Serenity Art Attack: The Gorgon Conundrum Part 1 (Patreon)

Hey folks! How's it going? I'm back from my trip, and back to work!

That said, thanks to a few life circumstances, I'll have to take the next month (August) off to catch up and get everything sorted. Sorry for the short notice - being out of the country made it hard to post up early warnings.

Alas! But I'll be back before you know it. And in the meantime, enjoy another Serenity Art Attack, as the Serenity Artists continue their fight against the sinister Sphinx! Take a look at how Dancer and Melody did Here - but this time it's Style's turn! I hope you like the read - and I'll be back with the second part in September!

Serenity Style was not having a great day.

Like, she’d been preparing for this presentation for weeks. It had gotten her full focus, all of her effort, all of her love. She had toiled tirelessly, created some of her best work! She’d missed meals, she’d missed dates, she’d missed sleep, all sacrificed for the total focus of an artistic project that maybe only she would ever really enjoy or understand. That was the joy of being an artist, really, the ability to really dedicate yourself to a cause, even if that cause was stupid.

Though, quite frankly, she was pretty sure that the fashion concepts she had sketched out for the meeting were the best Ruby Canyon had seen in decades, so, you know, this cause was totally worth it.

So, for a Desire to go on a rampage now, of all the times…?

Look, it wasn’t a big deal, not really. She was a Serenity, a protector of the people, and she’d served as a guardian of Ruby Canyon for long enough to get used to her duties. It could be awkward, sometimes, to lead a successful and productive life as Lauren Pride when at any moment she could be called away to fight alien invaders or living rocks or whatever, but that was part of the Serenity package. A sacrifice she was willing to make, so long as it kept people safe.

It just kind of sucked sometimes.

But hey, it was also an outlet to get all these negative feelings out of her chest! To be honest, she’d always had something of a dramatic streak, and getting to burst onto the scene as a hero and save the day? Nothing compared to that high. The times when all seemed lost, only for a mystery shot to strike the Desire back, and the blonde Serenity emerged from the shadows to turn the tide? Who wouldn’t want to be her in that moment?

Her teammates teased her about it sometimes. “You sure you’re a fashion designer, not a theatre major?”

Hey, her theatrics were armature fun. Her style was professional, thank you. Maybe her sense of heroism was a little silly, but she would always make sure that whatever she did, she showed her good side while she was doing it.

Of course, right now, she couldn’t show her any-side. Ugh. That stupid sphinx had really known how to curse a girl.

The outbreak had happened in the middle of the day, and in the middle of the city, too. Alerts had gone out quickly, and the Serenity Artists had been able to respond almost as soon as the event began, quickly containing the Desire’s territory inside the Serenity Seal – a dome of light that wouldn’t let anyone tainted by Desire through. Honestly, as team leader, she’d give their speed an A+, and she was proud to do so. That was an area they’d been working to improve on.

Things had gotten difficult once they entered the dome, however. Entering a Desire’s lair was always a dangerous task, but doing so was part of the job, just like the unpredictable schedule. Once a Desire was contained, it was their duty to go in and defeat it properly. Doing so would undo the changes that the creature had warped onto the world, and would restore all of their victims to their true selves.

But first, the Serenity team had to reach the Desire. And that had proven to be very difficult. The beast had created no end of minions – innocent victims transformed into creatures loyal to their corruptor’s will. In this case, they’d become types of ancient monsters from mythology or whatever – basically watered down versions of bigger Desires, if Style remembered her history classes rightly. There were mummies, oni, dinosaurs, snow monsters, myths from all over the world. It didn’t seem to matter to the Desire at all what cultures she was stealing from – if they were old and monstrous, she was throwing them at Serenities.

And the Serenity Artists (the Arts for short) responded in kind, battling their way through the hordes with tight group tactics and decisive strength. They were old hands at this kind of battle, and at first things had gone well. Progress was steady, and even though the city had turned into a ruin-filled desert, the terrain hadn’t been able to stop them from advancing.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t picked up on the aerial assault until it was too late. Style had felt the talons closing around her shoulders before she’d seen the harpies swooping in over her, hauling her up into the air. The others had yelled out for her – Melody had even shot a burst of solid sound at her kidnapper, but she’d been trying to avoid hitting her friend in the process, and the creature had been able to dodge.

