by Simon Archer
“Of course, Miss Kennedi. Right this way, please.” Jane said. The two women from the desk joined us, and she reached out and touched the arm of the woman whose name tag identified her as Samantha. “Samantha will check you in while your suite is prepared. It will only be a few moments.” Jane walked ahead of us at a brisk pace and headed towards the far-left, white door in the back of the showroom.
“Do you have a preference for refreshments?” Samantha asked Kennedi, looking from her to me while guiding us towards the desk in the middle of the room.
“Yes. We have been traveling, so we will be dining. Two smoked salmon filets and marbled ribeye steaks. Steamed broccoli for Clark and mashed sweet potatoes for me. We’ll also take your finest microbrew and a 1956 cabernet,” Kennedi instructed as though she’d run a kitchen staff professionally for years. I tried to conceal my astonishment at her unusual demeanor.
“Excellent, Miss Kennedi. We just had salmon flown in from the Washington coast this morning. Appetizers?” Samantha asked meekly.
“Black and green olive pinwheels with capers and crosscut carrots with a spicy dill dip will do,” Kennedi instructed curtly as though it was a bother to place the order.
Samantha nodded as though afraid to speak again. She walked around to the employee side of the desk and reached below the counter. She pulled out a gold key and handed it to the third woman, who, to that point, had been silent.
“Tell the caterers that we have very special guests in the Crimson Suite. And Christina,” she said in a tone that sounded almost like a warning to her coworker, “be very clear that this order is to be made the priority.”
Christina nodded, took the key, and quickly walked to the same white door Jane had gone through and disappeared through it as well.
Samantha took a deep breath that I’m positive she was trying to hide and then looked at Kennedi and me once again.
“Any further requests, Miss Kennedi?” Samantha asked softly.
Kennedi paused for longer than seemed necessary, which I recognized was a way to make Samantha even more uncomfortable before responding. “Yes. Jane will be our attendant. I like her.”
“Absolutely. We’ll make sure she is fully available to you,” Samantha replied. “Anything else I can do for you?”
“That will be all,” Kennedi said dismissively.
We heard a snapping behind us and turned to see Jane standing outside the white door with her hand raised. She seemed to like to snap her fingers quite a bit. Samantha immediately came out from behind the desk and silently motioned for Kennedi and me to follow her. I almost felt bad for her. She looked like she was scared to speak.
When we reached Jane, she nodded at Samantha, who immediately turned on her heel and went back to the desk. I swear I heard an audible sigh from her when she got about ten steps away. Poor thing. Regardless, I was impressed with how Kennedi had handled her. Mostly because I’d never seen anyone associated with Omnicorp cower the way Samantha did. No wonder Kennedi had demanded Jane be their attendant. She was intimidated but not cowardly in her reaction to Kennedi’s orders.
Jane smiled at Kennedi and stood aside, holding the door open. “Right this way, please.” She held her arm outstretched, motioning us through the door.
On the other side of the door, we found ourselves in a long hallway. It was dimly lit with wall sconces designed to look like long, tapered candles. The walls were painted a darker shade of the red on the employee uniforms, and the carpet was a dark gray. It was such a stark contrast from the brightness of the showroom that it took a moment for my eyes to adjust completely.
After she closed the door behind us, Jane walked by to lead us to our suite. The hallway was completely silent except for the soft sounds our shoes made on the carpet as we walked. On our right, we passed several doors painted the same shade of gray as the carpet. Right when I started to wonder how long the hallway was exactly, we came to the end. This time the gray door was at the end of the hall instead of on our right.
Jane used a key she pulled from her pocket to unlock the door and, once again, held it open for us. “I am certain you will find our Crimson Suite will meet and exceed all your expectations,” she said as we passed by her.
The Crimson Suite was appropriately named as nearly all the accents in the room were indeed crimson. The suite was about twenty-square-feet in size, and while three of the walls were painted a soft cream color, the crown molding and baseboards on them were crimson. Opposite the door, a large, heavy, crimson curtain spanning the entire length of the wall hung floor-to-ceiling. Candleholders, tables, loungers… all crimson. Aside from the walls, only the carpet was a different color, a light gray.
The suite was significantly brighter than the hallway, but the light was still muted, which made for a relaxing feel. There was a soft scent of pine and cinnamon, two aromas I never would’ve thought to pair, but that actually worked very well together.
Jane stood at the door until we were inside. “I’ll return shortly with your drinks and appetizers. While I’m away, please take your time looking at our features books,” she said softly, pointing to two books resting on a coffee table that was set in front of an overstuffed loveseat.
“Thank you, Jane,” Kennedi said politely, and Jane disappeared, closing the door behind her.
I looked at Kennedi and smiled. “I’ve never seen you like that before,” I said to her, still dazzled by her rapport with the staff.
“The situation called for it,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “Besides, if you would have gotten a CG and they didn’t know we were guests of the admin, they would have gotten fired.”
“Fired?” I asked, unable to think of a reason to fire someone for lack of proper information.
