Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  “Oh dear,” Doku spoke up, with the girls seeing her standing in the room on one foot while in her other she was carrying a tray with a cloth covering something on it. “Should I come back later? I don’t wish to intrude if this is a bad time.”

  “Doku,” Specca said wiping her tears away. “No, it’s fine. This is your bedroom too, you’re always welcome.”

  “What’s that?” Luna asked as the harpy fluttered over towards the bed, her foot carefully balancing the tray that she then set down before the girls. Doku removed the cloth to reveal a beverage set in a small cup on a saucer while beside it were sliced pieces of fish that were roasted and covered in a finely sprinkled seasoning.

  “Fish?” Specca gasped. “Is that a fish? Where did you get that? Star ate all the fish.”

  “I found it in the pantry next to the bread,” Doku curiously explained. “I’m not entirely certain, but I believe during Clover’s… hasty preparation of our breakfast, she might have misplaced and forgot about it. It’s the last one we have, but I can think of no other than you who deserves it more.”

  “Doku, thank you so much!” Specca cried with tears of joy. She quickly took a piece and ate it, a loving murmur escaping her lips as she savored the taste of her favorite food. “It’s delicious. I needed this so badly. Thank you, Doku.”

  “I also prepared you a nice herbal tea, I hope you like it,” Doku said waving her wing over the drink. She then lowered her head with a remorseful frown and backed up to the edge of the bed. “This is the very least I can do to make amends for my horrible behavior earlier. I am truly sorry for what I did, I honestly didn’t mean to upset all of you.”

  Specca stopped chewing and exchanged curious looks with the sisters before they all turned to Doku as she was hiding herself behind her wings.

  “Doku, what happened to you?” Specca asked before eating another piece of fish.

  “You really scared us earlier,” Falla mentioned with a weak smile.

  “Why did you give Daniel a blowjob like that?” Luna worried. “You shouldn’t have done that then.”

  “I know, and I feel awful about everything,” Doku whimpered. “I can explain, I really can. Just please, don’t hate me afterwards.”

  “We don hade you, Dodu,” Specca promised with a mouthful of fish. She started to speak again then decided to swallow her food first. “We don’t hate you, Doku. We were just really concerned about how you were acting, it was nothing like who you are.”

  “Actually… it kind of is,” Doku sheepishly admitted. Peeking over her wings she saw the girls staring at her in confusion. “Like I said, I shall tell you why I did what I did. Just please… don’t think differently of who I am.”

  “I promise we’re not going to look at you any differently after you tell us,” Falla assured with a wave of the hand.

  *****

  “Please stop looking at me like that,” Doku whined.

  Peeking over her wing she saw the girls staring at her with very awkward smiles on their faces. It was as if they couldn’t believe what the harpy had told them about her fetish and were stuck between being confused and excited about it.

  “Falla, you promised!”

  “I’m sorry,” Falla giggled before trying and failing to show a serious expression. “Just… not what I was prepared to hear from you.”

  “You really like being a dirty whore?” Specca wondered. “That’s what gets you excited?”

  “Yes, I told you,” Doku complained. “Now please, stop staring at me like I’m that weird of a girl.”

  “You’re not weird,” Luna assured with a weak smile and a light pat on the harpy’s shoulder. “You just enjoy acting like a shameless lustful monster with a dirty mouth like Clover has. That’s okay. It’s okay, Doku.”

  “If it’s really okay then why is Falla laughing at me?” Doku demanded as Falla was holding a hand over her mouth to keep her voice in.

  “I’m sorry,” Falla snorted before looking down and waving her hand in front of her. “I’m not laughing at you, I’m not.”

  “That’s a blatant lie. For a giant butterfly you’re not trying to hide that deceit one little bit.”

  Falla turned red as she tried to keep her amusement bottled up, managing to last a few seconds more before she burst out laughing while dropping onto her side.

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Doku! It’s just… you acting like a dirty girl is so weird! I’m sorry!”

  “Falla,” Specca scolded with a forced scowl. “Don’t laugh at her, that’s… very rude… hee hee.”

  “Specca!” Doku whined hopping up and down. “Not you too!”

