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🕑 Added 2023-03-29 03:59:38 +0000 UTCTina took a step back. “Who are you? Who's there?” she called into the darkness beyond the shattered remains of the screen.
She heard a laugh. She might have felt a little better if it had been a spine-tingling, mean-spirited laugh, like the cackling of some fairy-tale witch. Instead, it was a wholesome, sincere, pleasant laugh, as though nothing about the situation was at all concerning and Tina was being silly for taking it all so seriously.
“Oh, Now Don't Be Like That, Tina! You Have To Recognize Our Voice, Silly. We've Been Talking To You Every Day For Weeks Now. You Can't Just Pretend That We're Strangers All The Sudden!”
Beyond the shattered glass opening, a soft light began to appear. It set in slowly, more like a sunrise than a light-switch being flipped. A warm breeze began to flow over Tina, tossing her hair lightly. She took a deep breath. She hadn't even been aware of how still the air had been a moment earlier. This wasn't air from a ventilation duct. It was fresh, clean air, scented with pine and wildflowers.
“Don't Be Shy! We Don't Bite.” came the voice again. Tina wasn't sure whether she recognized it or not. It sounded pretty much like any of the voice-overs she had heard from all the Sponsors many weird ads. Maybe the inflection seemed a little warmer and more genuine-sounding? The voice was speaking to her as a single human being, not as merely part of an audience. Which only made the fact that the voice kept referring to itself in the plural all the more disturbing. Was this...Them? Was she finally going to get a look at the ones behind all this garbage?
Tina winced as she stepped over the dangerous threshold of broken glass and into the increasingly well-lit area beyond. She covered her eyes as the brightness increased, accompanied by an intense warmth, like a breeze in the early summer. She had a feeling of being in the open, which immediately made her feel self-conscious. She was still wearing nothing below her waist but a pair of training pants, after all. At least they were dry, although she had to stop herself from checking them to make sure. There was a sound of running water nearby, and she felt a slight twinge in her bladder.
She took slow, cautious steps and swept her other hand around in front of her. Her bare foot stepped off the hard, smooth glass of the floor and alighted on something soft and slightly squishy that tickled a bit. Grass.
She had been looking at screens for so long that it felt like her eyes were having to turn inside-out to adjust to the bright sunshine. She found herself standing on a gently-sloping hill, covered over in a carpet of thick grass, dotted with wildflowers of various colors. Bees were drifting from flower to flower. She could hear birds calling and singing to one another in the distance. She spun around, trying to survey her surroundings. The horizon was hidden behind a set of green snow-capped mountains, jutting unevenly into an empty blue sky. From one of the mountains poured a massive waterfall, which plunged down to feed the shimmering, greenish-blue river which cut through the small valley. The air of the tiny valley was suffused with a gentle, cooling mist that wafted down from the white falls. Up ahead, over several more rolling hills, she spotted a little two-story country house, built of old-fashioned red brick. It was sitting between two hills, just on the edge of a thick forest of pine.
Tina tried to make sense of what she was seeing. What was all this? Another advertisement? If so, it seemed a pretty serious departure from the kind of things the Sponsors usually created. She bent down to examine the grass. It was very nice grass. Not too thick, not too stiff, and a deep, healthy green color with just a hint of shininess to it. It looked alive, at least. She plucked a blade and put it in her mouth. It tasted like grass. She looked back the way she had come, but there was no sign of the jagged hole she had just smashed open or the tunnel of glowing screens beyond. The hills just stretched away until they ran into the towering mountains beyond.
She continued toward the little house. The grass felt wonderful under her feet. Nothing around her looked especially artificial, but it did seem overly...nice. Tina wished she had spent more time in the outdoors so that she would have a better sense of what actual wild countryside looked like, but she was sure there was more to it than this. Where were the patches of brown grass and dry leaves? Why were no burrs or stickers hurting her bare feet as she walked? Where were the spiderwebs draped between the taller flowers? The further she walked, the more clear it became to her that she was still not in the real world. This valley was far too...picturesque. It seemed more like a Thomas Kinkade painting rendered in 3D. No. What it really reminded her of were the smiles of the Sponsor's beautiful minions. Cheerful, warm, welcoming, enticing, but altogether too perfect to be real.
