Tom and Alice were in the basement. Tom had realized that he'd never given the grand tour to any of his guests, so offering to do so was a great opportunity to spend more time with Alice.
"We already searched your house top to bottom," Alice had said when he'd offered.
"I thought Tamamo did that while you were eating all my food?" Tom had responded.
"Well…. maybe…. But she reported to me what she found."
"She has no idea what she was looking at," Tom argued. "C'mon, there's a lot of fun stuff down there you've never seen before. I spent a lot of time and money making the basement of my dreams. I'd love to share it with you."
Alice laughed shyly. "You want to show it to me? Why me?"
"Because I think you'd appreciate it more than the others," Tom answered.
That was only half true. What he really wanted was alone time with Alice somewhere private that didn't involve him feeding her something.
"Okay, if it means that much to you…." She said uncertainly. "Is there food down there?"
"C'mon, Alice, I know you don't only love food," Tom said. "There are a lot of things that make life a joy."
"And for you, those things are downstairs?" Alice asked.
"Actually, yes. Before you arrived here, I spent the majority of my waking time down there."
"Well then, I guess it would be interesting to see what makes Tom tick," Alice said.
So they had gone to the basement. First Tom had shown her his classic arcade. While the group had played video games on the main level with a modern console, what Tom really liked to do was play in an actual arcade. The ambience mattered as much as the actual games.
"Oh wow, this is so…. Alien," Alice said in wonder.
"It's based on the eighties," Tom said proudly.
"The eighties?"
"A time period on our world, before I was born," Tom replied. "But it had a unique aesthetic, which is why you won't see this anywhere else in the house. This is an arcade, and they just don't exist like this anymore. I wanted to recreate what it was like to play video games during the golden age."
"You seem to really like video games," Alice noted.
"Don't you?"
"I mean…. They're interesting and it can be fun," she conceded. "But I couldn't play them all day."
"Well, this house is a lot more than a game room," Tom said defensively. "I have a study with tons of books, too!"
"I have to admit, I do like video games better than books," Alice admitted.
"Oh? You don't like to read?"
"Not really," Alice answered. "Tamamo used to make me read so much I ended up hating it. That being said, I'm very well read. I have to be in order to be a good Monster Lord. But reading isn't fun."
"Reading can be so much fun!" Tom insisted. "You've just been reading what you've been told to read! Tell you what? How about I select a book for you, one that has a great story, that's funny, and that has a good sense of adventure. I bet you'd enjoy it."
"Well I haven't read many stories. Most of the books I've read are magic books, history books, science books, geography books. Tamamo did have me read a few literary classics, but they were boring and used archaic language."
"When we get back upstairs I have just the book for you," he promised. "But first…. How about a video game?"
"There are so many," Alice said. "Which one do you think I should play?"
"Well, you like to eat, so how about Ms Pac Man?"
"Ms. Who?"
Tom led her to his vintage 1983 Ms Pac Man cabinet. He hit the start button and the quirky theme song played, making Alice giggle.
"Now you've played a few of my more modern games," Tom explained. "This is much simpler. You control the little yellow girl with the bow on her head."
"What is she, even? She's just a mouth."
"I'm… not sure what she is. But I know what you're enemies are. They're ghosts."
"They're WHAT?!"
"You have to avoid them or they'll eat you," Tom instructed.
"Well you don't have to tell me twice to run away from ghosts!" Alice exclaimed as she endeavoured to keep Ms Pac Man as far away from the ghosts as possible.
"That damn red one is really aggressive!" Alice said. "What's this big blinking sphere…. Oh, they all turned blue!"
"Now you can eat them!" Tom said excitedly. "Go, get them! Eat them!"
"I got one! What does the 200 mean?"
"That's how many points you get!" Tom explained. "They double every time you catch one."
Alice's Ms Pac Man caught a second blue ghost for 400 points.
"Yes!" she cheered. "Fear the Monster Lord you little ghostly bastards! Wait, what just happened? I ate that red one but I died?"
"You hit Blinky just as he changed back," Tom explained. "You only get a few seconds to catch and eat them."
"Blinky's his name, huh? Well I'm going to remember you, Blinky! And I'm going to come down here again and eat you up, you little stinker!"
"C'mon, let me show you my pinball machine collection," Tom urged.
Tom brought her to the far wall of his arcade, where ten pinball tables were lined up in a row.
"Pick one, any one," Tom offered.
"How about… this one?" Alice said, pointing to the Terminator 2 table.