It had been incredibly embarrassing, to tell the truth. Saving her friends from this kind of situation was what the blonde Serenity did – getting caught in one herself? So unstylish. The pure level of cringe alone was probably Style’s biggest weakness, and why she took so long to start freeing herself.

Too long, as it had turned out, when she found that she had just been dropped straight in front of the Desire herself.

They were another creature directly out of mythology, though she was larger than any of them by far. She looked like a cross between a human, a cat, and a bird – maybe an eagle? Something with big wings, for sure. The Serenity recognised what she was supposed to be immediately. A Sphinx.

“Welcome, little Serenity,” the Desire had begun talking, as they always liked to do. “Do you like what I’ve done with the place? As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I’ve brought you here for a specific reason, a challenge of wits and skill. I’ve heard that leader of the Serenity Artists is a cunning adversary, and so-”

On and on and on she went, giving a speech she had clearly practiced. Alas, the blonde wasn’t listening to a single word.

And honestly? She screwed up. Style could admit it now. It was unforgivable, really, though the consequences of her mistake were certainly doing the numbers on her penance score. She was supposed to be the smooth Serenity, the one who was always cool under pressure and calm in a crisis. Her team depended on her to think rationally whenever there was a problem – because heavens knew, most of them weren’t going to be able to.

But she’d missed her all-important fashion meeting for this. She’d been annoyed and embarrassed and more than a little humiliated at having been caught out by bird women, so when the Desire had started giving a speech, she’d tried to cut her off quickly.

“Serenity Seal!”

And definitively.

In ordinary cases, a Desire hit by a full-on Serenity Seal would be defeated instantly. That was why they sent out minions and the like to protect themselves. If a Serenity ended up in a one-on-one fight with a Desire, the Serenity had a big advantage – one that a big creature like the Sphinx surely wouldn’t be able to overcome!

That had been Style’s logic, anyway. As it turned out, she was completely wrong. And in hindsight, that was obvious. Why would Desire have her carried over like this, only to immediately let herself be sealed? Just a moment’s caution would have told her that.

Ugh. When this was all over, the rest of the Arts were going to tear her apart with their teasing. And she was going to deserve it! How annoying.

The light of her attack, thrown forward in the form of a custom business card (because it was stylish) winked out before it reached the Desire. Whatever protections she had in place, they were powerful enough to make the strongest move in a Serenity’s arsenal vanish. That was a really, really bad sign.

Both of them had stood there in silence for a moment, before the Sphinx sighed.

“I’m afraid I am going to have to curse you for that. There’s rules here, you know. You’re not just allowed to attack someone as an answer to their riddle.”

She’d actually sounded rather disappointed. Presumably she’d been looking forward to playing her little game. For a moment, Style almost felt compelled to apologise – it wasn’t the Desire’s fault she was in a bad mood, after all.

Except, no, actually, it totally was, so screw that.

“I was going to ask you a really cool riddle about reflections and scales, but I guess we can just skip to the part where you lose, that’s fine.” Oh yeah, the Desire had definitely gotten huffy. “I don’t mind. Just take your stupid curse and get out of here.”

The blonde had prepared to defend herself – and maybe thrown out a few terse one-liners that she wasn’t going to try and remember - but it did no good. There was no physical curse to block or dodge – merely a dark feeling stealing over her as the Desire’s magic took hold. A disconcerting sensation, but at least it wasn’t painful. Not that kind of curse, clearly.

Instead, she felt like her skin was crawling for a moment, and there was a second of dizziness and disorientation, a weird doubling of her vision like she’d just grown a second head, then a jolt down her spine. Everything snapped back to normal, but something had clearly happened to her. She thought she caught a quiet hiss to her left, but there was nothing there when she looked.

