Awkward Encounters

You had followed Lisbeth’s instructions and gone to the gate room. This was a restricted area managed by only special clearance individuals within AWIO. As a maintenance worker, part of your job entailed making sure electrical systems within the area were functioning appropriately. Typically, this was done remotely, as the higher-up strictly prohibited personnel around the gate. This was the first time you’d actually seen it in person.

The gate was massive and made from sculpted marble and limestone. Magic runes you couldn’t understand resonated with golden power, and the opening was a swirling black and purple energy. The atmosphere in the room felt…different. The hairs on your body tingled as if affected by static electricity, and a strange sensation welled up within you.

You wondered what kind of place the other world was. Was it terrifying to behold? Was that why so many monster girls decided to make the one way trip? How hard was it to just throw away everything you knew like that? It must’ve been really hard for them. Months ago, you yourself had sought to discard everything and take the plunge. Now, you weren’t so sure.

“Who the hell are you?!”, a woman’s voice suddenly howled out, startling you out of your contemplation. Despite its gruffness, the voice was deep, raspy, and sexy in its own way. You glanced around nervously trying to find the source of the yelling. It didn’t take long for you to see the culprit. Marching directly at you with a murderous look in her golden fiery eyes was some kind of canine monster girl.

She was about the same size as you, but tall compared to the average human woman. She had dark brown-colored skin, pointed black canine ears, and a bushy black tail that stood steady and straight out. Her hair was long and mane-like. Normally, you’d guess a wolf girl, except her eyes were different. Her eyes had a striking fiery gleam to them. From the corners, flames radiated out. It was almost supernatural and unlike any wolf girl you had ever seen before.

She was approaching quickly, and you hated to admit just how intimidating her approach was. Your fight-or-flight instincts were screaming as this demon hound marched toward you.

“M-me?”, you stammered stupidly while pointing to yourself. You were so caught off guard by her sudden aggression that your brain had stopped working correctly.

“Yes, you! Are you stupid or something?!” she snarled while prodding you menacingly with one of her sharp claws. You could feel the power behind it. Her eyes drove daggers into you as if she was fishing for anything suspicious.

You managed to regain some of your composure. “I’m Jim, f-from maintenance. L-lisbeth sent me to check the gate functionality after the breach. Who are you?”, you said almost reflexively.

“I’m AWIO security. Can’t you fucking read?”, she spat while gesturing to her badge. No longer so stunned from her initial outburst and canine features, you finally became aware of her uniform. It was what you’d expect: a smart button-up collared gray-blue shirt. It was clean and neat, but the buttons were open lower than you figured would be considered professional. Not that you were complaining about the view of her cleavage. Under that was a gray-blue skirt held in place with a tactical belt. You assumed the skirt was chosen because of her canine lower legs and feet.

Below her knees was covered in her onyx fur. Her thighs were thick and flawless. The skirt left no doubt about the shapely nature of her backside as it dug into her hips. She had a radio on her belt but no firearm. Either it was a policy decision, or the intimidating woman didn’t need one. You figured it might be both.

She grabbed your badge lanyard without asking. The **** of the pull yanked your head and neck down and caused you to lean in close to her face. You managed to look down at her badge long enough to read her name “Cerena”, it said. You heard a short growling sound and looked back up to see her eyes blazing with anger.

“Damn it!”, you thought. She must’ve assumed you were looking down her shirt at that angle. The look she gave you was making you sweat.

She held your gaze just a few inches from her face while still holding a firm grip on your badge. Being this close, you couldn’t help but catch the faint scent of jasmine and campfire. Then you heard a mewling sound and saw a wrinkle of her nose. She…sniffed you!

Her eyes changed briefly. They weren’t any less intense, but the passion in them was… a different energy somehow. Her face flushed and she licked her lips. Her tail was tucked and her ears were flat now, and she was drawing her face dangerously close to yours. She met your gaze at first, but began to lower her eyes as she unabashedly took in more of your scent. She licked her plump chocolate lips again, and for a moment you thought she might kiss you.

“Uh…am I clear to proceed?”, you asked nervously.

Cerena seemed to snap out of whatever was happening to her. She clicked her tongue and released her grip, pushing you back in the process. “Fine. You check out.”, she grunted in annoyance. “Get to it.” She started to walk away with her tail still tucked before she added, “And don’t forget, I have my eye on you…Jim from maintenance.”