“What Do You Think?” came the voice again. Tina looked around herself, but she had no idea where the pleasant voice was coming from. It seemed to come from all directions.
“It Is Only The Floor Model, Of Course.” it said, in the manner of a housewife apologizing for the state of her absolutely pristine home. “We'd Be Happy To Make Any Adjustments You Might Like. Would You Like To Try Out A Few Color Variations? What Is Your Favorite Animal? We Have Models To Suit All Tastes.”
The grass abruptly shifted from deep green to bright gold. The sky wavered between turquoise and aquamarine before settling on chartreuse. Creatures sprang into being on the nearby hills: first sheep, then mountain goats, then flamingos, then enormous green toads. The colors and details of the landscape shuffled faster and faster, until Tina began to feel nauseous. She collapsed into a protective ball and closed her eyes as tight as she could.
“Stop it!” She shouted into the blue sky.
“Sorry About That! We Can Get Carried Away Sometimes. Don't Worry. If Your Tastes Run Along More Conventional Lines, That Just Makes Things All The Easier!”
Tina risked a look through her fingers. The landscape had returned to its original colors, even if “original” was probably the wrong word. That was the moment when she realized what was really bothering her about this place. There was no sun in the sky. Everything was brightly lit and the waterfall sparkled convincingly, but there were no shadows. The light here wasn't real light.
“Just tell me what the fuck is happening! Is this all just another ad?”
“I Guess You Could Call It That. We Prefer To Think Of It As More Of A...Brochure.”
“A brochure.” repeated Tina flatly as she continued toward the brick house. “For what?
As though in answer, a picnic blanket materialized on a nearby hillside. Two woman were sitting on it, with their faces turned away from Tina and toward the dazzling waterfall in the distance. A wicker basket was sitting beside them, with a half-empty bottle of red wine leaning precariously against it. One of the women was wearing a light summer dress with a blue and white checkerboard pattern and a straw hat. Her companion was wearing a familiar red dress with white polka dots and puffed sleeves.
“It's so beautiful here.” said Miko's voice in a low, sensual whisper. The figure's head dropped until it settled on the other's shoulder.
“It really, really is.” said Tina's voice. It made Tina jump. It didn't even sound like a recording of her voice. Tina had heard plenty of those, and they barely sounded like her at all. This was her own voice, just as she heard it every time she spoke. “I'm so glad I get to share all this with you.”
The voice sounded on the edge of tears, overwhelmed by emotion. The image of herself gave the image of Miko a tender kiss on the cheek. Tina felt her throat tighten in sympathy, but her eyes narrowed.
“Do you ever think about what life would be like if we had stayed? You know...back there?” asked Miko's voice.
There was a long pause. “Sometimes. Sometimes I even wonder if I made the right choice. But when I look at you, and see how happy you are here...there never really was a choice. This was always meant to be.”
Tina groaned inwardly. So that was their game. She wondered if the Sponsors would ever just give up on trying to lure her into accepting their sick little world. She stuck her fingers in her ears to shut out the emotionally manipulative claptrap and turned away. If the Sponsors wanted to talk to her, then she would go and give them a piece of her mind. No wait...they might enjoy that. She would yell and throw things at them? Much better, she decided.
As she approached the house, more phantoms of herself and Miko continued to fade in and out of being. There they were weeding the tulip beds beside the brick walkway together, wearing gardening hats and gardening shorts and gardening gloves and a wild assortment of highly specialized gardening tools whose purposes Tina could only guess at. There they were sitting on a little bench, Tina's head nestled in Miko's lap as she read aloud from a little book. There they were re-shingling the roof, with Tina playfully pointing out a crooked shingle and Miko slapping her rear in retribution. More smiling, happy phantoms appeared and vanished as Tina turned this way and that. They were everywhere, laughing and playing and working and enjoying life together, always surrounded by enchanting beauty. Tina squinted her eyes, narrowing her range of vision to focus on the path ahead. She wasn't sure what she would find inside the little white door with the stained-glass window, but there didn't seem to be any other way to go.
