Chapter 1
There were things for Roxy to consider. Options, not really, but things. Options had been left back at Roxy’s house, with Jane, when that God-cat had zapped the potential consider-er away to locations unexpected. As was the god-cat’s wont – it had happened to Jane on occasion, back when humans had ruled the Earth and GPS worked on phones. Also, it usually managed to when Roxy had been away from her computer, but it’s not like the girls had ever been in much of a place to help each other back then.
Things. For one, how large this chair that held her was. It could hold someone almost twice her height. It wasn’t uncomfortable, due it’s cushioning, really, but- it just didn’t fit her. It was nearly impossible to sit up in. Like the furniture when she originally found her Mom’s house, years ago. Everything was too big. Except the bed that had been meant for her.
Her foot itched, that tried to capture her thoughts. She scratched at it with the other. There was at least one benefit of being caught without her shoes.
Another thing was the position of her arms. She’d made an incorrect assumption, watching movies and TV shows. That assumption was that tying a person’s arms up required a rope, or twist-ties, or something. But, for the limited view she could get behind her – very limited, due to the chair – there was no rope. Her best guess was her arms had been braided together in some fashion – but she couldn’t quite get to an angle to confirm that visually.
And she should be terrified. The thought was very insistent in her mind. Even if she knew she could handle herself, which she did. Know.
The sound of a toilet flushing from around the far corner, that wasn’t terrifying. When Her Imperious Condensation came out into view – that should have been.
“Drat. I’d hoped that cat would take you away again,” The Condesce grumbled to herself for a moment, ” ‘ya clamed down, at least?”
“sure,” the girl’s voice was flat. Controlled.
“I’m shore you reelized that pulling out a long gun in melee range isn’t tha best idea,” the troll bent down, retrieving the rifle Roxy had pulled out, and subsequently been disarmed of, a few minutes before, “even if you’ve got that china-cabinet thing as cover,” She was looking over the gun, doing something to the barrel, “or maybe if you was the one zapping things around instead of that cat. Roxy, am i rite?”
The human gave a slight nod.
“Miss Lalonde, I’ll inform you of you one option. Ya stay calm, I let you go, you put this gun away, and we have a nice friendly-like chat until that cat comes back.”
“just blindfold me an boot me out the door den.”
“There is no door. This is my top-security room – one of them, anyway. And as capable as you may be, I don’t think you’d be able to get out of the exit that exists. Though – I S)(OULD be able to help you with that.”
Roxy didn’t respond for a long moment, breathed deeply, then sagged a little, “ok, lemme go then.”
“Put your head down.”
When Roxy responded with a confused look, the troll reached out and gently pushed the human’s chin towards her chest, which it pressed into easily enough, “Never thought this tie would be used as restraint – and not torture – but I’m not just gonna let the secret slip after one use.”
Roxy felt long, thin fingers playing with her arms. And without fanfare, they could move again.
Wait.
Roxy flexed her shoulders, waiting for the sensation of pins and needles to come on. It didn’t. Interesting.
Wait.
Roxy was handed back her rifle. Only a glance was needed to confirm the barrel was obstructed by… something. Metallic, by the look of it.
Wait.
Roxy motioned for a bit of space, and when The Condesce stepped back to give it to her, the girls’ Message in a Bottle modus appeared, none the worse for wear. The troll leaned over it, not quite watching the human stash the gun. “So, gurl, I did have an idea-“
Now.
The modus’ cabinet flashed away, and the troll started to pitch forward at the same time Roxy threw as much power as she could into a high punch, mentally smashing R1 as hard as she could. It connected. Her fist sank into the fabric – into the troll’s gut. Oh. The troll was still falling forward. Her fist was.. stuck? Roxy could only think to pull frantically, sliding down to get out of the way, but-
SLAP. The Condesce’s hands hit the floor before the human could think of any other options. The troll let out a breathy chuckle – without the slightest indication of being winded, “NOW T)(AT was some decent strategy. Predictable, but much better.”
Roxy struggled to get her hand free from – it was starting to tighten – the muscle surrounding it, fist deep. The odd angle it was at above her head didn’t leave much room to move.
“Since you’ve already ruined my appetite – couldn’t you at least try to experiment, rather than run away?”
Roxy craned her head to look back towards the voice – and she recognized the expression on the troll’s face. Not of anger, or pain. That was mix of hunger and a dare. She had probably given Jane just that look a few days ago in their first stretching session.
The girl tried to steady herself a bit, “like this, here?” She could feel the abdominal muscles start to relax in response.
“Shore. You’ll probably get further pushing than punching, tho’. I’ve taken more knives an shivs than fists this way. But I’m always up for practice.”
Roxy tried to get a good view of her raised arm and frowned. Considered her actions for a moment. Then started pushing upwards.
The muscle seemed to melt around her hand as she did so. Half her forearm had disappeared after her fist before it was stopped by something.
“seriously?”
