FALL OF A FASHIONISTA

FALL OF A FASHIONISTA

Sheila was extremely insecure. It never ceased to amaze me how many girls didn't pick on the fact that everything she did was geared towards redressing those insecurities. The expensive clothes, the flashy car, the vacations to exotic locales, everything about her screamed "notice this, not who I really am." Including the constant need to reaffirm her status by shitting on those beneath her on the social ladder.

I had been rather pointedly ignoring her antics as she went after her latest victim. I acted as if the junk on my phone was the most fascinating stuff I'd ever seen while Sheila relentlessly harangued the scrawny and disheveled nerd. Sheila was backed up by her entire clique with each girl egging her on. Partly to vicariously enjoy the power trip and partly because they were afraid that if they dissented Sheila would turn on them. My crew on the other hand had all already gone home. I had good reason to always try to make sure no one was around when my Mom picked me up. But when Sheila escalated to shoving I'd just about had it.

I put on my best sneer. I firmly believed you had to have a good sneer to climb to the top of a pack of girls. "Jesus Christ, Sheila. You really have nothing better to do?"

There was a moment of tense silence. Sheila's clique looked at her to see how she would respond. This was a delicate situation for her. I had sufficient social standing to challenge her directly so she'd lose face if she tried to use her followers to put me down. She was on her own for once. I could practically see the gears turning in her head as she tried to come up with something to use against me.

"What's the matter? Don't like me picking on your girlfriend?"

Oh, Sheila. To go to the gay stuff right off the bat? Very weak. If it wasn't for her Daddy's money she'd be the one getting bullied. To be fair I was pretty scrupulous about keeping my private life secret so that people like Sheila wouldn't have anything to use against me in situations like this. But still, a gay insinuation? Not only ineffective but if any of the radfem affiliated cliques got word that Sheila thought being gay was bad they'd turn on her group in an instant. I really hated to even indirectly give those psycho bitches any affirmation, but Sheila was practically begging me to sick them on her. I adopted a full body 'innocent concern'.

"Sheila! Are you suggesting that there's anything wrong with being gay?! It's 20xx!" I was kind of proud of myself for managing to get that out with a straight face. And without vomiting.

Sheila immediately realized her error and the potential social consequences if she kept going. To her credit she at least had the brains to cut her losses. She did her signature hair flip and snorted in derision before leading her crew away. "Whatever. If you two like each other so much you can enjoy each others' company. Let's go girls."

I waited until they left before moving to help up the nerd. She gave me a look of pure hatred. "Can't even let them see you helping a Samaritan up, eh Judas?"

Oh Eirlys. You were too smart for this. "My social status is the only thing that lets me help you as much as I do. Besides, I think you're mixing your references there."

Anyone involved in our school's social battles would have been surprised to hear the leader of the fashion clique not only recognize but critique a literary reference, even a Biblical one. Eirlys on the other hand just grew wistful. "Why can't things go back to the way they were? We could hang out together like we used to and you could stop playing this stupid role."

"Yeah, brilliant idea. Then we'd both be outcasts and I wouldn't be able to protect you at all."

Eirlys' face fell, "You're fake. Everything about you is fake. I don't know how I was ever your friend!"  I watched her eyes harden back into the hatred from before, "I wonder how many of your posh friends would stand by you if they knew that the famous teen model's father drove a cement truck!?"

I saw red. How dare she talk about my Daddy? He was a great man. He worked harder than anyone I knew to take care of Mommy and us kids. How DARE she? I realized that at some point I had knocked Eirlys down and was currently punching her while screaming "DON'T INSULT MY DADDY!"

It didn't take much before she couldn't even attempt to ward me off with her forearms any more. I grabbed the dazed girl by her collar and dragged her to her feet so I could scream in her face. "HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DID I TRY TO GET YOU TO WORK OUT WITH ME?! HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DID I TRY TO HELP YOU DRESS A LITTLE BETTER?! HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DID I TRY TO INTRODUCE YOU TO PEOPLE?! BUT NOOOOOOOO, YOU CAN'T EVEN BE FUCKING BOTHERED TO SHOWER ONCE A DAY! YOU WERE A WORTHLESS FUCKING ANCHOR, EIRLYS, AND EVEN THEN I TRIED TO LOOK OUT FOR YOU!"

I knew I was hurting her. But, God help me, in that moment I wanted to hurt her. I wanted her to suffer. I was even willing to use the tools of the game I hated against one of the last people I respected. I reined in my emotions, forced my entire body to express 'disdain', and let go of her like I was dropping a soiled rag.

"Feel free to come at me if you dare, Eirlys. If a fuck up like you can dethrone me then I deserve what I get." I shifted my body posture to 'menacing' and my face to 'obviously insincere smile', "But if you bad mouth my family again I'll make your life such a shit storm you'll remember Sheila as a bosom buddy."

My exit wasn't as dramatic as I would have liked. Storming off down a sidewalk on foot is a far cry from being ushered into a limousine and being driven away. On the other hand it was a lot better than screwing around on my phone waiting for Mommy to come get me in her beat up hatchback while Eirlys lay on the ground and sobbed.

***

I was a zombie the next day. Leftover nervous energy from my confrontation with Eirlys had kept me tossing and turning all night. I tuned out my crew as they debated what were going to be the hot sweaters in the upcoming fall season. Usually analyzing their chatter was mission critical for me to maintain my facade as a not-poor girl who could afford to waste money on fashion periodicals. But I just didn't want to deal with it today. I felt another surge of futile anger towards Eirlys as I opened my locker and a note fell out. I immediately recognized Eirlys' handwriting and almost crumpled it up without reading it but a premonition stayed my hand. I scanned the letter quickly:

	"You were the only friend I ever had. Goodbye forever. - Eirlys"

My blood ran cold. Was this a suicide note?! I started to panic and barked at my crew, "Where the fuck is Eirlys?!"

Of course none of them even knew who I was talking about. I provided a brief description and ordered them to split up and look for her, sending the only one not wearing high heels to run to the school office with the note. I vaguely remembered which was her homeroom and sprinted there myself. By some miracle on the way there I saw her in the school garden through a hall window. She was looking pensively at a vial of clear liquid. Was it a drug? Poison!? I was overwhelmed by guilt. I was mad at her but I didn't want to kill her! I frantically looked for an exit but nothing presented itself. Desperate, I grabbed one of the chairs they kept in the hallways and threw it through the window before jumping through myself. I could feel the broken glass cut me in dozens of places but I forced myself to ignore the pain as I charged at Eirlys and screamed, "NO! DON'T DO IT!"

Her reflexes always sucked. By the time she turned around with a look of bovine incomprehension on her face I was right on top of her. My stiff arm sent the vial flying and my shoulder charge knocked her in the opposite direction. Unfortunately my frenzied rush meant that I went sailing in the same direction as the vial. Doubly unfortunate since the vial had become unstoppered. As it spun through the air it showered me, and my open wounds, with its contents.

