Arisugawa's Locket
Chapter 119
Katarina Claes looked around the bar in astonishment. Before... everything happened, she had been a Japanese school girl, before dying and being reincarnated as a noble. Now, while she was used to the noble life, she also remembered her previous existance. And this CLEARLY was a bar from her old world!
"Lady Katarina?" Sophia Ascart asked, the lovely albino looking around her in alarm.
Katarina also looked around, realizing that Sophia, Mary Hunt, Maria Campbell and, oddly, her maid Anne Shelly had all appeared there too. The last she remembered, all of them had been at the Mystic Academy where they were students...
"What a strange place," Mary said, the elegant, brown haired woman noticing the skin tight clothes one woman was wearing appreciatively.
"I think everything will be all right," Katarina reassured the other girls. Even though she wasn't so sure of that...
"If needed I will defend you, Lady Claes," Maria promised, the gorgeous blond looking around warily.
"Indeed," Anne, the maid, added as the slightly taller, older woman scowled at the women around them.
Before things could escalate any farther, a pretty green haired woman came up to them. She smiled warmly, "Good evening, I'm Alpha, welcome to Arisugawa's Locket."
"Ah, hello. I'm Katarina Claes," she said as she curtsied by reflex, and the others introduced themselves too.
"Ladies," Alpha nodded respectfully, "how about I take you to a table, you can relax and I'll explain what happened."
Alpha explained about the bar crossing dimensions and bringing people along. "It's magic," she simplified, getting blank looks from the girls.
"I see," Maria said diplomatically.
"Eeep," Sophia 'eeped' as a woman in painted on leather strolled by.
Katarina patted her hand comfortingly then looked at Alpha. "We'd like to get something to drink," her stomach growled and Katarina added, "and to eat, too. But I'm fairly certain we have no local money." The three nobles looked sheepish.. generally nobles didn't actually carry money. And Maria was a poor commoner.
"Ahem," Anne, the maid, cleared her throat, drawing Alpha and Katarina's attention. "I have some money on me," she said.
"ANNE!" Katarina looked at her adoringly, making the maid blush.
Alpha hid a smile at how cute the reactions were. "I'll have Nabiki, our money changer, come over," she told them.
As the negotiations went on, Mary was taking in the bar, her eyes wide. Not only were there people dressed half naked (Where she came from, showing a bare ankle was scandelous. Mary herself was scolded because of her low cut dresses.) but they were all women! And they were hugging! Dancing! And even KISSING?!
Mary fanned herself. She had once danced with Katarina on her fifteenth birthday... but this was much more than anything she could imagine. Dancing so close their breasts touched! And was that women touching the others bottom?!
"This is actually gold and silver and very pure," Nabiki noted, then quoted a fairly generous exchange rate for yen. They agreed on a flat fee for food and drink for the whole evening, and Nabiki took a few coins.
"This may be cheaper than visiting the local tavern," Anne murmured.
"Thank you Anne!" all the girls chorused.
"I promise we'll pay you back," Maria added sheepishly.
Sophia softly addressed Mary, "This is JUST like those books we've been trading!"
"Don't talk about those in front of Katarina," Mary hissed back softly.
Sophia blushed a bit. In addition to their 'book club' with Katarina, she and Mary had been trading certain... harder to get books. Erotica, specifically, and as much as they could find involving two women. It had been eye opening to both of them.
"What books?" Maria asked, genuinely confused.
Sophia and Mary exchanged a panicked look, but were thankful Katarina hadn't heard. "I'll explain later," Mary promised.
"Hmph," Maria frowned but didn't push.
A pretty server in a maid outfit arrived, delivering drinks for them all. "Here you go," May beamed, "enjoy!"
"Thank you," Katarina beamed. They had ordered sparkling juice for them all, and surprisingly beer for Anne.
"Beer?" Sophia asked Anne, surprised.
"I get SOME privilages as the adult in the group," Anne deadpanned.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Up at the bar, Juri Arisugawa smiled as she took in the group of women in formal gowns. THAT wasn't something you saw everyday.
