R, P and G Part 1

Jake looked over his choice of doors, then turned to the girls who’d given them to him; the two behind the bar and the one dangling from his neck.

“So, what are the games?” He asked.

“Where’s the fun in us telling you that?” Lindsey protested. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“Yeah, and I get that,” Jake said. “And don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate it. But…Well, all three seem like they’re pretty well thought out. I don’t wanna short any one of them because I’m enjoying the others. Whatcha got for me?”

Rachel exchanged a look with Sabrina, then shrugged.

“There’s only one video game I know shit about, and it’s the Sims,” Rachel admitted.

Jake must have made some kind of face at that, because she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Yeah yeah. I’m a girl. Fuck you, Cooper.” She said, extending a playful middle finger.

“Hey, no hating,” Jake said, raising his hands. “Seriously, I didn’t expect you to be as into this stuff as these two.”

“Actually,” Lindsey interjected, “I don’t do much for gaming myself. Not because I don’t like it. But I’m, like…kind of a poor college student and I just don’t have the money or time.”

Something about that didn’t jive, though Jake couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“I had time when I was in school,” Jake quipped.

“Yeah, well, I have friends,” Lindsey teased. “At any rate, I do share one passion with you. Tabletop gaming.”

“Really?” Jake asked. “That’s cool. I kinda wish I had more time for that, but Ry-...Lacy and I used to do that shit all the time.”

Jake found himself suddenly torn by twin, disparate memories. Ryan playing beside him as a loudmouth Swashbuckler, and Lacy taking on the role of a druid as she stole furtive glances at him across the table. They both felt perfectly real even though he knew full well that one of them wasn’t.

He shook it off.

“I had no idea you were into that,” He said.

He felt her giggle in his mind.

“There’s a lot you probably don’t know about me, seeing as we haven’t really had a chance to spend any time together,” Lindsey said. “But anyway….yeah. I was gonna give you a DnD session. It was gonna be kind of Baldur’s Gate adjacent even though I’ve never played it. We even picked alternative races and stuff.”

“That sounds pretty fucking cool.” Jake nodded.

“And you, Sabrina? What were you thinking?”

She sighed and shook her head.

“Your sister told me you got really into Persona 5. So I was gonna do that. Let you date each of us, then invade a palace together.”

Jake thought over the options, and the voices began to speak to him again.

Shivers: They did such a good job with just this set piece. Imagining yourself in either your old fantasy stomping grounds, or the most stylish game you’ve ever played is awesome, at least if they put anywhere near as much care into either.

Logic: Don’t write off Rachel’s vision, either. If she was going to put you in something as mundane as the Sims, it could only be to play god over herself and the other contestants.

Empathy: A disquieting thought…

Authority: Disquieting shit. Are you a master, or a simp?

Jake tuned them all out. They were right that this was all cool as all hell. Only Farrah had made anywhere near as creative a use of the machines. But something niggled at him. He wanted to experience all three, but felt that picking any one would mean rushing the others.

“Can we combine them?” He asked. “Bring all the ideas into one single experience.”

“Yeah, no way,” Sabrina said. “We put way too much work into it to throw the whole script away and wing it.”

“Well, maybe not,” Rachel said, raising a hand. “These machines are pretty adaptive when you tell them what you want. We might be able to wing it.”

Sabrina thought it over, then gave Jake a shrug.

“Okay…Fuck it. It’s your dream, right? Take it over.”

“Hell yeah! Now even I don’t know what’s coming,” Lindsey said. “Let’s go!”

Jake breathed, imagining himself taking over the simulation; one where their visions had all combined somehow. Fantasy classes and races, a palace to raid, godlike control over anyone he defeated in combat, all with the social simulation and combat of both roleplaying games he liked so well. And, just for fun, enough music and borrowed elements from some of his other all time favorites to tie it all together.

The world began to fade around him into pixels as the machine realized his vision, and chippy, 8 bit music began to play.

*****

[Totoro]

He could see nothing and feel nothing. Only a screen showing a pixelated rendering of a tropical location, complete with a blue sea, sandy beach and a scenic waterfall. It was the intro screen to some game he recognized, only with a school dropped into the middle of it.

The words PRESS START appeared, and he mentally did so.

