John looked at the sign with disbelief. “Isn’t that the username you always use?” he wanted know. “And if ‘Ja’, coincidence or not?”

“Ja and not a coincidence,” Rave said and looked at the line in front of the entrance. Aside from the giant sign spelling out the name in neon letters, the building looked rather boring, just a brick building with black tinted windows. Judging by the people vanishing down some stairs, John deduced that the actual club was underground. “I always wanted to go here; it’s supposed to be the best club in the Abyss. Would dance it off, then pull some pretty boy off the dance floor, fuck him, shower, repeat.”

“I thought you didn’t sleep around a lot before me,” John said in a slightly hurt tone. He didn’t particularly like the image that was being conjured here.

“Ya KNOW that I didn’t sleep around before ya,” she bopped him on the nose and winked; “Ya saw my sex scores. Doesn’t mean this pretty girl can’t have a slutty vacation plan, ya know I was a bit of a perv before ya.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, standing on her toes, she whispered into his ear, “Happy to bring a boy with me on the dancefloor instead though, especially one so pretty,” and planted a kiss on his cheek. John had no further complaints. He was happy to be easily pleased sometimes.

“Seriously, can we address for a fucking second that John keeps getting hotter by the day!?” Eliza, who had enough of just watching them flirt, intervened while also angrily eyeing the crowd around them, as if the pure existence of these people was enough to justify an angry rant.

“It’s because I raised Charisma,” John, who already had this conversation, quickly summarized what he found the most probable explanation, “but it’s just slowly increasing because I am only 18 so I can still grow and stuff. I am also another centimetre taller, if you care about that.”

“I do, stop growing the fuck away from me!” the blood mage complained from her head level at his shoulders. “I need to jump to kiss you, that’s so fucking unfair!”

“He smells less good,” Nia voiced a whole different complaint.

“Yeah, sorry about that; Nathalia walked off without ever telling anyone where she got that body oil from, so I am currently going through different substitutes until I find something as good,” John explained, causing every single one of the girls to send a mental hate-prayer to the missing dragoness. “Anyway, we should get inside,” the only good smelling Gamer changed topics.

“With that line, it will take hours, Master,” Aclysia informed them. That was a factual observation. “I suggest we go for a lesser known club after all.”

“Noooo,” Rave declared, “I wanted to go in there for forever!”

“Mistress, I have to point out that we are looking at… a lot of people,” the weaponized maid kept saying.

“Mhm, I don’t feel like standing in line for hours in this cold…” John began but, upon seeing his girlfriend push forward her lower lip, stopped himself to think about this more carefully. It was so unfair when she pouted, the pinkness of her lower lip, bigger than the upper one, cutely folded outwards and leaving John with a pull at his heartstrings that he knew wouldn’t go away until he pleased her in some way. “You have me totally by the ropes, you know that?”

“Yu-p,” Rave’s face bloomed into a smile after popping the last syllable of her answer, “but it goes two ways, so it’s fine! I think that’s how having a relationship works.”

“Something like that, I guess,” John shrugged. They were happy, so it might as well have been. Then again, as a couple in a successful polyamory (rather widespread, one-sided polyamory on top of that) maybe they weren’t exactly normal. Actually, it was pretty much guaranteed that they weren’t normal.

The Gamer scanned the crowd from above for quick ways to get in. There was an obvious way, to just cut the line and bribe the guy keeping the gate. However, that was baseline going to be rude, and if it didn’t work, it would also be embarrassing. John didn’t want to act that way and had to admit that the thought of that becoming his public image was a rather strong reinforcement not to do it.

For Rave he kept that plan at the back of his head, to be enacted if there was no other way. “Hey, Eliza, your nose still works like some kind of supreme super dog’s, right?” he asked.

“Yes, are you calling me a bitch?” Eliza said and gave him a very much lewd smile.

“You are MY bitch, so just follow orders,” John said with a raunchy grin; “Do you smell anyone specifically to which the description ‘sweaty, smoky and minorly covered in alcohol’ fits?”

She did, and John rewarded her with a quick kiss on the lips before they followed after her, around the crowd and into an alleyway where the clubs kept their side entrances where vehicles parked to restock the establishments.

