Best of Both Worlds

Best of Both Worlds

by George Glass

Dedication: For my long-time friend and alpha- and beta-reader, Jomahawk.

Summary: While relaxing with Mira and Zoey at the bathhouse, Rumi inadvertently summons the spirit of Jinu. He brings along a couple of friends who are both familiar and new.

- - -

“Oh yeahhhh, this is nice,” Mira said, leaning her head back against the wide lip of the hot tub. 

“Definitely,” Zoey sighed. The young Korean-American rapper looked over at the purple-haired Rumi and added, “You know, even after we start our tour, we can keep doing this as much as we want. There’s at least one good bathhouse in every city we’re going to.”

“Good,” Rumi said, leaning back a little farther to get more of her shoulders under the warm water. Smiling, she sighed, “It’s like I can feel every muscle in my body loosening up…”

“Hey, speaking of muscles,” Mira said, brushing a wet strand of her red-dyed hair off her face, “what do you think of our chances of meeting any decent guys on this tour?”

“Honestly,” Zoey replied, “probably not great. It’s like you meet someone nice in one city, but the next day you’re in another city, or even another country.”

“Or else it’s a guy who’s on the tour with you,” Rumi said. “But then you’re basically dating a coworker.”

“Hmmm, I’d think about it, though,” Mira said. “We’ve had some pretty hot crew guys.”

“True,” Zoey agreed. “I mean, I like the pretty boys, but there’s nothing wrong with a big, hunky roadie.”

Mira gave a low chuckle. “You ever have that fantasy about a bunch of roadies doing you all at once?”

“You say ‘that fantasy,’” Zoey retorted, “like it’s a totally normal thing that anyone would have.” Then she looked down into the water, failing to suppress her impish smile as she added, “But yes.”

“I’d be fine with just one roadie,” Rumi said. “Or one guy, generally. One high-quality guy…Someone who’s nice, and smart, and fun…and has a nice body…and, you know…girth…” She covered her mouth and giggled.

“Oh, is girth what you’re into?” Mira asked gleefully.

“Wow, we’re on the same wavelength there,” replied Zoey, who somehow looked both excited and dreamy. “Who needs long when you can have thick? I mean, not that long doesn’t have its perks, too…”

“Oh yeah, definitely some perks,” Mira said.

Rumi was about to elaborate on her preferred size and shape when there was a strange disturbance under the water: bubbles rising up from the center of the tub.

Wait, Rumi thought, this is an old-style hot tub. It doesn’t make bubbles.

Something broke the surface: a black-haired head, and then a bare torso, rising up out of the water.

Heedless of her own nudity, Mira leaped to her feet with a splash, and her woldo polearm appeared instantly in her hands. She pointed the tip of the weapon’s curved blade at the chest of the man who now stood to his full height in the middle of the tub, his hips at the water line. 

Zoey screamed “Eeek!” and thrust herself back against the wooden hot-tub wall behind her, her eyes huge as she looked at the intruder with alarm. She didn’t summon her shin-kal daggers, but her hands were raised in readiness.

Unlike her two comrades, Rumi hadn’t reacted physically at all. She’d been too puzzled by the sudden appearance of this male body in the water—and by its odd familiarity. She was so stunned, in fact, that it took her a moment to recognize the handsome young man who now stood before her in the opaque water.

“Jinu?” she exclaimed.

“Uh, yes,” he said, looking at Rumi and then quickly looking away; apparently, he hadn’t expected to find her naked, even if the cloudy water concealed her body from the neck down.

“Whoa,” Zoey said, slowly lowering her arms back under the water as she looked at the shirtless young man—and his perfect, unmarked skin. “Your patterns are gone.”

Jinu looked down at himself in surprise. 

“I suppose,” he replied slowly, “it’s because I’m not a demon anymore.” He glanced at Rumi and her patterned skin and added, “Not even part demon. Which I guess is why I haven’t been able to take corporeal form since the concert; I don’t have the power of the underworld behind me anymore. I had no idea what I would look like.”

“How did you get here?” Rumi asked. “I thought you were…well, I didn’t really know, but I thought you weren’t coming back.”

“I meant it literally when I said I was giving you my soul,” Jinu replied. “It’s been bound to yours ever since.”