The screen faded to black, and the music began to change.

*****

[Teenagers]

Jake looked down at himself. He hadn’t changed much. He was still human, and dressed in a largely familiar style; a black band shirt, a pair of jeans, some wristbands.

Sort of.

There was armor over all of it. A black breastplate, grieves over his jeans, and the wristbands were actually bracers. He realized he had a very large sword on his back; an impractically large one in truth, though he suspected he could wield it effortlessly if he tried.

He turned to look at the world around him. For the second time in this round of challenges, Jake found himself in a high school, this time staring at a locker in a bustling crowd of students. But the students around him weren’t normal. They were dressed like students, but they were a collection of dwarves, elves, elemental people, lizardfolk and goblins mixed in with the humans he might have expected. Several of them were carrying weapons, or like him, had armor on over their trendy clothes.

He supposed the setting made sense. P5’s high school married with DnD’s high fantasy. They students were young, but in a more Dawson’s Creek sense; obvious twenty somethings, but representative of teenagers.

And then, a girl was fluttering up to him. She couldn’t have been more than a foot and a half tall, but this close to his face, that hardly mattered. She had a shapely, if not small, body, and long, bare legs that dangle from a tartan miniskirt. Her hair was a wavy bob colored blue and green.

(Perception: Nat 20. Critical Success)

“A pixie, Lindsey?” He asked. “Little on the nose, don’t you think?”

She shrugged a pale shoulder, an act which pulled her rock and roll tank top tight across her breasts. This close to his face, it was hard not to gawk at them.

“It’s not a manic pixie thing,” She said. “I’m more of a Pathfinder girl, and they’re sprites there. This is one of my favorite characters.”

She struck a pose, still while fluttering about.

“You’re looking at Queen Hope Flitbright, sprite sorceress,” She said, then added.

Jake raised an eyebrow, leaning on the neighboring locker.

“What are you queen of?”

“The world of the largefolk,” She said, making a big, expansive wave to everything and everyone around them. It spun her in a glowing semi-circle. “Since most sprites don’t venture into it, she saw her role as a conquering explorer building her own kingdom.”

“Uh huh,” Jake said with a mocking bow. “And how would her majesty prefer I pay her homage?”

“I would start with a ride,” She said, “Would you submit to being my palanquin?”

Jake shuffled his backpack, freeing up a shoulder. He patted it for her with a smile.

“Hop aboard. Where are we going, anyway?”

“Nowhere,” She said, slowly drifting down to rest on his shoulder. “The others should be with us shortly.”

“Pathfinder, huh?” Jake mused. “I’d have thought that was a bit rules intensive for you.”

He turned to find her beaming at him. Whatever else could be said of Lindsey, her smile was downright infectious.

“Something’s gotta keep me grounded,” She said. “Ohmygod, you have no idea how much 5e DMs hate me.”

“I can hazard a guess,” Jake said with a chuckle. “So you’re a sorcerer. What about me?”

“You, I made a Paladin,” She said. “With a few levels in Cleric.”

“Interesting,” He mused. “The tank and the healer, all in one.”

“Well, you know what they say. If the tank dies…”

“It’s the healer’s fault,” Jake finished. “Guess I’ll know who to blame if I drop.”

Jake leaned back against his locker and took in the scene around him. In addition to the fantastical races, the hall was filled with fantastical things. Teenagers wore swordbelts and axes strapped to their back. A girl flew overhead on a broom with her owl familiar in hot pursuit, and two rowdy, laughing boys dueled in the hall, shooting harmless balls of light back and forth at one another.

It was an amazing vision. Unexpectedly, he found himself choked up.

“Lindsey…this is very fucking cool,” He admitted. “You have no idea.”

“Hey, it’s at least half you,” She said. “I’d have never thought about putting them all together. This is gonna look fucking nuts, but I am SO here for it.”

Two figures emerged from the crowd of students, both girls he recognized.

Sabrina kept her face, and her exquisite figure. But her hair had darkened from chestnut brown to a deep black that matched her pointy fingernails, her swishing, chordlike tail, and the two horns arcing up from her forehead. Her hazel eyes had turned to burning red orange ones that stood out like embers against the darkness that had replaced her whites.