Eirlys looked at me with shock, "What have you done?!"

"I got your note! I'm stopping you from killing yourself you selfish cunt!"

"I wasn't killing myself! That was-" Eirlys' hands flew to her face and covered her mouth, "Oh no."

"What is it?" I asked. That was when I started to feel the burning. "Hey, what was that stuff? You weren't killing yourself so it's harmless, right?"

Eirlys' face was pale and her hands were shaking as she fumbled with her phone, "E-emergency services? I need a Parahuman Response Team and an ambulance immediately."

"What was that stuff?"

"Y-you didn't drink it, maybe it won't do anything...?"

"WHAT WAS IN THE VIAL EIRLYS?!" I was pretty scared now. The burning sensation was getting a lot worse and spreading. It felt kind of like when you drink something cold right after eating something really hot, except in my arms and legs and with the temperatures reversed. In fact now it felt like it was reaching my core-

My world dissolved into madness. The ground was mushy and I could make my arms and feet sink into it just by pushing. My hands felt like they were HUGE and covered in velvet. I giggled as I kneaded the soft ground with my fat hands and the world spun. A nightmare kaleidoscope figure loomed over me and gibbered incomprehensibly. I caught the word "pain" and cheerfully confirmed that oh my, yes, I was in an indescribable amount of pain. I rolled around a bit, imagining the deep furrows I must be digging. The pain was like fire and you were supposed to roll when you were on fire, right? A small, scared part of my brain told me that didn't make any sense. The electric sparks dancing around my head found that hilarious and we all shared a good laugh. Laughing was fun, but I might have been doing it wrong. Are you supposed to try to simultaneously contract every muscle in your body when you laugh? Maybe not. As I asked myself the question something decidedly unfunny entered my awareness. It was so unfunny I started to understand what the fractal patterns continually morphing around me were saying.

"I-Isn't she just going to monsterize?"

"That vile brew isn't supposed to be applied intravenously! She's completely unstable! I've never even heard of this before. For all I know she could be turning into raw Chaos stuff! Now get out of the way you idiotic little girl!"

Booooooring. I grinned so hard I could feel my face crack and the little shards turn into beautiful butterflies. The butterflies were attracted to a constellation of pretty lights. So pretty... I had an epiphany. I just knew that something good would happen if I got those lights. Or more specifically, MY light. I was absolutely certain that somewhere out there was a light just for me and I needed to find it. I started to roll towards to pretty sparkling motes. This made the fractal patterns become more jagged.

"STOP HER!"

Three of the fractal patterns intersected my potentiality and collapsed into Platonic ideals. They were <war/battle/fight/kill> [priest], [FEMALE] <enforce/fight/battle>, and HORRIFYING BUG. [priest] hit me with something intangible and I could feel tangled skeins of possibilities slipping away from me. The patterns collapsed even further. Now I saw a man wearing full plate armor covered in Latin inscriptions, a tanned muscular woman with one horn and wing wearing a cut down version of a tactical police rig, and half a woman sticking out of a HORRIFYING BUG. Looking closer I realized that they all had lights! The priest's light was very pretty but the words guarding it were super yucky. The other two had lights that weren't interesting at all. What happened to all the pretty sparklies? I swiveled my head around and finally saw them again in the [[MALE] education structure]. I smiled and started to walk towards the swarm of shining beacons.

"She's still unstable! Keep her away from any humans!"

"I got her!" The muscular woman ran in front of me. I smirked because I knew how powerful I was now. I launched a flurry of punches and kicks at her. To my surprise she blocked them all, "By Hera! She hits like a demon!"

"She IS a demon! Don't spar with her, hold her down!"

They wanted to keep me from getting to the lights! I panicked and tried to run but the woman tackled me.

"Good! Now quick Saiki, bite her!"

Like lighting HORRIFYING BUG dashed forward and dug her HORRIBLE FANGS into me. I could feel her essence flowing through me and I HATED IT. It was stealing my infinity! It filled me with a pleasure that distracted me from the lights!

"I mean no disrespect, Paladin-Dono, but why did you tell me to do that?"

"She's stuck in a state of heightened transmutational potentiality. Normally this is very temporary and immediately collapses into a concrete form. But due to IRRESPONSIBLE CHILDREN-"

I heard a sob, "It was an accident!"

"-this girl received the reagents in a very unusual way and that isn't happening. It will take a lab to figure out what actually transpired here but I'm hoping that we can leverage the Law of Association to give her a mystic affinity to SOMETHING and force the transformation to complete itself. And since you're the only monster here with anything even vaguely resembling a transformation attack..."

"Is it working?"

NO NO NO! This wasn't right! I was infinity! I needed to find my light! Not resonate with a HORRIBLE BUG!

"I won't be able to hold her if she keeps thrashing like this!"

"Curses! Saiki, hit her again! Don't stop until I say so!"

HORRIBLE BUG struck again and latched on this time. A wave of pleasure unlike anything I'd ever experienced washed over me and sent me crashing through the astral plane and back to mundane reality. I could feel every cut and bruise on my battered body. I was pretty sure my arms and legs were broken and my mind registered numb horror as my tongue ran over shattered teeth. It felt like I'd gone 10 rounds with one of the old Demon Lords. I was so tired... I decided to just lie back enjoy the wonderful waves of pleasure for a while.

It wasn't so bad. If I ignored the breasts and focused on the hard abdominal muscles pressing into my back and strong arms encircling me it was kind of like what I imagined being held by a boy would be like. And the positions were wrong but if I shut my eyes I could imagine the scary bug lady biting me was actually a boy giving me a hickey, or maybe a naughty little nibble. Yeah, that was it. I fantasized that everything before now was a nightmare and I had just woken up with my ideal guy holding me in his arms and nibbling on my neck. Whatever was flowing through my veins enhanced the dream until it seemed real.

My hands drifted towards my panties. I imagined that my guy was teasing me, telling me to give him a show, so I started to play with myself. As I shuddered through my first climax I could feel things start to shift inside me. The shifts were synchronized with the pulses of my orgasm and felt absolutely incredible. The agony from earlier faded into distant memory as I frantically rubbed my clitoris and plunged my fingers into myself trying to urge my body to greater and greater heights of ecstasy. My phantom boyfriend let go of me so he could get a better view. I wantonly writhed and moaned for him as he praised me and told me he loved me. Yes, finally! I waggled my antennae at him to let him know I loved him too! He told me that he loved my long legs so I streeeeeetched them out, just for him, each growth spurt matching a spasm inside my vagina. He said they were beautiful so I gave each leg section its own little legs. It was so satisfying. My naughty bits agreed and squirted each time one of my cute little leggies popped out. By that point I was gasping like I had run a marathon. I convulsed through one final, epic orgasm as I felt countless little things inside my body move into their final configuration before passing out with a big, stupid smile on my face.

