Mattie Date, Part 5: Main Course

Scarlet

Scarlet wraps up her shift and gets ready to leave. Circe seems happy enough, even if the tavern was mostly empty tonight.

Scarlet: +18 BP (Tips)

Scarlet: +1 BP (Work/Study Girl)

With a wave goodbye, Scarlet heads to the cafeteria, texting a nervous Harper all the way, hoping to find some dinner and then figure out what to do before curfew. Despite not actually having to eat anymore, Scarlet still likes the process; it makes her feel less like a monster. Skye has her dinner ready and she starts to eat. Skye, as usual, has made something delicious. Scarlet is going to savor it.

And then, everything is ruined by a certain dragon bursting out of a certain Team Elf dorm room.

“Scarlet, you need to fix ME!”

Scarlet sighs, a bite hovering on her fork near her mouth. Nodding to an empty seat, the oread takes her bite. Glitterdust sits. “So, fix ME!”

The oread takes a few more bites of Skye’s cooking, savoring each morsel as Glitterdust gets increasingly frustrated. Finally, she asks, “What seems to be the problem, Glitter?”

“MY MtF Goddess has rejected ME! She didn’t bless ME with an orgasm last night and left ME in rope slut mode all day! So, I need fixing!”

The dragon-girl pants as Scarlet has a few more bites. The oread just stares at Glitterdust. Let’s see what, specifically, she wants “fixed.” Setting her fork down, she asks, “So, the first step in healing is identifying the problem. And, yes, Harper snubbing you last night is a problem. So, why, specifically, did she refuse to touch you last night?”

“I didn’t lie to her about how she is MY MtF Goddess! I ruined the mood!”

“So, you being honest due to the rope thing turned her off? Makes sense. How do you want to be ‘fixed’?”

“Make ME better at lying! If I lie better, she will want to sex with ME!”

Scarlet sighs again and goes back to her dinner. Glitter is again becoming frustrated. “I’m not going to try to make you a sociopathic liar, Glitter. My transformation requires me to make people better, not worse. Is there a different solution you would like?”

“How else could I trick MY MtF Goddess into wanting to sex with ME?”

Scarlet rolls her eyes. “Your goal shouldn’t be to trick Harper into sleeping with you. The goal is to develop a healthy relationship with her. And that relationship should be built on mutual love and respect. So, with that as the goal, how do you want to be ‘fixed’?”

“I don’t understand. I already love and respect her. I just need to get her to love and respect ME!”

Hmm. “Do you really? If you did, you would have dropped the MtF Goddess nonsense already. She has asked you to enough already. While I haven’t talked to her about all of that, I also heard how she reacted to your letters to Mark and to your statue gifts. You do anything similar with Andy’s harem?”

“Ah, I tried to convince the blue-haired one to **** Andi to stay in sexy woman mode with a Geas spell. I haven’t heard back.”

“Wow. And Harper let that go through?”

“She told me no. She even wrote a note to Iris to not deliver the letter on the envelope. I snuck it into Tina’s letter so it would get to the recipient.”

“Wow again. And you think doing that was showing respect?”

“But... but... but... gross boys need to be sexy women!”

“And how did Harper react when she found out you did that?”

Glitterdust huffs, “She locked ME in chastity. I had to trick her into letting ME out!”

Scarlet stands up, “Look, Glitter, I can see sooooo many problems that I could address, but therapy, even the weird sex-based thing I have to do, doesn’t work if you are not willing to do your part. So, are you willing to address your fetish obsession, your megalomania, your utter lack of empathy? Because those are the things that actually need immediate addressing. Everything else is superfluous or for later. I’ll ask one more time: how do you want to be ‘fixed’?”

“I... I... I don’t know.”

“Find me when you do. Until then, I’ll put it on my list of things to talk to Harper about.” With that, Scarlet scoots her chair out and takes her dishes to the sink. Glitterdust starts to sob. Scarlet pats her shoulder before she walks away. Man, being Team Mom sucks sometimes. I need to keep her from self-destructing. I’ll keep the door open tonight; see if she wants to sleep on our floor and talk about it in the morning.

