Challenge 2, Part 3: Some Head Home II

Daphne

“<Alright, traitor, come in and do your worst. I’m your only real target so you might as well do whatever terrible thing you are going to do.>”

Daphne enters the underwater cavern that serves as the main staff room, rifle shouldered and ready to fire. Her finger is not on the trigger yet. She instead notes, “English for the audience, Frenzy Chiefess Ariel. Aquan is not in the translator. I had some questions first, if you don’t mind.”

Ariel is not in the mood to be polite, as she snarls, “<Fuck you, traitor. Just shoot and get out of here.>”

“First question. Who is my mother?”

Ariel just glares. Calypso actually answers (and in English, to fin), “We don’t have mothers, traitor. But, if you are asking who bears the shame of extracting you from her tit, that would be me. You didn’t pay your reading fee for today, by the way.”

“I’ll pay it if you answer the rest of my questions honestly, Mom. Do you mind if I call you Mom?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

“Who is your mother, Mom? Is it Ariel?”

Calypso barks, “I am ashamed of you, traitor. You are an embarrassment to this frenzy. Why would I allow you to address me at all? Let's skip the bullshit. The answer you seek is Echidna. She is the progenitor of this frenzy.”

“Oh, excellent. May I see her, assuming she is still alive? Or her remains, if not?”

“She lives. Deepest, darkest part of the cave system. You swim to your ****, traitor.”

“Thanks, Mom. Love you, too.”

Daphne: -1 BP

Daphne pockets her rifle into her inventory and dives down further. Past the lights of the staff area. Past the light from the pocket dimension’s sun. Past the zone of waters warm enough for the bulk of the fish to survive. Into the true abyss.

A voice calls in the darkness, “<Those who seek me seek ****, little one. What is your one request before I consume you?>”

Daphne feels the creature in the darkness. The target is acquired. She fires her shot, stating, “Be a good Mom.”

Daphne starts to feel the effect. Her body changing, her breasts filling out. Some of her more monstrous muscles softening. Her soul less abnormal for her kind. She smiles, basking in the effect of a retroactive transformation. The creature is no longer there. A shame.

Daphne starts to swim to the staff area again, feeling melancholic. She got what she wanted, but didn’t want to kill anybody for it. When she reaches the cavern, she is blown away. A grandmotherly mermaid she doesn’t recognize is playing with the babies. There are babies! A boobalicious Ariel is asking for things instead of barking out commands. There are so many more of us! And there’s like 7 generations of us now instead of (I guess) 4?

“<Daughter!”> Calypso barks. Daphne turns around to see a much more boxum Calypso (like a solid J-cup!), her scales and fins now matching Daphne’s, glowering at her. “<You know the rules. You are not allowed here. Not after what you’ve done.>”

“But, Mom, the challenge!”

“<Don’t you ‘Mom’ me, Daughter. Back to where the contestants are. Back where you belong now.>”

If it’s possible to sulk while swimming away, Daphne is doing it. She leaves the staff tubes in the hallway. She doesn’t notice Calypso pulling herself out until she feels these amazingly soft breasts pressed into her back.

“<Daughter, I know you’re too stubborn sometimes and your breasts are embarrassingly small and you always had these flights of fancy, but please remember that I’ll always love you. I just wish you would tell us why you erased those tapes.>”

“Wait, all of you are mad at me because I erased the footage of my shop? How did you even find out I did it?”

“<Your cousin Cassiopeia had security cameras in the security room.>”

“Ooooooooooh, that explains it. Thanks, Mom. I was wondering why all this time.”

“<You going to tell me why?>”

“Once the show is done. I promise. Just know that I was doing it for my Beloved’s sake.”

“<I understand, Daughter. Now go to her and make me some grandbabies! They are going to have such the cutest little cheeks and I wanna smoosh them.>”

So this is what being embarrassed by your Mom feels like! Wow! “Okay, Mom, we’ll get right on it. I need to go. Love you!” And, after giving her an exaggerated kiss on the cheek, Daphne starts to bound away, happy as a clam.

Scarlet

“Mom, Dad, I need to explain some things. It’s going to sound crazy, but I’m stuck in an interdimensional reality dating show and I’m supposed to use this to transform something.” Scarlet pulls the rifle out of her inventory as she states the last bit. Dad looked like he was ready to laugh until a giant sniper rifle appears out of nowhere.

