Chapter 36

David had taken things easy since the princess’s party. He had another liaison with Ryland and worked a shift at Uninhibited Liberation, but decided to spend some time in the real world. He took the time to wrap up final projects at work and to order a long-term immersive reality tank.

Once the tank arrived in two days, he would be ready to play Ariel full-time.

Marv asked for a quick chat, so David opened up the chat program and entered as Ariel.

She invited Marv to join. He appeared in a few minutes.

“How are you doing, Marv?” Ariel asked.

“It’s going really well. You are keeping me busy. Are you excited?”

“Yeah. Master Kessler confirmed that I will officially be promoted to Artisan Whore at the party tonight. Well, tonight real-world.”

“That’s actually what I want to talk to you about. I got a call from Shitstorm today. They wanted to chat about marketing the Whore class and he wanted my input.”

“Cool! I’m glad you are getting recognized for your hard work.”

“Thanks. Of course, you came up, and they asked me to pass along congratulations. They are very glad they supported the whore experiment.”

Marv continued, “But Shitstorm had a warning. You have had it relatively easy so far. Most of your decisions have not been morally ambiguous. That’s not going to be so easy going forward.”

“That’s ominous, now isn’t it?”

“Yes. Do you think you’re going to be okay with that?”

“I don’t know. There are parts of what I’ve faced so far that have been difficult. But people have been there to help me out.”

“And I have no doubt that’s going to continue to be true.”

Ariel asked, “So, are you going to be at the party?”

Marv shifted uncomfortably and clasped his hands together. “I don’t know ... Last time, things got a little out of hand.”

“You’ve been a big part of our success, and I hope you realize that. You would be welcome. Out here I’m going to be a professional under our rules.

“In there, I’m going to be the best whore I can be. But part of that is respecting your limits. If you showed up and asked me to be hands off, I would be.”

“It feels really awkward having this conversation out here.”

“Well, it’s hard to have it in there if you won’t come, you know.”

Marv quirked a smile. “I guess that’s true.”

“Take care of yourself,” Ariel said. “But it would be great if you figure out what you want enough to feel comfortable celebrating with us.”

“That’s fair. I’ll let you know.”

“Do you have anything else?” Ariel asked.

Marv shook his head. Both of them signed out of chat.

David had a bit of time to kill before logging in for the big end of training party. His home felt strange. It didn’t feel lived in: he was spending so much of his time as Ariel. Yet because he had managed to tell the world about David, it didn’t feel like he was giving up on himself. No, he was changing—he was growing. And Ariel was part of that.

Still it was frightening how important the game had become in his life. Many of the people he spent his time with—cared about even—were ephemerals. And the scary thing about ephemerals was that they were ephemeral. The people he cared about could get killed in random violence, or because it was part of a quest. And yet his attachment to them was real. Dealing with in-game loss was by far the most devastating part of being a dedicated player.

He had faced it before with his other characters. The entire town where his tank had been trained was over run by ogres. And yeah, that had been a huge and rewarding quest. But he and his friends had all been crying. They would fight for a few hours, and hold each other and work through their grief while recovering. It had been intense enough that they could only manage to game every other day.

But if something happened to Berg’s Keep? That would be far worse. Well if that happened, Ariel would find people to help her out. And if David needed to, he did have friends who understood how intense game loss could be.

From the Video Blog of Ariel, the First Immortal Whore

I pack up my stuff at the training brothel. After today I won’t have a room there. This feels like it has become my home as much as David’s place in the immortal world. I feel sad leaving. But I will have a new place. As an Artisan Whore I’ll be entitled to a small room in the guild hall. And I’ll take that at least for now.

I’m not headed there directly though; I cannot check in until after I am officially promoted. Instead, I head to the Pig to hang out until the party gets going.

“Hold there!” The voice is familiar; I should be able to place it, but my mind blanks. A large gauntlet lands on my shoulder so hard that I take damage. The arm attached to the gauntlet is huge and solid.

