#troll tf

   More concerning was that after she awoke, she had gone to look herself over and noticed her eyes were... a lot more yellow than they were before. More concerning- but certainly fascinating- was the fact that she was looking at herself without issue with the lights still completely off... and what she'd initially chalked up to the odd way she was seeing herself was made clear it wasn't when she turned on the lights and saw the grey pallor her face had taken- and disrobing her increasingly tight outfit revealed the change was slowly, but noticeably, progressing- right from the injection point. So it was clearly more than a decontamination procedure- it had noticed she was now the CEO and had done... something. She had a guess, but... turning her into a troll certainly wasn't what she expected.

   Her clothes were a fair bit on the tight side, her midriff poking out between the pajama bottoms and the button up shirt she'd left mostly unbuttoned before sleeping... except a few of the buttons she had done up had clearly snapped, and it clung to her body tightly when before they'd been loose, airy night clothes- now she looked like someone trying to fit into an old outfit they wore and just looking like they were using it to show off their curves... which wasn't too bad a thing, but could create some minor issues.

   She let Roxy know about it- she'd had her help getting all of this, after all, but reassured her she felt fine enough that if it was meant to do more than that, she'd probably be feeling it by now- something for the hacker to read when she woke up. The other thing was around that injection point, little... slits. Jane rubbed a fingertip over them, and let out a brief moan at their sensitivity- something that actually shocked her, though... biting back her lip, she couldn't help but rub them again. So, that was what gills felt like, which meant...

   Jane pulled her hair back to get a good look at her ears, and while they were certainly a bit pointier and longer, that wasn't quite as concerning. No, what was was the fact that they were starting to... split apart, and shift around a bit- a thin layer of skin where they were coming apart, similarly sensitive, but not nearly to the same degree. And the coloration was red, but there was a hint of brighter, lighter colors along with- like flecks, for now, but some of them looked like they were spreading out, like veins. The process was hardly complete, but... maybe testing was in order? Roxy wouldn't be awake for hours, after all, and if this did work... well, it could probably be reversed, too. And had... a lot of opportunities. If it worked on humans only, even that was good, but... well, she was sure Roxy's wife and girlfriend would be over the hill given the opportunity to actually look like a troll.

   The first thing was testing the gills, but trying to manually breathe through a new part of her body that'd just grown in wasn't exactly something she could figure out how to manually do- not in any way she might notice. So first thing was first- she closed her mouth, pinched her nose, and just... tried to inhale.

   That was a horrible mistake, it turned out, because whether they weren't designed for it or weren't complete, sucking in raw air through her fins was almost painful, and she immediately went into a coughing fit- like inhaling water but without the wet weight, and those finny-ears of hers trilling slightly at her discomfort. It had progressed a decent bit while she was sleeping, and the other part... well, she started this doing her morning routine, so a bath was the next logical step. Though as she disrobed, looking herself over- a bit of a mix of admiration and curiosity going through her system- she did have a thought that flitted over her mind.

   This was all the thing that The Condescension had wanted to do in the first place upon her official takeover- turn humans into trolls, and it was a single dose specifically administered to her and her alone. She had theories, but she would only be able to confirm them, one way or another, with Roxy's work examining the files and pulling out more private server records- the egotist had always loved the sound of her own voice, and wanted to make sure she knew what was going on at all times- of course she kept records, and Roxy was the one person smart enough to hack into those files that Jane knew well enough to trust with something like that. Sure, there was that troll with the twin horns, but- oh, right, horns.

   She ran fingers through her hair, and then had another sharp hiss as she sucked in breath, rubbing up against some sensitive nubs coming out from her hair. The tossed up mess she usually woke up with covered them, but with a bit of a part the tops poked out easily enough. She didn't have the splitting headache or pain she would have expected- though given how uneasily she slept, it was entirely possible that whatever growing they'd done that they were protruding, the skin slightly raised towards the base, had happened while she was sleeping.

   She drew a hot bath- she hadn't thought about temperature, her thoughts were all more on herself, on her changes- she put a hand in and pulled it away after a second. It was a hint uncomfortable, slightly warmer than expected... according to her greying fingers with the nails that were getting all opaque and orange-ish, anyway. The temperature on the bathtub said it was about 200 degree water, just short of boiling, and that she probably would have gotten scalded by it before... She shook her head, pushing that away and the brief thought of just how much better everything was about this body- it wasn't better, it was just... different! With some advantages!

