So this took a bit to think but I was thinking “boob poker” Practically a poker night with 7 or 8 girls/women just playing poker. A caring milf, the arrogant teenage daughter, a nerd, the shy neighbor, 2 bimbo/dumb twins, a goth girl and a strict teacher from school. All decided to play since they’ve known each other by being in the same neighborhood. Right before the game was over and almost everyone ran out of money by the nerd since she’s smart, the twins decided to make a dumb bet and that they’ll be betting their breasts and since the goth girl knew a bit of magic she made it possible. Know they all are playing with their breasts on the line, all raging from DDD’s to G’s. And this is where the mixture comes in. YOU, Jack, get to choose who wins. You can use a random number generator or actually play a game of poker just to see different outcomes by someone losing sizes but by bit through each game they play.
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“Miri, for the third time. Can you please put the phone away?”
It wasn’t that Karen hated her daughter. Quite the opposite. Rather, it was that the girl beside her on the doorstep wasn’t her Miri. Maybe it had been high school, maybe it had been the “streamer job”. But at some point, Karen’s sweet little Miri had been lost to an endless series of glass screens. The smile Miri used to flash so often was only present for selfies now.
“Miri? Did you-”
“Gah, I heard you mom. I’m working, okay?” snapped Miri back. She glared up at Karen, the glint of her eyes like refractions of glass. She held her gaze at Karen, and gave a sigh moments later. She slipped the phone into her pocket and crossed her arms. She bore holes into the door before them, and gave a snort.
“Think auntie Ako is even up?”
Karen opened her mouth- then snapped it shut. She had to, or the yelling would have roared from the back of her throat.
It did that a lot lately.
Instead, she took a deep breath and pushed her bangs behind her hair. Her brunette locks had lightened in the last few years. Seemingly a bit more every day. She exhaled through her nose, and closed her eyes.
“Sometimes it takes her a minute, Miri. Ako is-well, she-” she started, only to pause when Miri snorted.
“Mom, she’s a flake. I know, okay?”
“Miri, you take that back now or I’ll-”
Her daughter turned at the waist, her too-small Princess Peach shirt teasing an untucking. The girl held up her hands. Karen’s jaw clenched, and Miri’s smirk turned to a smile. A genuine one. It was enough to pull the loud words back, enough to keep Karen still.
“Mom, she’s a flake. But that’s okay. We’re all flakes, okay? I just-”
“You need to work,” said Karen as she gave a tilt of her head. “I get it. But tell your streamys-”
“Deviants, mom. Like D.Va, okay? It’s a pun. Marketing, all that,” said Miri, each syllable perforated by disdain.
“-Your little whatever that you’re taking a personal night. Okay?” said Karen. Her lips twitched into a smile. She lifted her hand from her waist, and gave the door another rap. Miri crossed her arms at the corner of her vision. A second later, her hand slipped to her back pocket. The phone was in her grasp, and the girl was typing again.
Seeing that, Karen decided to let the words flow. To let the yell pull from the back of her throat. Her hands met her waist, and she turned to her daughter. The girl glanced up in sync with her as Karen parted her lips. She raised a finger, her brow arched in a sharp V.
Then the door finally opened.
@@@
Shanon gave a groan as she pulled from the dry erase board. She stared at the numbers, hand at her brow, until they blurred together. She capped the marker, and tossed it at the tray below the board. She lifted her hands to her eyes, and breathed as the world went away. The smell of markers filled her nose, and gripped her brain. She pulled her hands away, and reached in her shirt pocket. Even with her glasses, she still had to squint towards the clock.
Four-forty-five.
“Oh shit shit shit,” she muttered. She turned on her heels,and her flats squeaked against the tile floor. She crossed the lab to her desk, and grabbed her phone. She punched a speed dial, and tilted her head back at the clock.
The ringer was Cannibal Corpse or Manson or Mastodon. She couldn’t say, but didn’t have to ponder long. The music dropped, and in its place came the white hiss of ambient static and silence.
“Lily? Lily, are you-”
“Do you think if you had a choice you’d save one person on a train track from getting hit? Or like, several? Even knowing your choice means the other dies?” replied a raspy monotone.
Shanon blinked, her thoughts sliced in half. She groaned, and lifted her fingers to her eyes. As she rubbed, she gave a long, slow breath into the receiver.
