Gala's Garden

((This is Aim))

Gala's mansion, formerly the site of a terrible "accident" that threw the Teksqp momentarily into a state of disarray to which even they were unaccustomed, sits in ruins at the top of a tremendous hill. Hulking gray men swarm the structure like worker ants, setting into motion the elaborate process of reconstructing their mistress' abode. Those entering the area did not approach the laborers; instead, they headed around to one side of the hill, where a tremendous wall of hedges awaited them.

Thankfully, the shrubbery did not form a maze; that coupled with the nature of the host would have been highly suspect. Instead, the guests found themselves in an open-air garden covered in flowers and shining in the sunlight. The few Teksqp who had been crazy enough to enter amongst the group almost forgot about the awful night they'd been subjected to earlier at the hands of their hostess.


Navis of all backgrounds and shapes entered the site of the Flora Allura festival, funneling through a gate at the front. Two imposing, gray-skinned navis wearing welding masks and long industrial aprons over worker's fatigues stood at the front, handing visitors tiny nametags, pinched in their grossly over-sized fingers. They were completely silent, but inside, the air buzzed with conversation.
VenusMan's beam shot from the sky towards the surface where he materialized and took a look around him. It wasn't hard to differentiate between the gray and non-gray figures in the area. "Guess they know the way," VenusMan spoke to himself, eventually realizing that this was the way as he spotted a more botanical area. "So... Floral arrangement," VenusMan continued to speak to himself, but also to Satou, "You know I don't actually know anything about flowers."

"But..." Satou started, "You're VenusMan."

"Yes, and you're a human. So you know everything there is to know about blood?" VenusMan rebuked as he started walking towards the gate that was seemingly guarded by hardly impressive guards. After some swift verbal communication with the gray Navis, VenusMan got his nametag and attached it to the right side of his jacket.

"So if you know nothing of flowers, how are we going to do this?" Satou asked while opening some information pages about random flowers, as he had no idea what to expect.

VenusMan shrugged. "I just use them for combat," he said and looked around the garden, taking careful steps not to bump into anyone else as the pods on his back were rather big. "It's a shame I know nobody here..." he muttered to himself and decided to take the initiative on this 'issue'. Of course he had a much larger interest in women than men, so he decided to pinpoint a random female Navi in the crowd and walked over to her. "Hello, lady. Are you here for the contest too?" he asked the Navi, putting on a nice smile and trying his best not to show his fangs. He was still in his regular outfit, including his helmet, so the bottom side of his face was the only thing of notice in this situation but even that could've scared certain people away.
It turned out to be rather difficult for VenusMan to avoid bumping others with his shoulders, but luckily, everyone else was doing it too to a lesser degree. Really, it looked like the event planner had far overestimated the capacity of their garden. "This crowding... I don't like it! That masked vixen is at it again..." a woman's voice came from nearby VenusMan. Since the owner of the voice was busty and traveling alone, they seemed like a good person to engage in conversation with.

The woman was clearly an NP officer, based on the insignia adorning her badge and the subject of her conversation (seemingly with herself). Her hair was an unnaturally vibrant shade between red and plum, held into an exceptionally long ponytail. Her armor was all blood red as well, covering her with gloves, boots, and shouldered breastplate. The rest was covered by a black navisuit, which fit her curves snugly like she wanted someone to notice... But then, a lot of navisuits were like that.

Unfortunately, her eyes didn't register much of a reaction as VenusMan began speaking to her. The eyes were a red color just as striking as her hair and armor, pretty and with long lashes, but her attention seemed divided. "Yes, citizen. I am Public Safety Officer Pome. I'm not here just for flowers, however!" she announced, seeming more focused on him now that she'd gotten through with her own introduction. She held one hand to her breast and continued with a theatrical tilt of her head. "I am also here to ensure the safety of everyone attending this event. It's a potentially unsafe environment with the notorious Gala at the helm."

She studied VenusMan's face long enough to register that he wasn't privy to the reason for her caution. "In that house right over there, the one being rebuilt right now, that maniac unleashed death traps upon guests of her own party! Members of her own faction! Ordinarily, I wouldn't lose any sleep over what happens to Teksqp officers, but that sort of treachery to one's brethren is inexcusable! Such a vile woman... Although, if she was an NP officer committing sabotage from within, that would make her an honorable woman instead. Hmmm...?" the officer mused, smiling in a funny way as her thoughts drifted. She left VenusMan as if in a trance.

A hand clapped one of his broad shoulders; before he could turn around, the navi circled to his front. "That's the NetPolice for you... Too busy stiffening up a party to even make eye contact with the people they're serving," the navi sighed. It was a very politically charged greeting, but at the very least, she seemed unoccupied enough to speak with VenusMan. "She's a pill, don't you think? Someone like that can't win an artistically charged competition like this... But then again, there's not much chance anyone can win while I'm here. Hm hm hm!"

The navi who'd spoken up was dressed in an unassuming white sun-gown with a matching, wide-brimmed hat, along with short gloves and sandals in the same color. Her feet looked slim and somewhat unfamiliar in a society where nearly everyone either wore shoes or had no feet. Her hair fell down in brown curls, wild everywhere but her face, where she'd brushed them expertly away. Large, dark sunglasses covered her eyes, providing contrast to her vividly red lips, which were curled into an amused smile. Most importantly, she had a terrific rack, much bigger even than the previous girl's.