“You ain’t done yet, are you?”
After a moment, Roxy responded by reaching up and threading in her right hand along with her left. There was only the slightest bit more resistance – what were her fingers were feeling? The troll’s back? The thing that was stopping further incursion – a spine?
“i…”
“Keep going.”
She pushed her hands towards the sides, clearing a space. Would the girl’s head fit in there? Maybe? Everything suddenly tensed – not so strongly as before, but her hands were forced together.
“You ain’t gonna do it, are ya?”
“Do what?”
“That’s a ‘no’ if ever I heard it. Keep pressing further back.”
Roxy did, far enough to get a handful of the trolls spine. Then a different sensation – “is… that your… back-skin? dolbuleue tee george man.”
The Condesce let out a light groan, “Grab the spine,” The girl did, “Brace,” Roxy shivered, then obeyed.
Chapter 2
The pressure on Roxy’s hands doubled, “what- are you tryig to break yr-“
And it slipped. No, two vertebra, by what Roxy felt. Dislodged. Slipped clear or the rest of the spine – still in their fleshy package but – what did that matter?
“A)()()()()()()()()( OH it’s BEEN a while,” the voice was breathy, perhaps a little pained, and right in the girl’s ear, “Think I’ll lay down, though. My right, your left.”
Roxy didn’t do much of the work there. She didn’t quite comprehend how the Condesce lowered herself, but there she was, laying beside the girl.
“)(AAAA, ok, now try and pull them to the front,” the Condesce’s eyes focused nowhere in the room. Roxy’s alarm didn’t decrease, but morbid curiosity pushed her on.
She pulled. Tugged. The vertebral bones came in a little ways towards the trolls’ abdomen, but not nearly far enough to be visible. The girl shook her head.
“E)( whateves. Never quite got them to do that on my own anyways. But if ya just’ll let me-“she batted away Roxy’s hands. After the girl withdrew them, the troll pushed her own hands into her waist, and spent a moment fiddling.
“o wait- culd see it from the back?”
“Shore shore.”
Roxy walked around – noticed the troll’s foot waving at her, knelt down. There was an obvious gap in her back, which those long fingers were working away in.
“are yu mixin up vertabre? ewww. ugh. i think im gonna thow up.”
“if you were going to throw up, you would have done it by now. Jus’ making you an honorary threat on my life,” the Condesce paused, glancing back at Roxy, “Unless- you want to sit around and talk with little old bag-o-bones me like this?”
“um… yu don’t relly…”
“Either way, there’s not much more to see – come back around, would you?”
Roxy did. If she had been thinking of anything other than questions, she might not have sat in The Condesce’s easy reach.
“sooo… why are you not dead? i mean, spinal coards. and blood. and organs and stuff.”
“Well its knot like I’m human. ‘Decentralized Nervous System’ is what ya’d call it. Or at least your scientists – though I think anatomy is one of you interests too. An’ really there’s a lot more blood in this body than you’d probably think.”
“can you do this then?” Roxy leaned to the side a little, and pushed a leg behind her in a wide circle. When she straightened, she comfortably sat in a front split.
“I know you can do better than that-“
“well yuh, but a q is q.”
“Yes, I am P-ERFECTLY capable of a split in normal conditions. Sitting, standing – underwater too. Where you can’t cheat with gravity.”
“well excuuuuuse me proncess for not being able to breathe water. but if yu want somthing more,” the girl bent her forward-stretched leg and, leaning forward, first managed to get her head under the knee. Roxy then pushed her torso back up, to have the front leg start to slip down her back. A loud crunch came from the hip still extended backwards as she tried to straighten up, “howz that?” She failed to make the move look effortless.
“Good – fine. Nice use of an oversplit – but you really should warm up before you try and do such things.”
“ive been streching all mornin. the point is i can do it.”
“And so could I, but I think I’ll let that pass to another day.”
Roxy wouldn’t let that be the end of it, but she did allow herself to lean forward, resting in her elbows, “so trolls. can – could – were all of them -“
“Are all trolls Contortionists? Nah. Not the Land-dwellers, certainly,” she ran a finger over an earfin, “Sea-dwellers had some motivation to be. Me especially. ‘Rough childhood’, you could say. But none of – no, wait, I suppose there were some instances of some Land-dwellers being able to walk around with parts of their spines missing, or just parts. I might be able to manage that a few minutes – then I guess I MIG)(T crawl for a bit or somfin. AFT-ER I’d handled the situation.”
Roxy fell silent for a while. She wiggled a bit, let her front leg lay back down on the ground, but didn’t get out of the split. It seemed unfair.
“yu’ve done this before? messed with yr spine like that?”
The look she got, apparently, was what constituted a sage-like expression form the troll, “When you’re successful at a game such as life as I am – you wait a long time in between firsts. I actually didn’t quite realize what had happened down here,” the troll seemed to have moved on from spine re-arrangement to an inspection of various organs, “the first few times – just thought my spine had been messed up and healed. But that became a cycle. Most things do. Attempts on life, recovery, revenge. Maybe not ‘R-EV-ENG-E’ tho. Subjugation? That has more options to it. ‘course if dyin’ ends up to be a cycle – well, can’t say anyfin about that.”