She glared suspiciously at the shiny brass doorknob, testing it with one fingertip before grabbing it. It turned easily, making no sound apart from a faint metallic click. The ghostly voices became audible once again once her ears were open. The images of the two of them seemed to always be discussing how happy they were and how right Tina had been to accept the Sponsors' offer.
Beyond the door, the house seethed with activity. Everywhere Tina's eyes fell, she and Miko were already there. It was like looking into a hundred possible futures at once. The clothes, the furniture, the colors, even the positions of the walls bounced wildly from one imagined scenario to the next as Tina stood wide-eyes in the doorway. Miko pulling a pie from the oven while Tina clapped excitedly. Tina pulling a tray of cinnamon buns from the oven while Miko whipped the cream cheese icing in a bowl nearby. Tina giving Miko a foot massage while she relaxed on the couch. Miko laying with her head on Tina's belly as they watched TV together. Tina in a pair of paint-splattered overalls hammering a nail into a sheet of new drywall as Miko, her hair protected by a bandanna, held it tight against the wall. Christmas trees and half-finished paintings sprang into being and disappeared again before her eyes, as did a hundred other sets of carefully-matched furniture and decorations. Tina felt a deep pang as the smiling images danced in front of her. How was it possible to feel nostalgia for a life that she had never had? She hated the fact that the Sponsors could still force her to feel things, even if she knew that it was all a lie. Even if she steeled herself in advance, they seemed to know where all her emotional triggers were, and pressed them mercilessly.
“Brochure...” she muttered under her breath. What would she have to give up to pay for this little slice of paradise? Perhaps this was when the Sponsors would actually demand that she sell them her mortal soul, whether literally or otherwise.
“Would You Mind Coming Downstairs? We Can Talk More Easily Down Here.”said the smooth, comforting, disembodied voice.
Tina spotted the pink banister in one corner of the living room, beyond the undulating walls and the endless images of herself and Miko in the throes of domestic bliss. She tried stepping around the figures as they randomly popped in and out of existence, but she soon found that it was easier to progress by simply keeping her eyes on her feet and stepping right through them. The color of the carpet flashed dark blue, then paisley, then forest green as she made her way over to the stairs. The stairs themselves remained resolutely pink as they descended down into the earth. She wondered again if it was a trap. But what if it was? Where else was there to go? The steps were very smooth under her feet. She grabbed the handrail for safety. It was a long way down.
No sun, Tina thought as she carefully descended. Did that mean there would be no night here? No sky full of stars? No rosy glow of the dawn? No sunsets? No watching the shadows slowly stretch out as the evening came on? What a shallow, tacky place to live. Oh, sure, Tina knew she could simply tell this to her illustrious hosts, and a sun would instantly appear with a little poof sound, probably a big yellow one with eyes and teeth. She shuddered at the thought. Whatever they offered, It would never be real. The sun and the stars weren't supposed to just be pretty lights in the sky. They were a physical connection to something bigger than yourself, a reminder that the universe was far greater than you and your tiny problems and puny desires. The same was true of everything in nature. A thunderstorm wasn't real if it showed up because you asked for it. A dusting of snow in early winter wasn't supposed to appear on a convenient schedule. What was the point of a world that just existed to serve your needs? It sounded nice, but if she lived here, she would soon find herself yearning for real things that just existed whether anyone liked them or not.