"That's a bit of miscommunication that's turned this party from a simple gathering into a farce. True, there were murderous machines all inside that house, but what Teksqp member wouldn't have a few? It was another navi that activated them all. The crime of it all is just that our pretty, unfortunate hostess doesn't have the ability to drop that smile," she chuckled. "I know all of this because I'm a card-carrying mafioso, you see. My name is Chic and I'm with Vivarte. I tend to ramble on about myself, but only because I'm pretty great," the navi boasted, tilting her head up in a proud gesture (although also perhaps to compensate for her shortness compared to VenusMan). "What's your name? And please, tell me you're not here to protect us from giant mechanical hands springing out of the hedges."

While the navis conversed, another navi in a fancy, low-hemmed red dress with a gold-colored, fuzzy boa draped over her shoulders mounted a stage, formerly hidden behind the crowd. Her skin was so white and pale that she looked like porcelain, providing stark contract to the colors of her makeup and the crimson feathers and sequins twinkling all over her outfit. The distinct, gold mask covering her face ironically gave the crowd a hint as to her identity as the hostess. She started to speak into a microphone, then realized it wasn't on. One of the grey men began to shove people out of the way, heading towards the stage to help out Gala.
As much as VenusMan had wanted to have a regular conversation with a Navi at the party, the first person he had met was hardly a person to hold a simple chat with. It was hard for VenusMan to get a word in as he listened to Pume, nodding his head a few times and confirming what she said with a mere sound. Before he realized it she had already turned away to depart from the conversation. "What's this about death traps though... Well, I'll just be careful and-" VenusMan was thinking, but his train of thought was pulled to an abrupt halt by a seething pain in his shoulder. "Why... This pain..." he thought as he gritted his teeth while the female Navi who had inflicted this pain came into his view. He just listened to her while the pain started to fade away, sometimes glancing at his shoulder to see what she had done to him. "Nothing..." he thought. Not a trace of an attack or anything could be seen and nothing in his system had registered anything peculiar. Just the pain.

"My name is VenusMan," he finally spoke to the girl who had introduced herself as Chic. Now his mind wasn't on the pain and carefully listening to her words anymore, he could finally take a good look at the Navi and was visibly impressed by her appearance. "I'm here for the contest, but if something were to happen to you I don't see why I wouldn't save you," he said, looking at the girl with a small smile on his face. He didn't want to sound too gentle or anything, as it was his understanding that girls preferred the tough guys over the nice guys. "But don't read too much into it. I'd only protect you because I want to," he quickly added to it.

Looking around the area he noticed more people come in and the hostess of the contest making her entrance. "Floral arrangement, huh..." he muttered to himself, then took a glance at Chic. The only other woman he had met were Phero and Pome, but this Chic felt very different. "You know," he spoke as he looked over at the hostess of the show of who he could guess that it was Gala, "If I had you by my side, I would have the most beautiful flower. Winning this contest would be a breeze." Unless, of course, if she was one of the participants. VenusMan quickly realized that this was probably not far from the truth and just decided to remain quiet. He had already said enough.
((Phonepost please excuse typos))

The woman frowned momentarily, realizing she had somehow injured her new acquaintance with a simple slap to his shoulders, which looked armored. If she was worried and about to apologize, however, those thoughts were derailed by Venusman's hammy pick-up lines. "What a gentleman! I should let you know that the last white knight who stepped up for me was nearly killed by the Teksqp Rank 1," Chic giggled in response. "Well, there are worse things a man can be than a flirt and I'm a sucker for praise. I will warn you, however, that I do intend to compete."

"Testing, testing," the amplified voice of the woman in red sang out from the stage. Her voice seemed even more whimsical and sing-song than Chic's. It was hard to imagine she was making it sound that way without trying. As Chic had mentioned earlier, her face seemed frozen in a smile that was at once charismatic and unsettling. "Thank you all for joining me here in my lovely garden. My workers have done their best to pretty it up but they've never shared much of an eye for aesthetics and I couldn't oversee the matter personally, so busy I've been with my mansion." It led one to wonder why she deemed a garden party necessary under such circumstances, but no one spoke out. "We're going to start with a simple qualifier. Please hold your place and one of my workers will come issue the test. Be as still as you can! They can be testy."

Murmurs ran through the crowd as everyone stiffened up, some obsessively so, as if they thought they were going to mess up a CAT scan if they budged. "Best of luck to you," Chic encouraged her new friend. There was something a little tantalizing about watching her entire body frozen, save the swell of her breast as she breathed in and out.

At the very least, no screams or panic was breaking out. It was hard to tell what kind of test Gala was issuing to the participants. After a bit of a wait, one of the giant men approached VenusMan. Wordlessly, it handed him a long roll of paper and a pen...

It was a test.

Quote ()

Word Association.

