Mattie Date, Part 2: Anne Oakley

Daphne

Well, we have a decent starting list for our collective wish. Wonder how many of these my Beloved is going to disapprove of?

A splash gets everyone’s attention. Mom is suddenly riding a waterspout, then settling down on the ground. She looks... different. No more scars, eye-patch coordinated with a sports jacket and a tie (threaded between her deliciously huge egg sacs). Hoisting a trident aloft, she flips up the eye-patch to show off a sparkling new eye, then exclaims, “Hello, Harem Hotel!”

“Uh, Mommy? What’s going on?”

“Oh, my runty little fingerling, your Auntie needed to take a bit of a vacation. Stress from the job was too much for her. So, effective as of a couple of hours ago, I am now your lovely Host. Like my Host costume? I think it is quite fetching.”

The others look as confused as Daphne feels. Tina blurts out, “It would look better if you didn’t have those obscene tits.”

“Well, agree to disagree, Tina. Anyways, while I am very happy that all of you have bonded together into a family, I unfortunately have to interject on this little meeting. The point of the wish is to be a prize beyond being with your Mistress. If all of you agree on some aspects of the wish, I will be happy to stick it in with no monkey paws or anything like that, but, the winner WILL to required to add something that SHE wants. So, no, you can’t just make a wish by committee. If you have any questions, I’ll be in my office. Library entry is free now. Have a good afternoon.”

Then, with a splash, Mom is gone, with a Honey left behind. The wasp-girl sputters out some sea water, but looks mostly fine. “That was unpleasant,” she drones. “May I sit with you while I have my sap smoothie?”

The others nod (and Skye is nice enough to pull an empty chair out and to the side for the still wobbly legged wasp). “Um, guys, I’m going to go check on my mom. I need answers. Bye!”

Daphne walks as quickly as she can without falling over and gets to the Host’s Office. She knocks on the door and enters. Mom is sitting in a kiddie pool, placed behind the Host’s desk and elevated to the point of giving her the height necessary to use it. Her sport jacket is hanging on a coat rack and she has a lovely whole tuna with some chucks nibbled off of it. A Crab Trapper at Home is sitting beside it. On the screen is several dozen camera feeds, including one with Mattie and Harper eating lunch in a middle-class dining room.

“Oh, hey, my runty little Daphne. Are you here as my daughter or as a contestant?”

“Uh, both?”

The screens turn off and Calypso rotates around in her kiddie pool to face Daphne. The elder mermaid smiles, “then, I guess, let’s handle the daughter bit first. What can I do for my runty little fingerling?”

“Did something happen to Auntie? I might have said something last night and I’m worried for her.”

“Your Aunt Ariel just was not handling the stress of the Host job well and her philosophy of the show just didn’t gel with the Producer. She was asked to swim aside. I volunteered to take over. Needed to commit to at least another season to do it, but I secured our home here for as long as I work. Got the traditional Host glow-up and everything. The Producer promised me to watch over Ariel until she’s ready to return. You did nothing wrong, my runty little daughter.”

Daphne sniffles a little, not quite at the point of tears, but nods as she understands. She wants to ask for a hug, but, after Calypso gives her a look, stays in place. It might not be proper at the moment and her heart aches because of it.

“Now, what can I do for you, contestant Daphne?”

The question hurts more than Daphne expected it to. It’s like her mom is trying to build up a wall to separate the two of them. And after so little time together as a normal member of the frenzy. Her lower lip wavers.

“I still need to make arrangements for my date tomorrow, Mommy.”

“When I’m on the clock, Daphne, it’s Calypso. Not Mommy.”

Daphne keeps it together long enough to get her date arranged, more or less. She keeps it together as she walks to her room. She loses it as she collapses on the bed. It feels like she just lost her mom all over again. Mommy.

Harper

Mattie found a couple of range bags, and Harper has hers over her shoulder. She enjoys following Mattie to the backyard. She looks at the sky and it looks green and hazy. The grass looks fake, like Astroturf. The rows of houses too cookie-cutter, too duplicate, too orderly. There is something weird going on here. Is this the limitations of the show or something else?

The walk to the shooting range was quiet. Too quiet. No birds. No squirrels. Not even a pond. What place doesn’t have a pond in a park?

The range is a nice outdoor one, with a bit of a kitschy cowboy theme. The Anne Oakley Sharpshooter Range. Mattie pulls out a couple of Sig Sauer M18 semi-auto handguns, plus some “eyes and ears” (safety glasses and earplugs). Harper takes her spot at one of the lanes and Mattie takes the other. The astral elf hands over a set of “eyes and ears” and the sea elf puts them on. The targets move back to 50 feet and the two take aim.