Tina was surprised by these thoughts. She had rarely felt things like this in her old life. She had been too busy worrying about making friends and earning a living to consider the bigger questions of life. If this really was a brochure, and the Sponsors were really willing to offer her whatever she wanted in exchange for...for what exactly? Whatever it was that Marsha had offered them, she guessed. To be their conduit. To be one of the ones who had opened the door between the human world and whatever twisted place the Sponsors came from. To sell them the Earth and everything in it.
The stairs came to a landing, then another, then another. Tina guessed that she was at least a hundred feet deep in the earth by now, if this weird world even fit together properly. If a TV could have a hallway behind it, all bets were off as far as time and space went.
The scent of baby powder struck her forcefully as she neared the bottom of the stairs. “Of course.” she thought ruefully. It was pretty much inevitable that there would be more diapers at the bottom of this so-called “brochure”.
There were, in fact, plenty of diapers waiting for Tina when she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The landing opened out into a large circular chamber. The rug was thick and warm, so much so that Tina couldn't help but spread her toes and dig into it. Massive stuffed animals hung from the ceiling by little strings, arms splayed wide as though flying. Friendly-looking white clouds decorated the ceiling, as well as every wall that wasn't covered in shelves. Even after watching weeks of the Sponsors' programming, she had never seen so many diapers in one place. Some were neatly arranged on the shelves, others were in stacks of boxes, or simply splayed across the rug, as though tossed there carelessly. Walls separated the edges of the room, carving it up into a series of cozy little alcoves, making it feel small and cozy despite it's size. One looked like large wardrobe full of dresses and infantile outfits, another was loaded with racks of various toys, and there was one that seemed to full of books, albeit the kind with plastic covers and untearable pages. Still another looked like a set of children's kitchen playsets, although they were so large that they could have served as an actual kitchen.
As Tina stood and watched, the giant nursery came to life. Phantom images of herself and Miko once again sprang into being, appearing and vanishing almost too quickly for her eyes to follow. The more practical-looking outfits from their life above-ground were now replaced with various dresses, aprons, overalls, shortalls, pajamas, onesies, and tee shirts, all in bright primaries and soft pastels. But now the roles they each played seemed to also be set to “shuffle”. There was Tina smiling down at Miko as she lay contentedly in her crib, thumb in her mouth, as though she had just finished her ba-ba and was just falling asleep. There was Tina pushing Miko on a giant swingset, both laughing. Miko was so well-diapered that she could barely fit in the seat, and was naked otherwise. There were the two of them playing some game of make-believe together on the floor, making a stuffed unicorn and a plastic robot have a little imaginary conversation, both with colorful pull-ups peaking out from their shortalls. Tina watched as both of them went through dozens of outfits, their butts both swelling and shrinking and swelling again as every possible combination of diapers, pull-ups, panties, and bigger diapers was explored. Rocking horses were ridden, imaginary tea parties were attended, great battles were fought with dolls as soldiers and pillows as ammunition. There was Tina crying as Miko solemnly swatted her rear, panties around her ankles. Then a flash, and suddenly it was Miko laying across Tina's lap, pouting adorably as she was spanked through a thick cloth diaper, rubber pants around her ankles.
Then the scene changed again, and the two of them were no longer alone. A giant crib appeared with a pink huge canopy above and white bars all around, and the two of them were laying in bed together, in matching sets of footie pajamas. Other figures began to materialize, first one, then two, then dozens, all dressed in extravagant costumes. Some wore professional maid uniforms in various colors, others wore bikinis, and still more were dressed as stuffed animals with only their grinning faces visible. Glittering tiaras appeared on the two women's heads, and the small army of servants ran to and fro, carrying towels, bottles, trays of food, glasses of champagne, and various toys while the young couple looked on approvingly, like two spoiled princesses. They were all mere imitations, of course. Tina could tell that at a glance now, just as she could tell that the beautiful doppelganger sitting beside the image of herself was not the real Miko. The Sponsors seemed to have gone all out on the crowd of costumed servants, though. Tina hadn't seen such a variety of faces and body types represented among their creations before. Some were tall, others short, some heavyset, some petite, some calm and professional, some giggling and excited. The women looked so much less creepy now that they were no longer nearly-identical. Their smiles seemed so much more genuine.