1. Scissors?

2. Fire?

3. Kitchen?

4. Loud?

5. Clown?

6. Cell?

7. Break?

8. Master?

9. Revenge?

10. Gala?

Please write and speak each of your answers. Thank you~
"What?" VenusMan thought to himself, following suit with the other people and stiffening up as commanded aside from a single raised eyebrow, "Is this for real?" Eventually one of the workers appeared in front of VenusMan and VenusMan got the chance to finally read the page. But as he did so, he was struck by a dilemma. "If I'm not allowed to move, how do I write...?" But in accordance to the test, he assumed he was allowed to move if it was to write. This was a strange event.

"Let's see..." he muttered to himself as he looked over the list quickly before returning to item number 1. After understanding the principle, but not the reason, he took the pen he was given and brought it to the paper while speaking his answers out loud as was ordered. "Rock, red, home, Operator, Operator, captured, pieces, myself, victory, dancing." He then handed the paper and the pen back to the worker as careful as possible, not wanting to cause any trouble with the workers.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Satou's voice chimed into VenusMan's private audio channel.

VenusMan looked away and communicated with his Operator without moving his mouth. "You're all clowns," he straight out told Satou, "Without us you'd be nothing. But unfortunately we are mere puppets, so our situation is not much better."

Satou remained quiet for a moment, before replying to VenusMan. "I don't think you're a puppet," he replied quietly, although VenusMan just scoffed as was shown on the PET's screen.
The creature paused for a moment, as if processing. Finally, it resumed its heavy breathing and simply moves on to interviewing Chic. "Puppets? You should allow yourself a little more gratification, or at least some personal liberty. There are modern services that can help a navi ensure mutual satisfaction along with his or her operator," Chic offered. It sounded like she had some experience with the subject of dissatisfaction with one's operator. It probably wasn't very good of her to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to in such close proximity.

The servant thrust another pad and pen to her. "Tailoring, liberating, cooking, foolishness.... foolishness, jail, fix, servant, justice, hostess." Her poker face was pretty good, but there was an unmistakable, challenging smirk when she heard the word "revenge." It clearly held some meaning for her.

The monster-like man stood in front of her for a longer period than it had VenusMan. Something in her statement may have raised a flag. She continued to smile, unafraid as the creature pulled a sculpting chisel from its apron and raised it above her head. "Now now," Gala's voice spoke from the microphone, "I think we can let that slide."

The creature grunted and moved on. Things seemed to keep on mostly smoothly there on...

Until a wail pierced the air; somebody had apparently given an unsatisfactory answer. The crowd spread to form a circle around one navi, a fully metallic man with a large wedge jammed into the bald curve of his skull. "What? What?!" he growled, more enraged than hurt.

"Oh dear, you raised a few too many flags," Gala apologized.

"What the hell kind of flags?! Do you just hate stoves? Shackles maybe? Mimes?!" he answered, putting special emphasis on the last to show how ridiculous the assumption of guilt had been.

"Yes sir, I do very much hate mimes," she answered, smiling sweetly. With a flick of her hand, she ordered the creatures to surround him and throw him out. He went along with severe protesting.

"... I wonder if the events of that night left her mental health even worse than before...?" Chic mused, unable to deny that something was wrong. "Not that a man who loves monochrome has much place in a competition of flowers."

Several people hastily exit the net. The crowd thinned considerably. "Congratulations to those remaining! You have passed the preliminary test and you will all receive a prize of 700 zenny on the merit of not being murderous mimes," the host sang. "Now, I want everyone to find a partner..."

VenusMan would have to choose... although it looked like he could have his new Mafia friend if he wanted her. She was already looking in his direction with a presumptuous smile.
VenusMan glanced at Chic as she gave her answers, a smile appearing on his face as she gave the same answers for the same items albeit different answers than himself. He also made a mental note of her smirk at talking about 'revenge' so he could ask about it at a later date. Once the gray Navi continued, VenusMan just spent the time looking around while the questioning continued. "I wonder what flags there are..." he thought to himself as he heard the commotion of the metal man.

Then came a rather unexpected command from Gala. A partner. "That would've been easy, but she's not around..." VenusMan muttered to himself, then looked upwards, "Do we have Phero's number?"

"That's a Navi you met in the past?" he asked, but then shook his head. "I don't have anything about Phero in my PET or your database. Did you forget to ask her?"

"M-maybe," he continued to mutter, "Her Operator would've been helpful. Dharma something, wasn't it..." His mind then continued to browse through the other Navis he had met. "There's Pume and Chic," he thought, glancing at Chic and noticing her smile, "Yeah, I think it's an obvious chick. Err, pick." Properly turning towards Chic, he smiled and held his hand out towards her. "I'd love to have you as my partner, Chic," he said, but was quick to add more to it, "But don't get me wrong, it's just because I think I have the most chances to win with you." While he tried his best to match his facial expression to the latter words, it was a total lie. If he had to work together with someone, he figured he might as well pick someone nice to look at.

While VenusMan was undergoing negotiations for a partner, Satou had stepped away from the PET to look up some information on flower and a contact number for a 'Dharma Something'. While he had no success on Dharma, he did find the other information he was looking for and called VenusMan's ex-Operator for help. "We've got this in the bag," he said.
"Well, of course. Ordinarily I would tell you to get in line, but I think I like you just fine. We'll work well together," Chic agreed, happy that they'd managed to team up without any awkwardness. Smooth sailing...