“I mean, you’ve got to do what’s best for the greater-girl, we’re behind. You’re dressed right?”
There was a pause before Lily rasped a reply. “Clothes are a conspiracy by judeo-christian organizations to stifle the sexuality of women,”
“LILY-”
“What? It’s true. I mean why else is your lab stuff so uncomfortable? It’s to discourage you from procreating. They want us to shrivel up and die, Shanon. Don’t you-”
“Lily, sweety? I would love to talk about this more. But you know what night it is, right? Ako’s place, remember?” said Shanon, trying to contain the mania in her voice.
“…oh yeah. She’s still around?” said Lily.
“Yes, she is. And we promised her we’d come play poker tonight, remember? So are you dressed or not?”
“Uh, I guess?” said Lily.
Shanon cradled the phone on her shoulder as she rounded her desk. She grabbed her leather satchel, and yanked her research papers into it. “What do you mean ‘guess’? Lily, it’s a binary answer. Either you’re dressed or not,”
“I mean I am, but can I wear my collar?” said Lily.
Shanon paused, her brow knit as it tried to piece synapses together. “I-why would y-You know what? Sure. Ako isn’t going to care,”
“The numbers made you angry tonight,” said Lily. There was the sound of a shuffle on the line, followed by the familiar click of a buckle.
“They make me angry every night. It’s this damned matter transference project. Like, do the goofs at Tesla not understand the laws of energy? You can’t just-”
“But you can. Buttplug?” said Lily.
“Excuse me?!” replied Shanon, her pulse audible in her ears.
“I said can I wear my butt-”
“No, the other thing Lily. About ‘but you can’, what do you mean?”
“So that’s a yes on the butt plug?”
“LILY!”
A laugh broke over the line, one as mirthless and dry. Shanon had known Lily for years-and if a single drop of emotion poured into Lily’s voice, she had never noticed. The girl gave a sigh, and a grunt. Shanon closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the audible squelch from the phone.
“Look, I’m going to be there in like-ten. We’re running late, and we gotta get there okay? Ako needs it,”
“Yeah yeah,” said Lily, “I’m lubed and good. Are you going to wear yours too?”
“Oh my god, goodbye Lily,”
@@@
Their audacity made her jaw tight.
From the blinds, she could see them past the fence. One she put up the moment they moved in. These two girls, that in everything but age. These giggling, happy girls with their micro bikinis and towels. Stretched on the front lawn, slathering themselves in god knows what. She lifted her wrist and gave a glance towards her watch.
It was five pm. Just what kind of blithering idiot went sunbathing at five?!
Oh, she could think of two.
Lenora Clydesdale snarled as she glared at the twins. Cindy and Mindy Bumpkiss. Oh, what a perfect little annoyances they were. All the usual trouble of sisters with the confusion of twins. When they had been her students at Elemont? Oh, they had thought themselves so clever. Swapping classes and wearing matching clothes. Sneaking off to the bleachers for untold depravity. But Lenora grew wise to it-wise and thankful when they finally graduated. They were off to the world now, off and no longer her concern.
Then the moving truck appeared next door.
The Smiths, the previous family, had been nice people. A bit too happy go lucky for her, but nice all the same. Quiet, even. She rarely spoke to Mr. or Mrs. Smith, but they gave nods. Their daughter, Patricia, had been a wonderfully obedient girl. Never speaking unless spoken to. Calling her “ma’am”, something her students couldn’t even manage.
Then they left suddenly. The house went to market all of a week. When the moving truck appeared, Lenora had been cautious-yet optimistic. Maybe it was a elderly couple, too enfeebled to be outside. Or make noise. Or speak.
But then the pink Cadillac had followed. An obnoxious bubble-gum bright model with the top down. Pop music blared like a hellish choir right to the base of her skull. Lenora had stepped outside to shout at the driver-only to find the both of them. These two idiots, giggling and dancing even as they parked. Their conversation, voices chittering like rats, ceased when Mindy (or was it Cindy?) turned to her.
Her face dropped all of a second. Then she pushed down her Gucci glasses, and tucked her blonde curls back. Her lips matched the color of the car perfectly. They spread into an oval, then a grin.
“Omigawd, Mrs. Clydesdale! Your our neighbor?” shouted Cindy (Or was it Mindy?)
Lenora had been forced into a great many things in her life. But it was the smile she gave that had taken the most from her.
