“Mercy,” he whispered, his words being picked up by the mic, and there was a pause before Cleo smiled wider and the watchers went mad once more.
“Oh, that is right,” the MC went on.“This is the first time you’ve met face-to-face.”
“Evan,” she spoke, those perfectly red lips spreading into a smile as her eyes, always fascinating to him, seemed to glitter in depths that no computer screen, no matter how high the resolution, could reproduce.“It’s good to see you.”
There was that slight British accent, a hangover from her childhood in the outskirts of London where she’d spent her formative years before her family moved to the States.It was a sound that made his insides melt each time he heard it, just as they were doing now.
“C-Cleo,” he stammered, trying to recover some dignity.“Hello.”
He was obviously flustered and she knew it as she threw him a wink before moving in for a hug.
Evan nearly choked on his own tongue as her gentle scent filled his nostrils, the heat from her body enveloped his, and the feel of her in his arms… He tried not to cry as he delicately wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug, shuddering at the softness of her skin and the feel of his dream-made-flesh in his arms.
His sporran was feeling mighty uncomfortable, but it was solid and big enough and filled with enough heavy promo crap to hide his not-so-small cock-growing issue.
Cleo pulled back and smiled widely at him… those red lips… before she pulled away and turned to face the audience.
“Didn’t Evan and his team do a bang-up job?”she asked and started another round of clapping and cheers that made her braless -- yes, she was braless -- boobs bounce in the built-in cups of that damn dress.He was not going to survive this.
He casually folded his hands over his sporran, giving it the extra weigh it needed to hold his cock down as it began to rise to the occasion.Her gaze ran over his body knowingly before they settled on his face again.Did she just lick her lips?Is that what they were doing now, trying to make him pass out from blood loss?Was that her end game here, because between his blush and his growing erection he was going to be laid flat on the stage.
This was going to be a long presentation.
* * *
“As you can see, you are free to roam this world at will, search out most of the buildings, explore the unpolluted areas beneath the city, do side quests to your heart’s content, but that will not distract you from the main plot ofThe Game.Even as you explore our seven different worlds and meet new and interesting people, you eventually have to meet your fate.”
Cleo let her eyes go wide as she made that final proclamation, her voice sounding suitably villainous enough to be in a Disney movie, before offering the watchers a wide smile.That laughter that followed eased her nervousness a bit.
“I’m having fun busting heads!”Lydia called out, and everyone laughed again as Cleo turned her attention to Lydia.
Lydia was indeed having fun, looting buildings, being Robin Hood to the hopeless, kicking the asses of some of the NPCs because of their attitudes, and taking out some of the smaller monsters she herself had designed.It was all part of the game’s design.Some of the NPCs she had played had made her want to smack the crap out of them, and she knew many others felt the same way.So she insisted that option be put intoThe Game.It was a small thing, but it made a huge difference when it came to playability and overall game enjoyment.
“Lydia,” Cleo called to her.“It looks like you favor acid spit and tentacles,” she called out, referring to the gray-and-black monster that Evan’s assistant was currently battling.“Kinky.”
Lydia chuckled and Evan laughed at their interaction as Cleo watched and gave commentary as Lydia did her run, kicking ass while keeping her kitten safe.She got extra points for that and the kitten sometimes found or led her to the loot and health that she needed.It was a cute, symbiotic relationship.
“But as we don’t have time for you to finish your murder list,” she added, thinking about all the people Lydia claimed she wanted to kill… including the game designers when she ran into a unexpected puzzle or two that kept her from accessing necessary energy to renew her life.“You have to move on to the big boss.How you doing?”
“Never better,” she called back, shifting in her chair as she dodged an insane woman with an ax who was trying to protect her trailer.She ran away and proceeded to the large red dot marked on her map.
“In creating the plot ofThe Game, we wanted to toss in as many surprises as we could.This is an interesting world, it is on the brink of destruction, invaded by creatures that no one has ever seen outside a Lovecraft novel, and no one knows where they came from and why.We wanted to create the sense of confusion and loss that anyone would feel while traveling through this dark, insane world.As your character learns about this new place it exists in, so do you.You both grow together as you journey, and the exploration in this open world lets you take the game at your own pace, lets you level up on skill levels, build a base for safety, and establish yourself before it is… all horribly taken away from you.”
“What?”Lydia called out in outrage as her character entered the boss battle site.
Cleo laughed as the screen suddenly cut into a scene that showed the slow destruction of everything that Lydia had worked hard to build, the people that she saved, knowing that the chaos on the screen let the viewers know that every decision they ever made in gameplay led up to how and who was ripped away from Lydia’s character.
“No!”Lydia wailed, and the viewers, after some gasps of horror that NPCs who were so developed were destroyed along with everything that Lydia’s player owned, and Cleo began to chuckle.
“Yes.”Cleo snickered.“How great your losses are or if any of your people suffer is all dependent on you and your choices.”
“I could have saved them?”Lydia called up, hissing at Cleo, much to everyone’s amusement.
“You could have.”Cleo blew her a kiss.“But I’m not going to tell you how.”
Everyone roared at Lydia’s betrayed look.
“Well, at least I still have my cat.”
