Origin ARS 6 (20 page)

"Does the boss really want this?" asked a red haired deity. He had a pencil tucked behind his ear, and a spreadsheet in his hand. His divine appearance was that of a grizzled public relations department manager from the 1980s era of American business.

"You'd know better than we would,
sir
," said one of the other public relations department workers. "So much better..."

Her sultry voice spoke volumes about her possible meaning and the potential for innuendo. She was a blond haired deity who enjoyed the
sexy office lady
concept. She wore six inch stiletto heels and showed far too much cleavage for her own good.

Grizzled department manager glanced at her, tried to swallow his saliva briefly, and then coughed once to return the conversation to normal. She had quite an effect, to say the least. Of course, every department had at least one such individual working in it. Her archetype was practically in the job description.

The third deity was a young god, barely past his sixteen hundredth year of life. An unpaid intern, he dared not say anything to his superiors. His duty was to do the busy work and to fetch things.

"Well, if the boss wants it. She gets it. Let's run with this, full bore," said the elder deity.

The blond business bombshell laughed in a sinful manner then placed a finger to her lips. "I do wonder, though..."

Both men looked to her again and she smiled. "Is this the legendary blue haired boyfriend?"

"Probably. It's a strange tactic, but a brilliant one," said the department head before he made his crew get busy with their assigned task. Recently, he sent a message to the head of the company to receive new instructions for their PR campaign. The image that she sent in response was certainly unexpected, but he believed in the boss' business acumen. It even made a strange sort of sense.

Less than one hour later, they had the public relations machine up and running full bore. The picture of Scott looking back at the camera, his naked man booty shining for the world to see, would go out to every forum and magazine in the divine city. Memes were created and slipped into place in a fashion that would seem organic.

They were now in the main room of the PR department. Hundreds of staff workers were busily going about the business of relating to the public.

The blond office deity printed out one of them for personal use. "My, my..."

Scott's glorious man booty and duck face selfie had been captioned with the words, "ARS for your pleasure."

"You know... I haven't actually logged in to play in a while," she said lightly before tilting her head to the side and making a series of cutesy little pouty faces at the photo in her hand.

"Who has the time?" asked the department head.

The intern nodded in agreement, but did not speak his mind. He had a sweet job, and was the envy of the other young divinities. If he kept his nose to the grind stone, and his head down, he could very well end up working for the company as a true employee. However, he did want to ask one question. At some point he knew that he would screw things up and ask it.

"Let's get these over to the guys in marketing so they can start up the new ad campaign properly. This should do wonders for our player base."

Unable to hold back any longer, the intern innocently asked. "Uh, how will this help to bring in players?"

Two sets of eyes turned toward the youth. Their gazes were hard, penetrating. He was the lowest form of corporate life and he should know his place.

Despite the misstep of actively questioning the boss, the department chose a friendlier route. The head decided to indulge the youth. "Simple. The boss has obviously been setting this up for a while. She allowed people to see this guy in a few fleeting images, and it became a serious topic of gossip that he was her boyfriend."

The intern nodded. That much he understood. The legendary blue haired boyfriend was a hot topic for quite some time now.

"Well, the city has been simply ravenous for more information about the guy. Now we have this ridiculous duck-faced nude selfie. Scandalous! The legendary blue haired boyfriend of the beautiful Origin, empress of our glorious gaming empire, has bared it all for her," continued the PR department head.

"Yes, but..." began the intern.

The blond office lady spoke up then, "Look kid. You put this beautiful naked ass on the Internet and the female player base will go crazy. New female, and some male, players will gravitate heavily toward that bouncy backside. Do you get it?"

"So... We'll get a few new female players?"

The department manager sighed. "Kid, you really need to open your eyes. Think bigger."

He scratched his head for a moment then shook his head lightly before looking to the intern once more. He grinned like a predatory shark. "This goofy naked bastard is bait. We catch a few new female players, and that will net a lot more male players."

The office lady laughed in a sultry manner. "The girls will come to find their sexy man candy, and the boys will come to offer their naughty treats to the girls in the hopes that they will accept a substitute. It's brilliant!"

"As expected of our glorious empress," intoned the department manager. "She has seen the best path forward."

The department head turned swiftly and pointed to the large poster on the wall, a wall-sized printout of Scott's naked ass. "That backside is the pathway to the future! The road to salvation for our empire lies through that beautiful masculine ass!"

"Bask in its ridiculous afterglow! Revel in it!" snarled the department head passionately.

The entire department grew quiet. Gods and goddesses peaked at the manager from around the sides, or the tops, of their cubicles.

"Revel in it, damn you!" snapped the department head once more.

The office workers immediately snapped to attention and delivered simultaneous salutes. "Sir! Yes, sir!"

"The ass is beautiful! It makes me feel alive, when I was once cold and empty inside!" cried one of the office ladies.

"The ass makes me want to work out more!" cried one of the male office workers.

The ass is bouncy, and makes me happy in strange ways!" cried another office worker.

Dozens of voices cried out in unison, each of them vying to be heard over the cacophony of screams and outcries. Each of them reveled in the glorious backside that might save four worlds. The way forward had been decided. There was no room for doubt.

"Now then. Our glorious empress has decreed that it should be so," said the department head.