  “I’m sorry!” Specca pleaded, shaking her head to focus her thoughts before smiling nervously at the harpy. “Really, I don’t mean to be rude. You just surprised us with this. I never would have imagined you would have enjoyed behaving like that before.”

  “Well it’s the truth,” Doku huffed with a deep blush. “I suppose this is what I deserve for my actions. I deserve your ridicule and judgment. Very well, laugh at me if you wish. I’ll leave you to do as you please.”

  She turned to rush off the bed before she was quickly grabbed hold of from behind. Glancing back she saw Specca keeping her close while her tail swayed around and held onto the harpy’s leg.

  “Don’t go,” Specca softly said. “It’s okay, Doku. We’re not judging or mocking you. I’m sorry for laughing as I did, that was wrong of me. You surprised us today, this desire of yours is something we never would have guessed you wanted. But I’m glad you told us. And if that’s what makes you happy inside then I want you to have that. I want you to be happy just as we all do.”

  “I’m sorry, Doku,” Falla spoke sitting back up, wiping a few tears from her eyes before smiling curiously at the harpy. “If that’s what gets you aroused then that’s alright with me. I didn’t think you would be capable of having such thoughts to be honest, that desire to be a whore is a complete opposite of the girl we see you as. But that’s okay, I don’t think any less of you for it. I promise.”

  “We all like different things,” Luna mentioned scooting closer to Doku’s side. “And that’s alright. Whatever it is you like we’ll make it happen for you. You’re our mate now too after all.”

  “You honestly don’t think I’m a weird girl for desiring such a thing?” Doku worried.

  “To be called a slut?” Specca whispered in her ear. Doku shivered while ruffling her feathers, drawing immoral smiles across the other girls’ faces as they saw her reaction. “To be a dirty, dirty, bitch? To want to act like a lustful monster of Eden without any restraint or shame?”

  “Y-Yes…” Doku breathed out.

  “No, you’re not weird for that,” Specca calmly answered. She then brought Doku’s gaze over to hers with a gentle hand while her tail began caressing the harpy’s thigh. “You’re just you. Someone we all love and care about. That’s all that matters.”

  “Specca,” Doku quietly moaned before gasping in surprise. “Your… tail…”

  “Yeah, it has a mind of its own sometimes,” Specca replied as her tail was now sliding up and down between Doku’s thighs.

  “Wait, we shouldn’t… not now… not like…”

  “Girls?” Specca said glancing to the butterfly sisters. “I think we need to properly apologize to Doku for laughing at her. She is part of our family now after all. We should show how much we appreciate her.”

  “That is true,” Falla mused as the girls gathered closer. She gently ruffled the harpy’s skirt while Luna traced her fingers along the girl’s side up to her chest. “Daniel chose her as his mate, which means she’s our co-mate now. We shouldn’t be so mean to one of our own.”

  “We’re sorry, Doku,” Luna said before she unbuttoned the harpy’s shawl. She leaned over and started nibbling and sucking on one of Doku’s exposed breasts, causing the harpy to squeal and flutter her wings before Specca held them back.

  “Wait, we can’t! Luna, stop! AHH!” Doku screamed be
fore Falla started sucking on her other breast while also using her fingers on the harpy’s wet flesh beneath her skirt. “Falla! OH! Wait, I’m not ready!”

  “Doku,” Specca cooed as she brushed the harpy’s bangs away to see her yellow eyes. “We love you, just as we do with each other. You’re Daniel’s mate, you’re one of us now. And we’ll always treasure everything about you.”

  “Specca,” Doku breathed out before moaning as her body trembled from the sisters playing with her.

  “You’ve been nothing but good to us since we found you,” Specca complimented as she kissed the girl’s ear. “Please, allow us to return the favor and then some.”

  She pulled Doku into a kiss before they both dropped back onto the bed, the harpy’s muffled cries being heard amongst the giggling of the other girls. Though Doku’s leg managed to kick free and shake about in the air it was quickly grabbed by Falla and pulled back down as the girls swarmed their co-mate with affection.

  “Thank you for the fish, Doku,” Specca’s passionate voice spoke up. “I believe for dessert I’ll have a delicious looking harpy.”