Well, not quite. VenusMan managed to catch Pome out of the corner of his eye, looking upset and irritated. Had she wanted to get close to a mafia operative to keep an eye on her? Had she just wanted him to team with her? Maybe she secretly liked Chic? It was hard to tell. Reluctantly, she teamed up with another NP officer, a guy dressed in an outfit made out of thin wooden pipes that made him look like a walking musical instrument.

Chic was clearly staring behind VenusMan, despite her shades. When is looked back there, he noticed a skeleton-thin girl in green and brown, glaring at his partner.

"Fortunate harlot
You're lucky he jumped the gun
I deserve that man"

The creepy, anorexic girl spoke in haiku, but more disturbingly, she spoke as is she was certain VenusMan would have picked her if given the chance. More worrying than any of that was the fact that her eyes were glimmering and dead locked on his ass.

Chic gave her a coy smile and shooed her off. In the end, the twiggy woman created a duplicate of herself and entered to team with it. Amazingly, Gala did not object. Other guests around the area.grouped together until everyone had a pair. "I see everyone has picked a partner. Let me explain: although there are two of you, only one of you needs to be creative. The other only needs to look good. This is because one of you will be the artist and the other will be the canvas. How exciting!" she announced.

"Like... wearing floral arrangements?" Pome asked with a dubious, uncertain hesitation in her voice.

"Exactly!" the host cheered, pressing her hand together.

The thin and scary girl rubbed her bony fingers together with a wicked smile, her tongue tracing her lips in a vulgar way. Chic seemed worried, like she'd wanted to pass the buck, but she knew that would be criminal given the clear lust for man-ass that the other girl possessed. "What do you think? Should I model or design? I'm an expert at both, you know?" Chic offered, smiling with put-on confidence.

"You all will have to purchase the materials for a nominal fee. My servants will be carting them out shortly. Please be patient until they arrive," Gala further explained.

Chic was obviously nervous at the prospect. Given her overt sexuality, it was hard to imagine she was worried about her body. There was no guarantee that she'd even be overly exposed. All the same, sweat rolled down her cheek, indicating her anxiety.

"I'll be providing .GMOs that will cover your body like a canvas while the arrangement is applied. It will carry all of your ordinary appearance but hide your body, more or less, until it is time to flaunt your partner's masterpiece."

Chic wasn't able to hide her sweat now. Something about hearing that last part seemed to have set her off. Still, she didn't reconsider her position. "You don't want to be anything close to naked around that Bonsai girl. I had better-" she paused to gulp, then reset her smile, "had better do the modeling in this situation."

She had offered and it was an amazing opportunity to work with the exposed body of someone who appeared to be a supermodel. Furthermore, there was the creepy haiku girl (and her new twin) to worry about. On the other hand, he might be putting Chic on the spot.
VenusMan just smiled as he was glad she had accepted the invitation, although he doubted she would've denied it, and looked around at the other people to see how their matchups went. Eventually he noticed Pome, the only other Navi he had spoken with, and she was... Disappointed? "Am I that desired?" VenusMan thought to himself. Pome looked good, but VenusMan didn't really see himself working well with her. "Digital note... Apologize later," his thoughts continued and he continued looking around.

The idea that he was 'desired', however, was not always a joyful scenario. Maybe it was her way of speech or her eyes, but as soon as VenusMan noticed the girl standing behind him he quickly took the necessary steps to partially stand behind Chic as if to protect himself from the new encounter. He didn't want to show fear on his face, trying to keep his face as straight as possible, and only managed to calm down when she directed her attention elsewhere. "Sorry," VenusMan stated once he stepped away from Chic's 'protection', "I'm... Bad with people creepier than myself."

The preparations for the contest continued as VenusMan listened to the 'rules'. "An artist and a canvas, huh..." VenusMan muttered to himself, then took a glance at Chic. At first he was looking forward to using his partner's body as a canvas, but as he focused on her it became apparent she seemed to be nervous about something. "Maybe it's about the modeling thing?" he thought as she suggested taking up the model role. But then a lightbulb flickered on in VenusMan's digital cranium and he looked around himself. "The scary one seems to like me and Pome seemed to be disappointed I paired up with Chic..." his thoughts rattled on as a plan formed, "Apparently the women dig me, so I should model. Yes."

"No offense, Chic," VenusMan started as he crossed his arm and looked her over, ending at her face, "But we're dealing with flowers here. If one of us should be the model, I think I should be the one." With his head he nudged over to the flower pods attached to his back and the vines that were caressing his gauntlets. "I'm used to them," he said, but then paused and looked Chic over again, "But if this were a beauty contest, you'd definitely be the model I'd pick."

"Wait," Satou's voice rang in, "So we're not going to be dealing with the flowers?"

"We won't be," VenusMan replied, keeping his audio channel unchanged for inner and outer communication, "I'll be the model and Chic is going to be the artist. Her sense in outfits is better than mine."

It remained quiet from Satou's side, but the sound of deleting files was heard a few times. "Then we'll be counting on you, Chic," Satou eventually said, using VenusMan's audio channel.