Mattie

Belly full of fried onions and half a beer, Mattie is having a good time. Sarge swapped stories with her from back in college over the appetizer. A medium-rare tomahawk steak is on it’s way, with all the fixin’s. Sarge ordered a more sensible version of the same, picking at a weed salad that she got instead of the baked potato (I mean, what kind of health nut turns down a baked potato?). “They joked about you hating carbs, but you really avoid them, don’t cha?”

“Just for dinner. The fading human still remembers how late-night carbs equals a poor night’s sleep. The vibrant elf is thinking about her waistline.”

“You saying you’re not planning on burning them off with me tonight?”

“Oh, that’s why I didn’t bother to ask them not to use the finishing butter. Fat and protein for late night adult shenanigans, Mattie. Plus, this,” indicating her couple of fingers of scotch, “is poison sugar. I am having some carbs. Just the one for me, though. You?”

“I’ll stop at one, if you insist, Sarge. You seriously think I can’t handle my booze?”

“It’s not about your inability to handle it, Cap’n. I’m just not a fan of drinking to getting drunk. It’s about staying in the moment. That’s part of why I’m a scotch girl. It requires sipping, enjoying the nuance.”

“Fair enough.”

Harper pauses, taking a sip and nodding at her glass. “You know, you could talk to Scarlet, if you wanted to take some of that officer burden off. Help for longer than a night of drinking. Feel better afterwards, too.”

Huh? Given what Red can prescribe now, might be fun. Better than the shrinks from the Army. “I’ll consider it.”

Two steak dinners float, sliding before each of them. Mattie cuts into hers, happy to see the perfect pink of medium rare. Sarge smiles, too. They both tuck in. Wonder if Sarge can be guilted into splitting some dessert?

Honey

Honey has had an interesting afternoon after lunch with the harem. She went to the streaming room to submit the contracts Ms. Calypso and Ms. E signed concerning a new Host agreement to the appropriate entertainment courts (netting her firm another client in the process), then researched her question about romantic interest on various websites. They were, unsurprisingly, unhelpful. Then, a mermaid comes in and starts loudly shouting at the other computer for some reason. Honey finds a quieter locale in the library. She spends some time looking through books for answers, but still finding none.

Seeing as no answers are available externally, Honey thereupon decides to reflect, to see if, as Ms. Campbell would say, if the answer was inside of her all along. The time she has spent with Ms. O’Connor has been mostly pleasant. The sea elf did not make the best first impression, but the emotional turmoil she was suffering from at the time excuses it. She has given Honey every consideration she could and their conversation this morning was quite stimulating. Most of the others have also been pleasant to be around. Honey could see herself content to be with them for the rest of her life. The question is: can she ever get herself to qualify for Pack Tactics?

The answer will come from Ms. Wulf, who has conveniently entered the library. “Huh,” she states, “Nice place, I guess. Bug, you in here? Got a question.”

Honey wings drone as she flies over to the Wulf wolf-girl. “Yes, Ms. Wulf?”

“We’re trying to get another delving party together. You wanna come?”

Honey was about to answer, but Ms. Wulf holds up a hand while staring at her phone. “Wait. Looks like Tina says she’s on Daphne duty and Scarlet is on ‘hoping Glitter will see reason on what she needs help with’ duty? That sucks. Well, that leaves me hanging out with you until curfew. What weird thing do you want to do?”

“How eligible am I for Pack Tactics?”

Ms. Wulf seems to concentrate. “Hmm. You are sexually attracted to the old lady, which is good. Your sexual attraction to me is minimal, but there enough for the transformation to work. You seem incapable of romantic interest of any sort, though. That sucks. I mean, you’re weird, but I don’t want you to die of old age in a couple of weeks just ‘cause of that.”

Problem identified. Solution forthcoming.

“You are an alchemist, correct?”

“Yeah, pretty darn good one, if I say so. Hey, your sexual interest in me just went up. What the...?”

“I am looking to mate with an intellectual equal. You seem crude, but, if you have mastered alchemy, you are at least reasonably intelligent. The question I have is: would a love potion of some sort at least temporarily get me into a qualifying state?”

Ms. Wulf looks surprised at that idea. “Huh. That is a good question. I got some supplies. We can try it out. Are you sure?”

“I am sure. I wish to bear Ms. O’Connor’s seed within me. Please help me make that happen.”

Ms. Wulf makes a face at that simple plea, “Gross, but sure. I get to play with your wasp tits some, at least, right?”