“Why didn’t I know that?” Rumi demanded. “Why haven’t I seen you until now?”

Awkwardly, Jinu replied, “As I understand it, it’s because, well, you have to be in a specific…state of mind, to summon me.”

Mira had remained standing throughout this exchange, woldo at the ready. Now, the tightness in Mira’s mouth gave way to a hint of a smile. The naked girl lowered her weapon, although she kept it in hand.

“State of mind?” Rumi replied, her brows knitting. “What do you-?”

“I think,” Mira interrupted, “he means he appeared because you’re horny.”

“Oh my gosh,” Zoey said, then put her hands over her mouth and giggled.

“It’s not just that,” Jinu said quickly. He looked at Rumi. “It’s also because you’re at peace with yourself.” He looked down at the patterns on her arms and added, “You’re literally comfortable in your own skin.”

Mira’s woldo vanished, but the red-haired singer remained standing and defiantly naked as she asked, “Do we need to give you guys some privacy?”

Rumi was about to say yes when Jinu looked at Mira and Zoey and said, “Actually, I have a couple of friends who’d like to meet the two of you.”

“Really?” Zoey blurted.

“Sorry to be blunt,” Mira said, not sounding particularly sorry, “but didn’t we kill all your ‘friends’?”

“I don’t mean demons,” Jinu replied. “Let me show you.”

Her brow furrowed, Mira replied, “‘kay.”

There was more bubbling in the water: small bubbles to Jinu’s left and big ones to his right. The small bubbles were followed by a splash as a black bird with six yellow eyes burst out of the water, while a big blue tiger with yellow-orange eyes arose from below where the big bubbles had been. The bird landed on a handrail by the door to the private hot tub room and flapped its wings to dry them. The tiger leaped out of the water, splashing everyone, and landed next to the tub. The creature’s big, wet paws slipped and slid comically on the wooden deck for a few seconds before the tiger managed to steady itself.

Their eyes narrowing with uncertainty, Mira and Zoey looked at the animals, then each other, then Jinu.

“Uhhh,” Mira said, “I don’t know what you think we’re into, but…”

“Oh, hang on a sec,” Jinu replied. Then he turned to the bird and tiger and said, “Guys, how about you take your human forms?”

The magpie fluttered down to the wooden floor—then, in an instant, grew into a tall, slender man. Straight, matte-black hair came down to his shoulders from beneath the wide brim of his black hat. His long black robe was open above his black trousers, revealing a well-toned chest and a set of perfectly sculpted abs. He had only two eyes now instead of six, but they were the same piercing yellow as before. The man looked down at Mira—not at her naked body but at her face, which surprised her.

“Hi,” he said, kneeling to put his head closer to the level of Mira’s. “I’m Sussie.”

Ignoring the weirdness of the name, Mira found her eyes flicking from his face to his abs and back again as she said, “You’re…a guy?”

“Sometimes,” Sussie replied, shrugging. “Sometimes I’m a girl. Mostly I’m a bird. It’s a spirit thing.”

At the same time, the big blue cat also transformed into a man. He couldn’t have looked much more different from Sussie; whereas the magpie-turned-man was tall and slim, the tiger-turned-man was nearly a head shorter and at least twice as wide. His brown hair was short, thick, and a bit curly. His ankle-length robe was blue and fuzzy, much like his fur had been, making it look more like a cozy bathrobe than a ceremonial garment. The robe was held closed by a thick, fuzzy sash tied in a bow.

But what really caught Zoey’s attention was the man’s eyes. They were the same shade of brown as his hair, but with flecks of the yellow and orange that his cat-eyes had featured.

“Hi,” he said to Zoey, waving down at her and smiling a bit goofily. “I’m Derpy.”

Zoey quirked an eyebrow. “Your name is Derpy?”

The man sat down cross-legged at the edge of the tub and replied, “Well, my name’s actually-” he made a leonine growling sound “-but a lot of humans have trouble pronouncing it.”

God, he’s weird, Zoey thought. Then, looking at his broad smiling face, she thought, But he’s cute.

“So, you’re not a demon?” Zoey asked.

