Chapter 91 - The Centre of Attention
BakaSmurf
Only Human, After All
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Chapter 91 - The Centre of Attention
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Staring with no small amount of confusion, Joe blinked at the sight of Sunny in the middle of being swarmed by a gaggle of other mass-produced Tetra Line Nikkes in the Command Centre common room. The blonde was visibly flustered, a decidedly uncharacteristic rosy hue tinting her fair cheeks as she attempted to shrink in on herself in the midst of all the attention being poured upon her.
That caught the Commander quite off-guard, to say the least. Mia and Cammie seemed bemused by Sunny's predicament, while Anis, the Carronades, and Wardress were nowhere to be seen. The Command Centre had never been so stuffed full… And it was mildly amusing from Joe's point of view that he was standing at the edge of a sea of beautiful women, yet still he saw clean over the heads of even the tallest among the present Nikkes.
Women were typically short, yes, but damn, the constant reminder of how tiny Nikkes were was wild. Asian women were really small on average, but the Ark's population demographics weren't skewed that heavily towards Asians from what Joe could see. That even considering how instrumental South Korea was in the Ark's creation.
At any rate, the last time he'd set eyes on Sunny, she was in an induced coma, waiting to be shipped back to the Ark to have her totalled legs replaced. Relieved to see her in a better state, Joe started off towards her, ready to begin weaving between the girls-
"-Um," Rapi called out in a hushed voice, stopping short of reaching out to take a hold of his sleeve, the man didn't pause, as it hadn't been clear that she was trying to catch Joe's attention specifically.
So, the man started to make his way to the orange and black-clad iDoll, weaving his way through the crowd—
"It's him!"
Only to halt at having a particular Nikke jab her finger out at him in wide-eyed recognition, followed by every eye in the room landing squarely on the lone Commander. It was difficult to imagine she had been calling out anyone else, given that he was the only man in the Outpost, save for Mustang or Andersen's rare and decidedly unadvertised visits.
There was a long moment of silence as all of the Nikkes just stared up at him, leaving the burly figure feeling more than a little on the back foot.
However, Sunny lightly fretting in the midst of the silence caught his attention again. With a small sigh at the attention being focused upon him, Joe continued to advance upon the twintailed iDoll, who didn't exactly look happy that all eyes shifted off of her, only to have the Commander move to bring said attention right back to her at once.
But, given what had happened when he'd last seen her… "Are you alright, Sunny?" He asked, coming to a stop next to the diminutive blonde.
She let out a low whine as murmurs broke out around the room, though Joe kept his attention fixed squarely on the cyberpunk supersoldier. "...M'fine, Commander," she replied quietly, her own gaze locked on the floor upon which Joe stood.
He wasn't entirely surprised. Sunny was doom-and-gloom at the best of times, so it stood to reason that she'd hardly be particularly cheerful while being the centre of a packed room's attention.
Letting out a shallow breath, the man reached over and set a hand on Sunny's slight shoulder—typically encased in heavy armour when prepared for combat—giving her a gentle smile. "Good. You were really badly hurt protecting me out there. I was concerned about how you were holding up. I'm glad you're okay, and thank you for putting yourself in such incredible danger for my sake," he said with a grateful little smile.
As Sunny's blush intensified all the further at his words, they were quickly followed by a cascade of coos and girlish whines of glee.
"It's true! He's so nice!"
"A good Commander that really cares about Nikkes… Is this a dream?"
"I can't believe it! Can I transfer to the Outpost?"
"Isn't it called Shangri-La now?"
"I'll call it Heaven if it means getting to work for someone that isn't a heartless jerk!"
As the inter-Nikke rabble began steadily building into a fever pitch, Joe felt his smile become strained. He, unfortunately, did as was usual for him, and didn't fully think his actions through before committing to them. Thus, deciding that it might be best to beat a hasty retreat, lest he find himself swarmed by needy Nikkes desperate for competent and considerate command, he opted to quickly wrap up the interaction with the lady of the hour.
"You can take some time off after that last operation, alright, Sunny? You worked hard, so consider some leave a reward for your hard work," he asserted with a single squeeze of the blonde's shoulder, letting go as he presented an appreciative grin her way. The most minute of nods was what he received by way of reply from the little, tomato-red lady, and thus, he decided to set off to head off to his office.
That, and desperately not let the STARES and CHITTERING affect him too visibly. A sea of iDolls all hyperfocused on him, eyes glimmering with wonder and awe at the unfathomable idea of a Commander that simply wasn't a stupid piece of shit. It would have been upsetting, had Joe not been, well, so terribly overwhelmed by having so many very pretty and beautiful women looking at him the way they were.