Roxy was given a long moment to think what subjugation could mean in her case.
“Somfin I was going to tell you all – once I’d properly confirmed it,” the troll was gently twisting down her length, letting bones settle in, “A few hours ago this session seemed to lose a lot of its connections back to Earth. Your Earth. Jane’s Earth.”
“wer there that many? i mean… that soundz like a bad thing.”
“That would mean that we are – most likely – participatin’ in a timeline where you will never win this game.”
Roxy frowned, “it never actually felt lik we were winning anything to begin with.”
“I might have contributed to that,” The Condesce started.
“well duh, snorkebich megahitter, if you don’ remember you killed me once.”
“I mean – ehh – One of my pawns did deprive you of A life on my order. Yes. Knowing you had another one to spare. If you think messing me up further would be proper remuneration, I’m right here.”
Roxy switched from sitting in a split to sitting cross-legged and balled up for a moment, thinking.
She sat back up, “nah. if we’re boned that means you’re boned, right? p sure everyon els want a piece of ya too.”
The Condesce let out a sigh and continued, “I should still be able to head back to -Earth on my ship. But, it’s a risk to assume that any portal between this game session and earth is anything but exit-only. Or even to assume -Earth is the destination point. So, provided you an’ the squad would be content to knot try and kill me immediately, all y’all would be welcome to exit with me.
“and yr not doing this now because…?”
“I’m not doing that until I’m sure I can handle what’s on the other side of that portal – which surftainly would not have my interests in mind, and probably just kill you all for sport. If that specific encounter were to happen – well, immortality wouldn’t be asking too much.”
“this game – wel i guess it could have ways to earn more lives. like – 1ups? or spakle shiled, or-“
“Under the right conditions, I’d call it infinite lives. But it’s at the game’s price. Do you think infinite lives in this game would be cheap?”
“hmmm,” Roxy silently doubted this for a few moments. Alchemy might yield something useful, if hard to test – and that would take a brute force attempt. Which could take years. And be very expensive. Unless the troll spoke of other means entirely.
“There is somfin of a much lower price I could offer you – a remuneration I think you might value more.”
“no, wait – pause that – i think i kno where you might be going – but what did you ‘contribute’ to our current state o boneinnation?”
“Ah. Well, when I heard about you talking BT, I made an assumption that I had a specific role in the carapace’s existence.”
“heard of – of course. yr spying on us. aqua queen tolly farce’s been spying on me.”
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t spy on me if you had the means. It’s not like we were on speaking terms until-” the troll squeezed at her waistline, “and, ‘Condy’ would be fine for a name, thank you.”
“so”
“So.”
“so make yr offer.”
“I’d like to offer you my S-ERVIC-ES as a trainer. Ya don’t even know where to start with backbends. Your twists are shallow. Your splits can be improved. Your frontbending is good – but there’s always room for improvement.”
“and a rough childhood qualiffies you for this.”
“Well, that experience and a century or so of building up and exhaustive knowledge on what makes humans not trolls.”
Roxy pondered.
“And obviously I’d have no reason to cull a student.”
Roxy did see the advantage of that.
“You might even find my W-EAKNESS.”
“still,, why? i mean im sure yr working up a new plan for universal dominatrixicin as we speak, but what would being in cahoots with a bendy human get ya’?”
“Well,” she paused, looking like she was arranging the thought into words, “you grew up with those Carapaces, right? They’re decent as subjects go, but… A little boring.”
“boring?”
“Well yeah – ah. You might not have heard it ALL yet. They’s got a decade of material, two tops, all genetic. Which is more than enough if this game was actually going to be finished – and even that’s for player dialogue. Babble generators. But as a queen I get almost nothing. I won’t stick around long at all, if it were just for those little nits. Please believe me, actual sentient company is much preferable, even if it comes with the occasional shiv to the gut. So, heh – my heiress, my stretching buddy, those two effbuoys shenanigans – that’d be enough to liven up a trip.”
“eff-“
“In short, it better to go crazy together than apart. And you get the first offer.”
“ok – we stretch in here? cause everyon would thow a fit if they saw you at my place. a killy fit.”
The Condesce nodded, “My exercise room could stand to have another user. At least the cat brought the second-best person for using it. Maybe the best, some day.”
Roxy smiled at that, “I do wanna see more of what you can do before I say yes.”
“I think that can be done. Here or somewhere up on the surface of Derse. Should be able to get a transportalizer in here, too. It’ll be interesting to see what I can fit in through-“
The troll let the words hang, Glancing around.
“And… any time cat. Ugh. You might want to check in with your friend. As you are ok. Though you might not want to disclose any details just yet.”