But her most notable feature was her new, vibrant red skin. Dressed in a pleated skirt, with a white spaghetti strap top, she was showing plenty of it off.

“Uhm, hey Sabrina,” Jake said, hoping he didn’t sound as breathless as he felt. “A tiefling, huh? Any uh…symbolism to that choice?”

She grinned.

“Nope. I just heard you thought Tieflings were hot,” She said. “Well, I guess I did pick warlock to fit my whole deal with the devil thing.”

“What subclass?” He asked, ignoring the callout.

“Genie. I’ll make your dreams come true,” She said with a wink.

Jake blushed, groped for something clever to say, and then just nodded.

The other was Rachel. She’d gained roughly a foot in height, her features sharpening. He had a tight, toned muscle core, had maintained, as had some of her heritage. But her cheekbones were higher, her face more ethereally beautiful, and her skin tone had darkened to a copper hue. Her hair still fell all the way to her upper thigh, even with her new height, wound into a tight braid, and two long, pointed ears stuck out of it. Her outfit consisted of a magical track jacket, open to reveal a sports bra, a pair of blue and gold shorts that were the school colors.

[Nature, 4+0. Failure]

Jake knew he should know what she was. But his mind seemed to blank on it at that roll.

“You’re…a fae or something?”

Rachel theatrically rolled her eyes.

“I thought you were supposed to be a true nerd, Cooper,” She teased. “I am an Elf. A wood elf, specifically.”

“Well, you look great,” Jake said, cursing the shitty roll. “What’s the class? Monk?”

“Seemed like it fit,” Rachel confirmed.

He couldn’t argue with that, though for Jake’s part, he’d always viewed the quintessential TTRP experience as trying out something you weren’t.

“How about you?” He asked, turning to Sabrina.

Jake cocked his head at her.

“You ever done anything like this before?” He asked. “DnD, I mean. Not…y’know, being fantasy creatures.”

Both women shook their heads. The thought crossed Jake’s mind that this might be a fun activity to break some of the girls in on when they were all safely back at the hotel.

“Well,” Lindsey said, “There’s always a quest. A reason you’re doing what you’re doing. So, Rach, if you wouldn’t mind…”

“A bunch of students are either going missing or coming under some sort of trance,” Rachel explained. “The girls are fawning over the boys in groups, the boys swapping genders or taking a sort of…”

[Perception, 14+2. Success.]

“Masterly command of them?” Jake guessed.

“You got it,” Sabrina said. “We suspect a powerful spellcaster.”

“Leah, in other words.” Jake said.

No check, this time. All he had to do was remember his own dream with her.

“One thousand percent,” Lindsey agreed. “But she’s not out in the open, so we have to track her down.”

“Any leads?” Jake asked.

“A few. The cheerleaders have been deeply affected. We think it’s possible she’s hiding out with them,” Sabrina said. “We also think she’s kidnapped one of the teachers. We got a tip from her daughter that she’s been acting strange.”

Jake was grinning.

“Mrs. Jones-Ali?” He guessed. “Damn, you guys pulled out the stops.”

“Well, she was the one I designed a palace for,” Sabrina said. “We’ll uh…get to why once we’re in her head. Which is obviously the only way to test whether she’s actually herself or not.”

“Uh huh,” Jake said skeptically. “I could think of about a dozen DnD spells that say otherwise, but it seems like a pretty fun way to merge everything today.”

“So, Master,” Lindsey said a teasing lilt, “What comes first?”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that,” He grumbled, then thought it over. “Let’s go with…Farrah. I wanna give this palace business a shot.”

Sabrina smiled.

“I was sort of hoping you’d say that,” She said. “Seeing as I designed that part myself.”

“I like this plan!” Sabrina said, slapping his shoulder. “Pitter patter, let’s get at’er.”

*****

“You go in and distract her,” Lindsey had said. “The three of us will hide outside, and I’ll cast the spell to get us in her head.”

Jake had no idea what spell that could possibly be, or how to distract her. But he went to her classroom all the same.

He was unsurprised to find Farrah as her normal self. Or at least normal apart from her changes from the game. There had to be some humans around, other than himself.

She was split between two classrooms, one anthropology, one sociology, though at the moment, neither appeared to be in session. Jake stood outside, unsure of which to enter. Finally, Farrah’s anthro body looked up from a book and smiled at him.