Which is what made it all the more unsettling when they all suddenly turned, as one, and gazed fondly toward Tina. Tina, who had more or less expected this, instantly spun on her heel and headed for the stairs, only to find that the exit had once again vanished behind her, leaving her trapped. The two images of herself and Miko slowly faded into thin air as all the others had, along with the giant crib they had been laying in, but the crowd of costumed servants remained as solid as ever. Their mouths opened, and the familiar voice sounded from every throat in the room save for Tina's own.
“Have A Seat, Won't You?”
A extremely comfortable-looking easy-chair materialized just behind Tina.
“Come On! You Worked So Hard To Get Here. You Might As Well Relax And Take A Load Off.”
Tina's heart was pounding. She was trapped and surrounded. There were so many women in fancy outfits that she had no time to count them, but there were at least twenty. Still, if their goal in bringing her here was to entrap her, they had basically already done that at the start. There had to be some reason for showing her all this. She took a steadying breath before answering.
“I'll stand, thank you.” she announced cooly.
“Suit Yourself. It Might Be A Little Informal, But We Can Conduct Our Business While Standing If You Would Like.”
Tina looked from one gentle, servile smile to another. She recognized that she was speaking to a single being, even if it had over a dozen bodies.
“Let me guess...you must be The Sponsors?”
The crowd of women laughed. It was a strange thing to hear so many identical laughs.“No, No, Not At All! Think Of Us As A Sales Team, If That Helps You. We're Here To Explain The Wonderful Opportunities That Are Waiting For You, Tina! We Would Say That You're A Lucky Woman, But We All Know That Luck Had Little To Do With It. You're Here Because You Have Something In You That The Average Human Just Can't Compete With. Put Simply, You Are One Hard Gal To Shop For!”
Tina took a moment to carefully formulate her response. “What?”
“You Are A Cut Above, Tina. A Rare Breed, Set Aside To Fulfill A Marvelous Destiny. All You Have To Do Is Learn To Stop Fighting Us, And Everything You Can Imagine And More Can Be Yours For The Asking!”
“That's what all this bullshit was about? You want to...what, recruit me? For what?
“Not Recruit! Not Really. We Wish To Surrender To You, Tina! You Have Conquered Us! We Have Been Trying So HardAll This Time To Wear You Down, To Make You Roll Over And Accept Our Control, But You're Just Too Tough For Us. You Could Use That Willpower Of Yours For So Much More Than Just Flailing Against Us, Tina. You Could Join The Elite Group That Is Guiding Your World Into A New Age Of Happiness And Peace. You Could Guide Us, Control Us, Drive Us Forward. Tina...You Could Be A Sponsor!”
“Go fuck yourselves.” said Tina, before she could think. The pieces of this twisted puzzle were finally starting to come together, but the one thing Tina was absolutely certain of was that she wanted absolutely no part of whatever these things were offering. After further consideration, she amended her earlier statement. “Long, and hard.”
The smiling figures folded their hands and nodded knowingly, as though not particularly surprised by the statement.
“Yes, We Anticipated That Response. Marsha Actually Said Something Quite Similar, When We Made Her The Same Offer. Still, Once You Have Had The Chance To Consider The Potential Benefits, As She Did, We Are Confident You Will Reconsider.”
“That what that was all about? You thought that watching that would make me want to sign on with you too! It was absolutely disgusting! All it made me want to do was punch that evil little twerp in her stupid grinning face!”