“Oh, it would appear so. Good day,”
The twins wasted no time hopping from their hellwagon. They crossed the space between she and they. A space occupied by her petunias and hydrangeas. Ones she had spent years getting to grow in the god forsaken soil.
All to be lost in seconds to the fury and trampling of wedge heels. Lenora’s jaw fell slack as the twins dared to wrap their arms around her. Their squeezes pressed their massive breasts against her. Anacondas ensnaring prey.
“Omigawd, omigawd! This is like, so funny, isn’t it Cindy?”
“Hah! Sure is! We’re gonna be the best neighbors, promise!”
Lenora didn’t believe in a god. She didn’t believe in anything at all. But in that moment, she found herself praying. Praying for death-hers or theirs, she wasn’t picky. Praying for a release from whatever hellish nightmare she found herself in.
Her prayers went unanswered.
And now they were sunbathing at 5 PM. “Sunbathing” being the generous term-they were flaunting. Every jiggling ounce of them muffin-topped the thin straps of their “bikinis”. One of them rolled to her stomach, and turned to the other. She said something, and Lenora watched as Mindy (or cindy) reached into a pink canvas bag beside her. Her hand returned, and in it was a bottle of lotion. The girl rose with a grin, and walked over to her sister.
Lenora watched as Cindy (maybe Mindy) straddled her sister’s hips. She uncapped the lotion, and splattered her sister’s back. The girl beneath her laughed, a high and grating giggle that made her stomach turn. She pulled away from the blinds as bile rose in the back of her throat.
The grandfather clock in the living room chimed. An heirloom from her mother-one that she would sooner turn to kindling. But chime it did all the same, with such a clang she jerked her head towards her wrist.
Almost time. At the least she could get away from those two for a few hours. Ako’s poker nights had always been enjoyable. Even after the woman herself became a shut in, Lenora came. Not for the money, not for the challenge. But rather, it the differing faces that gathered round. She hadn’t the slightest idea how Ako managed it. Docile thing that she was, timid as a titmouse. Agoraphobic to the end.
But still a social butterfly, despite it all.
A raw, instinctual need to be seen and heard. Something Lenora herself had buried with discipline-but knew all too well.
She made her way to her bedroom. The single mattress and end table were in need of cleaning, but those could wait. It was her closet she minded now. She pulled the folding doors aside, and glanced in.
Black suits and skirts met her. All identical, with not a single frayed thread. Save for one, tucked to the right. Still in the dust bag from the cleaners. She reached for it, and finally cracked a natural smile.
@@@
Ako had watched the clock since roughly three forty five.
It wasn’t that she had nothing to do. She had plenty to do, but the prep work was done. The wine was chilled, the snacks were made. A fresh deck of cards had arrived in her mail slot earlier. The house was clean, the table set.
Now she just had to wait for the girls.
The girls. She liked calling them that. Only ever a few phone calls away, a few text messages. Between them, the TV and her computer, she almost felt normal. Her therapist said to treat it as “an ongoing vacation”.
That one day, “she would return when it was time”. Ako liked Kiera. Not just for making house calls, but for treating her like a person. Like the girls.
Who, hopefully, would be here any minute.
Poker night was like a big ball, in a way. People came and danced a while, always promising to return. Maybe they would be there next time, maybe not. A new partner would join, and become a regular for a while. A few drinks, a few smiles. Planning was a mess, but when the moment came, it was always worth it. The hardest part of it all wasn’t the invites, or getting food. No, it was this. Right now, waiting before the clock. Waiting for a knock, a text. She knew better than to watch the minute hands ballet their way past the hour. She knew, but that didn’t stop the anxiety.
It never did.
Ako had started poker night-game night originally-at the suggestion of Kiera. “If you can’t go out in public, bring the public to you” she’d said. At first, there had been fifteen people. Old work colleagues. It was enough to make her break into a cold sweat. Her two story had plenty of room. Her table did not. Skirting around a game with that many people, she was always touching. Always brushing her breasts against someone’s back, or hand, or-
An electric chill ran down her spine. Ako closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. No, those days were gone. She’d shrunk the group, even if she herself hadn’t. As she exhaled, she opened her eyes. She tried to look at her hands.
An impossible task beneath her massive, J-cup breasts.
