Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

[Ireth]

Leto

"Oh, good! That's Helix, and probably Sonja. They'll want to know how we're doing. Are they alone, or are there others too?"

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell exclaims, "Oh! Can we go greet them? I want to satisfy myself that Vin and the others are okay, if you wouldn't mind. Would you lead the way?"


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[Legendary Sidekick]

Heph, Leto, Kell and all of the metal maidens greet Sonja as she rides in nude on Helix' back. Heph keeps some distance until Minti wraps her in a robe. When the others show up, Vin fills Heph in on the events that led to the lava demon's appearance.

"So..." Heph turns to the brides and grooms. "...you wanted to get married in the presence of the volcano god? I guess I can arrange that."

Heph has four of his maidens make preparations for the three couples, but lets the silver one stick with Kell.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell walks up to Vin and holds him tightly for a moment. "I'm really glad you're okay," she whispers to him. "There's a crazy little part of me that wants to suggest that we make it four couples, except I just learned that the first time we consummate the union, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get pregnant. But for some reasons I can't talk about until I get permission to tell you, I think we should wait on that."

Grasping Vin's hand, she drags him over to Helix. Hugging the unicorn's neck, she tells him verbally, "I'm glad you're well, sidekick."

Then she hugs Sonja. "I'm glad you survived being crazy enough to fight naked. You took a lot more damage than I did."

Next she drags Vin over to Kell-Pi. She tells the silver maiden, "This is the one I was telling you about. Vin." She tells Vin, "This is Kell-Pi, silver maiden of Heph, marriage counselor to Aphrodite and Hephaestus, activated on my hatching day, and named after me. Kell-Pi, show him your serial number."

Leaving Vin to talk to Kell-Pi, she goes over to Wilbur and Jenny. She says to Wilbur, "You told her your story and she forgave you and now you're getting married! I'm so pleased for you both!" And she hugs each of them in turn.

She also goes around to the remaining party members, hugging them, telling them she's glad they survived, and, in the case of Ben and Jerry and Mari and Colleen, congratulating them on being able to get married after all.

Finally she makes it around to Heph. She tells him, "Thank you so much for letting these couples get married. I just started seeing the one who isn't getting married, Vin, and I'd like to ask permission to tell him about the war between the Immortals. I promised Demeter I would keep my mouth shut about that, and I have so far. I have the sense Vin and I will probably marry one day, and I would just like him to know what I'm really up to. Can you give me permission, or do you immortals have to call a meeting to discuss it, or how would I go about getting that?"


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[Legendary Sidekick]

Heph tells Kell, "It's not something I'd encourage spreading around, but what would be worse is you starting a relationship having to keep a secret. If you're risking your neck to keep the west from imploding onto itself, you have a right to tell your future husband.

"For now, I gotta find a baker, a dressmaker, and an emcee on short notice."

Minti recommends Phoebe the Torch to be Master of Ceremonies. As for the wedding cake and dress, Heph turns to our heroines as if expecting each to give a name...

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto pulls out the card Fabian the fashionista gave her. "I know of someone who'd probably be ecstatic about making wedding dresses. I mean to talk with him anyway, so it wouldn't be at all out of my way if I were to contact him."

She decides to leave Desma for Kell to mention.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell says, "And I have a very good friend named Desma who is an excellent baker, with cakes being a particular specialty of hers! Though she did just start a new job...but her new boss is a good friend of Patty's and knows the grooms, too, so he might be willing to let her come for this."


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[Legendary Sidekick]

Heph takes the card from Leto, and Patti mentions the Orange Phoenix connection. It doesn't take much to convince Heph, but then he did admit to being a mind reader. "Fabian and Desma get the job," he says. "I gotta make a few calls."

Our heroines aren't sure how one goes about making calls, but Heph speeds off in his hovering chair to do just that.

The metal maidens invite the men and women to clean up in separate areas. Minti leads our heroines to a room with a large pool and some private baths. "You may clean up before the wedding. Gowns will be provided for those who need them."

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto smiles at the sight of the bathtubs, glad for the chance to get all this blood off her. "Thank you, Minti. I'll need a gown; this armor isn't really appropriate for a wedding."

She takes off her armor with some difficulty, given it's full of holes from the demon's teeth. Hopefully she can find time to repair it before her next fight. Then she sets her underthings aside, unbraids her hair and settles down in one of the baths with a sigh of contentment.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell says, "I can use my Aqua Scrunchy and dream up a really scrumptious ensemble, though it will have to be turquoise, but a bath does sound lovely."

She would like to chat with the other women and learn about Van Donk sisters' mother, but she also doesn't to want cause problems with her nymph effect. Sighing a little wistfully, she heads for one of the private baths. She tells herself firmly, Being a nymph comes with some advantages that human women don't have, and one of the costs of those advantages is that you have to be considerate about using your effect. Besides, if you get naked any more today, people will start to see you as an exhibitionist or a show-off. You can talk after you're clean and COVERED.

And, closing the door to the private bath, she releases her Vine Armor spell and steps into the bath to clean up.

Once she feels clean enough, she removes the Aqua Scrunchy from her hair, wrings it out, then wraps it around herself, imagining the bathing suit she wore when she met Helix the first time, and heads over to the large pool to see if any of the Van Donks are there.


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[Legendary Sidekick]

The van Donks and the brides to be are all in the pool. Only Sonja is clothed, relieved to discover that Hanna found her mermaid top. The pool is so shallow that Sonja doesn't bother to swim. Nissa has no choice but to swim. She swims laps around the pool while the other women relax in the heated water.

Sonja invites Kell to join. "I had fun riding your unicorn here! He just signaled me to hop on, and he started going this way. Eventually, we figured he knew where you'd end up."