***

It was childish, but I was sulking. Admittedly, even as a little girl I'd never sulked for weeks. Yet here I was. I felt entitled to it; I'd lost everything.

I guess I should have been grateful. The doctors said the responding Paladin's quick thinking saved my life. My transformation had healed the horrific injuries I'd suffered in the throes of magically fueled madness. Members of our Church had chipped in to help out with bills which would have otherwise overwhelmed my family's budget. Daddy and Mommy's friends had busted their humps to transform our basement into a living space perfect for a girl like me. Everyone I knew, and quite a few people I didn't, had worked hard to help me.

But everything I had worked for myself was gone. My modeling career was over. The company I worked for didn't make clothes for girls with my new figure. My carefully planned climb up my school's social ladder was ruined. Monster girls usually stood far, far outside the internecine social conflicts of human girls. They seemed to be disgusted with the whole affair and only intervened when a boy they liked got caught up in something unpleasant. At which point the results tended to resemble the climax of a Godzilla movie. It was kind of hard to deploy social pressure against an ambivalent outsider, many of whom could beat up a combat mech. I hadn't returned to school yet, but I was sure that when I did I'd face a hostile and alien social environment even worse than Freshman year. Everything I had built was gone.

As a result I wallowed in self pity. Almost literally as I sullenly wormed my way out of the pile of soft blankets and pillows Mommy and her friends had made for me to use in my nest. The cool, damp basement air felt weirdly good on my skin as I skittered to the custom bathroom Daddy and his friends had built for me. After completing the task Parahuman Response Officer Saiki had awkwardly instructed me in I washed my hands and stared into the mirror. For the thousandth time I meditated on the monstrosity staring back at me.

I hadn't turned into a standard Oomukade. The doctors said something about "Law of Affinity" and "Law of Similarity" and a bunch of other stuff I didn't care about. My basic understanding was that it was difficult for "Mamono Mana" to truly change who you were. As an outgoing blond social climber I wasn't very much like the usual dark and reserved introvert Oomukade. So the magic had turned me into more of a Western Centipede. From the waist up I was still basically the same blond Aryan goddess I'd been before. Just with antennae on my head, false legs wrapped around my torso, maxillipeds around my neck, and poison glands running up and down my skin. Sadly my bug parts weren't the bold, exotic colors of an Eastern Oomukade but the dull greyish brown of a garden variety House Centipede. I also got gypped in the venom department; mine was abnormally weak. Even my tail was more like a normal household bug in that it was an automimic: a harmless pair of false legs which only looked like fanged maxillipeds. On the bright side my true legs were abnormally long and ended in extended foot-like tarsi, again like the common House Centipede. As a result I was a quite a bit faster than usual for Oomukades.

My new form also came with some disconcerting new senses. Most of them were relatively mundane like my new hypersensitivity to vibrations picked up by my antennae and legs. Or the new multitasking kinesthesis letting me perceive and control all of my limbs. But I could also somehow sense peoples' energy. Officer Saiki tried to explain it to me during our early "So You're an Oomukade Now" talks. At the time I hadn't given one iota of a fuck about the details of being a gross bug. I'd ignored anything not immediately essential and poor Officer Saiki hadn't had the force of personality to break through my surly attitude. All I could remember was that she called it "mana", that everyone had it, and that it told you a lot about a person. I now knew from experience that it was a very mixed blessing. Daddy and Mommy's mana was like two soft, warm lights all tangled up with each other. Even when they were apart I could sense a little bit of each of them commingled with the other. To my chagrin I could also determine with great accuracy how much sex they were having. I was happy for Daddy I guess, but that was way, way more information than I wanted about their sex life. In contrast my little brother's mana was sharp and astringent, kind of like the taste of an unripe fruit. Which I guess he was in a way.

Speaking of my little brother I could sense him outside. I thought wistfully of how we used to play sports or pretend in our tiny enclosed yard. I didn't like leaving the house anymore. The thought of people looking at my gross bug body was too much to bear. It was better to hide in the basement. But our walled and hedged yard was pretty private... maybe it wouldn't be so bad? I grabbed one of Daddy's old oversized sweatshirts from my wardrobe (none of my old tops could fit over all the bug parts sticking out of my torso) and tentatively peeked outside. The basement level window only let me see my little brother's feet and the soccer ball he was kicking around. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. How could I play soccer with this body? I just watched for a while, dithering over whether I should join him or not.

Without warning my antennae went rigid and I felt a chill run down my spine. For a moment my brain froze with confusion. Why was my body reacting like this? I sensed a mana source approaching, but that happened all the time. The source wasn't even particularly strong. Officer Saiki and our hellhound mail carrier both had much more potent and noticeable mana. Even Daddy and Mommy put out more mana after they did that thing I tried not to think about. Yet something about this mana source made me very anxious. I focused on the antennae I usually despised and tried to figure out what was happening.

I sensed Daddy and Mommy in the house above me. My little brother was in the yard. Our neighbors were outside my effective range but I could just barely detect three mana sources on the street in front of our porch. Two of them were stronger and mixed together like Daddy and Mommy. The third was a tiny, primal spark which felt like the other two put together. A husband and wife with their baby? The mana source which had disturbed me in the first place now stood at our front door. I examined it closely but still couldn't find anything unusual about it. The most I could say is that it was probably a monster girl and that it felt a lot like what I thought was the baby outside. Another child? I heard the doorbell ring and saw my little brother's feet running into the house. His footsteps thudded on the floor above me as he rushed to answer the door. I followed the thumps and stood under our front door to try to eavesdrop on his muffled conversation with whoever possessed this mysterious mana. With my little brother right next to the mana source I couldn't help but compare the two. That was when it hit me. His mana and the mystery mana were starting to synchronize. I was watching the very early stages of the commingling I saw in my parents!

A monster girl was going to steal my baby brother!

My panicking human brain sent confused and dire orders to my monster body. Acting on instincts I didn't know I had I scuttled to a basement window and squeezed through. I honestly had no idea how I did that. Once outside I sprinted to the porch and tackled the slut. Her surprise was total and she offered no effective resistance as I wrapped her in my lower body. I don't even think she realized what was happening until I closed in to menace her with my fangs and get a closer look at the bitch trying to defile my baby brother. Trapped in my coils, poked by my legs, and confronted by my angry glare the orc girl started to wail in terror. I was struck by how much her screams reminded me of the squealing of a pig. Disgusting. I didn't know much about monsters but even I knew that orcs were low level trash. This cunt was living down to her race's reputation as garbage tier sword fodder.

