AD NET Beach Queens Tournament

And she was working, and she was working, and...suddenly she wasn't working. HunterWoman frowned, but, well..."Hey, I'm not doing it because I'm enjoying it! I just don't want anyone getting burnt to a crisp! Oh, and one thing, I'm totally not airheaded! I'm not even a wind based Navi!" Fortunately for the other Navi, she didn't try to mess with the shades...even she had her limits. "You probably shouldn't take your sunglasses off now...you might end up with a sunglasses shaped burn if you do, and that's both bad and ironic! And we don't want either of those things!"

And now, it was her turn to get rubbed down. "Okay! I probably don't need as much as you, but it can't hurt! TV rays will mess you up!" As soon as Dart was up, she bellyflopped onto the towel, ready to go. "...Businesslike? What kind of business? Because that could mean a whole bunch of things...you could be like a construction worker, or a lawyer, or even one of those massage parlors that are just a front for super naughty stuff that I've heard about!"

HunterWoman spaced out for a moment afterward, which turned out to be unfortunate as her head became full of the latest order. As such, she suddenly turned around, and formed her crossbow over her arm, with a bolt already loaded, pointed right at Dart's head. "Toss deserves a better sharp pointy object that gets launched at people! She might've gone on, or even fired a shot, but by sheer happenstance, the flip had resulted in the other Navi groping her left breast, which, while not bringing her to Earth, did at least return her to the stratosphere. "Huh? Hey, why do I have this?" Her weapon of choice instantly faded, once more giving her a normal right arm. "And, uh, why are you grabbing my boob? People are gonna get certain ideas about you, if you keep doing stuff like that!" Really, she didn't care one way or the other...but she would've thought that if Dart was so bent on squeezing someone's chest, doing it to herself would be both easier and more productive, since there was more to squeeze. "I mean, if you changed your mind and wanted to get some sunscreen in there, go ahead, but just copping a feel without even asking is just rude!"

"Ufufufu.... Yes, Cutie. A penis," AdjustLady succinctly agreed with Phero, continuing her vigorous motions. "Well, it's not a real one. Would you like a real one?" she asked in a casual tone. She didn't expand on that idea any further, but put her back into the exertion of her task again. She was quiet except for the occasional grunt for a while, speaking up again once the Phero's scent had become thicker in the air. "Hm? You smell lovely," the supposed scientist cooed to her colleague, leaning over a bit farther so she could speak closer to the ear. "It's a shame the audience can't experience it vicariously, as well."

AdjustLady slowed down just slightly as Phero changed her attitude and her frequency of releasing clouds, allowing a bit of conversation. "Oh? So this type of biological interaction is actually common for you, you say? I don't think many of the audience might have guessed! Although they might have given it some thought... Anyway, Cutie, here comes the money shot! I wonder if you're familiar with this as well...? Let's find out!" The scientist briefly increased the speed and intensity of her thrusts. At the same time, she grabbed one of Phero's wrists in each of her hands and pulled her arms to her sides behind her back, holding Phero up and forcing her to lean back from where she'd been prostrated. She wasn't wrenching them, but she had suddenly become considerably less gentle. All at once, AdjustLady stopped thrusting, but also squeezed the bottle between her legs, causing a thick jet of sunscreen to launch itself onto the middle of Phero's exposed back. "Ahaha! Perfect... it feels so nice when it hits just right. When the angle is exactly correct, I mean. Ufufu..."

The scientist rose to her feet. "Stand now. I had a bit too much fun with my cute new toy, and we need to do the rest quickly. I'll rub in what I got on your back. Get the front yourself. I can see you're quite horny at the moment, but please try not to get carried away touching yourself..." the woman told Phero, bluntly. If Phero would consent, she'd pass the bottle around Phero's side, then start working the sunscreen around the shoulder blades first, moving swiftly. She didn't say more as she worked, quickly working her way up, and then down to the areas the swimsuit didn't cover. She didn't avoid getting the cheeks of Phero's backside, and was thorough in her application there, but she didn't accompany it with any more banter than a small hum, which could have been incidental. She quickly moved on to the legs, and was finished shortly after.


"I don't have any intention of taking them off," Dart re-assured HunterWoman at the start of her work, adjusting her shades self-consciously. "Them, or anything else! Anyway, let's get you TV protected," the woman said, surprisingly not catching or correcting HunterWoman's mistake. She stayed quiet as she continued, but did click her teeth at the other woman's question. "Business-like as in 'not for fun!' Not like any particular kind of business, unless 'professional sunscreen applicator' is an actual job."

There was an awkward moment where both Dart and HunterWoman were clearly distracted, neither making banter and both looking blank, Dart's hand speed slowing momentarily. As though the cause of that slowdown had the standoff for a duel, HunterWoman drew her weapon on Dart. The action elicited a sharp gasp from Dart and a quick bob of the head to move it out of the way: of course, since HunterWoman didn't actually fire, there was no telling if the bounty hunter would have been fast enough if she was actually under attack.

Dart was slow to release her unintentional grip on HunterWoman, listening to HunterWoman with a patience that might be considered polite in other circumstances. The woman frowned, then clicked her teeth, throwing the bottle at HunterLady's legs and rising to her teeth. "Yeah, all right! I get it, I'm the worst one here, all right?! I'm not even good at applying sunscreen, and I've got self-confidence issues. I'm just gonna take my stupid fat butt out into the water and keep on walking, okay?! That's what's best for the show, right? Sheesh! I get it, I'm going," she finished, turning and moving briskly for the water.

Nobody was left to finish rubbing in sunscreen for HunterLady, but Dart had probably already gotten the part that would be hard for the hunter to get herself. She could probably self-applicate, if she wanted... or she could chase down her strangely-acting foil.


Toss continued on Surf's back, with the surfer Navi still crossing her arms below her. "Gotta keep that bunny from burning~" the larger Navi sung tunelessly, easily getting the surface covered with her relatively large hands. "Gonna get on down from that bunny back to grab that bunny tail... don't want those bunny buns to burn!"

"Dude, your song is totally ten times worse than your rubdown," Surf complained, still grinning in spite of herself.

"You think so? Pass always whines when I sing and don't turn my mic off... Now, let's..." she began, wiggling her fingers and clearly getting ready to have some fun with the other woman's hips, before she trailed off with a distracted voice. "Well, going back to Pass for a sec, you know, I'm always happy to shut up if she tells me to! You know, Pass works harder than me or Dart, so I wouldn't want to get on her nerves."

"Uh-huh... yeah, dude," Surf agreed, raising an eyebrow. "When you get right down to it, Pass is important, right? Maybe I ought to, like, get out of the shot... so Pass can focus on you more?"

"No, you're fine, we need to finish this up," Toss instructed her. She was rubbing much less adventurously now, doing the job as if her mind was somewhere else. "But, yeah, I bet Pass is bored back at her page now, watching me do this instead of taking on any bad guys. How about it, Pass? You want a show?" she spoke, clearly talking to someone else now. "Aw, you're always too shy! You wanna see me shake my tail? Wanna see me take it all off? I bet I can get you excited...~"

In the meantime, Surf had obediently rolled over so Surf could get her the rest of her. She was still crossing her hands over her chest, so Toss had to work around that, but she did so without much commentary.

"Yeah, Pass, you like watching me in that room, don't you? I bet you're getting off right now, looking at me in my pretty little swimsuit! Oh, you're not? Why are you talking like that, then? Relax, I'm just teasing you... you want me to tease you more, though...?" Toss wiggled her backside in the air playfully and licked her lips, although she seemed to be doing this explicitly for the benefit of the camera and paid Surf no attention.


Everyone would have a brief bit longer to finish getting their sunscreen applied (in spite of the various wrenches that had been thrown into the application processes) before MascotMan's voice would suddenly shout out. "All right, ladies, looking good! Our play not be safe for work, but we want you working to be safe to play. We'll check in with the scoreboards in just a moment to see how your efforts were appreciated. For now-"

"For now, we're going to break," AdjustLady spoke up. "Technical issues. We'll return in just a moment, thank you all for your patience."

"... Well, you heard the lady! Back after a short break. Enjoy some words from our sponsors," MascotMan told the group, presumably shifting the broadcast to commercials. The cameras all left their coordinated flight patterns and returned to MascotMan, floating neutrally in the airspace around him. The small man took a quick walk over to AdjustLady, waving his hands. "What's the deal? The audience is hot for you ladies, you're doing a great job, even if, uh, what you're doing is kinda weird here and there? So maybe not perfect, but probably good enough?"

AdjustLady was speaking under her breath while touching her ear: it was probably safe to guess that she was talking to someone privately. Finally, she summoned all of the ladies nearby into a huddle. Toss and Surf made their way over, the former still presumably talking to her partner and the latter blankly, without any comment. Unless someone stopped her and gathered her, Dart seemed as though she was going to keep walking deeper into the water, pouting... AdjustLady made a quick bee-line for her, grabbing the woman's arm and pulling her to the crowd against her will. If she could get them all there, the woman would hold out her hand, making a "gimme" gesture by folding her fingers in repeatedly. "The devices. There seems to be some sort of glitch. I'd like to reboot and then re-tune them..." If she didn't get them quickly, the woman would continue making the gesture, tapping her foot impatiently.

As soon as any woman took out the ear-piece, she would find herself clear of any of the previous strange directions she'd received or been trying to ignore. Perhaps more interestingly, the encyclopedia of promiscuous knowledge and artificial acumen they'd gained would vanish, leaving them with only their current level of experience and whatever they managed to actually utilize from their time with the device in. Even that knowledge felt a bit fuzzy, almost like trying to recall something one had done or learned a long time ago, instead of just minutes before.

"Eh? Huh... Pass, you there?" Toss said, raising an eyebrow curiously. "I think my earpiece was bugged out for a sec- woah, calm down! You're always getting worked up over nothing," she spoke to no one gathered. "Geez, stop shouting in my ear! I said there was a bug, something wrong with the ear-piece! I think AdjustLady is fixing them... Hey, I don't know what's got your panties in a bunch, but I'm the one who's ticked! I clearly had the hottest show going on before that bug ruined it. N-no, uh, I'm not blaming you, calm down. Why, what'd you have to do with anything...?"

Dart, meanwhile, put a hand to her forehead and seemed to squint behind her shades. "Ugh... I feel sick, like... I was just really depressed, for some reason. Whatever was shouting in my head a second ago was way louder than the earlier ones... d-did you finish getting yourself?" she would ask HunterWoman.

AdjustLady would fiddle with devices she'd been handed, seeming more composed now that she'd taken out her own. She didn't seem interested in conversation, though, seeming focused on her work. Any watching more carefully would note that after messing with some knobs at her wrist, her fingers seemed to have elongated and taken on thin tips, like repair tools for electronics. She was tapping away at the various devices, shuffling them about in a way that seemed random at first glance, but inhumanly efficient, machine-like at second.

It seemed like Dart was having some drama with HunterWoman now, although it was difficult to discern why... though, even if it was easy to figure out, Phero probably would have missed the reason anyways. At least Toss and Surf still seemed to be getting along well enough. She wanted to be mindful of the others, but it was difficult when she was so focused on her own part in the act, which appeared to be that of a grinding post for what AdjustLady jokingly assured Phero was her own member. Her peachy bottom continued to respond to each thrust, jerking forward slightly every time and settling back into position against AdjustLady's pelvis. "Oh! I-It's not real..." she gasped, though it was hard to tell whether that was relief or disappointment. Having her scent complimented made her feel bashful (a bit of a silly concern, all things considered), and she hid her face in the cradle of her crossed forearms once again.

"R-Right! It's really normal! People do it all the time. Even animals do it," Phero pointed out, desperately following the voice in her head, despite its diametric opposition to her own actual feelings: that this was some sort of terribly arousing supernatural event. "I'm familiar with it. I'm very familiaaaahaaha!" she cried, releasing a thick, pink plume of mist around herself as her captor grabbed hold of her, readjusted her position and intensity, and ultimately spilled her goopy oil all over the cut-out through which Phero's back was exposed. The smell coming from the mist was still sweet, but it also created a sort of hot, almost feverish buzz just from contact... not altogether healthy feeling. "O-Oh... Oh oh oh... That feels so good," she admitted in a hushed whisper, smiling in a listless, glass-eyed expression as her face looked up at the sunny Beach Net sky. Her legs twitched in a way that made one wonder if the gas was the only thing that was coming out of her at this point.

Despite her own attempt at a sudden character change, based on what she'd been feeling, AdjustLady's sudden brevity felt like a slap in the face that she was entirely unprepared for. "... This must be what they call a one-night stand," she thought, clasping her legs back together with a guilty frown. "I-I thought we were having fun... A-And I thought, um, that you wanted to touch me," she protested, her big, gray-black eyes showing her hurt distinctly. She slowly rubbed in her front, trying to figure out if maybe she'd been a little too shameless just then... perhaps gotten a little too into it, and ruined the show. After all, AdjustLady knew the show and audience reactions with insight that the rest of the contestants didn't have... it was possible the audience was getting grossed out. "Dharma told me I should try to be pretty if I want people to like me... and that... may not have been the prettiest face just now," she admitted, feeling increasingly dejected as she worked the oil down her body. She became hesitant as she worked on her thighs, worrying if she was going to feel something particularly uncouth there, but she was relileved to find that at least she'd avoided letting anything more than her compounds out just now.

