Taschmonchen Ch. 03

"Lost cause." Blissbun's yellow eyes rolled.

So this is what Rita and Morgenlatte had meant about Blissbun being difficult to work with. This was Shade's own workplace. The blitzchen was rolling in as the junior, and she was already treating it like she owned the place, and that her senior was useless trash who should never have got the job.

Roter was not feeling up to leaving those two alone, at any point. Luckily, he was still too weak to stand. "Um, Shade? Could you get Chase to cancel the search parties for Blissbun? Let the cops know, as well?"

"Sure!" The woman bounced on her feet, blowing him a kiss before ducking into the photography studio.

The trainer turned a glare slowly towards his monchen. Who pretended not to see him, and find a distant flower altogether fascinating. He wasn't sure if that was an improvement over shocking him or not.

"You need to take it easy on Shade. I know she's a bit... Obsessive... But her trainer has all but abandoned her. He just does upkeep. Not training." Roter decided to have the easier of the two conversations he needed to have with her.

Blissbun sighed heavily, and ran a hand through her perfect brown hair, "That's... I wasn't being a bitch for... I remember her. Or her letters. She's not just a fan, Roter. I'm trying to make boundaries."

"Stalker?" He asked in concern.

She shook her head, "No, well... I don't think so. It's... She used to send me dirty pictures and stuff. I didn't read all the letters. I left that to... Rita... To deal with. But they talked about sensitive stuff. Sexy stuff. Like getting Rita to become her trainer, so the three of us could fuck together."

"Does everyone assume you're fucking your trainer?" Roter said in exasperation.

The woman in his lap went bolt upright, and looked at him with scared eyes, "R-roter?"

"Huh?"

"I want that, you fucking moron!" She exploded, staring at him. The blitzchen shook her head in astonishment, "I... Why do you think I hated you sitting next to the bitch in the forest!? Told you I'd kill you if you went anywhere near her cunt. Why do you think I'm sitting on your hardon, right now? Fuck! I mean... Just... Fuck! I want to."

Roter stared at her, feeling a little overwhelmed.

She blushed deeply, cheeks sparking like crazy, and looked away from him before muttering, "Shit. I... Not yet. I didn't mean to sound like a slut... Just..."

"You're jealous. Of Shade." He said with understanding, "I... I was getting the feeling that you were warming up to me, Bliss. That maybe you and I might share a kiss in a week or two, if I didn't screw everything up, and you got to know me a little better. Maybe."

"What the fuck did you just call me?" Her eyes shot back to him.

Roter flinched, "Oh. Crap."

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His hair was a little bit smokey, when Roter swayed and stumbled back into the photography studio. He found the owner standing over a series of sketches and rubbing at his chin, looking fairly concerned.

Roter gave a small puff of smoke from his mouth, and then rasped, "That the gig you thought the blitzchen could help with?"

"I need three models for this." Chase nodded, "My sister is going to help out. I just didn't realise that Blissbun's tail actually is bright yellow. Thought it was a trick of lighting. Yellow is really hard to photograph well. Ah, that's my problem. Here... Basically, it's a fashion line-up for a supermarket chain. Twelve outfits, worn by all three of the girls at some point or another. Think there'll be problems?"

He frowned, "Uhm... Maybe? Blissbun doesn't much like most clothing because it sticks to her. Static. I've got no idea how her previous shoots worked. I'm a monchen researcher. Out of my depth."

"Huh." Chase nodded, "Okay. I guess I should have seen that coming... Oh, darn. That's why she always did underwear or bikini modelling. They soaked her with water, for her scenes. Always."

"Not always." The blitzchen breezed in, looking around curiously, "I'm hungry."

"I sent Shade to grab dinner." Chase replied casually, and pointed upwards, "The room with the plants and stuff is Shade's room. You're sharing with her, if you want to grab a nap or something."

Blissbun turned up her nose, "Be a bit tight with three of us in a room, won't it?"

"Roter's just across the hall." Chase shook his head, "But whilst you're under my roof, you're not sharing. Too many accidents that can end up with bruises and stuff that is annoying to cover up. So... They didn't always dump water on you? How'd they deal with the static, then?"

She shrugged casually, "Grounding cable. Usually clipped to my tail, which fucking hurt. But I'm a real model. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the fucking picture."

"Does... Does everyone sleep with their monchen?" Roter asked in exasperation. He knew that Blauer had always called him a pervert, and suggested he was a monster that would fuck anyone he trained. With that background, the assumption was a bit confusing.