After Harper gives the traditional rangemistress call, Mattie just rapid fires 5 shots. It’s a little intimidating. Harper takes her time. Even with all her practice spellslinging and her elven accuracy enhancing her aim, she was always a little slow to get targets acquired through sights. Remnants of poor eyesight. Harper would rather take 1 minute per shot to make sure they hit than shoot quick and sloppy. When the targets return, Harper ended up with a decent grouping, low and to the right of the bullseye. Mattie gave me a poorly sighted gun to cheat?

She checks out Mattie’s target. Mattie taunts, “Yeah, Alternate Mattie didn’t sight these for us, obviously. I see you didn’t compensate like I did.” The bullseye on Mattie’s target indicates that the astral elf figured it out.

“Best 2 out of 3?” Harper offers. She thinks about her dumb quest, hoping to subtly egg her on. Harper’s Alternate Dimension Date Quest: Out-compete Mattie on a majority of her little contests over the date. Reward: +1 Dexterity

Smirking, Mattie already has a couple of M7 rifles ready to go. Mattie sets the targets out to 100 feet and the two take aim again.

As far as longarms go, the two are much more evenly matched. Again, after the "Fire Away!", Mattie shoots quickly. Harper delays her second shot when she hears Mattie yell, “Shit!” The sea elf lands her shots in due course. The targets are pulled back. Much better. 3 hits in the bullseye, with 2 more on the line around it. Mattie hit one bullseye, 3 on the line, and 1 off around the 8 ring.

“Sarge, stop being so slow and steady. I wanna win!”

“1-1, Cap’n. I think it’s time for my specialty.” Mattie groans as the longbows come out. Not the compound bows from the militia bases, real actual longbows. The targets are set to 50 feet again and they get their bows at the ready.

This time, Harper is the faster shot. She loves the feel of the bowstring pulled taut, the flex of her back and arms. First arrow loosed. Bullseye. She nocks another arrow, then pulls back. Second arrow loosed. First arrow split. Harper glances over to Mattie, who is struggling. Her bow requires more pull than she can generate. Harper pauses to pull out the Olympic style recurve bow from Alternate Francine’s range bag.

“Hey, Mattie, to give you a fair shot. Here.”

Grumbling about being shown charity, Mattie gives the recurve bow a tentative tug. She can at least get a full draw from it, even if she’s struggling to hold it. Harper goes back to her lane and takes her next three shots. Arrow three split arrow two. Last two arrows land in the 9 ring and on the line of the bullseye. Not perfect, but a decent showing.

Mattie starts cussing up a storm. Harper walks a couple of paces behind Mattie to see what’s up. First two shots are decent. Then the third is on the floor; looks like it skidded just past the target.

“If you tell Mrs. Skye that I missed...”

“Secret is safe with me. It’s Eilistraee you have to worry about. She’s the one that set the terms of your permission slip.”

“Fuck!” Mattie looks at Harper’s target. “Double Fuck!”

“Hey, it’s okay. Let me help.” Harper slips in behind the fuming astral elf. Harper helps to hold Mattie’s bow and guides her drawing arm back. Mattie’s last two shots land decently.

She’s still irate. “Why did you have to be so good with a bow, you archery dork!?!?”

“Sorry, hey, you beat me with the M-18, right? That counts for something. And, I bet if you took your time, you would have beat me with the rifle too. So, my worthy shooting rival, you’ll get me next time.”

Harper leads the contest count 2-0

Her anger morphs into some sulking, “You’re not going to have to be spanked by Skye, dork.” A kiss brings her sulking to something akin to mock-sulking. Another kiss has her drop the pretense.

“Fine, Sarge. You won. Ready for our next stop?”

Tina

While Tina is a little bummed that they can’t just scam the wish so everyone is completely happy with it, she’s not worrying about what she particularly wants until the time comes. She has a more immediate concern: making Sam her sexy magic goof-up video. And, since Tina has to be naked to do magic, it’s going to be sexy regardless of her topic.

Scarlet volunteered to help. She even had a fun idea. Hopefully Sam likes it. And gets the others on their set to subscribe.

The camera is set up and the “stage” (a section of beach, with some conveniently places campfires for the opening) is marked up to give positioning cues. It’s important that both of them stand just so, given the nature of the big illusion.

Tina, in her sorceress gear, gets into position, starting her pre-show ritual, as Scarlet nods and starts the recording. Remember, we just need the raw footage. Prudence will get everything edited. Time to shine!