Rapi, meanwhile, was looking at the man like he was an idiot; to which, honestly, he kind of was given how he probably could have waited for a quieter and more private moment to address what had happened with Sunny. Though, in all fairness, Rapi's expression was more half acknowledging that he was kind of a dumbass, but also happy to see him making an active effort to be decent to one of the girls under his command.
Cinderella's gaze was far and away more fixed entirely on satisfied pride. Every little showing of Joe going out of his way to reach out to the girls around him did wonders to show that he was improving: he might've sat around on his hands waiting for Sunny to approach him before. All the while feeling sorry for himself, no less.
Another step taken towards being who he used to be. That made Cinderella and Rapi's smiles and pride feel incredibly earned. Thus, despite himself, he couldn't help but feel his own chest swell at the looks he was receiving from the two girls. This alone was plenty of incentive for him to put in the effort to keep doing better.
The murmurs intensified as Joe left the common room with Cinderella and Rapi flanking his either side, the three stepping into the elevator and riding up to the penthouse suite in comfortable silence together.
Until Cinderella reached out and hit the button to stop at the floor housing the officer's quarters. "Got something else to do?" The Commander inquired, glancing over at the platinumette as he did so.
"To change into something more casual," the blue-eyed beauty noted in her dignified tone of voice. "As comfortable as I am with my bodysuit, having options is freeing in its own way, after so many decades of wearing nothing but my second skin—save for when I would strip to clean myself and my suit in a river or stream, at least." Her gaze drifted off, and she seemed to focus on some unseen sight in an equally unseen distance. Closing her eyes, a small smile played across her features. "Such moments were freeing in their own right, I must admit…"
Joe blinked, and at once had to fight his mind's eye attempting to immediately conjure images of Cinderella flying around, completely naked on the surface. Granted, she was Andersen's daughter, and had inherited a lot of his particular quirks when it came to body shame—or rather, a lack thereof—but she'd never crossed the line into outright exhibitionism like Andersen was all too prone to back in the day-
Having reminded himself of that time Andersen tried to waltz around the Avenger in nothing but a banana hammock, his officer's cap and shutter shades, with his ID clipped to the crotch of the bathing suit which left damn near nothing to the imagination, Joe found himself quickly unflustered. A horrible reminder that thinking unsexy thoughts often worked.
Then it became funny, considering the reminder that finding Andersen giving the entire crew an unsolicited Chippendales show was how they discovered that Cinderella had a twin mattress-sized novelty flip-flop sandal in her room. A giant sandal which existed for the express purpose of breaking out la gran chancla when Andersen pissed her off, and needed a reminder that her mother was Puerto Rican, and she was a super-soldier with super strength.
Christ, that chase sequence was a sight which was as hilarious as it was horrifying-
"Y-you ran around on the surface completely naked!?" Rapi—hand slapping over her mouth in open shock as her eyes went wide—unfortunately, brought Joe right back to being flustered by putting that thought in his head again.
"Occasionally," Cinderella noted matter-of-factually as the elevator came to a stop, opening to reveal the hallway leading to the rooms of the remnants of Goddess. "Particularly once I'd finished washing my bodysuit," she stated as she ran the tips of her fingers down the length of her torso, tracing the skin-tight bodyglove hugging her curvaceous figure for emphasis. "Flying while holding it was the quickest way to dry it out swiftly, after all."
Rapi had turned bright red, staring at her fellow Grimms' body with wide, unblinking eyes. Joe, in turn, kept his eyes locked forward on the closed elevator doors as he did his damned best to think unsexy thoughts, rather than imagine Cinderella flying about completely nude, which she affirmed she absolutely did.
"T-that must have been…" Rapi's voice became shaky, her gaze remaining fixed on the stark woman's figure. "Q-quite the sight to see…"
Joe blinked, then he remembered. Oh. Right. Rapi was also into girls, wasn't she? Wait, what the fuck was he wondering about, he'd lost track of how many times he'd been doing something at his desk, only for her to strut up behind him and announce her presence by encircling her arms around his head and pulling one of her nudie mags right into his face, because she was such a tomboy that she behaved more like a horny guy than the actual resident horny guys did. "'Check it out, this chick's bobbers are huuuge, ain't that hot?'" Shit like that among the tamest comments she'd make, by a wide margin.
To say nothing of all the threesomes she doggedly attempted to get started with himself, Dorothy, Rapunzel, Cinderella— It was just Snow White she didn't creep on, actually, given the age gap between the squad's youngest and everyone else, wasn't it? Hell, she'd even tried more than once to entice a deeply unimpressed Scarlet…
It was that which caused Joe to fully remember that Rapi, back in the day as Red Hood, had been more than a little perverted, actually.