Kiera hadn’t believed her. That was her one mark against her. Ako had tried, had jabbed her fingers into her chest. When the moan escaped, Kiera had just scribbled on her legal pad. She said, “Ako, that’s psycho-symatic. Your sensitivity issues aren’t the root of your anxiety-it’s something more. You know that,”
Even after another poke, with her thighs cinching tight, Kiera hadn’t blinked. She had only scribbled, and asked Ako what about crowds made her upset.
But Kiera wasn’t here, not now.
Ako glanced up at the clock, and watched as the minute hand eked forward. Second by second, her heart began to pound.
Soon.
Very, very soon.
@@@
It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy smiling. She wasn’t some kind of weirdo. Smiles just came with a price tag now. A few likes, a few new subscribers. Those translated into dollars easy enough. But when she saw Ako standing there, Miri cracked a free one.
“Auntie Ako!” she cried as she took a step forward. Ako returned the grin with one of her own, and Miri stepped to the side. She wrapped an arm around Ako-from the side, never the front. Ako slipped an arm beneath hers, and squeezed tight.
“Hi there, sweetie. How’s the new job?”
“Oh, it’s going-”
“It’s well, Ako. And you?” came her mother’s voice. Miri’s mouth turned to thin smile, and she pulled her arm away. Karen stepped through the door, and Ako grinned broadly at her. Miri stepped away as the two began to speak. She turned right, and found a beaten Lay Z Girl to fall into. It’s plush velvet swallowed her, and her phone met her hands soon enough.
Omg, got a HOT DATE 2nite. See you Deviants later! UWU <3 #GamblerGirl
She sent the tweet out, and eyed the entryway. Her mother and aunts shadows loomed tall on the opposite wall. Still at the doorway, speaking in whispers. Her nose twitched, and she flipped over to Instagram. She raised her phone, and popped another practiced smile.
A filter and a caption later, and she was exploding in Likes. The smile dropped, and she watched as the notifications rolled in. It was slightly more than last time-good. She pulled from IG, and opened a spreadsheet in her Google account. She noted the feedback, and compared the data to the previous upload.
All this? Her mother thought it was so easy. Just be a pretty face, just smile. Miri scrolled through the data, and flicked through figures. If the exponential growth continued, she could-
The floor creaked, and she slipped her phone away. Ako and karen appeared at the entryway, and for a moment her mother actually looked happy. Miri shifted on the armchair, and held her back straight. Her mother took a spot next to her, her arms crossed. Ako sat across from them both, her cheeks flush. Her grin widened, and she lifted her palm towards Miri.
“You know, I almost thought you’d be too busy to come,”
Miri smirked, and shook her head. “I’d not miss it for anything, Auntie. Promise,”
Ako laughed, and gave a small nod. “I know. You’re a good girl, Miri. Always have been. Listen, the others should get here soon enough-if you both want to see yourself to the parlor?” she said.
Before Miri could answer, her mother said, “Oh, here will be fine. Usual crowd tonight?”
“Oh, mostly. Two new additions-a math professor and her partner? I think? It’s hard to say. And you know I don’t want to pry,” said Ako, resting her hands on her knees.
“Partner as in-”
“Oh my gosh, mom. Her girlfriend,” said Miri with a snort. Karen gave the girl a sharp glance, but hid it with a grin. Ako chuckled, and held up her hands.
“I mean, I’m not-”
“Well, that’s all fine! I just didn’t know, you know?” replied Karen. Miri snorted again-and a sharp, professional knock came from the hall.
“I’d bet that’s Lenora. You two behave, alright?” said Ako. She wobbled into a rise, her chest jiggling as she did so. Karen had glanced away-but Miri had watched. Every second her aunt rose, a different part of her bounced. As she made her way towards the hall, she turned towards her mother.
Only to be met with a scowl.
“Don’t stare,” her mother mouthed. Miri rolled her eyes, and rolled her shoulders.
“Why not? I mean, if I had that, I’d flaunt it,”
“You know her condition,” snapped her mother.
“Mom, having sensitive tits isn’t-”
“Miri!” snapped Karen in a whisper. Her daughter raised a hand in reply-only to pause as the click of heels came from the hall. The pair turned, and Miri leaped from her seat.
“CINDY! MINDY!”
