Category: Calliope’s Lair

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Calliope's Lair The Labors of Calliope

Ten Dragon Scales

Lukas counted the objects in his satchel. There were ten sea dragon scales from different species and all of them from previous shedding sessions, so he didn’t need to deal with angry sea dragons. He returned to Calliope’s lair and found Faye, a jellyfish man that dressed in maid dresses and worked as Calliope’s housekeeper. “Monsieur Faye,” called Lukas.

“Hm? Oh! Bonjour, Monsieur Lukas,” greeted Faye. “Were you victorious?”

“I sure was! Where’s Mistress Calliope? I want her to inspect my work.”

“Oh, she’s at her cauldron again, taking on a support call. A sea witch needs to give magic support at times, non?”

“I’ll just head there, then,” said Lukas. “Merci!” He swam to the center of the pit where Calliope was talking to someone’s image in her cauldron. …Or rather, RANTING at the person’s image

“YOU LITTLE-!” she snapped. “I get my hands on you and-! …Bazzy? …Bazzy, you there?” Calliope sighed and ran her hand down her face. She then used one of her tentacles to grab a calling potion and added a drop into her cauldron. “Master Talza, you’d better pick up.”

“Master Talza, Mistress?” asked Lukas. “The martial arts master? What does he have to do with it?”

“He taught Bazzy the Blister how to use his signature energy attack,” replied Calliope.

“HE WHAT?!” yelped Lukas.

“Oh yeah, it’s as bad as you think it is,” confirmed Calliope. “Let me just make sure you can add your two bits to this conversation.” She added a drop of liquid into her cauldron and the image of a sagely-looking elderly merman appeared.

“Madame Calliope?” asked the merman, Master Talza. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?! What’s wrong?!” asked Calliope. “I understand teaching Helen that technique, but…the little pink demon from the Seventh Hell?! Do you know what you did?!”

“…Oh! The pink mergirl in fur!” laughed Talza. “How could I not? She’s got four arms! She can fire two Tsunami Crashers! It’d be impressive if it weren’t so terrifying!”

“Terrifying?” asked Lukas. “Master Talza, I’m one of Calliope’s new customers and I can tell you, you underestimated how dangerous Bazzy the Blister is! She’s a government experiment that went wrong! With that information, do you realize what’s gonna happen?!”

“…Oh…Oh my,” gulped Talza.

“Yeah!” confirmed Calliope.

“…Welp, doesn’t sound like it’s my problem! So long, Calliope!” Calliope’s jaw dropped at that!

“…Talza?! Talza?!” she said. “…I’M NOT CLEANING UP THIS MESS!!!” She gripped her cauldron to steady herself as she breathed deeply. “…Lukas, how fares your hunt?”

“See for yourself, Mistress,” replied Lukas as he showed her the bag. She used magic to inspect the scales.

“Ooh! As we agreed upon! Good! I see you went with already shedded scales.”

“I figured it would be safer for me, Mistress.”

“Safer and smarter. With that, you’re a third of the way there. Good work.”

“Thank you, Mistress.” Lukas turned to swim back to his room.

“Er, Lukas, just a second,” called Calliope.

“Yes, Mistress?” asked Lukas.

“What would be your ideal waist clothing if and when you get your wish granted? Tail stocking? Skirt?”

“…Well, a skirt, yeah,” replied Lukas. “A skirt, ideally, made out of the sea-sheep wool like your sleeves with a huge amount of petticoats, forcing the outer skirt to be horizontal forever, but still able to have the powerful lady I serve grab my butt whenever she wished. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” answered Calliope. “Enjoy your day.”

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Calliope's Lair The Labors of Calliope

Spelling Things Out

Lukas stirred awake. He was feeling a little calmer about being Calliope’s servant, the frequent bubble baths with her were helping him. Now, he needed to know his third labor. He stretched and slowly swam out of bed. He then had his breakfast and poked his head out to reveal Calliope’s eel merman scout, the muscular Sly, outside his door. “Oh! Good morning, Sly,” greeted Lukas. “Has…Has Mistress Calliope decided on my third labor today?”

“She sure has,” replied Sly. “She’s in her bedroom, waiting for you.”

“Very well.” Lukas knew where her bedroom was and swam to it. He knocked on the cave wall outside the curtain that served as the bedroom door.