Roxy considered this for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Thankfully, her phone had both its own pocket and was in working order.
TG: sup
TG: hey im ok
TG: for now
TG: but it seems thers problems maybe
TG: ill be back when i have this figured out
TG: oh
TG: no treats for gcat
The girl was a little surprised Jane hadn’t tried contacting her – but at least the messages seemed to go through. Looking up, the troll had gingerly gotten to her feet.
“I’m gonna need a bit more to realign here – ya do want to see another trick?”
Roxy brightened up immediately – before catching herself and trying to look concerned, “do you need ny help?”
“Me, need help? Nah,” the troll winced, “but if you wanna put… four more of those weights on that bar, do that.”
Bar – ah. This was something Roxy had seen in movies – a weight bench. It looked – small for the troll, except for the bar already on it, which seemed rather thick for human hands. The weights themselves – marked with ’45’ on them – took a significant bit of effort for the human – enough to realize that the four of them probably weighed as much as she did, if not more.
“I sea we’re gonna have to work on strength too – well, no huge surprise,” The Condesce sat on the bench, then bent back to thread her horns underneath the bar, “At least horns are one thing you won’t have to deal with – though you’re gonna need somfin for posture training. But all you humans seem to have bad posture.”
The bench was actually too small for the troll – she curled her legs back underneath and behind her, her whole body maintaining an arch.
“are yu gonna-“
“No. While I can lift this, that’s not going to help my back. Now, sit down and be quiet for a sec.”
Roxy covered her mouth, and did sit back down – or, lay, not quite in a side split, but with her knees pointing opposite directions.
“That a frog stretch – you know that name? Anyways,” she rested her head on the bench. After a few deep breaths, the troll reached around the back of her head with one arm, grabbing the bench, then pulled. Her spine easily twisted along it’s length, and a bit of spine-crackling later both her butt and chest rested on the bench. She made some effort to relax in that position.
“can… i touch?” Roxy started to get up.
The Condesce grunted a very distinct NO. After a few breaths – noticeably shallower that the last set, she reached around her head a second time – at more awkward angles – grabbed the weighted bar, and pulled again. He spine protested much more loudly at this effort, ligaments twanging like un-tuned guitar strings, but eventually she pressed her shoulders back down on the bench, her midsection a strained corkscrew.
NOW. it was a distinct grunt. The human stood up and, with only half a moment’s hesitation, Roxy started exploring the muscles underneath stretched fabric. Every muscle she touched seemed taut.
It was at that moment the telltale fizzle echoed through the room – The Condesce’s eyes searched, but not wanting to lift her head, failed to locate the cat. The girl was looking away, having found it – and then looked back, eyes full of disappointment.
Go. Laterz. The trolls’ smile was strained. Roxy half-smiled back, and nodded quietly before she went to get the cat. For a moment there was purring, and then another fizzle. The room was silent again.
Her Imperious Condescension checked off points of a mental checklist as she slowly repeated her twisting in the opposite direction. Enough of what she said had been close enough to true. After finally releasing, she slowly sat back up – all the previous tension was gone, her torso’s muscles exhausted. Not that the bones in her back sat quite right – they never had. Tomorrow she would eat, the next she’d be back to exercise. She’s adjust – make it work. Another cycle.
Chapter 3
YOU ARE NOT ROXY LALONDE. FACTS SUCH AS THIS HAVE TO BE ESTABLISHED IN A FORMULAIC MANNER. ROXY LALONDE IS OVER THERE, EXCITEDLY TELLING YOU ABOUT HOW TODAY SHE BECAME A PLASTIC SURGEON OF INTERNAL MEDICINE. YOU ARE THE MOMCESTOR. YOU ARE PLEASED BUT HESITANT. THIS DEVELOPMENT SEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR SUCCESSOR, IF A BIT MANUAL.
ROXY LALONDE SHOWS YOU HER SHARE OF THE CANDY COLLECTED FROM DERSE. YOU ARE PLEASED BUT HESITANT. THESE WILL DOUBTLESSLY NOT BE HORDED AND DISPERSED CAREFULLY. SHE USED TO BE BETTER AT THAT.
ROXY LALONDE SHOWS YOU HER SHARE OF THE CANDY GRIST COLLECTED FROM PROSPIT. YOU ARE PLEASED BUT HESITANT. SHE IS GREEDY, TAKING WHAT SHE DOES NOT NEED.
ROXY LALONDE SHOWS YOU THE INCREDIBLE SUPERHERO SUIT SHE FOUND, WHICH SHE WORE WHILE MAKING HER COLLECTION. YOU ARE HESITANT BUT PLEASED. HOWEVER, YOU INTONE, ROXY LALONDE SHOULD PUT THAT THING AWAY, IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND, FOREVER. THE GIRL DISAGREES.
