Can't Sleep. Clowns Will Eat Me.

Scarlet

For the first time in several years, Scarlet wakes up without a blaring alarm or a bedmate forcing her up. Not that she was sleeping in a bed. Ow. Sleeping on a cave floor hurts. Not that I think that I slept.

The cave is incredibly dark; Scarlet can’t see anything. She stiffly tries to stand up, only to be stopped by an iron grip around her stomach. She hears a slight moan and feels a face rub into her right breast. A mouth wraps around her right areola and starts to suckle on it. A sandpaper-like tongue licks at her nipple. That feels odd, but kinda good.

After a few minutes, Scarlet blindly pokes at the intruder. She hears grumbling in a language she doesn’t understand when she unintentionally hits an eye. Hoping that whoever is pinning her down is awake enough to listen, Scarlet asks, “Can I get up now?”

“5 more minutes,” Scarlet hears. The nipple **** begins again.

Oh, so this is how this feels.

Scarlet lays back and enjoys the sensation. After an indeterminate amount of time, the suckling and licking ends. She feels 2 hands grope her chest as Daphne (Scarlet assumes) sits up. The blue lights that illuminated the room before “bed” turns on. Daphne looks like she hasn’t slept at all. The mermaid mumbles, “Hey, Scarlet. Are you calm enough for me to take you back? I still have work to do this morning.”

“I think so. Are you okay?”

“Got back here like 45 minutes ago. I’ll sleep during the challenge. Ready?”

“Can I ask about the nipple play first?”

“Oh, sorry. Mermaid compulsion. We stimulate each other’s nipples while sleeping to help prepare our companions for egg expulsion. I don’t even remember doing it.”

“Don’t worry about it. It felt good. Thanks.”

“Let’s get you back. Remember, what you did last night needs to be kept secret. Don’t tell anyone what happened.”

Francis

Francis is staring into the bathroom mirror. He washed the mask off his face and took a shower, so this is the first time he can truly see the effects of what he agreed to. It’s his face, but it’s not at the same time. Maybe when it’s further along it’ll start to feel right, he starts to muse.

A long bang in the dining area made him hurry along. A very tired looking Dinah sits at the table, a smoothie barely touched, across from his usual breakfast. She already moved his food to where he sat last night. Two mermaids are slamming into each other in his Suite, probably fighting over him again; this time, it’s Ariel and (a surprisingly exhausted looking) Daphne. Daphne is definitely on the losing end of this one.

“Stop it, both of you,” Francis shouts, “This is supposed to be Dinah’s time.”

With a final slam, Ariel knocks over the smaller mermaid. She looks at Francis, “Technically, dates finish at 6 AM, Master. We have business. First, your presence is required at this morning’s show meeting in a few hours. I’m sure Dinah can direct you there when it’s time to go, but you are free to leave the Master Suite whenever you are ready. Second, both the quality and quantity of your seed last night was insufficient to pay for our rapid delivery. I’m here for the rest of your payment.”

Francis rolls his eyes, noting “We’ll deal with that in a bit.” He turns to Dinah, greeting her with, “Morning. Are you okay?”

“Nightmares. Lots of nightmares. Don’t want to talk about ‘em. Can I bother you to make me a grande oatmilk doubleshot latte with 4 pumps of caramel, 2 pumps of hazelnut, some whipped cream, and a caramel sauce drizzle? Really regretting giving up on my Bobcafe addiction last night.”

“Little rusty on the espresso machine, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Francis finds the exact model of commercial espresso machine he used when plying the barista trade in the kitchen area, pre-set up for him. Convenient. He clicks on the grinder beside it and fills the bowl of the extractor with the finely ground beans. He uses a hand press to compress the grounds into a dense puck, tapping the sides a couple of times to get the remnant grounds into the puck proper. He runs the machine, noting the double shot extracted a few seconds too fast. I guess I’m a little out of practice. Given how much sugar garbage she wanted, I don’t think she’ll care. Fake milk never steams like it should, but he gets a decent amount of foam from the frother on the machine. He pulls a big ol’ mug from the mug warmer on top of the machine and starts to assemble the drink. Espresso shots first, then about half of the requested sugar pumps. He gives the half drink a good stir. He slowly pours in the milk, not quite nailing the leaf latte art he was shooting for. While he is at it, he makes himself a macchiato (a real one, not the Bobcafe mislabeled latte); he delivers the two drinks to the table.

Dinah doesn’t look too impressed, “Where is my whipped cream?”

“Try it first.” He downs his macchiato in a few gulps. She takes a sip and smiles slightly.

“That’s actually pretty good.”