“MIRI!” came a reply in unison-one that elicited a gag from Lenora as she passed the gleeful trio. She rounded the girls, and approached Karen with her hand out. Karen rose from her seat, and gripped her hand. The old principle still had the tightest grip she had ever felt.
“Good to see you again Miss Karen,” she said. She cut her eyes back to the neon-pink clad cocktail dresses behind her. Karen forced a smile, and breathed heavily through her nose as she nodded. Lenora gave a frown, and the pair sat on the couch together.
“At least they’re happy?” whispered Karen. Lenora gave a snort, and crossed one leg over the other.
“Happiness isn’t everything, dear. But in their case, I suppose it’s enough. I assume she’s using her degree finally?” said Lenora. She tilted her head at Miri, to which Karen could only shake her head. Lenora gave a slight tilt of the head. Her eyes held tight on the three as she leaned towards Karen.
“My condolences,” she whispered.
“I’ve just no idea what to do with her at this point,” said Karen softly.
“She’s grown. You don’t have to,” said Lenora. Karen nodded, then glanced past the giggling three.
“Wasn’t Ako with you?”
Lenora looked up, and narrowed her eyes. “She was. Maybe she’s in the-oh dear god,”
Karen turned her head to face the hall.
A moment later, she wish she hadn’t.
Ako stood with two women so drastic in contrast that Karen shook her head. She had to-if for no other reason than to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Flashes of the one and only time she searched her daughter’s socials came to her mind. On Ako’s left stood a petite girl, her hair in a tight bun. A few loose curls escaped, and framed an exhausted face. She stood in a white button up, untucked at the side. Her simple black skirt sat atop skinny legs like a lamp shade. They ended in black slip ons. Nondescript as possible, save for the black smudges at the edge of her hands.
Then came the girl on the other side.
Whereas the girl on the left could have been anyone, miss right was loud. Jet black hair bobbed a porcelain face, it’s symmetry broken by piercings. A studded dog collar kept a thin neck in check. Her shirt yelled about Slayers over a pentagram, and there was so much mesh. Karen snapped her jaw shut as Ako beamed, and held out her hand.
“Girls, this is Shanon and Lily. They’re friends of mine from my research group!”
Mindy, Cindy and Miri waved with wide smiles. Miss Right smiled, and waved at Lily.
“Aren’t you on a hot date, or something?” she said. Her voice was flat as cardboard with a cat’s rasping scratch. Miri’s eyes went wide, and she burst into a nervous giggle.
“Oh, so you-”
“Your Cuphead stream was great,”
“Oh! Uh, thank you!” replied Miri.
Karen felt a pang at her lips-something like a smile, but not quite. One cut short as Lenora coughed, and rose from the couch. She stepped forward towards the girls, and put her hands on her hips.
“Well, I take it this is the full spread Ako?”
Ako gave a quick nod, and broke from the pair. “Sure is-alright, you girls take your seats. Anybody want a drink? Something stiff maybe?”
Cindy and Mindy broke into a loose giggle, and hid themselves behind their hands. Lenora rolled her eyes. Lily smirked, and Shanon turned her head before to hide a chuckle. Karen sighed, and held up a finger.
“My usual, Ako”
Ako smirked, gave a thumbs up and walked towards the kitchen. “A double then, got it.”
@@@
“-all I’m saying is,” Lily rasped, her cards loose within her hand, “-science can’t naturally explain every single phenomena in known schools of physics. There’s the development of chaos theorem that-”
“Well, that may be true, but you have to validate it with observation and-”
Karen sat, her drink growing warm in her hand. She watched as Shanon and Lily went back and forth, and lifted the glass before her. She turned to her sister, and tipped it back as she whispered.
“So uh, how did you meet these two again?”
Ako beamed, and tilted towards Karen. “Quantum theoretical research. Wonderful, aren’t they?”
“That’s one word,” responded Karen.
Cindy, Mindy and Miri sat comparing nails. Though there hands were down, they had broadcasted every draw the entire game. Karen watched them as gin burned slow, and she sat her glass down. She watched their hands, each of them pointing to the detail work on the other. As her gaze began to slip, it fell upon the center of the table. She squinted then, boring holes into the oaken top.
“Hey, wait a minute,” she said. “Isn’t there something like-like we’re supposed to have something there, aren’t we?”
Karen pointed towards the bare center as all heads turned towards her. Even the giggling trio held still, their nails poised up. Lenora lifted a palm, and leaned across the table.