3 quick casts of Pyrotechnics, 3 blasts of sexy fireworks! Tins struts into view, declaring, “Ladieeeeees and miscellaneous, you know and love me as Tina, Titan of Trickery, and today’s very special video is for Sam Collins, a plucky barista on The HH season of Harem Hotel that aspires to become a corgi-girl! You go get your cute corgi ears and cute corgi tail, girl! We’re rooting for you!”

Tina: 34 SP left

Tina pauses for effect, winking at the camera, then struts over to her mark, rolling her hips to give everyone a cute view of her tail. Spinning on the ball of her foot, she does a cute little pose, her bare breasts wobbling slightly from the inertia. “And, of course, what kind of magician would I be if I didn’t have a sexy assistant? Well, I do! Scarlet, cutie, come on out!”

Scarlet, clad in her monk gear and a matching silver thong, struts to her mark, greeting for the camera, “Hey, Tina, Titan of Trickery! Are you ready to do some amazing magic for our amazing friends over at The HH?”

Scarlet is not a great actress. That sounded a little too wooden. Oh, well. It’s her first time on camera with a speaking role. I’ll get her better at this, eventually. Tina replies, “Of course, cutie! I think I heard that Sam wanted me to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Well, we need a hat!”

“What about the one on your head?” Scarlet snarks.

Good news: less wooden. Bad news: off-script. Tina improvises, “I think Sam deserves a big rabbit! And, for that, we need a big hat! Alakazam!”

Tina casts Major Image, starting with a magician’s hat that is big enough for a person to stand in. She leans over, dramatically reaching into the hat, shimmying her bare breasts a little for emphasis. Sticking her tongue out, she dramatically pulls out of the hat, manipulating the image to make a Norah appear.

Tina: 8 Pact SP left

The Norah image screams, “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Where am I? Who are you? How did I get in this stupid hat?”

“Rude,” Tina replies, “I’m Tina, Titan of Trickery, future subscriber, and I pulled you out of that hat. Of course, you are breaking the number one rule of my Insta-Thot feed. You wanna guess what that is?”

The Norah image shakes her head. Tina makes the words appear as she says them, “Tina... Is... Always... Best... In... Chest! Back in the hat with you, I’ll fix it with more magic!”

“No, don’t shove me...” the Norah image is able to get out, before Tina muffles it. She leans back in, swirls it around, then pulls the Norah back out. This time, Norah looks much closer to the pre-transformation image Scarlet showed Tina. Breasts deflated to a solid D-cup from whatever grotesque excess she had before, trim tummy, reasonable hips, long, lean legs like Scarlet likes. Of course, Tina needed to show off her new Norah by putting her in a bikini.

“There! Better! So, who are you?”

“Norah! You kidnapped me from the Hotel and you don’t even know my name? What’s wrong with you?”

“Um, you’re kind of mean, Norah. I know what’ll fix it!”

Another shove down into the hat. Another swirl around, then another change to the Norah image as she is pulled back up. Now Norah is growling into a ball gag. The Norah image reaches out to try and strangle the bonny bunny, only for Tina to juke and dodge around the imaginary grasping hands. “Scarlet, entertain the audience! Please?”

Scarlet, who has been mostly standing around being kind of bored secondary eye candy, says, “You sure you don’t want my help?”

With a (perfectly acted) yelp, Tina replies, “I got this! I’m a professional!”

So, Scarlet pulls out her glaive, slams it into the demarked spot, and starts to pole dance. The oread rotates around the pole, showing off her form. Tina with a hop, “pushes” the Norah image down into the hat. With some dramatic pants, Tina says, “I think we’re safe?”

Then, the Norah image jumps out of the hat and “pulls” Tina into it. Tina uses the image to cover up the appearance of her Misty Step and teleports out of view of the camera. As the image continues to play fight noises, Tina (with some Josie help) starts to slip on some bondage gear. Scarlet continues to dance. Once she’s properly tied up, she makes the image pop out a fake Tina, trussed up like she is. She Misty Steps back, right where the fake Tina is.

Tina: 30 SP left

The Norah image pops out of the hat, flips off the camera with the double deuce, and says, “That’s what you get, perv.” The Norah image sinks back into the hat and all is still. Scarlet stops dancing and struts over to remove the ball gag from Tina.

“Okay. No more of that hat.” Tina exclaims.

Josie turns off the camera, then scoops up the bound bonny bunny. Tina drops her concentration on the spell and Scarlet rubs a little oread love juice to release her glaive from the ground.

“Soooo, we delving soon?” Josie asks.

“Let’s check with the others.” Scarlet offers.

I hope Sam likes her gift!