==> WATCH HER BE AMAZING
THE GIRL WAS ALWAYS ONE FOR FOLDING UPON HERSELF, BUT SOMETHING IS DIFFERENT. BESIDES THE UN-LADYLIKE SHAPES. SOMEONE IS TRYING TO CHANGE HER. SHE HAS COME UNDER NEW INFLUENCES; THE FUTURE WITH ITS MYRIAD POSSIBILITIES HAD AFFECTED HER. WARPED HER.
YOU, THE MOMCESTOR, CAN’T LET THAT HAPPEN. BUT YOU ARE EXTREMELY HESITANT. BEING IN THE PAST, YOU CAN ONLY DO WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE. THIS CHANGE HAS ALSO ALREADY HAPPENED – THIS THING MUST BE REPURPOSED. THE GIRL REFUSES. SHE WILL NOT TAKE IT OFF.
==> BE… HESITANT?
DID THE GIRL HESITATE? NOT ENOUGH. THIS HAS NOT BEEN A TIME FOR YOUR OWN HESITATION, EITHER. YOU WILL BE PLEASED. STILL SHE TRIES TO AMAZE, TO CONVINCE. BUT HER LOGIC IS INFLUENCED. SHE IS THE BEST. THE BEST BALL. YARN BALL, YOU INTONE. A RUBBER-BAND BALL, AS SHE INSISTS ON REPLYING. BUT THAT IS USELESS TO ANYONE. YARN IS USEFUL TO SOMEONE – USEFUL AS ITS FINAL FORM. THE GIRL PROTESTS. YOU START KNITTING. YOU WILL KNIT A LOVELY SCARF, AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE. THE GIRL PROTESTS. YOU REMOVE THE SUIT’S ARMS – THE GIRL’S ARMS COME WITH IT. SHE STOPS PROTESTING.
YOU JOIN THE ARMS BACK INTO THE SCARF. YOU KNIT, AND KNIT. THE SUIT IS REPURPOSED. THE SCARF IS COMPLETE.
YOU ARE HESITANT. WILL ANY WANT THIS SCARF? WILL ANY APPRECIATE WEFT OR WARP? THE SCARF STRUGGLES, NOT APPRECIATING ITS FORM. NOBODY WILL WANT THIS SCARF. STILL, YOU TRY WRAPPING IT AROUND YOU NECK. IT SQUIRMS TO MUCH, IT FOLDS TOO STRANGELY. THE TASSELS ARE NOTHING THAT COULD BE APPRECIATED. IT MUST BE PUT AWAY, THIS SCARF, IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND, FOREVER. THE SCARF STOPS PROTESTING. BUT YOU HAVE DECIDED.
AND YOU WILL BE PLEASED.
THE SCARF IS FED BACK INTO DUMPSTER, INTO THE GOOEY HOLE ABOVE THE LEGS AND BELOW THE ARMS. THERE SHOULD BE TEETH FOR THIS MOUTH, THERE SHOULD BE SPIT AND A TONGUE, BUT THERE ARE ONLY GUMS TO FUTILELY CHEW AND CHEW. THE SCARF IS SUCKED IN EAGERLY, UNTIL DUMPSTER IS DONE MAKING THE SCARF TRASH.
DUMPSTER EMPTIES INTO A LONG SWIRL, FLUSHED, FALLING INTO THE WAVES OF THE TOILET, WHERE NONE-
~
The first thing Roxy decided as she opened her eyes was to take things slowly today. She really was not liking the sensations waking up sober these days. Whatever she had been dreaming about – falling into the Condesce’s toilet? WTG, man, WTG. Her subconscious mind had no business screwing up what she had, on occasion, been forced to do. Besides, it was a squatting deal. Hardly anything to fall into that you didn’t put there yourself.
The girl glanced down towards her feet – at least they had not crept up in siege overnight, as they had sometimes done in the past. The reason for that might be how sore her legs were. Certainly they were more sore than she could remember them being when going to bed – not that it was a particularly strong memory – but then, the stretching regimen she had pushed for with Condy was nothing if not rigorous. On her insistence, the troll had been trying to make her look like a boneless wonder every other day for weeks and weeks.
Dirk might have cared about her relative unavailability, if Jake hadn’t been around. Then again, Jake would probably have left her alone entirely if not for Dirk’s encouragement. Jane, though, was getting curious – she had tried to invite herself to a stretching session once. While Jane wasn’t insistent on Roxy taking her along – yet – that was partially because she still hadn’t figured out how Roxy got wherever she was going.
The transportalizer for that purpose was hidden in a gap behind the kitchen cabinets. Slipping behind the Lazy Susan, having the cabinet door close behind, twisting just the right way that the transportalizer would deem it safe to let her through – well, it would leave her feeling just like a cat burglar, if Condy didn’t have her own blocking measures on the other side. You didn’t have to sit balled up long in the dark to decide uninvited actually meant uninvited. So it had taken a while for her to realize – both mentally and physically – that she had the space to smuggle a small item or two in and out with her, without the suspicion her modus would have raised.