I was vaguely aware of my little brother hitting my coils and trying to pull little piggy free. His adolescent human strength was no match for mine but I was worried by his behavior. How had this whore poisoned his mind so much already? I gently picked him up with my tail's false maxillipeds and held him away from swine slut. Then my antennae twitched, warning me of a new threat. Two people who I assumed where piggy prostitute's parents approached. The woman was an older orc with wide hips and fat tits. Shocked fear was written across her face and she clutched a chubby baby boy to her breast. I dismissed her as no threat. The man was another matter. He looked like the Platonic ideal of "Dangerous Biker Gang Member". His heavily muscled arms were festooned with tattoos rich in death symbology and his powerful core was barely concealed by a slight beer gut and a dark gray muscle shirt. I assumed the only reason he wasn't wearing a skull emblazoned black leather jacket was the heat. Worst of all I saw an intimidatingly large pistol riding on his hip. He could be a problem. Maybe if I-

"OLYMPIA EMMA STEINMETZ, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Oh no, that was Daddy's angry voice. I tried to tamp down my fear of his disapproval. Daddy just didn't know what she was up to. He couldn't sense mana like I could. I just needed to explain, "Daddy, I-"

"Put her down. Now."

"But Daddy, she's bad! She-"

"NOW."

I almost never defied Daddy. But this was important! He needed to understand! I tried to keep the whining out of my voice, "She's trying to seduce Little Brother!"

Daddy gave me The Look. I was about to submit when the sow cracked and started to confess, "Ah! I give up! It's true! When Mom asked me what video game I wanted for my birthday I lied! I really wanted 'Human Boy Quest' but I told her I wanted 'Monster Mania' because I know Johann wanted it and it has multiplayer! I was going to ask him to play it with me so I could get close to him on the couch and maybe even cuddle!"

"See?! See?!" I triumphantly looked at Daddy to gauge his reaction to her vile scheme. I was a little surprised when he raised his eyebrow and quirked his lips.

"You attacked her because she wanted to get close to your brother and play a video game with him?"

"Well, no... I just..." it sounded kind of silly when you said it like that, "It may seem innocent but it's just the first phase of her plan! Next she'll want hugs or head pats!"

Daddy was staring at me like I was insane. I withered under his gaze and didn't have the strength to resist when my little brother pulled on my coils to release the porker. He gave me an angry look and then turned to the orc girl, "If you want a hug you can have one right now."

My heart fell as he wrapped her in a tender embrace. She went stiff at first and turned beet red before her face broke into a big goofy smile and she practically melted into him. I think she might have actually cooed. My supernatural senses told me that their mana was even more synchronized now than it was before. All I'd accomplished was to drive them together. It just wasn't fair!

I was suddenly very aware of the fact that I was out in public wearing a ratty men's sweatshirt on top and disgusting bug parts on bottom. With all of the noise everyone in the neighborhood was probably looking out their windows to watch the show. Self consciousness overwhelmed me. I fled back to the basement, somehow once again squeezing through the tiny window to reenter my lair.

***

My botched intervention turned out to be even more disastrous than I had thought. Daddy had apologized profusely for for my actions and invited the Schweinehirts to stay for dinner where the grown ups had hit it off over beer and grilled burgers. Glasha's (what a stupid name) father owned a repair garage and shared quite a few interests with Daddy, especially vehicles and sports. Mommy was enchanted by Glasha's little brother and the two wives spent the evening happily sharing parenting and housekeeping tips. Mrs. Schweinehirt was very impressed by Mommy's crafting knowledge and for some strange reason Mommy always seemed to admire monster girls. The end result was that the Schweinehirts started to visit regularly and their stupid little orc spawn visited us even more often than that.

I burned with silent rage as I watched Glasha get closer and closer to my little brother. Couldn't anyone else see what was happening? You didn't need mana sense to see two teenagers falling in love. It started simple. Glasha would come over and they would play that stupid video game together. I made sure I was always in the room with them so the pig wouldn't get too handsy but Daddy had made it clear to me that I couldn't go beyond glowering at her. Next they started meeting up to study. I'll admit that the dumb piggy needed all the help she could get but I knew she was mostly interested in spending more time with Johann. I tried scaring her off of the study sessions by showing her my fangs when little brother wasn't looking. That only worked briefly. She was definitely shook up by the angry high level monster in the room and had trouble concentrating on the schoolwork. Unfortunately Johann noticed that she was nervous right away and correctly guessed the cause. I had to promise Daddy I'd be good or be banished to the basement whenever Glasha visited. I didn't dare give her that leeway and was forced to comply. Although I did wonder why she didn't just frame me for intimidating her to get me out of the picture. No one would have believed my protestations of innocence at that point. Was she too nice to do it? Or did the scheme simply not occur to the stupid sow?

Soon Glasha advanced to a stage I hadn't anticipated. I watched curiously as the two collected old containers of various sizes only to fill them with water, sand, or rocks. Their purpose rapidly became clear as they started using the items as improvised weights in a resistance training session. Later at dinner Johann excitedly told us about how Glasha was going to help him get stronger. He reassured our parents that it wouldn't even cost any money for gym memberships or equipment because they were going to do it "the orky way". He got a little flustered when Mommy teased him about his "little girlfriend" being stronger than him, but Daddy and Mommy both approved of the project.

They couldn't see what I could. The strength training was adding something to his mana. It was starting to develop the very beginnings of something which I could really only describe just as he had: "orky". Having had many opportunities now to observe it in full flower within Glasha's father I recognized the mix of harsh colors and impressions I associated with strength, toughness, and reckless courage. Although oddly neither male's energy had the retiring, almost submissive, notes I detected in Glasha or her mother's very similar mana. These observations discomfited me. That slut wasn't just angling to defile my baby brother, she wanted to turn him into a stupid oinker like her.

***

My frustrations came to a head the next day. Daddy was off work so he and little brother were out having a boys' fun day. To my surprise the chubby little porker showed up at our front door anyway. I thought Mommy would send her away but instead she invited her in and they went into the kitchen. Curious, I went upstairs and saw that Mommy was pulling out her recipe book and telling Glasha something about spices. The sight infuriated me. That fat, stupid, slutty, low level WHORE was tricking Mommy into teaching her how to cook baby brother's favorite meals! At the same time that skank was trying to build up her relationship with Mommy so there would be no opposition to her maniacal molestation machinations. I could feel my heart beating faster. I couldn't even fit in our tiny kitchen anymore and now this whore was learning cooking from my Mommy!? My fangs extended and my tail started to wave. It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair! IT WASN'T FAIR!

Something snapped inside me. I charged forward and got as far into the kitchen as I could. Hands curled into claws reached for swine slut as I started screaming at her. I honestly don't remember what I said but I do vividly recall my fanged maxillipeds thrashing frantically to punctuate my imprecations. All of my hate and frustration poured out of me in a violent rush. Glasha recoiled in fear and I drank in her submissive energy. We both knew I was by far the more powerful monster. Even if the stupid piggy couldn't suss it out on her own surely she remembered the last time I kicked her ass. All I had to do to save my baby brother was dominate this bitch and then-

SMACK!