“Better beans roasted not to the point of burning. It extracted a little too quickly, but that leads to a slightly sweeter shot. People don’t need so much extra sugar and fat when the espresso isn’t garbage. To change the subject, are you okay with me paying Ariel here or would you rather...”

“Rather not watch, if that’s what you are getting at.”

He motions towards the disgusting sunken ship area and heads towards it. He can hear Ariel following him. It’s the only place where he’s sure he’ll be able to feed the lionfish mermaid without disturbing his guest.

Let’s get this over with.

Josie

Josie feels like utter shit, and it’s not just because she may have overdid it on the weights yesterday. Her jaw aches and she can barely breathe. There is weird pressure on her chest and the sides of her head. And everything smells of dried sweat and sex. As her eyes adjust to the dimness of the room that surrounds her, she seeing the still somewhat glistening folds of Tina’s lower lips right in front of her. She tries to move her head, only to see the bunny girl looming over her; Tina’s forehead is pressed against the dorm room wall. She is snoring softly.

“Tina, wake up.”

The bonny bunny snorts, then starts to whine, “Ouchie. How did I end up sleeping like this?”

“Last thing I clearly remember is unlocking you from that chastity belt. Everything after that is a bit of a blur.”

“Oh yeah,” Tina starts to reminiscence, “getting unlocked felt sooooo good.”

“Can you get off of me now?”

“Oh. Ooops. Sorry.”

Tina swings a leg around and Josie slowly gets to an upright position. The two women end up leaning on each other for support.

“Tina, I can’t believe I am saying this, but I think you got a problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“How else do you want to explain how you had me eat you out until we both passed out?”

The room is quiet for a bit. Tina, deep in thought. Josie, struggling to stay awake even sitting (mostly) upright. 2 sets of gurgling stomachs break the silence. “Breakfast,” both exclaim. 2 bodies stumble towards the cafeteria. Thinking can wait; making up for a skipped dinner comes first.

Dinah

Dinah sips her latte and warily eyes the other mermaid. Black and blue scale and fin coloration. Fake round spectacles. Looking even more exhausted than Dinah feels.

“Umm... Miss Dinah, I presume? You’re the team Mom, right?”

I did not sleep well enough to deal with this, Dinah mentally groans. She snips back, harsher than she would normally intend, “My friends can call me Dinah. You can call me Dr. Hornblower.”

The mermaid slumps, looking guilty, “Sorry, Dr. Hornblower. My kind don’t exactly have Moms and I was hoping to get some advice from one. I’ll wait for Francis over there.” She starts to shimmy towards a corner she pointed at.

“Wait. Sorry. What do you mean, you don’t have Moms?”

The mermaid doesn’t exactly smile, but she looks a little less miserable. She shimmies back towards Dinah while still giving her some space. She begins, “Well, I mean, technically, one of my big sisters is my Mom, but we don’t do the parental care thing like at all. When only 1 out of 3 eggs injected will hatch, and only 1 out of every 2 of those will successfully eat their way through their host, and then only 1 out of every 6 of those make it to the ocean, and then only 1 out of every 10 of those survive long enough to not be eaten by every random fish out there, we kind of just inject hundreds of eggs in a host and hope for the best. I’m a runt, so I probably wouldn’t have survived if I wasn’t hatched and raised in the hotel. Regardless, if I went to one of my big sisters and asked for help with feelings, they’d just tell me to suck it up and stop bothering them.”

The moment is ruined by the other mermaid yelling for more egg batter in the sunken ship room. Dinah sighs and takes another big sip.

“Sorry. I’m not in the best mood to give advice, motherly or not. Does Francis strike you as any different?”

“His finger scales looked better, if that’s what you meant.”

Finger scales? Dinah is most of the way through her latte; she is really hankering for another as she mulls the mermaid’s words. “Not what I meant exactly,” she answers, “I was thinking more mentally. Last night was rough for both of us. I’m afraid I really, really screwed up.”

“You two getting along?” the man in question walks in, “What can I do to help?”

Dinah responds, “Refill please. How much of that did you hear?”

“Enough,” he answers from the kitchen over the sounds of making another latte, “While I agree that last night wasn’t particularly fun, I’m glad for everything that happened. It needed to happen. Thank you for forcing me to really take ownership of this whole ‘I am going to be a woman’ thing. I hope that, by the end of all this, I am worthy of all of you.”

He walks back with a fresh cup for Dinah. He turns to the mermaid as he sits down to eat, “Daphne, Ariel left before I walked in. Do you need anything in particular?”

The mermaid blushes, “Maybe some of that black water stuff you’re drinking? Is it squid ink flavored? I like how squid ink tastes.”