“David! How ya doing!” Of course I couldn’t place the voice: Ariel has never heard it before. It’s Chad, or more precisely Leif Blueshield, his paladin. David and Chad have been gaming together since well before the release of Phoenix Rising.

My reaction to Chad here is complex. I’ve missed David’s friends. Chad and I became close when the city where our characters trained was overrun by ogres. Chad and David have only met a few times in the real world. But they have met. And yes, I told people that I am played by David. But sharing that with the anonymous masses is easier than standing right here with my over-large boobs showing from my sexy top.

And of course it has to be Leif Blueshield. I never really paid attention before I was Ariel, but I’m sure Leif is into some of the adult content. He talked a few times about going whoring or picking up girls. And that was his thing and the rest of us mostly ignored it. But now, he’s standing here. And I can smell that he notices me. It will be a while before I can tell if it is who I am, who I am played by, or simply that I’m an attractive girl standing right next to him. But he’s noticed me and he’s not playing with sex off.

For the first time, I reach into my settings and add an explicit exception to consent. Perhaps I take it away later, but for the moment, I’m not ready for that.

“Hi, Leif. I’m glad to see you!” And that’s definitely part of what I feel; I have missed the old gang.

“It’s so good to see you too, David, and your new character’s certainly a real looker. But how come you haven’t responded to any of our messages?”

“Messages? Where did you send them?”

“To your old characters and to Ariel.”

Oh, oops. “I haven’t logged in as any of my old characters since I started playing Ariel. And after my channel went public, things got kind of crazy, and I locked down Ariel’s contact filters fairly tight.”

“And didn’t put us on there?”

I nod. “Mostly it was a mistake. Part of it is being embarrassed. Some of you know me in the immortal world ... and Ariel is different.”

“And so now you get me in the flesh.”

“Yeah, I might not have thought that through so well. As I said, it was mostly a mistake. I didn’t even think of revising them after David visited my channel. I’m glad to see you though.”

“So, there’s something I gotta warn you about,” he says.

“What?”

“I came to Berg’s Keep this morning, and the Whores Guild said you weren’t around. But from your channel I knew that you have a party tonight.”

“How much of my channel have you watched?”

He licks his lips. “We’ve all seen your last adventure, starting from when you got dragged out of bed by the guards. But I’ve gone back and watched some of the earlier stuff too.”

“Anyway,” he said, “I wasn’t the only one asking for you. There was this reporter, Stan Walters from Go Game looking for you too. And we got to talking, and I promised I’d make sure you listened to him at least. You said you would, but it sounds like you’re not so big on press.”

I was still reeling from the idea that all my old friends—and when he said everyone, who exactly did he mean—had watched me fuck a good chunk of a village. On top of that, being ambushed by a reporter didn’t seem like a big deal.

“Okay, Stan, come on out,” Leif calls.

And from down the street comes the same guy from Go Game who was in my channel. A woman walks beside him. She’s tall, a bit above my height. “Hi, I’m Stan, and this is my camera woman Laura.” He sticks out his hand.

“I was thinking,” Leif says, “we could all go get a drink somewhere then you could get to your party. Stan wanted to know what it was like adventuring with you before, but I’m not going to talk about you without you there.”

“I’d love to do that,” Stan says, “but I think Ariel had some conditions on the interview. At least for me.”

“He’s right. I told him I’d let him interview me if he slept with me.”

“Okay, what’s stopping the two of you?” Leif asks.

What is stopping us? Do I want either of them at the party? Originally we put it together as a safe space for the rest of the trainees to be vulnerable.

Do I want to be vulnerable and open with this reporter and with Leif? I’d like to be certainly. David and Leif go a long way back. But what will Leif think of Ariel? He keeps treating me as David, and that’s just not right.

And a reporter? Being open and vulnerable in front of a reporter sounds kind of crazy. But Leif has been a good judge of character. And you can learn a lot taking someone as a client. The reason I insisted on sleeping with Stan was that I wanted to ask him to make a commitment of openness before I spent time answering his questions. And when it comes down to it, I do have time to do that before the party starts.