Something slammed into my jaw. I was stunned. I'd never been hit before. It HURT. I looked around in confusion to see what had struck me. To my shock I saw my own mother clenching her fist and staring at me with cold eyes, "Glasha, go watch television or play a video game. Make sure the sound is turned up. Olympia and I are going to talk."

Still stunned, I didn't resist as my mother grabbed my ear and dragged me to the basement. There we waited in silence until we heard the digitized sounds of Monster Mania's exaggerated wrestler characters taunting and fighting each other.

"What the HELL is your problem, Olympia?"

"She's no good for him!"

My mother looked incredulous, "She's an incredibly sweet girl. Your brother obviously adores her. She's even a good financial choice; do you realize her father has already offered to have your brother work at his garage over the summer to learn his trade? If they marry he might even inherit the business."

"She's a fucking orc!"

Mommy's eyes softened, "Sweetie... is this about what happened to you?"

"What? No..." I was taken aback. I hadn't really thought about it that way before. I reflected for a moment and decided in a flash, "NO! She's a worthless slut!"

Mommy laughed sarcastically, "A monster girl slut? Sweetie, do you have any idea how RELEIVED I was when he caught the eye of a monster girl?"

"He deserves better than low class trash like a fucking orc!"

"Is that so?" Mommy's eyes went cold again. I wasn't sure what I'd said wrong so I kept going.

"Yes! If he's going to be with a monster it should be a high level one like a dragon or a Pharaoh. Even if he's going to slum it with a stupid fighter type he could at least get a stronger girl like a hellhound or something."

I could feel Mommy's gaze boring into me like two frozen drills, "Yeah. Being with an orc is like marrying a cement truck driver."

I froze. I wanted to say that was different. Daddy wasn't like a stupid orc! But... I knew that a lot of the people at school would probably rank an orc higher than a lower class human worker. That was the whole reason I'd kept my family life so secret wasn't it? The bottom of my heart fell out. Had I only been carefully curating my fake social persona to prevent those people from discovering the truth? Or, on some level, had I been ashamed of Daddy too?

Mommy could obviously see that her blow had struck deep. Instead of twisting the knife she sighed in resignation and flopped down backwards onto my nest, "She will never betray him Olympia. NEVER."

I just stood there, my emotions swirling.

"Marrying a monster has some pretty definite practical pluses for a guy too. I've seen the way your little brother looks at those child bearing hips of hers. Not too many guys would say no to the amount of sex and physical affection a monster girl wants." Mommy looked at me puckishly, "But I don't need to tell you about that, do I?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" how the heck did she know that ever since the transformation I'd felt the need to 'relieve stress' a LOT more often?

"Sweetie, I've sucked my own juices off of your father's dick enough times to know what girl cum smells like. I know what you do down here."

"M-M-Mom!" I could feel the blood rushing to my face. I was horrified to learn still more specifics of my parent's sex life. Yet I had to admit, now that Mommy had put the thought in my head, the idea of cleaning my own mess off of my (sadly imaginary) husband's penis made my lady parts tremble.

Mommy looked at me knowingly, "See? Just thinking about it got you excited. It wasn't like that before you changed, was it?"

I felt very uncomfortable with this topic, "Maybe..."

"It usually takes a while for us human girls to get revved up. And believe me, it doesn't get any easier when you get older. Or when you have to deal with the stresses of life." Mommy leaned back and sighed, "But it's important. I heard an analogy once from an old woman who said that a wife not sleeping with her husband is like a husband not talking to his wife. Being with your man physically is an important part of communicating your love for him."

Mommy poked a finger into her own belly. She was pretty good looking for her age, especially after two kids, but the finger did sink in noticeably, "Most women envy monster girls for their beauty. I always envied their libido. It can be hard to be there for your father. Sometimes when he wants sex, or even just to cuddle, I feel tired or ugly or gross or just not into it. It would be so much easier if I could get horny as effortlessly as a monster."

"Miss Stevens says a man is never owed sex."

Mommy rolled her eyes, "And that's why Miss Stevens uses food to fill the hole her nonexistent husband should be filling with dick. She isn't technically wrong. It would be evil if your father smacked me around and took me by force. But love doesn't work that way. It isn't transactional. We make sacrifices for the people we care about. Sometimes that means putting in extra effort to meet their needs. How good a husband would your father be if he refused to support me or my babies and used some cockamamie Libertarian argument to claim we had no right to his money?"

"Daddy works really hard to take care of us."

"It would be a lot easier for him if he wasn't tied to two kids and a woman who has even less earning power than he does." Mommy hugged one of my pillows, "I never, ever want you to forget that. So many women don't respect the sacrifices the men in their lives make for them. It goes both ways of course; men have their own sins and cruelties. But you wouldn't believe how crazy most women were before the portals opened."

"Mommy." I hadn't dared to ask this question for years, "Is that why we never talk about Grandma?"

Mommy closed her eyes, "She betrayed me Olympia. She betrayed her whole family. For nothing. I have no idea how monster pair bonding works but for that attribute alone I know they aren't the evil creatures some people claim they are."

I didn't have an answer for that. I didn't have an answer for any of it. My resistance petered out as I sunk into the soft blankets of my nest. For the sake of pride I objected one last time, "He's my baby brother..."

"And he's my baby. I know it hurts but he has to grow up sometime." Mommy reached over and pulled me into a hug. We stayed like that for a long time.

***

I dejectedly lay in the back of Mommy's hatchback. After my outburst Mommy had decided that brooding in the basement wasn't good for my mental health and that going back to school was just what I needed. Thanks to the accident I'd missed almost an entire semester so today she was off to meet with the school administration to figure out what courses I needed to either enroll in or test out of. Glasha's father had generously offered to help Daddy install a removable safety harness our car so Mommy could take me along. Hooray. I dreaded seeing how badly my social standing had decayed during my absence.

Mommy pulled into a large roundabout where lots of students arriving in private vehicles were being dropped off. The crowd of students here were an eclectic mix of dorks being dropped off by their parents, cool kids being dropped off in expensive vehicles, and oddballs being dropped off by everything else. I was worried an Oomukade unspooling herself out of a compact hatchback like it was a clown car would be an embarrassing spectacle, but Mommy and I weren't the weirdest there by far. I'd never really noticed before since I'd always had Mommy let me out a block away but the drop off was a circus. I saw a limousine pull up and let out half a dozen Kikimora, each a bit younger than the one before her, and each wearing a matching little maid outfit. They formed a neat line, eldest to youngest, and filed past an embarrassed looking hellhound mother in a skull bikini saying goodbye to a hellpup wearing a long frilly dress. Behind them a water tanker with an airlock (waterlock?) was letting out a gaggle of amphibious monsters. The tanker was temporarily boxed in by a chi rho emblazoned minibus disembarking lizardgirls who, for their part, seemed to think this was a combat drop. The nuttiness made me feel downright mundane.

