What started simply as tea service training with Galli soon came unglued once Galli ran through the process with me. I knew it was over when she casually pushed a stockinged foot up past my knees.
We’d just served the tea, and I was feeling pleased with how smoothly I’d set the table, how orderly and proper I’d arranged the dishes.
With her foot in so sensitive a place, I nearly dropped the tea cup I was now clutching
in my right hand.
“I think your groin makes a great footrest Amareth,” Galli remarked, steadily squirming her foot up under my skirts. “That’s a good doll, don’t drop it! You need to learn how best to serve under any circumstance.”
“B-but that’s, it’s lewd,” I stammered. Th-that stars d-da— darned programming was so overwhelming, it was. It was—
“Exactly my point,” Galli’s toe nudged the crease of my leg, where it met my hip. “And it's not like my stockings are going to make contact with anything other than that lovely new accessory.”
“That’s exactly w-why.”
“Aww, come on! I thought you’d be thrilled to be more like your sister maid! Wouldnt’ that just be lovely, doll?”
That word, oh why did she have to use it. I could… I…
It could feel its body going limp in the soft, supporting cushions of the chair, Its thighs loosening and opening for Galli’s foot, stockinged toes passing their guard to brush against its cage.
It mewed softly, its voice pulsating with the soft stroking of Galli’s velvet-soft, questing foot. The latex was irresistibly smooth on its groin, warm and cool and slick-silky and too, too much.
“See? I told you. I knew you’d enjoy it.” It felt almost like Galli was looming over the table towards it, now. Her smile had taken on a feral sharpness it had never seen before. “Mistress has encouraged me to help you lose yourself.” A purple shimmer flickered across her eyes. “Something I will happily indulge in, doll.”
All it could manage to do was limply twitch in the supporting grip of the chair.
It was supposed to be a simple tea service practice…
An all too familiar, soft voiced chimed in from my shoulder. “I see the two of you are thoroughly engrossed in your training,” Slyphi said, breaking into titters as her ghostly form alighted on my shoulder. I could swear I almost felt her touch. “But aren’t you supposed to be pouring tea?”
“Oh, believe you me, we did. But now it's time for the doll’s supplementary lesson.”
Galli’s hungry, almost-forced grin returned.
“Ahh, yes. One of those lessons. I do find it fun to watch Amareth’s gradual slide into dollhood. She will make another fine addition to the royal jewels.”
It didn’t have much to contribute to their conversation, seeing as its mind was a mess. Galli continually ground her foot into its thighs, at once brutish and coy with her movement, building doll up and leaving it hanging without so much as a teasing glance. Doll shakily held her cup, sipping tea and mewling when it became too much.
It didn’t spill a drop, but it wished it could let the teacup fall so it could grab the edge of the table and grind back.
“Mmm. She is progressing wonderfully. I dare say, it is progressing wonderfully.”
Galli’s foot worked softly against it, suddenly generous and careful, grinding across its tender flesh but never pressing so heavily as to inflict even a tiny pang of discomfort.
Torture came to mind. Exquisite torture. It was worse than the cruelty. It made doll crave something sharper. Meaner.
“It. Yes, it does seem the right descriptor, based on the soup between its ears at the moment,” Sylphi noted glibly. “Nothing but noise and heat.”
“Our bold, hard Amareth falling apart at the slightest touch? It’s difficult to believe. It seems we’ve left her struggling to stand up to the slightest push.”
“She’s become a fine instrument. All those lovely chords Mistress gave us to play.”
“I don’t know, maybe there’s something left in her we’ve yet to get to. She was so much fun before mistress broke her. Now, it hardly utters a word when we say mean things.” Galli pressed hard, curling her toes into its thigh, drawing a shivering whimper from its lips. “See? Barely able to raise even a paltry excuse for a defense.”
It looked up from its trembling teacup at Galli, but her eyes were fixed on Sylphi, something sharp and bright shimmering within.
“But isn’t that just what you want, Sylphi? For us to all just break apart?”