"Ah, one of my favorites," Tom said approvingly. "So pinball is really simple to play, but really tough to master. It's not a video on a screen, although this game has some video as well. But don't worry too much about that the first time you play. All you have to do is hit that little ball and try to get it to go to places that'll get you points."
"So it's like hitting targets?"
"Yeah, that's the idea. I'll start the game for you."
Tom hit the start button. Arnold's voice rang out with "It's Judgment Day!"
"Now pull that trigger and the ball will go into play," he instructed.
The ball shot into play and Alice struggled to keep it in play, mostly failing to hit the shots she intended, but doing a pretty good job of preventing the ball from going out of play. But within a few minutes, she lost her last ball, and Arnold's voice taunted her with "Terminated."
"I love it!" she enthused.
"Well, come down here anytime you like to play," Tom said. "I'll play with you if you want."
"I think I'd like that," Alice said softly. "I can see why you like this stuff. It can be addictive. So this is how you play, but I don't understand what you do for work. How did you come to have all of… this? Where I come from humans don't have much."
"We live in a pretty wealthy society," Tom answered. "And I grabbed my share of it by helping people who are wealthy become even wealthier."
"I don't understand."
"Well, people entrust me with their money and I invest it for them."
"I didn't understand anything after 'entrust me'."
"You see, they give me money…."
"What's money?" she asked.
"Money? Like… currency. You don't have that where you come from"
"I don't think so, no," Alice replied.
"Then how do you….? You know what, it's not important. I guess it's like you said, it's impossible to understand each other's worlds unless we've lived in them for awhile. And hopefully… hopefully we get you back where you belong soon."
"I may not understand this money thing, but I would like to understand your job," she said. "You just sit in front of that computer all day and….. do this investing thing?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I'm afraid it's only exciting if you have an interest in stock picking."
"Stock picking?"
"You know what, it's not important. It would take too long to explain."
"Then keep it simple," Alice prompted. "So this job you do, it's why you have all this stuff?"
"Yeah, I guess the best way to explain it is that I help people, and in their gratitude they give me….all of this."
"Now that I understand," Alice said in relief. "You do something for someone, they do something for you."
"Yeah, sort of. Money is just the way that we do things for each other using a common method of transaction. If we exchanged favors, or bartered, being able to make a deal would depend on me having something they wanted and them having something I wanted. What money does, is it allows me to do what I'm good at for people and they don't have to figure out how to return the favor. They just give me money."
"I think I get it?"
"I'd give you a book on it, but you'd hate it. Even I hate financial books."
"This world of yours…" Alice said. "I just can't get my head around a world where there are no monsters."
"Now that I've met you, I wish there were monster girls here," Tom replied earnestly.
"And I wish there were humans like you on my world," Alice replied with a shy smile. "Although I guess I don't know what humans are like on my world."
"You don't meet many humans where you come from?"
"You're literally the first human I've ever had a conversation with," Alice answered. "Tamamo's kept me away from humans."
"Why would she do that?"
"To protect both me, and them. But now that I'm old enough, I'm going to go on a tour of the world."
"Sounds like fun."
"Oh, I hope it will be!" Alice said excitedly. "I'll meet people, I'll eat all sorts of new foods. But most importantly I'll learn things. Things that can make me a better Monster Lord. I really want to solve the problems between humans and monsters, but I recognize that the problems are complex and perhaps even intractable."
Tom led Alice into his movie theater. "So this is my movie theater," he explained.
"What's a movie theater?" Alice asked. "I see the big screen, but isn't that just another computer?"
"I mean, technically it could be if I wanted it to be," Tom answered. "A screen is a screen is a screen. But that's not what this one is for. This one is for movies. The theater is designed so that the screen and the sound work together to give the viewer a more epic experience."
"An epic experience? I don't understand what could be so epic about sitting and staring at a screen."
"Tell you what? How about when I'm done with work, we all sit in this very theater and watch a movie," Tom suggested.
"And a movie is…?"
"I'd rather show you than explain it. You and the other girls be ready at 4pm."
The six of them sat in the small theater. Tom was excited. It was the first movie he'd ever shown guests. He'd always regarded the basement as his sanctuary, a place he didn't even take his dates, but he found himself increasingly eager to share his life with his guests, especially Alice. Truth be told, he would have preferred to be alone in the theater with Alice, but decided it would be rude to exclude the others. The dynamics of the group were difficult for him to figure out. He was having sex with all of them(except for Tamamo up to that point), and there was no jealousy that he could detect, but also no indication that any of them wanted to be with him exclusively.