“Honey, did those bad influences at college get you high on the ****?” her mom asks.

“Dad, you asked for photos of my new smoochie friends. Well, one of them has an Insta-Thot account. Look up TinaTitanofTrickery. The pinned vid has me in it. Not the best way to show off your girlfriends, but it’ll make sense.”

“Now, Scarlet, I don’t have an Insta-Thot account so I don’t...”

“Don’t bullshit me, Dad. We’re friends on Insta-Thot. Just don’t tell my girlfriend that I have one; she’s totally going to bug me to collab.”

“Rabble, rabble, daughter putting me on blast, rabble, rabble. Oh, geez! Scarlet, I did NOT need to see that you made a sex tape with a bunch of furries!”

“Don’t act like I wasn’t aware of your little thot scrolling, oh husband of mine. Wait, Shaemus, the way Scarlet is pulling on that bunny girl’s ear, those look attached! She’s missing her normal ears, not even an earhole. And does that fish girl have literal shark teeth? If they are furries, they are crazy committed to it.”

“That bunny girl’s got nice tits.”

“Wow, Dad, way to state the obvious. Now, stop drooling over my bunny-girlfriend and just listen. Look, I can use this gun to solve all of your problems: purge the cancer, give both of you back your youths, make you sweat gold or some other way to make sure you never have to worry about money again. But I need you two to trust me. Can you do that?”

Her mom takes her dad’s phone and tosses it into the laundry hamper. “Shaemus, stop drooling over one of your daughter’s perverted girlfriends and listen.”

“Yes, Sinead.”

“Good. Oh daughter of mine, what’s the catch?”

“Catch?”

“Nothing in life is free, daughter. You know this as well as I. What is the catch?”

“I’m already paying the price, Mom. It’s one I’ll happily pay to save the two of you.”

“It’s our job as parents to sacrifice for you, not the other way around.”

“I’d be paying the price anyways. Just let me help.”

“Out. Now.”

Scarlet slouches and trudges out the door. Her dad follows.

“Hey, pumpkin. Sorry for drooling over your girlfriend.”

“It’s okay, Dad. You didn’t know.”

“Probably should have put two and two together, though. You see the profile pic? Damn. Good job snagging that one, pumpkin. Anyways, magic interdimensional reality TV show, eh? Are you on it willingly or is that the price you are already paying?”

Scarlet sighs, “Yes. It is the price I am paying and, while I wasn’t willing at the beginning, I am now. Saving you two would be gravy.”

“Ok, kiddo. Save us. I’ll get your Mom to understand eventually. Might help if there is a wedding to plan on the eventual horizon.”

With that, Scarlet aims the rifle, sweeping it over a mirror to target her mom using her reflection, then pointing it at her dad. She fires. Scarlet watches as the years melt off of her father’s face until he’s in his early forties. His muscles bulge out to where they were when he had his construction job. Then, he starts to fall asleep, shrinking to the size of an action figure. Scarlet carefully picks up the body and lays it out on her Mom’s vanity table. She gathers her de-aged and shrunk mother (who really does look a lot like Tina now, except with flaming red hair and no bunny parts) and lays her beside him. She gathers a bunch of cotton balls and places them in a mason jar (with some holes punched through the lid). Carefully laying her parents in the jar, she holds onto it tightly.

When she reappears in the hotel, a swarm of silvery moths flutter before her. She hands off the jar. The moths, somehow able to keep the jar aloft, flutter away slowly, then disappear. A mask of a silver luna moth is in their place.

Slipping on the mask, Scarlet states “<You better keep your end of the bargain, Eilistraee.>”

“<Your parents will be safe and happy near where all of you end up at the end of the game, my dear monk. I will make sure of that.>”

Ariel

Where am I?

The head of hotel staff is standing in a gray scale hall. A single glass windowed door is on the other side. A mirror stands on the wall beside her. She spends a few moments preening. Not being in water just makes my hair turn into tangles. Her jet black hair (with several streaks of blue and indigo) is a hermit crab’s nest; with several minutes of stroking, she gets most of the knots out. She takes several more moments to admire her pride and joy: not her many children, grand children, or even her few great grandchildren on the way; she loves her spawn, but there is something more important. No, her pride is in her perfectly hefty breasts. If I would deign to cover these babies and deny the world their beauty, I’d have difficulty fitting in a H-cup bra. She smiles, checking her sharky teeth for stray bits of food. Feeling acceptable looking for being on the surface, she starts to shimmy towards the door.