I decide to ask Leif what he thinks of Stan. When I go search for Leif in my filtered messages, I find several attempts to reach out from him. I add him as a friend. And inside the same city, friend messaging is trivial and real-time.

Ariel→Leif Blueshield: <So, what do you think of Stan? Is he going to fuck with me in the interview?>

Leif Blueshield: <He seemed like a nice guy. Into the game, up on how lots of stuff works. But if he messes with my friend, I’ll show him what the Stalwart Defender is all about. I’ll fuck him up real good. I always got your back.>

Yeah, and Leif always has had my back.

Ariel: <I’m nervous having you here. I mean It’s one thing to be a crazy slut in front of a bunch of strangers. But you know me.>

Leif Blueshield: <It’s going to be okay, man. It really is.>

Ariel: <I’m not David. It feels different; it’s hard to explain. But like even the whole calling me a man thing doesn’t feel right.>

Leif Blueshield: <Hmm. Help me out here to treat you right.>

Ariel: <Call me Ariel for starters. Is it going to be too awkward if I go off with him?>

Leif Blueshield: <No, take your time.>

“Okay, Stan, we’ll head to the Pig and I’ll take you up stairs. If that works out you’ll get your interview. You and Laura can hang out with Leif and I. But I may ask you to leave when the party gets going, depending on how comfortable it feels. This is a big deal for my trainee class, and we’ll need to respect that.”

“I understand.”

“Will Laura be joining us up stairs?”

The look on his face is priceless. He had obviously never considered that possibility, and it fills him with complete dread. “No, that won’t be necessary.” I give him points for not lashing out or asking me how I could even think that.

When we get to the Pig, Goodman Brown is behind the bar with a girl I don’t recognize. “Hi, Ariel. This here’s goody Greenbank. She’ll be helping out so Hulda an my goody’ll be free for ya.”

“Hi there Goody Greenbank.”

“Good day to ya an thanks for brightening up Hulda. She’s always happy, but this last month she’s like to burst.”

I smile. “I’m just getting a key. This here’s my friend Leif. Don’t let him intimidate you; he’s a teddy bear at heart. An I’ll be up stairs with a client.”

I lead Stan up stairs. I close the door behind us. I am nervous. His discomfort contributes. Beyond that, I am nervous about what an interview could be like. If he’s looking for dirt or to make me look bad, this could be painful. But to do my job as a Whore, I have to open up to him. And I’m a little guilty that I’m making him do this if he wants to talk to me.

I talk to cover my nerves. “This is the room Hulda took me to when I first hired her. It’s the first place I had sex. Right there on that bed. She brought me in here, undressed me, and lay me down on the bed.”

“Are you going to do that?”

“I can. Would you like that?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

So I remove his jacket, and fold it over the chair. Then I return for his shirt. I plaster myself against him as I reach around to unbutton it. And then I am holding him in my arms. At this point Hulda kissed me, but waves of discomfort and nervousness are rolling off him. I don’t think he’s ready for that. I do trail my hands along his muscles and smile at him.

I move onto his shoes then pants. And of course while I’m kneeling in front of him, I let my head rub against his leg, and later my hand trail along his thigh, brushing against his cock.

“So do you want to undress me?” I ask.

“That’s okay.”

I’ve gotten better at giving a striptease than when I first started. And he clearly appreciates me. Both from how he’s looking, and how lust mixes with the fear I’m smelling. But this is going to take a long time.

I guide him back on the bed and run my hands along the wisps of hair against his chest. “You look a lot like your avatar in the channel,” I say. “How much did you change to create this character?”

He grins weakly. “This is almost exactly what I look like in the immortal world. I removed a couple of scars. I’m stronger and quicker so I can actually play, but minimized how much that impacts my looks.”

My hand is making circles across his chest. His heart is pounding hard enough that I can easily feel it. “I can tell you’re really nervous.”

“I’ll get through it.” he says.

“Yeah, I’m sure I could get you through it. But do you want to? Do you want to be doing this with me?”

“You said I had to sleep with you to get an interview.”

I pat him. I almost say that getting an interview can’t be worth sleeping with someone when you don’t want to. But I’ve already pushed him hard enough and apparently it was worth it for him to try even though he clearly doesn’t want this.