“You going to stand there with the door open, or head on in?” She asked.

Jake knew that this wasn’t the same version of Farrah he’d fucked against a glass window for the whole world to see, but having done it with another one, she wasn’t half so intimidating as she’d been throughout most of his life.

“Hey, Farrah,” He said, not bothering with the formalities.

“Jake! Always a pleasure,” She said. “What can I do for you?”

Suddenly, a message played out in his head. It was obviously coming from Lindsey.

Distract her.

Jake groped for something that might do that.

[Deception, 18+4. Success.]

He stood, straight and confident.

“I wanted to come talk to you about something,” He said. “Specifically, I wanted to ask permission to date your daughter.”

Farrah’s smile was warm, and huge.

“I’m not the one whose permission you need to ask,” She said. “Although for what it’s worth, I’d be delighted. And I’m flattered you…you…”

She blinked, looking momentarily dizzy.

“What’s..happening…”

Not good enough, Lindsey said. More drastic.

Jake walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, then leaned in for a kiss.

“I don’t get tired of that,” He said, ignoring her shocked expression.

Then her pupils dilated, her body slackening, and Jake felt himself getting drawn into her mind.

*****

[Blue Monday]

Jake was somewhere else now. The high school was gone, and he stood in a vast parking lot with a glowing red sky above him.

He looked down at himself to find a white suit shirt with rolled up sleeves, a red tie beneath a black vest, red gloves and pinstriped suit pants that ended in combat boots and a red half cape. He viewed his new self out the side of a masquerade mask that somehow did nothing to obscure his vision. There was an exceptionally long rapier on one side of his hip, and a sleek, silenced pistol on the other.

He looked around for his comrades, but only found one. Sabrina was human again, and typically stunning. She wore a black leather one piece, tall heeled boots, and elaborately patterned lace stockings running up her legs. Her mask was fashioned into devil horns. A long, weighted chain was clasped in her elbow length gloves, a sniper rifle slung on her back.

She struck a pose, and a title card with her callsign “Mistress” framed her momentarily.

Jake let out a low whistle as it disappeared.

“You went all out on the dom look, huh?”

She flashed him a wink.

“You like it?”

The way he shifted must have been answer enough. She stepped up to him and gave him a kiss, and Jake slid a hand over her ass.

“Maybe I’ll order the outfit,” She teased. “Me and you can enjoy it later.”

She pulled back.

“For now, our comrades are in there. We should go fetch them.”

Jake turned to the building she’d indicated.

He’d had some ideas on what Farrah’s palace (in Persona, a physical manifestation of a corrupted person’s psychological issues) might be. A school and museum that reflected her profession. A fortress for her occasionally guarded nature. Maybe a casino, just because it was the coolest level from the original game.

What he found instead was a towering arena, shaped into the form of a modernized colosseum with slick onyx walls and mirrored glass and chrome fixtures. On the wind coming from the palace, he could hear cheering crowds and pounding drums, and spotlights streaming into the sky.

“Not what I’d have guessed for her,” He admitted to Sabrina.

“Do you trust me?” She asked, cocking her head.

“I watched you play the entire game. Even though I’d dumped about a hundred hours into it myself,” He said, “Of course I do.”

She cocked her head, hands on hips.

“You watched me play P5? Even though you’d already played it?”

Jake ran a hand through his hair.

“I…uh…I mean, yes? You had so much fun with it. It was…well, it was cool watching someone enjoy it as much as I did.”

“Someone hot?” She asked with a teasing smile.

“Yeah. Someone hot,” He agreed. “But back then you were clearly still in love with doing it, and that really was infectious.”

This time her smile was a little more genuine.

“Then it sounds like I won’t have to teach you what to do,” She said, running off with a speed and grace that shouldn’t have been possible in the heels she wore. “Try to keep up!”

A pair of beefy looking guards stood at the front turnstiles, but Sabrina motioned him past them.

“There’s our ticket,” She said, whipping out a slender looking gun.

She turned and fired it at one of the parking lot headlamps, and a grappling hook whipped out and wrapped around it. She sped up into the air, disappearing above the canopy of lights bearing down on them.