“Yes, fired. It’s not sensible, but it’s just the way it is. The company pays its floor personnel very handsomely to sell cat girls and to cater to special guests. However, if even one detail is missed during either transaction, they get shown the door,” Kennedi explained as she sat on the love seat and scooted to the right side. She patted the cushion beside her and smiled up at me.
“Now, though, a couple of things will happen.” She held up one hand and splayed her fingers before beginning to count them off. “One, we will be rated as difficult customers in the system, which will give them the potential for the highest payout from Omni for helping us, assuming we give them a five-star rating at the end of this. Two, all of the things I ordered are very expensive, which will add to the total bill, and increase their payout. Three, we’re not paying for this, Omni is.” She smirked.
“Way to stick it to the man.” I laughed.
“I thought it might please you,” she purred. “Now, let’s make them pay through the nose.”
After I got settled on the loveseat, shaking my head to bring myself back to the room around me, Kennedi handed me one of the books, which turned out to be a two-inch-thick, three-ring-binder.
“What is this?” I asked her.
“This holds the complete list of standard, special, and elite features available for you to add to your basic cat girl.”
I opened the book and thumbed through the pages, trying to gauge how many there were. “There must be two hundred pages in here,” I said, surprised that there could be that many pages to fill with CG features.
“That is why I told you we would be here for a couple of hours,” Kennedy replied with a laugh. “Think of it this way, though. We are multi-tasking by having lunch at the same time!”
I couldn’t help but laugh with her. Her positive outlook on nearly everything made it difficult to stay somber at times. All the irritation I felt drained away as I sat next to her, flipping through the book.
The beginning of the binder showed what a basic cat girl started out with. It was basically just a shell in the shape of a CG. After that, everything was customizable. Hair color, eye color, tail color, claw shape, shoe size, voice, scent… The list seemed never-ending.
Just as Kennedi and I s
tarted discussing the look we thought would be best for our new CG, we heard a soft knock at the door, and then it opened. Jane held the door as she ushered two servers in. They both had trays, one with beer and wine and the other with hors d’oeuvres. They placed the trays on the table in front of us and quickly made their exit. Jane closed the door behind them, walked to the front of the room, and stood in front of the curtained wall.
“Have you had a chance to select your body type?” Jane asked.
“Yes,” I said, taking the opportunity to speak. “We’ll be going with the 29-472 model.”
“Perfect,” she said. She turned to her left and walked to the wall. She put her hand flat on the wall in front of her, and the surrounding area started to glow red. As quickly as it lit up, the spot on the wall returned to normal, but the curtain started to open.
As the curtain opened, I saw a small stage area with what looked like a black screen behind it, not unlike a flat-screen tv except it was massive in size.
Once the curtain was completely open, Jane stepped over to a small control panel that had been hidden behind it and punched in some numbers. The center of the screen suddenly turned clear, and behind it, in a brightly lit capsule was the bare body of the cat girl model we’d chosen.
Jane turned to Kennedi and asked, “Shall I outline the accessorizing process for Mister Clark?”
“That would be great, Jane,” Kennedi responded.
“Wonderful,” Jane said, seemingly relieved to be doing something more than taking orders. “Clark, as you see, you have your basic cat girl, in the body type you’ve chosen,” she aimed a laser pointer at the center of the screen. “As you choose different looks and abilities, simply say what you wish to see, and a mock-up will be shown to the left, or right, of the model. This gives you the ability to compare features, something that is exceptionally helpful for aesthetic choices. Let me show you an example.”
Jane turned toward the screen and, in a loud, clear voice, said, “Hair color forty-two, long.” Immediately the screen to the left of the model lit up with a picture of the model with long, green hair. Jane spoke again. “Hair color thirty-four, short.” This time the screen on the right lit up with an image of the model with short purple hair. Jane held her hand up to showcase the demonstration and turned to look at me.
“If you’d like to keep one and replace the other, simply tell the system what you’d like to do,” she continued. “Would you like to try it before I go?”
“Yes, I’ll try it,” I said, looking at the mock-ups. I glanced at the book in my lap and flipped to the page with hair selections on it and picked a random item number.
“Keep forty-two long, replace thirty-four short with twenty-seven short,” I said loudly, not really sure if I was supposed to be directing my voice to a specific area of the room.
Instantly the image on the right changed to show short yellow hair while the image on the left remained. I was slightly stunned at how quickly the image modified to my new selection.
“Seems pretty simple. I think we’ve got it from here, Jane. Thank you for your instruction,” I said dismissively.
“Very good. If you need me, just say, ‘Get Jane,’ and I’ll be notified. Your meals will be served in fifteen minutes,” Jane said with a nod and headed to the door. Once she was gone and the door was closed, I looked at Kennedi.
“This is quite the unreal experience!” I told her excitedly.
“I had a feeling you’d enjoy it once you saw how it worked,” Kennedi said, smiling. “I’m so happy you like it!”
“Your feeling was right!” I said. “Now, which should we start with first, hair or eyes?” I asked her.
“Definitely eyes, then we can match the correct shade of hair. The tail is always after hair, and from there, you’re the captain!” Kennedy explained and gestured toward the book in my lap as if to give me the green light.