Well, it wasn't as though she was still like that, right? Her mind switch and the time spent as a member of Absolute seemed to have matured her quite a bit- Joe thought, only to notice out of his peripheral vision that Rapi was still flagrantly staring at Cinderella's chest even as her entire face lit up with a blush. To which Cinderella was smugly preening at the undivided attention.
The Commander, at once, felt deeply concerned, his gaze snapping between the two women with no small amount of mounting worry. The only reason he hadn't already slept with Rapi not so long ago was because his concussion had denied them both the chance to jump on the opportunity. Cinderella had also just… She didn't beat around the bush; she was in love with him, and clearly actively sought a very, very serious relationship with him.
Cinderella was just enjoying the attention she was receiving from Rapi, because she had a vain streak she shared with her father, right? She didn't think that Rapi's stare was openly and unabashedly lecherous, right?
As if his potential love life wasn't complicated enough as it was, with Marian- And maybe Privaty, in the picture too, come to think of it…
The elevator dinged, beginning to close again, to which Cinderella reached out and caught the door, humming as it reliably opened again. "Anyways, I will get changed and rejoin you in your room, my Prince," she smiled broadly at Joe, then presented a similar smile to a still blushing Rapi.
With her typical distinctive grace, the silver-haired beauty stepped out of the lift with an attention-grabbing sashay that firmly reminded Joe that her bodysuit was designed as such to leave her entire backside damn near wholly bare at a glance—the back was actually covered in glossy, if wholly transparent material. Yet functionally, the suit was designed to create the illusion that Cinderella was walking around in a thong with a transparent microskirt adorned with Petrine crosses, and thigh-high boots.
The most powerful living Nikke disappeared into her room, and after a moment of silence, the elevator dinged again—only for Rapi to reach out and catch it once more, quickly stepping out of it herself with a shuddering huff.
"-Rapi?" Joe inquired aloud.
"I just-" the blonde started, her voice as shaky as her legs seemed to suddenly be. "I-I need to do something, I'll catch up in a bit!" With that, she took off to her own quarters at a light run.
The man blinked as the door once more closed, this time actually being allowed to do so, before he quickly found himself on the top floor, moving for his own suite with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. She must have had to use the washroom or something.
As Joe moved for his desk to look over his work documents—eyes momentarily catching on the old Marlin lever-action now occupying the gun rack First Affection once claimed—his personal gold-plated Tetra Line phone started to buzz where it sat on the desk; Joe only took his bulletproof Elysion phone into the field, after all.
Lifting the phone which automatically unlocked upon detecting his biometrics, he found that he was being messaged by Mustang. [Ah, my friend! So many requests from my little iDolls to transfer to the newly christened Shangri-La—a perfect name for a paradise for Nikkes I might add—in the wake of seeing with their own eyes that the Commander of Counters is truly a kind and caring man…]
The audacious CEO tacked a single inquisitive sentence on to end his cheering paragraph.
[My poor, perfect girls may rely upon being taken care of by the Ark's number one Commander, yes?]
The automatic translator Rapi had directed Joe to install ages ago was really pulling its weight. Mustang was actually understandable now, thankfully. Thus, the Commander replied in text. [Let me check with Mighty Tools to see how the housing project is coming along before I commit to anything.]
He, of course, had no issues whatsoever with having Shangri-La basically become a Tetra Line colony, given the close ties he had with Mustang and that he knew any girls tied to him could be trusted more than most others. The Commander didn't want to leave the girls all packed into the communal barracks like sardines, however.
The residential district apartments might have been small and tightly packed together, almost being identical to metropolitan Japanese units in layout, but they were private quarters Nikkes would have all to themselves regardless. Speaking from experience, even living in one's own shoebox was preferable to sharing a hostel with everyone else.
Mustang's reply came quickly. [Individual domiciles for every Nikke that works for him? Resplendent! Absolute perfection! My girls shall all flourish under your care, my glorious friend! They shall know true happiness for the first time in so very long!]
Yeah, well, that was the very least they deserved. At any rate, Joe shot a message to the Mighty Tools group chat Liter preferred to use for official communications for convenience's sake, and the foreman replied rapidly.
Joe grimaced, and took a moment to parse what she'd said. Liter had abominable texting habits, making it difficult to actually read what she typed at a glance. However…
He replied to Mustang. [It looks like we could accept a handful of new squads with the apartments Mighty Tools has finished already. There's also a fair amount of free bunk space in the Command Centre barracks if anyone is willing to live communally in the interim between buildings being finished.]