"Your usual," Ryouko passed the colored gingerale over.
"Thanks," Juri sipped. "It's been busy..."
"Also as usual," Ryouko agreed. "We got more gold and silver from the newbies," she added, informing her.
"I'm starting to get some really odd looks from the coin dealers I'm visiting to exchange them," Juri noted wryly.
"Maybe talk to Touga Kiryuu? Minagi, Ryouko's twin, suggested mildly. "He has banking connections, right?"
"It's a thought," Juri agreed.
"Juri, I mean to check with you on something," May, the assistant manager and android maid smiled warmly.
"Oh?" Juri asked.
"You remember that group that came in with the tall robot with the odd name?" May noted.
"GlaDOS?" Juri tried to remember.
"No, the other one," May sighed.
"Bubbles?" Juri guessed.
"That's the one. Apparently their friends Tai and Dora are getting married," May revealed, "and they want to hold a Bachlorette Party here."
"Are they going to need to book the whole place, or just a few tables?" Juri wondered, considering the logistics.
"So far, just tables," May said, "but they're still firming up the numbers."
"I don't really see an issue," Juri shrugged, "if needed we can book the back room for them."
"Got it," May agreed.
A tall, gorgeous woman with green-black hair slinked through the crowds, dressed in a nice, if informal, dressed. Juri looked upo, then beamed, "Setsuna."
"Juri," Setsuna kissed her lingeringly.
"Whoo hoo!" Ryouko cheered.
"Don't you have drinks to serve?" Juri groused.
Setsuna just laughed.
Juri leaned into her slightly, and smiled. "Since I know we were getting together at home, do I need to be worried you dropped in?" she asked quietly.
"Not worried, but something of concern," Setsuna admitted. "You know my alternates are chasing a Sailor Venus across space time?"
"I'm aware," Juri admitted. The alternate Venus had dropped in a few times.
"Well, it's causing some ODD effects in space time. And, I admit, having multiple Plutos chasing after her isn't helping," Setsuna admitted. "With how... touchy the bar's Time Space Engine can be..."
The alien genius Washu had, without asking, installed a variation on her Time Space Device in the bar's basement. It was what let them visit various universes and dimensions, picked up customers then return them home. It had, however, done some fairly odd things over the years...
"You think it might do something odd to the Locket," Juri noted.
Setsuna paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "Or it has already. Did you always have a stripper pole over there?" she asked.
Juri blinked, "What..."
Indeed, there WAS not a stripper pole where the kareoke stage was. And several very scantily clad women milling about, over near the Library.
"WHY is there a BAR in my CLUB?" a very annoyed sounding woman declared.
Juri turned, taking in a sexy, purple-red haired woman dressed in a corset, bra, panties and thigh high boots. "Shiori?" Juri blinked.
"Juri-sama?!" Shiori blinked, equally stunned.
Next: Shiori's Rose!
To be continued...
Characters: Katarina Claes, Sophia Ascart, Mary Hunt, Maria Campbell and Anne Shelly are all from My Next Life as a Villainess, All Routes Lead to DOOM, GlaDOS from Portal, Bubbles, Dora and Tai from Questionable Content (webcomic), and Shiori is from Revolutionary Girl Utena,
Cast: Tendo Nabiki is from Ranma 1/2, May is from Hand Maid May, Ryouko and Minagi are from Tenchi Muyo, Setsuna/Sailor Pluto from Sailor Moon and Alpha is from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.
Notes: The 'My Next Life as a Villainess' characters functionally come from a historical Europe with magic, and it's depicted as fairly puritan. People are shocked when Katarina shows some leg at one point. So modern dancing would blow some minds. Re: erotica, there was actually quite a bit floating around the Victorian era. So it's not impossible Sophia could get it, I assume using a middleman.
Over in the Questionable Content webcomic, Dora and Tai got engaged, so I might do a bit here later on their Bachlorette party.
This is a stealth x-over with my fic Sailor Venus and the Quest for Power Ups.