed and looked away. Davis rehashed the most critical rules for the program, including that the host must accompany the liminals outside the house unless they have an activity pass, the ban on violence between extra-species people and humans, the ban on sexual relationships between them, and the severe consequences for breaking these rules. Evie noticed that Davis looked at June a lot during the part about violence.

"Um, Ms. Davis," Gracie asked, "what about non-sexual relationships? Are... those allowed?" Davis, for the first time since Evie met her, was at a loss for words. Gracie's eyes widened as she realized what it sounded like she was asking. "Oh no, I didn't mean- I-I just meant if I met someone- I'm not asking about a relationship with Evie or anything- I mean I'm not saying I wouldn't date her, because I totally would if she- Wait, no I'm sorry I... Oh gosh..." She buried her face in her hands. Davis took a deep breath. "While platonic relationships aren't prohibited," she said, "they're probably not a great idea because it could end up leading to... prohibited behaviors."

"Why are there so many rules, anyway?" June asked, "All they do is make things worse." Davis shook her head. "Look, I understand that the rules feel pretty restricting, but they're put in place to keep everything organized and everyone safe. That's just what rules are for. If we simply allowed all the extra-species people to flood into the country without regulations, it would be total chaos. Why, are you worrying about relationships too, June?" June's face turned red. She looked like she wanted to retort, but she just bit her lip and looked away. "Well, I think we've covered all the critical stuff. Is there anything else you guys need from me before I go?"

"Actually," Evie said, "there's a bit of a problem with the sleeping situation. We have my room and the guest room, but there aren't any other rooms for anyone in the house." Davis nodded. "I remember from the last time I visited. I've already put in the work order for the expansion; the crew should show up in a day or two to get it done. I'm sure we could figure out a temporary solution until then?" June sighed and frowned. "I guess Gracie's too big to sleep on the couch. Looks like I'm doing it." Evie thought about it, and while she didn't want to be stuck sleeping on the couch for what could end up being a week or two, she decided giving her room to June would probably be the right thing to do. "Hey, you can have my bed if you want, June. You probably need room than I do. I'll be fine on the couch until the expansion is done." June studied Evie for a moment, as if she was trying to find the crossed fingers behind Evie's back. "Okay then," she said cautiously, "thank you, Evelyn." Evie smiled at her, but she just turned her head away.

"Alright then," Davis said, standing up, "now that we've got that settled, I guess I'll be off. Evie, you have my number, so if anything goes wrong, you can give me a call. I'll probably be back to check in after the expansion is taken care of. Sound good?" The three girls nodded. "Great!" She walked to the front door. Evie followed her to the door and stopped her just as she grabbed the doorknob. "Wait, Ms. Davis," Evie said, "So... what do I do now?" Davis took her hand off the knob. "Well, like we talked about earlier, you need to take them out to experience human culture. Either one at a time or both at once. You could go and do anything, really: See a movie, go to a museum, whatever you want, it's pretty much all human culture." Evie thought about this for a moment. "Take them out... Wait, you mean... like a date?" Davis chuckled at this. "I mean I legally have to say no, but you can look at it however you want. Just don't take one out more than the other, we wouldn't want it to look like you've picked a favorite." Evie blushed. "Wait, I didn't mean that's how I wanted to look at it, I just didn't know what you meant!" she said, trying to take back what she said. Davis laughed again, giving her a smile and a wink before opening the front door. "Good luck, girls!" she called towards the living room before closing the door behind her.

Evie stood in front of the door, feeling a little abandoned. What was she supposed to do? Taking them out to experience human culture seemed a pretty loose idea to her, and she didn't even know what to do now, much less for the next week or so. She took a deep breath and walked back to the living room, where June had finally laid down on the couch with her head on Gracie's thigh. "So... what do you guys want to do now?" Evie asked. June rolled her eyes. "What do we want to do now? I thought this was a homestay, not a sleepover."