"Are we going to play a video game, except on a bigger screen?" Granberia asked.
"No, this is a movie," Tom explained. "Instead of controlling stuff on the screen, you're going to see a story told, and you just watch it unfold."
"That sounds like a video game, except you can't influence the outcome," Erubetie pointed out.
"Yeah, true, but you don't want to, because the story is what it is and it's amazing, so being able to change it would just diminish it. That's why video games based on movies are usually terrible."
"I trust you, Tom," Alice said, giving him a warm smile. "Show us this movie."
"You say it's a great story," Alma Elma said. "What's it about?"
"I'd rather not give anything away just yet," Tom replied. "But I think you'll find some parallels to your own predicament here."
"Almost everything you've shown us of your world has been wondrous," Tamamo said. "I have to confess I'm eager to see this movie."
"Then let's get it started!" Tom said happily. "I present to you…. Terminator 2!"
"What happened to Terminator One?" Tamamo asked.
"That's a different movie."
"Shouldn't we see Terminator One before we see Terminator Two?" Alice asked.
"You can if you want, but that'll take five hours between the two of them," Tom answered. "And the second one is better than the first."
"Do we look like we have anything but time?" Granberia asked. "If this story is as good as you say, we will sit and absorb it happily."
"Absorb it like the life energy of a delicious man," Alma Elma said.
"Um….. okay, then," Tom said. "So I present to you… Terminator! To be followed by Terminator 2."
The double feature began. Between the huge screen and the sound, the ladies were immediately enraptured. Tom left to go fetch some concessions. Popcorn, sodas, and candy. He passed them out just as the Terminator was looking through the phonebook to find every Sarah Connor in the city.
"That man is beefy," Alice said in his ear. "Are men like that common here?"
"Oh no, Arnold won an award for being the beefiest way back in the day," Tom answered.
"Arnold?"
"The actor playing the Terminator."
"Oh, this is make believe?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, of course! He's a cyborg from the future!"
"That could totally happen on my world! I don't think it ever has, but it could!"
"Really?"
"Magic makes anything possible," Alice replied.
When Kyle Reese told Sarah Connor of how the world was almost completely destroyed, Tom heard Granberia say something about the Great Monster Wars to Alma Elma. Great Monster Wars?
When the Terminator killed a man who tried to fight him in his bedroom, Alma Elma commented that it reminded her of a hero who had once tried to fight Granberia. "Remember how you violated him afterwards?" Alma Elma asked.
"Ah, good times, good times," Granberia said wistfully.
The final chase and action sequence left the audience gobsmacked, with the false endings and the near escapes. When the Terminator was finally crushed and Sarah had survived, the ladies cheered.
"Amazing!" Granberia enthused.
"Not very sexy, but I loved his body and the action!" Alma Elma said.
"It was fascinating, if a little violent," Erubetie noted.
"It was all right," Tamamo said.
"I thought it was absolutely amazing, Tom!" Alice said. "C'mon, start the next movie! I love movies! Are they all this good?"
"Like most things, they come in good and bad," Tom answered.
The second movie started. The ladies were loving it even more, especially since the hunky guy seemed to be the good guy in the second one. Erubetie seemed to be partial to the young John Connor. Tamamo, however, seemed to grow restless.
"You okay, Tamamo?" Tom asked.
"The time travel science of this story is giving me a headache," Tamamo replied. "None of it makes sense."
"Yeah, I guess that's true."
Tom was sitting in between Alice and Tamamo. Alice was continuously shoving popcorn into her mouth by the handful. He decided to be bold and put his arm around her.
He barely got his arm up when he felt something slip into his pants. It was soft, yet dry and…. Fluffy?!
Alice, noticing his discomfiture, asked him if anything was wrong. He shook his head. The fluffy tail burrowed deeper into his pants, gripping his penis as if Tamamo had placed her hand in there.
"You sure you're okay, Tom?" Alice asked. "You seem a little…. Troubled."
"I'm fine!" Tom gasped as the tail began to stroke.
Alice rolled her eyes and focused on the movie and her popcorn. Tamamo giggled, having successfully cockblocked Tom. It really is for the good of both of them, Tamamo thought to herself. Sensing Tom was close, she unzipped his pants and dove her head downward to get her meal.
Everyone had enjoyed the movies, even Tamamo, who proceeded to lecture Tom for the rest of the night about how time travel actually worked and why the movie they'd seen, while fun and interesting, was also a complete load of bullhockey(Tamamo's words).
