“How do you know he’s not out there dating?”she challenged, trying her best not to imagine Evan naked and erect… and failing miserably.She was an artist and she had such a vivid imagination…
“The source of the gossip,” Barb intoned in her best Sherlock Holmes accent, “Is his bestie, Lydia Summerwell.”
“Betrayal,” Cleo grumbled, a little hurt on Evan’s behalf.
“It’s not a betrayal if you’re trying to get your best friend his heart’s desire.”Barb shot her a telling look.
“Me?”Cleo all but squealed.“He wants… He -- I’m his heart’s desire?”
“Made flesh.”
Cleopatra Cockie turned and stared at her reflection in the mirror, noting that her eyes now glittered in amazement and there was a burgeoning look of happiness growing on her face.
Evan Whie thought that she was his heart’s desire.
Cool.
“Hey, makeup lady?”she called out to the skittish saleswoman who was circling around them again.“I need a tube of this shade to go… and make it fast.I’ve got a man to seduce.”
Chapter Two
“Our character design system is simply flawless as you can see.We’ve taken into consideration any skin tone, undertones, overlays, and that’s before you get to the tattoo and scarring window.Hair texture, missing limbs and organs -- you can design your character any way you want.You can build a character that is uniquely you.I’m not going to go into how many days it took us to program a pimple, but if that’s your stick, we’ve got it.”He dimpled up at the audience, and they laughed with him.
Evan smiled up at the people in the packed auditorium and felt a rush of pride run through him.This presentation was going well.So far, the crowd had loved everything aboutThe Game.Even the boring technical bits had gotten cheers from those in the know.And from the looks of the people in the VIP section, players would do just about anything to get their hands on the promo disk they were going to introduce at the end of this session.
“We’ve also added another feature.If we went through the trouble of designing the perfect protagonist, we decided why not let you design you perfect monster?Our Creature Feature has everything you need to create your own private arcane horror.Why deal with someone’s lesser nightmare when you can put your therapy-inducing terrorfest up on the screen to haunt you?”
The viewers were very receptive to this.It was one part ofThe Gamethat Cleopatra had insisted upon.At first he’d tried to argue that it would take up too much time to create a system that was similar to the character creation but with a more satanic feel, but in the end she would have her way.That was one of the first things that drew her to his attention, and to hear that accented voice go off on him in American slang for his laziness and lack of foresight and innovation had made his pants tight.The way she put together her words, the succinct ways he spoke them, the way she defended herself against every argument he could develop… he had fallen in love with her mind even before he had taken a look at her face.
“I can’t show you what the big bosses look like,” he commented, pulling himself out of his own daydreams and back into the presentation.“We couldn’t let you have all the fun right now, but let me tell you there were some nights I scared myself with those things and I’ve created thousands of monsters to shock and horrify the masses for a great number of eyes.If it made me sleep with a light on, I know some of you are going to need fresh undies when you play.”
Excellent reactions and receptions, Evan thought.He had the audience right where he wanted them.He could almost feel their investors cackle in glee.After shooting a quick look into the wings, he could have sworn that he saw their main financier rub his hands together as he looked out at the masses hanging on to his every word.No doubt the man was already calculating dollar signs in his head.
“I have been allowed to show you one of first big bosses on Lydia’s run.Mind you she has never played this game before.”
He gestured to where Lydia, resplendent on her tight leather body suit that matched the one her character was wearing, was cursing as she powered through the first level ofThe Game.She was running through the city, dodging insane NPC’s -- non-playable characters -- and doing her best to avoid places where several variants of the monsters she created gave chase.
Her character was bleeding, clothing torn, and was looking rough as she paused in an alley doorway.They all jumped as a kitten meandered out, shaking and scared.
“Oh, you poor thing,” her character spoke with a beautiful British accent, the option Lydia had chosen from the many that jumped up on the screen, as she bent to pet the cat.Her character picked up the kitten to take with her.
The thousands of people watching in the studio and at home, were awed as the kitten shivered and snuggled into her shirt and Lydia ran on.“Damn you,” his best friend called out to him, making the watchers chuckle.“You know I have a thing for kittens.”
Evan gave an evil chuckle as the kitten wrinkled its tiny nose and looked up at Lydia’s character with huge watery green eyes.The whole audience kind of melted and let out a collectiveawwwat the sight before the action swiftly moved on, a moment of cute and peace inside a hellscape that you knew was going to get worse before it got better.
“Evil Evan.That is your new name,” Lydia complained as she moved back to the battlefront, as it were.“Now I’m going to have to take care of the kitten.I swear if it gets in the way, I am feeding it to a monster as a decoy.”Everyone knew that she was lying, as the mass of chuckles proved.
“While this struggle over cat and death is happening,” the MC laughed in the mic, “we’re going to bring out the originator and main writer forThe Game, Cleopatra Cockie.”
There was a momentary hush, and then the crowed went furiously crazy as Cleo took the stage.Evan damn near choked on his tongue as he finally got to meet his Cleo face-to-face, and suddenly he was rather glad his kilt came complete with a sporran to detract from his sudden chubby as she swayed into the spotlight.
Cleo was wearing this slithery red sparkly thing, a form-fitting sheath that was less of a dress and more of an embrace.It was tight from the neck to mid-thigh where it flared out gently in a wave of sparkly fabric that caught the lights and made every move glisten.It looked like she was walking on magic, that she was surrounded by an otherworldly aura.Her makeup was flawless, the dark shadow over her eyes made them look like huge earthen jewels, a brown diamond that sparkled in the light of a thousand camera flashes.Her lips were full and tinted a dark red that made his mind instantly go to sweet suckling kisses.Her composure was that of a queen’s as she regally moved onto the stage, each step grace and beauty.The body was banging, her breasts full and round, her hips wide enough to make a man think about bending her over and going for a long, hard ride.She was sex in crystal heels, a creature from his imagination, an angel made flesh to come take him to paradise, and he know he wouldn’t fight the journey.
“Cleo Cockie.”The MC held out a hand and invited her to join them on stage.
She glided more than she walked, her hips making him bite his lips to prevent himself from screaming out something embarrassing like,Please take me noworI wanna have your babies.She was looking that good.
She moved toward him, waving at the crowd, her endless locks piled into a bejeweled crown upon her head.Then he saw the back of her dress… which was non-existent.