This now meant, as her legs refused to do much, that it was a perfect time to look at her spy camera footage. She would have called the device her “bendycam” weeks ago – had the first expedition for smoke grist went as hoped. It was still bright orange, and otherwise Dirk’s design. However, it still qualified as a spycam – virtually undetectable electronically. But the light that started to blink – once she had sat down and plugged the camera and her laptop together – didn’t fill her with confidence.
At least Dirk knew how to make something that didn’t require extra drivers be downloaded. A folder with 55 minutes of footage popped up in front of her, spread across 11 files. That seemed a little short – at least for the aching of her legs. But at least it wouldn’t take all day to watch. She took a moment the state of the stomach – before breakfast, even.
But food could wait a bit longer, for the sake of curiosity.
Chapter 4
Ok – muffled sounds as she set up the camera – first error – current – or maybe, she thought, Future, Roxy grabbed one of her blank notebooks to take notes –
1. do not half hide camera behind somethign it will block the picture
2. try an develop better microphone
Oh, the pan thing. It had been sitting behind the troll. That had been a weird experience – what Condy had presented her looked like a metal plate on one side, but the other side was a hole in space. Or a hole from there to another point in Paradox Space, more appropriately. Right. Roxy – Past Roxy – had been enamored in previous sessions by the mention of stretches so extreme that the presence of parts of her body made them impossible. But – wow, that seemed more dangerous now that it did then. How easy would it be to fall through something like that?
Oh, but yeah – Condy’s safety demonstration – the troll was an absolute show off and Roxy loved her for it. Most of her hair, horns, Her whole head up to her neck, disappeared. It was weird to see her… bare shoulders? But weirder to see how easily she could handle that mass of hair she had. And – yep. bending forward through her legs, pretending to stick her head up her ass. Wow. Just as amazing on video. The bend. Also the ass. Mostly the bend. But, the troll’s stretching outfit – from some sort of human sideshow in her past? – did much less to hide that fine ass as she bent like this. One day, Future Roxy figured, she’d make it a point of asking if there were any exercises to work on that.
There Past Roxy was, instead, being all dumbfounded and fangirly. Future Roxy could hardly slight her past self for that. Though now, the girl now wondered if Condy could hug herself like that – an arm reaching down her spine, but up, an arm up her spine and between her legs, but down – well, there would always be a next time to ask that too.
3. self hugging optns
4. amzn bootie exercises
A quick swish and she was standing, all the hair flowing so gracefully from nothingness – so poised.
Ok, and – Past Roxy was getting ready to see what there was to see through the hole, warming up. There hadn’t been a whole lot, actually – a green star, probably what was the other half of the pan – wok, the troll had called it? – orbited around. There were handles on either side. And… other than the star, there wasn’t too much to see. No horrorterrors to speak of. Just the star and the occasional flash of something else in orbit.
35 minutes in – this wasn’t that much – it was not enough time. Did the battery fail?
Oh. Wow. That looked painful. Pretty sure legs didn’t twist quite like that. But what was she getting-
FFFFFFF SHE JUST PICKED UP THE CAMERA
“E)()()( you tried, hun, but you should at least match the decor, y’might might notice it’s a purple theme around here, ” She played with the camera a bit, “click, click,” it was her tongue making the sound effects, “Gotta get in some shellfies. But ya probably care more about whats goin’ on with you, right?” After a glance around, she set the camera in a much better position. One that was in earshot.
“So maybe I should narrate this thing now – huh,” The troll’s face scrunched up momentarily, “Or maybe not. But hey, look, rolling pin legs!” the girl’s displaced legs, in what was still a side split, body or not, were rolled across the checkerboard padding of the floor. It took a few moments for Future Roxy to realize what care the troll was putting into the motions back and forth, introducing barely noticeable torques here and there as past her’s legs were pushed around.
When the troll seemed to be satisfied, she moved the camera to point at her weight-lifting bench, “Ok, now for some more targeted stuff.”
Sitting – if that’s what it should be called – laying, maybe? Sitting Past Roxy’s legs on the bench, she kneeled against the girl’s butt, and started pulling legs to awkward directions, sometimes against her own bent knee, sometimes not – and then the video cut out.
Roxy leaned back in her chair. Well, then, the aches she was feeling now seemed to be justified. But – shouldn’t she remember more about what Condy did? She should have felt that many kilos applied to her derriere.
She sighed at the many nobody that filled the room, and copied the files off the camera. Alas, no new tricks to stave of Jane’s questions. Too bad. But at least the troll seemed fine with the filming – maybe it was time to design a more spycam-ish spycam.
Wait.
Why… why was it saying were there files in the trash can? She never –
YES. SCORE. Wait – 27 files… 2½ hours more? And the first one played! But… stomach growling. Backups and food, then mysteries.
Chapter 5
Toast could not satisfy her rumbling stomach – all that was left was Jane’s “pound cake”. But that had… eggs. WHY did ancient humans like eating so many kids? Let them live a bit first.