  *****

  Zipping through the air in a blue blur Pip laughed and giggled as she soared around rocks, walls, and dead swarm with sparkly dust trailing behind her the whole way. After the immediate threat of the swarm was removed and Reiko appeared to be friendly, although in a slightly terrifying way, Pip and her newest friend Cindy had resumed their game of tag inside the underground cavern while the others were more focused on finding a way back to the surface. Neither showed any fear of being underground or the fact they were passing dozens of deceased ravenous monsters, instead both appeared to be fully enjoying time together while playing their game.

  “Gonna catch you!” Cindy laughed as she rounded a bend after the nimble flyer. She ran with a large stride and hands waving about in the air, her actions resembling a young child with no worries at all.

  “No you’re not, nope nope!” Pip giggled as she flew around a corner, back through a small opening in the wall, around a stalagmite, over a clump of dead swarm, and down a small corridor with her blue glow lighting the way.

  “Yes I am! Haha!” Cindy boldly declared chasing her.

  Their voices echoed in the softly lit tunnel, with Pip’s glow and the phosphorous rocks in the walls illuminating the passageway for them. Cindy bumped into the walls and stumbled over rocks and swarm with her running, laughing and paying no mind to everything that slowed her down, including a jagged overhanging rock that she ran face first into. The girl jerked in place as her head was skewered, puffs of sand coming out the back where the sharpened end protruded out. Pip stopped and looked back with a tiny yelp as she saw Cindy’s body wavering on her feet with a large pointed rock going through her face.

  “Cindy!” Pip cried out.

  The wraith slowly stepped aside, the sand making up her head sifting around the jagged stone and forming back into place. She smiled and laughed while tilting her head around, showing no signs of discomfort or that she had just been impaled a second ago.

  “Are you okay?” Pip worried.

  “I’m okay!” Cindy cheered with a wave. “I run into stuff a lot, but it doesn’t hurt me. See?”

  “You really can’t feel pain, can you?” Pip wondered as she fluttered closer.

  “I can from fire,” Cindy replied with a saddened smile. “Fire hurts a lot. But rocks and swords and falling down doesn’t hurt me. Just fire.”

  “That’s amazing,” Pip marveled while staring at the wraith’s chest. “Your boobies are so strong.”

  “My boobies?” Cindy asked scratching her head. She looked down to her chest then smiled with a shrug. “I guess that’s true. Only fire hurts my boobs, nothing else.”

  “Wow, nothing else can hurt you? Really? Nothing else at all?”

  “Yep yep. Watch,” Cindy said before she picked up a stone and bashed her own head in. The powerful whack sprayed sand out into the air while the wraith’s skull was crushed inward. Pip stared with wide eyes as Cindy slowly regenerated herself, her disfigured face once again returning to normal while she didn’t flinch even once after having struck herself with great force.

  “Wow!” Pip exclaimed before she started clapping.

  Cindy giggled then walked over to the wall, set her hands on it, then smashed her own head into it. Sand splattered like blood and gore onto and down along the rugged stone wall, with Cindy’s body wavering for a moment before slowly standing back upright with only part of her head remaining on her shoulders. Pip held in her gasp with both hands as she watched Cindy turn to face her with hands held proudly at her hips. The sand that fell to the floor slid over and melded into her feet while her head began reforming again. After a few moments Cindy again recovered from what would normally be a fatal strike without a single blemish on her skin nor any sign of pain.

  “See?” she declared holding her hands out. “I’m okay.”

  “That’s so incredible!” Pip cheered while clapping quickly. “You really can’t feel pain at all?”

  “Nope. Try and hit me. Go ahead, hit me as hard as you can,” Cindy dared.

  Pip fluttered in placed with a curious expression for a moment then quickly zipped down, picked up a pebble, then flew back up and threw the tiny stone at the wraith. It bounced off her face without moving a single grain of sand out of place before Cindy laughed triumphantly.

  “Didn’t even feel that.”

  “That’s amazing!” Pip exclaimed in awe. “Nothing can hurt you but fire! You’re so strong!”