"Oh, and..." VenusMan said softly as he came closer to Chic's face, "I have a sort of second mouth in my abdomen. If you can cover that up, much obliged. Aside from that, I'm leaving this completely up to you." A short smile then surfaced on VenusMan's face before he pulled his head away from Chic's again, "I'm sure we'll win this."
"That Bonsai is a merc with a very high opinion of herself... I guess the insane fit in pretty well here, but I still don't like to see her here. Don't worry, she prefers to pick on single prey. So long as we are together and on Mafia turf, she won't bother you," Chic reassured her friend. It was hard for her to be comforting when she still look so distressed for whatever reason. Her look brightened up when VenusMan offered to model, however. "Really? I suppose that would work better after all... We could take advantage of my talents and I wouldn't have to show my.... A-Anyway, thank you for offering. And I think we should show off that mouth of yours! If Gala is judging that's all the better. She loves things like that... But if you don't want to, we won't. Still, men's fashion is best with a little top nudity, if you ask me."

Many big devices, looking disturbingly like hospital gurneys, were brought out. Some were empty while others were filled with flowers and vegetation for purchase. "Don't worry; I will spare no expense in making you into a prize winner," Chic chuckled. Other contestants started lying down on the flat beds while the gray guys passed around .GMOs. One came by to hand VenusMan his...

((BodyCanvas.GMO received!))

"You can wait till I get back to activate that if you like. How do you feel about your body, anyways?" she asked, beginning to blush a little as she realized the implications. "It might help me know how much material to pick up..."
"If you think showing off my botanical friend," VenusMan started to speak to Chic as he held a hand over his abdomen by the green part of his bodysuit, "would help us win, go ahead. It's not like it's a secret, but more like... Awkward. I'd think a woman would quickly turn away if she found out her date carried around a data-hungry entity in his body..." A moment later he accepted the GMO and examined it swiftly before turning to look at the bed. He listened to Chic talking about getting the materials and her question of what he thought of his own body. Before answering, however, he decided to initiate the GMO. "Hey Satou," VenusMan spoke out to this Operator, "Can I send my pods out of view and call 'em if I need 'em?"

"I don't think that's an issue," Satou said, following it up with an explanation, "Even with that GMO, you're still VenusMan. Your data to command them should remain unchanged."

With his answer received VenusMan disengaged his pods, allowing them float freely without being attached to their vines, and launched them far into the sky while spiraling around each other. He stared at them until they were too far, then looked at Chic and smiled, "Just a precaution." Having made his preparation, he initiated the GMO and continued to speak to Chic while his body changed to that of the canvas GMO, "Not really sure what I think of my body. I'm not really muscular, kind of lanky." He then got onto the bed and laid down. "Oh wow, this is uncomfortable..." he muttered, glaring at the bed below him, and then looked at Chic again, "My skin is pale as you have probably seen, so maybe you can do something with that." He then put his hands over his body and touched around his abdomen with his fingers. "Around here..." he said as he traced an area on his body, "is my mouthy friend." Trying his best to make the bed comfortable beneath him. "I'm in your capable hands, Chic," VenusMan said as he relaxed his body and made himself ready to become art.
"Well, lanky isn't bad. Male models do have their abs, but I think that at a Teksqp party, a hungry plant in the center of your body is probably considered pretty fashionable! No offense," Chic explained hastily, realizing he might take offense at being lumped in with the weirdo class of the Mafia. "Anyways, thank you for agreeing to do this. This suit is certainly interesting..."

The suit gave VenusMan's body, giving his shape a mixture of glow and lamination. It was like being covered in thick, shiny. textureless gelatin. As Chic went to touch it, however, placing her hand slightly above where she assumed the mouth to be, she was surprised to feel that herhand seemed to go right through and touch his chest. VenusMan could feel the pads of her fingers and palm explore for a second and then draw back. "Wow..." she whistled, looking preoccupied with a sudden thought. With that pensive expression, she went off toward the items table.

Bonsai (both of them) were still eyeing him greedily. Gala was busy conversing with a man in a turban. Pome was watching Chic like a hawk (the NP officer's outline in the canvas .gmo looked pretty good). Chic came back quickly enough, carrying a bundle of leaves, flowers, and grass that would have to serve as clothing.

Her face was still thoughtful, but also rather red. Sensing that her quietness might be making VenusMan uncomfortable, she gave a laughing smile to try to take everyone's edge off. "Ah... you know... if we want to get the best results possible out of this," she started, then pointed downward on VenusMan's prone body, "I'm going to have to touch it..."

One could hope she was talking about the mouth, but they would be disappointed; she was pointing at the groin. "It is pretty typical for male models... The um... Well, it works best if you cam tuck it a little into the wardrobe, since men in briefs are hotter than men in skirts... But, whatever, tell me if that's a problem," she chuckled, clearly unsure whether she needed to play this down as no big deal or make it clear that she didn't just go around touching the junk of guys she just met.
A red glow surfaced on VenusMan's face as he felt the touch of Chic on his chest. It was light and short, but considering the situation it was still a woman touching his pretty much naked body. He simply turned his head away, trying to keep a tough guy's act up, and pretended it was nothing.