She risked it. It went down ok, and was followed by lots of water. She’d have to restock her edibles soon – it seemed everyone was dependent on Jane for food these days. That made Roxy feel awkward – even if her own provisioning of food had been rations, stealing vegetables from times past, and occasional carrion – at least she had been able to contribute back in the colony.
It was all so awkward. Living with people, now. Training with a troll. And whatever that video had been not-quite-deleted for…
Maybe she should just delete it. Or ignore it. Her life was complicated enough.
But. She knew she couldn’t. In the spirit of mad rigors, she simply couldn’t.
~
The next video picked up right where the last had left off. She noticed The Condesce’s mouth open a few times, as if to speak – but she was silent.
Four minutes in, she stood up – apparently unhappy with something. Past Roxy’s legs were quivering – and then try to curl up into fetal position, falling off the bench. Then Past Roxy’s butt started to disappear.
“S)(ell no you don’t!” The Condesce quickly grabbed something – a long elastic band, by the look of it – and tied the human’s ankles to one of the bigger pieces of equipment available. Then she waited.
Nothing happened for a moment. But when legs started to disappear again, The Condesce had had enough. “Play time’s done, kid,” and the troll swiftly ripped Past Roxy out of nothingness.
The girl was shaking horribly, huddled, mumbling. That… that was her? Future Roxy had no memory of any of this. Still – the expression in the video triggered something. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew what was playing back in front of her. It was The Terror. The terror that the girl – whichever Roxy – though she should have had. For weeks. Even as her own curiosity had let her to open up to the troll.
Past Roxy looked up at the The Condesce – her mouth opened, hanging for a moment. Before vomiting.
“—ENOUG)( O T)(AT S)(IT,” Roxy couldn’t even see the troll in frame. Just an arm, pointing. But past Roxy fell over. Stopped quivering. Even… seemed to even be snoring.
~
Roxy paused the video. She got up to pace. Which, even if her legs complained, her mind needed.
The Condesce had mentioned over the past few weeks that some trolls had psychic abilities. Some talked to ghosts, some moved stuff with their minds, some gave people nightmares. The troll hadn’t really given the girl much reason to disbelieve that, nor had she made any demonstration of any such powers on her part.
That in itself was odd. Condy loved to show off. Roxy started wringing her hands, cracking knuckles – but forced herself to stop. She needed to find something new to do with her hands at times like this. Vacuuming? No, she’d want to drink. Pace. Just pace.
But. What if it was distanced based. What if whatever was being done to Roxy’s mind had worn off while her head was on the other side of that hole? It was perfectly possible something like that, that could transmit light and matter, would fail to transmit… mindwaves. Whatever it should be called. Almost every door – or window – both lets some things in and blocks other out. Speculation. What else did she have?
So that could – would mean that The Condesce had been suppressing her sense of terror the whole time – who knows, it might even be some natural antidote to that troll psychic nightmare thing. And then… but the troll had said nothing about putting people to sleep. That could just be an omission of convenience, though.
Chapter 6
For now, the only means she had to verify or dismiss her assumptions where that video. She played it as fast as it would go with still having sound, taking notes.
– complains abut the cat like she can control it sometimes? apparently doesn like vomit
– animal ctrl too then?
– servants can’t get in room even
– can grab hevy *light things (like zzzing roxy) with feet
– p. cool as a standing split, less cool when dragging around floor
Then nothing happened for the longest time. Fast forwarding – the rooms’ lights dimmed, and remained dim. More than an hour later, though, the troll re-appeared.
“Delete… delete…” the camera was picked up, the perspective flopping around as The Condesce examined it. She had changed into her standard body-suit, the fuchsia lines not quite matching anything in the room, “Good, that will work.”
Roxy heard a crack – could have been from the troll’s neck. Ok, climbing up… whatever those bars were called for gymnasts. Camera passed to foot – just what was-?
The exit. It must be a hidden tube above and behind those bars. The camera’s view floated up, partially covered by a toe – and was pulled through what looked to be a long, curving, dimly lit tube, complete with hairpin turns. It could have been a maze for a snake, if the snake were Condesce-sized -probably. It was hard to make out the thing’s dimensions in a quantifiable manner. This was, apparently, the impassible exit that The Condesce had hinted at on several occasions. Yet the troll’s toes were apparently enough to have dragged the unconscious human through it.
As minutes passed, looking through what Condy had twisted and turned through, Roxy’s own cupboard transportalizer tricks didn’t seem nearly as impressive now.
After the disorienting five minute trip, the troll was standing, walking, carrying the camera in her hand again. The halls she passed through… they had suddenly stopped looking like Derse. Tall, tall enough for beings even larger than the troll. Bright red. Glimpses of unknown equipment through doors as she passed by.