When Leto is ready to get out of the bath, Honni presents her with three gowns to choose from: a lavender evening gown, a teal chiton, and a pink and brown ball gown.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell steps into the pool and sits near Sonja. She tells her, "You know, you have an awful lot of nymph-like traits. Was your mother a nymph by chance? And whether she was or she wasn't, did she survive the birth of all four of you? If you told me about this before and I just forgot, my apologies."

"Also, if you wouldn't mind, sometime I'd love to borrow your mermaid bra and try it out. Not for the wedding, of course. If you want, you can try out my Aqua Scrunchy at the same time."

Then she says, "I forgot that you guys knew I can talk to Helix. I told him where we were, and I just hoped he was able to get through to you. Though Heph did send one of the footmaidens to meet you. I take it you encountered her?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Sonja says, "I'm afraid I never knew my mother. She did die giving birth to us. To me."

Bridgette says, "You were the fourth to come out. What happened isn't you're fault."

"I know."

Sonja smiles at Kell and removes her top. Her tail reverts to a pair of legs and Sonja stands naked and not at all bashful about it. "A three foot deep pool is no substitute for the ocean, but have fun. You can breathe underwater, and swim really fast!"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto thanks Honni and ponders her choices as she dries off, then chooses the pink and brown gown. Did she ever wear anything so fancy in the past?

She runs her fingers through her hair, and decides to leave it loose for the moment. It will dry faster that way, and the sun will help. For now, she goes to find Kell and the others. Maybe they're over at the pool.

She smiles and waves in greeting as she spots the others, and blushes a bit at the sight of Sonja standing fully nude at the pool's edge.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell removes her Aqua Scrunchy, wrings it out, and hands the fabric to Sonja, accepting the mermaid bra in return. While she's putting on the bra, she tells her, "Just wrap that square of fabric around you and imagine what you'd like to wear. It can be as simple or as detailed as you'd like."

When Kell transforms, she sits studying her tail for a moment, watching the play of light over her scales, which are a silvery blue. "Your mother's name wasn't by chance Melisandre, was it?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

As Sonja and Kell exchange clothes, Mari peeks up, Colleen sinks into her seat, and Jenny averts her eyes. The brides-to-be exchange awkward looks.

Sonja asks Kell, "Is this a nymph-like quality?"

Bridgette says, "Whatever it is, their husbands should thank you for it."

Apparently, the effect does nothing to any of the van Donks.

Kell transforms, but when Sonja shrinks the Scrunchy by getting it wet, her imagined outfit does nothing to spare the brides. She imagines herself wearing a turquoise horned helmet with turquoise tribal markings painted on her body. When she sits down, the brides are calm.

Sonja removes the helm, which becomes a tiny square. When she puts it back on, she's wearing a bikini.

"Oh, how fun!"

She watches Kell swim as a mermaid for a bit. When she hears her mother's name, she is a little surprised. Pleasantly so. "My mother is from here. My father met her in... Arcadia maybe? We don't know where exactly. That's part of why we're here, though. To learn about our mother, our roots."

Hanna asks, "If you know her name, what else do you know?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto wavers a little where she stands, overhearing the van Donk sisters talking with Kell, and wondering whether she ought to be hearing what they say. They don't seem to have noticed her, and she makes no further attempts to draw attention to herself.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Once the nymph effect has ceased to draw attention, Nissa notices Leto's gown. "That is so lovely! I hope they have something like that in my size!"

Condi enters the room with a ceremonial dress for a newborn. Upon hearing Nissa, her orange eyes glance at the baby dress ond dim to brown. Condi quietly steps back out of the room determined to find something nicer in Nissa's size.

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto smiles when Nissa addresses her. "Thank you. I hope so too."

She watches Kell swim for a bit, seeing that she's wearing the same bra Sonja was wearing when she swam as a mermaid. Where did she find something like that?

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell tells Sonja, "The nymph-like qualities I see in you are your looks, your affinity for water, the fact that you're not affected when I undress, and the fact that when the men on your side up on the volcano weren't affected when I undressed the second time, but they were when you also undressed."

She continues, "The name Melisande came up when I was talking to Kell-Pi earlier. I went to ask her some questions about nymph pregnancy because she's Heph and Aphrodite's marriage counselor, and because it's a subject I don't know much about, and with me and Vin getting together, it seemed like something I needed to know more about so I can make wise choices for the future."

"She said that most nymphs have only one egg and one shot at getting pregnant, and when they are intimate with a human male of the right age to father children, they're pretty much guaranteed to get pregnant their first time, unless they've had the egg removed or have done something to it to contaminate it. Nymphs are commonly very sexually active, so they will do this when they are young because they just don't want to deal with a pregnancy, and the effects of messing with their egg is permanent. When they do that, they can be intimate with as many people as they want without having to worry about getting pregnant, though some of them do regret that choice later on."

"When she was telling me about the risks, she said that some nymphs do have multiple eggs and get pregnant with multiple babies, and the more babies a nymph conceives, the greater the chances are that she will die during childbirth. She said that there has only been one nymph death during childbirth in the past several years - Melisande - and that Aphrodite came to her for grief counseling at the time at the time Melisande died. I don't know if Kell-Pi would be willing to talk about the circumstances, since Aphrodite's grief is really Aphrodite's personal business and her story to tell, but you could ask her, I suppose. If nothing else, if we could get you an audience with Aphrodite, the goddess herself could probably tell you more. And since I am seeking an audience with Aphrodite anyway, I might be able to pull some strings to get you that audience, though I was planning to try to seek her out in Nyse, since she spends a lot of time at the villa where I grew up."