By the time the intermission hit, she looked almost as miserable as Dart did, hugging her arms around her chest and giving AdjustLady persistent sad-eyes, wordlessly begging her to tell her that she hadn't just ruined the performance or otherwise that she'd enjoyed humping her with a bottle, perhaps. She surrendered her earpiece easily enough, eager to please. She cast a sidelong glance to Dart, then sighed deeply. "Yeah... I'm not feeling very good myself either... Maybe they're malfunctioning? It seems like this show would be more effective if the instructions made us all... happy, doesn't it?" she asked, casting her eyes back over to AdjustLady. One might think she was getting a little passive-aggressive with that comment and they'd be right. Passive aggression was a pretty common outlet for Phero, given her operator.

That was probably a dead end, though, as her hump-buddy was currently occupied with something focused and scientific looking. Phero turned her attention to HunterWoman at all. "But you know, you didn't seem to change much at all. Maybe it's because you're... unpredictable... to begin with?" she asked, managing a smile. "Or is there a special trick you use?"

Dharma felt her own legs twitching beneath the coffee table and mentally slapped herself in the face. "I can't believe... I'm actually getting worked up, just from watching my idiot navi make a fool of herself, like some stupid dog in heat," she pondered angrily. "I also can't believe Phero hasn't put two-and-two together and realized that the absent... Throw... Chuck... Whatever ridiculous name that girl has, is clearly behind everyone's absurd bipolar behavior. If I were the one behind this operation, isolating her or possibly just ridding her from the equation altogether would be my number one priority to get it back on track. Worse, there's little chance the hunter is going to do anything about it... She's even worse than Phero." Thinking about being ruthless and evil brought back some of the classic Dharma and hid the exhibitionist a bit, allowing her to focus her keep in character better. "It's probably a good thing they took an intermission," she admitted to herself.

"Huh?" She wasn't really sure how it happened, but Dart was suddenly super depressed, talking about walking into the ocean. And HunterWoman was pretty sure she wasn't Aqua elemental, which would mean that would end poorly. "Hey, wait up! It's totally okay if you like squeezing boobs or whatever, but you should ask first! You don't have to drown yourself or anything over it!" By the time she'd gotten over her surprise and started to chase her down, however, AdjustLady had already gotten to her, leaving her running slightly into the water before she slowed down. "Wait for me!"

Eventually, everyone was all together, and surrendering their ear devices. Even HunterWoman got the hint fairly quick, and got it out. "Good riddance to that! Having voices in your head is weird!" There was probably at least one person thinking to themselves, 'You mean you didn't have them already?', but it wouldn't really bother her much even if they said it out loud. Phero asked her something out loud, though...hmm. "Yeah, that's kinda weird. I mean, there were the voices telling me to do stuff and all, and then maybe I did stuff? I dunno." She rested her chin on her fist thoughtfully for a moment. "...I do remember Diana saying that my emotion simulation program wasn't 100% perfect when she first booted me up, though...maybe that has something to do with it?"

"Mmm, perhaps. It's possible that something calibrated for a regular Navi's mind won't work properly on you, since you're...not what most people would call regular." That was probably the nicest way to put it. Diana shrugged, not entirely sure what to make of the event thus far. It was definitely a thing, but getting dirty like that? She'd heard some less than savory things about some missions, but this...this was certainly something. And speaking of things that were certainly something..."Miss Heart-Payne? Are you all right? Your face looks a bit flushed all of a sudden...or is it my imagination? I certainly understand why...this is hardly what I would've expected for a mission, myself." Still, as long as her Navi remained in reasonably good spirits about it, she wasn't going to pull out. After some of the things she'd seen around the world, it'd take more than rubbing sunscreen underneath a bathing suit, or dry humping with a bottle, or anything else happening thus far to really faze her.

Sparks flew from AdjustLady's fingers as she moved them across the devices. The first one had taken her quite a while, but it looked like she'd gotten whatever process she'd been looking for down, and was now modifying them at a regular pace, approximately forty-five seconds a piece. She heard Phero's comments, though, and tilted her head towards her. Her work evidently involved some concentration, because her hand froze entirely, like a machine that had been switched off. She looked at Phero in particular for a moment, but ultimately scanned her focus across the entire group as she began speaking. "I believe all of you experienced something unnatural just now, correct? Perhaps something like a suggestion that displaying empathy was inappropriate? Maybe you heard a voice inside your head?

Toss and Dart seemed to have to think about the statement, but Surf responded immediately. "Yeah, and I noticed something was weird, because it was something like... I needed to get out of the way and let some dude I didn't know... Pass? I needed to let Pass watch. And I don't even know who that is."

"Pass?!" Toss shouted, turning her head sharply to Surf. "Hold up, something fishy is going on here! Pass, did you-"

"We don't have to guess," AdjustLady interrupted, tilting her head up (as she seemed compelled to gesture even with her hands seemingly tied). "My lab has confirmed the intruder, and the lock that I am now putting in place has eliminated the security instability."

"What the heck?!" Dart spat, pounding her fists at her sides. "Whatever Pass thought she was doing, she clearly messed it up very, very badly!"

"I'm sure there's some reasoning behind it," Toss reassured her, waving her hands. "I mean... there's a lot of stuff that didn't make sense about it. Even Pass herself wasn't acting normal." Toss's mind seemed to be somewhere else when she said this... she crossed her arms and hung her head, contemplating. "I'd ask her, but she's cut communications. She's probably just ashamed because she messed it up."

"Whatever," Dart dismissed her, crossing her arms as well. "Doesn't matter now. I hate to say it, but I'm with our enemy on this one," she said, indicating HunterWoman with a shake of her head. "Those things are bad news, and I'm happy to have it out."

AdjustLady had taken back to tinkering with the devices while the others spoke. At this, though, she jerked her head up, then tilted it to an angle. "Oh no!" she interjected, hurriedly handing the modified pieces back to all of their original owners. "No, we're not done with them. I should think not, I just spent valuable time fixing the security exploit, as I believe I just said."

"Do we really need it, though?" Toss asked, frowning. "I mean, I'm pretty sure our team can win and the whole show can be a hit without this weird thing whispering to us."

AdjustLady turned from her, putting her arms on her own shoulders and focusing on some far-off point on the horizon, theatrically. "I won't comment on my own assessment of our chances or lack thereof to succeed without the devices. I will, however, remind you that the test of these devices is an explicit condition of my participation, and more importantly, my company's backing. Now, as a brief but related aside, would you please share the results from the previous competition?"

"Sure thing!" MascotMan replied in his usual cheery manner. "Like I said, I think everything ought to be a-okay... so long as we keep our remaining two sponsors happy!"

Quote ()

TEAM SCORES
TOSS: 5.8
SURF: 6.0
PERSONAL SCORES
PHERO: 6.5
HUNTERWOMAN: 6.5
AVERAGE: 5.9
SPONSORS
GENERAL: All dark
UNDERNET: Popular, all green
SPONSOR 1: Equipment in use, all green
SPONSOR 2: No feedback

"So, needless to say," AdjustLady continued, her back still turned, "My company is one of the sponsors you do not want becoming unhappy. You girls have worked hard so far, and we have much to gain by continuing to do so. With the vulnerability fixed, all the device should do is continue feeding you information that will be very conducive to our continuing success. I should also remind you that while our audience is happy now, relying on the Undernet channels as our sole reliable audience is a risky proposition. They expect continually stimulating content... escalating, I'd dare say. I have a strong feeling I've already seen the pinnacle of what many of you have been involved in."

"Yeah, so what?" Dart barked in return, seeming to have taken that personally. "So, you're telling me you get a lot of action with that freaky look?"

"No comment, but more than I suspect you get with that unfortunate attitude," AdjustLady responded, shaking her head. "Anyway, nothing quite so exciting as what I was just involved in," she added, turning her head to Phero. "I can't guarantee we won't run into further surprises with the technology, it's experimental."

"Yeah, that was a bit more of a 'surprise' than I plan to tolerate," Dart rebutted.

"While I'm quite certain you won't encounter such troubles again, this is a good opportunity to stress something to all of you." She had returned to Dart for her sharp comment, but now returned her LED-gaze to Phero's. "There is a common misconception among test subjects in early stages of the trial of this technology that this machine governs 'emotions' or 'feelings.'" She rolled her hands as she said these words, beginning to pace. "In fact, this technology simply acts as a knowledge database while strongly enforcing certain behavior. Test subjects often mistakenly believe it is implanting feelings because of their own reactions to what they are being presented with. It's natural: the device shows you sexual behavior and tells you to replicate it, so you feel aroused; the device, malfunctioning, tells you it is a mistake to feel empathy, so you may feel you are being programmed to become callous. The nature of the device makes it very difficult to second-guess its directives. They are possible to resist, although they are easier to obey. I won't tell you whether you should or shouldn't, but I will recommend that if you hear something that you think is counterproductive to the show or to your own well-being, you should disregard it. Use your judgment." She paused, let out a sigh, and folded her hands. "So, questions?"

Toss raised a hand. "Yeah, one. You skipped over the part where the device can change our clothes, right? When it gave us the swimsuits."

"Yes, I suppose so. It can alter .GMO data, not your base appearance. You can overwrite it whenever you wish. I apologize, I didn't feel that was pertinent to the issues at hand."

"Oh, no! Sorry, yeah, I get that," Toss said, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm just trying to be thorough so we can all get on board. Uh, one other thing. Phero's looked down since the end of the break, and I was figuring you two went from butt-buddies to you rushing everything along pretty quick. So, if you hurt her feelings, was that 'cause of the device?"

"Mm... well, we're both academics and, in this case, practically enemy professionals, so I was assuming I didn't need to go into details."

"Duh, of course you do!" Toss said, giving AdjustLady what she seemed to feel was a reasonable slap upside the head, but which sent AdjustLady tumbling into the sand. "Some girls are sensitive, dummy."

AdjustLady rose to her feet, brushing herself out and rotating arious joints to make small bits of sand come loose. "Very well. Phero, public testing of this device is a new experience for me, too. When the device told me to ignore your feelings, I simply focused on advancing the contest as usual business. I failed to exercise my judgment appropriately. I apologize."

"See? Now everything's hunky-dory!" Toss assumed, grinning.

"And, really, I feel it was quite an exceptional bit of exhibitionist theater! I appreciate both your uniquely-suited evocative shape and your free display of reactions that might ordinarily be considered 'inappropriate,' Phero. Of course, don't let my opinion get in the way of free expression in your work..."

"All right, enough of that! Too much info," Dart said, still looking moody. "As long as nothing weird happens again... other than what we know is going to happen... I'm okay. I'm in. We're closing the gap with Surf's team, anyway! We're still going to win."

"That's the spirit!" MascotMan chimed in, pumping a fist. "Let's take that into the next round! Everybody feeling good?"

Surf looked between her allies, settling on HunterLady. "Well, that was quite a heart-to-heart. Are we still in? I'm good with it if you are..." The tan Navi held her casual smile a moment before letting out a sigh, looking troubled. When she spoke again, she spoke in a low voice. "Hey, can I ask you something? You and Phero seem to be getting pretty consistently high scores. Looking at the averages, I'm pretty sure I'm on the low side. I feel like I'm... I dunno, fading into the background here? Like Phero and Dart have the whole-package looks, AdjustLady has an 'it' factor, and you and Surf get attention without trying... that's, uh, besides you two having the junk to get the audience's attention. No offense, it's working for you. Just, you got any advice? I don't wanna drag you dudes down."

"I don't think anyone's one-hundred percent perfect," Phero chuckled in response to HunterWoman, thinking that, whatever her emotional control was, she'd be lucky if it was over fifty on a hundred scale. "Though, some people sure think they're perfect," she thought with less amusement, looking at Dharma smiling on the other side of the screen.

Speaking of her operator, Dharma was currently faking a smile as hard as she could; not only was she secretly upset that she wasn't being consulted in some fashion on exhibitionism, but she also realized that the unwelcome guest that had come to petition her donation had realized what their navis were doing. "But then, she doesn't act that surprised either. She must be used to her navi doing this sort of thing... so it doesn't surprise her when Phero does it. That's good," she reasoned. "On the other hand..." Dharma didn't appreciate Diana's scrutiny of her behavior even a little bit. "She thinks it's surprising I'd be bothered by this? Ha... That says something about her, but not something I wouldn't have guessed already," the lady scientist scorned her acquaintance, still internally.

"I don't begrudge them their fun, but it's a bit artless," she laughed light-heartedly... it sounded like she was criticizing the lewdness, but really, she was thinking about how much she wanted to be a part of it, to show them how it was done... or really, just get to get another shot at it. She wouldn't even admit that to herself, though, let alone out loud to a stranger.

Meanwhile, Phero spoke to the others about her experiences using the ear-bug. "Yes, there was something very unusual!" she added unhelpfully, but had a harder time explaining exactly what she had been thinking of. "Pass was doing all of that? Maybe she wants to be part of the show... It strikes me that the three of you sound very close! Maybe she'd be happier if she was here with the rest of us and wouldn't try to interfere with all of it?" she suggested, looking back and forth between Dart and Toss. Goodness knows she didn't want their friend to be lonely. Loneliness was up there with her least favorite feelings and was one she was used to feeling pretty often.

AdjustLady had to remind everyone at this point that the weird devices, which hadn't gotten a lot of love from any of their wearers, were part of her experiment and a condition of her sponsorship. "It's not so bad wearing them, I bet, so long as the person on the other end is happy... That's why I think maybe it would work better if Pass was here with the rest of us. She probably gets a little jealous when she sees Surf slapping her friend on the bottom, or HunterWoman trying to touch her friend in her private places. If we welcome her to be part of the show too, even as part of the audience, maybe, she'd probably be happy and we wouldn't have to worry about her sabotage again!" Phero didn't seem to realize that the show was already pretty crowded as it was, but she was intent on finding a solution that would please everyone.