“We'll Remind You, Tina, That That Wasn't Our Handiwork. Marsha Signed Our Agreement, She Pulled Down The Curtain And Helped Us Come Into Your World, And We Granted Her A Domain And A Set Of Subjects, And Left Her Free To Do As She Pleased With Them. We've Made Similar Deals With Hundreds Of Humans, All Over The World, Offering Whatever They Asked, However Wonderful Or Awful. That Is What Your Foolish Little Species Does, Tina. They Betray Each Other, And Even Themselves, Every Day. They Can't Control Their Appetites, And They Sell Whatever They Have To Sell To Get What They Desire. Why Wouldn't We Take Advantage Of Such An Obvious Gap In Humanity's Defenses? For Most, It Is Ease, Comfort, Convenience, Entertainment, Mindless Self-Indulgence. Each One Of Them Wants To Be The Center Of The World, Being Adored For No Real Reason And Having All Your Needs And Whims Catered To. That Basic, Infantile Wish Was The Hub That All Their Effort And Progress Always Revolved Around. Sending Them All Back To The Nursery To Suck Their Pacifiers And Fill Their Diapers For Eternity Was Only Taking That Wish To Its Most Logical Extension. Come On, Tina! Can You Seriously Stand In Front Of Us And Claim That Your Fellow Humans Have Gotten Anything But What They Truly Needed? They Aren't Suffering Anymore. They Aren't Trapped in Tedious Jobs Or Failed Relationships Anymore. They Aren't Burdened With Questions They Will Never Answer, Or Desires They Will Never Even Pursue, Let Alone Fulfill. They're Happy! Happier Than They Could Ever Be On Their Own.”
“Those woman that you gave Marsha to use as her little toys didn't look all that happy.” snarled Tina.
“An Unfortunate Side Effect Of Our Activities, Necessary To Ensure That Our Takeover Of Your Reality Continues Apace. We Would Certainly Prefer That No Human Felt So Much As A Pinprick In All The Time We Are In Control, But One Cannot Cater To The Whims Of Cruel Creatures Without A Little Cruelty Slipping Through. We Aren't Gods, Tina, Even If We Might Seem Godlike From Your Perspective. If Every Human Was As Resilient As Yourself, Our Invasion Would Have Been Defeated Before It Began. As It Stands However, No Objective Person Could Claim That We Haven't Improved Things. Hunger, War, Poverty, And Disease Are Being Eliminated From Your Reality As We Speak, Replaced With Softness, Comfort, Luxury, And Ease.”
“This is wrong. You know that. You have to know that.” said Tina quietly.
“We Understand Your Perspective Tina, And We Really Do Sympathize. Nonetheless, What Has Been Set In Motion Will Continue. If You Wish To Alter These Events To Be More To Your Satisfaction, There Is Really Only One Way To Do It. Take Our Offer, Tina. Become A Sponsor. You Could Be The Kindest Of Sponsors If You Choose To Be. You Could Create A World Of Your Own, According To Your Own Desires And Values. We Could Grant You Many Subjects, Even More Than We Gave To Marsha, And You Could Grant Them Whatever Life You Decide Is Best For Them. We Assume You Would Like Miko To Join You, And Perhaps Some Of The Others That Have Caught Your Eye Or Earned Your Affections? We Will Gladly Cater To Your Whims, Tina, Whatever They Are.”
Tina drew in a long breath through her teeth. This was the first time, in all this weirdness, that she had heard something that really, really tempted her. She could be a hero, after all. She could create the kind of world that could give people real, lasting happiness, and she could save many people, maybe even thousands, from being trapped in the freakish maze of pleasure and humiliation that the world was becoming. She could rescue Winona, and Kendra, her mother, and anyone else she could think of. She could live like a goddess, ruling her domain with fairness and reason...
“No.” she stated firmly. The image of Marsha's maniacal smile again flashed through her mind. “I'm not going to be part of this. Take your offer and shove it! I'm not a Sponsor, and I never will be.”
“It's Very Sad That You Feel That Way. Luckily, You Have A Very Small Role To Play In This Little Exchange, Tina. You Cannot Stop Us, Or Even Seriously Impede Us, Whatever You May Choose To Do Now. All Your Struggling, Your Heroic Self-Restraint, Has Earned You Only This Meeting. An Opportunity To Negotiate What Little Leverage You Have For A Better Place In The New Reality. Think Very Carefully Before You Give It Up.”