  “I’m a strong girl! Yay!” Cindy cheered as she hopped around merrily. After two steps she tripped over a swarm near the side of the tunnel and dropped face first onto the floor. Pip giggled while watching as the wraith remained still on the ground then lifted her head up with a smeared face that slowly reformed again.

  “I’m okay!”

  “You’re okay!” Pip agreed with a tiny hop in the air.

  Cindy laughed happily for a moment before a loud snap was heard. She fell silent with a curious expression, something appearing to slowly poke into her mind, then turned around onto her rear and lifted her leg up. Clutching the wraith’s foot and having taken a large chomp on it was a little swarm, appearing to be an infant given its size. The youngling had short messy beige hair like her kin, antennae poking up over her head, small wings that whirred with a high-pitched buzz, sharpened teeth set in her wide smile along with Cindy’s foot, tiny nails on her claws and feet, hardened carapace sections like all swarm had, and yellow colored eyes that were fixated on the wraith who merely stared back at her in wonder.

  “What is that?” Cindy asked.

  “A swarm!” Pip cried out pointing to it.

  “Swarm?” Cindy repeated at her. “What’s swarm again?”

  Pip just stared at her in disbelief, seeing the sand wraith looking at her curiously while having rigid corpses of swarm resting not even a foot away from her and also having a youngling chewing on her foot with tiny snarls.

  “That’s a swarm!” Pip explained while frantically pointing to the small monster. “They’re bad monsters that eat everyone!”

  “They eat everyone?” Cindy wondered while eyeing the monster chewing her foot. She reached out and grabbed the swarm, pulling it away from her foot that was mostly chewed off at this point, and held the monster up before her. The swarm snapped its teeth wildly while coughing out sand, hands and legs flailing about while its wings quickly buzzed now and again. After a while Cindy squealed and hugged the monster close, smothering the youngling in her bosom and muffling her snarls.

  “She’s so adorable! Is this a baby swarm? Babies are so cute! I love babies!”

  “Cindy!” Pip exclaimed as she saw the swarm mauling the wraith’s chest with her teeth and claws. Cindy giggled and hugged the monster tightly before lifting it up to her face with obvious love in her eyes.

  “You’re such a cute baby! I could smother you with love all day long! You’re so cute an
d tiny and- yaaaay!”

  The swarm promptly latched onto her head and started mauling her with tiny snarls. Pip stared in stunned silence as she watched the swarm literally chew Cindy’s face off before the wraith held her back with playful laughter and a horribly disfigured head.

  “Do you like eating things? I love eating things too! We’re the same!” Cindy cheered as her face regenerated. The swarm coughed out sand and sputtered drool before snapping her teeth at the wraith with flailing limbs.

  “You’re so adorable, I wanna keep you forever! Yes I do!”

  “Keep her?” Pip exclaimed. “Cindy, we can’t keep her with us. That’s a swarm, she’s really dangerous and mean.”

  “She’s not mean,” Cindy pouted. “She likes to play and eat things, and she’s a cute baby! I want to keep her, I really like her!”

  She held out the swarm towards Pip, likely in an attempt to show her the cute, cuddly looking infant she took the monster to be. The fairy however only saw a wild swarm snapping at her with a wide smile and claws swiping in the air, something that caused her to scream and back away fearfully.

  “Cindy, no!”

  “See, she likes you,” Cindy praised. “She wants to hug you.”

  The swarm thrashed about and broke free from Cindy’s hold, charging and hopping about into the air with buzzing wings towards Pip. The fairy took off yelling in fright down the corridor with the swarm chasing after her with tiny snarls. Cindy watched them go then smiled and ran after as well.

  “She wants to play with you, Pip! Play with her!”

  *****

  Sitting on the slow moving carriage Daniel was listening to the longhaired ant girl squeaking at him in what was easily assumed to be derision, the girl waving him off and squeaking in a long tirade about something that obviously irritated her yet was lost in translation. The other girls watched as the newcomer gave her reply to Daniel’s explanation of why he was traveling the land with his girls then crossed her arms and scowled at him, giving only a small puff to blow her bangs away from her eyes before waiting for his response.