Sam (♀) and Sam (♂) read "Subjugation Tournament" by Gambio: The Return of the Red-Eye

hey you made your bed now fuck in it

"When last we left off," Sam (♀) summarized, "Mari Beta was getting ready for his quarter finals match after enduring the training montage from hell."

"You know," Sam (♂) said, as thunder rolled overhead and the wind screamed through the trees. "I don't know if Gambio actually likes tentacle butt sex, or likes the idea of tentacle butt sex. I get the impression they're more hung up ont he idea of the degrading nature of the act than they are with the act itself. Like those people who enjoy constructing a feast in the mind while puttering about the kitchen at 3AM making a tang sandwich because they need to go to the grocery store."

"That's disgusting, but probably correct about Gambio. They have their kinks, but they don't tend to actually get off on a lot of the things that entice them, like shark girls," Sam (♀) said. "Anyway..."

Dying takes quite a bit out of ya!

"Does it?" Sam (♂) asked. "We've never really established the limits of resurrection in this setting."

"Because nobody cares, all the rules are made up, and the points don't matter," Sam (♀) said, raising her voice against the wind. "Although the whole 'Hero of Slavery' schtick is funny."

There was no response besides an angry glare. Good, would be pretty boring if she lost her spirit after just that.

"Knowing that Gambio has been building up to this one and intends it as a kind of triumphant catharsis doesn't make it any less squicky," Sam (♂) said. "Arguably, he should be fucking the cat-girl, who wants to have his baby, and making snake-girl stew in jealousy and thwarted erotic need instead of basically saying 'What time is it? Rape o'clock!'"

"Yeah, some of Gambio's sex scenes are rather perfunctory, but this one has an uncomfortable level of detail for them. This is the chapter they really seem to get into it, and we already know this is a moral abyss of a tournament," Sam (♀) said. "Up until now, Mari Beta has mostly just been a reluctant harem-builder. But this is explicitly revenge-on-the-bully. So...no pretense of being Mr. Nice Protagonist."

The tent poles began to creak, shifting visibly as the wind picked up.

“Daddy just finally decided to ditch the nice guy act. Better prepare yourself. Once they get a taste it’s all downhill from there.”

"Of course, Gambio is smart enough to realize this," Sam (♂) said.

“I..I wanted to! But the fucker had a crazy look in his eyes! I was afraid he would shove me up his ass like a faggot! Heh, get it? Because faggot is both a slur and something you can shove up your ass? Get it?”

"And stupid enough to write this," Sam (♀) said. Lightning crashed, bright enough to throw strange shadows against the walls of the tent. "Also, I'm not clicking that link. I'm not clicking any of the links. I've clicked links before, and it was always a mistake."

“My Lord. This is undignified.”

"Has Gambio ever done a relatively straight domination story that doesn't involve batshit crazy women?" Sam (♂) asked. "Like, as much as I appreciate that vanilla isn't a flavor everyone enjoys, it does seem like there might be something cathartic for them if there wasn't an instant loss magic enslavement deal."

"Hard Candy probably comes closest, and that's still zany as fuck," Sam (♀) said. "I suspect Gambio enjoys the tropes of mind control and enslavement too much to ever play it straight with, like a woman kidnapping a guy to force him into a BDSM lifestyle, or a young woman in a slave-owning society buying her first slave and gradually using her power over her to force her into more and more extreme erotic acts and degradation. I don't think seriousness is the point, except as brief episodes in longer convoluted chains of 'shit happens, lol.'"

"Or maybe they use humor as a defense mechanism against the hauntingly serious ramifications of rape c'clock?" Sam (♂) said.

"If the sissy maid outfit fits. Anyway, this is where Gambio gets creative with the branching," Sam (♀) sighed. "So like, there are choices, but they all loop back to a kinda-main branch. It's like a Dungeon Master railroading your party, giving the illusion of choice when really it's just 'do you want to skip this chapter or that chapter?'"

"We're going to default to always taking the first option and seeing where that takes us," Sam (♂) said. "So: Hebi-san gets punished."

“It will be a secret between the three...uuhh..four, five. The five of us.” Mindi assured.

"Gambio has a very distinct attachment to the whole enemies-to-lovers thing, except with bullies," Sam (♀) observed. "Like, I could see them writing a story about a bully whose victim gets revenge by seducing their mom, and then marrying their mom to provide the bully with a supportive family life they so obviously desperately lack and need, and taking person pride in their former bully's achievements while also enjoying the delicious disquietude as they plow her so hard and regular that the sound of their fucking keeps the bully-stepkid awake at night."

"Oddly specific," Sam (♂) said.

At this point I was frankly wondering who wasn’t an enemy of the church.

"So, Sylphid won her quarterfinal, and now we have the drawing for the semifinals, and Mari can change the pants he just pissed in," Sam (♀) said. "I really do appreciate it when Gambio puts more effort into the fights. Good action, good pacing. Almost wish they'd put this much effort into the sex, but we can't have everything."

“My Lord is most certainly not screwed!”

"Luck be a lady tonight," Sam (♂) quoted. "And pray her strap-on doesn't have spikes."

“I am deeply sorry, Master Beta. I would have informed you sooner, but this was a last minute decision by the Slave Tournament Association Rasheul.”