Once he realized Chic had left for the art items, VenusMan looked around after sitting up slightly. The first person he encountered was the duo of Bonsais, immediately sending a shiver of fear down his spine and his head was quickly turned away. Noticing Pome in the distance with the canvas GMO on, he just smirked wide. "A well nurtured flower," he commented to himself and continued to look around at the other contestants. "If things go right, we should win," VenusMan stated, also looking up at Satou.

"Well, we won't be fighting from the looks of it, so I'm kind of bored," Satou commented. It was true what he had said. This was a domain he had little input in and there was no need for chips. "I'll stay close, but I'll probably go do something else now," Satou said and a moment later VenusMan could hear his Operator's footsteps fading away.

"Well great..." VenusMan said with a disgruntled expression until Chic returned. Quickly taking his position on the bed again and awaiting her commands, if any, like a sculpture waiting to be fondled by chisel and hammer. But the hammer quickly struck onto the subject VenusMan was not too fond of. He did his best to keep his expression as 'tough' as possible, but in the end an awkward emotion surfaced on his face. "Well..." he started, his voice breaking up in the act, "You know..." It had to be done. It had to be said. After raising an arm, he gestured Chic to get closer to his face because he had absolutely no interest in announcing this information to everyone. "I, you know..." he started whispering to her, "Wasn't programmed with one... Completely smooth." With his raised arm, he wriggled it around a bit as if imitating his vines, slash, tentacles. "I have other things with a similar functionality..." he admitted, clearly indicating the existence of 'things' instead of 'thing' and letting the rest of the details to Chic's imagination. "So don't worry about touching anything you don't want to touch..." It was clear from VenusMan's appearance right now that there were no visible vines on his person, but one would get curious what this meant about his regular outfit and his weaponry.
"Ah! Well, thaaat... makes things easier," Chic responded after hearing VenusMan's explanation of his anatomy. Her confused smile, however, seemed to indicate that the answer posed its own set of problems. "So... when you touch things with those tentacles... if they serve a similar purpose... N-Nevermind," she shuddered. That mental image seemed to scare her more than the mouth on his chest did.

"But yes, not having to tuck will make this simple. Now I can decorate the lower body with some degree of freedom," she started, then raised one eyebrow. "Do you have a butt? she whispered discreetly, so that the Bonsai twins wouldn't overhear.

"I'm not sure if you're the kind of guy who is defensive about your hair, but we will need to change it; lack of focus on the head just looks lazy in fashion competitions. Braiding would take too much time, but I think I could weave a hair accessory and funnel your locks through. You'll look like Venus! Only, er, man," she reiterated, knowing that the clarification was important.

The other groups started working as well. The bonsais went on and on about how they would win with proper twig appreciation and, to everyone's dismay, were probably going minimalist. Pome continued to watch Chiceven ad the guy nervously tried to decide how to approach the issue of dressing her lower body.

"I should warn you, I get in the zone when I design. So if I do anything strange, just chalk it up to that. Now, let's start with your hair!" Chic began with a smile, moving out of sight behind the gurney. She came back into sight from a bizarre perspective, her breasts nearly hiding her face thanks to the worm's eye view granted by his low to the ground position.

She ran her fingers through his hair a few times experimentally, then began arranging it with such speed and motion that VenusMan had no idea what kind of hairstyle he was going to end up with. Thankfully, she wasn't cutting anything, but he could feel her rubbing some kind of liquid into his hair... had that been over with the plant parts?

Because of his position, there was no danger of getting anything in his eyes. As such, there wasn't much to do but just watch her bosom for a while. After a short time, she drew back, her hands coated in some ominous, green goo. "Perfect! This will be a project to be proud of! Now I need to work in the under layer of the wardrobe! We'll just... excuse me...!"

Still "in the zone," Chic gathered her ingredients up (a thick mat of various leaves) and climbed onto the gurney with VenusMan. Apparently, she figured that having no junk meant that VenusMan's lap would be fine for anything. As such, and sat down on his chest and began matting the leaves down with the goop, gelling up his Ken part with slow, circular rubs. Her legs were spread on either side of his body as she kneeled and her alarmingly (but not unpleasantly) weighty hips bared down on him, her softness pushing down through the thin sun dress. A little bit lower and she would have plopped her butt into his abdomen mouth...

It did give him a pretty good view of her as she worked back and forth with her arms, looking like she was doing something pretty lewd. Her dress and arms were beginning to catch flicks of green goo as well.
As VenusMan started to realize what he had just revealed to Chic and as he heard her words about the matter, he quickly tried to prevent her from getting the wrong thoughts. "No no no, they're not like that all the time. Only when I... Y'know, want them to," he quickly tried to say, although the incorrect ideas were already formed. And of course the reveal was followed by an obvious question. "Yeah..." he replied, not sure why Chic was whispering to him as he did not have issues with this particular scenario, "I guess my original creator couldn't find a substitute..."

Considering he had no questions for Chic himself, he became silent and kept his body as motionless as possible. But even as he did so, he didn't have a bad time in his position. With every movement Chic made to 'doll up' VenusMan, he could clearly see her body swaying in front of him. The touch of her fingers going through his hair was certainly an enjoyable sensation, something he could get used to were it not for the green snot on her fingers once she finished. "I never thought about it, but... If she held my vines 'that way'... I wonder what'd come out..." he mused in his mind, followed by the decision that maybe he had green 'fluids'.