   Stepping a foot into the water let it click just how much she'd been growing- that this place was built, for the most part, to scale with the Condescension and not humans- the parts that had been built for regular-sized people had mostly been her additions and having oversized bathrooms and doors and beds was something she didn't get rid of due to a certain... appreciation for the opulence of them. Normally, she could jump into the middle of the tub and treat it like a swimming pool, but she was a number of steps down into it before it reached her chest... She could just fit herself underneath the surface of the water without having to bend over or lay down, though the rate at which her body was shifting it was entirely possible that wouldn't be the case in a while. For now, though, the only thing to be done was relax, try to put some of the stress off her mind while she considered things.

   For one, acclimating to the temperature was easy, easier than it'd ever been before. It was like she'd been on her feet all day and she was slipping back into a warm bed, once the initial discomfort passed. Jane closed her eyes, laying back and just breathing, for now, trying to let the jumble of thoughts and analysis go for the moment, finny ears flickering as she let out a deep breath, then took another one in, and let it out, sliding down a bit as she took in another breath- suddenly feeling like it was really helping her already on the third breath- but the sound of bubbles coming out from it and the odd pressure from that breath made it click in her head and she bolted upright on reflex, gasping for air... only to realize she'd just been breathing water. So they WERE complete in that regard! And just... laying back down, relaxing, indulging in it didn't hurt, right?

   It was a bathtub bigger than some swimming pools, so she had more than enough space to just lay back and relax- really, it was clearly designed for someone of that kind of Royalblood scale... Royalblood? Her chats with the trolls must be letting some of their lexicon sink in. Still, it was surely just... well, they DID rule the planet, that caste, and they WERE the longest lived... mmm. As Jane's thoughts drifted to that sort of internal debate over the appropriateness of the term, her hands drifted over her increasingly troll-ish body. Something about the heat and the water just felt nice and right, and was also helping whatever the process was progress- her hands caressing her body felt... nice, but her figure was almost unfamiliar. Not unpleasantly so, but she was... clearly getting taller. Still with that pleasant plumpness there, but it felt... different, like the underneath was changing to match the surface ones.

   And of course, whatever the process was, it was making her sensitive, making it feel nice, and given she was in private... it was only natural that she had a lewd thought (or twelve), and had a desire to explore her new body in... other ways. Her fingers wrapped around one of her breasts, gently squeezing, and letting out a moan- so whatever troll 'rumble-spheres' did, they certainly were nice and sensitive... and reaching up and giving her nipple a little pinch and twist just made her squirm under the water in pleasure, a bubbly moan spilling from her full lips, fins fluttering. She hadn't really had it click what the fins were for, hadn't connected it to the fact that she could make out that sound with her head underwater, hear the dripping of a sink across the room with her head under the steaming bathwater... or the trilling moan spilling from her lips as she gave the other breast the same treatment down to every last, beautiful detail.

   Moving south, however, was the really interesting part of it all. Sliding her hand down brought something else up. It was like a tendril, and for a moment Jane had to look down and make sure there wasn't secretly a squid or something in the bathtub with her, like someone had thought to prank her by treating her like she was in one of those cheap pornographic stories she re- saw- had heard someone tell her existed online. But no, something that was pinkish and tendril-like was poking up out from between her legs, just above her usual front entrance- and when she brought her hand down, it curled around it, bringing a shudder from Jane- it wasn't so much that she couldn't control it, but trying to control something you've never had before is a difficult thing, and it was like... instinctual reflex, wrapping around something that came nearby, that it could feel the pressure in the water... and while her other hand went down to tease at the folds underneath it, slipping one in gently, teasing herself... and those luminescent yellow eyes shot open with a moan, the feeling going right up her entire body- and not helped by her movements making her (now almost hand length!) horns bump against the back of the bath, sending that shudder of sensation right back down like a faint echo, and sending a bit of water splashing out of the tub- the tub that had a decent bit to go before it was full, when she'd stepped into it.

   Her carefully considered thoughts were all a jumble- a mix of just simple enjoyment and the occasional fleeting fantasy of what she could do- she was probably big enough that Roxy's head would be at crotch level for her, could practically feel the sensation of her tongue lashing against her folds as she thought about it, while her fingers- the nails longer, a hint sharper, but the durability of her body meant the scraping just felt like a deep pressure on a sensitive body part, no pain involved, and it was completely perfect, and her hands were groping her breasts, squeezing them and adding to those utterly pleasant sensations... her toes were curling against the end of the tub, a bit more water splashing out of it with her movements, with the changing size of her body... The more she played with it, the more those hands groped her own chest and played with her bulge and pressed into her folds, the more it felt like everything pushed forward and shifted, and as she dug her fingers into the bathtub steps underneath her, she came with a moan that approached a scream, echoing through the empty bathroom, and causing a gush of pinkish-white fluid to shoot out, spraying from that tendril like a hose- the thing big enough to wrap around her entire arm, having just pushed out inch by inch until she could probably put the thing in her mouth...