By the time our meal arrived, we had selected our cat girl’s entire look. The mock-up now showed her having sparkling purple-blue eyes and hair that was golden blonde on the shorter top layers and black on the longer ones underneath. That had been Kennedi’s doing, and I ended up really liking the combination.
The CG also had jet black eyelashes and brows, pouty pink lips and a slender nose set between high cheekbones. Her tail was dark purple-gray with a black stripe on both the top and underside. The stripe had been my idea. I had never seen a cat girl with one, and that made me like the accent even more.
Completing our cat girl’s look was her sunflower-yellow, white, and metallic navy-blue school-girl uniform, knee-high socks, and white and navy saddle shoes. Her pleated skirt barely covered her full, voluptuous ass, and the suspenders holding it up topped it off.
I was staring up at our mock-up as I sat down at the table our meal had been laid out for us on. The smell of freshly seared ribeye caught my attention, and I looked at my plate. Our salmon had been served on a separate applewood plank while our steak and vegetables sat on chrome-finished plates. A fresh beer had been placed just above my fork to the left of my plate. I had been so wrapped up in building our cat girl that I hadn’t felt hungry until I saw and smelled the food. Now I was famished.
“This looks like what you’d find in a five-star hotel, not a store! At least not in any store I’ve ever been to,” I told Kennedi.
“Not just anyone in the store gets to eat here. Otherwise, it would most certainly gain popularity for its cuisine,” she said with a chuckle.
I took a bite of my salmon and closed my eyes as it practically melted in my mouth. I had been tempted to squeeze a bit of lemon across the top, but it didn’t need it. The applewood flavor mixed with the black pepper crust was the perfect sweet and spicy combination. It was by far the best salmon I’d been served.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Kennedi watching me, a smile on her face. There was a candle in the center of the table, and the light was dancing in her bright green eyes. I felt what had become a familiar feeling of gratitude and appreciation for her well up inside me. I reached across the table and took her hand in mine, tugging gently so that she leaned forward. I half stood up and leaned across the table using my other hand to lift her chin gently. I stared into her eyes until the moment our lips touched. I closed my eyes and felt her tongue lightly dance across my lips as I kissed her softly. When we separated, I opened my eyes again and saw that hers were still closed. A moment later, she opened her eyes, and a shy smile spread across her face as I sat back in my chair.
“What was that for?” she asked quietly.
Those lips of hers always seemed to send my mind reeling just a bit, so I took a moment to organize the words needed to answer her.
“A week ago, I was headed to Vegas to stay on a friend’s couch and find some will-do-for-now job until I mapped out where I would go next,” I began. “You see, after I graduated college, I landed what I thought was my dream job, but it turned out I was working for an ungrateful asshole who ran the company into the ground after I quit because I wasn’t there to do his job the right way for him. So, I took to traveling, and that life has been good to me.”
I smiled nostalgically. “I’ve seen places and experienced things most people have not, and I’ve loved every minute of it. There’s always been something a little deeper inside me though that has known I could do more than be an admirer of the wonders of the world. I want to create an impact. I want to use my seemingly rare ability to think for myself to open up opportunities for those who don’t know how but have the hunger to learn. While that desire has always been there, I’d buried it. Then you landed in my life. It’s hard to nail down why exactly, but now I feel like my direction is shifting toward what I’m meant to do, and somehow, I know that wouldn’t be the case, at least not right now, if you weren’t here with me.”
It hadn’t come out quite as eloquently as I would have liked, but it would do. I looked across the table at her and hoped she understood.
Kennedi looked at me with a soft expression on
her face and slowly lifted an eyebrow. “I’ve heard ‘I love you’ stated a million different ways from all the information I’m programmed to know, but what you just said was the most beautiful one by far,” she whispered softly.
Damn, she gets me. I just smiled back at her and returned to my meal.
We didn’t say a whole lot more during the rest of our meal. After we had finished eating, the mood was a bit lighter, and we went back to the couch to continue building our new cat girl. We were having a tough time with which characteristics and skills we wanted her to have.
“I have an idea,” I told Kennedi. “Let’s give her a name and see if that makes designing her personality a little easier.”
“It’s worth a shot. How about Cassidy?” she suggested.
“No, too little-girl sounding. What do you think of Reina?” I asked.
Kennedi shot me a quick but fierce look. “No. I’m the only queen around here,” she stated. Somehow her claim to the imaginary throne added a touch of sexy to her.
“Ok,” I conceded. “Michelle?”
“Hmmm… Closer but not quite,” she said distractedly. We both were staring at our mock-up intently.
“Misha?” she said, not sounding confident in her selection.
“Still not quite right,” I told her. Another couple of minutes passed as we sat in silence, racking our brains for the name that just felt right.
“Ellie!” I exclaimed. I was positive I’d just ended our search.
“Ellie! Yes!” Kennedi confirmed her approval. “That’s perfect somehow!”
“Hell yeah, it is. Alright! We have a name!” I shouted, proud to have thought of it first.
I had been right about a name making the rest of the selection process easier. We made quick work of choosing her voice, her healing capabilities, which we decided to match with Kennedi’s, and assigning her level of familiarity when addressing myself and Kennedi. Before long, we were ready to make our last big decision: her special ability.