The conversation turned on its heels now, with AdNetMascotMan showing results so far. It surprised her to see that her ratings didn't look bad, but she imagined she probably lost some points to AdjustLady just the same... "Her sexiness is on another level. I've got to be more creative," she reasoned, steeling herself for another round. "I don't want to be the weak link!" She took in a deep breath and responded. "Don't worry! I'm willing to go as far as I have to, so we can make sure that Morty... and all of these other nice people," she continued, waving her hand at the horny throng all around them, "are happy!"

Although she claimed to be a navi of science, AdjustLady's distinction of what emotions were real and artificial, what she ought to act on, and so forth... but she caught enough to know that she was allowed to act however she thought would make people happy, which made things easier for her. She failed to stifle a gasp as Toss brought up the point of how much AdjustLady's sudden dismissal had hurt her feelings; her face turned slightly pinker as she turned her eyes away. "It's alright... I got a little ahead of myself a-and I guess we weren't really so close yet, but I was so excited when she sprayed me that I shot my spray all over her and that was pretty gross of me..." she murmured with embarrassment, though that last part would probably be unfortunately misinterpreted. The apology made her feel better though and a smile returned to her face. "Wow... Free expression. If you don't mind, then..." Come to think of it, Dharma certainly had seemed happier, as had everyone else, when she showed her aroused face.... though, she remembered it being a lot different than her own. And scarier. Maybe some people like it, but she didn't. Regardless, there was a lesson there.

Last of all, Surf had a concern of her own, one that made her regret thinking of any of them as the weak link, even herself. "No, no! You're really cute... there's no reason anyone wouldn't like you! Maybe we can help... in fact, I know just how to help! You've got the looks already, maybe you just need the attitude." she murmured, reaching out for Surf's face, seemingly out of the blue. She cupped one hand to her partner's lips, thumbing across the lower lip in an attempt to get Surf to open her mouth. If she did, she'd stick two fingers in, a ridiculous action given what she'd just said about assuming too much of a new relationship, before spraying a light stream of pink liquid into the young lady's mouth. "There you go! I think you just need to be lewder, so you'll get more ratings. That's a mild aphrodisiac! I tested it once before when I-" she started, but removed her fingers suddenly from her friend's mouth and blushed harder, smiling. "Well, it will make you feel nicer when you do this sort of thing. It's very safe! It just makes you feel warm and fuzzy when someone touches you." As if not realizing how dangerous that was, she placed a hand on Surf's upper arm and gave it a gentle rub-rub. "Oh, you may want to spit rather than swallow though... it tingles going down."

Hopefully they'd start another contest soon, before Phero had a chance to make things even messier going into it.

So, there was a security problem with the earpiece? Even HunterWoman couldn't help but frown at that. "You know, you really oughta fix stuff like that before testing stuff out on Navis you don't even know! It'd look super bad if something happened to one of us because of it!" As the conversation continued, her rare moment of situational awareness continued. "Uh, don't we kinda have to wear them, because the sponsor said so or something?" As it turned out, yup.

Oh, the results. "Yay, we're still winning!...You know, I just thought of something." Nope, STILL not done being non-oblivious. "That other sponsor's been super quiet this whole time...wonder why?" Eh, she probably wasn't getting an answer to that. Oh well.

Anyway, now Surf had her own things to talk about. She herself had zoned out a bit while AdjustLady was talking, but since she could actually understand what her teammate was saying, she listened relatively intently. "Of course I am! I wanna go all the way!" And, any trace of situational awareness was now gone. Truly, she was back to being HunterWoman. "Um...I dunno. I'm not really doing any special, I'm just doing whatever seems right at the time. Ooh, there's something! Be yourself! If you're trying to act like someone else, everyone'll notice and it'll be a huge turn off!" This advice was undercut a bit by Phero inserting some aphrodesiac into the mouth of the Navi she was trying to advise. "Uh, that works too!"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing. Honestly, I don't especially care, so long as our Navis don't mind...they're the ones putting themselves out on display, not us." Diana took another sip of her tea, which she was running low on...though she was polite enough that if she wasn't specifically asked, she wouldn't take any more. "...Heh. I couldn't even imagine us in their shoes right now. I probably wouldn't get a single person looking at me, and you...well, you're the CEO of a major company. I imagine the tabloids would literally fight themselves to the death to get that story."

Although it was often hard to tell from just body language if AdjustLady was acknowledging a comment or not, she went the extra mile of not turning her head in HunterWoman's direction. It was probably safe to assume the reprimand was being intentionally ignored.

Toss listened to Phero's comments, a grin spreading across her face before a laugh escaped her.

Dart, on the other hand, shifted a bit uncomfortably, crossing her arms moodily. "Pass and I are good friends with Toss, but Pass and I are not close."

"Seriously, you two aren't buds yet?" Toss asked, putting an arm around her partner's shoulder, then pointing a thick finger at her chest. "You two are going out with me soon, then! We three are a team now, we all gotta be on the same wavelength." Spinning away from Dart's uncomfortable reaction, Toss turned back to Phero, waving a hand. "Anyway, Pass isn't into stuff like this!"

"I-I'm not, either!" Dart protested, stamping a foot.

Toss waved that off as well. "No, I don't mean the sexy stuff. I mean, like, literally anything outside her PET. She's one of those, uh, shut-in types. I can barely get her out of her room! I think she'd kinda freak if she had to wear a swimsuit, stand on a beach, or appear in front of more than two people at once. Any of those things, separately. Anyway, she's pretty good at entertaining herself on the web."

The bunch of them listened awkwardly to Phero's apology, AdjustLady finally choosing to address it. "Yes, the most important thing is free expression. What's a little spray among colleagues for the sake of R&D?" At the very least, she seemed to have the correct notion of what sprays Phero was referring to, even if she didn't fully understand why they had come about or the significance they had to Phero.

The groups briefly dispersed again, as the other three seemed to get the hint that Surf's low key speaking may mean she was saying something strategy related. MascotMan stood alone between the groups, swinging his arms cheerfully and seeming not to realize there wasn't a single conversation he was a part of going on around him anymore.

Surf listened to the advice she was given attentively. "I dunno, dude. I'm pretty much always marching to my own drum. Dunno if I can be any more myself without cloning. Maybe I'm not doing enough to accent my good side, though-" she began to posit, before Phero began helpfully playing with her face. Surf didn't protest at first, puckering her lips a bit as she probably suspected Phero was about to apply makeup to her. When the intention, apparently, was more to make her gag, she did flail a bit, but stopped when the liquid was sprayed into her mouth. She stood holding it in her mouth for a moment, seeming to process Phero's words slowly and treat the liquid as some mysterious dentist's solution until she heard otherwise.

When she got the picture, she hastily spat it onto the sand next to her, wiping a bit of the colorful liquid from the corner of her mouth. She looked offended, but was also pretty clearly growing red around the face. She felt at her face, then her neck, which was also growing in heat. Surf let out a little laugh, running the hand down her neck curiously. "Dude... you can't spray aphrodisiac in someone's mouth without getting their okay first, y'know?! Not cool..." She let out a little giggle in spite of her protests, still tilting her head down to look at her own travelling hand. She suddenly caught a glimpse of something that made her gasp, crossing arms across her chest suddenly. "Uh, okay, I guess we're good to go now, right? I'll uh, be myself or whatever. Let's just put those thingies back in, okay? MascotMan?"

"You all set?" MascotMan replied, gliding over. "All righty! You ladies put the thingies back in and I'll get the cameras rolling."

Seeing as they all agreed to it, the women went about putting the pieces back in. If any were paying abnormal attention (seeing as germs weren't so much an issue on the Net), they'd note they were all given their original headpiece back. How AdjustLady had managed that when she'd basically collected them all in a hurry and in a heap was a mystery.

"All right! Welcome back to the AD NET Beach Queen's tournament! Thanks to those of you who waited patiently through the break, and for those of you who missed the first event, buckle in for a wild ride! Team Surf versus Team Toss, and no matter who wins, you are the real winner! We're just about to unveil the next exciting competition-"

As MascotMan attempted to whip the audience up again (and, more specifically, the audience watching remotely), the women would probably only be listening with half an ear. The strange, wrong-seeming verbal directions of the headpieces had vanished, seemingly leaving only the original knowledge and inclinations. Thankfully, the directions to take off the shirt and make the declaration didn't repeat, as that would lead to a bit of disorientation among the shirtless women.

In fact, there did seem to have been minor tweaks. Phero would feel a slightly more pronounced inclination to please others, and an increased tendency to imply her willingness for sex (or related activities). Meanwhile, HunterWoman had a directive to try and emphasize her assets, showing them off with movements or drawing attention to them through her words. These actions weren't really different at all from the types of things they'd been directed to before, so it was likely they wouldn't even notice the skew in directed behavior.

If their observational skills were especially keen, though, there were other changes they might notice. Some appearances appeared to have changed, but only slightly, the types of differences one might look for in an activity game between two pictures: the flower-shaped cut-outs on Phero's swimsuit had changed shape to a large circle with four smaller circles gathered along one edge, reminiscent of a paw pad; sequins on HunterWoman's swimsuit had re-arranged themselves so they formed zenny "z" symbols, although it'd be hard to see in the bright light without careful observation; the hearts on the breasts of AdjustLady's top had changed to paw prints; the skirt of Dart's outfit had gotten an inch or two shorter, causing it to become less effective in covering her bottom; Toss was holding a pair of dark, reflective shades folded in her right hand, which she didn't seem aware of; Surf had a short, thin white stick protruding from her mouth, the lump of a sucker showing in her cheek.

MascotMan, of course, was the same as ever. At least, his voice was going as loud as ever. "Ladies, you may not be aware, but you've already got warring factions of forums across the Net clamoring, 'We want Surf! We want Phero, HunterWoman, Toss, Dart, AdjustLady!' The competition is, in fact, very hot, as your fan clubs butt heads with each other on the boards! For the next contest, I'd like you all to pay tribute to those boys on the frontlines of the fan club war. We're going to do a little beach photography. We want to see your beauty, sensuality, and creativity come out in a series of photo shoots. Here's the deal: each of you ladies will be given a choice of five poses your fanclub wants to see you model. Simply pick one, tell the camera, then model it till you hear a click. Wherever you want to do it is fine: the beach, the water, by another woman, in the crowd! Up to you. Do that with three poses and you're done. The catch is that the fans were only allowed to name the pose, not describe it. It'll be up to you to use your imagination and match or exceed their lofty expectations!"

During the speech, presumably so they could begin planning, MascotMan's headset would relay the options to the lady in question alone:



MascotMan's cameras had split up, and were now devoting their attention to each of the women individually. If the ladies moved around, they would be followed by the floating devices. The cameras didn't seem to do anything else, though, unless one of the pose names was spoken by the potential poser. "Take your time to plan it out if you want, but don't keep those drooling fans waiting, ladies!" the host shouted in his megaphone voice.

The crowd seemed excited to see the contest was started up again, although it was probably true that unless someone actively involved them, this contest was more service for the fans on the forums than around the contest ring.

Phero started to pipe up and say that maybe AdjustLady wasn't all wrong testing unknown technology on hapless allies, that maybe people who did that sort of thing didn't have a choice in the matter, but thought at the last minute that it might do more harm than good. Especially considering she just fed Surf some of her compounds... well, at least those were pretty well tested. "Sorry that wasn't cool... but that's the spirit! Laughing will make you seem very personable," she agreed with Surf, clasping her hands at her own lap and smiling. For most people, laughing would make them personable, at least. She'd heard Dharma release some laughs before that were far from empathetic.

Dharma gave a genuine sounding laugh, indicating that she thought Diana's suggestion was, of course, ridiculous and amusing. "Well, when you're right, you're right," she thought to herself, still showing her teeth in a mirthful grin. "Oh, don't be silly! I'm sure you'd have your fair share of fans," she offered politely, though she didn't personally believe it. She, however, could easily imagine the eyes of the crowd all upon her as she participated in the contest... and the mere thought of it was making her hot. Frustrated with herself, she crossed her legs again, straightened her skirt, and smiled quietly.

It came as a surprise to Phero, learning that Pass, Toss, and Dart weren't all close buddies. She'd had an image in her mind's eye of all of them laughing and holding hands on a sofa (well, she was really guessing what Pass looked like, and it didn't sound like she nor Dart were the laughing types). "That sounds lonely," Phero frowned... She had been alone in her PET plenty and she certainly wasn't fond of it. "But I guess if that's what she likes..." At any rate, the time had come to set her earpiece back in and get back to work, such as it was. This time around, her instructions were so in line with her own usual behavior that she barely realized she was being influenced at all. "This contest sounds pretty fun! I'll get out and have fun with the crowd. I know they want to get involved too, even if Pass doesn't!" she thought, turning her grayish eyes onto the audience right away.

On the other side of the PET, Dharma was far more concerned: her name had come up in the possible poses, which were recommended from the audience. Immediately, she started scanning over them for anyone she recognized... but of course, there was no one. They were all navis, after all, nobody she would know by face. "They not only recognize Phero, they recognize her as my navi... there should only be a handful of people in the entire world who have that information. More of these drooling slobs have seen those ridiculous photographs from the chicken house than know Phero by sight," she thought, not panicking, but suddenly feeling a renewed purpose: the need to put the screws to somebody. "They'll reveal themselves as this business goes on. Then I'll find a way to get to them."

