Life after the Party or Picking up Monster Girls

Life after the Party

Or

Picking up Monster Girls

Chapter 12

Christmas Eve - China Star Restaurant - Nick’s P.O.V.

Sitting next to Pinkie I felt more complete than I had in a long time. We had made the move from friends to lovers, and honestly it felt so natural that I didn’t see a problem with it. She still joked, laughed, played around, and all of it just reinforced that this was the kind of person she was. While we sat there, sharing this moment with our friends, I couldn’t help but notice Yuki. The Snow Woman looked defeated. She was wearing clothes suited for summer, and the staff was more than happy to bring her cold things from the menu in order to help her keep her temperature regulated.

I couldn’t help but notice the glances she would give me, and then she would turn away. She seemed to understand that I wasn’t a prize, but I honestly didn’t know how much of that was from her understanding that I was a person as much as she, or anyone else at this table, or if it was because I had chosen Pinkie Pie. The entire idea that it took choosing someone for her to back off felt foreign, but then I had to remember that she came from a completely different culture. Thanks to Ms. Jones I had begun reading up on all of our house guests. I knew that mating with a Snow Woman meant that you were married in their culture, but more than that it seemed that in their culture women tended to be the ones that instigated the relationships. They tended to do the chasing, the asking, and afterward they stepped back into a more reserved, and domesticated, role.

Honestly, a woman being a bit more aggressive wasn’t that big of a deal to him. Regardless, seeing her here like this was bothering him. In truth she had been acting like this for a while now, ever since he and Pinkie had taken that first step together. Which was when Josh talked about a guy that worked in the call center with him that he thought might be a good match Nick, for the first time in his life, played matchmaker and asked Josh to invite him to the dinner.

As he sat listening to the group talking he didn’t seem to notice the new person coming in and taking a seat at the table. He looked down at the person and saw someone that looked very feminine. From what he could see this person was dressed in a skirt, leggings, a fairly nice top, and a jacket that had to be expensive as hell. Nick looked at the person, wondering exactly who they were before Josh let out a laugh.

“Sammy, good to see you!”

Sammy looked at him and laughed, “Well, I figured that coming to a dinner would be fine,” he waved at the rest of us, “So, thanks for the invite.”

I watched as Josh nodded, “No problem, anyway, let me introduce everyone. So, this is Yuki,” he said pointing to her, “Beside me here is Fluttershy, over there is Andrew and beside him is Pamela, and then at the end is Pinkie Pie and Nick.”

Sammy grinned at all of us, “Nice to meet all of you, I’m Sammy.”

Yuki suddenly looked interested, and I watched hoping that little hands on attempt would be for the better and not end up blowing up in our faces.

Yuki’s P.O.V.

Things just became a lot more interesting. Sammy was obviously male, and from what I could see he was unattached. All of the other girls here seemed to have chosen different men, and perhaps this could mean that I had a chance. I took a bite of my shredded tofu skin salad and watched him as he took a slice of orange duck. It was nice that the staff had treated our dinner like a Christmas Dinner and actually brought out a whole prepared duck. Of course as good as it looked I ate the colder dishes.

If there was some of the duck left over, then perhaps I would have some once it cooled off. But at the moment I was far less concerned about the duck as I was the male sitting across from me. He looked at me, and I felt myself blush a little bit. I decided to take a chance and at least start a conversation with him.

“Umm, Hi,” smooth Yuki, smooth, “So you work in the call center too right?”

He nodded, “Yep,” he said before he took a bite of the duck. I watched as he chewed, swallowed, and then smiled, “I actually started with Josh here. Mostly I do tech questions though.”

I smiled, “Oh, so you’re pretty tech savvy then?”

He nodded, “Oh absolutely. I’ve got a bachelor’s in Information Services, and honestly I’m working toward getting a job in the IT department,” he grinned, “I hope that I’m not being out of line here, but you’re a demihuman right?”

I nodded, “I am, I’m a Yuki-Onna, or Snow Woman if you prefer, and honestly it’s fine to ask about it.”

He smiled, “Thanks, I was just hoping that you didn’t mind,” he looked at me, “So Yuki, how do you like everything so far?”

I smiled brightly, “Oh, I’m enjoying everything fairly well. My village is one that migrated from our ancestral home in Japan to the United States, so I’m fairly used some some of the things here,” I said, “Although to be honest we’re located high in the Rocky Mountains, it’s usually nice and cold there all the time.”

He grinned, “So what brought you to Oklahoma?”

I looked at the table, “Well, honestly when we turn eighteen we’re expected to leave the village for a while.”

He looked confused, “You mean like the Amish?”

At that I felt confused, “What do you mean?”