Chase looked up, "Uh... Most? Their magic is stronger, right after sex. Shouldn't you know that, as a trainer?"

"Yeah, it can be. But it's not a requirement." Roter said slowly, "There's a bunch of other ways. More effective ones, too. Like Core Candy."

"Core Candy is expensive. Masturbation is free." Chase said tiredly, and then went back to looking at his drawings. "The clothes were mostly sized for my sister and for Shade. You met the blattchen, what do you think, going to fit, Blissbun?"

"I've got bigger tits than her. Little taller." His blitzchen replied, sidling up to the photographer and looking down at the sketches. She pursed her lips as she looked at them, "My hips are actually smaller. They just show up nicely in shots. So I think I should be the centre for these outfits. But these more modest ones? Put me behind Shade. Or... What kind of model is your sister?"

"A volunteer. She'll stay background." Chase gave a small laugh.

Blissbun gave a small nod, "Is Shade always so timid? Backing her up, I need to play the demure one. Please tell me she can at least fake confidence."

"Shade's an arrogant little twat when you're not around." Chase replied, "This is what I was afraid of. That she won't be able to project if she has to deal with being near her star."

The blitzchen shrugged, "Shouldn't be a problem if she's got a little bit of professionalism. I'm a right kuhchen. I know it. But I can be a cute little sister, if the shoot calls for it. So... Shopping centre clothing line? You have us set up on a silk screen, then?"

"I'll set up that space as a white room." He waved a hand to a place currently filled with spare lighting rigs. "Tomorrow. Shade's finished working for today."

Roter frowned, remembering. "Your brother is her trainer, right? Is he going to want to crash in the shared room?"

"Chill's got a room downstairs." Chase shrugged and stood up, stretching his back. "Oh, on the food front? Tonight's the only night. You're on your own tomorrow. The professor paid your rent for the first month, to cover before you get your paycheck. We'll see how Blissbun does, after that. I'm hoping we get more gigs from this, otherwise I'll have to start taking it out of your pay, and things will get tight."

Blissbun flicked out her hair confidently, "Don't worry. I've got my fans."

"I don't do gravure."

She glared at the photographer, "Eugh. Such a dweeb. No, my fans don't just want to see my fucking panties. I'm more than just a centrefold girl, creep."

"Blissbun! Enough!" Roter said, shaking his head.

Chase waved a hand, "It's fine. Plenty of worse models in the industry. She has a name, and is reminding me not to treat her like she doesn't know what she's doing."

"Exactly." Her tail perked up with a crackle of static.

Roter frowned, replaying it in his head, "Wait... Have you two just been testing each other?"

"Feeling each other out." Chase said more forgivingly, "It helps to know how much someone else knows, when you're setting up to work with them. It's normal. Don't worry about it."

He nodded slowly, "Right. So... Blissbun, judgement?"

"Uh... He's fine? Bit amateurish. But fine." She said in confusion, looking at him with curious yellow eyes.

Chase shot her a glare but didn't say anything.

The trainer shrugged, "It's just... If you two are going to be fine with work tomorrow, then I'm way overdue at the lab. I need to check in, and write up my early findings, or we won't be getting the stipend for the research."

Blissbun's tail flicked back and forth a couple times, and she looked sideways, "I... It's my first shoot, back. Can't you put it off for just one more day?"

"I'll try and finish early." Roter said, "Best I can offer. If it really is a problem, then we need to think about you starting later. Which will mean owing a bigger debt to Chase."

"I can be professional." Blissbun stuck her nose in the air.

Chase smiled at Roter knowingly, and then shrugged, "I've got no problems working with monchen. Ah. My little sister? She's not a model. Don't treat her like one, please. She's doing me a favour."

"I only expect the best of professionals." Blissbun said coldly, "Your sister can approach it like fun, and I won't fucking care. I might even play around with her. But when Shade fucks it up, I'll be pissed."

"When?" Chase said, jaw tightening.

Blissbun shrugged, "Everyone else fucks up around me. Why wouldn't she?"

"Everyone... Else?"

That particularly awkward argument-waiting-to-happen was averted as the front door dinged, and a girl with a leaf on her head entered excitedly, lifting up some paper bags, "Dinner time!"

Roter briefly wondered what would have happened if Shade had encountered a police officer whilst she'd been picking up the meal. He couldn't imagine it going down well with Vanessa, even if Chase had gone with. Man wasn't her trainer.