“Get me a drone – strong, medium sized,” she barked at someone, “I want one ready to take the human back to her bed as soon as I take care of this,” the camera shook wildly. She was sitting down, and…
The last video wouldn’t play. Corrupted, Roxy supposed, when the camera had been plugged in.
The girl leaned back to consider her options.
Chapter 7
Roxy Lalonde had signaled that she was ready to be let in, per protocol. Her Imperious Condensation had a few lines ready – possibilities. If there was no camera, she’d mock the girl on the visibility of the old one. If the Orange camera reappeared, she’s suggest a proper place to put it for today’s stretches. If some new spy camera made an appearance – well, she’d act suspicious, but would pretend to be duped. Roxy’s continued interest was reassuring, for the risk of giving the human a transportalizer route straight to her flagship.
The transportalizer block raised, and there was the girl, rising to her feet; her prod-
The girl wasn’t in her “stretching” outfit. She looked like she was ready to go on a quest, from shirt to shoes.
“ive got two things to ask.”
The troll let her annoyance show, “S)(oot.”
“the first thn; can you stop it? whatever yu do to my mind.”
The troll tensed – her spionics – no, those were solid. Still, the jig was up. Drat. How had the human even known to try recovering the deleted files? But, there were contingencies; there were always contingencies. But for now – breathe – she would just play along, “I… Yes. Mostly. It’s pretty hard to completely un-glamour a person. But you seemed come pretty close the other day.”
“do it then.”
Nothing happened. Except… the troll looked more alien. A thousand subtle things suddenly became odder. Her erect posture became a thrust-too-far-forward pelvis and a back leaning away to compensate. Her bare arms had scars. “)(appy?”
“stay that way,” Roxy wavered, “let me get used to it,” The girl’s voice noticeably quivered, but she was determined to see this through.
The troll squirmed the slightest bit, “–Eh. Now, the second thing?”
Roxy stepped up to the troll. Looked up, directly in her eyes.
“what is the game’s price for infinite lives?”
Chapter 8: Epilogue-ish
TG: i know what i’m doing
TT: That’s hard to qualify, as long you don’t know what SHE is doing.
TG: i gotta know like, 98 percent repeating by now
TT: Ninty eight point nothing repeating
TG: exactly
TT: Exactamundo
TT: Affirmaissimo
TT: Sackly
TG: not now AR
TT: Well then what is the other 2%? You haven’t made that quite clear.
TG: well whateves deep underneath derse’s moon has limited accessibility so ill let yu know once its happened
TG: unless you somehow can see what happens
TG: gamell probably make it p flashy
TG: /gamell/game will/
TT: Thank you.
TT: But it does seem possible you could still be betrayed down there. Unless you insist against it, I’ll have Little Sebastian within quick response distance of your tracker as soon as you are moonside.
TG: i guess im ok with that
TG: again
TG: in case ofa DONT TURN YR BACK ON THE BODY scenario
TG: btw
TT: Yes?
TG: does that mean you have those ribs hidden in a jar somplace
TG: do yu stare at them at night
TG: longing to rustle my boners
TT: Sebastian was able to recover some of the genetic material removed during your surgery, though I don’t see how you expect that to be alluring.
TG: yo woulnt say dat if i had my tongle wrapped around yyour tonsils rigt now
TG: *tongue
TG: kiss kis fall in love bb
TT: …………………………………
TT: …………………………………
TT: …………………………………
TG: ty for being your wet towel self
TT: I haven’t been able to model the usefulness of that operation – have you actually noticed it improving your mobility?
TG: the drones r here
TG: two of em
TG: one pretty big
TG: ‘parrently i won’t have to haul my own somhow-not-rotting corpse all the way ther
TG: so slightly les ew
TG: an the little ones putting the sprite thin in its hat?
TT: Be careful.
TG: Like always, hun
TG: see ya post upgraaade
~
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Subject acquired visually. Trailing.
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Subject met by black queen at predicted rendezvous point. Short conversation, no keywords matched. Black Queen taking package 1 and package 2. Drones dismissed.
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Package 1 and package 2 missing. Unknown party member detected. Subject excited.
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Presence of ‘Kernelsprites’ other than package 2 were temporarily detected. Signatures lost, low priority.
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: ‘God Cat’ temporarily detected. Unknown party member detected, total now two. Subject excited.
TT: /usr/bin/broshot
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Broshot request recieved.
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Broshot failed. Subject and black queen no longer detected. Reacquiring.
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Attachment: waypoint
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Attachment: waypoint
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Attachment: waypoint
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Subject acquired visually. Attachment: accumulated waypoints
TT: nice -n -20 /usr/bin/broshot
LITTLE SEBASTIAN: Broshot request recieved. High Priority. Transmitting…
TT: …………………………………
TT: Prepare for retrieval.
___
The game can’t be won – but one can come up with alternate plans. (illustrated)
Illustrations by Tearzah
and Cheyenne (ch3’s dream sequence).
https://archiveofourown.org/works/5324534?view_full_work=true
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