Hanging out and watching the news

Once again James’ harem members were mostly hanging out around the pool in their beautifully skimpy bikinis and swimsuits. Several had brought some of the gym equipment from the exercise/sparing room and were running on treadmills or lifting weights in sports bras and gym shorts. Alex and Laura were cooking chicken, beef, and vegetable kebabs on a set of grills. The two of them were wearing ‘F*ck the chef’ aprons over their bikinis.

“So there’s an entire club and class dedicated for learning parenting skills and networking with other characters?” Asked Gwen Tennyson as she sunbathed on a pool chair.

“Yes, to keep characters from getting too stir crazy locked up at home, there are multiple clubs and classes we can join,” Ahsoka explained from her own pool chair while reading a book. “I, myself, am part of the local mechanics, gymnastic, and Jedi clubs.”

“And our owner just lets us leave to participate in them?” Marie asked as she swam close to the two sunbathers.

“If the class or club requires going to the physical location,” Ahsoka explained. “Some clubs can be visited in VR or via holodeck where we don’t even notice the difference though physical activities require visiting normally. There's a book club in the neighborhood and a few peaceful magic clubs around town.”

“We have a holodeck?” Asked Callie as she too swam up. Callie had watched some episodes of Star Trek DS9 and Lower Decks due to Starfire’s stories.

“No, only a holoprojector, a full holodeck is a bit too out of budget,” Katara answered and she sat on the side of the pool with a tall blue drink.

“Why doesn’t this parenting class and club allow holoprojecting into it?” Gwen Tennyson asked.

“Apparently, there was a problem with the holoprojectors when the Mabel Pines attendant used to be there, and they removed the projectors they had,” Ahsoka replied, recalling the disclaimer she read while waiting for Aelita to be done previously. “Something about ‘serial killer’ or ‘zombie invasion’ training going wrong.” The listening characters stared at her but Ahsoka gave no further explanation as she returned to her book. Gwen Tennyson looked away from Ahsoka before noticing something concerning on the TV hanging by the pool.

“Hey Stacy, can you put the volume up?” She asked Gwen Stacy who had a white and pink bikini and web shooters on her wrists.

“Sure Tennyson,” Gwen Stacy said as she webshot the remote and pulled it towards herself and brought the volume up so everyone could hear it.

“This isn’t a giveaway! This was a *bleep*ing rescue operation!” shouted an Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson movies as she was bound in rope and being pulled off camera by a female Prime Worlder.

“It was a lovely ‘rescuing from homelessness and the trash heap’ today at the Gardens Mall,” said April O’Neil on scene. “As several characters destined for the second hand shops and disposal were gifted to passersby.”

“Wow, there was a giveaway today?” Katara commented. “James was going to take some of us to go clothing shopping today. He’s going to be upset he missed it.”

“I keep saying it’s not a giveaway! Why does everybody keep saying it is? We were here to save these people from slavery! They aren’t just characters!” Shouted a Shantae being carried away by a happy Prime Worlder in a pet carrier.

“Let’s talk to some of the happy customers today,” the April O’Neil suggested as she approached some Prime Worlders. “Hello sir, how was your day today, were you able to get any wonderful finds?”

“I was able to get a beautiful Stargirl and Fleur Delacour!” Exclaimed a Prime Worlder who was embracing the named characters tied up by his side. “Security said whichever ones I could lasso I could keep by registering my catches with the security desk! Thanks to my Applejack, this is the best day ever!” He nuzzled the humanized Applejack who was keeping the caught characters restrained.

“Wow, now James is going to be especially upset, Shantae and Fleur were definitely on his list,” Gaige said observing the roughed up characters being presented on screen. “Maybe we should’ve asked if Poppy could give the rest of us permission to go to the mall; we could’ve gotten James a gift or two.”

“You want to bring more people into this…harem!” Rayla questioned as she sat with Blake and Suki.

“Why not? There’s enough dick and pussy laying around,” Gaige said, giving a flirtatious wink to Rayla’s disturbance. “Plus, I really want to know what having sex with a genie is like. Or a kryptonian. Or a vampire, I heard they really know how to bite well, hehe.”

“Perv,” Blake said unintentionally out loud causing quite a few harem members to burst out laughing.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ahsoka smirked before Gaige tried to splash her with water. Ahsoka just used **** Push to send the water right back at her. This triggered a bit of a water war that ended with Katara’s drink was knocked out of her hand and she set off a water wave, dragging the offenders into the pool.

“You won this time,” Gaige said, pointing her arm into the air, declaratively. As the harem helped each other out of the pool and retrieved anything that got dragged into the water with them, Hinata came outside holding something.

“Excuse me, Kate-san,” Hinata asked the fellow maid who was inflating her inflatable pool chair float. The previous one got punctured by something during the water war. “I found this in James-sama’s shorts.” She then added belatedly. “The ones that were in the laundry.” Kate took the offered piece of paper after wiping her hands with a towel.

“It looks like a voucher for a new character,” Kate said, getting everyone’s attention. “From the Collins Chattel Palace; very expensive place with customizations.”

“You know what this means right?” Gaige said as she looked over Kate’s shoulder. “Let’s find a nice ass to bring in.” Gaige grabbed the voucher and ran inside.

“Hey! Wait up!” The gathered harem members hurried to chase after the Mechromancer.