“That we are. Seems illogical to have a game without something at stake, doesn’t it?” she said. She cut her eyes towards Miri, and held them as the girls face lit. Karen watched as Miri swallowed, and gave a nod.
“I mean, even with what I do, that’s kind of the point Auntie,”
Karen turned to Ako, her eyes watching for the slightest twitch. A single frown, anything. But Ako was stone, and stared at the table for a long moment. Her lips wavered a second-then broke into laughter.
“Oh my god, you’re right. I completely forgot-well, we’re not gambling money. No way anyone can afford it,” she said.
“Oh! I know!” chimed Cindy (perhaps Mindy).
“We could do strip poker!” said the other.
“I-I don’t know about-” started Ako.
“Absolutely not,” glowered Lenora.
Miri had a laughing fit, one that the twins caught right away. Karen turned towards the girls at the end of the table, and raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, eggheads. You got any ideas?”
Shanon coughed, and shifted in her seat. Lily watched her for a moment, her nose twitching. She turned towards Karen, and gave a small smile.
“I mean, I got ideas. The universe is full of good ideas,” she said.
There was a pause, one filled by Karen’s eyes darting around the table. All seemed to be watching Lily, who refused to share those ideas.
“Uh, okay? Well?”
“Let’s bet our tits,” said Lily, her slim shoulders rolling.
“LILY,” said Shanon, her head whipping to face her friend. Lenora’s head hung, her face screwed into a frown. The trio busted out laughing again as Karen turned to Ako.
Oh god, she thought, Oh god please don’t have a break-
Ako snorted, her face red as a tomato. She joined the laughter at the table, and slapped her cards down. “Well, the rest of you might as well pay up. You can’t afford this,” she said, splaying her hands over her massive chest. Karen watched, her face warming as the laughter came. The yelling-like she’d felt with Miri-came too, but subsided. Mindy (or was it Cindy?) smacked a hand against the table, a high tenor giggle escaping. All were laughing-save for one.
Lenora propped her head into her hands, face still as stone.
“Oh, how very wonderful an idea. Where did you graduate again, miss?”
“MIT, Magna Cum Laude, with a doctorate in theoretical physics,” snapped Lily. The laughter died then, just as soon as it began. The two stared at each other from across the table-Until Lily broke into a wide grin. One large enough to show her teeth. She turned towards the table, and gave another shrug.
“It’s entirely possible. All you have to do is humor me, and my methods,” she rasped.
Ako snorted, and held up a hand. “Okay, okay. So we’re betting our chests-towards what exactly?”
“Winner gains the mass of the losers. Simple enough. And it’d be a load of you, wouldn’t it Ako?”
“Hey, now wait just a minute,” said Karen as she jabbed a finger down the table. Ako snorted again, and gave a nod.
“She’s right, she’s right. Okay Lily-what do we have to do? Get naked, jiggle ‘em around in a circle or something?”
Lily blinked, and gave a slight frown. “What? No, what do you think this is? Lavey meta transitioning? No. All we need is for everyone to agree. Simple enough,”
“That’s it?” Lenora said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts. “We agree to this absolutely preposterous idea? At the risk of losing our breasts?”
“Yes? I can break down the exact power belief has on atoms if you’d like,” said Lily. She gave a solitary blink, and stared at Lenora.
Shanon held up a hand, and cleared her throat. “I uh-what my colleague is trying to say is, yes. There’s research to back this up and it’s something we can do-”
“Research?” snorted Lenora, “What kind of research-”
“A-and there’s no harm in trying. Besides, it could be fun!” Said Shanon. She gave a nervous laugh as she spread her hands. “I-I mean, right?”
Karen turned to Ako, who gave a shrug. She set her cards down on the table and shot Lily a thumbs up. “Alright, I’m in,”
“Us too!” answered the twins in unison.
Miri turned towards her mother, who gave a shrug. She turned to Lily, and gave a nod mirrored by Karen. Shanon took a deep breath, and quickly nodded her head. Lenora watched each of the girls in turn. She rolled her eyes, a forced smile on her lips.
“Well fine then. Yes, I agree as well,”
“Awesome,” said Lily with a smirk. “We’ll start in just a second. I have to go to the bathroom really quick, and adjust this-”
“Down the hall to the left, Lily,” said Shanon, her voice a flighty tenor.