Mommy closed the rear door once I was out and smiled at me, "Go see your friends while I park Sweetie. I'll talk with the principal and let you know if we need you."

Friends. I was dubious. There had almost certainly been a major clique realignment in my absence. Right now Eirlys was probably more popular than I was. On the other hand maybe Mommy was right. I noticed Glasha with two other girls but her ears twitched nervously as if she could feel my eyes on her. After a quick, frightened look over her shoulder at me she grabbed her friends and disappeared. I couldn't say I blamed her. Apart from a terse apology we hadn't really spoken since I tried to attack her. I mentally shrugged. Forget her, maybe some of my old crew were hanging around? To my surprise I immediately recognized a few of them standing in a cluster of other girls.

One lead by Sheila.

I quickly put my sweatshirt's hood up and skittered away before they noticed me. This was worse than I imagined. Judging by the size of that group Sheila had been the big winner of whatever battles transpired while I was gone. It looked like she'd absorbed almost my entire crew and a few other loosely affiliated girls. Given Sheila's new power and the embarrassment I'd inflicted on her earlier I seemed destined to have a lot of bad days at school.

Sadly a giant centipede isn't exactly inconspicuous, even if she's trying to hide in her hoodie. Especially since our school didn't have any Oomukade students. I was getting a lot of curious looks and I was sure everyone was wondering who I was. Before I would have relished this situation. "Mysterious New Girl" and "Girl Who's Made a Big Change" are powerful social positions which can easily be leveraged any number of ways. But seeing so many of my "friends" hanging out with a sadistic cunt like Sheila made me question the point of it all. Witnessing how quickly people turned their coats didn't make me eager to offer even the small amount of trust due to a mere acquaintance.

All I wanted now was for Mommy to take me home. I glumly trudged onto the school's athletic field. The wind felt nice on my skin. I could hear it rustling through the line of old oaks along the field's border. Behind me the first period bell rang. I probably wasn't even technically enrolled yet but I really didn't feel like having an argument with a hall monitor. Thinking quickly I climbed one of the oaks and hid in its branches.

It was strangely peaceful. The leaves smelled nice and the branch I was on swayed gently in the breeze. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mana sense. At this distance I could just barely make out the energy of the students. Nothing specific, just vague impressions and fragments of colors and lights. It was beautiful in its own way and I started to zone out as I appreciated the gestalt without trying to analyze it. Calmed by my natural surroundings I gradually nodded off.

***

I wasn't sure how long I'd dozed before I heard familiar voices, "Olympia! Olympia!"

Pearl and Quinn from my crew? What were they doing here? I slowly descended the tree only to be hit by a barrage of questions, "Where were you!? We couldn't find you!" "We were so worried! No one would tell us what happened!"

"Why didn't you ask my brother? The boys' school is right down the road."

"YOU HAVE A BROTHER?!"

To my chagrin I realized just how secretive I'd been. My crew didn't know anything about my family, where I lived, or how to get in contact with me outside of school. I very deliberately had no social media accounts and all of my official records were protected by privacy regulations. With my cell phone smashed in my transformation frenzy and with the modeling job which paid for it lost they couldn't even have called me.

The two girls plowed on without bothering to wait for an answer, "Can I touch you? Your bug part I mean. We saw what happened to you out the window, it was super scary!" "Don't worry. We made Professor Henderson look away when that last part started." "Wow, you aren't slimy at all!" "Bugs aren't slimy." "You don't know that!" "Are you back for good?" "We asked every bug girl at school if they knew what happened to you, but they all gave us funny looks." "Because none of them knew who she was!" "But they're bugs too!" "It's not like every bug girl on the planet is part of some giant hive mind." "You don't know that!"

Well, at least they hadn't changed. The two had been friends since they were little girls and tended to go off on their own little motor mouthed tangents if you didn't rein them in. I raised my hand, "Wait, wait, stop. What are you two doing here?"

"We heard that there was a new, really long bug girl wandering around outside and we thought it might be you."

"No, I meant..." I felt what little remained of my confidence draining away, "I saw everybody else with Sheila..."

Quinn just looked downcast. Pearl pouted and puffed her cheeks out, "She's mean."

I realized how tough it must have been for them on their own, "Why didn't you two just go along with everybody else? Then you wouldn't have gotten bullied."

"Fuck that. I'm not going to support a cunt like her just because it's easy." I was surprised at how angry Quinn sounded, "You were always annoyingly obsessed with those stupid status games, but you were never evil about it. You were mostly trying to protect us. And yourself I think."

"Besides, we're your friends!" Pearl chipped in, "You did a lot for us but you were always so secretive. It was like you were trying to hide something really sad. We wanted to help you out but you'd never let anybody in."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd always thought I had my crew all figured out but they'd seen right through me. And they had still wanted to be my friends? My eyes started getting wet, "I'm... sorry..."

I felt the duo reaching up to hug me, "Hey, don't worry, it's fine. Look what we found!"

Pearl pulled something out of her backpack and brandished it triumphantly, "After what happened we did some research! Monster fashion is super interesting and confusing because of all the different body types, but we found a whole bunch of articles about Oo-moo-cades!"

She was holding a stack of fashion magazines I'd never heard of. The one on top read "MONSTER STYLE" and had a picture of an Oomukade wearing a risqué kimono type outfit showing off her torso poison glands. It promised articles on the latest clothing styles, chitin care tips, overcoming shyness, and an in depth analysis of kidnapping law technicalities. I had to admit I was a little interested. I'd stuck with wearing nothing but Daddy's old sweatshirts, mostly since I found the faint traces of his mana still clinging to them comforting, but it might be nice to start wearing pretty things again. Maybe a boy who wasn't grossed out by bugs would notice me? If not I figured could always read that article on kidnapping.

"We might have to do some thinking since your coloration seems non-standard, probably because you're not a gook." Quinn gave me a crooked grin, "Why don't we skip class and head over to the Burger Barn? We can talk there."

I agreed and we headed off. I idly paged through one of the magazines while listening to Pearl and Quinn's happy babble with half an ear. We were taking a shortcut through a secluded utility hallway when my antennae tingled. Was that Glasha's mana? I thought so but something seemed off. Then we turned the corner and froze in surprise.

Sheila and her entire group were ganging up on Glasha and her friends.