Jake, who was at once afraid of heights but loved feeling like he was in danger, took a deep breath. He whipped out his wrist, sending a grappling spike of his own shooting up and around a lantern. There was a quick, brilliant flying sensation as he was pulled into the air to balance precariously on a lantern beam.

From up here, he could see the brightly lit parking lot below. He turned to find Sabrina perched on another, and she waved..

“Come on,” She said, nimbly hopping from her lamp to another. “This way!”

They shouldn’t have supported his weight, nor should he have been able to effortlessly hop between them. But that’s exactly what they did, at breathtaking speed, the world laid out beneath them. Soon, the parking lot gave way to the stadium’s outer wall, and they easily vaulted to the top.

“Give a girl a lift?” She asked, pointing to a tall broadcast tower.

Jake smiled and pulled her close, feeling her leather clad curves press against him as he wrapped an arm around her waist, she put hers around his neck. He flicked out his wrist, firing out the grappling hook to catch a spoke of the tower. The grappling hook swung them high in the air, in an arc that overlooked the entire arena. Jake hooted into the night, and Sabrina laughed as she clung to him. It was better than a roller coaster.

They landed within the complex, on a high row of seats that ringed one of the smaller, side arenas. A two on one fight was taking place below, and Jake immediately recognized all three of the combatants.

Lindsey stood on one side of the arena, fighting off her nearest attacker with a shield in one hand and an Uzi in the other. Her short teal hair hung loose around a pair of large, mirror shade aviators that acted as her mask, and she wore a showy, cleavage and midriff-baring bustier beneath a black, fur lined bomber jacket. Her curvy ass and legs were clad in form-fitting leather pants that ended in combat boots.

She dodged some attacks, skidding across the dirt floor, and Jake’s vision shifted to a new title card proclaiming her “Scout”

Facing off against her were two women, one hiding behind the other. The puppet was naked, her beautiful body and doll-like joints exposed for all to see. She moved around and attacked with her hair, fashioned into long tendrils of pink and gold. One of gold strands formed a fist that smashed into Lindsey’s shield, and she barely had time to avoid tripping from a pink tendril that lashed at her ankles.

Controlling this puppet Emily from behind was a curvy brunette dressed like a stage magician, with a teddy styled as a dress shirt, a red bowtie, long stockinged legs, and a showy top hat and suit jacket. She had a wand in one hand that she used to shoot spells off at Lindsey, and a marionette in the other whose strings of golden light attached to Emily’s various appendages.

“Subtle,” Jake said to Sabrina, who only shrugged.

She readied her rifle, sliding the bolt into place.

“If you head down there, I’ll cover you.”

Jake nodded, leaping across the backs of the seats before launching into the pit. He did so with a flourish, scissoring his rapier from side to side at the golden strings as he landed. Bullets whizzed by him as Sabrina took shots at Hannah, who dodged nimbly, but was fast losing control of the situation.

With the threads cut, the puppet Emily fell lifeless to the ground.

“Em, no!” Hannah cried out, baring her teeth as she turned on Jake and Lindsey.

“Master?” Lindsey said with a grin.

Jake rolled his eyes, but answered.

“Scout.”

They posed together, then began a combo attack. Lindsey dropped to her knees, unloading her uzi into the Hannah magician as Jake ran toward her. She dropped the gun and lifted her shield, which Jake pounced on. Lindsey then flung him forward in a whirling flurry of blade strokes that sliced right through their enemy. The two struck poses on opposite sides of Hannah, Lindsey rolling her shield across her shoulders and bowing with it, as Jake struck a fencer’s pose. Hannah dissolved into shadows between them.

“This is so goddamn stupid,” Jake laughed as the battle ended. “It’s extremely cool, but completely ridiculous.”

“We’re in a game within a game,” Lindsey agreed. “But hey, being some kind of badass biker Captain America bruiser is pretty rad.”

There was a swish of air as Sabrina landed beside them.

“Hate to break up the party,” She said. “But we still need to rescue Rachel, and **** a confession out of Farrah before we can move on here.”

Outside the arena, where the tunnels of concession stands and exits were located, they heard the sounds of a pitched battle.

“I bet that’s her,” Jake said. “Let’s get going before they drop her or something.”