Thankfully for Dharma, Phero wasn't particularly keen to pick that one as her pose, at least. Hate was a strong word, but that was exactly what she felt for her operator. "Let's see... the navi thought to herself. "I guess the easiest place to start is with double peace. Now I just have to find someone to be my double!" She looked at the other members of her team and gave a peace sign, a precursor of posing to come. "I'm going straight out to the folks in the crowd, to make sure they're all having a good time! I'm not wasting a minute!" she announced proudly, then ran girlishly over to whoever in the crowd was close-by and seemed receptive.

"Peace is good! It's a positive statement that anyone can get behind!" she greeted the stranger, though they'd likely have no idea what she was talking about. Next, she raised two fingers and gave a wink and a smile. She'd step across the barrier and straight into the crowd, hugging the lucky audience member up next to her, close enough for her hair to nestle into them and her cheek to touch either their cheek or their neck, depending on their height. She beamed wider, urging the camera to approach the two of them. "Now, you do it too! Raise up your fingers and say 'peace!'" she urged her photo partner, unaware or otherwise not caring what the softness of her skin and the sweetness of her perfume scent might be doing to her new friend.

"Was that good? Maybe we should take another... say, how would you suggest I pose for a photo called 'dog in heat?''" she asked. This time, she actually was putting on an act... She felt fairly sure she knew how to make that pose, but felt the need to confirm he wanted to first. Redness spread across her face as she smiled at them again. "There's plenty of heat around here, at least."

"Yeah, girls that give off a 'go away' vibe and barely have a chest are really popular with men these days..." And were perfectly okay with snarking at things she thought seemed a bit ridiculous. ...Speaking of which, Diana was sensing something from Dharma again...she couldn't quite figure out what it was, though. She wished she could figure it out...now, what was it? ...No good, she was drawing blanks. She'd need more information. "...Are you absolutely sure you're okay? You seem a little fidgety all of a sudden. If you need to use the restroom and don't trust me to stay here and not touch anything, I'll come along. I don't mind." If anything, she wouldn't mind the walk...she wasn't much for sitting down and having a chat.

--------------

Huh, sounded like the mysterious Pass was...well, the total opposite of her. Here she was, in a swimsuit, on a beach, in front of more than two people, and she was just dandy. Any possibility of HunterWoman maintaining a train of thought was wrecked, however, as Surf spat out the fluid that had been squirted into her. "You know, I wonder if the crowd would've rather you swallowed that?"

Anyway, time to put the thingy back in her ear. "Well, so long as it's not acting super weird anymore, thingy in the ear it is!" And in went the thingy. Yep, it was definitely acting better; she couldn't notice a thing. Without even realizing it, however, she started swaying her hips a bit as she waited for the next event to start, as a result of the subtle influences.

As for the event...whoa. Whoa whoa whoa. "Whoa, I have a fan club?! Awesome! Wait until ShamanMan hears about this!...Uh, don't worry everyone, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend that happens to be a boy! Everyone's fair game for me!" She puffed out her chest, as if proud of that...though it was mostly due to the earpiece's machinations, and while she was aware that she was doing it, it didn't really hit her as to WHY she was doing it.

All right, let's see what they gave her...Man Eater? All she could think of offhand was either cannibalism, or blowjobs, and neither of those were probably a good idea right now. Dat booty, on the other hand, was pretty self-explanatory. Gone Wild...hmm. Nothing at all was coming to her mind...Give it to me seemed pretty simple, too. And In the Dirt...actually, that seemed like a good first one. She didn't have dirt, but she did have the next best thing. She just needed to make sure she could get plenty of it on her.

"Be right back!" And then HunterWoman ran into the surf...not her teammate, but the actual water. She got in about neck deep, then raced outward, leaving her soaking wet. Since that clearly wasn't sudden enough, she belly flopped onto the sand, and rolled all around in it. "Whee!~" And all of a sudden, she stopped, and bent upward a bit, so her chest was pointed at the camera following her, while still offering a good view of her butt. And of course, due to her impromptu bath, she was now completely coated in sand. ...Unfortunately, she'd overlooked the part where her skin color was quite similar to wet sand, so it was a little hard to notice. A close inspection would reveal the difference, at least. "I know it's sand, but I'm about as much in the dirt as I can get!" And now, picture taking!

Surf jumped a bit at HunterWoman's comment, looking self-conscious. "Oh, geez, you've probably got a point. I was hoping nobody was watching that..."

Of course, the time for small talk was quickly over. Ear pieces were put in and MascotMan made his announcements. Surf was listening to him, but did take a moment to glance over when HunterWoman piped in with her commentary (as HunterWoman was prone to do). "Oh oh, you're free too? The three of us really oughta pick up some dudes before this thing is done," she commented, rubbing her shoulders own shoulders as she continued crossing her arms. She talked around the sucker in her mouth, not seeming to think about it. "I mean, I'm just assuming Phero's got no anchor either, unless he's, uh, real open-minded about sharing her with other guys."

Surf, like her teammates, shelved the conversation as the photo options came in. It was likely everyone was receiving them at once. Surf muttered to herself, but spoke low. Considering the noise around them, it was unlikely the other team would be able to hear. "'All-Over Tan.' 'Wipe Out.' 'Wicked.' 'Over Board.' ... 'Spank Me Daddy?!'" she gasped, catching her sucker when it fell out of her mouth and promptly replacing it. "Wow, I have some fans with gnarly interests... but, if that's what they're into," she finished, shrugging. "Well, I think we should-" the would-be team leader started. However, Phero's eagerness and HunterWoman's quick action meant nobody was sticking around for a strategy meet. "No, that's probably right. We'll lose momentum if we don't get right on it. No hesitation! I'll show 'em my personality right out of the gate."

Cameras dispersed as the contestants went separate ways. It seemed the girls of Team Toss had the same idea as Team Surf, as each moved quickly to her own business. It was also possible to consider that the directions of the headsets encouraged impulsive action over careful consideration... not that any of the girls were likely to be thinking much about that, at this point.

Phero had no difficulty finding members of the audience that looked eager to join in on a group photo. None of them seemed to immediately grasp why Phero was constantly flashing them the peace sign, but neither did they seem to care. The one most immediately attentive in the front was the one Phero would latch onto for a partner, unless she later changed her mind. He was a custom Navi modeled as a young man, and was a bit short, about the same head height as Phero herself. His body had a lean look with boyishly knobby limbs. It might be easy to actually mistake him as a boy, except that his facial features were uncommonly intense: he had a shaved head and seemingly naturally dilated dark pupils. His body had intermittent freckles, and little tan to speak of: it looked like going to the beach wasn't a regular activity for him, so it was safe to say he'd lucked out. He'd come dressed for the occasion, though, wearing black boxer-style trunks with gold zenny-styled designs up the legs, as well as gold Navi ear guards that bore his emblem, the dark silhouette of a muscular man against a silver background. While he looked like a Navi who was probably designed to look confident and intimidating when he was decked out, right now he looked excited, grinning from ear to ear as Phero approached.

"Y-Yeeeah-huh baby, I'd be happy ta get behind'cha!" the Navi shouted, although he settled for what he got. The two were about as tall, so they were cheek to cheek for the photo. "Oh yeah, uh, name's BigShotMan, how y'doin doll?" Realizing Phero had a contest to win, he put his flirting on hold for a second and joined in the pose, giving a peace sign and a cheesy grin while also helping himself to an arm around Phero's shoulder. "Peace!" The photo that resulted had good resemblance to a cute couple, in spite of the fact that the two had literally just met a minute ago.

"Dat's supah, doll, y'blowin' 'em away!" BigShotMan reassured her, giving her a rub on the shoulder. "Dat's... d-dawgineat, huh?" he responded, his grin widening as his words ran together. "Uh, y'know, dat's wheah-"

"Beg pardon!" a voice suddenly interrupted. Phero's would-be adversary for the night, AdjustLady, wedged herself between the two, taking advantage of BigShotMan backing away a bit at Phero's forward advance. "My, what a strapping young man you've found yourself, Cutie. What's your name, young man?"

"Uh... BigShotMan," he responded, looking apprehensive. It seemed fair to assume he was probably in Phero's camp more easily than AdjustLady's. His eyes traveled to her mechanical bits readily, and danced across her exaggerated proportions as well. "Listen, toots, me'n Phero-"

"Oh! Me too," AdjustLady interrupted him. "Why not try both and pick your favorite? Nevermind that for now, just help me with my first photo. I'm going to do 'Blow-Up Doll.' Wouldn't you love to help?"

"I-" BigShotMan began to protest, glancing over at Phero to see what she thought about that idea.

"Excellent!" the woman interrupted again, clapping her hands together. "Hold still and pucker up."

With no further warning, the scientist grabbed the sides of the other Navi's face and leaned in, deftly manipulating knobs at the sides of her head to put her expression in puckered lips before locking with him. She didn't make an effort to make it look like a proper kiss, though. Rather, she let BigShotMan's paralysis keep him in place while she quickly moved her hands across her body, turning knobs. By the time she was done, she'd expanded her already hourglass figure even more, the proportions starting to stretch the limits of both imagination and, noticeably, her swimsuit.

Hearing the shot fire, the woman backed away, putting a hand on her wide hips. "Not so bad, right?"

"What da heck, lady?!" BigShotMan replied. He stood staring very obviously at the woman's enhanced body for a moment, before making a point to wipe his mouth and cast his eyes to Phero again. "Who w-wants a gal like dat, anyway?"

"Oh, if my projections are correct, I think you'll be surprised," AdjustLady told him, putting her other hand on her hip and shifting on her feet. "Now, Cutie, are you going to leave this one to me, or are you going to show him... 'Dog in Heat,' I believe it was? Since you asked, that refers to a complex biological state, but one which is, for the sake of our competition, most notably characterized by the canine's readiness to copulate. In heat, it's common for the beast to present its hind quarters and lift its tail, clearly marking itself as ready and unguarded."

BigShotMan turned his gaze to Phero. He had given up trying to get a word in edgewise, but he was standing his ground, clearly eager to participate in what he'd just been teased.

The audience around the group had given them some space, acknowledging there had to be a good line of sight for the camera to take shots, but only just. There were plenty of very enthusiastic fans clamoring around, and it would be easy to bump into one if Phero backed up carelessly.

An addition to Phero's directive came in, inviting her to freely speak her mind about herself and the other contestants. In particular, she'd find it easy to speak of their promiscuous nature (or her own) with colorful language in whatever terms she chose without worrying about offending them.

---

In the meantime, HunterWoman was getting herself ready. There was nothing mysterious about the properties of the water or the sand, especially to her, so she'd find things lining up as she expected. She'd lost the audience's attention when she headed to deep into the water for them to see her body, but she'd gained the attention of her partner, who began running towards the water. Surf slowed as soon as she saw HunterWoman was heading back for the coast again. "Oh, you're cool, dude? Good. Just didn't think it'd hurt to be careful after earlier, y'know?"

Unlike how AdjustLady had wedged herself into Phero's business, Surf let HunterWoman continue her business while simultaneously working on a shot of her own. "Let's see... 'Wicked' ought to be an easy one to warm up on. I'm feelin' pretty wicked, after all! ... Pretty, uh, revved up, honestly."

The young woman summoned her board beneath her right arm, then planted it in the sand behind her. "No way I'm keeping my baby out of any good photos I take... Now, let's see. Wicked..." Keeping the board behind her as a backdrop, Surf dropped to her knees and took the sucker out of her mouth, holding it between the middle and pointing finger of her left hand. Keeping her legs spread a bit, Surf leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her in an "X". She threw the "horns" hand sign with her free hand, then opened her mouth, showing her upper row of teeth as she let her tongue hang out. She held the pose a while, even though it was a bit awkward, until she heard a click. She then unfolded her arms while rolling back in her tongue. She set about brushing sand off of her legs, seeming distracted by the feeling as she did so.

Eventually, though, she turned her eyes back to HunterWoman, who was wrapping up her own first shot. "Woah, lookin' good, dude! You've got that mud-wrestling look going on. Dudes are totally into that! It's like, only imagination on whether you're wearing a suit beneath. That's gotta be gold..." Surf raised the sucker to her mouth, lapping her tongue out with a drawn out motion to encircle the candy before drawing it back into her mouth and smiling.

At the conclusion of her first shoot, HunterWoman would get an additional directive... the command urged her to put on a show while making it clear she was willing to do more, with the right incentive. Another change pretty well-meshed with those she'd already received.

HunterWoman and Surf's close proximity had given the audience a point to focus on (especially those that weren't on the side of the audience Phero had chosen), so they had the attention of the crowd again. They also seemed to have their opponent's attention, however, as Dart and Toss made their way over. "Don't get cocky just because you're moving faster!" Dart told HunterWoman, pointing a thin finger at her while putting her other hand on her hip. She leaned forward a bit, accentuating her cleavage (for whatever reason). "We're going to show you that Toss and I can get better results in the same area."

"You won't be able to deny our photogenic qualities," Toss bragged, grinning and tapping her shades against her leg. "I'm gonna lead off, okay, Dart? Let's see, I'm gonna do... Hmm. All of mine sound like finishers," she muttered, putting a hand to her lips. "Well, I'll start simple. 'Back it Up for Us!'"

The Navi put the shades on and reigned her expression in to a small-but-confident smirk. Toss put her large hands on her knees and lowered her body, "backing it up" as the title obviously suggested. With her back arched, the woman tilted her head back to glance at the camera... which was hovering over her. "No, dummy, low shot! Low and close, otherwise there's no point!"