As Tamamo and Tom sat in his office enjoying the conversation, Tamamo sighed heavily.
"I don't think this internet thingie is going to get us home," Tamamo said with a grimace. "Your civilization is advanced, but not advanced enough to be able to rip open gates to other worlds. It's possible on my world because of magic, but without magic, this would only be possible with science. But I can find no references to any reputable research on this subject. At best, only theoretical musings from the rather mediocre intellects of your best scientists."
"I wish I had another idea," Tom said. "But all I am is a financial advisor."
"I hate to ask this of you, Tom," Tamamo said sincerely. "You've done so much for us, and this has nothing to do with you. We owe you a great debt of gratitude for this. But I'm afraid I have to ask you for more."
"What do you need?"
"I need you to do legwork, to investigate, to find some clues as to what might have happened to us," Tamamo explained.
"I'm willing, believe me! But where would I even start?"
"I really hate to do this, because it strikes me as an incredible risk, but….. we may need to risk going out. What are the people of your world like? How would they handle learning about monsters like us? Would they accept us and want to help? Or would they be afraid, or prejudiced?"
Tom thought for moment. It was a tough question. Humans had generally just known other humans. But they still managed to hate the other humans. Could they accept beings who weren't even human?
"To be honest…." Tom said. "I just don't know. There's nothing in our history that can help me predict how people would react to you. The only thing I have to go on is how humans have reacted to discovering other humans they didn't know about."
"And how did that go?"
"Very badly," Tom said sadly.
Nevertheless, after some more conversation, with Alma Elma joining them in the office, it was decided that they might have to reach out to someone who could help. But who would that be? Call NASA? The President? Elon Musk? Should they set up a Gofundme? Get the girls Instagram accounts? Tom had brought up the last one, making the point that if they went public to the masses first, it might protect them from being taken away by the government to Area 51 or Guantanamo or something. Did that really happen? Tom had no idea. He'd just seen a lot of movies, and what happened to visitors from other worlds was usually that they ended up in a lab.
Tom glumly went to his room to rest for the night. Perhaps some ideas would come to him or one of the ladies in the morning. At first, he'd wanted them out of his house. Now he was concerned for their welfare. But what if the only way to protect them was to keep them here? He decided that might not be so bad. Except for the fact that eventually they'd be found. Then what would happen?
When Tom opened the room to his door, he found Alice in his bed.
"Hey there," she greeted him. "I heard the conversation in your office."
"You did?" Tom asked. "How?"
"All of us monsters have excellent hearing, far beyond what humans can perceive with their limited senses," she answered. "I'm so sorry we've put you in this position, Tom. That's why I'm here. I thought… maybe I could make it up to you tonight. If you're not too drained from Tamamo's special fluffy tail."
"That was…. She just…."
"You don't have to explain yourself, handsome," Alice laughed. "You're the only man in the house. We all have to eat. I do admit to being a little jealous, though."
"You…. You are?"
"Yeah, a little. But I don't blame you. This situation is what it is."
"So if you're jealous, does that mean…?" Tom asked with a sly smile on his face.
"It doesn't mean anything. Nothing at all," Alice said with a smirk. "Now get in here. I'm going to show you what a snake's tail can do. It's much better than a mangy kitsune tail."
"I heard that!" Tamamo yelled from the office, barely audible to Tom, but clear as day to Alice, who simply flashed Tom a wicked grin.
Tom crawled into bed and put his arms around Alice. He loved the feel of her skin. Despite her torso being mostly human, her skin still had a somewhat different feel from that of a human's. It was softer and yet tougher at the same time. It felt soft enough that it could be parted with a butter knife, yet Tom was sure that he would have had trouble cutting her with the sharpest razor blade.
"You seem fascinating with my skin," Alice said. "Do you like how I feel?"
"It's amazing," he replied. "I've never felt anything quite like it."
"Even without our magic, we're far superior to humans, sexually," Alice explained. "Evolution has made us efficient predators, and since our prey is human males, we've evolved to be pleasant to look at, and even more pleasant to touch. Our anatomy is designed to maximize male pleasure so that we can feed easily."
"I've noticed. It's… impressive."
"Well then let me show you something you can't get from any of those human girls," Alice said in a sultry tone, the tip of her tail tickling his thigh.
"Actually…." Tom said. "I want to show you a good time, too."
"Why?"
"Why not?" Tom asked. "I really like you, Alice. And I know this isn't just a feeding for you."
"It's a feeding too," she countered. "But it's also payment for your kindness."