He followed her movements the moment she went for his lower body and while everything he had told her was true, he withheld the fact that he was still very sensitive at his lower body. Which he could clearly feel when she started working on his lower body. "Oh god," VenusMan mused and closed his eyes. With the warmth from Chic's body and her fingers on his lower body, what could possibly go wrong with this scenario?

"Enjoying it?" Satou said as a window appeared in front of VenusMan's face. The boy was smirking, understanding what was going on with his Navi and his partner. "I'm just here to check on you guys," he said, still smiling and diverted his attention to Chic.

"W-weren't you doing something else, Satou?" VenusMan asked of his Operator, trying his best to keep his voice as normal as possible despite the obvious sensation going through his body.

"Hrm... I am doing something else," Satou said and held up a handheld video console in his hand so VenusMan could see it. Once VenusMan realized this, temporarily pulling him away from the erotic scenario he was in, he could hear the sound coming from the audio transmission. "Hey Chic," Satou started and the digital window floated a bit higher so Chic could hear Satou's voice properly, "I would be careful with where you sit on VenusMan. Where there's a mouth, there's also a tongue."

VenusMan's eyes enlarged as he heard his Operator. "W-what are you saying?" he said to his Operator, "T-that has nothing to do with this." His voice was obviously cracking under the pressure of Chic's being. "I-I say Chic should continue this way. Y-yes," he remarked with a smile on his face that was being far too obvious in showing the way he felt right now.
"Interesting to know," Chic commented noncommitally on the subject of VenusMan's tendrils. So far in the zone was she that she barely seemed aware of anything, not even the subtle body language coming back every time her hands circled.

Satou's voice managed to bring her back to reality; she started pressing the mat of leaves over VenusMan's lower body as she talked. "A tongue as well, hm? You must get all sorts of strange sensory receptions that most of us wouldn't understand," the mafioso laughed, trying to make light of the subject and not draw attention to VenusMan's awkward voice inconsistency. "Don't worry, I will be a little more careful."

She shifted a bit in his chest so that she wouldn't be quite so heavy on his chest. After a little bit longer, she finished that portion up. "Great! I'll get the back later; I won't need to be so careful since it's likely to be under less stress if you have to move and won't be examined so closely. Now, I have an interesting idea for the chest..."

She turned again, this time sitting on his lap. She suddenly realized how this must feel, if he was indeed taking in a sensation there, and impulsively scooted up. While she appeared to be settled in comfortably, VenusMan could see the front of her dress caught on the outline of his mouth's "teeth." If he wanted, he could do all sorts of nasty things from that kind of position: if he could even thrust his chest up a bit, he could probably lift her skirt. Or much worse, actually.

The fashionista busily worked on his chest now, painting it lightly with the goop on her fingers and screwing up her tongue with thoughtful exertion. She began to decorate it with some sort of flower petals, forming a pattern. Her face and bust were both close now as well, but she was looking only at her work. Much of her lower body and also her arms were now covered in the nature-based glue.
Somehow it wasn't as interesting as Satou had imagined with Chic in this state. But with him not needing to insert chips or make any tactical suggestions for combat, Satou was really getting bored with the situation. Sure, he had his videogame to keep him busy but that and this were different matters. As much as he took justice to heart, right now he felt like he had to do something sneaky to get him interested.

VenusMan, however, had a wide smile on his face and gave his eyes a massive feast. "I have some ideas for that chest too," he said to himself, keeping his eyes pretty much constantly on her chest. However because of VenusMan's fascination with Chic's glorious chest, he had not realized that further downwards some interesting developments had taken place.

Satou, on the other hand, had noticed it and was about to warn Chic but realized that with her like this it wouldn't have made any change. She would've gone 'oh woops' and carried on like usual. So understanding that he could not influence the busy worker girl, his attention directed to VenusMan with his stupid smirk. "When he's like this he's not hard to read..." Satou claimed and started to think of something fun to do.

"Man, she's really beautiful," chimed through VenusMan's mind as his vision wandered to Chic's face. He couldn't really look around at the other contestants, not wanting to screw up Chic's work, so he decided to just let the others surprise him. But all things considered, he was happy with how everything was turning out.

"Hey VenusMan," Satou's voice suddenly chimed in again. VenusMan glanced over to the window Satou had opened, while squinting his eyes as if expecting more trouble from his Operator. "Are you comfortable? Nice and warm?" Satou asked.

"Yeah," VenusMan simply replied, not understanding the reason behind the question. Did it seem as if he was uncomfortable? He wasn't entirely sure, but if he was he didn't want it to have a negative effect on Chic's work. "Aren't I?" VenusMan asked, wondering if Satou was interpreting this scenario differently.

"Oh no. You look comfortable and nice," Satou commented. While he wasn't exactly the age to be interested in women, Chic's actions did seem pleasurable and he understood what VenusMan was going through. "But... Hahaha," he laughed innocently and boyish, "I'm not feeling as comfortable, so I'll be gone again." After saying this with the window open and VenusMan being capable of seeing Satou, Satou yawned while slowly raising his hand to cover it up. A few seconds later, he raised his hand as if to say 'see you later' and left the window.