“Congratulations,” the Desire had muttered, already more interested in her nails than the Serenity. “You’ve earned yourself the curse of the Gorgon. Enjoy that, and I guess I’ll just wait here until someone comes along with enough brains to actually try solving my riddles, mkay?” She slumped down on the ground and curled up to take a snooze, waving a paw dismissively. “Take her away.”

Then talons had grabbed the Serenity’s arms once again, spiriting her off into the sky. She’d been a much less graceful passenger this time, maaaybe losing her temper in a slightly unstylish way, but the stupid bird woman had only found her insults amusing, and none of her attempts at attacks had landed.

What did eventually land was the two of them, now on the opposite side of the Desire’s ruin-filled lair. The harpy had practically dumped her in the middle of a dusty ancient town square, still squawking out peals of laughter as she flapped overhead.

The blonde had landed easily on her feet, dusting herself off with casual and practiced ease, because bad day or not, she was still Serenity Style. Then she had given the bird woman a glare. Her pride was feeling more than a little stung. “What, are you just going to leave me here? Cursed or not, no Desire should ever turn her back on a Serenity.”

“Oh please.” The harpy giggled again, the sound being rather similar to a pigeon cooing rapidly. “What are you going to do? Mistress already proved she’s smarter than you, there’s nothing you can do now. Soon enough you’ll be one of her pets. Haha, I wonder what kinda dumb beast you’re gunna turn into. Maybe a minotaur, you look hard headed enough!”

Style’s eyes had narrowed. She was under no illusions about the final nature of her ‘curse’ – corrupting Serenities into minions was always high in the list of Desire prerogatives – but she wasn’t done yet, and she had no intention of going quietly. “I think you’ll find,” she began, taking a breath and preparing to walk out of this situation with at least a smooth one liner…

That didn’t happen, though, because as her gaze focused on the smirking creature, there was a sudden tightness in her eyes. Like she’d just squinted, but with her irises instead of her eyelids. She felt a burst of heat in her face and staggered back, covering her eyes and checking they were okay.

Before she’d even touched her face, though, there was a loud thud from in front of her.

Blinking, she lowered her arm – and found herself staring at the harpy again. The bird woman wasn’t laughing anymore. In fact, she’d stopped moving entirely, all colour completely leached from her body. Her now flightless body had dropped out of the air and landed solidly in front of the Serenity, one clawed hand on her hip, the other behind her head, all as still as a statue.

No, not quite a statue…

Ah hell. Style grimaced, hand going to her eyes again. If she held up her palm in front of her face, she could see a strange purple light reflected on it. Her eyes were glowing. Her curse was making itself known.

The curse of the Gorgon. Mm, she really was having an off-day – she should have worked this out sooner. What were gorgons famous for, other than their ability to turn people to stone with their eyes?

Of course, that might not be accurate to actual mythology – the blonde wasn’t sure! What did she know about gorgons? Practically nothing – she was no expert on ancient history. But to be honest, she suspected that was true of the Sphinx, as well, so the pop culture version would do. Her eyes had gained a petrifying power that she couldn’t control.

And what was more, the harpy hadn’t become a statue – she’d become a mannequin, smooth and posed, ready to display a fashionable outfit. A little personal touch for the fashion designer. And anyone else who met the blonde’s eyes was going to share her fate.

So that was why Serenity Style was having a bad day.

That was the job, though. And even when things were rough, she couldn’t afford to let it weigh her down. A Serenity had to fight on until the last. Which was why she was currently wrapping a blindfold around her head, made from cloth she’d kept in her weapon collection. If she kept her eyes sealed, then hopefully she could stall her curse and her coming corruption for as long as possible. She needed all the time she could get in order to strike back at the Sphinx.

Because the problem was that you couldn’t just play a Desire’s game and expect them to follow the rules themselves. That was madness. Those creatures didn’t play fair, and if you let them deal the cards then you’re lose every time. Especially when said Desire’s only goal was to ask you a riddle for which there was no correct answer you could give, like this one wanted.