   Jane panted, hands underneath her, gripping tight, and realizing a very important fact- she was feeling her hands move around and pleasure her even when they were clearly underneath her. It wasn't... something that had clicked, something that had even seemed unusual in the heat of the moment... but now that she was thinking of it, it stuck out- she wasn't feeling out of it beyond how she was dealing with this delightful cavalcade of personal improvements- no use calling them by something other than what they were, right?- but not enough to lose track of anything happening. Which left one possibility- this wasn't just her turning into some average royalblood.

   It took a bit of doing, a bit of focus, but... when she stopped, thought about picking up the water out of the tub and dumping it, she felt it lift up- with her still inside of it, until she just... pushed out of it. Given it only just covered her now if she stretched her arms, it wasn't hard to do- and she just narrowly avoided hitting her arm-length horns against the floor when she did it, flipping herself back around and delicately touching down upon the floor with a faint tap on wet tile.

   She could see herself in the reflection of the water, even with the lights off- something she hadn't bothered to fix on entering the bathroom. She looked like... well, she looked like the previous ruler, the CEO, the Condescension- but... it wasn't some perfect conversion. She could still see herself- a bit more chub to her form than the obvious corded muscle from ages of keeping herself in shape that the Condesce had. A faint fleck of blue here and there in her eyes... sharp teeth she hadn't noticed grow in now painfully obvious, but there was that bit of toothy overbite that was DEFINITELY Jane there. And while her hair was a bit of a mess, still, it... hadn't grown out yet. Was that not as much of a concern, perhaps? Was it leaving her something? She couldn't tell for sure, frankly. But one thing was very clear.

   She loved this. She felt powerful, confident, self-assured... and felt like she could actually fix some of the mistakes that had been made. She had the strength, mental, moral, and physical- that part she was testing out and had accidentally broken her own bathtub with, gripping it and trying to lift it up only to flood the room with a broken pipe, but right now that was... well, her toes wriggling around under the water that was slowly reaching up the sealed room felt good, and helped her get those thoughts out. Probably a seadweller thing.

There was one nagging thing at the back of her mind, though. And her request on audio only of having “My old Tiaratop sent up from research, please” did get someone questioning how she was, because she sounded a bit more... deep voiced. She gave a simple, truthful response. “Never better!” She hadn't ever felt better. She was always confident in her own body, but having confidence in it doesn't mean not seeing room for obvious improvement- and being able to just... float the tiara over to her when it appeared in the delivery chute, taking the tube apart and pulling it out before putting the pieces back together and placing it back? That kind of power was intoxicating.

   She wasn't completely sure what she was looking for, but... she had a remote holographic interface for it now- Roxy said it was dangerous to use the old mental one, didn't know what was on there, and yet... Jane simply wanted to put it on. It was a comfort thing- and an odd desire for a crown, which was probably just some kind of troll instinct, she figured. When she activated it and got the confirmation screen for her log-in thought- or rather, where it should have been- there was instead a red flash of “CONFIRMING IDENTITY”- and a slight sting from it, like a needle pricking her skin. It was something that got her to panic, expecting another takeover, feeling like she must have just played into the Empress's plans, expecting to feel the familiar numbing sensation of everything going away, or more thoughts in her mind about how her now beautiful, curvy body was perfect for the empress to take over and get somefin done...

   But instead she just watched the Tiara hit the wall, clatter across the floor, and the colors change from red and white to gold and fuchsia- and felt nothing happening to her. Well... okay, nothing that didn't already track, at least. After a few minutes of staring at it, she picked it up mentally, floating it back over... debating internally for another minute before deciding to simply put it on, since she'd already come this far.

   The moment she did, it confirmed “EMPRESS LEVEL ACCESS”- which was new to her. Normally when she'd gotten installed as the CEO and started having Roxy hack the systems, it said CEO level, but the choice of words here felt deliberate. And then she saw a video screen- the Condesce on a throne, in the very apartment she was in- a throne she'd had tossed out before. She was holding a vial between two fingers- and Jane quickly recognized the thing she'd been injected with, along with the picture of her earlier self that was on Condy's armrest... and a picture of Sassacre. Odd that she never saw those- maybe she tossed them before they fought? Whatever the case, she was drawn from her observations by the former Empress talking.