At her command, the camera adjusted its position to a more 'dynamic' angle. It would probably be worth noting the things seemed to respond to voice commands, at least to a degree. When the camera clicked, Toss straightened herself again. "Mmm... I make it look easy, huh? Some people are just built for it. Speaking of, you're up, Dart!"

"Hmph. I'll show you the power of this body!" Dart shouted to HunterWoman, as though HunterWoman had questioned it. She put her own hands to her chest and grabbed the underside of her breasts, pointing out the powerful part she was talking about. Haughtily, the woman turned on her heel and headed into the water herself, taking a dive before she got very deep and popping back up with her hair wet. Smiling confidently, the Navi strutted as she walked back towards the coast, ocean water dripping from her body. She paused before she reached the sand, her shins still in the water, and produced a throwing dart from thin air. She posed with her side to the camera, holding it up as though modeling it.

"No, silly!" Toss shouted from the beach, laughing. "Put your thingy away and just do it sexy! Who cares about the dart? Why would you even have it in the water?!"

Dart gasped, seeming to acknowledge Toss's point, and dismissed her namesake. Now in a rush, the woman stood and crossed her arms behind her head, tilting her head up at an angle and hurriedly fixed her expression into a model's pout. The shutter went off, and she exhaled. She grinned arrogantly, pointing at HunterWoman again. "That's why I'm superior! Coating yourself in disgusting mud, while there's an ocean full of water here to get your body scintillating! You ought to wash yourself off-"

"Hey, Dart, you're a wood type, right?" Toss sniggered, putting her hand in front of her mouth. "If anything, I'd say she's the one 'in her element' right now. Don't you have an obligation to nature or whatever?"

Dart rolled her eyes behind her shades, then started, focusing on Toss. "Wha- Shades! You're doing shades?! You know I'm the one that wears shades!" The Navi began stomping towards her partner, looking upset

"Hey, the fans get what the fans want. I think I make 'em look hot!" Toss declared, backing up just a bit as she seemed to be gauging just how upset Dart was.

Surf giggled at the antics of the two, then turned back to HunterWoman, rolling the sucker in her mouth. "All that aside, I think those two probably have us about even right now. Let's put them on the ropes in round two! I know I've got something ready my fans will appreciate..."

BigShotMan was probably lucky that Phero's hunk-o-meter was persistently on the fritz. To her, the knobby-kneed fellow was just as good as any other dude on the beach, or perhaps more so, given his enthusiasm. Unfortunately, Dharma was just as unhappy with him as Phero was pleased. "That name... I remember it! He belongs to that bitch from the Clusterbucket, who's hopefully working in an even worse hyena's den by this point. It's no wonder she's stalking my navi. Leave it to petty-minded commoners to be obsessed with paltry concepts like revenge," the president thought to herself spitefully, ignoring the fact that she was quite partial to vengeance herself. Even as she kept her smile, her features seemed to darken, like an evil thought was playing in her head. She wanted to immediately forbid her navi from hanging around BigShotMan, but she couldn't right now without drawing questions from others, including Diana... even if she input it secretly into her PET, it would probably look suspicious. She wanted that day at the Clusterbucket to stay a myth, as far as Diana was concerned.

"I'm doing great! I've made a lot of new friends today," Phero giggled earnestly. "And how are you doing?" That was a silly question, because it was pretty clear from BigShotMan's face that he was enjoying the opportunity. Just as she was about to learn one man's interpretation of the classic model's position, "Dog in Heat," AdjustLady butted in to get her own pose done. Phero couldn't help but pout, obviously a bit outraged. "Grrr! I'm already helping this one, you go help someone else! The beach has so many other people on it!" she thought to herself irritably but inaudibly, then shook her head and calmed down. "It's probably just the earpiece making her act like a jerk again," she figured, though AdjustLady might have ulterior motives that weren't readily apparent to Phero, such as spurring competition.

"Y-You've got a lot to learn, AdjustLady!" Phero fired back, as tough as she could, while clenching her fists by her side and straightening up indignantly. "It's all well and fine if she wants to make her boobs and butt bigger, but I have a secret on my side: science! Heart-Payne Pharmaceuticals put a lot of effort into making my body the average ideal. It's statistically likely that BigShotMan prefers me!" she pumped herself up. Against her better judgment, Dharma was having the same pep talk internally, convincing herself that there was no way AdjustLady could beat the fruits of her research. "I know what a dog in heat is! And trust me, nobody is less guarded than I am!" she boasted, seemingly without irony. "A-And that's not how a blow-up doll works! You don't kiss it, you stick the shaft of your male parts into it!" she corrected, thought it was a bit past the fact. "But I'll make his male parts feel better anyway! So don't worry about it! You did okay!"

To begin, Phero smiled confidently, then cleared her throat. "Here it comes! My best dog impersonation. He's going to fall in love when he sees how good I am at this!" she chuckled to herself. When she opened her mouth, however, what came out was an unnervingly spot-on impersonation of a dog's enthusiastic barking. She was, of course, a navi with extensive biological research under her belt. However, a quick look around the crowd would likely tell her that the crowd wasn't as impressed as she was with herself. Her face heated up as she tried to dumb it down... "Uuuum, uh... Bark... Woof... Wan wan... Gow," she tested various dog noises, while, as Toss had before her, backing it up on BigShotMan. She got down on her knees as she had earlier for AdjustLady, marking her second time taking all fours since the contest began, and wiggled her backside, against BigShotMan if he was so inclined. "Arf arf..." she added experimentally.

"Stupid! I'd do it so much better. Those poor bastards would be begging to hump me!" Dharma thought ridiculously, smiling a bit more genuinely as she suddenly found herself having a very vivid mental image of being taken like a dog in front of strangers on a beach. "That's the limit of her programming... You can't program a creative genius like myself, nor my raw charisma."

"Woof woof... How about if I..." she murmured, reaching up to the backside of her suit and flexing a finger through to draw up the fabric taut, which would leave it very indecent, mostly from the part that BigShotMan had exclusive access to. "Th-There... It doesn't get much more vulnerable than that, right? Bow wow..." she smiled, starting to redden. A sweet smell was starting to rise up into the air again, especially strong where BigShotMan was standing (which might be less appealing if he really thought about it hard enough). "Woof woof! I appreciate an alpha dog, like you! Make me your bitch... queen! Your AD Net Bitch Queen!" she reiterated, recycling her phrase from earlier and appealing to BigShotMan's presumable ego and likely love of canine terminology.

From this position, she could see the camera in front of her, but also, further off, her allies posing in the water. She wouldn't see that for long, she was sure, as they would likely be surrounded by interested guys too soon enough. "Is HunterLady naked? Should I be naked?" she thought to herself, growing even hotter. "That would probably make everyone happy... Maybe I should be naked..." Her gray eyes were starting to swirl at the thought.

Dharma seemed to notice it at the same time and piped up, finally showing a bit of emotion beyond manipulative smiling. Well, she was still smiling, but also arching one twitching eyebrow, which made it look like her expression was a little strained. "I-Is your navi naked, Diana? Naked, in front of all of these men, who want to take her like a dog?" she asked, her voice starting to crack a bit. She nearly bit her tongue, wishing she hadn't said anything... or at least hadn't sounded so damn personally interested in it. "Because that would be... quite ero... erroneous. Quite an error in judgment," she corrected, reaching for her tea cup. When she realized it was empty, she swore internally, that dark look going over her eyes again.

If she wasn't normally a perpetual frowner, Diana would've surely done so upon seeing Dharma's face. For a moment, it had an unmistakable look of darkness. There was definitely more to her than met the eye...but what, exactly? If she could find that out, getting her backing for the zoo would be a piece of cake. Her inquiry made her take a quick glance at her PET to double check to make sure HunterWoman still had her clothes on...it was sorta sad that she even needed to look to know. "Nah, she's just covered in wet sand, and it just so happens to look similar to her skin." Why, she could only guess. A recurring theme with her Navi. "She's...a bit out there, but she's not insane." Probably.

-----------------

"Heh, you might be a bounty hunter, but you don't have the soul of a hunter!" HunterWoman wagged a finger at Dart's remark, and grinned. "Mud helps kill your scent, AND gives you natural camouflage! Sand, too! It's the best! Out in the wild, I could bag anything wearing nothing but mud!" With that mental image firmly in the minds of everyone paying attention to her, she took a moment to think up a new one. What else seemed good...hmm, her mind kept going back to 'dat booty'. Okay, sure, that worked.

Her interpretation was pretty simple; she simple turned away from the audience, spread her legs a bit, and leaned forward until her torso was down. Of course, since she was still covered in sand, if she stood still it sorta looked like a picture where she was naked, and they airbrushed the naughty parts away. She noticed the camera adhering to the earlier instructions, and now was a pretty good chance to try it herself. "Hey, camera! Get a picture from the front of the crowd!..." The headset began to let its influences be known, filling some of the blanks in the huntress's mind, which manifested by her starting to shake her moneymaker a bit. "Yeah! Shake dat booty! And you know what? I can keep going! Who knows where I'll stop? IF I'll stop?! But, I dunno...I think I need something before I can do that. But whatever could that be...?" She smiled and winked for the camera, all set for her next photo op.

AdjustLady turned her head to Phero, her face still frozen in the kissing pucker she'd adopted a moment ago. She glided her hand around knobs at the side of her head in a quick motion, changing her expression to a low-lidded grin. "Oh?" She heard the rest of her complaint, and let out a giggle at Phero's correction. "Oh ho! Silly me, my mistake. BigShotMan, Phero informed me I made an error in my Blow-Up Doll performance. Would you like to do me to do it properly this time?"

"H-hands off a sec, arright, lady? Phero's gonna-" the male Navi began to object, before Phero interjected with a perhaps too on-the-nose dog impersonation. In spite of what she must have feared, a fair number of people seemed to interpret this as a natural start to an act they were eagerly interpreting. The audience was evenly split between confused looks and eager voyeurs, with the oddball here and there clapping for her skillful recreation. BigShotMan seemed like a blend of all three, but his smitten state seemed to have him trying to hide his confusion. "Uh, see? Da girl's on topuvit! See she's..." he tapered off, his attention turning to the second part of Phero's act, which suddenly seemed a lot more important to her than the various inflections of barking Phero was experimenting with. "Aw yeah, sh-she's getting it...!"

The Navi continued grinning haplessly as he let Phero do her own work at first. As Phero turned up her own vulnerability, by her own admission, BigShotMan apparently decided he should take advantage accordingly. The male Navi put both hands onto her hips, beginning to add a little of his own effort to their impromptu grind session. BigShotMan clenched his teeth in a grin, his eyes looking intense and hungry as he appreciated Phero's hands-on approach to modeling. Phero's surprise at what she was feeling would probably depend on her level of optimism: BigShotMan's size was slightly on the plus side of most guys his size, only just enough that he could call himself a "big shot" with any confidence in that area. On the other hand, Phero would definitely be able to tell she was helping him out on that front.

AdjustLady watched them with the same expression on her face for a bit, keeping her hands on her hips. Eventually, she put a hand to the side of her face. "Oh, so you two are really going at it, hm? I suppose I'll join in the fun, then... I'm going to go with 'SEX PROGRAM' for this one. Now... It would be best if this shot was done from the side, I suppose. Don't worry, Cutie. The camera already got your shot, so I won't be messing it up."

While Phero was presumably still going at it, AdjustLady approached BigShotMan from behind. Due to the size adjustments Phero had made to her body earlier, along with the proportion adjustments AdjustLady had made, herself, it was fair to say she dwarfed BigShotMan's lanky frame. She wasted no time smashing her chest against the young man, crossing her arms over his shoulders and rubbing them along the chest. At the same time, she wrapped one leg alongside him, such that he was well enveloped. She'd adjusted the knobs on the sides of her head to give herself a kinky smile. Although the expression was still, she made a show of running her tongue across her lips. The tongue was clearly more animated than the rest of the face, and more like a traditional humanoid appearance, with the exception of its entirely black coloration. Looking at the rest of her body, it was probably safe to imagine it was modeled with the intention to exactly mirror a human organ.

BigShotMan didn't seem to be thinking about that much, though, as she continued clinging to his pectorals and looming through the crook of his shoulder. It might be worth considering the young man was allowing himself to get pushed pretty close to an apparent limit of stimulation he could handle, while there was still a third picture to go. It might also be worth considering the crowd had, somewhat visibly, moved past admiring Phero's direct crowd interaction and on to open jealousy of the special attention BigShotMan was getting.

"How about it?" AdjustLady spoke into his earguard, ignoring the camera shutter as it went off alongside it. "I'm sure you're just about there, right...? I'd be happy to help you, but Phero can probably- oh! This is cute," she exclaimed, suddenly moving one of her hands off of BigShotMan's body, seemingly to reach for Phero's bottom... it stopped a bit above, though, grabbing onto a part Phero might not have been aware of and gaining some leverage. At some point in the commotion, it appeared a dog tail had appeared on the rear of Phero's costume, just above the crack of her hips, which AdjustLady had briefly grabbed.

As soon as Phero became aware of that, she'd probably also notice she was now wearing a headband with two small, floppy brown dog ears to match the tail. She also had a red collar on, with a round silver tag bearing her name, although she might be a bit preoccupied to note that particular detail. She was receiving instructions from her earpiece to crank up her "sexy dog" act and get carried away... in light of that, she might be regretting she'd already used up "Dog in Heat."