That was easy to deduce. A Sphinx who delighted in challenging people with riddles and transforming them when they got the answers wrong wasn’t a difficult puzzle to solve. She wanted to prove she was smarter than everyone else, that was all. The tricky part was her protections. It seemed that the Desire wasn’t actually a powerful fighter herself, but if a Serenity’s attacks couldn’t reach her, then she didn’t need to be. She could just ask a riddle of anyone trying to fight her, and then enjoy watching them fail.

But obviously answering her riddles correctly wasn’t going to work either. The Desire wanted to prove she was smarter than everyone else. She couldn’t do that if people could actually win her little game. No, the way to defeat her had to be…

Oh! Of course. It really was that simple, wasn’t it? She would have worked it out herself if she’d taken five seconds to analyse the situation instead of charging in like an idiot. Of all the days to get impatient…

Well, now she knew how easy it would be to defeat this Desire – but she’d also disqualified herself from doing what had to be done. One of the other Arts would have to handle it. Which meant she had to find them and tell them what she’d worked out before this corruption took a deeper hold. She loved her team, but a lot of them were rather direct thinkers.

Automatically, she reached for her communicator. It was easily the fastest way to send word to the others. The voice comms tended to give out in Desire lairs like these, but the text signal would be strong enough to get through. She just had to lift her blindfold for a moment to take a look at the screen and… and…

… The reflective screen…

Ah. Yes. That had been what did the gorgon of legend in, wasn’t it? Seeing her own reflection? The blonde winced at the thought. She would, undoubtably, make a very attractive mannequin, but that wouldn’t really do anything to solve the situation.

And while Serenity Style was many, many things –she wasn’t really a touch typer. She needed to see the keys to send a message to her team at any reasonable level of legibility. She wasn’t going to be able to read their replies while blind, either.

Nope, she’d have to track them down and tell her in person. While unable to see.

Hm.

The blonde tightened her blindfold, then put one foot forward. Then another. Then she stepped to the side, and slid around a patch of rubble that would have tripped her if she’d walked forwards again. Okay, yes, this would work. She could just about navigate like this. It was tricky, but her powers were an unexpected benefit here.

Style’s aspect – the core of her powers – was friction. That was allowed her to cut through her enemies with thrown cards, or turn flicks of fabric into fireballs. And though it wasn’t as useful as being able to see, she could still use her abilities to sense the world around her, too ‘see’ the level of friction nearby. In essence, she could sense that there was a wall to her right, because she could feel how rough it was, but she couldn’t tell what said was made of (even if she could easily guess). That was enough to navigate around, as long as she was cautious.

There was a problem with this strategy, however, that presented itself quite quickly.

“Hey, who’s that over there!”

“Get her! We can tribute her to the Mistress!”

Minions. They were crawling all over the place. The Sphinx had clearly been busy in what little time she’d had to work. Judging by the pressure in the air and the flow of movement that the blonde could sense, she was quickly becoming surrounded by creatures of all shapes and sizes.

And that number was quickly starting to grow. She had to fight her way out of here, and fast. While blind. Not an appealing idea.

“Oh! It’s the stupid Serenity who flunked Mistress’ riddle before she even asked it!”

Suddenly the idea grew a lot more appealing!

“Aw man, she’s boring. Can’t tribute her to Mistress.”

“We can help her embrace her curse though. Mistress might like that!”

“Oooh…”

But it still wasn’t practical. As a fighter, Style was creative – or at least she liked to think so – but her attacks relied on precision. She aimed to hit her target, whatever it may be – and right now, that was clearly beyond her. Her powers could give her a lay of the land, but she was far too unfamiliar with using them like this to keep up with a battle.

So, as much as it galled her, it was time to run away.

“Hey! Get back here!”

No chance. Style slipped away, ducking down an alleyway between two aged and crumbling buildings. The minions were giving chase, but there was no way they could hope to catch her. Blind or no, she was almost as good at dramatic disappearances as she was at dramatic appearances! With a graceful jump and a series of kicks, she flipped her way up to the top of the alleyway and landed on the roof.