“Look, at least so long as you continue to consent in the interface, I probably could have sex with you. I have high Seduction and Making Out skills. And I probably could get past your nervousness to a place where you could physically perform.

“But if you don’t want to, you’re going to feel like shit later—probably feel violated, or be unhappy with yourself. You must have done things in the immortal world and later regretted it. I’m not going to make someone go do that just for an interview.

“And if I did ... well, then, I’d probably deserve the sort of crappy coverage you gave me.”

“I’m not going to trash you just because I did what you asked.”

“If you’d feel more comfortable, put your clothes back on. Then we can go down stairs and have your interview.”

He gets up and starts getting dressed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You learned the most important lesson I wanted you to get out of sleeping with me even more than I thought you would. You’re probably going to get a couple of skills and perhaps even some experience out of what we did.”

“But I failed a quest. When I told the desk at the Whores Guild earlier that I was looking for you to hire so I could get an interview, I got a quest.”

I’m not sure how I feel about being a quest goal. No, that’s not true. I like it. “We’ll see whether that counts as a fail or just redirecting the quest. But I bet you gain skill with Vulnerability. Possibly Humiliation, although for the people I know with high Humiliation skills, that’s more about enjoying it than simply forcing yourself to do things you don’t like.

“But I think you’ve learned that being a Whore—or even being their client—is about emotions as much as sex.”

“I’ll say.”

“Every day as a Whore the game asks me to be open and vulnerable. Yeah there’s lots of sex, but there’s also lots of helping people face their fears, facing my own fears, and being ready to turn on a dime between fucking someone and giving them a big hug.” I grin. “Speaking of which, would you like a hug?”

He smiles. “I would.” I step into his arms. “You know,” he says, “lots of girls would have put on clothes before the hug if they didn’t want it to be sexual.”

I blush. “You’re right. I guess I’ve been corrupted by the game.”

He looks me over. “You know you are hot. You ... well, you certainly get me going. It’s just I don’t want to do this in a game. I mean I talked to my partner and got their permission, but neither of us was really happy with the idea.”

Oh fuck! No interview is worth that. Although apparently it was for the two of them. I feel dirty for trying to drag him through that. But I also feel like I matter. Somehow I’m worth something that crazy. Well, I better give him a good interview. I drop MarvForAriel a quick message. We discussed Go Game a bit, but I want to give Marv an opportunity to comment if he needs to.

MarvForAriel: <Guess I’ll be at the party after all.>

Ariel: <It’d be great to have you. If you need to, you can leave after the interview.>

MarvForAriel: <Nah, I had mostly decided I was going to come. You are right.>

I dress and head down stairs.

“So, the two of you had a good time?” Leif asks.

I nod. “Yeah, I think we found a real connection.”

Stan shakes his head. “Ariel, you are a class act. What she’s not saying is that I was scared out of my mind and didn’t want to do it. She called me on it and is giving the interview anyway.”

“And I’m not wrong about what I said either. I learned how far you’d go for this interview. I got closer to you. And I think you learned a little about what I’m doing as a Whore.”

He nods. “Fair enough.”

“So my viewers aren’t all as comfortable with adult content as the people who watch Ariel’s channel,” he says. “If you could keep that in mind and not get too graphic, I’d appreciate it.”

“Could the three of you sit where I can see you all?” Laura asks. “Obviously Stan will have his feed, and perhaps we’ll have Ariel’s feed. But I can watch you all from different angles and we’ll have that too.”

we shift until Laura is happy.

“So, Leif,” Stan begins, “you’ve been gaming with David for a long time? What is he like?”

“Some people know all the rules. They have their next few levels planned out. They know exactly what skills they will get.

“David’s never been like that. But he knows all the details about the quests; he knows what the story is like and what the different ephemerals want. And he knows how it fits together.

“He was also good at cheering folks up. He might not focus on the skill trees and stuff, but he knew what we were good at, and paid attention to everyone in a party. You need someone like that—someone who holds the team together.”