If she happened to look back, she'd see AdjustLady looking at her curiously from above BigShotMan's shoulder, now sporting a headband with black-colored cat ears herself, as well as a pink collar with a bell. Phero wouldn't be able to see it from her current position, but it'd probably be safe to assume she had a black tail to match on her suit.

--

In the meantime, HunterWoman was engaging in some verbal sparring with Dart, who seemed determined to continue positioning herself as a rival. "Hah! I don't care what dirty business you get up to in the woods by yourself, but don't forget we're hunting men here, not beasts! I clearly have the experience advantage here." Dart had moved out of the water now, though her body still glistened with moisture. She was standing with her arms behind her head, still pushing her chest forward.

"And the chest advantage, too!" Toss added, sneaking up to her partner and giving her a quick fondle from behind.

Dart quickly jumped away, She crossed her arms over her chest, but was compelled to turn her back to the audience as she did. "Dummy! Why do I have to get felt up by you?! These attractions..." she segued, turning back to the audience and uncrossing her arms again, "are for paying customers only!" With a crooked grin, the Navi grabbed own chest in her hand and jiggled it.

"Heh, you're getting into it now, are you?" Toss spoke the words casually enough, but her hand seemed to be creeping down her sides towards her thighs. "Don't give it to 'em too easy, bad girl! ...Oh yeah, serious for a moment," she added, snapping out of it. "Don't forget you gotta do another pose."

"Of course," Dart replied in a huff, joining HunterWoman in facing the audience more directly.

The available audience was already invested in HunterWoman's show at this point, especially the apparent potential. A few people with disposable income had taken a guess at what additional motivation HunterWoman might be looking for, and had produced zenny packets in the forms of bills. Since they weren't offering them in the most easily accessible form of a data crystal that could easily be transferred to a Navi's storage, it was safe to say they probably had a different idea of how to hand them over to her...

Having decided she wanted in on that, Dart moved closer. "I'll do 'Come Hither...' even though I'm the one coming over," she declared. "This ought to get you guys nice and hot!" The Navi moved in so she at the flag line erected to separate the audience, then leaned forward across it. "Forward shot, audience," she told the camera, getting it to move into position. Looking at the camera, the Navi placed her right hand on her right leg, and then leaned forward to give it a good view. Dart used her left hand to pinch a band of her shades between two fingers, though she didn't actually remove it. She gave the camera a pretty smile as the shutter went off.

"You don't think you'd look better with the shades off? Or like, tilt 'em down!" Toss called.

"Shut up about the-" Dart began, before a Navi, just barely customized with a different color scheme from a regular NormalNavi, stuffed a wad of bills into the side of her top. The Navi smiled a bit awkwardly and blushed, glancing sideways at HunterWoman.

If HunterWoman had moved in close enough, she'd find the men just as eager to get bills into sides of her bottom band. The headpiece she was wearing encouraged as much: she'd hear a directive for her to start think of herself and Dart as exotic dancers rather than hunters, and to refer to the two of them as such. The directive suggested the idea of being a hunter was more of a stage gimmick... At any rate, the men were finding their roll slowed as HunterWoman approached, apparently realizing their plan didn't account for HunterWoman being coated in wet dirt. The men seemed curiously dainty about putting their hard-earned cash in if it meant getting their hands dirty.

Dart's swimsuit had changed in the sense that the skirt had retracted to be no more than a frill to the bottom. Her top had also changed to include some lace up the middle, such that the former halter top now revealed cleavage. Hunterwoman wouldn't need to see beneath the dirt coating her to feel that the material of her bottom had retreated in the back, such that the swimsuit would probably properly be called a thong.

Surf and Toss had been watching this for a while, Toss putting a finger to her lower lip and smirking, Surf still rolling her sucker in her mouth contemplatively. The surfer Navi removed it the candy from her lips with a pop. She frowned, looking around. Between Phero's camp and HunterWoman's crowd, the audience seemed pretty well occupied. She wouldn't have much choice to get their attention but to join one or the other. "I thought we were shooting photos, dudes..." she muttered to herself, glancing at the camera again.

"Hey, everybody's having fun! Some of 'em are even making a little spending money, heh," Toss commented, putting a hand on Surf's shoulder. "Anyway, not like you have to join 'em. Remember, the real audience we're trying to reach are those guys watching behind computer screens. Those guys might appreciate a little mono-e-mono, not having to share their favorite with a bunch of other guys."

"Fair enough, dude. Hey, though! You're not my mom, Dude! You're my opponent," Surf commented with a grin, not shying away from what had now become a rub of her shoulder by the other woman. "I'm not taking orders from you."

"You want me to boss you around, Bad Girl?" Toss asked her in a low voice, keeping a serious face that broke into a familiar silly grin.

"Eheh... I'll be fine. Gonna give my fans another hot one! I bet they're totally jac-" Surf started, before covering her mouth with a hand. She giggled a bit, though, and smiled at Toss laughing as well. "Anyway, dude, I'm gonna do 'Over Board'". Surf smiled, confidently enough, as she headed towards the water again. She headed out about the same depth the others had in order to get their whole bodies wet. However, rather than heading back in, she summoned her surf board, and set it floating on the water. Likely using the same trick that let her make it float in the first place, the Navi pulled herself on top of it so she was lying across the length. During that ordinarily precarious maneuver, the board didn't even shift to threaten a tilt. Having expertly mounted it, the Navi turned her head to the camera, allowing it to catch her from side view. She put her bottom in the air a bit, so the camera would capture her curves. She removed the sucker from her mouth, giving a wide smile as she held the candy stick at an aloof angle.

In the meantime, back on the beach, Toss watched Phero and AdjustLady with some curiosity. "Well, two's a crowd on that little guy, I think. Let's see... with my remaining poses, I'm gonna have to get creative. I used up the only easy one... Let's do 'Stop and Frisk.' I can get some naughty boys motivated... You boys at home, I want you to use your imagination on this one, all right?~"

The Navi summoned small horseshoe-shaped throwing weapons in her hands, showing them to the camera. Still smiling, she slid one of them into her top, then another into the side of her bottom, allowing the two to poke out from the sides. "Get over here!" She then gave the camera a grin, reaching up to grab it in one hand and have the photo take as though she were taking a self-portrait. She used her free hand to pull the top a bit teasingly down, clearly showing where her horseshoe rested against her bosom.

At about that time, Surf had returned from the water, tossing her head upon after emerging from a dunk. "Toss! Why don't we pair up for the last one?"

"Oh?" Toss replied, whipping her horseshoes out from where she'd tucked them and dismissing them. "You decided to take me up on my offer, then, Bad Girl?" The larger Navi pointed a finger at the chest of the other as she said that, and held it there meaningfully.

Surf didn't register the point until she'd held it there a meaningfully long time. Her eyes traveled down to her swim top, again, where she discovered the text had been changed to a cursive rendition of "Bad Girl" with a lipstick mark. The Navi felt over herself a bit self-consciously, her hands resting on her head. She couldn't see it, but she could feel the style had changed. The audience, of course, would see it had been re-arranged into two small side-ponytails. "Is this what my fans are into? Pervs!" she declared, beaming to show she evidently wasn't holding it against them.

"I think I get what mine are up to," Toss responded, glancing down at her own outfit, which had changed not subtly into a red lifeguard's one piece. "You'd be surprised how often those kinky types want 'bounty hunter' to translate into some kind of authority figure, punish 'em for their sins or whatever... How about it, boys? How many of you at home are fellas I threw in the slammer?" Toss grinned at the camera as she spoke this. "Well, if you're not yet, don't worry! There's still time for us to have a fateful encounter. Mention this event and I'll give you twenty percent off your next *ss-kicking!"

"All of those dudes, you think?" Surf commented, rolling her eyes. "You don't think any of 'em are just garden variety creeps who like perving on thick chicks like you?"

"Hey, getting a little sassy, Miss Girl!" Toss replied, putting her hands on her hips.

"You aren't exactly hiding all that junk in your trunk, Wide Load!" Surf spoke back, sticking out her tongue.

"You're asking for it, huh?" Toss cracked her knuckles, grinning.

Unless HunterWoman or Phero intervened, Toss and Surf would continue this rapport mostly alone. The present audience really wasn't focusing on anyone except who was closest to them.

"That's right! I'm getting it," Phero giggled happily. "See? 'Bitch Get It' was the right blue-print for the performance after all," she thought to herself confidently. This time, she was pretty sure what she was feeling wasn't a bottle held between someone's legs; perhaps ironically, she felt very proud at this moment, given the reaction she was getting. "Oooh dear, I might be getting carried away again," she thought to herself, though the thought wasn't slowing her down. It occurred to her that she was starting to feel a bit moist at the point of connection between the two, something that BigShotMan would probably notice as well, especially given that she was straining what little coverage she had back there by pulling it into a thin line. "I'm doing a good job of being vulnerable," she reminded herself, but it was still pretty embarrassing.

Phero heard AdjustLady mention that she was about to get involved as well. However, from this position, even if she had been able to turn her head around completely, she'd find that she couldn't see AdjustLady fully. She had another observation to make regardless: "Nice try, AdjustLady, but I happen to know that you're not actually having sex with him right now!" she chuckled, feeling that perhaps her handle on the poses was better than her adversary's for some reason. As if in response to her barb, AdjustLady yanked up on a tail at the back of Phero's suit that she hadn't be aware of before that moment. "Eep!" she cried, as the already taut line of her suit dug further into her groin momentarily. Another burst of sweet-scented, now slightly more visible, pink mist released itself out and shot over both BigShotMan and the other lady. "W-Woof, I mean! Don't pull my tail, that's animal abuse!"

A light jingling came from her collar now as she moved her hips and BigShotMan reciprocated. Ordinarily, even Phero would probably understand that it was socially unacceptable to finish off a guy in public like she was working towards. However, those weren't the kinds of things a dog in heat worried about, and thus, she wasn't concerned. One thing she was concerned about, however, was the mounting sense that the rest of the crowd was getting testy. "Oh no! I'm letting everyone down. But I don't know how to attend to everyone!" she thought to herself. Right now she was almost wishing she had a bit more of Dharma's showmanship, so that she could find a way to make BigShotMan happy and make everyone else excited at the same time. She wished she could look at the others to try to get some ideas, but with the crowd all around now, she wasn't having an easy time seeing past her own situation.

"I can't do 'I WANT A KISS,' at least not with anyone other than BigShotMan. I think he likes me... it'd be really mean to kiss somebody else now," she thought to herself, with a bit of anxiety. "And I can't do 'Release' on him, because then everyone will be even more jealous! What pose can I do?" Of course, every moment she spent thinking was another moment getting closer to helping BigShotMan release, whether he was ready or not, so she was on a budget with time. "O-Okay, we're going to do the last photo!" she announced. "I call this the Dharma Heart-Payne, because it's something that reminds me of something she did once a bit!" she announced, far too loudly for Dharma's comfort.

Unfortunately, her original plan wasn't going to work out: thus held from behind, she couldn't actually change her position all too much. The best she could do was push herself up so she was standing straight up, though still with her bottom against his groin. Two distinct orders were running through her head: one, to make people happy and to make herself vulnerable, and the other, to avoid removing the swimsuit. "I'm not really removing the swimsuit, technically" she reminded herself, as she quickly untied the knot at her neck. As her swimsuit started to fall, she crossed one hand across her chest, so that she'd still be covered as it fell down to her groin. From there, she allowed a bit of holding her legs together and also BigShotMan's hands to keep the remainder of the suit in place at her lower body.

From the hand and forearm at her breasts, she released a film of purple goo, which would quickly form into foam; that would keep her at least a bit more decent in case someone had the idea to pull away her arm for some reason. With the other, she reached behind herself... and discretely into the hem of BigShotMan's shorts, just an inch or two away from what might be his namesake. "Don't worry," she whispered back to him. "I'm making it so... if you need to... you can do it," she informed him, breathing a little heavier and now very red. She smiled kindly as she sprayed more of the goop into his pants, over his member. He'd feel it forming a light surface over himself, which didn't feel uncomfortable... though, if he looked down at it, he'd probably be disturbed to see that it now looked like his pants had purple gum in them. Of course, in his current state, it might be hard to tell whether she'd given it to him so he could finish up with his shorts on... or whether she was giving him protection before going in.

Once done, she reached a hand around to hold onto his leg instead, catching Adjust Lady's thigh as well in the process. Making a decidedly dirty face, she panted and smiled at the crowd. "Woof, woof! I'm going to be the AD Net Bitch Queen!" she cheered, waving to the camera absent-mindedly so that her bouncing breasts, which were covered only by the purple foam layer, were exposed. Only a bit of it was flecking off, thankfully, despite the motion.

On the other side, Dharma found herself almost audibly swearing, given that her name had been evoked and her navi was devolving into some sort of primal, horny dog. "I made her to be easily manipulated, but not THAT easily manipulated!" she thought, fighting the urge to bury her face in both palms and stop watching. Furthermore, all of the other girls were stepping up in other ways and some of them were even getting money thrown at them. Dharma bit her finger and squinted, realizing how badly she wished she was a part of it... for the purpose of dominating the crowd, of course. Most importantly, she had to respond to Diana in some kind of way. The girl was rapidly become witness to things she was never meant to see.

"That's good to know, but apparently my navi didn't get that memo," she laughed, trying to make as light of the situation as she could. "I suppose I should be happy that she's so devoted to... the contest." That reminded her she had no recollection of why Phero was actually doing this. Was she supposed to be acting like such a sexual deviant, or had Phero just gone off the rails to do that on her own? On the other hand, as Dharma could see from the rest of her scene, the other girls were all doing things roughly similar, if not quite so extreme. It stood to reason it must be some sort of exhibitionist show, similar to the strip show she'd pulled off at the Clusterbucket.