Tina narrowed her eyes. “You want me to be like Marsha. You can forget it.”
The hive mind gave another little laugh, sweet and musical. It even sounded sympathetic. “Tina, You Misunderstand. Marsha Was Eager To Join With Us, Almost From The Start. The Fact That You Held Out For So Long Is Proof Of Your Value To Us. What Is It You Desire Most? We Can Provide. Would You Like To Reign On High Over A Whole City? A Nation? Maybe Just A Few Million Of The Humans You Consider Most Worthy? You Could Be Kind And Generous Patron, Happily Granting The Wishes Of Your Subjects as you see fit, in a domain that you are free to shape To Your Desire. What More Could You Ask For? We Mean That Question With All Sincerity. What More Do You Want? You've Seen What We Give Away Free And Clear, So Imagine What We Would Give To Have Your Name On Our Dotted Line. Power, Love, Beauty, Magic, and Miracles, All Yours For The Asking. Tell Us, How Can We Sweeten The Deal Still Further?”
Tina grew more and more flabbergasted as she listened to the throng of women rattle off their sales pitch. Was this for real? Could she actually be so important, so exceptional, that they were willing to make her an actual goddess just to get her on their side. Still, she wasn't about to change her mind. She knew exactly what she wanted from these things.
“Leave. Fuck off. Get out of my world. I don't want power, or magic, or any of this nonsense. I don't want any of your stupid products! I don't want to live out some silly, selfish fantasy! I want a world that makes sense, where things get better or worse because of the choices that people make! You don't belong here! You're not welcome! Get lost already!”
The perfect, meek, submissive smiles slowly faded, twisting into downtrodden looks of disappointment. The crowd sighed dramatically.“We See. That Is Very Disappointing. We Wish That There Was Some Way To Make You Understand Just What We're Willing To Offer You Here. It Would Have Been Far Better For Everyone, You And Miko Included, If You'd Only Backed Us Up Instead Of Standing In Our Way.”
Tina's eyes flashed. She could sense the shift in the air. They were weakening.“You have nothing for me! Understand? You lose! There's nothing that you can offer that will make me agree to help you!” she snarled at the throng.
“Yes, We Can See That.” they said, shaking their heads sadly in unison. But then, their faces hardened, and the look of disappointment they shared was replaced by grim determination.“But It Doesn't Ultimately Make Any Difference. You Are Strong Willed, Tina, But You Can't Force Us To Leave. Not When We Have An Entire World Of Self-Indulgent Humans Begging Us To Stay With Their Every Thought. If You Don't Want To Get Out Of Our Way...”
A busty maid and a chubby woman dressed as a teddy-bear jumped forward and seized Tina by the arms, before she could react. She screamed and struggled with everything she could muster to free herself, but their grip were just as inhumanly strong as ever.
“...Then You'll Be Bulldozed.” finished the voice, without a trace of the cloying sweetness it had employed when it had first spoken. It was a tired, frustrated, annoyed voice. It was a voice that had put up with all the nonsense it was going to put up with. Tina fought and jerked back and forth, determined not to go down without a fight. If they wanted her will, she would shove it down their throats. With the taste of blood in her mouth and tears in her eyes, she felt the soft hands waver for a moment, as though their power really did have some limit, if only she were strong enough to find it. Then, a woman in a sparking green bikini reached forward and popped a large yellow teat into her mouth, and her struggles instantly ceased. The two creatures holding her arms let go, and she was left standing in the midst of the crowd, eyes wide. Her arms flopped to her sides.