"Come on, June, give Evie a break," Gracie said. June's attitude and constant quipping definitely wasn't helping Evie's confidence with the whole situation. "I... I just meant since it's so late we can't really go out and do anything today. Is there anything you guys want to do here?" June sat up. "Is Davis gone yet?" Evie looked out the window and saw that the van was gone. "Yeah, she's already left, why?" June stood up and started walking towards the front door. "Well, I don't know what you guys are gonna do, but I'm gonna go fly for a bit."

"But June, we're not supposed to go out alone! It's against the rules," Gracie said, standing up as well. "Look, I've been stuck in a van all day and I really need to stretch my wings a little. Besides, rules are meant to be broken," June said. "No one's even gonna see me when it's this dark, so there's nothing to worry about." Evie took a step towards her. "But will you be ok flying in the dark? Won't you need a light or-"

"Oh stop already, Beverly, I'll be fine."

"B-Beverly...?"

June walked up to the door and tried to open it but couldn't quite work the knob with her wings. After a moment of frustrated grunting, she stepped to the side, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. "Could... could someone get the door, please?" Evie reluctantly opened the door and watched a blushing June step outside and soar into the air.

Evie closed the door and walked back into the living room, where Gracie had sat back down and was staring a hole in the floor. Her eyes darted up to Evie when she walked in, then went straight back down. "I'm sorry about June," she said, "She can be difficult with people she doesn't know." Evie sat down across from Gracie. "So, is she just gonna call me Beverly now, or..." Gracie looked up and shook her head. "No, no, no, she... I don't want to say anything mean about her, but Harpies can be... a little airheaded. Raptor Harpies are usually a little better about it than other species, but she still forgets things and doesn't understand some concepts sometimes. She used to call me Macy or Daisy sometimes before she got comfortable around me. It really frustrates her when she realizes she's messed up; it hurts her pride. If she grew to like me, I'm sure she'll open up to you eventually. You... you seem sweet." Evie blushed and looked down. "Oh... th-thanks, Gracie. You... you too." Gracie mirrored Evie's reaction.

They sat in silence for a minute or two, both stealing quick glances at each other every now and then, trying to come up with something else to talk about.

"So," Evie asked, "you hungry at all?" Gracie shook her head. "We stopped somewhere before we got here. Thank you, though."

They sat in silence for another minute.

"Hey," they eventually both said at the same time.

"You first," Evie said.

"Ok," Gracie giggled, "I had something sent here before we came, I... don't suppose you've gotten a package recently with... um... b-bras in it... have you?"

Evie's face immediately turned beet red. That's what those were for, she thought. Looking now, it made sense why they were so big; Gracie definitely had the bust for them. But how was she going to explain the box being placed under the sink? "Uh... actually, I did. I put it under... the sink." Gracie gave her a puzzled look. "The... sink?" Evie hoped she didn't look as panicked as she felt in her head. She had to make something up on the spot. "Oh yeah, that's... where I put all my unopened mail." Gracie still looked confused. "Oh... I guess everyone does it differently."

Evie stood and quickly walked into the kitchen, where she retrieved the box and stopped to relax for a moment. "Ok," she said to herself, "it's going fine. It's going fine. I'm doing ok. It's alright."

She picked the box back up and carried it back to the living room, handing it to Gracie. "Thanks, Evie," she said. "I have to order them custom made because... they don't come in my size. They usually end up breaking though, so I end up going through a lot. My last one broke on the way here, so it's good the package got here before I did..."

"Oh," Evie said, "so you're not..."

"N-no..."

Evie could read the embarrassment on Gracie's face and decided to change the subject.

"Uh... have you ever played video games before?" Gracie shook her head. "I've heard about them before, but I've never played one."

"You wanna try it out?" she asked, a smile appearing on her face. Something about Evie's smile seemed to put Gracie at ease a little. "Ok," she said, smiling as well.

Evie set about turning the TV and the Xball on, grabbing the controllers, and getting it set up. She plopped down on the couch next to Gracie, handing her a controller. They laughed and had fun for a few hours, playing a lot of Evie's favorite games like Person Fell Flat, Mughead, Unjustice, and Hallow Knight. Gracie had a hard time at first, but with Evie's help she quickly figured it out, and was even giving Evie a run for her money near the end.