Self-consciously, Dharma fingered her tie, loosening it slightly at her neck. She didn't say anything, but found herself breathing a bit heavier herself. She had no desire to do anything with any man's disgusting reproductive parts, but the thought of taking off her clothes and commanding so much attention was just as alluring as it was the first time. Suddenly, she found herself wanting to get out of her clothes... but doing that in front of Diana would just make her seem even more suspicious than she already did. "What a ridiculous mission," she said out loud, smiling to Diana for confirmation that the whole thing was silly, worthy of ridicule, and not necessarily arousing for either of them.

Between the headpiece planting new ideas into her head, and her general lack of overly coherent thought, HunterWoman barely noticed the antics of the other ladies, and started backing up towards the crowd. "Mmm, yeah! I guess all you guys like an exotic girl like me, huh?" This seemed like it was true, but once she was actually close enough, they seemed to clam up somewhat. That needed to change. "Aw, come on! You're not into girls like to get down and dirty? 'Cause trust me, I can get filthy if you want me to...I might have a crossbow from time to time, but I don't mind getting loaded with a nice shaft, myself!" Right in front of the crowd, she started to move her rear end up and down, essentially dry humping the air. "Here's my quiver, boys! Now stuff it full of your ammo! If you don't, I might have to take measures into my own hands!" ...By now it was getting increasingly unclear if she was talking about their money, or something else. Either way, it was pretty clear she wanted something they could provide, at least.

---------

"The...Dharma Heart-Payne?"

Even as her Navi continued with...whatever it was she was doing, it was Phero that drew Diana's attention. "Okay, I have to ask. What'd you do once to inspire something like that?" She probably wasn't getting an answer...or maybe she should've asked 'who' instead of 'what'. Or maybe she should've asked who Phero did, instead of Dharma. Lots and lots of questions, no answers. Typical.

"Devotion...right..." Somehow, she had a feeling it was less devotion and more just really being way too into it. ...Speaking of which, why was Dharma suddenly loosening her tie and breathing heavily? That usually was a sign of nerves...either she really wasn't enjoying what she was seeing, or she was enjoying it a little too much, herself. "Ridiculous isn't quite the word I'd use. I'd say more like..." ...Hmm. What word would she use? "...Eh, I guess ridiculous is as good a word as any. I'm pretty sure whatever the perfect word for it is, it doesn't exist." Just like the GNA's mission standards, based on the looks of it.

AdjustLady released the tail she'd grabbed with a small chuckle. "You have me there, I suppose. Of the two of us, I'm clearly not the one engaged in sexual concourse, now am I? You two make a nice, cute couple. I'll let you finish your work privately. More or less," she finished, indicating the crowd with a jerk of her head. She withdrew her arms from around BigShotMan and backed off.

Although BigShotMan had been given some space to back off if he wanted, he certainly didn't seem inclined. He didn't seem off put by the unusual scents Phero was emitting or their sources. With freedom to move his torso a bit, he leaned in over Phero even more, moving his own hips against the back of hers with enthusiasm.

While he was forced to give Phero some space for her next move, she didn't find any trouble in moving him. In fact, the life seemed to have temporarily drained from every part of him but the part Phero was probably currently most concerned with. "D-did you say... D-D-D-Dhahma... o-oh! Dat's jus' da name of da p-pose fa ya shoot, right? Yeah, uh, go fa it, doll..." It sounded like the young man was really forcing himself to get back into the spirit, which was probably a testament to how much he valued the opportunity. He put on a smile again to show as much. "Ya know, it's a funny story, my Op and dat lady, jus' so happens dey got some hist'ry, see? Dey, uh, had a run-in a while back, I would'n know, but kinda a big deal... Some bad blood, I guess." The Navi gulped, seeing Phero dropping her top. "Dat's got nothin' t'do wit dis, a'course."

BigShotMan gulped and grinned with an awkward mix of sheepishness and wolfishness as Phero gave him a unique form of protection. "Kay," he responded to her advice in the same conspiratorial tone. "Uh, so, we gonna... oh, right, da shoot. I guess ahm in dis one, huh... whaddamI suppose'ta... woah!" The Navi suddenly exclaimed, seeing what Phero had done and, apparently, not having realized she censored herself. Or, just as likely, that could simply be a convenient excuse for his next action, as he reached around and put his hands on Phero's breasts. She'd be able to tell his surprise as his hands connected with the film there, but he still didn't move them. Of course, the gentlemanly concern he was extending to her chest no longer applied to the support of her swimsuit...

Regardless of what state Phero could get herself into, the camera let off a flash, indicating the picture had been taken. The crowd seemed quite pleased with the wave and declaration they'd gotten, and the faces were basically all smiling men as far as Phero would be able to see, with two exceptions...

The first was that of AdjustLady, who had wandered off and had turned her back to Phero to address the contingent of the audience they'd crawled into and Phero wasn't facing. The woman had lowered herself to all fours, showing off the black-cat details of her costume well, and had raised one hand into the air in a position miming a cat's paw. "Mreow!" she called as the shutter for her own photo went off. "How would you fine fellows like to pet the-" she began, before her vision happened to turn back and catch Phero was done. It'd be hard to tell if she was embarrassed from anything but reading body language, but she quickly rose to her feet, brushing herself off. Phero would be able to get a brief glimpse at the text on the back of her bottom, which had at some point changed to "SEX KITTEN" in block letters.

The other face Phero might happen upon was a very out-of-place looking woman, modeled a little older than Phero herself was, beaming broadly at Phero from the audience. The face was framed by shoulder-length blonde hair with messy bangs. She was making an effort to make contact with her own sleepy grey eyes, but wasn't doing anything more than that to address Phero. The female Navi's outfit probably wouldn't have stood out on an ordinary beach. She had a simple grey t-shirt with a sun design across the front, paired with an ordinary sky blue bikini bottom. She wasn't pale, but neither was she very tan, making it unlikely she was a beach regular unless she wasn't coded to tan. She was a little bit taller than Phero, but also skinnier, and would have unremarkable proportions even if she weren't sharing a beach with Phero and AdjustLady. She had silver ear guards, but it wasn't possible to see what symbol was on them from the direction she faced.

If Phero caught her eyes, she'd flash the Navi a brief, lazy grin. "Let me have a look at you, Doggie!" she'd shout with only the minimal effort possible to be heard over the audience around her. "You're a good doggie, ain'tcha?" She'd accompany this motion by patting her hands on her knees, a stance that would leave her tilting her head up to make eye contact.

While it was certainly questionable what value responding to this woman would have (and it would be entirely understandable for Phero to miss the woman's weak attempts at getting her attention, seeing as so many things were currently vying for it), she'd feel a strange direction from her ear-piece. AdjustLady's technology encouraged Phero to approach closer, keeping up a sexy dog act for the crowd as much as possible, and let herself get scratched under the chin. There was no explicit order to engage with the new woman any further than that.

---

As HunterWoman toned up her show-woman-ship for the crowd, the formerly skittish would-be payers took notice. This may also have been aided by the fact that HunterWoman's shaking was doing a good bit to shake off the dirt that was giving them pause. Of course, she'd still be sandy even after the exercise.

"You snooze you lose, suckers!" a voice suddenly shouted out, as one Navi muscled his way forward out of the crowd. The Navi shoved the others out of the way, which might be a little distressing to HunterWoman seeing as he wasn't ostensibly waving a wad of cash bigger than their collective sum.

The Navi appeared to be of the custom variety, with a body that was mostly red, with a silver stripe that seemed continuous up the entire middle of his body. At various areas, such as the bridge of his nose and his forehead, his exposed shoulders, or the palms of his hands, the Navi had grey-plastic-looking coloration with small green and yellow lights dotting them. He had a smiling mouth and mostly human features, although his eyes were shaded by heavy lids and no white lit them. His build was pretty impressively muscular, but given the non-human appearance his color scheme gave him, his slightly boxier-than-human angles, and his hairless head, it might be hard to picture him working out to achieve them. The Navi was also wearing a red, legless swimsuit with a thick black band. A Navi-symbol featuring a red row of three tickets, as might we won at an arcade game, decorated his chest and ear guards.

"I'm not gonna sit back and watch these losers take advantage of my generosity any longer." The Navi's voice came without his Navi moving mouth, which, upon closer inspection, seemed more like a ticket printing slot. "If you wanted chump change like that, you'd be shaking that sweet *ss at your couch for whatever was in the cushions! No, if you want the big prize, you deal with the big man! TicketMan's your man. Now, I figure you're gonna get paid for doing your job, right? Wouldn't hurt you to take a little detour and give TicketMan some personal attention if you get to do your job in the meantime, right?"

While TicketMan solicited HunterWoman's attention, Dart had been with her previous patrons, shaking her chest in the face of one with a pouty expression on her face. "Look, I don't know what Tsundere is, but I'm doing this pose to get a good photo and because you paid me, not because I like you!" As soon as the camera flash let off, she quickly departed from the one who paid her and moved over to HunterWoman and her new acquaintance. "Who's this weirdo?" she said, facing TicketMan with a hand on her hip.

TicketMan looked at her silently for a moment, his expression not changing. "Well! You're both beautiful babes, and my prizes are plentiful, but I'm afraid I've only got enough to award a single sinful angel today. Why don't the two of you show me who wants my prize more? I can assure you, it's way more than the chickenfeed any of these hicks are carrying."

"Ugh, this guy seems like a tool. 'Sinful angel,'" Dart muttered to HunterWoman under her breath, before sashaying her way over to TicketMan. Sighing, she put a hand against his chest and leaned onto him, turning her head back to HunterWoman. "Look, I'll show this douche a good time. This isn't part of the contest, so why don't you go regroup with your buddies? If you're worried about your cash, I'll give you some of what they gave me."

"Oh, but you won't be splitting my prize. It's a very big, singular, solid prize," the man told Dart, casually sliding a hand onto her backside that she didn't seem to react to as strongly as one might figure. "A prize only one woman can win! Will it be you? Or you?"

HunterWoman would be getting the same impulses she'd had until now, but also a strong (unsubstantiated) suggestion that TicketMan really did have the biggest prize that was most worthy of her attention. However, HunterWoman would also get a different transmission, this one from MascotMan's headset. "Sorry to bug you when you're working so hard," his voice would come in, quietly, "But remember your fans are waiting for one more shot! If you get a chance, maybe give 'em a quicky so I can release some scores? Morty's fat isn't outta the fire yet!"

---

Surf, in the meantime, was still hanging out with Toss in about the middle of the contest ring. "Need a sec to think of how to set this up..."

"No worries on that one," Toss interrupted. "I'll help you out! Just lean over your board." The Navi grinned, spinning a horseshoe on a finger deftly. Her grin grew wider as she saw Surf comply immediately. "Nice! Stick that cute butt out for the boys, all right? Now... I'm going to do 'Hands Tied.' I'm actually something of a specialist on this one!"

Before Surf could object, Toss took the two horseshoes she'd summoned earlier and wrangled Surf's wrists together, placing the horseshoes around them. Doing so caused a linked chain to fire between the two horseshoes, forming handcuffs. Surf let out a gasp, but only struggled briefly against them. "What the heck, dude? Is this your way of helping? A way to take me out of the competition?! Or just your kink...?"

"Let's call it business and pleasure, okay?" Toss replied, smiling casually as she set up her shot to go off. "Aaand... that timing's about right!" The Navi slapped a hand to the rear of her prisoner, eliciting a sharp gasp as she squeezed and the photo shot. "There we go! Hopefully your fans will appreciate that as much as I did, Bad Girl!"

Surf remained quiet for a moment, flushed and pressed against her board. Finally, she sighed, working to adopt a smile again and shutting her eyes. "Okay! Camera in front. If that's the way it's gonna be, you've gotta help me do 'Spank Me, Daddy!'"

"Seriously? Your fans gave you 'Spank Me Daddy?'" Toss laughed, snorting a bit. "All right, all right, what have I got to do?"

"Spank me, Daddy!" Surf rolled her eyes, then shut them again. "If I've been a bad girl, you've got- ah!"

Toss didn't waste any time as she began paddling the enemy team leader, and she didn't spare any energy. Surf slid across the board and let out the cries, trying to put the sultry tone into them she figured her fans would want to hear. As soon as the shot went off, a grin broke across her face and she began squirming. "All right, all right! I've learned my lesson, ma'am, lemme go!"

Toss put a finger to her lower lip and glanced around. "Eh... dunno. Seems like we've got some time to spare. Y'know, I deal with a lot of criminals and bad types, and I can usually tell when they're really sorry about what they did. You said some pretty mean stuff about me! Maybe I oughta make sure you learned your lesson, hmm...?" She smiled, putting her hand back on Surf's backside from her own dominant standing position.

"What? No, um, I'll be good-" Surf replied, squirming a bit and sweating.

"Oh?" Toss leaned over her captive and grabbed the sides of the surf top. "What does it say on this, again?" She began pulling it up in spite of the other woman's protests. Although she wouldn't actually be able to pull it off of her with her hands bound, she could pretty easily free the breasts.

The naughtiest bits were still hidden as she was pressed against the board, but nonetheless, Surf wore a mortified expression as she looked forward into the camera. "Look, dude, whatever I said, I'm sorry, okay? I'm, uh-"

"Oh, nice! You play the naughty, begging bad girl pretty well! You'd almost have your fans thinking you didn't really want it, if we couldn't all see you want it so bad..." Toss punctuated her comment with another slap on the behind.

