Gone

I looked where Eris had indicated, and noted a small door that looked like it might lead to a bathroom. I rolled to the side, allowing my feet to land on the deck of the boat. It was only a couple steps to push the door open, and reveal a very small bathroom, with one of the smallest showers I'd ever seen next to a combination toilet sink. There was no mirror, I noted offhandedly, my mind drifting to every single character creation screen I'd ever seen in games, and I quickly shook away the image, remembering that things I believed seemed to happen right now.

There was a pair of towels in a tiny little rack, set right against the door frame. It was white, but marked at the bottom with two kyanos lines on it. Both sides. Looked almost like a gym towel, but had no logo, just the kyanos bands.

"Oh, oh! Make sure you grab one for yourself while you're in there!" Eris called, and I looked back at her to notice that she was absentmindedly stroking her extremely creamy slit. "I mean, unless you want your sperma all over you too."

"Well, that was blunt.. " I snorted, but noticed that I was rather sweaty, as well as... wet. Not that I minded the feeling of a woman on me. "You want a shower first, or..."

"Nope, no more shower scenes. Just the towel and hold that position, I do like looking at your κώλο."

"Ok, one towel coming up..."

"A towel is the most massively useful thing a lover can have," Eris grinned. "You can clean up fluids, use it as bondage gear or role playing prop, fold it properly as an aid to fun positions, bite it to keep noise down, Wet it for use in discipline, use it as part of a handfasting, pull it out from under flowers and shout how amazed you are that they are still standing, or simply have something to cuddle with that smells like your baby daddy."

"Huh?" I mumbled back. That sounded really familiar somehow.

"Don't worry about it," She smiled, catching the towel I threw her, and beginning to wipe at herself. "Just nice to be invited."

I grabbed up my own clothing which was pretty scattered about the room. It was only a few moments before I was slightly presentable again, and on an impulse draped the towel over my neck.

"You look like a typical California beach bum," Eris snickered, pulling on her leather vest which she had taken from somewhere over on her side of the bed. "Hand me my bag, would you?"

I picked up the small valise which Eris had dropped by the door when we had entered. I handed it to her, and she opened it, reaching in confidently. Her confident smile faded after a moment, and her face dropped into the open item, pulling random items from it, starting with several legal briefs, followed by a couple of water balloons, A cup of noodles, a bottle of Mexican Coke, what looked like some lighter fluid...

"Uhm... maybe you shouldn't pay too much attention to what I've got in here..." Eris glanced up at me, before again scrabbling through the bag, pulling out several more items of extremely dubious utility. She turned the bag over, and shook it, nothing else issuing from it. "Fuck... check the floor, maybe it rolled out. Just... you know... don't eat it or anything."

The two of us dropped to the floor, both of searching the length of the room, pulling furniture out of the way, at least the stuff that wasn't nailed down, and coming up completely empty.

"Shit... shit shit SHIT!" Eris buried her face in her hands and shrieked with frustration. "Should have seen this coming. Thought if we got rid of my clone he wouldn't have been able to shift it. Dammit, he switched to the backup."

"Got rid of your... wait, I'm kinda confused here..."

"Step-dad is... well he isn't stupid. The anti-Eris was his backup in case I ever turned against him. Rules said that it had to be chance that presents the apple. I forgot that he had another backup before his little frankenstein. Apparently he's still around, and Almighty Rules Lawyer switched to him. Which means that the format of the game just completely changed, and it's all according to the rules. DAMMIT."

"He just changed the rules? He can do that?" I boggled, watching Eris walk to the nearest window and look out.

"Ah crap... don't look out the window..." Eris sighed. "No, he didn't change the rules, those were always the rules. The rules change based off the time of day, week, month, position of the stars, who's on the top forty this week, but there's always a reason why he gets another shot."

"That's such BULLSHIT," I shouted, much louder than I intended. "And let me fucking guess, there's nobody I can complain to about this."

"Sure there is... you have to go to one of his office branches, and learn why you need to shut up and follow the rules." Eris shrugged. "He's a ψωλή. I told you."

"Ok, so... we go out that door, and then what..."

"Nope. You go out that door. You've had your offers, in one ending or another. This time it's for real. No backsies. You go out, you pick. And you live with the consequences and the prize."

"What are my choices?"

"You're going to lose no matter which one you pick, you know that." Eris shook her head. "Even if you pick me."

I waited patiently.

"Well... and I liked that skirt darn it... well, good thing I've got another one down here... Anyhoo, you've got Wisdom, you've got Power, and you've got Love. Those are the usual ones. Thanks to what we've been doing, I managed to double that. You've also got Home, Hunting, and Chance. He's not just going to give those to you, but trust me they're ON the table. He HAS to give you those choices."

"I think I can Handle a little Pressure." I smiled.

"You have no idea what pressure is until you've experienced this," Eris sighed. "But... maybe you'll come up with something. Here..."

She handed me her bag after replacing all of the items that she had scattered about the bed.

"You know... in case you get bored. Some fun reading in there. Mostly character profiles and stuff. I'm doing this just in case somebody ever tries to make this into a video game that doesn't suck."

I laughed at the thought, and put my hand on the door.

"The day that happens, I will applaud with both hands," I slung the bag over my shoulder. "Ok, so I look like a California Beach Bum, and I'm supposed to make a decision. Can't possibly get worse."