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Daphne & Talia, Part II: the Manticore's Misadventure

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Daphne & Talia, Part II: the Manticore's Misadventure Daphne & Talia, Part II: The Manticore's Misadventure by Doombeez, Forget everything that you think you know about myths and monsters. ...No, that sounds horribly grandiose. I need to dial it back a little. There comes a time in every person’s life when they see their path set forward for them, illuminated by a glorious light of… glory… No. That isn’t better. Take heed and bear witness, mortals, for you are about to behold a tale like no other! A tale of tragedy, romance, and… um… Oh, hells with it. My name is Talia. I am a manticore and this is the story of how I met the love of my life. Somewhere in all of the world, we manticores have our Prey, the one we are destined to hunt. We do not know how they are chosen or where they come from, but that has always been the way of things. Typically a human—though I did have a cousin who bonded with one of Fae heritage. I’m not sure how different it was; we don’t talk much. I hope she’s doing okay. I’m getting side-tracked, though. I’m trying to collect my thoughts here, and sometimes I just have too many of them! There is no way of knowing when or where you will find your Prey. It will happen when the fates decree that it’s time for you to cross paths. That’s what my mother always told me. My sire was her Prey ages ago, just as it was with her mother and sire, and so on and so forth. But of course, whether they be man or monster, there is a constant among all people everywhere: nobody listens to their mother. When I came of age, I decided that the whole Prey deal was a load of minotaur crap, and decided to go off and live my own life, which is how I ended up living in an apartment in Toronto. And it was pretty great! At least, I thought so at the time. And then, of course, I found my Prey. To say that our first meeting did not go well would be an understatement. Look, in my defense, I didn’t interact with many humans, and their social systems are hard! How was I supposed to know that she was going to react badly to my attempt to form a bond with her? Okay, so it might have looked, to an outside observer, like I was going to swallow her alive. In retrospect, I can see how she might have thought that. I thought the story was going to end there, but by the grace of the gods, she decided to give me another chance. We got to talking, and as the humans say, one thing led to another! We ended up bonding, as I took her into my body and we became one, if only temporarily. I was hoping that would be the happy ending of our story. But it turned out that it was only the beginning of a new chapter, and that chapter began with her screaming and hitting me with a pillow. ~*~ Daphne let out a string of multicultural profanities as she assaulted the large monster-woman whose body she was wholly inside of about ten minutes prior. She was naked, glistening with various fluids, and—most pressingly—still attached to said monster-woman, by means of a fleshy cord that ran from Daphne’s navel to her tail. “What! The hell! Do you mean! A week!?” shouted Daphne, each pause punctuated with a swing of the pillow she had grasped. “Give or take a couple of days?” said Talia, who was weathering the downy assault with good humor. “It’s not an exact sort of thing!” Daphne growled as the onslaught continued. “How the hell am I supposed to explain this to my manager!” she shrieked. “Oh, sorry, I can’t come in for the next week, I’m tied to a manticore who I just had a one night stand with! You know how it is!” “Yes, I can see how that would sound bad,” said Talia, who was twiddling her fingers together, her eyes wide and watery. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think this through! I was just so excited to bond with you!” Daphne paused mid-swing, looking into those deep golden eyes, which were doing their best impression of a puppy seeking forgiveness for soiling the carpet. Despite her monstrous features, there was something undeniably soft about her. Daphne sighed and tossed the pillow aside. “I can’t believe you,” she said. “How could you just… just do… do the… woo…” She put a hand to her temple and started to wobble from side to side before falling forward, into Talia’s waiting arms. The manticore proceeded to clutch Daphne to her incredibly fluffy ruff. “Why do I feel so dizzy?” murmured Daphne. “I was always told that the first bond takes a lot out of the Prey,” said Talia, running a hand over Daphne’s back. “Especially when we’re separated. You will feel better if I let you back inside for a spell.” “Back inside?” said Daphne. “You mean… inside of your—” “My tail, yes.” Daphne groaned. “So this is how it’s gonna be, huh?” she murmured. “This is my life now? Fine, let me in, I’m cold anyway.” Talia let out a delighted little squeak. “Just relax, my Prey.” “Still not crazy about being called that, just FYI.” “Sorry!” Laying back, Talia relaxed and let her tail open up, and Daphne felt herself being reeled back in, the inhuman appendage swallowing her feet and legs first. She had to admit, it did feel rather nice, like a strange combination of a tight sleeping bag and a warm bath. When she was just about chest deep, an electronic chirp rang out. “Oh crap, that’s my phone,” said Daphne, trying and failing to wriggle out. “I told a friend to check on me if she didn’t hear back from me after last night!” Talia looked over to where Daphne’s jeans had landed. Carefully - and somewhat clumsily, with Daphne’s head and shoulders still protruding from her tail - Talia got up and inched over to the pile, gingerly extracting her smartphone from a pocket. The messaging app was open, and a message could be seen. GOATMOM44: so how did ya date go?? GOATMOM44: u there? GOATMOM44: gurl??? GOATMOM44: if I dont hear back from u in an hour im callin the cops “Who is this mother of goats?” asked Talia, cocking her head. Daphne’s phone looked comically small in her enormous, clawed hands. “My friend from the cryptid forum,” said Daphne, still wiggling. “Come on, let me—” “What is a cryptid?” “You know, like, creatures that people don’t think exist? Like the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, the Mothman…” “... But all of those things do exist.” Daphne stopped struggling for a moment. “What, seriously?” she said. “Holy shit. Not important right now, though!” “Oh, yes! Do not worry, I shall reassure your friend!” said Talia, looking back down at the phone. z0inksdaph: hellloo! i m fime! GOATMOM44: ...u feelin ok there? z0inksdaph: Hahaha pefrvect as alwasy just tlkin w my bestiiie on tis tiny keybrd abut creetues thst don't exist GOATMOM44: ...gurl how wasted r u?? “Give me that!” said Daphne, who had finally managed to work an arm free and retrieved the phone. z0inksdaph: whoo yeah sorry, date went well, partied a lil bit too hard, wooooo, ill tell u all about it l8r! GOATMOM44: you sure ur ok? z0inksdaph: GOATMOM44: k cool but i want deets when ur up to it Daphne let out a sigh of relief as Goatmom signed off. “Dodged a bullet there,” she said. “Do you mind if I finish taking you inside of me?” said Talia, who was starting to fidget. “It is somewhat uncomfortable keeping you halfway like this.” “Oh, uh, sure,” said Daphne. “Can’t you just, like, leave my head out? It was fine when I was sleeping, but I don’t know how I feel about spending my day in a biological sensory deprivation tank.” Talia smiled, reaching up to give Daphne’s cheek a stroke. “That will not be a problem, my… Daphne. The bond has many benefits to it, after all. Now relax, please.” Having no real choice but to take her word for it, Daphne relaxed, and she felt Talia’s inner muscles begin to undulate, sucking her chest and shoulders and finally her head inside. As her tail mouth… pussy… thing closed up over the top of her head, darkness fell over her once again, and she wondered what, exactly, the ‘benefits’ were that Talia was talking about. Then, suddenly, Daphne felt a strong tingle in her belly, right about in the spot where the cord was bound to her navel. It almost felt like pins and needles. Then there was a flash of light in Daphne’s vision, and she was momentarily blinded, until an image coalesced before her eyes. It was… Talia’s bedroom. ‘How do you feel, my pr…. etty girl?’ ‘Nice save,’ Daphne replied. Wait, how did she reply? ‘Are you talking into my mind?’ ‘I am communicating with you through our bond, yes,’ echoed Talia’s voice in her mind. It had a strange reverb to it, like she was speaking through a cardboard tube, but it was clear as a bell. ‘And through our bond, I am letting my senses be your senses,’ Talia went on.
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