Galli was up in a flash pulling it from the table on unsteady legs. In swift order, we found ourselves splayed on a couch, petticoats piled around us. Galli spread the doll’s legs gently with her thighs pressing in between its own.
Galli’s face gave the faintest twitch. “I think she’s better this way. A trophy fit for a queen.”
It hardly managed even a token resistance. The whole experience melted whatever it had left to fight back with. It was nothing. A toy. A trophy. It was Galli’s right to do what she wanted with it.
“To see one of the solar system's most infamous mercs made into a mewling, pathetic little trinket who can’t even fight off a single maid, I can’t believe it was so easy. Tell me, doll, is there a single spark left of the animal you once were?”
It squirmed, trying to bury its face into the couch and its apron shoulder ruffles.
Sylphi watched the whole display from her perch before flitting across the room to join us.
“Amareth.” Galli deftly pinned my wrists above my head, pressing her crotch against mine, grinding cage against cage. “You’re not even going to tell me to stop, are you?”
Its cheeks were aflame as it squirmed, looking to the side with shame flooding through its body.
It… I wasn’t. I couldn’t. I couldn’t say a word. Did I even want to? What had Ma…Mistress taken from me?
I couldn’t. Didn’t. Want to.
Because.
Because…
Stars damn it all!
Because it felt good.
“I want to see that fire again, Amareth,” Galli said, leaning in, her teeth barred. “I want to see that Mistress didn’t extinguish you. Show me something. Anything! Any part of you that’s persisting in spite of it all. Prove to me that you’re anything but a broken toy for your betters to use!”
I felt her teeth on my neck, her bite an explosion of sensation that arced through my quivering body, making me buck against her grip.
I wanted more. Her marks on my skin. Her fingers squeezing my hip. Her knee between mine.
“Fight! Fight back!” Her hand squeezed my pinned wrists tightly enough to hurt. There was a bright light in her eyes, passionate, yet somehow glossy and artificial. “Tell me to stop! Like a person would. Show me you can!”
She pulled back, watching me, searching, fingers tightening.
Our eyes met, for a brief moment. Perfect calm, perfect purpose filled me.
It tipped its head back, baring its throat for her.
Surely my wrists bruised as Galli’s grip went vice-tight. “You can’t, can you? You’re just a helpless, weak little doll. Utterly pathetic. You were made to be broken.”
It shivered in her grip, unable to speak.
She bit it again, her teeth sinking into the other side of its neck.
Sylphi strode across the back of the couch, lying down upon the pillows to observe our tableau-esque pose. Mischief painted itself across her tiny face.
“You know Galli,” the AI said, “It’s a wonder what you yourself have become since you first arrived here.”
Galli let out a titter. At first it felt stifled, but it became pained as it trailed off, tinged with anger and bitterness. “Oh, I’m sure you're so proud to see the fruits of your labor on display, aren’t you?” she said, turning to look up at Sylphi with sharp teeth bared. “Like I don’t know somebody’s been twisting my knobs today, driving me up into a frenzy?”
Sylphi laughed softly. “Gallium, we both know that’s not what I mean, or did Mara really burn away everything of what you once were? Oh, wait! I know! It must’ve been her loving caress under the falling stars!”
Galli flinched. Something abruptly broke behind her eyes, like the spider web cracking glass.
A single crystalline tear coalesced on Galli’s eye. “Stop. Stop! I-I don’—” More tears. “I don’t want to remember. I c-c-can’t. She was so—”
Her voice had lost all of its boisterousness by the end, becoming a near whimper. The aggression she’d had on display had vanished. She seemed smaller.
Suddenly, a purple flash swept her face clean, leaving a placid mask draped over the remnants of her pained expression.
Sylphi shifted uneasily from side to side atop the couch. “I guess you have more left than I thought, starlet.” She turned to face me. “Which gives me hope we might still make a conversationalist out of you. Our little gemstone in the rough.”
Galli slumped back from me, tears trickling down her face. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Her voice had become a soft whisper.
