The apartment complex pool

"Great idea," Mary murmurs as they peer through the glass door into the apartment building's small pool area. It's not an amenity Grant's ever used before, but now he's glad he has it. "A shame there aren't more people here."

"I'll take what I can get," Grant mutters back. There seems to be only one person in the pool complex: a woman relaxing on one of the deck chairs by the pool, soaking in the late-summer sun with her eyes closed. She might even be asleep...clearly, she missed the alarm that notified them (everyone? The whole world?) of the change in social reality. She's a tall, lightly tanned white woman with dirty blonde hair and a toned body currently clad in an American-flag bikini that shows off her ample curves. Her eyes, behind a pair of dark sunglasses, look to be closed.

"Do you know her?" Mary asks. Grant shakes his head.

"Think I've seen her around once or twice, but I don't actually know her, no."

"No idea what she does? Some women could be more useful than others..." When Grant shakes his head, Mary shrugs. "Ah, well. Might at least make a fun toy." When he gives her a horrified look, she tilts her head. "What? Look, it's gonna happen to some women. Probably already happening to some out there now...and she'll be happier for it, believe me. Nothing made me feel a sense of purpose like you claiming me did. So go on in there and grab her."

Grant sighs. "...All right. I mean, this is really...the only way, isn't it? This is the way the world works, now." He hesitates, hand on the door. "What if...what if it all goes away, eventually?"

"What do you mean?" Mary frowns.

"What if one day, you - and everyone else - wake up, or whatever? Won't I be a monster to you, then?"

"Hmmm." Mary frowns, thinking it over. "Honestly? That would depend on what you do in this time, I think. I...find it hard to imagine ever not caring about you, to the point where whatever you say - well, that's what I want to happen. But if I...try...I think I'd only judge you if you really did horrible things to the women in your care. Caused them harm, that sort of thing...the rest of it, well." She shrugs. "Look, if this really is happening everywhere...most women are going to be claimed. And it's better they're claimed by someone who'll actually take care of them than an asshole who won't. But for what it's worth, Grant..." She puts a hand on his bicep and squeezes reassuringly. "Don't forget that right now, I don't want to wake up. And neither will she."

"Right." Grant takes a deep breath, then pushes the door open and strides quickly, deliberately across the deck toward the pool area. The woman barely stirs as he approaches, until he's standing right over her. He takes a deep breath, looking down at her - and she is quite something to look at, tanned and lithe, her face with softly aquiline features. She stirs in her sleep, disturbed by Grant's shadow falling over her, and he realizes he has to act fast.

"Wha - " The woman is just frowning, blinking drowsily, as Grant squats down next to her. She starts to pull away from him, but he reaches out and puts his hand firmly on her arm.

"I...claim you," he says, clearing his throat uncertainly. His breath hitches as he waits to see whether this is all a strange, bad dream or if the world is truly different than it was just an hour ago.

The confirmation is instantaneous. The woman's body relaxes and she exhales a sharp sigh, almost of relief. "Oh! That...that feels..." She smiles at him uncertainly. "Of course I'm...yours? But what's...going on? Who are you?"

Grant swallows. "Check your phone."

The woman rolls over and fishes her cell phone out of her purse, swiping it open and reading with a look of puzzlement. "...Huh. That's hard to believe, but...I know it's true. I can feel it. Wow, that's quite something." She puts the phone down and sits up, smiling up at him. "Well then...I'm yours. Sir. Or what should I call you? Master?"

"Uh, just Grant," Grant says (trying to ignore a rush of blood out of his head at the word "master"). "I'm Grant. What's your name?"

"Olivia," she says simply. "Olivia Spellman...nice to meet you, Grant. I think I've seen you around the building. So is this...everyone is like this?"

"We think so. But come on, let's get out of here before someone spots us," Grant says, glancing nervously around at the windows and balconies of the complex that look down on the pool. Olivia, complacent and unbothered, nods and follows him as he hurries back toward the door, pausing only to scoop up her phone and towel.

"So, I take it it works," Mary says with a grin as Grant pushes his way through the door and back into the hallway of the building. "Hey there. I'm Mary. Grant's first woman." She sticks her hand out and Olivia, as though this is a completely normal way to be introduced to someone, smiles and shakes it.

"Olivia. I'm number two, huh? What are you doing, making a harem?"

"Gah!" Grant buries his hands in his face. "No! Or...I mean, maybe...I don't know!"

"Grant's a little overwhelmed by all of this. It hit us suddenly," Mary informs Olivia. She's shorter than the blonde, only coming up to Olivia's shoulder, but seems perfectly comfortable with taking the lead. "But as I told him, given how the world works now...things are probably going to get rough. And when they do, it's the men who control the most women who will be best positioned to succeed."

"You mean, like, in evolution terms?" Olivia glances at Grant, smiling slightly, and he feels himself blush. "That certainly makes sense..."

Mary laughs. "I mean, that too, I guess. But no, I was thinking more pragmatically. Women are a resource, now - which means that the men who have more have leverage over the others."

Olivia nods slowly. "Oooh, ok. I get it. Like a scarcity thing."

"Exactly!"

"I still can't believe this is actually happening," Grant mutters.

"Grant, you have to stay focused," Mary says firmly. She takes him by the shoulders, looking up into his face intently. "Ok, we know that it works now. You can claim any unclaimed woman you come across. But I give society writ large a few weeks, tops. What do we do next?"

Grant huffs out a breath. "Um. I guess..." He thinks. "We need...somewhere to stay. My apartment's not really big enough for three people, and it's not exactly super secure. Yours is all the way across town..." He glances at Olivia. "What about you?"

She shrugs. "It's a one-bedroom. Not huge."

"So," Mary prompts, "in this new world where you can make any woman devoted to you...how do you get a place to stay?"

Grant breathes out slowly. "...By claiming a woman who has one."

"What about the penthouses?" Olivia asks, looking thoughtful. "I know there's one with a mom and twin daughters...one of them's probably home, and they have tons of space. Probably pretty good security and stuff, too."

"That's a great idea," Mary says. "Lead the way."

"So what, I'm just going to claim another three women...?" Grant asks as they head toward the elevators.

"If you want to," Mary says firmly. "But you might not need to claim all three...after all, just having control over one of them could make the other two compliant."

"Like ****?!"

"More like a hostage situation," Mary clarifies with a shrug. Grant groans. "Grant, if you want to just relax and let the world around you fall apart, you can. I'm trying to do what will keep you safe and happy, but if it's causing you distress..."

"No. No." Grant sighs, steeling himself. "No, I want to...approach life differently. Now that everything's different." I can do this. I can make decisions fast and firmly. I'm going to be somebody worth knowing, dammit. Not just...another random guy. "Let's go!"

The threesome turn the corner, the elevators in sight at the end of the hall.