***

Even I had to admit that Glasha and her friends were pretty dorky. The lanky human girl was the most normal, but her obviously home cut dirty blond hair, pizza face, and basic outfit told the tale of a family unable to afford luxuries like one of the new skin treatments or clothes bought somewhere more upscale than S-Mart. She topped it off with a slouching, almost defeated, posture which practically screamed "I'm painfully shy and have zero confidence, please bully me!" It was disturbing to think about how easily I could have been her. The elf on the other hand was just plain weird. She was wearing some kind of traditional elven hooded hunting cloak and pants, complete with a pouch laden belt. Odd, but as a monster she might have been able to pull off the look if she hadn't also been wearing coke bottle glasses, glittery pink sneakers, a novelty devil horn headband barely containing her tangled platinum blond hair, and a ratty t-shirt for a tabletop gaming convention that, judging by the date, her parents had attended. As an ensemble it was pure cringe. Compared to those two Glasha's down home, corn fed orc look was a big step up, even if it was still exactly the kind of thing that people like Sheila lived to mock.

Speaking of which, Sheila was in her element with easy prey like this. I couldn't hear exactly what was being said but going by body language I got the thrust of the situation. Sheila's clique had corned the girls so their leader could torment them. The elf numbly stood by looking deflated and defeated. If I had to guess she most likely tried to tell Sheila off with the classic elven superior attitude but didn't have the confidence to back it up and got slapped down hard. Glasha herself was struggling against four of Sheila's girls holding her down. A fifth girl leaned against a wall holding her gut and grimacing. No mystery how the orc girl had tried to see off the bullies. It was obvious the human girl was next on the menu. Sheila had a look of sadistic glee on her face as she walked around her victim making snide comments and pointing out physical deficiencies. The poor girl looked like she was on the verge of tears.

I was so tired of it. What was the point of all this? Were these girls really so broken that they truly enjoyed making those weaker than them miserable? Or were they just following the strongest leader and Sheila was the only truly fucked up one? Or maybe they were simply followers and Sheila thought displays like this were the only way she could remain their leader? It was all so stupid yet effective. I was a little scared myself to be honest. Not only were Sheila and her gang physically intimidating but girls' bullying carried a social power which could be even scarier than a mere threat of violen-

That was when I remembered I was A TERRIFYING GIANT INSECT MONSTER.

I felt kind of stupid for a second before the remnants of my old clique leader persona formulated a plan. Then I started tapping my feet. That might not seem very intimidating but I had an awful lot of feet now. I stood in place and one by one lifted each foot before bringing it down. My legs looked like the hammers on a piano if someone were rapidly going up and down the keyboard pressing each key in sequence. The sound of my feet tapping the tile floor combined with the sound of my chitin rubbing and flexing as it moved was truly disturbing. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Pearl and Quinn watching me in horrified fascination. One by one they were joined by Sheila's gang members as they noticed the noise and turned to see the source. I upped the tempo and the force of the impacts making my impromptu tattoo sound angrier and more impatient as more and more girls noticed me and stopped to stare. Amusingly, Sheila was too enamored with the sound of her own voice to realize what was happening until it became painfully obvious that the girl she was bullying wasn't even paying attention to her.

"What are you LOOKING at, you stupid litt-", Sheila's angry question died in her throat when she saw me staring at her dispassionately. Her eyes widened until they looked like dinner plates and all of the blood drained out of her face.

Scared of bugs, eh Sheila? That was going to make this pretty easy. Keeping the neutral look on my face I started to wend my way towards her. I was very careful to keep myself perfectly upright. It looked like I was gliding across the floor rather than walking. Then I tossed in a little bit of serpentine pathing for the full "bug movement" effect that so many people find creepy. It was hilarious to see how the girls parted like the Red Sea before me. None of them wanted to be anywhere near me, but they were all too frightened to just turn and run. It was as if they thought that taking their eyes off me would let me magically get them. When I reached Sheila I stared her down while maintaining my neutral expression. Her mouth moved frantically but she seemed incapable of getting anything out. I almost felt sorry for the bitch. Ever so slowly, I extended my throat maxillipeds and started to rub them together. Sheila shut her mouth and just stared. Her pupils must have been completely dilated. I suspected that my maxillipeds were the only thing she could consciously see. Time for the finale. I very gently squeezed my venom glands so that just a few drops dripped from my fangs.

That was too much for Sheila. She shrieked and fled in terror. Her example set the others off; it was like a dam breaking. Some of them were actually pushing and shoving the others to get away from me faster. They were all going to feel pretty stupid when (or if) they later learned that Oomukade venom just makes you really horny. Heck, my venom wasn't even that good at making you horny. At least not by Oomukade standards. Although I supposed they couldn't have done much if I'd decided to just straight up kick their asses.

My thoughts were interrupted by something hitting my torso. The human girl was giving me a desperate hug. My arms moved of their own accord to wrap protectively around her as she started crying. I saw the elf girl fidgeting with an expression of barely concealed desire. Silly elven pride. I gestured for her to join the hug and she ran forward. I held them both, gently petting their backs and trying to soothe them. It felt strange. In that moment their comfort was more important to me than my own. Was this what being a Mom felt like?

Glasha pushed herself to her feet with a grunt and gave me a wary look. She probably wasn't sure if I'd saved her from Sheila just to torment her myself. I hadn't made my opinion of her much of a secret. A small, dark part of my heart suggested that, if I wanted to get back at her, this was a perfect opportunity to drive a wedge between her and her friends. She was too weak to protect them. I wasn't.

Was that what I wanted though? Mommy's words came back to me. Glasha wasn't really a bad girl and little brother really did seem to like her a lot. I still wasn't sure how I felt about him becoming an orc husband. It was hard to imagine my baby brother as a heavily muscled grease monkey like Glasha's father. On the other hand was it really fair to judge her for not being a rich danuki or a powerful dragon? That felt uncomfortably close to how people like Sheila viewed the world. My own mana churned in my gut as I made a decision. I tried to give Glasha a friendly look even though I'm sure it came out a little sour, "You can collect your hug from my brother later."

The human and the elf girls whipped their heads around, "You have a boyfriend?!"

Glasha acted like she'd just been caught trying to steal a Lilim's husband, "What?! N-no! I-I-I don't have any idea what that crazy bug is talking about!"

The elf stuck her lower lip out, "We all promised! If one of us got married and the others didn't then we'd form a harem!"

"Oh come on! That wasn't serious you nutty knife eared cuckquean!"

My heart leapt with glee. This was perfect. I could accept Glasha as my sister in law, but that didn't mean I couldn't bully her a little! It would be so much easier to live with my brother's decision if I could tease the little porker a bit. My face split into a smug smile, "Glasha! How could you keep your relationship a secret from your future sister wives?"

I struggled to keep from laughing aloud as the elf launched to a pompous and self righteous lecture on obligations while Glasha tried to defend herself. I was never, ever going to let this go. Glasha could be sending my fourth niece to college and I was sure reminding her of this incident would still bring me joy.

The human girl's face was beet red at this point. She turned to me and defensively offered, "It was only if any of us were going to end up a lonely cat lady. I think they were mostly concerned about me... because... you know..."

Suddenly it didn't seem so funny anymore. The girl's sad lack of confidence served as an eerie reminder of Eirlys. I ducked down so we were at eye level, "Hey, don't talk like that. What's your name?"