“Nah,” Derpy replied. “Me an’ Suss help keep the world of the living connected to the spirit world.” He shrugged and added, “It’s a decent job. Hey, mind if I get in the tub? That warm water looks nice now that I don’t have fur.”

Slightly thrown, Zoey replied, “Uh, yeah, okay.”

Zoey’s eyes locked on the big guy as he stood up and untied the sash of his robe.

What does he have on under there? she wondered. Maybe nothing. What if he’s wearing nothing? If it’s nothing, then I won’t be able to keep from looking at his dick. What’s it going to look like? What if it’s huge? What if it’s tiny? Jeez, what if it has barbs on it like a cat’s?

But all these questions went unanswered, because Derpy shrugged off his robe and jumped into the hot tub in practically the same instant. Instead of getting a look at his endowment, Zoey—and everyone else in the tub—got a faceful of water as Derpy splashed down like a space capsule.

“Sorry,” the big guy said, handing the sputtering Zoey a washcloth. “I’m not quite as graceful in this form.” He blushed a bit as he added, “Uh, what I really mean is, I’m even less graceful in this form.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Zoey replied. “At least, nobody is everyone else’s idea of perfect. Not even pop stars.”

“Huh,” Derpy replied. “I like that.”

A bit teasingly, Zoey asked, “So, what are you good at?”

“Well, I’m kinda okay at this.”

He leaned down and kissed her. Zoey had a fleeting thought that jumping to kissing seemed a bit sudden—especially given that the two of them were naked—yet she found herself reaching up to put her arms around his neck and kiss him back. His big arms went around her, gently holding her against him.

Derpy pulled his lips from hers and smiled at her. Zoey looked at him, panting a little.

“I’d say you’re very okay at that,” she breathed. “Let’s do it some more.”

Rumi looked at Jinu, who had come to sit beside her in the tub, and said, “I can’t believe you’re here. I really thought I’d never see you again.”

“I wasn’t sure you would,” Jinu said. “When I gave you my soul, I kind of thought…well, I didn’t know what would happen.”

Rumi put her hand on his cheek and replied, “But you did it anyway. You saved me. You saved everyone.”

She leaned forward and kissed him. He put his arms around her bare back as he returned her kiss.

Now sitting down in the tub again, Mira was still looking at Sussie with a certain amount of disbelief—in part because he’d somehow slipped out of his robe and into the hot tub to sit next to her when Mira had her eyes closed against Derpy’s big splash—but also with a modicum of lust. There was something about the bird-man’s face and body that really did it for her, and it wasn’t just his six-pack.

Feeling bold, Mira moved close to Sussie. When her hip came up against his, she could tell right away that he wasn’t wearing anything down there, which made her feel even bolder.

“You meet a lot of naked girls in your line of work?” Mira asked, putting her face inches from his.

“No,” Sussie replied. “And yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“Being a link to this world means being a link to everything in it,” Sussie explained. “Naked girls included. Also trees, rivers, walruses, rice cakevendors, you name it. I won’t bore you with the details.”

“Hmm,” Mira replied. “Are there any non-boring details?”

Sussie cracked a thin smile, then put his arm around Mira’s shoulders.

“Being connected to the world,” he said, “includes being connected to you. Which doesn’t mean that I can read your mind, but it does give me a sense of what you’re drawn to.”

“Oh yeah?” Mira said. “What’s your ‘sense’ telling you now?”

With a glint in his yellow eye, Sussie replied, “It’s telling me that I should do this.”

He moved close to her, took her hand beneath the water, and put it on his washboard stomach. Then, as she began to caress it, he leaned over and kissed her.

Zoey and Derpy, meanwhile, had moved side by side. Zoey was feeling the urge to kiss the big guy some more, but she wanted to get to know him a little better first.

“So,” she asked, “how come your bird friend wears all those clothes in human form, and you just wear a bathrobe?”

“Uh, comfort, I guess,” Derpy replied. “I don’t use this form a lot, and not having fur always feels a little weird. The fuzzy robe helps.”

“Ah,” Zoey said, nodding.

“Also, Jinu actually made that hat for me, but Sussie kept grabbing it. He’s kind of a klepto when he’s a magpie. But it’s okay; I’m not really a hat guy.” He put a hand on Zoey’s face, smiled dorkily, and added, “I’m kind of a you guy, though.”