The goal was to find someone, preferably important, currently on a smoking break and bribe them while unseen instead. Would make the whole thing less public and potentially easier. Who they found was a man-bear hybrid, with a furred (otherwise naked) chest out of which human arms reached, the brown fuzz slowly fading over the course of his enormous biceps. His head was that off a bear, and he puffed smoke into the air and then took another hit from his thick cigar. It was a fascinating picture.

‘Jackpot,’ John thought, noting the bracket after the guild name. As the N.T.C. was the local governing guild, that probably meant that they were subservient to them in contract or something else to that extend.

“Excuse me, Barend,” John said as he and his group approached. They were greeted by a large cloud of smoke blocking their view as the man-bear exhaled a deep reservoir of the scratching mist from his lungs. It stunk of tobacco, and Eliza growled angrily before Sylph materialized.

“Scratchy smoke, evil smoke, blown by ball of fur, evil smoke, goodbye smoke. Hurra. Hurray. Huzza!” she palavered as she gathered the whole cloud in a small ball and then dispersed it up above.

“Bogger off, I am on my br-“ the bear started but then realized who he was talking to. “…Are you… you lot where in the tournament.”

“Well, I was, she was,” he pointed at Rave, “she was,” he pointed at Eliza, “and she was,” he pointed at Nia, “but Aclysia here wasn’t, why don’t you introduce yourself Aclysia?”

The weaponized maid took a few steps towards the bartender and then bowed her upper body slightly, “At once, Master. My name is Aclysia, and if you cover my beloved John in smoke one more time, there will be consequences.” The threat was barely veiled behind her calm expression and nice words. It didn’t help that she was holding the salver-dagger, having appeared in her hand when she had wished for it.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” John hastily got in there, walking up to Aclysia’s side, patting her head. Letting his hand glide through her silky hair, he noticed that she had picked lavender for today. “Sorry, she gets overprotective sometimes,” he apologized while his artificial guardian was pacified by the hand on her head.

“It’s fine,” Barend dropped the only one quarter smoked cigar and stomped it out with his boots. He did at least wear thick pants and heavy boots. “What do you want?”

“Can’t ya guess?” Rave asked; “It’s cold and we want in!”

The bartender looked pretty relieved at that, “Oh, you just want to skip the line. Okay then: No.”

“Sorry, but no won’t do,” John shook his head; “What would I have to do for you to let us in right now? Money? A favour? Name it and I will see what I can do.”

“Sorry lad, but there is no way I will let you in, not only because it would be unfair but also because I don’t think we can organize five rooms that quickly,” the bartender said.

“Oh, we will only need one. Best if it has a big bed and a jacuzzi in the bathroom though,” John announced casually and saw wrinkles appear in the bears forehead as his black eyes jumped over everyone behind him.

“These girls must have a lot of patience to wait for their turn,” Barend grumbled.

“I have no fucking patience whatsoever and have been as horny as shit since even entering this porn-set of a street. Let us in before I test the question whether cooked bear meat really stinks like a gas attack for myself,” Eliza exploded in his face.

“I just wanna dance,” Rave complained.

“I am really bored,” Metra yawned, “but he also doesn’t seem strong enough to be a challenge. So, dancing would do.”

“Mhm, Master,” Aclysia sighed softly as he caressed the back of her head.

Nia suddenly stormed forwards and pat the bear-man. The moment she did it was as if a giant load had fallen off her unmoving shoulders. “Could not hold back no more,” she stated as she scratched the bartender behind the ears.

“What are you…” Barend started in an aggressive tone, but it was soon replaced with ease and relaxation. “Oh god… this is heaven…” As the patting continued he seemed to fall more and more into a state of trance.

‘Welp,’ John thought, ‘can’t say I saw this coming.’ “Good job, Nia, keep patting him.” She just nodded, not like he needed to tell her something this obvious. This bear man was a big fluffy beast after all. “So, what do you say, you are going to let us in if she keeps patting you for a bit?”

“Sure, whatever, as long as you all really just take one room,” the bartender answered in a mellow voice.