The door conveniently opens when she gets there and shimmies inside. More gray scale, this time of an old-fashioned office. A shiny full moon illuminates the room through the slats of a blind. A liquor cabinet is on the far side of the wall. A desk, shrouded in shadow, has a presence behind it. The only thing that ruins the aesthetic is a pastel blue kiddie pool shaped like an elephant, complete with an elephant trunk slide. Ariel uses the slide to splash into the pool (not because it’s fun but because it’s convenient). The water only covers her tail, but is appreciated.

“Good afternoon, Ariel. How are you?” the presence behind the desk greets, it’s eyes shining silver.

“I little confused, ma’am. My frenzy is very busy supervising the contestants and I’m needed there. Why am I here?”

“I am well aware of how the challenge is going,” the presence speaks, “as I am monitoring it myself. It is winding down and most of the contestants should be waiting in green rooms for the post-challenge meeting soon. That is what I wish to talk to you about.”

“Does this have something to do about my niece Alecto suddenly being put in charge of that bitch Beckie?”

“Yes. I am in need of a Host for this set and think that you would make a good choice if you can resolve Ms. O’Connor’s issue with you. I know your frenzy was only contracted to work the hotel this season, but, if you Host for me, you can treat this hotel as your home for as long as you like. Are you interested?”

Me, host? I mean, even a dead limbless starfish could host better than that bitch Beckie, but me?

Ariel responds, “I’m willing to try to work out Harper’s irrational anger, but my frenzy’s stash of human testicles is heavily diminished. Many of the younger ones want to see the multiverse if they cannot have children here. Some things would need to change.”

The presence sighs, “We can secure a consistent source of human semen for your frenzy. I’m not a big fan of your people’s consumption of human organs.”

Satisfied with the compromise, Ariel offers, “I will speak with Harper now. Assuming it goes well, I will finish the season for you. We can talk about what happens afterwards once the season is over.”

Ariel feels slightly disoriented and finds herself in the Media Room. Harper is sitting in a Jacuzzi, trying to train her eliminated fox. The fox casts Faerie Fire on one of those chocolate snack things and Harper tosses it out for the fox to find. Ariel watches the two until the snack flies in her general direction. The sea elf is taken aback for a moment, then scowls, “What do you want, Ariel?”

“I don’t know what I did wrong, Harper, but I wish to apologize.”

“You don’t know what you did wrong? You had some of your frenzy beat Daphne half to **** when she was **** to join my harem without any explanation. You and yours have treated her horribly since then. And you seemed to take that I care about her out on me. So, are you going to apologize for all of that?”

“I don’t remember any of that, Harper. I remember explaining to my niece why she was being sent to your harem and she went willingly. While we have been a little cool towards her, it’s because she’s keeping secrets that might have endangered the frenzy. Once she comes clean, we will be happy to have her and you come visit us in the staff area, within reason.”

“You seriously don’t remember?” After Harper fiddles with her phone for a bit (oh, humans with their zappy thingies), her daughter Cassiopeia shimmies out of a tube. Harper again looks initially shocked, but soon calms down enough as Cassiopeia asks, “You rang, Mistress?”

“Load up footage of Daphne’s introduction to my harem please.”

Cassiopeia pulls up the footage. Both mother and daughter feel nauseated by what they see.

“I didn’t know, Harper. Was that me?”

“Daphne really did a number on all of you, didn’t she? Yes, that was you.”

“I would never order that level of harm upon one of my kin, Harper. Please forgive me.”

Harper stares at the mermaid. The sea elf looks like she is trying to figure out whether to believe the head of staff. Finally, she asks, “What secret is Daphne keeping?”

“She erased some footage of her shop in our security room and adamantly would not tell us why.”

“Understood. I will deal with my Beloved. Now, assuming you will treat her with the respect she deserves as your... did I hear you call her your niece?” Ariel nods, so Harper continues, “Treat her like your niece and you are forgiven.”