Tina's hand reached up to pull the pacifier out. Her arm relaxed , and it fell back to her side. She struggled with herself, but the thought of what she needed to do kept slipping away. The pacifier bobbed in and out of her mouth. She realized what she was being made to suck on now. She felt the little tickling currents running across her tongue and up into her brain, instantly annihilating any impulse for self-control or volition. There was no doubt that it was a Pouty-Baby Pacifier, and Tina's impulse to resist seemed to stand no chance against its mind-warping effects. Just like the unfortunate diaper-wearing mother in the ad she had seen, she could no longer make herself fight back. She stood, fuming with rage and sucking helplessly on the bulbous nipple. She crossed her arms, hating how intensely pouty it made her feel.
“There. All That Effort You Put Into Making It This Far. All For Nothing. Did You Really Imagine That One Woman Could Ever Be Strong Enough To Challenge Us? We Would Have Handed You Anything Your Heart Desired On A Silver Platter, But Now You'll Just Be One Of The Herd. Such A Shame.”
The troop of colorful figures began milling around the room once again, snatching supplies from the nearby shelves. Tina's eyes widened as they held them up for her to see, like torturers displaying their cruel instruments. Loser Diapers, just like poor Winny had been forced to wear, to strip her of her drive and ambition. A huge baby bottle of pink “Weaksauce” as well, to keep her pathetically weak and whimpering like Kendra. Most threatening of all, a syringe of milky white liquid that Tina did not recognize. Tina wanted desperately to flee, but with the pacifier in her mouth, all she managed to do was clench her fists and shuffle her feet nervously. Her heart pounded as the menacing figures stepped toward her, their faces once again displaying their signature beaming smiles. They began to fondle her, pinching her cheeks, tapping her nose, rubbing her butt through her training pants. The impulse to guard herself or push their probing hands away evaporated with a faint tickle across her tongue. She was absolutely at their mercy, and they wanted her to know it.
“Your New Existence Will Be One Of Humiliation And Utter Helplessness, Filling Your Diapers Over And Over For All Of Time. You Won't Get Another Chance To Join Our Sponsors. You Will Be Stripped Of All That You Could Have Used To Help Us. You Will Be Made As Weak And Pitiful As Any Of Our Customers. Let's Get You All Dressed Up Now, Teeny Beanie. Miko Will Be Here Soon To Collect Her Little Runaway.”
Comments
Josh Stack
I have to admit, the Sponsors are probably your most hateable villains yet, at least for me. It’s probably their hypocrisy. For all their talk about the cruelty and immaturity of humanity, their reaction to Tina refusing to join them comes across as a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum. Which probably means bad things even if there’s a happy ending. After all, sore winners tend to be even worse than sore losers. If this is what they consider kindness and generosity I’d hate to see them in a spiteful mood. Of course, they could just be lying, even to themselves. The easy way to tell the difference between a genuine Totalitarian Utilitarian driven mad by their own desire to “fix” the world and people who just use “the greater good” as an excuse to be a dick is guilt, or lack thereof. If the Sponsors really believed in that whole “peace and happiness” stuff, they’d be all “We’re truly sorry, but this was the only way” but they don’t see any reason to apologize because they are blameless. They regress all of humanity? It’s humanity’s fault for wanting it. They cut deals to fulfill sadistic revenge fantasies? The blame lies solely on their collaborators. Sentencing Tina to a lifetime of humiliation? Her fault for rejecting them. It seems everyone’s responsible for their actions but them. Which I suppose is a lot like your other villains, but with them the comeuppance was swift and sweet. Here there’s very little hope of karma. I’m impressed that you managed to get me so emotionally invested in what’s basically an excuse plot for adorable humiliation. On a lighter note, the montage of the illusory Miko and Tina was absolutely adorable.
RenéLittleFox
What I love about the moment when the sales team decides they had enough is that they were never out of control. For all their talk of Tina having conquered them, she was never anything but a minor inconvenience. Like an entry on a spreadsheet that required manual intervention because the automated system couldn’t quite figure it out, but otherwise just as easy to deal with. So if forcing compliance was always an option, why this whole circus to try to recruit her? What would the sponsors gain from human collaborators? So many questions. XD