"C'mon, dude! There's no points awarded for this, right? If you wanna satisfy your nasty bondage fetish, do it in your job like you normally wo- agh!" Surf cringed as her smart remark earned her another hit.

It seemed like MascotMan was holding further announcement until all of the contestants had done a photo pose, at least for now. HunterWoman's compliance would probably be needed to spare Surf further punishment.

"Nothing at all!" Dharma responded to Diana, seeming a bit snappy despite her smile, although that was increasingly forced. "I think my navi is just acting out a bit. She's got a rebellious nature, despite the needs of her work." The company president pulled out her tie again, noticing perspiration on the tips of her fingers as she did. "I'm sweating! Why would I, Dharma Heart-Payne, feel threatened right now? Perhaps it's not a threat I feel, but... it's like this woman is staring right through my clothing," she thought to herself, feeling somehow naked as she shifted her legs to a tighter, crossed position and folded her arms at her chest. "I think it would be best for everyone if we didn't take all of this too seriously..."

That included Dharma's thoughts about Diana's own navi, who was acting pretty shamelessly herself. It was hard for her to pay attention to that, however, when her navi was acting like a horny dog.

Phero didn't have much of a frame of reference for how Dharma and BigShotMan would know each other, but she realized it must be a sore spot for him. "Understandable, Dharma's mean to all sorts of people. She probably fired him or made his operator sell her house or something," she reasoned. There were probably some more likely reasons, but she couldn't think about them right now, distracted as she was. As far as she knew, squeezing of squishy parts was something done by friends and mates alike, so felt no shame smiling as BigShotMan grabbed hold of her breasts. Her swimsuit sagged dangerously without the help of his hands, but stayed put mostly due to her bent position.

AdjustLady hadn't quite left her sight yet, though, and she noticed that the navi seemed suddenly displeased (or at least startled). "She's so hard to figure out! I thought she'd be happy with me for trying so hard to save Morty's balls. And for having such a good time," she thought, lashing out internally once again. The other girl who'd showed up, on the other hand, was unusually distracting. "Yes... Woof. I'm a good doggie," she agreed, having done her best to be a dog loved by all thus far. "Excuse me for a sec... arf got something arf gotta do," she whispered back to BigShotMan. "Whoops... I can't stop the dog thing now."

She crawled through the crowd, mostly out of it, and towards the other girl now. Her breasts hung, looking indecent from any angle without being able to see the gel on them, and while the suit mostly lay flat at her back, it was mostly hanging on the front, concealed only by the difficulty of seeing around her thighs. "Woof woof... so... who are you?" she asked, stopping just short and keeping her top down against the ground, wagging her butt at the crowd still.

From this angle she could see what some of the other girls were up to. It looked like sexiness was everywhere (although she wasn't sure what to make of Surf getting firmly hand-paddled, her mind associated that more with punishment than play). It was clear what HunterWoman and Dart were doing, at least. "It made everyone pretty happy when Dharma did that, so I guess I get why HunterWoman did. Nobody pays dogs though... not that I need money. Maybe I should ask people to put dog treats in my swimsuit? No, there's er... not much of a way to put them in right now," she mused. "But it looks like HunterWoman is really 'getting it!'"

The sudden shout made HunterWoman turn her head to see just who did it, and noted the large Navi now before her. His remarks seemed to hit...some sort of nerve, as she gasped in shock. "No way! I don't wanna waste my sweet ass on some cushions right now! It deserves way better! I want a really nice prize! Gimme, gimme!"

Before she could receive that prize, however, Dart showed up, and it was made clear that only one could claim it. Well, that just was not going to do. If only one person could get it, it was going to be her! She rammed her hip into the other woman to knock her away, and moved in towards TicketMan. "No way! I bet the prize isn't anything like a cushion! But, uh, I gotta warn you. My ass can be a real man eater sometimes. Once it's got a hold of you, it might not let go! It'll do everything it can to get you inside it!" With that, she thrust her posterior into the Navi's groin, doing everything she could to squeeze it against him. One way or another, she was getting that prize. And as a bonus, due to her headset induced word choice, she'd get that third shot in, too.

------

"Acting out, huh?" Diana's expression made it quite clear she wasn't buying it...then again, that was basically her default expression, so who really knew? "I wouldn't say HunterWoman does that, but...well, as you can see, she's a bit of a free spirit." Or a loose cannon. Or, in this instance, a loose spirit. "Oh, I stopped taking all this seriously a long time ago. I mean, look at it. It's the most asinine thing I've ever seen." Asinine, that was the word she was looking for earlier. "I'm pretty sure Netopian college students taking spring break in Whazzap usually stop short of this."

"Well, at least it's not us doing that nonsense. ...I kinda wish there was a way to do, well, something to help out, though. Just sitting here doing nothing isn't my style."

BigShotMan appeared flummoxed at Phero's sudden break away, but probably only from the standpoint of losing his personal treatment. At this point, if she was fine losing the gentlemanly cover he'd been trying to provide, he was apparently going to honor that decision. Of course, that didn't mean he had to take his eyes off her as she wiggled her tail, moving away on all fours.

As Phero approached the other woman, she gave Phero a good scratch beneath the chin as she'd intended to, smiling widely and bringing her face in close to her would-be pet's. "Oooh, who's a good doggie? You are! Who's a good kitty?! Wow, what a big kitty!" she suddenly exclaimed, looking to Phero's right. The Navi would become suddenly aware that AdjustLady had prowled up alongside her, now allowing herself to be scratched behind the cat ears she was wearing.

"Very well, I suppose I am," AdjustLady replied impatiently. "More to the point, I believe the cute doggie just asked you a question."

"Aw, is Kitty in a bad mood?" the woman returned in a singsong voice, pouting her lips. "Mmm... I'm KennelWoman," the Navi replied, breaking into a smile again. "Now, is Kitty cranky? Does she wanna play?"

"Well, I'd say kitty is curious. Yes, I'm aware of the particular imprudence of that statement, before you bring it up. It hasn't escaped me that my cute friend and I have undergone transformations with distinctly feline and canine tilts. My technology has also drawn me to you, specifically. I can only assume she's the same. I know I purged the hijacker from my system before rebooting it, and included a safety lock as well. How did you manage to-"

"Up up!" the other woman cooed, putting a finger to AdjustLady's lips suddenly, then moving her hand to actually hold the woman's jaw closed. "I love all kindsa four-legged friends, but I don't think anyone likes a kitty making quite that much noise. Now, I couldn't say who trained you two well-behaved critters so well, but I certainly don't think it's hurting your performance! I love seeing cute animals play together, at least."

With some effort, AdjustLady first grabbed the other woman's hand with both of her own, then wrested control of her jaw free. "Come now! Effectiveness aside, I most certainly need to investigate security flaws in my own technology. While we're currently in intermission, I don't have much of an excuse not to-"

"Oh, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!" KennelWoman hushed her again, turning now to Phero. "Puppy, I'm doing everything I can to get Kitty in a good mood, but I left my toys at home... I think she just needs a playmate! Why don'tcha give her some exercise? She's getting a teensy bit fat in a couple of areas, so she looks like she could use it... I'm sure everyone here wants to see you two having fun together, anyway."

"I think mew're overestimating the control that the device gives you over subjects," AdjustLady spoke with little humor. "The device doesn't purrrform mind control: we're capable of ignoring directives, and I believe Phero has wits to know we need to get these questions answered before we go any purr-ther. She purr-obably even has some of her own. Besides, this doggie isn't exactly the bossy Rottweiler type. The sofa's always mine if I want it, so to speak."

Phero would have to decide for herself how much she could agree with AdjustLady's assurances, or even how much she wanted to. As if on cue, the device in Phero's ear was suggesting she could probably put on a great show if she followed KennelWoman's advice. It seemed it was a bit harder for the device to conjure up specific examples for her to draw from, as this seemed to be getting into a more niche kink, but it provided building blocks Phero might be able to piece together with creativity. All previous directives were still firing. It also began hinting, not too subtly, that worrying about the device or its quirks was likely to hurt the quality of the show...

While her doing much of anything in her current outfit without some readjustment might seem to pose a challenge to Phero, she'd find that she'd already been given some help on that front. The previous one-piece that had been hanging loose had already been magically adjusted to a small bottom of brown, furry material, riding a bit low and fastened at the sides with puppy-paw shaped button-fastened clasps at the sides. No top was included, so Phero would either need to come up with a plan or continue relying on her improvised methods, if she wished to.

---

HunterWoman's choices (and her body) appeared to rub TicketMan exactly the right way, causing a toothy grin to spread across his face. "Oh yeah, Babe, this prize isn't anything like cushions... nothing soft about it," he chuckled as HunterWoman worked on earning her reward. The Navi made himself at home, putting his hands behind his head and keeping his hips firmly in place so HunterWoman could do all the work. The camera gave a flash somewhere, likely a distant second thought to the hunter's current task.

Dart, meanwhile, had been effectively put to the side, unable to hold her ground against HunterWoman's energy and enthusiasm. "Wha- Hey, you bimbo! I... C-can't we... I mean, wouldn't it actually be better if we both-"

"I appreciate the thought, but I'm happy with the one that wants it the baddest! Besides, you still got plenty of fans there willing to shell out. Put on a good show for 'em!"

The woman frowned, but, perhaps surprisingly, complied. "All right, all right. You guys have me for now! And the bunch of you together better be able to shell out at least as much as she's getting from this one guy, right? Make me feel like this is worth my time, or I'm not going to be motivated!" In spite of her words, Dart seemed pretty immediately motivated, gliding from man to man and giving him personal attention, sometimes in the form of grinding her behind against him, other times pressing against his chest and facing him while running hands over him. The device, presumably, had given her a deep repertoire to work with. As she'd promised, anyone who slid a nice tip into her outfit found themselves rewarded with a bit more service, and even a smile.

TicketMan seemed satisfied with his decision, however, spinning HunterWoman away briefly so he could lock his hungry, deep-set eyes with her own eyes. He gave her another look from head to toes again. "So... the bleachers are free. Your buddy over there's got some good moves, and I bet you do, too. Why don't you put on a show for me? Or... maybe you'd like to show me your favorite position...?" The Navi lowered his voice, putting an arm around her and making a grab for her behind with one hand. "I think we can sneak something in before your contest moves on, yeah?" He casually brushed some of the caked, damp sand off of her as he spoke.

Here, however, HunterWoman would start to sense some conflict. The headset was suggesting that going fully to town on TicketMan would be the best move, and suggesting some pretty explicit ways that might be accomplished... but she still had the strong directive not to do the deed or even to get fully naked. The Navi would need to make her own decision on how to proceed. She'd find it pretty difficult if she chose to keep in the earpiece but ignore its most powerful directives from earlier, as though someone were yelling at her in distracting fashion... but it wouldn't be impossible.

---

It looked like, unfortunately for Surf, with no outside interference or savior coming to help, Toss's chosen pastime would continue uninterrupted. The smaller Navi continued to yelp, squirm, and curse as the larger gave her an enthusiastic paddling. "Okay! I'm seriously so sorry!" Surf shouted, wiggling on her board.

"Uh huh. I actually believe you this time," Surf said, easing off and grinning from ear to ear. "I knew you'd learn your lesson with some proper punishment!"

"G-good show, though... but uh... aren't the results coming in now? Can you please let me go now, um, ma'am? I need to get back with the other dudes and regroup..."

Although Surf had probably been referencing the results in hopes for an escape, her statement was well timed. At about that moment, the results came in:

Quote ()

TEAM SCORES
TOSS: 5.9
SURF: 6.2
PERSONAL SCORES
PHERO: 6.7
HUNTERWOMAN: 6.7
AVERAGE: 6.1
SPONSORS
GENERAL: All dark
UNDERNET: Popular, all green
SPONSOR 1: Equipment in use, all green
SPONSOR 2: No feedback

"Oh, so they are!" Toss noted, taking a moment to review, as each of the women might briefly be doing. "Looks like the audience dug it, huh? All the averages went up."

"Y-yeah..." Surf agreed, smiling a bit in spite of her situation. "Radical!"

"I'd look out if I were you, though. We're closing the gap! On the rise."

"You're totally not! We went up more than you did. If anything, you're going to have to- ack!" she yelped in surprise as another swat hit her backside.

"Tut tut, Bad Girl! What'd we say about talking back?" Surf chided her, continuing to give her a merciless paddling.

"C'mon, ceasefire! Are you crazy?! I gotta get ready f- ow!" Surf tried to struggle, unable to rise on her own power without exposing herself indecently, and unable to use her hands even if she could get up.

"I think those two friends of yours are plenty busy! Why don't we spend the intermission getting to know each other better? Maybe I'll even put you out of action for whatever comes next!"

"Oh, yeah?! Just try it! We've alreadeek!" she shrieked again, trying to put on a brave face in spite of her predicament.

---

In the meantime, MascotMan's voice spoke up, making the intermission official. "You've been a wonderful audience so far, and what a wonderful performance we've seen from our girls, huh? The numbers don't lie: from the beach to the corners of the web, your voices have been heard, and these ladies are bringing the heat! But don't touch that dial just yet! We'll have the finale of our performance after a brief intermission. If you've enjoyed what you've seen so far, you won't want to miss it!"

After his speech and transmitting the results to the contestants, MascotMan recalled his camera bots and surveyed the state of the beach. It looked like everyone was a little busy, so he kept to himself, swinging his arms and looking as merry as ever. If anyone did choose to take this time to speak to him, he definitely looked available.