“Wow, you are a big old cheeseball,” Zoey said, chuckling. She smiled and added, “Good thing I like cheese.”

She leaned forward and gave Derpy a kiss on the lips. The big guy grinned, then kissed her back.

A bit awkwardly, Jinu said to the group, “Sorry to interrupt, but just a note here: None of us are human, so you don’t have to worry about, you know, human stuff, like pregnancy and VD.”

“We call them STIs now,” Rumi interjected.

A bit defensively, Jinu replied, “I thought I was doing pretty well with ‘VD.’ It’s tricky staying current when you’ve been living in the underworld for four centuries. I had to work pretty hard just to keep track of the rise of K-pop.”

“Sorry,” Rumi said. “I don’t really know what it was like for you in the underworld.”

“It’s okay,” Jinu replied. He took a deep breath and went on, “I shouldn’t be so testy. Not being a demon anymore might be a step up, but it’s still a big change. Probably kind of like becoming a famous pop star.”

Rumi nodded, then said, “I’d like to talk more about that…later.”

Jinu grinned and replied, “Yeah, later.”

He kissed Rumi, who put her arms around him, then moved onto his lap facing him and wrapped her legs around him, too.

The kissing was gentle at first but quickly became more passionate. Rumi’s hands eagerly roamed Jinu’s back, exploring him, while his arms held her body close against his.

Mira and Sussie, too, were making out in earnest. As Mira’s hands traveled the length and breadth of the wiry man’s back, Sussie moved his hands from Mira’s back to her front to gently fondle her breasts. Mira moaned into his mouth, then broke off the kiss and put her lips to his ear.

“Does your ‘sense’ tell you that I like having my tits touched?” she murmured. “Because it’s right.”

His voice breathy, Sussie replied, “I can feel desire in your skin. A kind of…eagerness, a burning. And that’s one of the places where it’s strongest.”

Mira blinked. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of anyone being able to read her like that.

But I guess it’s not my mind he’s reading, she thought. It’s my body. And if he’s going to use that to make me feel good, maybe I shouldn’t get in my own way. I do that way too much.

Mira took a breath and said, “Then can you tell what I want you to do next?”

“I think I can,” Sussie replied. “But you’ll need to get a bit more of yourself out of the water.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m shy,” Mira said, and stood up.

Zoey broke off her kiss with Derpy and, with a giggle, climbed onto the big man’s lap, straddling it. Derpy grinned at her and put his thick arms around her. Then, as they resumed kissing, he moved his big hands down her back to her ass and gave it a squeeze. Zoey made a lusty giggle in Derpy’s mouth; she loved having her bottom touched when she was as aroused as she was becoming. And it seemed that Derpy was getting randier, too, because Zoey could feel his cock hardening beneath her.

Omigosh, she thought, is he big down there, too? I think he is!

Rumi and Jinu were now kissing with immense ardor. Rumi was breathing hard through her nose, and her chest heaved as she pressed her body firmly against her lover’s.

Beneath the water, Rumi’s hand landed on Jinu’s thigh, then moved up until it found his hardening member. As she began caressing it gently, Jinu’s own hand went between Rumi’s thighs and began to finger her sex. Rumi gasped with pleasure.

Wow, he really knows what he’s doing, she thought, opening her legs wider for him. I guess a guy can learn a lot in four hundred years.

Rumi’s eyes half closed as she enjoyed this treatment. But her eyes popped wide open when the young man suddenly ducked under the water.

“Jinu, what are you- OH!” Rumi cried as she felt him put his face between her thighs and thrust his tongue inside her.

Taking her cue from Zoey, Mira had sat down on Sussie’s lap, facing him. Now, she had both arms around Sussie’s head and was moaning softly as the man tongued her left nipple with exquisite delicacy and skill.

“Oh fuck,” she panted. “You really do know what I like.”

Sussie didn’t reply, other than to put his hand on Mira’s right breast, grasp her erect nipple between his long fingers, and begin tugging it gently in the same rhythm with which he now sucked her other nipple. Mira groaned, her head falling back as her eyes rolled back in her head.