[You Spin Right Round]

Rachel, as it turned out, needed no rescue. No sooner had the trio stumbled into the hall than they were confronted by a blur of motion launching itself between hostile, hulking shadows.

Rachel fought with a long, Chinese spear with a curved blade at the end. She planted it in the ground, launching herself feet first into one of the shadows, which dissolved on impact. Another took a swing at her, and she slid beneath it, tripping it as she brought her spear around behind her. She brought the blade up in a savage arc that sliced an advancing shadow in half, before slamming backward through the one she’d tripped as it struggled to its feet.

As the last one advanced, she drew a hand crossbow from her hip and emptied three bolts into it. She crossed her arms as it melted away, leaning against the spear as her title card appeared.

Huntress

She wore a short, red and gold qipao with matching ballet shoes, along with dark hose that bore runs exposing her athletic legs. Her mask was an ornate, Chinese tiger, and a few nubs of her long hair had been updo fashioned into cat ears.

“Holy shit..” Jake marveled.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Rachel said. “I thought I’d have to take on the final boss by myself.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re awesome. We get it.” Sabrina teased, giving Rachel a playful smack on the ass as she stepped by her. “Although seriously, that was fun to watch, but don’t get yourself hurt. We don’t actually know what happens if you go down here.”

“Where is the final boss, anyway?” Jake asked.

“The main arena,” Rachel said. “Follow me.”

He barely had to. The signs and marquees were everywhere, directing passers by toward the central auditorium. The matchup, oddly, was Farrah Jones-Ali vs….Farrah Jones-Ali.

Curious, but he supposed he’d see the meeting soon enough. The four then grappled up into the rafters, hopping between them on the way to the main arena.

*****

[This Charming Man]

She faced off against herself in the arena, both versions staring one another down. One Farrah was resplendent in a flowing, white and gold layered dress, side slit to reveal a long olive skinned leg. Her hair was bound in a tight, long braid, a golden crown atop her head and spear in her hand. The other wore a black, lace lingerie slingshot with a trident, a crown forming into horns atop her loose, flowing hair. They were each three times Farrah’s original size.

“Stay out of this,” Angel Farrah said in a booming voice. “This fight’s between me and… me.”

“No, it’s not.” Sabrina informed them calmly. “It might be, but we’re all in this together.”

“No!” Devil Farrah interjected. “We’re in this against each other! That’s the thing none of you understand. Especially her.”

She leveled her trident at her angelic counterpart.

“You want to save everyone. To take care of them like we’re their mothers. But where are we if we lose?”

Angel Farrah seemed to ignore this point.

“And you? You’ve taken advantage of people. The curses placed on them. You even lied about it. Anything it takes to win, but what’s the point of winning if we lose ourselves along the way?”

Jake watched this showdown, bemused. It was interesting to see the perspective the other contestants had on her, and how closely it mirrored his own.

“You know,” He said, mildly, “Farrah already confessed all this to me. In her own dream.”

“What?” Lindsey, Sabrina and both giant Farrah’s all said at once.

“Yeah. The **** of your curses, lying to me about it, the book she stole. All of it.”

Glaces were exchanged, but it was Devil Farrah who spoke up first.

“It changes nothing! We still need to sort out what we need to do to win!”

“No. You don’t,” Jake said. “And the real you knows that, too. You’re both right, and you’re both wrong.”

He turned to the others.

“Although seriously, good work on the duality. I think you nailed what was going on in her head?”

The two giant Farrahs seemed to hover, glaring menacingly, but neither saying anything, nor taking action.

“Sooo…what now?” Lindsey asked.

Jake looked back at the two women, wondering if he could convince the real Farrah to try out either of these outfits. They were really something.

“Now we head back to the school,” He said, looking over his shoulder. “I’m ready to move on.”

Rachel grinned.

“If that’s the fastest path to kicking Leah’s ass, I am completely in favor.”

Sabrina seemed less sanguine. She flicked a bang from her eye.

“Well…we put a lot of work into it, just to skip the final boss,” She said. “But if it’s what you want…”

Jake could tell she was unhappy, and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Thank you,” He said, “This was extremely cool. What all three of you have done is extremely cool. Don’t think for a second I don’t appreciate that.”

He motioned to the Farrahs.