“How surprised were you when you heard David became a whore?” Stan asks.

“It was kind of mixed. David never played with any of the adult stuff in game. I’m not even sure if he bothered to turn it on enough that he’d even know it was going on. So if you’d asked me to put together a list of people most likely to be a whore, he wouldn’t have even been on the list. But I knew him outside of game a little. And he certainly had a sex life.”

Leif leans toward Stan. “There was this one time—”

Oh fuck, I forgot about that. “No names, Chad! Remember this is being recorded.”

“Don’t worry, man ... Anyway, there was this one time. David was dating this girl, and they invited me to come over and watch. It didn’t work out, but I guess from kinky stuff like that, it shouldn’t be surprising.”

Stan turns to me. “So, David? Ariel? What was your sex life out in the immortal world like?”

“You are talking to Ariel. So address your questions to her. And I appreciate you paying attention to that.

“But it’s David doing stuff out there, although I may slip into the first person a bit. It’s confusing, even for me. My sex life has certainly gotten a lot more adventurous since I started playing Ariel, there’s no doubt about that. But I did have some adventures out in the real world. The one Stan talks about is probably middle of the road.”

I notice Marv has slipped into the Pig and is sitting at the next table over.

“Whores are bisexual. Is David bi too, or just Ariel?” Stan asks.

“David’s bi too.”

“So do you like sleeping with men better as Ariel or David?”

“It’s different. I ... I mean Ariel likes getting fucked. And that as a girl is its own wonderful thing I’m blessed to have experienced. but having a lover whose body is like yours is hot too.” Anything more I could say would be too much for his audience. But it’s so hot to have your lover’s cock in your hand as they are playing with yours. The slickness of your hand sliding over them as you start to build up together!

“So, does Ariel give you better empathy with what it is like to be a girl?”

“I don’t know. I mean with some of the physical aspects yes, sure. But the challenges women face in Phoenix Rising are different than what they face in the immortal world. It seems like there is less discrimination about what roles women can take on. Slut shaming and body shaming are much less of a thing. But I think even more situations are sexualized than in the immortal world. So it’s certainly given me more empathy in general, but no I wouldn’t pretend to know what it is like to be an immortal woman.”

“What about empathy for being trans? The transition from male body to female body must have helped with that.”

“No, even less so there. The game is really good at helping your body feel natural. I guess if you are really not going to feel comfortable as a woman, that would show up. But I haven’t experienced body dysphoria, and I certainly haven’t experienced the kind of discrimination the trans community faces. But don’t knock the empathy you get from being someone different. Being Ariel has expanded my compassion in all sorts of ways even if that doesn’t directly apply to the immortal world.”

“So, is the sex realistic?”

“Of course not! It’s lots better! This is a game where you get all sorts of awesome powers and get to be better than life. The sex is no exception. I have the stamina, physical desire, and skill to have sex with a good chunk of a village. No way is that realistic.

“But yes, the underlying human interaction is realistic. It’s the same wonderful, hot, ecstatic, sweaty, smelly mess from the real world. And if you turn on all the realism settings, it starts out so close to the immortal world that I can’t tell the difference before the skills are added.”

“What advice do you have for someone considering playing a Whore?” Stan asks.

“It’s much more than the sex. Being a whore in game is much more emotionally open than the real world. The emotional vulnerability and sexual vulnerability will be far harder than having sex with a lot of people.”

“You had a quest where you had sex with a priestess of the Great Lady while she died in your arms. What was that like?”

“The sex made it so that I was open. And so I couldn’t just put away my emotions for after. And so I had to face that I fucked up and so she died. If we’d all been in a party—if we hadn’t lost the element of surprise—” I’m crying hard enough that I cannot really get words out.

Leif puts his arm around me. “It’s okay, Ariel.”

I get myself together. I am still tearing, but I can talk. “The scary thing is that in some ways, that quest was mild. I’d never been intimate with her before the end. I had a goddess to help with the emotional impact. What if it had been someone I knew well like the princess?”

“So that’s what you mean by emotionally challenging stuff with your class?”