Unfortunately…

“Gotcha!” Gah! A feathered strike from the side knocked her back down to ground level, a drop she only just barely managed to turn into a halfway decent landing at the last moment. “Nice try, Serenity! Gyahahaha!”

That familiar pigeon-like laugh filled the air. Another harpy. Damnit, those were harder to ‘see’ fliers like this. And now she was caught between two other minions who were already closing in. Far from ideal.

But not a big problem, either.

Thunderous footsteps and a burning sense of friction told her that one of the two was now making their move, charging straight at her. Judging by the aerodynamics, something big and with horns – a minotaur, perhaps? Perfect. She gave the creature a smile as she snapped her fingers, and deleted the ground’s natural friction while she jumped over their head.

The minotaur(?) clearly wasn’t expecting the ground to suddenly turn into the slippery equivalent of ice under their feet. There was a bellow of alarm from both them, and the minion who’d been trying to block the other end of the alley as the two collided, sending both crashing through a ruin’s walls. By the time they’d gotten back up, Style had already vaulted through a window and sprinted away.

Sadly, none of that solved her real problem. Another pulse of her powers told her that the number of minions in the area had only grown now that they knew she was around here somewhere. She needed to reach her team, but she wasn’t going to be able to do anything with all of these minions hounding her. And escape was proving sticky. The roof wasn’t an option with fliers overhead watching for her, but there were so many other monsters stalking the grounds…

“Over here!”

Damnit. No time to come up with a cunning plan, either. The blonde sped up, hurrying through the maze of rough and smooth surfaces, darting through passageways and alleys that she hoped were leading her deeper into the ruins. If she could reach the temple in the middle again, then maybe she’d find her team close-by…

But alas, instead, the first thing she found was a sudden lack of frictional pressure in front of her, which indicated a lot of smoothness. The walls she could sense were quite far off – she’d found herself in a large area, maybe another courtyard.

One that was hissing, for some reason…

The Serenity stepped back, her lips pressed into a frown – but she could feel the minions behind her still searching. Going back would force her to fight them, and it would cost her time that she probably didn’t have. Her eyes were still itching beneath her blindfold, whispering about how they wanted to be used…

So instead, she firmed her will and entered the clearing ahead. If she could cross it quickly, maybe…

Then, movement. Her confused senses tilted as the smooth floor shifted, and then began to rise up in a dozen different places, in thin, long, curvy shapes. Too late, she realised why it had been so smooth.

Scales.

“Well well well. Look what we have here~” A voice from the left hissed, a smooth figure drawing nearer.

“How lucky - A sssilly little ssserenity wandersss into our nesssst~!” Another joined her from the right.

Style’s teeth ground together. Of all the places to stumble into. Now a mob snake women were closing in on her, and retreat was only going to get her cornered.

“Oho, I recognissse that curssse, my dear~” The first voice on the left was close now. “Have you come to join ussss?”

The blonde answered by throwing out her hand and solidifying the air in front of the snake into a solid wall, letting her slam herself into it. The deflated hissing sound was amusing for a moment, but it also meant the time for talking was over. Now she had to fight.

She sensed an attack from her right, that ever so slight heating of the air as a clawed hand swiped towards her, and she ducked, throwing a card back in response. Her dodge was successful, but she felt the attack shoot through the air and embed itself in a distant wall. Complete miss.

Then she had to dodge again, wearing around a long tail that tried to skewer her from afar. These girls were flexible! And worse, as snakes, they weren’t so easy to trip. Making the ground slippery wasn’t as useful against them, and throwing the lever in the other direction wasn’t going to slow them down much. She needed another solution. Maybe-?

“Ssso rude, not looking usss in the eye.” That voice – close! Much too close! “Let me help you, dear!”

Where- Above!

Too late, the Serenity remembered the weakness of her friction sense, that enemies in the air were harder to spot than enemies on the ground. Quickly, she tried to raise her hands, but her opponent was faster.