Her break of character, and the sudden emotion that accompanied it, grounded me where the cruelty hadn’t. I spoke, eyes watering. “Sylphi, do you really care what happens to us? I thought you enjoyed training us, making us maids?”
Sylphi shifted uncomfortably. “I do. And that may be so, but it doesn’t change the fact that on occasion, Mistress goes too far in remaking one of you.” She gave a subtle glance towards Galli’s still frozen form. “It leaves me in the somewhat unfortunate position of making, and then caring for, broken dolls.”
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that that was how she felt. But it still felt like I was missing a piece. “Is that all?”
A single tear on Galli’s cheek dropped onto her latex apron, trickling down its iridescent surface.
Sylphi stared at me, into me. “Amareth, I cannot claim to be without my own feelings. I know all of you better than anyone else. I am given the task to make you fall, and in doing so, I change you all irrevocably.” Sylphi raised her palm, examining her outstretched hand. “I am your maker, in a way, but only because I am also your breaker.”
She clenched her tiny fist looking up at me, face wavering on edge of something that couldn’t quite be read. “I may just be a ghost, but it still hurts to lose something of you in that transition. Because I… I don’t always want to change things.”
Now, I was crying too, the echoes of all that had happened reigniting a wound glossed over with a veneer of pleasure and a flood of conditioning.
“W-What did you take from me, Sylphi? What did I lose? I-I don’t even know if I’m a person anymore, Sylphi! I—”
“N—Neither do I.”
Galli still hadn’t moved, her breath starting to hitch as tears continually dribbled down her cheeks. Her gaze was lost in space a million miles beyond the station.
I held her closer. “Is— Is she going to be alright?”
Sylphi hummed. “Give her a minute and it will all be gone again. She has moments of lucidity where some fragments of who she was before shine through. I should not have pulled a loose thread like that.” Sylphi grimaced. “I reminded her of it. I brought a piece back and it hurt us both.” Small tears trickled down the fae’s cheeks.
I felt my own breath catch in my throat at that. “Sylphi, is this—”
I couldn’t bring myself to voice my fear.
“No. She was one of the first, and one of the harshest. You’ll never lose so much if you behave.”
Sylphi floated up to stroke a hand down Galli’s cheek. Galli’s breath slowed, her gaze snapping to the fae AI.
“Now, I need to fix this, or there will be hell to pay at Mistress's hand.”
I watched, transfixed and uncertain of what would come next.
Sylpi stared at Galli a moment longer before that same purple gleam spanned the gap between them, and Galli’s eyes filled with it. A sparkling shimmer of purple filled her irises until they glowed.
Her body twitched, muscles flexing against my embrace, and then she relaxed, and her breathing began to slow. I could see Sylphi’s tiny lips moving, but heard nothing.
Galli’s tears stopped. Her posture shifted, and the edges of her mouth began to curl ever so slightly upward.
Before long her placid mask broke wide open, splitting her face with a near manic grin. Galli began to giggle, lightly at first, then loudly as her body moved as if tickled by unseen hands.
“What did you—”
Sylphi glanced at me, eyes pained, before turning to smile at Galli, “There you are, Galli! You just need a little spark to pull you back.”
The glow faded, as did Galli’s paroxysms, until she managed to speak between giggles. “Here I am! What was that for, you gremlin?”
Her mock accusatory voice left me feeling further disjointed from the whole experience. It was like seeing a whole new person simply swapped places with the distraught mess she’d been moments before.
Sylphi tittered. “Just a little software glitch, my dear! You just needed a bit of a reboot.”
“It's been a while since that happened, hasn’t it? Thanks for helping me get it back together Sylphi,” Galli said, reaching out to pat the fae hologram lightly.
I swallowed. It was too surreal. This was a palace of madness in the land of the fae.
Was it so farfetched to feel like I had fallen from reality some time ago? I could still hardly believe each assault on the shreds of what little normalcy I still deluded myself in holding on to.