@@@
“Are they still going in there?” Lenora said, her voice weighted with exhaustion. She had stretched over the plush couch, and gave a lazy turn of her head towards Karen. Karen tipped back her whiskey (her third that night), and leaned forward. Past the twins taking selfies. Past her sister and Shanon, deep in a conversation about quantum whositswhatsits.
At the game table sat Lily, a china doll given flesh. Across from her was her daughter. Karen gave a grunt, and turned towards Lenora.
“Appears so,” she said, her words fetid with sleep. Lenora gave a groan, and looked up at the ceiling.
“It’s one in the damned morning. I could be in bed by now,” she said, just loud enough for the room to hear. And, as Lily’s rasp came in reply, a bit beyond.
“No leaving. The winner still has to collect,” she said. Lenora rolled her eyes, and turned to face the velvet backing.
“You didn’t say anything about being conscious,” she muttered. A moment later, a low snore rolled from the cushions. Karen smiled, and rose from the chair. Her legs gave the slightest wobble, like she was trying on skates. But she prodded along all the same. The ice in her glass clinked with every lurch. She passed the twins with a nod, and made it towards her sister. Ako looked towards her, and gave a warm smile.
“Want one more? I can get it for you,” she said. Karen smiled, and shook her head.
“Oh, no. I’ve hit three,” she said.
Ako snorted, and gave a slight tilt of her head. “You know you can crash here. Miri hasn’t had anything-she’s fine to drive,”
Karen smiled, and shook her head once more. “No, I’m fine. I just want to come watch them,” she said, turning towards the pair. “Shanon? Is Lily for real?”
Shanon coughed into her fist. Her eyes met Karen’s own as her lips held still. They did that for all of a moment as the words arrived at her tongue.
“W-well, she does have that degree. It’s real. She uh-well,” she said. She shifted in her seat, and brought herself closer to Karen. Her voice grew quiet, each syllable little more than a whisper. “Don’t let her fool you, okay? That’s how it works. People see her, and they really think she’s cuckoo. But she’s not,”
Karen raised an eyebrow, and glanced towards the game table. “So she’s for real? All that crap about-”
“Yes. And don’t think for a moment she’s not,” said the researcher. She leaned forward, and glanced at the table. Karen raised her eyes, and gazed at her daughter.
The table was still bare. The two girls sat, Miri’s cards laid before her face down. Lily sat still as a statue, her own hand down as well. Miri crossed her fingers and leaned forward with a grin.
Karen had seen it before. When her daughter started streaming, and broke a hundred viewers. Then ten thousand. Later, she had watched it online-as Miri went on the world stage. The Best D.Va main in the world, the header had called her. And here she was again-looking down Lily with that same smile.
Karen felt her heart warm. It was an odd thing to her-being proud. Of this, all these things Miri did that she didn’t understand. But that didn’t make it any less real. Save for one very, very minor detail.
Lily hadn’t stirred.
On that world’s stage, at that tournament? The men had flinched when Miri grinned. Viewers rained money and compliments on her. People reacted to it in a magnetic way, unable to pull away. Be it fear, or genuine want. But this pale thing, with her studs and mesh, she didn’t. She stared right across the table, and sat still.
That warm feeling turned sour in Karen’s stomach as she spoke.
“So,” came the rasping tone, “Final hand. Call?”
Miri snorted, and reached for her cards. “Naturally. You’re bluffing,”
“I suppose you’ll see,” said Lily, lifting her cards from the velvet.
The next few seconds came so much slower. Perhaps it was the whiskey roiling in her stomach. Maybe it was the dread that chilled her veins. But Karen watched, wide eyed as the cards were turned over.
The ice in her glass gave a violent tremor, clinking loud. Ako turned to look at her, her brow screwed by curiosity.
“Sis? Are you-” she said, only to have her words cut short.
“Flush,” said Lily. Her arms moved, and Karen watched as the cards spread before her. She watched for the slightest fall of Miri’s smile, a twitch.
Neither came.
Miri’s smile only grew as she spread her cards before her. Despite the hour, despite the weary group outside the game room Miri still smiled. Karen closed her eyes, and gave a chuckle.