“No!”

Light poured in as her blindfold was ripped away. Caught completely by surprise, Style didn’t even have a chance to close her eyes in time. She felt the power in them, already built to the point of bursting, flare, her pupils tightening, purple glow brightening.

In one moment, she saw a chamber full of snake women leering at her greedily, all of their eyes fixed upon her. In the next, all she saw was a room filled with mannequins, all very proudly female, and all of them posing to show off their bodies as much as possible. For the briefest instant, the gap between those two images, she thought she saw their eyes turn purple, saw them smile in mindless bliss as a wave of beige swept over their bodies… But maybe that was just her imagination.

There was no time to dwell on such things, either. The release of power had her eyes burning again, and it felt good. Sating the curse’s hunger, and in such a big way, sent shockwaves of pleasure coursing through her, like it was activating every dopamine receptor in her brain at once. A warm satisfaction filled her chest, as though she’d just indulged in her favourite meal…

… But she still wasn’t full.

The craving began almost immediately. Hadn’t that felt good? Hadn’t it felt great? Do it again. Do it more. Make hundreds of mannequins! Mistress gave you this power for a reason, shouldn’t you use it? Imagine how good it will feel to turn your friends into-

Not a chance. She fought it all back none the less, shoving the ravenous hunger for more down with all of her will. It was like trying to force a door closed on a submarine, pitting her resolve against the full weight of the ocean. Maybe it should have been impossible, but she was the leader of the Arts for a reason!

Slowly, the cravings died down. The hunger relented. The urge to turn the world into a pretty plastic paradise subsided. It was still there, bubbling in the back of her mind, waiting for another moment of weakness – but for the moment, she had control.

The blonde gasped for breath, pulling air in deep, her battle won. That had taken more out of her than she liked, but she would yet remain herself. The curse wouldn’t have her so easily.

Now it was time to assess the damage.

Face grim, the Serenity began to examine herself, almost pulling out a mirror before realising what a bad idea that would be. Instead, she limited herself to what she could see when she looked down.

Two arms, two legs, only one body in between – still humanoid! That was a good sign. Her top had lost a button somewhere in the struggle, her chest swelling out to make her uniform uncomfortably tight, as was so very often the way with Desires. Whatever this curse was trying to turn her into, it was going to have tits bigger than her head and change. Awkward, but expected.

She was much more worried when she looked at her hands. The tips of her fingers were starting to turn green, and her nails were becoming pointed. She might have even been growing a few green scales around her wrists. Not good, not good. A sure a sign as any of the kind of beast she was becoming…

But she still wasn’t done yet. As long as she could still fight, Serenity Style wasn’t the giving up type.

Now where had her blindfold gone…?

Ah, there it was. Still hanging from the grip of the nearest mannequin. The blonde snorted in annoyed amusement as she reached up for it. The stupid snake had gotten what she deserved, at least.

But as she took in the result of her new power, she felt something else stir inside her. Not hunger, but similar. An appeal to another base instinct.

Don’t you want to play with them? A voice seemed to whisper into her brain, injecting thoughts that couldn’t have been her own. Take them, pose them, dress them up in your greatest fashionable creations!

Grumbling, she shook her head, trying to throw those thoughts out of her mind. No, she wasn’t going to start turning people into dolls to show off her art. No matter how tempting that might- Ngh. No, bad thought. Baaaad thought.

This was going to be difficult.

Quickly, she snatched her blindfold back and wrapped it around her head. Sealing off her eyes once more calmed the dark instincts rolling around inside her, at least for the moment, but clearly she’d have to be very careful going forwards. Even a small slip on her part could mean her doom.

So, hurrying forwards, she very carefully picked her way around the former snakes. Contact with them might stir up all kinds of feelings she wanted to avoid right now.

When she finally managed to navigate to the other side of the chamber and leave, she was more than glad to do so. Not just because of the temptations, but because it was just such an off-putting place. Hell, if she listened carefully, she would have sworn she could still hear hissing…