He slides the glass of some sort of iced coffee to the mermaid. She takes a big swig, then makes a face, “Not salty enough.” then slides it back. He shrugs and starts to drink.

“Um... anyways... I know I really, really fucked up yesterday and was hoping for some advice on how to fix it.”

“This bad enough to interrupt our date?” he asks.

Dinah sips her second cup, listening intently. He’s worried for her? As the mermaid explains what she did, Dinah starts to get angry. The fuck did this bitch do? Yet, he seems more disappointed than anything. The 2 humans share a look when the tale is done. This bitch is hiding something.

“Were you supposed to like the contestants in your original season?” he asks.

“They were supposed to be food, not friends.”

“Do you like Tina? What about Scarlet? Do you still want to be friends with me?”

The mermaid looks shocked. “Do you hate me now? Please don’t hate me…” She starts to sob.

He actually goes over and gives her a side-hug. “An important rule about DMing: You plan never survives contact with your players. You either assumed that a plan for the previous season would work for this one or you simply didn’t read the room. It has happened to me too. Now, you need to rebuild trust. Apologizing to Tina and Scarlet individually would be a good start, but you need to address the issues with your mechanics. Also, be aware that there is a world of difference between giving a mind fuck to a character on pen-n-paper and mind fucking the actual person in question. You know what you need to do; go do it.”

He then leans in real close and whispers something in her ear. She blushes. With that, he stands back up and goes to finish his breakfast. “Need another latte? Some actual breakfast?”

“Let’s go work on your make-up. In private please.”

Soon enough, Francis is sitting in front of his vanity, bottomless, and the mermaid is clearing the dining room table. Dinah gives Francis instructions on how to moisturize before starting to apply make-up until she is sure the fish is out of ear shot, then she asks, “What the fuck was that? You heard what she did and you just forgive her?”

Francis doesn’t sound mad, just a little turned on. The make-up transformation is starting to work. He answers Socratically, “What if our currently theoretical 3-year old daughter Olivia, I don’t know, shoves a fork into an electrical socket and that starts a small fire? Do you throw her out?” He gives out a little moan as he finishes moisturizing.

Dinah hands him some concealer and directs him on how to apply it while she thinks. When she can get back to the conversation, she responds, “Of course not. She’s our little girl.”

Francis gasps, his face flushing with arousal. “Exactly,” he concurs, “When someone you love does something stupid, you help them fix it.” Dinah is stunned. It takes a beat for him to realize what he just said. He lets out a different kind of moan, then adds, “Shit. Can’t deny it now that it sounded so right. Fuck. Sorry?”

Well, good news, bad news. Good news, Francis can apparently fall in love really easily. While I wasn’t worried about it, that’s some evidence that he’ll not screw any of us by just going after a couple of us. Bad news, he fell in love with a psycho fish.

She corrects his blending a little, wiping away some excess make-up with a cotton ball. “Don’t apologize. Maybe it’ll make sense to me if you explain it?”

Between the sounds of arousal and directions for foundation application, he complies, “Same way I fell in love with Josie. I still do love Josie, so you know. Daphne has been so nice to me. I get that this show is mind-fucking with all of us, but Daphne genuinely wants to spend time with me, like Josie did at the gym. I misinterpret politeness as a kind of romantic interest all the time. The only reason why I don’t get constantly rejected is that I talk myself out of making the first move. There is no way Daphne sees me as anything more than a friend that she can feed on. And I know I need to work on my relationship with the 6 of y’all. Say the word and...”

Dinah interrupts, “I get that I will need to share you with the others. I can’t believe I’m considering this, but, if that lunatic fish wants you as more than a food source AND it won’t interfere with the girls in your actual harem, what’s one more girl I’ll have to share you with?”

She hears a quiet guttural noise from the dining area. The fish is listening to this, huh? She walks him through the rest of this beginner make-up tutorial: light use of blush, a touch of eyeliner, a little eyeshadow, a single coat of mascara, some lip stain, all using tones that fit his skin type without being showy. Right before he finishes, his eyes roll to the back of his head as he cums, oozing jizz from a completely receded cock. He sits there for a few minutes, then gets distracted by how he looks before applying the finishing touches. The mermaid barrels from the dining area to lick up the puddle; the bitch is actually smiling.

Dinah: +2 VP (Brought Master to Orgasm [Make-up Lesson])

He then stands up and strips off his pajama top, the mermaid lapping up the tiny bit of remaining cum on his member. “Are you ready to go, Dinah? Be nice to stretch the legs a little before this supposed meeting.”

Dinah is dumbfounded, “But... what...”

“Skye’s transformation, remember? Can’t risk wearing clothes around her.”

Shit. Forgot about that.