“I understand…”, you said in a gruff voice. “...Cerena.”

She froze for a moment. Her hair began to rise as if affected by electricity. She shifted her legs unsteadily, and you swore she was inspecting you up and down like a piece of meat before clicking her tongue once more and walking away.

At this point, you were sweating bullets, but you shook your head and got to work. You were silently hoping that was the last heated encounter with one of these monster girls you would have that day.

Thankfully, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. You went over every inch of the electronics systems in the room and found nothing wrong. You tried to see if the other workers knew anything about what had happened, but apparently a surge had wiped out the camera systems when whatever passed through the gate came through. Other than the enigma, the systems were functioning as they should. The work was benign.

Cerena, on the other hand, had apparently decided you were suspicious or something as she frequently checked in on your progress. She would silently walk into the room and stand close to you. She never said anything beyond the occasional demand for an update, but her distance was way too familiar for you to not notice. It didn’t help that her…smelling of you was becoming more and more obvious. If you showed any signs of noticing, Cerena would quickly stomp off. It was weird, but you powered your way through the awkwardness.

You finished up for the day and went to make your report to Lisbeth. Your supervisor was in her office going through log sheets for inventory. She almost looked too adorable when she had her focused work face on. She must have noticed you in the doorway, and she gestured for you to bring her your report without looking up. You walked over to her desk and placed your report next to her.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, boss. I checked all the systems and back ups. The portal is functioning normally. The only thing we lost was some camera footage from when the incident occurred. Unfortunately, I have no idea what caused it.”, you spoke in a firm tone that was all business.

You may be a closet alcoholic and medicated for depression, but you were an expert at what you did. That calm authoritative way you presented yourself when talking about something in your wheelhouse was apparently what had attracted Stephanie to you in the first place.

“Good work, Jim,” Lisbeth said to you with a smile. After taking in a deep breath, her expression changed to one of annoyance. She stood up from her seat and got uncomfortably close to you. From this distance, you could really notice the difference in your sizes. She looked down intensely into your eyes.

“Security giving you problems?” Her voice was cold. You looked up at the fearsome minotaur girl in front of you. Your face was nearly buried in her massive chest. She was so close now.

“C-Cerena from portal security was overseeing me while I was in the restricted area.”, you managed to stammer. “It was no big deal.”

You noticed Lisbeth’s pupils began to dilate and her breathing increased. Her hands had clenched tightly, but you had no idea why she was getting so angry. Lisbeth bent down, wrapped a muscular arm around the back of your neck, pulling your face into her chest and smelled your hair deeply. She made no attempt at being subtle, nor did she regard your feelings on the matter.

“Um, isn’t this workplace harassment?”, you said with a muffled voice. You were trying desperately to quell whatever was going on with some levity. As if coming to her senses about her behavior, Lisbeth snorted and straightened back up.

“Fine. Sorry. T-thanks for your hard work today. I’ll see you tomorrow, and don’t be late.” Lisbeth stammered. Then she turned away with a red face, refusing to look at you. Was she mad or embarrassed? You were completely confused by what had happened.

You started to leave while trying to understand what was going on with that reaction. As you got to the door, Lisbeth called out, “Oh. Jim?”

“Yes, boss?”, you replied in a bewildered tone.

“Make sure you shower properly today. You smell like a dog.”

You nodded and left her office quickly. You headed towards the locker room to grab your stuff.

“What the hell is going on today?!”, you wondered on the walk home. Lisbeth had always had her flirty moments, but she was almost scary today. Not to mention the strange behavior of Cerena. She was acting way too familiar.

You recalled the soft feeling of Lisbeth’s chest and the clingy behavior of Cerena. The events of the day, muddled with your **** need for a drink and probably some physical relief after all the stimulation, left you exhausted.

When you managed to get home, you realized how starving you were. All the chaos of the breach meant you never had a chance to eat lunch. Opening your duffel bag, you pulled out the leftovers that were sitting on top of your dirty clothes.

After that, you shed your current outfit and almost collapsed onto your bed. You had planned to watch some porn on your phone to jerk off, but you were apparently more tired than you knew. Sleep soon gripped you as the exhaustion of the day took its toll.