“Once I am Ms. O’Connor’s mate, I am sure we can come to an arrangement.”

“Well, c’mon then. Time to see what I can do.”

Harper

“But Sarge, the ooey, gooey chocolate volcano cake is sooo good here!”

None of those nouns sounds particularly good. Some of that might be anti-volcano bias, but still...

“Compromise: the Apple Brown Betty. That should be a dessert we can agree upon.”

“BOOO!” Mattie groans. Then, she quips, “Okay. My little princess should enjoy dessert, too. But we are getting chocolate ice cream on it.”

“Fine.” I did say it was a compromise. And, in a good compromise, no one is completely happy.

More flirty talk as they wait for a floating dessert with two spoons. Perfectly caramelized and seasoned apples, covered in a cinnamony, oatmeally crumble. With a couple of scoops of cheap chocolate ice cream slowly melting with the crevices. Mattie grabs a spoon and digs out a deep gash of chocolate first. Harper goes for a chunk of apple with some crumble on top. Harper moans as the apple melts in her mouth. Sooo worth the carbs! Then starts a bit of a spoon duel. Mattie tries to grab the apple goo nearer to Harper and the sea elf needed to defend her domain. Eventually, Mattie succeeded, just to lean forward and shoved the spoon straight in Harper’s mouth. Dessert soon devolves to seeing who can feed the other better. The cast iron dish is soon empty and both of their faces are messy.

Harper leads the contest count 2-0-2

“So, I’m about ready to retire for the night,” Mattie finally exclaims, “You ready to see our alternate selves bedroom?”

Skye

With Glitterdust and Skye both free of the rope transformation, the dragon girl ran off and Skye can finally have some alone time with Lady Aelene. Lady Aelene senses Skye’s knotted gut of guilt about the whole dragon situation.

“Did we do the right thing, not relieving Glitterdust? I mean...”

“None of that, Lady Skye. The zemeitsa Glitterdust tried to do a very evil thing to your friend Emi’s Master and Lady Harper felt like she did not show enough remorse. Then, she refused to treat Lady Harper with the proper amount of respect. One cannot show weakness to bratty children. By having a firm hand, the zemeitsa will decide to reflect on her ills and, hopefully, will make amends. When you tend to the fruit of your womb from Lady Harper, keep that in mind.”

I know Mother Kimiko made some hard decisions, especially with Storm, who was always so rambunctious. Why do I feel so bad about helping my lady love punish Glitter? Am I not suited to being a mother? Skye starts to quiver.

And Lady Aelene wraps Skye up in a hug. “You are so young, my lady love. Barely taken your first steps into adulthood. You do not have to be a perfect mother yet. Our lady love, your wife, will be there to help. She believes in you. And I believe in you, too.”

Skye nuzzles into Lady Aelene’s expanded breast. Skye feels Lady Aelene brush her hair. The way her fingers trace through the drow’s locks feels so good. She almost falls into reverie right then and there; only her rope transformation requiring her to tie up someone first prevents it. Lady Aelene asks, “In our particular dialect of Elvish, my child name translates into ‘light’. Mother called me her little spark of light in the dark. Aelenetheria would translate into ‘flourishing light.’ When I came to adulthood, I felt like I could send forth the light inside me to the world as my Mother’s blade. Kaelisterie translates to ‘beautiful warrior.’ When she became an adult, well before I was born, she felt like she could conquer the world with her comely features and powerful sword arm. So, when you think of yourself, Lady Skye, when you think of your growing into the woman I and Lady Harper will love, what do you think of?”

Ah, the adult name thing. When I am being asked this way, it feels less weird. Still, I wonder... Skye reluctantly pushes far enough away from Lady Aelene to grab her phone. She slowly texts in the big group chat: “Does anyone know why my lady love chose to change her name to Harper? Was it a random name or did it have meaning?”

Tina texts a quip: “Perverse fan of mockingbirds?”

Scarlet texts an actual answer: “She said that the Harpers were an adventuring guild and Eilistraee was a patroness of them? Harper was trying to honor her while keeping a relatively normal human name.”

Skye nuzzles back into the hug as she keeps thinking. And her reality was changed to give her an adult elven name that would work with her new human name. So, my lady love was trying to honor The Lady? I should do that. But how? Skye’s hair blocks her view. And then, she has it.