“Royal Flush,” answered Miri. Her words came loud, echoing into the den. The twins grew quiet for once, and turned in their seats. Shanon and Ako rose from their chairs, and peered from the corner. Lenora’s snores ceased, and the teacher rolled on the couch. She gripped the armrest, and gave a yawn.
“Is it finally over?”
There was a long, quiet moment. One broke by the hard, steady claps of Lily’s hands.
“Well. There you go. I knew you had me, but for this to work? You’ve gotta see it through. Right to the very end,” she said.
Miri rose from her seat, and sent the chair clattering. “Yes! I got it! Oh, just wait until everyone on Twitter hears about this,” she said. Her hand slipped to her back pocket, and appeared a second later with a cell phone. Lenora snorted, and sat up.
“Oh, because that’s the important thing. Bragging about imaginary bust sizes,”
“Lenora? Shut it,” said Karen. She twisted at the hip, and gazed down at the teacher. “Let the girl have her-”
“Hey now,” rasped Lily, “Not so fast. I said to the very, very end. Before you snapchat or whatever it is, don’t you want your prize?”
Miri’s blurring digits paused. She looked up at the girl, and gave a snort. “Oh, right. I guess I get everyone’s tits then. Tell you what, why don’t we say no to a grope fest with…”
That’s when the smile dropped.
Miri’s face bloomed into a cherry red where she stood. She wavered, her stance shaky. A hand shot out to grip the table, her knuckles white as she gripped it. Her cellphone met the floor as her chest heaved, each breath more haggard than the last. Karen’s stomach writhed again as she watched her. Her lips parted as her brain spasmed a word salad.
“Miri? Miri sweety, are you okay?”
“Oh fuck,” said Shanon. She pulled from the corner, and looked at Ako. “Hey uh, remember that thing I was working on?”
Ako stood, eyes wide as she watched her niece tear at her shirt. “I-what? What thing?”
“Breaking the first law of thermodynamics?” replied Shanon.
Ako blinked, and looked up at the girl with wretched confusion. “What? What does that have to do with-”
Shanon held up a finger, and took a deep breath. Karen glowered at her. Her glass fell to the carpet, but stayed in a single piece.
“What did she do to my daughter?”
Shanon’s throat bobbed as her finger wavered. “W-well uh, that’s the thing. Lily didn’t do anything. We uh-we’ve been breaking to break that law, and-”
“Oooooh! Take it off, Miri!” chimed Mindy (or Cindy. Really, they just had to wear matching outfits).
Karen’s head jerked towards the table.
Just in time to catch the first rip.
“-W-well Lily, she uh-she figured it out,” sputtered Shanon.
It came faster than the cards did.
For all the adrenaline in her, Karen didn’t notice. Shanon didn’t either. There was a small gasp from the twins, but it was Ako that shouted her surprise the loudest. Karen turned towards her sister, heart beating loudly in her ears.
Only to see Ako pinching her shirt. She held it out a foot in front of her. A space her massive breasts once occupied.
“Oh my god,” said Ako, “Oh my god I can GO OUTSIDE AGAIN!”
“Mindy! Our bubbies!”
“Cindy, what happened?!?!” cried the twins.
Karen’s head twisted left and right, her mind reeling to believe what she saw. But it was a gasp of ecstasy from the game room that she finally centered her gaze on. She blinked-once, twice. But it was the third time she finally accepted what she saw.
Miri-no longer standing-was tipped forward. Forward over massive, jiggling breasts. They could have been massive pillows, save for the tone of their coloration.
And the way Miri gasped as her hands rolled over them. As she cupped them, pinched them. She tilted her head down, and motorboated her new-found prize. When her head lifted again, her eyes were wet.
Judging by a faint smell that met Karen’s nose, that wasn’t the only thing.
“Holy fuck this-this feels so fucking good. Is this for real?!” cried Miri, wobbling as she turned to Lily.
Lily gave a single snort, then said “Real as god and the devil. They look nice. And thanks-I was meaning to lose some weight”
Karen shook her head, whiskey making every sensation fuzzy. The room spun in blurs around her-but soon enough, her butt found a seat. She sat, and finally looked down.
Her shirt was just as empty as Akos. She tilted her head up, and gazed back at her daughter. At Miri, who rolled atop her massive udders. Kicking, squealing. Kissing every soft inch of her new flesh.
“Oh, bloody fucking hell,” cried Lenora at last, “Do you have any idea how much fitting this is going to cost?!”