24
As I walked back toward the building my suite of rooms was in I had the privilege of watching Phoebe giggle, and am now aware why 'giggle' and 'jiggle' sound so similar.
At a guess, she'd noticed me checking out her boobs, so when she followed the trainers and I down to the interviews she stayed short and left her chest huge. I'm not going to say it didn't work either, because I looked.
A lot.
Eight nipples? Hell, I'd suck 'em all, just not at once. There is something about a jiggly girl wearing a tight-ass top with a boob window that just does it for me.
My trainers were not laughing. Palashai was just shaking her head, but Yimshe looked like she wanted to blow up at me and the only thing stopping her was being out in public.
Then there was the new girl, following along like she didn't quite know what just happened.
She was my height, maybe an inch shorter, and had an athletic-looking upper body with no boob to speak of. She had wide hips, which led down to some extremely thick-looking thighs that gave out just below the knees to legs that could have come off a bird. It wasn't the only similarity either. Though I could see black skin at her throat which vanished into her red-and-gold one-piece, she didn't have arms or hands, just wings. Almost all her feathers were black, but here and there she had accent feathers that were bright red. Her eyes were red too, and set wide on a face that was mostly wickedly curved beak. Atop her head she had a crest like a cockatoo. The cap feather was black but the underlying feathers were red. That crest had gone all the way up when I picked her, but was down flat now.
She also had a walk like a roadrunner's. She'd take twenty steps or so and stop, wings set close to her body and vaguely reminiscent of a girl bent forward a bit with her hands behind her back, waiting for the rest of us to catch up and pass her, then she'd do it again, making no effort to actually keep pace.
She also hadn't said a word yet. I didn't even know her name, and didn't much care at the moment.
She was a flier, so any events that required flying were covered. Succubi also had wings, but this girl was obviously specialized to fly, and that'd been good enough for me.
I'd stressed about how to conduct the interviews while I ate the filling but thoroughly unsatisfying food bar that was all the suite had, and by the time I'd gotten to the room had decided that the only thing that couldn't lie to me was what these people actually looked like. My only other requirement was that whoever I picked clearly cover something I was missing in my group, and when I saw this chick ... girl, she was the obvious choice.
So I picked her, turned around, and left.
Phoebe'd been giggling almost nonstop ever since.
And though the giggling jiggler took up what I will admit was more of my bandwidth than she probably deserved, the rest of the 'campus' did grab my attention. It was ... idyllic, I suppose would be the word. There was a quad that seemed central to the rest that was all manicured lawns interspersed with white stone walkways and fountains. There were shade trees widely spaced, and the sky was blue and clear. The buildings themselves were also obvious works of art, though since I don't know anything about architecture I can't really describe them well other than to say it looked like they'd gotten the guy who did the Burj Al Arab to design the place.
There were a hundred-eighty-six competitors left in SDM, and all of them had suites similar to mine. That was in one building. The whole place was like some Saudi oil prince's wet dream of a future city. The only other thing I can say with certainty is that I was no longer in the arcology where Division Four and Liminal Science were headquartered. For all I knew I wasn't even on the same planet.
It was balmy, maybe high eighties low nineties and moderately humid. There was a steady breeze, though I couldn't have said from what direction because since I clearly wasn't on Earth anymore I had no idea what a compass would tell me.
Once across the quad, we passed through an automatic door into the cool of a lobby that was white-and-gold marble with blood-red furniture. The first thing I saw aside from the digs as I stepped in was a succubus aggressively sucking the dick of a duoden, one of those four-armed apemen, in one of the lounge areas. She was seated, he was standing, and they were into it. I blinked, but then reminded myself that privacy in this world was strictly an illusion, and walked on. I didn't need to see that noise; I'd had it from Mauren and I knew that dude was living his best life ... at least in the moment.
They were far from the only people in the area either, and several of them were obviously competitors lounging with their trainers and allies in various stages of interaction ranging from serious conversation to one woman with six tits in two vertical rows, blue skin and gold nipples bouncing aggressively on the lap of a male that looked to me like the Swamp Thing.
I got to the elevator, which was pretty much just a high-tech version of what I'd have seen back home, and waved my hand in front of the sensor. It ID'd me and opened the doors. I would only be allowed onto the floor that actually had my suite, probably to cut down on contestants murdering one another, though I didn't know if that was actually allowed.
Probably not, but I made a mental note to ask. I mean, I just spent four days slaughtering my way through a jungle, my allies could lie to me, and there didn't seem to be too many rules for anyone else, so why not? I could end the whole season over a weekend.
Which ... probably meant it wasn't worth asking about.
Even with my two packwren trainers, Phoebe, and the bird girl, there was still plenty of space in the elevator, and it was a quick ride with some pretty extreme acceleration at the start, something I made a note of. Violently efficient machinery can be an opportunity given the right conditions.
The hallway carpeting was red down the center with gold edging, and our room was the second to last door on the right. The entire left wall was windows, and looked down on the quad.
It wasn't until the door closed behind Yimshe that she opened fire.
She spun me around, grabbed me under my arms, and hoisted me up off my feet against the wall so that we were eye to eye as she growled, "You obviously still think this is a joke. My life, my mother's life, depend on you doing well. If we don't impress the hell out of everybody, my mother loses all her prestige, and with it all her value. Female livestock don't provide essence to succubi. What we're worth is tied up entirely in what we do and Director Chosen trusted us. If we let her down, we die. If you sabotage our lives, so help me I'll see you suffer for it before all is said and done."