Blissbun took a last look at the sketches, sneered quietly, and then walked over and snatched a bag out of Shade's hand to look inside it.

Roter rubbed his face tiredly, and helped Chase clear a space so that they could unpack all of the food and give everyone a choice. As the three were setting up, and Blissbun was sitting down cross-legged with a veggieburger, Shade glanced at the sketches.

Her pale green cheeks turned a rose pink, and she coughed, "These the ones you marked for me? They're... Cute."

"Come again?" Chase said in shock.

Shade gave a small shrug, "They're... Um..."

"She means they make her look like a fucking kid, and she hates 'em." Blissbun growled through a mouthful, spraying crumbs.

The photographer sighed, "Models. It's for a fucking supermarket chain! What do you expect, red carpet treatment? Get over it."

Shade ducked her head, looking like she was trying her best not to burst into tears, with more than one look in the oblivious blitzchen's direction. She really did think a hell of a lot of his monchen.

Roter picked up one of the drinks and passed it to her, trying to distract the blattchen, "So, I know exactly nothing about the industry. Is this your first gig? Not like, first client, but... Have you always worked with chase? Because Chill is your trainer?"

"Mmm, no." Shade said, smiling as she took the drink from him, "I started out learning the trade at a bigger company. That's pretty normal, too. Learn somewhere that you're just fodder, and then go small where they don't treat you like trash."

"Doesn't exist. Everyone treats you like trash." Blissbun said, popping the last of the burger into her mouth.

Shade looked at the woman in pain, and Blissbun just shrugged, "You hate your trainer. No point lying about shit like that. It's why you want to fucking steal mine, right? Speaking of... I got another Mortar in me if you fucking touch him again. Hands off."

"I wasn't!"

Roter sighed, "So I can't give her a drink? Fine. What would you like, Blissbun?"

"Trainer who isn't a coward. But we all got dreams." She sneered, before turning and lying down on the ground. The blitzchen put two contented hands across her stomach, "Full, for now. I need to burn some energy. There a gym near here?"

Chase laughed, "You seriously think that you can become a headline by just rocking up to a gym and flaunting a bit? Everyone thinks you burnt out. Either that or Rita tossed you for being -"

Roter cut him off, glaring and shaking his head. If the man had finished that sentence, he might well have died.

"I haven't had a decent run since she dumped me." Blissbun said, her voice angry, but cracking. "That's all. Wasn't... A PR stunt."

Shade sighed heavily, "I soak in the backyard, most of the time. I don't need a lot of exercise, I just need the sun. Don't need to eat, either. So I'm cheap to keep, on that front. So, I'm sorry, we don't have any exercise stuff."

The blitzchen looked over, glaring with her yellow eyes, "Whatever fucking bastard made you think of your self-worth in terms of the value you bring them, needs a fucking castration. Be glad to help make it happen."

"That'd be me." A deeper voice thundered, as an exact clone of Chase, wearing the exact same clothes, walked down the hallway, stretching. "You get me anything?"

The blattchen picked up a burger and fries, keeping her head down and eyes averted as she held them out to him. The man took them without even acknowledging her. He looked at the new trainer and raised his chin in acknowledgement, "You must be the professor's assistant. You done much battling?"

"Little bit. It's not my area." Roter said cautiously, as he heard Blissbun's tail start to crackle.

Chill nodded, "Huh. Well, it's mine. There's no arena in Eastre, or I'd challenge you to a friendly duel. Never gone up against a blitzchen before. They're hard to train, from what I hear. I've got two feuerchen, a froschen, and the useless blattchen, of course."

Blissbun stood up very slowly, clenching her fists in the corner of Roter's eye.

"If your troupe is all fighting oriented, then they have to train somewhere around here, don't they?" Roter asked, "Can't always be city hopping. There something like a gym that Blissbun could use?"

Chill shrugged, and leaned an elbow on Shade's head casually, "I split my time between here and Norhea. Most of the girls stay up there. I just come back here to make sure that my blattchen is still earning her way. Tried to use her in a fight once, she was out on the first punch."

A froschen. So Chill also had another poisonous monchen under his tutelage, and he still thought of Shade as useless. Her spell against Roter earlier certainly hadn't been. If she pulled out her Hallucinogenic Powder in the middle of a fight, she could dance around the other monchen before putting them down. Shade was an opponent Roter wouldn't want to go up against, and Chill should know that.

He wasn't just mistreating her for kicks. The other trainer was trying to goad Roter into a fight. An ownership fight. That was the goal. Chill wanted them to bet their women, fight and take Blissbun for his own. He saw them as possessions, tools, but he knew that any decent trainer would get ticked off because of the way he was treating Shade.