"Susy..."

"Well Susy, I have a whole bunch of clothes that don't fit me anymore." I waggled my centipede half, "Why don't you guys come over sometime and see if there's anything you like?"

Pearl gasped with excitement, "Oh my gosh! Can we come? We could do a makeovers!"

"That's up to Susy. She might not want the the full, er, 'level of intensity' of one of your makeovers. But I'm sure we can do something."

Glasha was looking at me like I'd grown a second head. I could tell she didn't want to say anything in front of her friends but she had to be wondering why I was being relatively nice all of a sudden. I ushered Susy and the elf past Glasha, flicking one of her piggy ears en passant, "Come on pork chop. If we hurry we can get my Mom, she can get my brother, and we can all go to Burger Barn. Then you can get your stupid hug."

Glasha followed wordlessly, rubbing her ear with a bewildered expression on her face.

***

I was glad that Mommy and her friends had made another batch of pillows and blankets out of scraps and overstock for me. This had inspired Daddy to make a simple little hutch in the living room for me to keep them in so I could have a second mini-nest upstairs. Pearl, Quinn, and Susy were all gathered around the opening and we were looking at fashion magazines, helping Susy decide what kind of haircut she wanted Quinn to give her. Glasha's elf friend, Velvetleaf, had actually slithered into the hutch with me. (I was starting to seriously wonder about that little weirdo's sexuality.) It was kind of nice to do a simple, girly thing with friends but my attention kept being drawn to the couch. Johann, touched by Glasha's gift, had been saving his money to buy her the "Human Boy Quest" game she confessed to really wanting. The results were hilarious.

"So, it looks like we're a decision point. Should we rescue Chief Scientist Von Rumford or Strike Leader Jackson first? I'm sure this will give us lots of love points for whoever we choose. Jackson is pretty buff, but that science guy is awfully pretty what with his long hair and glasses and all." my little brother gestured to the screen where a digital avatar customized to look like a very familiar orc girl awaited user input. He hadn't stopped smirking since character creation.

Glasha's pink face had turned red the instant she realized that her boyfriend wanted to actually play the game with her. From the very first cinematic it was obvious that the game's intended audience was lonely monstergirls who were going to argue about who was "best boy" later on some dork central Internet forum and it hadn't gotten any less embarrassing. Now Glasha was reduced to clinging to my brother's arm, hiding her face in his shoulder, and occasionally pitifully suggesting that they play Monster Mania instead.

"Not sure? Let's do the science man." Johann tried to hide his obvious amusement at Glasha's distress, "If I grew it out do you think I could get my hair to look like his?"

I snickered to myself. Maybe having an orc sister in law wouldn't be so bad after all.

***

EPILOGUE

Eirlys hadn't wanted to leave her room but her parents had insisted. They claimed one of her friends had invited her to a party. Bullshit. Eirlys didn't have any friends. Her parents had probably just talked to someone else's parents and gotten her invited to a birthday party or something. She hadn't put up a fight though. Her parents had obviously been scared shitless when they found out their daughter had planned on drinking a mystery monster transformation potion. As far as they were concerned hating who you were that much was one step away from suicide. Maybe they were right. In any case they'd used their substantial resources to try to move Heaven and Earth to help their daughter.

Eirlys had spent the better part of a semester at a high end mental health retreat. Her parents had taken a lot of time off work to visit her constantly. She knew how hard that must have been to arrange. She had never doubted that they loved her. At worst it hurt a little that they didn't understand why she was sad, but how could they? She could never bring herself to talk to them about it and they were both attractive, successful go getters. Eirlys' problems were completely outside their experience.

So she'd agreed to go the party without a fuss. But she couldn't muster much emotion for it. She'd tuned out the details. How long could a stupid teenager party be? She'd just gut it out so her parents wouldn't worry. She loved them too.

Eirlys didn't pay much attention to her surroundings once they arrived. She could smell barbecue but didn't see any decorations. She did notice more monsters than she expected, mostly because monsters made her nervous now. A kind of scary human man was hugging an orc who was bouncing a baby on her knee and talking to a hellhound in a postal uniform munching on a hot dog. A cluster of chatting adults included an elf woman hugging a man and rubbing her cheek against his chest. Eirlys might not have noticed the pointy ears if it hadn't looked like she'd selected her outfit by throwing darts in a curio shop. A similar looking elf girl was arguing with an exasperated orc girl while a shy looking human girl tried to mediate. It seemed like a pretty low key affair. Just some people hanging out in a backyard. Although now that she looked closer, this place seemed familiar...

"Eirlys?"

She turned at the sound of her name to see the monster which still haunted her nightmares. In a flash she experienced it all again. Olympia giggling and clawing the ground so hard her fingernails ripped off. The sickening crunching of Olympia's bones shattering and then immediately healing each time she hit the Amazonian policewoman. The sight of Olympia masturbating furiously and moaning in ecstasy as her body tore itself apart to reform as the buglike creature now standing before her. It was all too much. Eirlys fell to the ground and started screaming.

She came back to reality in the arms of her parents. She could hear Olympia's voice repeating "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." over and over again. Eirlys' parents were reassuring Olympia that it wasn't anyone's fault, no one expected this reaction. Eirlys' throat hurt badly. She must have been screaming for quite a while. Yet she felt strangely lucid, despite not remembering exactly how long she had been lost to panic. She managed to croak, "Why are you apologizing Olympia? I almost killed you."

"Eirlys! I was so mean to you! You were right about me and I hit you! I invited you here to apologize, if you can even forgive me."

Eirlys found it oddly amusing how borderline hysterical Olympia sounded. Didn't she know Eirlys was the crazy one? She'd been to a loony bin and everything. A really upscale loony bin at a beautiful mountain lake admittedly, but still. Eirlys smiled, "I was talking smack about your Daddy. I deserved it."

Olympia scuttled forward and grasped Eirlys' hands, "I'm so, so sorry Eirlys. Can we be friends again? Like you said before?"

Her throat hurt too much to talk more so she just nodded. Her parents let her go with a look of relief as Olympia helped her to her feet, "Come on, I'll introduce you to everybody. You especially have to meet this orc girl. It kills me, but it's probably only a matter of time before the little pork chop seals the deal with my brother and becomes my sister in law. You've got to help me come up with ways to gently tease her as revenge for stealing my poor baby brother's virtue! It's not all bad though. Her friends are pretty cool. You'll like Susy and Velvetleaf has a scarily encyclopedic knowledge of dirty comic books. Oh, and you're not going to believe what I did to Sheila when she tried to bully them! Being a scary bug monster definitely has its upsides."

Eirlys wondered if this was all a dream. She pinched herself and then hugged Olympia tight. It seemed real. She promised herself she'd try to be a better person in gratitude. Her only friend had finally come back to her.