VenusMan had just nodded with his eyes to the window but the image of Satou was still in his head. As if an instinct inside of him flipped its switch, a sudden desire to yawn surfaced as he opened his mouth and did so. "Ah sorry..." he said to Chic, not wanting her to think her work was inadequate or he was getting sleepy. It was just the instinct.

But elsewhere in his body, there existed instincts as well. Like the rumbling of one's stomach for food, he could feel the impulse of wanting to yawn from his second mouth. Glancing down at the location of Carnivore, he could see what was going on. "That little...!" he yelled in his mind and immediately did his best to suppress the desire to yawn. "If he opens up now..." VenusMan thought while looking at the location of Chic and her dress, "No, if this goes wrong she'll lose all respect for me. Even if she's like 'that' right now." He closed his eyes and put all his spirit into keeping Carnivore shut. "Just pretend this is an exercise in controlling him..." VenusMan thought. In a way it was true that he still needed practice in controlling Carnivore. There was so much more Carnivore could accomplish than 'eating enemies' but to do any of it VenusMan needed to have control over it in case it went haywire.

Luckily, however, he had enough control to restrain the plant from yawning and messing up Chic's dress. "If I want to see anything of her... I'd prefer it in a better mood." he thought, "And what do I know about her? Not a lot. Actually... Maybe I can..." A little plan formed itself in VenusMan's mind. With Chic working like this, maybe she just acted impulsively to get through questions and happenings as fast as possible in order to get back to work. "Hey Chic," VenusMan started as he looked at her face while she worked on his body, "Can you give me your e-mail? So maybe we can meet again after all this is over?"
"Of course! I'm an e-mail-holic," the mafioso responded, still sounding pretty absorbed. "It's at Starsign011@ElectBusinesses.net. Yeah, it's a terrible address, but it's a work thing," Chic shrugged. "How about yours?" and added, almost as an afterthought. It might not occur to her to ask for a reciprocal address very often...

Pome was watching them both with a comical expression that was something like sobbing, seeming to stiffen up every time Chic moved her thighs and buttocks on VenusMan's chest. The wooden-armored guy was working hard, but his subject wasn't paying any attention. Bonsai had a similar look of frustration to the other contestant, although more so one of anger than sadness.

"Gentlemen, ladies! Please bring your work to a close! I'm eager to taste the fruits of your labor!" Gala announced. She was covering her eyes like a child, waiting in anticipation rather than spoiling her surprise.

"No need to panic! We just have to finish the back now," Chic assured her canvas, putting her hands underneath him to flip him as gently as possible. "My, this goop is a little sticky, even in small quantities. I'm lucky we didn't become stuck together!" she chuckled, perhaps not realizing how close they'd come to ending up in that situation; VenusMan had heard and felt a tickle like pulling off a bandaid when she got back up. Her dress was now splattered all over with the green stuff... "small quantities" was hardly an accurate description.

Chic worked quickly on the back, matting more leaves and placing in some other decorative foilage. Luckily, she didn't need to apply nearly the same pressure as she had on the front, and was mostly hanging things instead. Everything was going well.

There came a sound from beneath the gurney, like the rustle of leaves and crackle of branches. Perhaps Chic was stepping on something she'd dropped? Or could it be something else?
"ShiraiS@tgmail.net," VenusMan quickly answered, hoping he said it before Chic vanished into her work world again. He just remained still afterwards, letting Chic work as it seemed that time was running thin already.

"Hey," Satou started speaking again as the communication window appeared again, floating directly in front of VenusMan's face, "VenusMan..."

VenusMan just squinted his eyes as he saw his Operator again. "Weren't you elsewhere?" he asked, considering Satou had mentioned he left for a nap earlier.

"I didn't leave. I just wanted to mess with you," he admitted openly, but something else was gnawing at his mind. The window tilted around a bit as Satou controlled it to look elsewhere in the area. "Don't you think the use of 'taste' is suspicious?" he asked as he eventually spotted Gala.

VenusMan's mind started ideas about what Gala had meant, while he could feel Chic working on his back. "I don't think it's too weird..." he said, "From her earlier scenario with the mime guy, I'd say she's just eccentric."

"Hrm, if you say so..." Satou commented. It remained quiet between the two for a moment until Satou spoke up, his voice a bit louder, "Oh no! I almost forgot!" he started and the window vanished again.

This temporary pause gave VenusMan the time to look around again. As much as he enjoyed the interaction with Chic and meeting new people like Pome and even the creepy Bonsai, he was not exactly into being art. It was not a matter of patience, but it was simply a matter of not looking cool. "I really hope this won't shatter my image..." his mind murmured. But before he could worry more about the problems in his world, Satou opened a window again.

"I'm heading out," Satou said, "The show is soon." It was short, powerful and all that was necessary as Satou had already closed the window again.

VenusMan blinked twice, trying to register what just happened. He opened the diary program within his head, shifted through the pages involving future events and came across the answer. "Ah," VenusMan uttered quietly to himself. "I guess he'll reconnect when he's there," VenusMan thought. But with his mind back to the worrying about his 'image', he was unaware of the sounds that did not come from Chic working on his back.