“Come in!” sang Calliope’s voice. Lukas pulled back the curtain and swam in to see Calliope getting ready. “Ah! Lukas! There you are!”

“Good morning, Mistress,” said Lukas.

“I’m sure you guessed why you’re here,” said Calliope as her lips changed color to look like she was wearing lipstick.

“My third labor, yes,” replied Lukas.

“Well, it’s a bit of a breach of manners,” admitted Calliope as she put on her massive sea wool sleeves. “You see, to really make your wish come true…I will need to know your FULL Zodiac sign.”

“M-My full sign, Mistress?” stammered Lukas.

“Yes. You see, this kind of spell requires a person to be at their zenith in order to work. Perhaps, if it will make it easier, I can tell you my sign.”

“Y-You don’t need to-!”

“Oh, but it’s only fair.”

“…V-Very well.”

“I thought so. My full sign is Black, Immortal, Water, Sea, Blue, Bat, Lotus, Deal, Octopus. All within the 3rd Zodiac Era, you understand.” Lukas thought for a bit, then steeled himself.

“Very well. My full sign is White, Immortal, Earth, Sand, Blue, Mouse, Marigold, Crystal, Dragon. Same era as you.”

“Excellent!” cheered Calliope. “We’ll have the labors done in reverse Zodiac Sign order, hm? For now, you’ve gotten farther than most others that attempted this deal.”

“…Y-You mean…they didn’t tell you their full signs?” asked Lukas.

“No, and I couldn’t tailor the remaining nine to them. So sad. They had to be planted.”

“…I…I see.”

“I think I know what I want from you!” said Calliope, pinning her sea lotus hair adornment into her hair. “Next month, I will need 10 scales, each from a different sea dragon, and scales that were shed are more than acceptable. I’d rather not have you eaten by a sea dragon that hasn’t shed. The month after that, I’ll need nine different crystals from the Crystal Cave near here. After that, eight sea marigolds, then seven sea mice the next month, then six blue stones, then five phials of sand from different kingdoms, then four phials of earth from four different parts of our world, then three drops of blood from three different immortals, then the last month will be two white pearls.”

“…That first one seems rather tame, even by the standards of sea dragons,” remarked Lukas.

“Like I said, I don’t want anyone to die on these things, or come to any harm. What do you say? Sound fair?” Calliope’s tentacles were coiling around Lukas’ tail. Lukas smiled.

“Very, Mistress.”

“Then our pact is fully sealed…with this.” Calliope then pecked him on the cheek.

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Calliope's Lair The Labors of Calliope

Bathtime

Lukas waited with baited breath. He knew the next labor was coming and he wasn’t sure what it would be. As he waited in his room, he heard a melodic voice. It was Maria De La Mariana, the scout that mentioned the whole deal to Lukas in the first place. “Oh Lukas!” she sang. “Madame wishes to see you in the second level.”

“Right away, Dr. De La Mariana,” replied Lukas. Maria chuckled.

“Lukas, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s just Maria here.”

“Right, Doc…Maria.” Lukas swam out of his room and headed up the pit’s wall to the second level. There were three caves in the wall and there was one cave that had pink bubbles coming out. “Erm, Mistress?” asked Lukas.

“In here,” sang Calliope’s voice from the cave with the pink bubbles. Lukas swam into the cave and gasped, quickly turning his back. The cave was a bathroom with a pit filled with pink bubbles and Calliope resting in the bubbles. “Come in, come in,” cooed Calliope.

“I…I didn’t mean to-!” stammered Lukas.

“Oh, there’s no reason to be embarrassed,” soothed Calliope. “We’re all friends here. We’ve all gotten naked before.”

“…Y…You’re fine with me looking at you?” asked Lukas.

“Of course. I know you. You value a woman’s desires, don’t you? As Lukas turned, she hoisted herself up just enough as her tentacles crawled out of the bath. “Indulge me, won’t you? Join me in my bath.”

“…Y-Yes, Mistress,” replied Lukas as he let one of Calliope’s tentacles guide him into the bath. Since they were swimming in water, the liquid used for cleaning was more dense and allowed for bubbles when heated. And the bath felt nice and warm to Lukas. He relaxed almost immediately the instant the fins on the end of his tail touched the bubbles. He simply slid down into the bath pit and sighed. Calliope then wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “…Is this the labor?” he asked.