Roter hesitated, and then looked at Blissbun and saw the hate in her eyes.

He shrugged, "Ah, screw it. Shade doesn't want you as her trainer, anyway. Sure. I hear what you're suggesting. Ownership stakes?"

Chill bust out a huge grin and stopped leaning on his monchen, "Ownership stakes. You're a fun one. There's no arena, but there's a city park where we can do small scale stuff. One-on-one. Even Vanessa won't mind. So... I win, I get your blitzchen."

"Blissbun? You feel up to knocking him down a peg?" Roter asked cautiously.

The model rolled her eyes and glared at him, "I take out a feuerchen, a wassechen, and a waldchen, three-on-one, twice in the last day, when I'm not even a fighter and you're asking me if I feel up to another fucking fight, asshole?"

"If Shade's mine, she's your junior." Roter shrugged.

Blissbun cracked a smirk, "Of course, I'm up for it."

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Roter had underestimated how well known his blitzchen was. By the time they'd gone from the park entrance to the little circle of concrete that served as the battlezone, they'd gathered a huge crowd.

People were snapping photos, and talking excitedly about how cute Blissbun looked in her outfit. Asking each other if they knew where she'd got it from, or had worn it to any of her recent things.

A handful were asking where Rita was, whilst others were gossiping about who her new trainer might be. However, those conversations were few and far between. Most people were here to gawk at the sexy lightning model, not to have a nerdy conversation about her learning and development.

Blissbun stepped up and into the circle, lifting her arms above her head, before starting to stretch her sides. She leaned back and forth, her tail straight-up in excitement, "I'm not going fucking easy on you, bitch."

"I... I'm going to impress you." Shade said, grabbing the bottom of the shirt she'd put on right before they left and tossing it into the crowd. A calculated crowd pleaser. She was wearing a sports bra underneath, making it look like she was just revving up... But she hadn't been wearing anything other than the necklace, back at the studio.

The blitzchen started to spark, and she sneered, "This isn't going to be a charity match, bitch. I am going to try and hurt you."

"I know." Shade replied, putting one hand onto the deep green necklace, "I'm ready."

Chase sighed, stepping up to the side, "Shade, ready. Blissbun?"

"Call it!" The blitzchen snarled.

"Begin!" Chase yelled and stepped backwards.

Chill was standing somewhere behind his blattchen, not quite in sight of Roter. His voice thundered instantly, "Tangle her!"

Vines burst up out of the concrete, heading for Roter's one trick girl. The lightning would work, but because she only had the one spell, and each spell had its own count limits, she was at an immediate disadvantage. Shade would win if she just wore her down.

"Dodge!" He instructed with a commanding tone.

Blissbun ducked and rolled forward, shooting him an angry glare as she did. The girl had wanted to bust out her mortar, but it wouldn't work. The vines could act as lightning rods, keeping Shade relatively safe and protected, and then the blattchen's powder could finish her.

"Get in close, as close as you can!" Roter yelled, "Hold the spells."

Chill gave a derisive laugh, "Hug and powder!"

If Shade could take the first mortar, then the game would be up. They needed an edge now, something fast and unexpected.

Roter winced, and then yelled, "Teach her the mortar, like you learnt it!"

Blissbun shot him a confused look as Shade tackled her in a bear hug. The blue smoke emerged, and the blitzchen's face started to go dreamy. Roter yelled again, "Like you did, in front of me! With the cannon! Mortar her, right there!"

"Buzz..." Blissbun gave a small growl, her cheeks turning bright red and crackling as she charged. The electricity burning the particles of smoke and clearing her head. "Buzz!"

Roter lifted a hand, momentarily blinded, like everyone else.

When the flash cleared, Blissbun was sitting casually on Shade's back, as the blattchen lay stomach down, twitching and groaning. The blitzchen gave a small yawn, licked one finger and put it down onto the girl's sensitive leaf. "Buzzbuzz."

"That's a win." Chase gave a laugh, "Chill, you concede?"

"Eh... Yeah." The other twin said, walking across the battlezone and right past the two monchen, sticking out his hand to Roter.

The younger trainer took it and shook, "Not a bad strategy. Timing would have won it for you."

"What... Did you do?" Chill asked in confusion, "I've never seen Shade take a hit so brutally. Girl has some serious pain tolerance. Usually she can just tank the first attack, and then... Well, the powder."