As Zoey could easily tell by feel, Derpy’s cock was now fully hard, its upper surface pressing against the crack of Zoey’s well-toned ass. Continuing to kiss the big guy, Zoey began to shift her hips forward and back, massaging his member with her pussy. 

Derpy made a lusty chuckle into Zoey’s mouth and then put his big hands on her ass to help her move. In doing so, he also spread her asscheeks open—something that had always turned Zoey on. She kissed Derpy more eagerly and squeezed his torso with her well-toned legs.

Rumi was gasping and moaning as Jinu ate her out beneath the water—until his oral attentions abruptly stopped, and he broke the surface with a splash, panting for breath.

“I guess…” he gasped, “there’s a limit…to how long…I can hold…my breath…in this form…”

Rumi actually had no idea how long Jinu had been down there; once his agile tongue had begun pleasuring her, she’d lost all track of time. But she knew what she wanted now.

She didn’t try to kiss the still-panting Jinu; she just moved close to him, reached down under the water, and found his cock. It was so hard that there was no missing it. 

“I want you inside me,” she said breathily.

Jinu took her hand, sat down on the bench under the water, and pulled Rumi to him. She got the hint and sat down on his lap, straddling him the way Zoey was straddling Derpy. Then she took hold of Jinu’s member again, put its head to her entrance, and eased down onto it.

“Ohhhhh, yesssss…” Jinu breathed.

“Oooooh…” Rumi sighed. Then, as she settled on Jinu’s thighs, she murmured in his ear, “You’re a perfect fit…”

Slowly, she began moving up and down, bobbing like a buoy on a gently swelling sea.

Mira’s fingers were winding in Sussie’s long black hair as the man masterfully sucked and tongued her nipples while also fingering her black-haired pussy. (Mira had never felt any need to make the carpet match the drapes.) She was loving it, but the sensations were starting to overwhelm her. Then Sussie stopped and raised his face to look at hers.

“Why don’t we get out of this tub?” he said.

Mira could tell from his tone that he wasn’t suggesting putting an end to things. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“Yeah,” Mira replied, panting. “Me first.”

She put her hands on the edge of the tub and climbed out. Then, from a peg on the wall, she grabbed a thick Turkish towel and laid it on the wooden deck. She lay down on it on her side, looking expectantly at Sussie. 

The tall, slim man got out of the tub, and now Mira got her first look at his erect member. It wasn’t the girthiest Mira had ever seen, but it might have been the longest, which made Mira shudder with anticipation. And then, before she knew it, she was rolling onto her back and opening her legs. 

With a lusty, toothy smile, Sussie got down on his knees between Mira’s parted ones. Mira spread them wider and put her hands on his shoulders, pulling Sussie down on top of her.

“Want to put it in for me?” Sussie breathed.

“Just try and stop me,” Mira replied.

She reached down and grasped his long member by its base, his pubic hair as soft as feathers against the bottom of her hand. Then she put the head at her entrance, which seemed to ache for more than mere contact. An ache that Sussie immediately relieved by thrusting into her.

“Aaaahhh, fuck!” Mira cried, throwing her arms around him.

Zoey, who had been making out like crazy with Derpy, pulled her lips away from his and put them to his ear, keeping her arms and legs wrapped around him.

“I’m ready for more if you are,” she panted.

The big guy gave her a goofy smile. Then, to Zoey’s great surprise, the tiger-turned-man put his hands on her waist, stood up, and effortlessly got up and out of the hot tub, carrying Zoey with him.

OMG! Zoey thought. I thought he was just chubby, but he’s built like a power lifter!

The big guy put Zoey’s back against the room’s warm wooden wall. Derpy’s waist was so thick that Zoey had needed to open her thighs very wide to put them around him. Being young and athletic, Zoey was quite flexible, so this was in no way uncomfortable for her; rather, she found that spreading her legs so far apart was turning her on even more.

Derpy smiled at her, his face a portrait of joyful lust. Then he took hold of his thick penis and put its head between Zoey’s folds.

“Here we go,” he said.

With a long exhale, the man pushed in, slowly but powerfully. 

“Oooooh, yeahhhh…” Zoey moaned. “Giiiirrrrrth…”

Derpy moved his big hands down from Zoey’s waist to her tight ass, then moved closer to her even as he pushed deeper into her.