“No, but it should help you accomplish the labor,” replied Calliope. “I want you to tell me honestly, what do you get out of this arrangement?”

“…Well, that’s a bit of a story,” remarked Lukas. “But to make a long story short, I…I want to be a femboy that never gets ridiculed for being demure. I…I want to serve a powerful lady like you and…well…I want to be accepted for it.”

“But you feel trapped, no powerful lady wants a weak servant boy that likes dressing as a girl,” guessed Calliope.

“Yes, Mistress. And…well…I kind of want that bit of romance too. That a powerful lady will fall in love with me because I’m a demure serving femboy, not despite it.”

“Interesting. …Well, I think you’ve chosen the right path for that, sweet Lukas. Once you complete your third labor to me, then I can properly tailor the remaining nine to helping you fulfill that wish.”

“Wh…What IS the third labor, Mistress?” asked Lukas.

“You’ll find out next month,” replied Ssylphiel. “For now…tell me, how does the bath feel?”

“…Well…it’s very nice,” sighed Lukas happily. “And…well…bathing with you, it’s…it’s rather…lovely.”

“Then what say you join me in the bath as long as you’re here?”

“Y-You mean it?!”

“I do.” Lukas then surprised Calliope by hugging her. He then sensed the impropriety and released her.

“S-Sorry!” he said. “I-!”

“No reason to apologize,” soothed Calliope as she wrapped a tentacle around his chest and stroked his head. “I quite like it.” Lukas stared into her eyes, entranced by the beauty before him.

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Calliope's Lair The Labors of Calliope

The Offer

A merman swam through the open waters of Aquarinix, the Undersea Empire. The open waters were said to be dangerous. So far, all he met were the usual animals that would make a meal out of him. But there was one that was far more dangerous, not a mindless animal, but one that could think and feel as he does. And it was his odd decision to go visit this person. Why? Because this person was a powerful sea witch, able to grant wishes, as long as you could pay her price. And there was a long standing price that was said to be beyond anyone’s ability to fulfill. The merman swam and swam…until he found a massive pit with several layers. He knew there WAS a bottom as light was coming up, he just couldn’t see how far down it was. He then cleared his throat as he swam down a couple of layers. “Erm, Madame Calliope?” he called. “M-My name is Lukas. I-I saw your ad for upstaging S-S-Ssylphiel. I…I wanted to help you fulfill it.” He then felt a presence. He turned to see a Cecaelia woman with blue skin and black tentacles glide down from the second level from the top of the pit. She had a grin on her face as her tentacles pulled her along the rocky floor.

“What would you have me do to upstage Ssylphiel, my lovely?” she asked, Lukas now noticing her eyes were not normal.

“I-I-I…I would…ask that you…let me serve you!” he said, using the phrase that indicated he had read the ad.

“Good…good,” purred Calliope as her tentacles coiled around the merman. “Now, the details. I shall grant you any wish you want, but you must complete twelve labors for me.”

“Y-Yes, Mistress!” replied Lukas.

“The first labor is quite simple, you will stay with me here in my lair,” explained Calliope. “But, in order to make sure you’re sure…” She then summoned a piece of parchment. “All I need is your signature.” Lukas read the parchment. It was a contract, stating that he willingly puts himself into the service of Calliope for twelve labors in exchange for his heart’s desire being granted. Any attempt to flee would land him 100 years in her garden. Lukas then signed his name. “Lukas,” purred Calliope. “A lovely name. So, what say you to the first labor of staying in my lair?”

“E-Easy, Mistress,” replied Lukas.

“Be warned, you may find the remaining eleven hard.” Calliope grinned. “Best be sure you’re ready, because you are mine now.”

“Y-Yes, Mistress,” answered Lukas.

“Good. …Now…let’s get you set up here.” Calliope beckoned for Lukas to follow her as she swam deeper into the pit that was her lair. As Lukas followed, he saw many polyps. Once they got to the bottom, Lukas could see an empty room. “Here, Lukas, is where those who took up my offer would rest. Pray make yourself comfortable.” Lukas bowed respectfully and entered the room. As Calliope swam away, he thought back to what drove him to serve her in the first place. …He hoped he could continue serving her after completing all the labors.