He turned swiftly to face his subordinates, and then punched one of his fists into the air while zealously shouting, "Let's grip that ass tight with both hands and ride it hard into the future!"

A split second of silence passed through the room before a sudden thunderous clamor of voices erupted impassioned throats. Wild passionate cries made the cubicles rattle as hundreds of gods came on board with the new direction for public relations. When life locked the front door of the house, the smart money was on going in through the backside.

***

Blissful are those who in their ignorance never come to know the true horrors of the cosmos. Scott and Rhea continued their lives blissfully unaware of the ridiculous truth. In worlds beyond, bold new concepts were being presented to a people hungry for something new and exciting. Innocent in their way, the lovers chatted freely about simple things.

After spending several hours walking the streets of Valkovia, they had finally arrived at their dining destination. A nice, quiet, little restaurant that had the perfect lighting and atmosphere for a couple out on the town.

"Oh, so you made a new friend?" asked Rhea slowly, after she swallowed a bit of the rice of her fork.

Scott finished sipping his wine. He did not drink often, as the taste was not for him. He considered this to be a special occasion, however. He nodded to the love of his life, and said, "Yes, she seems nice enough. Wanted us to come visit her family estate if we ever managed to head in that direction."

Rhea eyed him curiously for a moment. "She seems awfully friendly for someone whom you have only met once."

"She was," said Scott without rising to her bait. "I figured that we haven't been able to do too much as an actual couple in a while, so I thought I'd see if you wanted to go hang out at some posh estate and make new friends."

The light began to dance in her eyes the moment that he admitted to wanting to do things as a couple. "Oh? That does sound nice..."

Dinner continued in its cheerful manner. Scott and Rhea laughed, they shared soft smiles, and enjoyed each other's company without the specter of gaming in the way. Life in a living, breathing, roleplaying game might often lead to people talking about stats and skills. But for now, life was a much simpler affair. It was the beauty of quiet laughter. It was sweet words about a future that would be brighter simply because they planned to spend it together.

After dinner, they walked the streets once more. Night had fallen. Valkovia was alive with light and sound. People from all over the world made their way through the unsleeping city. The sights and sounds provided myriad chances for wonder and whimsy, and perhaps a little romance for those lucky few.

Eventually, they made their way to the city park. Scott wanted to show his lady love something that he had figured out recently.

The park was filled with couples. The lookout hill was gone, but a new one was being constructed in memorial to those who lost their lives during the attack. Valkovia lost much that day. An entire section of town was partially abandoned, even certain areas of the park went largely unpoliced due to the damage. It was off-limits, but manpower had to be directed toward protecting the residential and commercial areas.

It was to one of the less policed areas that Scott took Rhea. "I know this will probably seem pretty sad to you, considering what you can do back home." He smiled at her then moved into position. "Still, it's a big deal for me."

She smiled warmly at him then sat down on a nearby stump. After crossing her legs delicately like a lady, she granted him an imperious wave of the hand. "Begin, good sir."

A slight grin crossed his lips. "Prepare to be slightly amazed. I came up with this after tinkering with my new discovery. It's sort of like a summoning spell..."

Rhea's eyes widened considerably. "You've learned how to summon something in only the few days that I've been gone? That's... amazing!"

"Well...
sort
of a summoning spell. You'll see. I literally figured out how to do this an hour or two before you arrived in town," said Scott with a barely constrained laugh.

"Alright! This I have to see," said Rhea. The smile that she granted him was wide, and warm. Her eyes practically sparkled in the dim light of the evening.

Hands that only a few months before had never touched upon the power of magic where pulled to one side. Scott cupped them like he planned to hurl a traditional fireball in a fighting game. "Oh power that turns back the darkest of nights, and gives rise to hope."

His hands moved swiftly to the other side of his body, a line of crackling light skittering through the air. "Spirit that nurtures all life and helps it to thrive."

He drew his hands to the center of his body, still cupped. The line of light followed his motions in dynamic fashion. "With this sign, know that your power is needed."

"Oh great power! Come and be one with me!" he shouted while moving his hands up above his head. Suddenly, a bright cone of light shot out from his cupped palms and displayed a symbol against the clouds high overhead.

Rhea's warm smile remained for a moment as she looked upon this new wonder. Slowly that smile shifted as the symbol's true nature became clear. She blinked then tilted her head to the side. "Scott... That... Is that...?"

"Yes. At first I spent most of my energy trying to do one thing with a lot of one element. However, after practicing this morning, I discovered there was even more to my recent discovery..." Scott began to laugh a little.

He became a bit giddy as he explained what he'd learned about his powers. Once he realized how his magic worked, several things began to fall into place. Tiny amounts of elemental energies could be woven together to create phantom images. They held no special power at his level of skill, but they were still neat.

"I used a combination of several elemental energies to create a sort of illusory image. It was actually really easy to do after I figured out the basic steps! Once I discovered that combining tiny amounts of elemental energy from several elements would allow me to—"

"No, no. I get that. What I want to know is if I'm looking at a giant pair of boobs using a cloud as a backdrop," she said, her voice slightly higher pitch than normal.

Scott's expression was soft and disarming as he said, "Yes. Yes, you are."

Rhea looked at the boob symbol in the sky then realized something. "They look familiar."

"Well, they should," said Scott. "They're the best in the business."

"Scott..." began Rhea in an embarrassed tone of voice.