Rumi was very much enjoying looking down at Jinu’s face as she moved gently up and down on his member, which was producing sweet sensations along the entire length of her love tunnel. Even so, she wanted more. Being in the hot tub would limit how much faster she could move, and Rumi wanted no such limits.

Pulling her knees toward her chest, Rumi planted her feet on the wooden seat on either side of Jinu. Then she reached past him, grabbed the edge of the wooden tub, and hoisted herself up onto her feet.

“Let’s try it this way,” she said, breathing a bit hard in the steamy air as she turned around and sat down on the edge of the tub.

Rumi had chosen a spot where there was a gap in the tub’s semicircular wooden seating. When Rumi smiled at Jinu and opened her legs, the young man seemed to get the idea and moved in front of her. She put her arms around his shoulders, and he pushed inside her again. They both moaned in pleasure, then began moving together, Rumi’s legs wrapping around Jinu’s well-toned ass.

Mira, too, decided that it was time for a change of position. Having Sussie on top of her was good and all, but it left him unable to do anything with his hands. And Mira liked his hands.

She put her arms around him and rolled them both over. Sussie let her, seemingly either knowing or guessing her intent. Once Mira was on top, Mira straightened up, and Sussie’s long-fingered hands went right to her breasts, fondling them skillfully as Mira started to ride his cock.

“Yeahhhhh, that’s it…” Mira half-sighed, half-grunted.

Zoey, being fucked against the wall by Derpy, gripped the big man harder with her arms and her legs, wanting and needing him to get every inch of his thick member inside her on each powerful thrust of his hips.

“More…” she gasped in his ear. “Don’t stop…for anything…”

“Wait,” he said. “Let’s stop for this one thing.”

He backed up a bit, his cock sliding out of her. Then he gently put her on her feet.

“Let’s do it on the floor,” he said. Then he pointed to his dropped bathrobe and added, “Right there.”

Hornily, Zoey thought, I bet he wants to do it like an animal. So she got down on all fours on the thick, soft robe.

“Yeahhhh, that’s nice,” Derpy said. “You’ve got a really cute butt.”

“Well come down here and grab it, tiger,” Zoey purred.

Chuckling lustily, Derpy got down on his knees behind Zoey and, as she’d hoped, put both of his big hands on her ass. His thick fingers pried open her pussy, and then Derpy pushed into her.

“Yeahhhhhh…” they both moaned.

Rumi was gripping Jinu’s body with all four limbs as he fucked her at speed where she sat on the edge of the top. The purple-haired young woman was panting and grunting like an animal as she worked her athletic body against her lover’s. The vigorous movement of his hips roiled the water around him, but not half as much as it roiled Rumi’s senses: Pleasure pervaded her body, and she could feel it rising higher with Jinu’s every thrust, pushing her closer and closer to orgasm.

Mira was riding Sussie hard now. His long, pale fingers squeezed her nipples harder and harder, causing her no pain but only pleasure. His yellow eyes, gazing up at her face, seemed to penetrate Mira’s soul as deeply as his long member penetrated her body—not just seeing, but knowing, accepting, even admiring. It was one thing to be looked at that way by fans, who knew you only as a figure on a stage and a voice in a recording, but a whole other thing to be seen that way by this wise, ancient being.

“Yes! YES!” Zoey screamed as Derpy pounded her pussy from behind. 

Not only did the repeated thrusts of his thick cock feel amazing, but she loved the way his big hands kept her ass open wide. Then he put the tip of his thick thumb, coated with her natural lube, against her little brown asshole and pushed it inside.

“FUUUUUUUUCK!” Zoey screamed, thrashing in Derpy’s grip as she came like mad.

“YEAAAAAH!” Derpy shouted, cumming along with Zoey.

“Oh God…” Mira moaned. “It’s so good…and you’re so deep…and your hands…my tits…it’s…it’s…”

Sussie didn’t speak; he just gripped Mira’s nipples firmly and gave them a good, hard tug.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!” Mira cried, dropping down hard on Sussie’s hips and thrusting his long cock into her to the hilt as he shouted “UUAAAAAH!” and came inside her.