I nod.

“Speaking of the goddess, there are times when it sounded like she took over your body. What was that like?”

“It was kind of like being charmed, except I knew it was happening more than with a charm. For some of it, like when she decided not to kill the gnoll, it was like a cut scene. The game was going to go in a certain direction, and I was being pulled along for the ride. That wasn’t very freaky. When she was subtly in my head, that might have been unnerving for some. But we were closely aligned enough it didn’t bother me much.”

Stan turns to Leif. “So, what do you think of your friend being a whore?”

“I think what she’s been doing is awesome. I think Ariel has found a kind of play that makes her happy. David was getting burned out on what we were doing. Ariel seems really happy. I couldn’t do it though—be that vulnerable either in front of the world on her stream or the ephemerals. No, no way!”

“So how long have the two of you been planning to get together?” Stan asks.

“I think I surprised her. Ariel disappeared entirely from our messaging, so I just came to Berg’s Keep.”

“Why is that, Ariel?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out since Leif showed up. It’s easier to be vulnerable in front of strangers or people who have only known Ariel. Mostly I can tell the people who will be jerks before I care about them enough for it to really hurt. But friends from before? This is so different and it would hurt a lot if they don’t accept me.”

Leif squeezes my hand. “We’ve got your back, no matter who you are this month.”

I smile at him. “Thanks. If you say that a thousand more times I’ll be able to start to believe it. It’s not easy.”

Stan asks Leif, “So, how would you feel about hiring her?”

“Come on Stan,” Leif says, “give the two of us a chance to catch up and discuss that ourselves. I’ll say she’s hot though! Definitely my kind of girl.”

“Well, I had to ask. I have only one more question. What advice would you have for people hiring whores, particularly immortal whores?”

“You will probably find someone willing to fulfill whatever sexual experience you’re looking for if it can be done between consenting adults. But we’re going to look for you to be open about it and connect with us. We expect to be treated with respect, as your partner. We’re not just a toy to get you off.”

“Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.”

“Thank you Stan.”

Ariel→MarvForAriel: <Did I do okay?>

MarvForAriel: <You were great!>

Stan takes his leave, although Laura asks if she can stick around for a while. I don’t have a problem with that: it’s not like I won’t be streaming everything that happens too. If she gets some extra shots there’s nothing wrong with that.

“So, tell me how it’s been,” Leif says. “I’ve watched your channel, but that doesn’t give a feel for how you are doing deep inside.”

As I try to answer, it’s clear that doing so is awkward for me. On my third attempt, he stops me. “Is there something wrong? Were you upset with us when you went off to become Ariel?”

“No! It really is just what I told Stan about. And I know it’s probably silly. I care a lot about you guys. When you put your arm around me while I was freaking out about the priestess ... it reminded me of how we always stick together.

“But I’m being such a slut. And yet it’s more than just the sex.”

“And I get that. I am not sure all the rest really do, but I’ve played with the adult content enough to understand that it’s big. What would help you open up?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps it’s just time and taking it slow.”

“If that’s what you need, we’ll be around. But is that really how you’ve approached any problem you’ve faced as Ariel? Would it help if we fucked? It seems like Ariel is physically open with all her friends.”

Quest

Fuck Your Friend Quest: What could be a quicker way for a whore to get comfortable with someone than to take them for a tumble. It’ll certainly clarify things one way or another. And hey, it’s worked before.

And if it doesn’t? Well, all the people who would hold and comfort you are already starting to arrive.

Reward: experience, skill, and hopefully restoring a connection to an important part of your life.

Cost: If this doesn’t work, it’s gonna hurt like a bitch.

Accepting this quest will adjust your consent settings. Declining this quest will have no negative impacts on game play. If we’ve gotten things totally wrong, you can decline the quest and make a terms-of-service complaint about unwanted advances from Leif Blueshield.

Quests don’t always have an explicit accept/decline selection, but I’m glad this one does. I didn’t expect to be doing much at the party. After all I had my big trust experience with Jonathan around a month ago. I mostly expected that this would be something I would help put together for the rest of the class.