He looked at me and then nodded, “Rumspringa, it’s an Amish rite of passage. In it the younger generation are given permission to go out into the world and interact with it. We…” he sighed, “Guess there’s no hiding it huh?”

I noticed that Josh looked at him, “Dude, you were Amish?”

Sammy nodded, “Yeah, I was. We were given the chance to go out into the world and experience all it had. At that point we were supposed to choose if we wanted to come back into the fold and stay part of the community, or if we wanted to become part of the world at large,” he laughed, “I found out that I just didn’t belong there.”

I looked at him, “I’m sorry,” I said as I offered my hand.

He looked at me, and I felt his hand in my own, “Thank you, but I’ve had time to realize that this was for the best,” he said as he squeezed my hand, “Sure, I miss my family, but I’ve made a lot of new friends that are like family, and I discovered more about myself.”

I took another look at him, and despite how he was dressed, which honestly he certainly could rock a skirt and leggings, he seemed genuine. I found my conversation with him to be light and easy. We just fit together, and our words seemed to mesh just right. We talked through dinner, about fashion, wants, where I came from, what it was like growing up Amish, his degree, my thoughts on a career, and the whole table just seemed to melt away. It was almost as if there was no one else there.

I barely registered the music being played, but Sammy stood up, “Okay, the Christmas Waltz needs to be danced to, so,” he said as looked at me, “May I have this dance?”

I swallowed as I stood and walked toward him, “Okay, to be honest I really haven’t done much waltzing.”

He took my left hand, his right resting on the small of my back, “Just follow my lead, and I promise that you’ll have some fun.”

As Frank Sinatra sang about Christmas I glided across the floor with Sammy. He moved through the dance as fluid and graceful as any dancer I’d ever seen. I felt him dipping me back, and I followed. Raising up I looked into his eyes, and I hoped that what I was seeing was right. I hoped that what was in those lovely blue eyes was an interest in me.

Pinkie’s P.O.V.

Watching Yuki and Sammy I felt happy. She had respected the fact that Nick was my stallion, and I hoped that this worked out for her. Actually, their dancing looked fun, and I grabbed Nick’s hand. He looked at me as I stood, and he followed suit. Sure, this dancing was the kind of boring dancing that they did at the Grand Galloping Gala, but it felt right here. I felt Nick take my hand, his hand resting on my back, although I helped him lower it just a little more, and we began to dance as well.

Sammy’s P.O.V. - Three hours later

The dancing, the dinner, and the company was far more than I expected. I hadn’t been lying when I said that I had found friends that were like family, and Josh was certainly one of them. Although meeting Yuki certainly made me happy that I was bi. She was gorgeous, intelligent, and there was a spark in her that just seemed to make her look more alive. Actually, most of the girls there that night seemed to have a similar spark, but from what I could tell Yuki’s felt familiar.

Maybe it was because she seemed to embody the spirit of Rumspringa itself. That sort of rebellious stage that I had not only went through, but embraced completely. In a way she was like winter itself. There seemed to be a sort of feeling of life around her. It wasn’t like spring, but instead it was something similar to a cold winter night when you felt more alive than anything just because you were experiencing it. That’s the feeling I got from her, and it was a feeling that I wanted to hold onto.

It simply reminded me so much of why I decided to live in the world instead of apart from it. She felt like that reminder, and I wanted to be part of that with her. I looked at her, as she sat in the front of my old Ford Pinto. The mustard colored seats matched the similar colored paint. The car had been something that a kind older man had offered me in trade for working at his farm for a summer. It hadn’t been much, an old 1975 Ford Pinto that had been left to seed, but where most people saw something waiting for the scrap heap I saw potential. I worked that summer, all of it, my first summer out on my own, and during that time I learned more about who I was than I thought possible.

Like anyone I had reservations about stepping past boundaries. I had been raised to be very religious, and I was taught that lust had no place outside of a marriage bed. But being on that farm, working beside the old man, his son, daughter-in-law, and a cousin that had moved in with them I learned that lust was just part of life.

I also learned that I found beauty in both the male and female forms. There’s a wonderful comedian called Ron White that said that everyone’s a little bit gay. He’s right of course. Everyone is to a certain extent. Sure, his example was a little over the top, but it made sense. In my cause I realized that I really liked both just as much. But I also found that I was a person that wanted commitment. I didn’t want to be a side anything. Maybe that was because in this area of my life I felt like I should share it with just a person.

“So, you want me to take you home?” I asked.

She looked at me, I saw her biting her lip, an obvious thought on her mind, “Maybe later, but first, would you mind if maybe we hang out for a little longer?”

I gave her a smile, “Sure.”