"We there word missed think I," Sam (♀) said.

Did I kill Ben in a prior life or something?

"If he did, I want to read that story," Sam (♂) said.

Orgasm isn’t cutting it, I need booze.

"I'm not even going to bitch about the POV change," Sam (♀) said. "Although I feel a punishment is in order. Think Gambio would read the other half of 100 Candles in October if asked?"

"I'm a bastard, not a fucking bastard," Sam (♂) muttered. "In review terms, if this was a regular harem story I woud expect more personality clashes among the harem-members as they jockey for status or whatever, but given the tournament format and the consequences if Mari Beta loses, the basic cooperation to help him keep fighting makes sense."

Sam (♀) wasn't listening. "Okay, so if Uni is a unicorn/centaur, does that mean she has horse tits between her legs?"

“My, I don't know what your problem is, Mari”, Beatrice grinned widely. “I always told you, you look absolutely gorgeous in a cute, girly dress.”

"I feel like the cursed gender-changing used panties would have been useful here," Sam (♂) said.

"That was a side branch, wasn't it?" Sam (♀) said. She froze as a particularly strong gust rocked the tent, sending her squirming against Sam (♂).

“There, there. Good girl, good girl. Your doing very well. This dress looks good on you. You make a very cute little girl.”

"Do not," Sam (♂) warned. "Try that on me."

Sam (♀) smirked. "Why? Because it would work?"

"Sadie Hawkins Ball dating sim mini-game was not on my menu, somehow," Sam (♂) said with a sigh.

“I will not stand here and have my princess's honor besmirched!”

"This would be a little funnier if Mari Beta was a closet sissy or trans egg," Sam (♀) said. "That would actually be character-building. Oh fuck, they switch POV again."

Shaved.

"I don't know if Gambio can write an erotic shaving scene," Sam (♂) mused. "I mean, we know it can be done. It has been done. But this seems to be one of those cases where Gambio is more focused on the results than the process."

It couldn't just be a sincere gesture. That would have been too normal.

"Gambio is achingly aware of what normal is, the audience knows what normal is, but the characters in this story have no idea what normal is," Sam (♀) pointed out. "As far as a bunch of magically controlled sex slaves are concerned, picking one member for group punishment is probably normal."

"You're trying to apply logic to a Gambio story," Sam (♂) said, as the tent shook again. "Has that ever worked?"

(Authors note: This second Free Day event will build upon the first that happened on Day 5. So, if you choose Beatrice here, the story will assume you picked Beatrice the first time around, etc. It is as such recommended that you read that specific date first before continuing with Hebi-san being the obvious exception.)

"I know we said we'd just pick the first option, but back in Day 5 we did pick Aiju," Sam (♀) said. "So if we're playing this properly, we should pick her again."

"Fine," Sam (♂) said. "What's the worst that can happen?"

“Mari. Time to mate? Witchie can watch.”
Uh, I like that idea. It would turn more into a Beatrice humiliation event but I’m fine with that.

"This would objectively have been better than the option Gambio went with," Sam (♀) said. "Gambio really doesn't get into their heads enough for proper bondage play scenes."

“Dick agrees. Open.”

"Can't say they don't try, but I agree," Sam (♂) said. "It's the style they write. Short, choppy paragraphs and floating sentences, lot of talking, but not enough focus on how the individual feels, the sense of loss of control. Gambio tends to focus on the aesthetics of the scene, the movements, but isn't as good at the internal struggles, the way proper bondage gets you into...and ideally out of your own head. Like, there's no real sense of danger. She could have run a claw the length of his dick, threatening to split him open. Could have cupped his balls and slowly squeezed. Demonstrated her complete control, given him a love-bite on the neck the way cats do. It's a long chapter, but it feels like it didn't really achieve the desired result."

“That’s all the more reason I got to enslave you. Letting you walk around free is way too dangerous! You need to be locked up in a skintight bodysuits with a dick window until you are properly reeducated!”

"As we just pointed out, Gambio likes to bring up these possibilities, but I don't think they'd actually enjoy writing that out, and I can kinda feel that," Sam (♀) said.

This was not going the way I planned.

"Has anything in this entire tournament, nay, his life, ever gone as planned?" Sam (♂) asked. "Welcome to the club, pal. It's called everyone, and we meet at the bar."

Don’t you want to torture me again?

"He could attend the match in his Amber Princess outfit and flash Sylphid," Sam (♀) suggested.

“Yes, yes, yes! So, ever heard about a little thing called latent power? It’s the thing your body is capable but your mind refuses you to do. I am able to wake that! Just let me hypnotize you and you got it! Instant power up! Trainers hate this one weird trick!”

"... oh, so we're just going the full Dragon Ball Z now? Is this Mari's Namek arc?" Sam (♂) said.

Well, it was getting rather late. Nothing to be done then turn in for the night and await whatever tomorrow brings.

Thunder crashed. Somewhere, not far, a tree crashed. It shook the ground the tent was on. The Sams twisted in the sleeping bag to hug each other, and then instantly burst apart when they realized what they were doing.

"Uh...right, so, that's enough for now. Next time, the semifinals," Sam (♀) said.