"June's sure been gone a while," Evie said after a game, "you think she's ok?" Gracie put her controller down. "I'm sure she's fine... but you're right. It's definitely been a while. Maybe we should give it a little longer, and if she doesn't turn up, we should go look for her."

"Ok," Evie said, "Wanna go another round in Unjustice?" Gracie smiled and grabbed her controller, "You're on!"

Another hour or so passed, and June still hadn't turned up. Gracie looked like she was getting tired as she stood up. "We should probably go look for June now," she yawned. Evie looked at the clock, which read 3:37. "Wow, it got late," she said. "Listen, if you're getting tired, you can just head up to bed and I'll go find June." Gracie shook her head, "I should be there when we find her, she'll be more receptive to me than you." Despite what Gracie said, Evie wasn't sure she'd make it for very long without falling asleep. "But you look like you're ready to pass out," Evie said. It was true, Gracie was barely keeping her eyes open. "No, I'm fine. I just need to rest my eyes for a second..." She sat back down on the couch and began to drift off. "Just... Just for a second..." She was asleep.

Evie couldn't help but think how cute sleepy Gracie was. She grabbed a blanket from the basket under the TV and gently laid it over her.

She grabbed her car keys from the bowl by the door and headed out to find June.

It took almost thirty minutes of driving through the dimly lit streets before she saw June perched atop a street light. She parked the car and hopped out.

"June!" she called. "Hey, Aveline," she replied, not looking down at her. "It's pretty late, Gracie and I were worried about you. You gonna come home soon?" June looked down at her. "I find it hard to believe you care about me, we only just met."

"Well, for one thing, I didn't say anything about whether or not I care about you, I just said I was worried. Look, I know we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but if you don't care about me, at least don't make Gracie worry." June seemed thrown by this. "Anyway, it's already like 4:00 AM, so if you won't come back with me, just... come back soon, ok?" Evie turned and started to walk back to the car. "H-hey, Beverly- I mean Aveline!" June called. Evie turned back around as June jumped off the street light, flapping her wings to slow her decent. "Listen, I'm... pretty tired from all the flying and being stuck in the van all day, do you... think I could ride back with you?" Evie smiled and said "of course, hop in!" While the thought occurred to her to tell June she got her name wrong again, she remembered what Gracie said about how much it bothers her and decided against it. When she got in the car, she saw June struggling with the car door handle. She quickly got back out and walked back over to June's side of the car. "Here, let me help," she said. When June looked up, she saw tears in her eyes. "Hey, are you ok? What's wrong?" June quickly looked the other way. "N-nothing! Let's just hurry up and go already!" Evie wasn't sure exactly what the problem was, but she had a feeling it had something to do with whatever she was doing out for so long. "Alright, alright," she said, opening the car door, "let's just get home."

Neither of them talked the whole drive back.

"Where's Gracie?" June asked when they walked in the front door. "Oh, she fell asleep on the couch before I left. I figured I'd let her sleep at least until you got back." They walked into the living room where Gracie was indeed still asleep on the couch. Evie put a hand on Gracie's shoulder. "Gracie, wake up! June's back!" she said. Gracie, still mostly asleep, suddenly grabbed Evie by the shoulders and pulled her in, hugging her like she was a teddy bear. She rolled over, pinning Evie under her. "Ack! June, help!" she squeaked. "Oh no," June chuckled, "I've been in this situation before. Trust me, there's no getting out of this one until she wakes up. Well, I'll just go to bed then. Night, Annalyn." June walked out of the room. Evie listened to the floorboards creak as she went upstairs, unable to move beneath Gracie. She couldn't deny it, though, while she couldn't move, she was very comfortable where she was. Gracie's skin was very soft, and her body kept her pretty warm. Drowsiness eventually overtook her and she drifted off to sleep.

Notes:

End of chapter 4! So much blushing! So many pauses! If you're getting annoyed with all the awkward conversations, fret not! There are definitely some more… outgoing characters coming up in the near future. Hopefully you like Gracie and June and are as excited as I am to learn more about them in future chapters.

Thanks so much for reading, see you in chapter 5! 😉