“Does it have a jacuzzi? This is important,” John asked. If there was one thing he loved then it was sitting in a jacuzzi, having a girl ride on his dick. Of course, these things were also great on their own, but combined they became awesome. Added bonus if he got a shoulder massage in the process.

“It does have a jacuzzi… okay, come with me; if she continues patting me, I will die of over-relaxation!” the bartender freed himself from the yoke of patting, and Nia made a miserable little squealing sound in her throat, none of her facial features shifting in the slightest. “Okay… five more minutes,” Barend lowered his head again.

Ten minutes later they entered the club through the back entrance. “Where the hell were you so long? You have a five minute smoke break, not an eternity!” somebody complained but then looked at John and his people following the bartender. “Who the hell are those.”

“Just a VIP,” (the P stood for pat-giver), “and some of her friends, get them a room.” The employee opened her mouth. “YES, just ONE room,” Barend barked at him, “I need to get back to my bar. You take care of that.”

“Well, come with me then,” the employee, a brunette elf in her apparent twenties (which other elves would probably have marked down as her looking like a fifty year old), guided them to the front desk. It was a bit weird to enter a building’s lobby from the working area, as the former was made to look as appealing as possible and the latter had dirty plates standing on barely cared for tables where the working people took their hastened meals in their breaks. There was a rather apparent difference in appearances.

Anyway, there were some people in the lobby who looked at him funny, but they either didn’t care enough or knew better than to ask what was happening. Through the glass doors, John could see the masses outside being guided down one of two flights of stairs. They split left and right from a walkway that ended at the desk he was now on the correct side off.

John looked at the floor with interest. There was a party of international fame going on underneath his feet, and yet he didn’t feel a single tremor from the bass or hear a single tone. Magical fuckery, obviously, but still interesting.

Barely registering the price (he just knew it was a lot, not that it mattered since he could basically print money), they went up to their room. John just wanted to check on what/where exactly they would retreat to when they retreated.

The answer was pleasant in multiple ways. First, it was situated just two doors down from the elevator that connected every floor. Second, it was on the 10th of the ten floors, meaning they had a nice view. Third, it did have a bed big enough for all of them, as long as the elementals didn’t want to cuddle as well. Fourth, it had a spacious bathroom with the promised jacuzzi.

Both Stirwin and Copernicus jumped out of their item forms, racing for a cushioned basket for animals sitting in one corner of the room. Of course, the cat outran the crocodile, and so Copernicus purred mockingly as he rolled himself together on the cushion, keeping one clawed paw out as a deterrent for the hatchling who slowly backed away.

“Ya not coming with me into the club, Cappy?” Rave asked, disrobing and throwing all of her clothes on the floor. Once naked she had Aclysia get out her clothes (the maid was carrying everyone’s luggage in her inventory after all) and looked at everything to pick something more fitting for dancing. John also left his hat and vest here; he had no problem going down there in a white shirt and suit pants, but the full set might have seen a bit too pretentious.

“No, too much noise, I will be sleeping here,” Copernicus declared and lowered his paw as Stirwin got picked up by Undine.

“Want to hang out with me in the jacuzzi?” she asked in her sing-song voice. The little crocodile’s snout eagerly waved up and down as he nodded.

“I’m staying here as well,” Gnome declared; “I don’t want to be… too many people and… yeah.”

“I will be waiting in bed for my master,” Aclysia said, “and take care of those staying if they so desire.” In short, people who didn’t want to dance at least wouldn’t be bored.

“I will check it out,” Eliza shrugged, “the fuck could go wrong?”

“You could break somebody,” John suggested; he didn’t feel the need to specify a bone or something else, it was entirely possible she could just break someone in their entirety. “Just stick close to me, just in case.”

“I am coming too,” Salamander declared. Sylph added her willingness to go along in so many words that she was talking about Hawaii by the end of it. Nia just attached herself to John, grabbing his arm without further commentary. Metra and Rave had already said they wanted to go.

“What about you, Siena?” John asked his shadow.

The nightmare elemental stuck her head out of her usual hiding place, “Go to a place where lots of artificial lights are flickering all over the place? I would much rather get bent over a stool and spanked by my next victim.” That was a clear denial.

Thus, the group parted either to check out the dancefloor or hang out in the room.