"You've been kind to me as well," Tom argued. "You're the most amazing woman I've ever met. I want this to be a mutual experience. I want to make love to you, Alice."
"You want to….are you being serious right now?"
"I've never been more serious in my life, Alice."
Alice stared at Tom, not sure how to react. Nothing she had been told about humans had prepared her for a man to act as Tom was acting at that moment. Alice's dual natures warred within her. On one hand, she wanted to prey on him, to enjoy his tasty semen and then go upstairs to her own bed, leaving Tom a quivering pool of jello, or at least the closest approximation she could achieve on this world where men didn't collapse when brought to orgasm. But she was a woman as well as a monster, and an inexperienced woman who was curious about sex and if she was being honest with herself, infatuated with this boy. She felt herself getting warm below her waist. She'd heard Alma Elma's moans of pleasure when Tom had turned the tables on her. What would that feel like? She wondered.
"Well…. if you really want to…if it would make you happy…." She said uncertainly.
"It would, especially if it made you happy too," Tom said, an intensity in his eyes that gave Alice butterflies in her stomach.
"Okay, but there are ground rules," Alice said. "First, no sex. We're not doing that tonight."
"I understand. I'm the first guy you've ever met and you've only known me a few days."
"Second,I came here to give you pleasure and to have a meal," Alice continued. "So don't get carried away and wear yourself out."
Tom smiled. "No chance of that," he said. "I can go… all… night…long."
"If that's supposed to impress ladies, I hope you have better lines."
"Admittedly, my lines suck," he laughed. "I make up for it with good looks and having a lot of money."
"I don't care about your money," Alice retorted.
"The fact that I know that to be absolutely true is one reason why I like you so much," Tom replied, caressing her breast.
"Ooh, I kinda like that," Alice said, biting her lip. "You may proceed to pleasure me, if you can."
Tom gently pulled at her skimpy top to expose her nipple. He began to suck on it gently while caressing the other breast. Alice arched her back and moaned. Alice was no stranger to self pleasure, and she was sure she could have done a better job herself, but something about someone else doing it to her was so much better than she had anticipated.
"Oh, you are pretty good there, Tom!" she said happily.
Tom's hand slowly made its way below the sheets. He was a little worried about her unusual anatomy. Normally he'd find what he wanted by going between her legs, but below her waist was a snake's body. What if she was completely different down there….?
"Oh!" Alice gasped, closing her eyes as he found her sensitive spot. "Oh, Thomas! Why does that feel so….?! Ahhhhh, so good, rub it harder! It's so wet for you!"
"Hora hora," Tom replied with a sly smile.
Alice's expression froze and her eyes popped open.
"What did you say? Did you just 'hora hora' me?!"
"I….. yes," Tom replied uncertainly.
Alice's tail instantly wrapped around him, binding him in her coils. Tom found himself roughly thrown onto his back on the bed, his clothes ripped off.
"Do you understand the consequences of 'hora hora'-ing me?!" Alice screamed.
"Whaaaaa!" Tom yelled in fright. It wasn't that her coils were squeezing him too tightly, so much as her eyes. They had turned blood red, demonic.
"BURN INTO YOUR MEMORY THE ORAL SKILLS OF THE MONSTER LORD!"
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
In the office, Tamamo and Alma Elma paused their conversation and turned in the direction of the noise.
"Should we….?" Alma Elma asked.
"Nah, she's not going to hurt him," Tamamo said after listening for a moment to the lewd sounds coming from Tom's bedroom. "She just has to show him who the Monster Lord is, that's all."
"OH MY GOD!" Tom screamed.
"Hey, he didn't scream that loud for me!" Alma Elma exclaimed, looking quite offended.
"AAAAHHH! WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING THAT!? I'M GOING TO…. AHHHHHH!"
"Unbelievable…." Alma Elma breathed. "Isn't that the first time she's ever….?"
"Uh huh…" Tamamo confirmed.
"When I did that to him, all he did was moan," Alma Elma groused. "A girl could get an inferiority complex."
"That's why she's the Monster Lord and you're not," Tamamo laughed.
"Hey, I quit the competition, she didn't beat me!" Alma Elma shot back.
"It's a good thing you did, isn't it?" Tamamo countered. "Imagine the queen succubus losing that way."
"HOLY FUCK HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO THAT?! I'M GOING TO DIE!"
Alma Elma got out of her chair and walked to the office door.
"Tamamo, if you need me, I'm going to be raiding Tom's liquor cabinet," the succubus said.