I sat up shakily as the silver-eared beast woman set out the tray for tea and poured me a cup.
"So…" I looked around again at the Japanese-styled room. "Where am I?" Rufi took advantage of my posture to curl up on my lap, and I continued petting her absently with one hand.
"You're in the Silver Moon Tea House on the fourth floor of the Goddess' dungeon, the realm of Lust."
"Oh…" I looked around to see if I could spot a window, but the only natural light fixtures were opaque and didn't offer any view of the outside. Moira had mentioned that the fourth floor was the start of the inhabited floors, but I guess I didn't expect it to be…so civilized.
"How many people live on this floor?" I went to take a sip of the tea. But paused for a moment, realizing I was still a skeleton.
"I believe it's about two thousand at the moment." She replied sitting on her knees a little ways from me.
"Ah," I don't know what I was expecting, but the number didn't wow me either with how big or with how little it was. I sighed looking at the tea in my skeleton hands and then back at the attendant. Finally I closed my eyes, deciding to transform into my living form.
Grrrwl. I looked down embarrassed at my stomach as it made its presence known the moment I transformed. Rufi stirred from her spot in my lap looking up curiously at me. Right, I never actually ate those skewers did I? My body was desperately hungry, it turned out.
"Would you like me to fetch you something to eat?" The wolf girl asked, concerned.
"Uh…yes, please, that'd be lovely. Sorry." I looked at her apologetically, but she only waved me off.
"Don't worry, we should have thought about this. Our mistake." She got up to go out of the room.
"By the way," I stopped her before she reached the door. "What's your name?"
"You may call me Flora, mistress. I'm an attendant here at the Tea house."
"Nice to meet you, Flora." I smiled at her and she bowed and went out.
A few moments of silence went by as I transformed back into my skeletal form to get rid of the gnawing hunger, and looked up at the ceiling absently. What have I been doing? The events of the past day started catching up to me, strange and surreal as if they had happened to someone else.
As I was lost in thought I heard a loud SLAM! come from the floor beneath me followed by the sound of rapid footsteps before the door to my room slammed open.
"SILVIE!!!!" a certain goldenbrown-horned dragon girl flew through the opening of the door and tumbled into me, wrapping her warm arms around my bony torso.
"Rewr!" Rufi mewled in protest, dodging off my lap to avoid getting caught up in Rivi's embrace.
"YOU'RE AWAKE!" Rivi pulled back to look at my face, a cocky grin plastered over her face. "You didn't tell me your blood was awakening! No wonder you were so desperate for a master, we could have done something for you!" She examined me from head to toe before turning her back to me and settling herself into my lap. "You're all bony again," she sighed. "Can't be helped I guess, those bracelets are helping, though aren't they?"
"Bracelets?" I gasped trying to not let my brain short-circuit at the beautiful girl sitting on my lap.
"Yeah, the bracelets I gave you. Here, let me see." She pulled one of my arms up to her face, and examined the silver bracelet on my arm closely. "Yep, should be working right." She said at last.
"Ohh, those bracelets, I saw those on me when I woke up. Uh, what exactly do they do?"
"They help keep your blood suppressed, so you can take your living form without having to worry so much. Say, why are you all bony right now?" She turned to face me, still sitting in my lap.
"I'm waiting for some food. I haven't had a chance to eat in a while."
"That's horrible! Didn't Fencer treat you to anything? Isn't that, like, their whole thing? Gluttony and whatnot."
"I…didn't get the chance to eat it," I frowned, remembering the panic attack I'd had as I ran away from Fencer's campfire. "But more importantly, what is this whole blood awakening thing? I remember you said it had something to do with the Crimson Wraith or whatever that helped revive me? Is that why I passed out?"
"Mm," she nodded. "It's the problem with Night Mistresses, that's why we get the realm of lust. As we grow the beast revives in us and amplifies our emotions making it much easier to lose control over ourselves. Once we're awakened, if we're not really careful the blood takes over and we lose our ability to be rational, and become beasts mindlessly chasing after our desires."
"It's why the sisters—er, Our Lady makes us sign contracts with masters, by binding our will with another's we gain more ability to control ourselves. So that we don't lose ourselves in the blood. Until we reach that point, though, her blessing automatically represses the awakening, even if it has to do so forcefully. Like what happened to you last night."
I frowned. "I thought the contracts were part of the species' requirements. You're saying the Goddess is the reason they're necessary in the first place?"
"Noo," she teased. "The reason they're necessary is so that your power doesn't go out of control, turning you into an undead monster incapable of rational thought. It's the same with the other species. The reason each floor of the dungeon is named after a different sin, is because of the different influences of the various resurrection methods. If we don't restrain you, you'd be scourges rather than servants. And scourges make enemies, and enemies come back to haunt you. We're just being responsible."
"Now," she teased a finger across my chin. "Turn back, why don't you. The food's here."
As she spoke the door to the room slid open and Flora returned carrying a plate filled with steaming gyoza on a bed of cabbage alongside a bowl of tea cookies.
I felt hunger stir underneath my undead bones, and my flesh practically leapt onto my bones as I called forth my living form, my stomach unleashing a loud growl once more as I prepared to dig into the food.