“But I don’t wanna fight her. Not over this,” He said quietly. “We already had it out once, and she’s beaten herself up enough.”

“Aww…that’s kinda sweet,” Lindsey said, evidently eavesdropping.

Sabrina absorbed it, then nodded.

“You mean it? About enjoying this?”

She seemed genuinely upset that he was shortening this part of the experience, and he felt guilty. But he also knew he was right.

“Absolutely,” He agreed. “I’m gonna push Leah about getting us access to these things again sometime. But if even if she can’t…”

Jake whispered in her ear.

“I’m taking you up on that outfit.”

She smiled that sultry, putting on a show smile, and for once, he didn’t mind. It was probably the wink she gave him with it.

He took a step back, and the world began to melt around them. Soon, they were back in the school halls. The transition was every bit as smooth and simple as it was in game form, but when everything reformed, they were back in their fantasy, DnD forms.

*****

[Don’t Stop Me Now]

But when he came to, he found the room oddly quiet. Silent, even, in a way a high school hallway had no right to be. Only two things in the room with him were moving; Rachel, and a pair of diamonds above Farrahs’ heads.

“Uhm…what’s that?” Jake asked Rachel.

“A plumbob,” She said.

He squinted at her.

“Are you having a stroke?”

She rolled her eyes.

“A plumbob. It identifies Sims, shows their mood, allows you to give them commands. A plumbob.”

“I can’t tell if you’re fucking with me or not,” He said.

“Just touch the fucking plumbob, Cooper.”

“Okay, okay, Jesus…” he said, reaching out to tap the strange crystal.

Suddenly, a wheel of options appeared around her. It included a number of commands. “Kiss,” “Entertain”, “Play”, “Encourage”, “Flirt”.

Jake had no interest in making Farrah do anything. Half the fun with her was the foreplay.

What did interest him were the other options. Relationship sliders that modified her feelings about each of the other girls, as well as of himself. He was unsurprised to see her relationships with Lacy, AJ, Lindsey and Loretta were all very high, nor that her feelings toward Leah were especially low. But he was surprised by how much she seemed to like him, or dislike Hannah. Curious, that…

He didn’t have time to dwell on it. There were physical changes he could make in addition to the commands or relationship ones.

“So whatcha thinking?” Rachel asked.

Jake frowned.

“I dunno. I guess I don’t know what I’d do with Farrah,” He said.

“Let your imagination run wild,” Rachel said. “There’s really no harm or no foul here, so do what you like.”

Jake nodded. It didn’t occur to him to ask why this was an option for him, or why Rachel would give it to him. He didn’t even think to question the morality of it. She was right; it was all for fun.

Farrah was, in her regressed state, one of the most beautiful women Jake had ever seen. She didn’t need his help. Nor did he particularly have any desire to brainwash her into something she wasn’t. Still…there was an issue that niggled at him; the way she’d schemed and taken advantage of the others.

He’d largely forgiven her for it. It came from a good place. But given a chance to correct it…

He pulled up a debug menu, allowing him to enter in custom commands, and began to type.

Be nice and subservient to other contestants. Unconditionally obedient to the ones you’ve taken advantage of.

Satisfied, he hit enter. Then, he thought a bit more.

Be physically affectionate with, and flirty toward the contestants you’ve taken advantage of.

Thought…

And me.

“Nice,” Rachel said. “That’ll be fun to try out. Wanna hang around to do it a bit?”

Jake shook his head.

“This whole…vibe is too cool to short change,” He said. “I wanna move on.”

And I’ve had plenty of good times with Farrah lately, anyway he thought, but didn’t say.

Rachel nodded.

“Alright. Let’s rock and roll,” She said. “I think the cheer squad was our next target.”

Time resumed, and Farrah blinked to life.

“I’m sorry,” She said, “Did you want something, Jake?”

He shook his head.

“Nah. Just wanted to say hi, Mrs. Jones-A-”

“Call me Farrah, how many times have we been over this?” She protested.

For once, Jake smiled at the rebuke.

“You got it, Farrah,”

He rejoined the others, and they took off down the hall. Jake felt a familiar jolt of energy has he followed; the thrill of a task beaten and the world opening up a little more because he’d beaten it. And as he felt it, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the beeps and boops music that began to fill the air.