Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Archive Post

After the shock of Selene revealing that she was not her mother after all Delilah was already on edge. She could see her own features on the face of the woman standing by Danny's desk, detected a hint of the fire that Delilah knew burned in her own eyes. Subconsciously these facts registered but she refused to consciously acknowledge them. She was dimly aware of Mirabel trying to mentally soothe her from beneath the desk but heard nothing but a vague murmur.

"Wh... Who are you?" Was all she could say. She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, mind whirling with possibilities, trying to connect the dots of this new past that was unveiling itself to her so suddenly. The woman by the desk took her shock in stride. She could not know that Selene had just revealed some measure of the truth to Delilah just hours before.

"I am Tolcetta." She said simply, her voice lilted with a strange accent. Delilah could not place it- she had only ever spoken or heard American English. Delilah looked over at Danny, wondering why he wanted to introduce her to this stranger, what Tolcetta had meant by seeing you again. "This may come as a shock my dear, but I believe it is best to be honest and open about things... I am your mother. Your birth mother I mean." Delilah's jaw dropped, though she had known the truth the moment she saw Tolcetta and saw herself reflected in her face.

Mirabel?!? Delilah thought frantically.

Tread carefully, she smells more like you than Mother ever did- and you have her looks- but who knows what she wants! The cat warned from under the desk, and let out a little hiss for good measure.

"My Mother?! How can you be my Mother! I have just seen my Mother at home!" Delilah said indignantly, she decided to feign ignorance for a moment and see what Tolcetta wanted. Besides she had more important things to deal with. Who did this woman think whe was?! Even if she was really her Mother she had been out of Delilah's life for so long she was a stranger! She turned to Danny and was annoyed to see him smiling, looking at both her and Tolcetta! "Danny I have brought the evidence you asked for, I hope it will prove my father innocent in all of this. I would like to think that the Fruit Baron and the Pizza Baron can be allies once more!" She offered the leather folio to him and his smile became a frown. He walked over to his desk and took his seat with it in front of him but he did not open it. Tolcetta moved to stand next to him behind the desk. She placed her hand on his shoulder and Delilah saw her squeeze slightly.

"This can wait for another moment or two." He gestured at the folio. "I have something I must tell you as well. As Tolcetta says, it is best to be honest and open about things... Perhaps I have forgotten that myself for all these years... Delilah... Tolcetta really is your Mother... but more than that... I am your real father... Tolcetta and I... Well... Things were complicated back then and I was not yet a Baron. I could not stand up to Frederick the way I can now..." He was hesitant and seemed pained as he spoke. Delilah could not fathom what he was saying. Her bravado and bluster failed her. She had respected Danny's kindness to her, believed him better than the rumors that spoke of his wickedness. But she could never have predicted this. She gazed at the two of them with slowly blurring vision as tears welled unwanted into her eyes. She held her breath to stifle her shocked gasp and growing desire to sob. Her mind rang with their words I am your real father... your birth mother I mean... real father... birth mother... father... mother

...lilah... DELILAH A rough tongue was licking her cheek. She felt Mirabel's weight on her chest. Keep them closed Delilah. Remain calm, and listen! I am here She was comforted by Mirabel's purrs as she continued to lick her cheek. She kept her breathing steady and sent Mirabel a mental nod of assent. She listened intently...

500 Miles to the south, Cyril sped along the highways when the way was clear and wound between wrecked vehicles slowly when it was necessary. He had covered twice as much ground in the same amount of time on the return trip. He had successfully avoided coming into contact with anyone else on his journey.

He was filled with a profound sense of dread. Whatever it was that had emerged from that shimmering cleft in the air had terrified him. He had not really seen anything... He kept on telling himself that he must have left it far behind in the swamp... Yet a niggling doubt remained. He heard strange noises at night as he tried to sleep in the uncomfortable confines of the car. The first time he had stepped off the road briefly to investigate what might have made the harrowing noises in the night and the scene he had stumbled across 100 feet into the woods had turned his stomach. A whole clearing had been ruined, all the grass and bushes and young trees had been laid flat, pushed outward and bent back at the base by some incredible force. Everything within the clearing was coated in the dark sticky red of drying blood. He had been overwhelmed by the stench and unable to approach the coagulate mass he could see at the epicenter of whatever blast had levelled everything. He had emptied his stomach on the fringe of the destruction and returned to the car to flee as quickly as possible.

As he drove random thoughts and perceptions of that event flashed into his mind. It had been a perfectly circular clearing. All of the plant matter had been lain out... almost deliberately... in that perfect circle. And as much as he didn't want to think about it... as much as he strove not to remember... not a single drop of red had extended anywhere beyond its edge...

He had no choice but to drive on, to report what he had seen, to confirm that there were no olives to be found in that Louisiana swamp... He hoped that the Pizza Baron had the strength to defend him against what had found him there instead.

The rules for this week remain the same as previous weeks!

I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 5 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well.

Each week I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂

The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!

Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!

Rules:

Entries must be more than 200 words but less than.

Entries must use the hivepizza tag

Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry

Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous weeks contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)