I was impressed. Yimshe had me three feet off the ground and she hadn't worked hard to get me there either. Granted, I was against a wall, but still.
Meeting her eye, I asked, "Why isn't Pala the one putting it to me? I thought she was the dominant one of the two of you."
"She isn't in charge!" Yim snarled. "I am! I'm responsible! Me! And you're making us both look like fools!"
"What's so bad about her?" I asked, looking at the new girl.
Yim blinked, then scowled, showing impressive canines as she said, "We aren't talking about your choice, we're talking about how you made it."
"I can't fly. None of you can fly. She can. She looks like she's pretty good at it too so ... what's the problem?" I asked. "I don't need to interview people to know who can and can't fly ... unless."
I hesitated a moment, then leaned around to look at Phoebe and asked, "You can't puff up and go lighter than air, can you?"
Phoebe choked, then literally fell over, laughing her ass off. As she rolled from side to side her boobs slammed into the ground so hard they literally bounced her whole body the other way, which was ... really entertaining to watch.
I honestly do not know what that jumpsuit of hers was made of, but whoever came up with the material for it deserves a medal.
Still, I was being hung up on the wall and my trainer was really pissed, so I turned my attention back to her and said, "Look, you know me well enough by now. They could all have lied to me. I knew as soon as I saw wings that we needed a flier, so why should I subject myself to all that nonsense when I can go with a sure thing? She's not a succubus so she's not a vacay. That means why ever she's here, she's in it to win it. Right?"
I glanced around Yim again, this time searching for and finding the red-eyed avian woman, who blinked at me, her crest going up again before she bobbed her whole upper body rather than her head and said her first words.
"Yes yes. Um, thank you for choosing me? I'm ... happier now that I know why you picked me."
"It wasn't obvious from the start?" I asked.
"I ... I guess it was, but I was so startled I didn't think it through," she said.
Yim wasn't having it. She dropped me and turned to Pala, waving a hand at me as she practically whined, "I know this is supposed to be my ball but for fuck's sake, help me! Talk to him!"
"Yim, you can't crack under pressure like this," Palashai said as she stepped forward to stand in front of her daughter, looking down at her with what I read as a pensive expression on her canine face.
"But he's ruining everything, and he's doing it on purpose!"
"He is not. You and I both keep forgetting that Taz is ... special. He has thoughts most livestock don't have. That means, among other things, that some of his choices may be sound whether we see his reasoning in the moment or not."
I waited to see what would happen, more curious than angry or annoyed. Pala was referencing my past without giving away that I had one, and I was reminded again just how careful I'd have to be every minute of every day. I could never give away that I had a memory.
Yim's ears flattened, then perked again as she said, "So ... how do I get through to him?"
Pala licked her lips as she glanced down, then looked at me and said, "Sex, Death, and Money is entertainment. The means is the end. Does that make more sense?"
I thought about that, and saw what she was driving at. I was on a reality TV show. It wasn't just about correct tactical and strategic decision-making. People were watching literally everything, and they wanted drama. But if that was the case ...
"Okay, I get that, but didn't I just stir up some fun shit for the viewers at home?"
"That's precisely what you didn't do," Yim began, but Palashai set a hand on her daughter's shoulder, which made her pause and look up.
"He's right," Pala said. "Think about it. They'll put the allies that didn't get picked in confession rooms and interview them all, looking for juicy reaction shots. I wouldn't be surprised if they come here and want to interview ... I'm sorry, what was your name?"
"Astra," the avian promptly said. "Premier product of Division Six."
I blinked, then suspiciously asked, "You're supposed to say that whole thing every time you give your name, aren't you?"
Astra chirped, which was cute, then nodded, which was both a whole body movement and a source of great annoyance for me, because it meant I'd just bought myself a living, breathing commercial break.
Phoebe, who'd finally managed to stop laughing, started again as she sat on the couch, though she said between giggles, "Man, this is not your day!"
While I was annoyed, it wasn't Astra's fault, so I said, "Fine, whatever. Let's be clear: you can fly?"
"Of course!" she brightly exclaimed.
"And you're good at it?"
"I can fly rings around any other sentient."
"Great. Welcome to the team. We'll talk later. Phoebe?"
She blinked, then looked askance at me, waiting.
"You have, without question, the craziest physique I've ever seen, I haven't been laid in two weeks, and I want a closer look at your body plan. You game?"
Phoebe smirked and slipped off the couch, growing up to my size and attaining normal proportions as she did so. She sashayed toward me and then past, hooking a finger into my collar to pull me along as she said, "I'm so glad you didn't forget me. I'll be sure to show you everything."
I glanced over my shoulder to see Pala and Yim both looking at me with that curious dog head tilt, astonishment written all over them. Astra just looked vaguely lost, insofar as I could read her at all.
I said, "What? I'm supposed to fuck, right? Well?"
Yim just kept blinking while Pala glanced skyward and said, "Have fun, and be attentive. If she has kinks, try and accommodate her."
"If she's into me doesn't that already qualify as a kink?" I asked.
Shaking her head, Pala said, "Xenophilia isn't a kink, it's the norm. Dolls are usually ... well, you'll see."
"Yes he will!" Phoebe said, voice full of promise as she slid my door aside and pulled me through it.