Rumi had been using her four-limbed grip on Jinu’s body to thrust her hips in time with his, but as lust completely overcame her, all sense of rhythm was lost, and she just bucked against her lover like mad. Jinu did the same, thrusting wildly.

“Rumi…” he grunted, “I’m…going…to…HAAAAAH!”

Rumi felt Jinu’s hot seed pumping into her depths, and that sensation combined with all the others pushed her over the edge. She screamed “AAAAAIIIII!” and clung tightly to Jinu as she came.

When it was over, Rumi reached behind her, grabbed one of the big, thick Turkish towels, and lay down on it, patting the empty space beside her. Jinu hoisted himself out of the tub and lay down next to her. Rumi ran a hand over his bare chest.

“It’s really nice to see you again,” she said, smiling.

Jinu laid his hand on her cheek. “I’m so glad to be here with you.”

As Rumi looked at his face, it began to dim, growing transparent. Her smile vanished and her thin, light-brown eyebrows shot up.

“What’s happening?” she exclaimed.

Jinu held up his fading hand and looked at it, then said, “Uh-oh—looks like I’m losing my corporeal form. I’m going to have to go soon.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Rumi protested. “I don’t get to see you for any longer than this?”

“Because I’m not a demon anymore, I can only maintain my physical existence for so long,” Jinu explained. “I’m running out of juice. But it’ll build back up again. At least, I think it will.”

“And then what?” Rumi asked. “Do I need to get horny any time I want you to appear?”

“I’m pretty sure there are other feelings that will summon me, too,” Jinu replied. “Just…keep being at peace with yourself. Now that my soul is tied to yours, I can only accept you if you accept you.”

He put his arms around her, and she held him tight. Then he was gone, and Rumi’s arms were wrapped around herself.

“Me and Suss gotta go, too,” Derpy said to Zoey. “There’s two whole worlds out there that need us. An’ this world needs you.”

“So…will I see you again?”

“Yeah, definitely,” the big man replied. “I’ll come say hi next time I’m in the neighborhood.”

Zoey was about to ask when that might be when Derpy, who had slipped on his robe, changed back into his blue-tiger form. Zoey smiled and gave him a scritch behind the ears, eliciting a deep purr.

“You got a phone number?” Mira asked Sussie.

“Nah,” the tall man replied, pulling on his clothes. “There’s no reception in the spirit world. I can’t carry a phone, anyway; my magpie form doesn’t have pockets.”

Thinking of Sussie’s alternate forms brought a thought to Mira’s mind. 

“So, you said you’re a girl sometimes?” Mira said. “That’s kind of…interesting.”

As Mira watched, a wave of energy moved down Sussie’s body, and suddenly, the tall, raven-haired man in the long black robes was a tall, raven-haired woman in a long black dress. Sussie’s broad-brimmed hat seemed to go just as well with this outfit as the other.

In a mellow, sultry, decidedly womanly voice, Sussie put a slim-fingered hand to Mira’s cheek and said, “If you want, I can appear like this next time.”

“What- I- hot-hae…” Mira stammered.

“See you,” Sussie said.

She transformed back into the six-eyed magpie and landed between Derpy’s shoulders. Then they both sank down through the floor and vanished.

Rumi opened her eyes, let go of herself, and looked around.

“Um,” she said, “that all really just happened, right?”

“Unless we had some kind of mass hallucination, then yeah, it did,” Mira replied, wrapping herself in a towel. “Now, if we’re all done here, I’m gonna go home and question my sexuality.”

Zoey nodded as she took her robe off a peg and slipped it on. “I’ll be wondering about my place in the universe…and keeping an eye out for blue tigers.”

Rumi climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel.

“You know,” she said, “when we created the new Honmoon, I kind of thought all the madness would be over. But it looks like we’ve got a new kind of madness.”

“The best kind,” Zoey said.

“Oh yeah,” Mira agreed.

The three young women wrapped themselves in towels, linked their damp arms, and headed to the changing room.

- - -

Author notes:

-Derpy and Sussie are not actually named in the movie, but director Maggie Kang said that these are their official names.

-Hot-hae, which Mira stammers when she sees Sussie’s female human form, is a Korean expression for someone very attractive.