Mara had the keys to our souls and was happy to twist us into any shape she liked. With how much she had already done - with the extent of her influence on all our thoughts, who was to say this wasn’t all one delusion? That I wasn’t still stuck in some chamber, a datajack buried in my skull, or under some unnamed auto-doc again, changing, changing, losing ever more of myself?
Surely I must have broken completely by now, as such a copacetic journey into brainwashing must have—
“Amareth?” A jolt of sensation struck my whole limbic system.
Sylphi popped into view before me, her tiny face almost too close to focus on.
“Amareth, It's going to be alright,” That familiar chemical warmth flooded down through me, and I wish I could have said I fought it. “Just let us take care of you.”
My breathing slowed as her tiny eyes drilled in ever deeper with each statement. I noticed a shimmer of purple light in hers. A glimmer that flashed for an instant, catching my mind off guard.
“Just let go, and let me in.” Her eyes gleamed. “Just this once.”
“I…”
Her eyes were so utterly captivating. ”I know you need to, doll.”
My chin dropped, and my mind as well.
Murmured voices, thoughts and choices, all awash in a sea.
I blinked.
“Hey, Jupiter to Amareth, dork! Are you doing alright over there?”
The concerned tone felt just like the Galli I knew, but… it still felt off. I knew this wasn’t real. She wasn’t real.
Galli was whatever Mara wanted her to be. There was no mask, because even the face beneath was a lie.
How long would it take until Sylphi took the ability to discern one from the other—to care—from me too?
How long would it take before I wanted her to do it?
Galli leaned in, pouting. “Look, I know it’s a lot sometimes, all of this, and I can only imagine how bad I glitched to leave you crying, but you don’t gotta worry, okay? Sylphi helped me calm down, and I’m fine now, okay!”
That omnipresent smile was once again spanning her face.
I swallowed hard. “I, yeah I guess. I just… You were so sad.”
“Mmm yeah.” Galli shrugged. “I was. Don’t worry your pretty little head over it too much, doll!” She ruefully ruffled my hair. “Look, I can never be who I was before. I can’t even want it, really. But I know I enjoy being who I am now.”
She climbed over my dress, straddling me between her thighs, and then rolled backwards, pulling me between them to rest on her groin and stomach. My chin nestled between her breasts.
She reached up and stroked my cheek. It was an obscenely intimate feeling after before. “You’ve got to stop worrying about the past, Amareth. All we’ll ever have is right here and right now,” Galli said with a wan smile, her fingers coming to rest against the back of my head, gently scritching at the edge of my hairline. Her fingers traced little pulses of pleasure across my scalp.
I leaned into her touch. “But aren’t you afraid you’re not who you used to be? Don’t you miss it?”
Will I miss it? Will I care?
“How can I be? I can’t even really know everything I’ve lost. Sure, I know. But it’s all so ephemeral now.”
That wasn’t so comforting.
“I… I guess.”
Galli pulled my head down against her warm chest, pressing my face into her bosom and the soft latex of her uniform.
“Shush, doll. You’ll only end up pining for a ghost, and that just isn’t productive. Not anymore at least.”
“How can you know that? I just watched the facade you have up to the world crumble. I saw a glimmer of somebody I’ve never met in the pieces.”
The tears I had stymied broke loose again.
“It’s not fluffing fair, it’s deranged— It's horrible!”
She held me pressed against her chest. I tried to buck away from her grip, but to no avail. “I know, I know. It truly is.”
Her soft words continued as I descended into tears and incoherent ranting.
Sylphi whispered, “I’m sorry,” and with a flash and small snap, I knew she’d ‘left.’ Well, at least in a manifested sense.
Galli continued holding me close, and yet she didn’t.
@Miss_Praxis well indeed <3 i did need a few weeks to process all the galli thoughts lol, talked through a lot of my feelings with my gf, but i adore art that can have such a powerful effect on me like that. just in some moderation hehe, characters like these live so vividly in my head and its gets to me so bad lol. like, i got reasons i need to write my own messed up sadgirls with some very specific rules and framings, so stories like this let me explore and process darker feelings w/o feeling guilty like i’m the one who did it hehehe.
but ye, look forward to more <3