   “So... if you seein this ship, then obviously I'm dead. Prolly you krilled me, prolly not alone, but whateva, that ship happens.” Jane hadn't seen her talking like this before- usually it was her being at least presentable and trying to show superiority, but the tone here was almost... casually conversational. It was like it was a side of her Jane had never seen. “I wanted ta restore the Troll race, and krill that skull-faced slug myshellf, but I ain't stupid. I know I prolly gonna die like the last beach at this point. I already krilled most of humanity tryin' to improve em, make em more like us...” Jane frowned at that, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the reminder. “But, whateva. It'll work out, and that stupid game that always pops up woulda krilled em just as dead anywaves. But I managed to do it. I used my own genetics- souped up with all my best bits I added- and figured out a way that should prolly fix you up good to be a replacement. Or it'll make you die in horrible agony, but I ain't gonna be around for you to be mad at. Oh, yeah, you prolly won't see this if you dead, huh?” The Condescension's shrill laugh sent a shiver up Jane's spine, the way she just... casually dismissed all that death.

   “So. I was originally gonna try an figure out how to make you my lil secretary girl doin' my dirty work if I lived, but I didn't make you the heiress for nofin, girl. You know betta than most that whatever I do, it's for a good purpose, right? An I wanna improve yo lot, make you more like us, without the dumb cueball to ruin our ship before it gets a chance to get goin good. So you get the one dose of this I was able to make- it'll make you a lot more like me, an then we'll see if yo still the soft lil puffball of a gurl I thought you was, given the opportunity.” Jane grumbled at that, but... she had to admit she had a point. She felt better than ever, and... it would be pretty selfish of her to have something that could make humans stronger, more powerful, could make them better- and... she didn't like the implication that she was somehow not gonna be worthy of handling it, either. Of course she could! She was smart, she had friends that were even smarter, and she was one of the nicest people out there! She could be a better Empress than Condy ever was, and-

   Her thought was cut off by the other bit there. It was a file that had just been downloaded from a private server, and Condy talking again. “Oh, and if yo wonderin- no, I ain't goin to replace your mind or nothin.” Jane let out a sigh of relief, though wasn't sure to trust this recording about that. “I ain't figured out the tech for that, and don't have time before I gotta set ship up.” Another frown. That certainly sounded like her- self-assured and arrogant and the only reason she wasn't doing this herself or taking over was because she wasn't able to. “But I ain't gonna let my race die wit me, or let just anybody step in an think they can run that ship. So, congrats, Heiress. You ain't the Heiress anymore. You're the Empress now. A good old Croker Empress. Dunno why I suggested that name and the guy wanted to add an extra C, but whateva. Happy new birthday. Good luck wit tha rule- an the people tryin ta knock you off the throne, guppy.”

   The recording shut down, though it didn't delete itself or anything. It was there, she could show it, she could give the others an understanding of the kind of job and responsibility she now had with this power! It was like that dumb comic that Jake was talking about from time to time. Responsibility came with power and all that, right? So it'd be irresponsible for her to just waste it, to not put some things into place... and she needed someone she could trust as her own Heiress now- after all, that comment about the throne worried her... and hey, she knew the perfect candidate. The other file was the drug Condy used- and other variants of it. It was designed to create a fuchsia-blooded troll, using human DNA as a reference to rebuild a body along those lines... though it also had a variant of it WITHOUT the massive psionic/psychic abilities. She'd... try to hold those back a bit. Reaching into people's minds was probably only something to do if they were going to do bad things, right? And there were variations. Specific, specialized abilities, all coded to different tiers of blood... she could do this. She could do what Condy couldn't! And more than that, she could do it in a way that didn't result in a whole lot of inhumane death- she could make everyone better and be able to keep them in check to make sure it didn't turn into some toxic mess- steering the bus towards something sensible! But first... she had to go convince someone, and she knew just how to do it...

   Roxy woke up the next morning feeling off. She had one new message on her backlog, and looking up, she saw the computer flashing with “WARNING: UNIDENTIFIED SERVER ACCESS”... and a giant, fuchsia troll that she thought was the Condesce until she heard that voice. And then felt a faint sting on her neck. “Hey, Roxy! Let's get you ready to run this new Empire! We've got a lot of work ahead of us!”

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