A few more notifications pinged to alert him to Liter sending him more messages, but he was distracted by the CEO's immediate reply.
[Magnificent!] Mustang eagerly declared. [I shall let my poor girls know at once!]
Joe let out a small huff of satisfaction, a little lopsided grin finding purchase on his features as it registered to him that yeah, he was already having a positive effect on the lives of these Nikkes. It was encouraging, considering how the girls would be able to live in Shangri-La without worrying about discrimination for once in their lives.
All the more reason to double down and do all he could for these girls that sacrificed so much for mankind. Let them be happy! Let them know joy! Shangri-La, where Nikkes are recognized as the Goddesses of Victory they are!
…Hold up, shit, that would make for a good marketing line. In fact… Joe quickly typed that sentiment down, sending it to Mustang in quotes.
[PERFECTION!] The CEO replied in all caps, clearly approving heartily. [Your sentiment is beautiful! I will forward it to Andersen to replace the woefully inaccurate signs he presumptively had produced for Shangri-La ahead of time at once!]
Wait, what? Andersen had signs for the Outpost produced before Joe had actually confirmed its official new name to anyone? What had he put on them then-?
His thoughts were cut off as the hallway door slid open, Cinderella's big blue eye immediately locking onto the Commander as she stepped into the suite with a sensual sashay. "What do you think of my new outfit, my Prince?" She smugly asked.
She knew full well, of course, given that Joe had loudly dropped his phone on the desktop and let out a strained, hurgling cry the instant he'd set eyes on her. After all…
Holy underboob, Batman!
Cinderella was wearing a perilously high-cut cropped grey turtleneck sweater adorned with a white pleather choker and a harness strap between her chest and clavicle. A fashionable loose, baggy white jacket with black accents hung loose off of her shoulders. A high-waisted white miniskirt kept secure with a tied ribbon belt adorned her midsection, while her thigh was decorated with a random thigh strap which looked halfway between being a lone garterstrap and a pistol harness, worn under her skirt. There was nothing attached to the thigh strap, so it was clearly just there for aesthetics.
The blue-eyed beauty would have easily blended into the Ark, dressed as she was. Cyberpunk fashion was common down there, and she looked pretty cyberpunk with this new outfit.
The white-clad woman approached a staring Joe, the levels of smug on her porcelain-perfect features reaching levels heretofore unknown. Upon coming within arm's reach of him where he sat, she promptly reached out, took a hold of the sides of his head, and planted his face right in the danger zone.
Joe gasped, wheezed, and let out a strained, quiet cry from the back of his throat. He was an ass man, yes, but he was still a straight man, and Cinderella was clearly getting intense satisfaction from getting him got, using her front-facing assets rather than hitting him with the easy mode cake factory she could bring to bear against him, no less.
He was, needless to say, defeated, and the woman standing tall (figuratively) in victory preened. Then she pulled him in closer, achieving as much contact as she could while rapidly growing more distinctly affectionate. It took Joe a moment to register why she was suddenly getting more forceful and brazen. The man had been more frustrated than he would like to admit by all the beautiful women giving him so much positive attention since waking in that Ark hospital.
In other words: his hands had decided to act of their own will, and Cinderella took that as encouragement. Understandably so, but still! Danger! Danger! Rapi said she was coming up at some point! She'd walk in to see Joe's face buried in Cinderella's chest, and with two handfuls of her admittedly Heavenly posterior! Had he ever touched her like this before? No, he hadn't! He just gave her the green light when Rapi might be on her way up! Oh fuck, oh shit, oh-
To punish him for his increasing lack of self-control, Joe heard the hallway door slide open. His entirely obfuscated eyes went wide, and his hormones were assaulted all the more by the sharp intake of perfumed air he inhaled as horror hit him like a brick.
"Commander-" A sharp pause. It was worse. It was so much worse. That wasn't Rapi's voice.
"Oh," Cinderella started, still holding Joe's face in her chest. "Foreman Liter, hello-"
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO PERVERTS DOING!?" Liter cried out, audibly stomping towards the desk, to which Joe forcefully drew his face back and out of Cinderella's chest to whip his gaze around to focus on a very visibly displeased tiny and brightly-coloured safety-yellow foreman. "I literally just told you I'd be coming up here to talk about zoning and building stuff since you brought it up! Why the Hell would you start with your nasty whoopie when-!"
She sharply stopped, then presented a withering glare Cinderella's way, upon noticing her underboob sweater.
"YOU," the pint-sized foreman started, pointing an accusatory finger at the twintailed bombshell. "This is you on your weird exhibitionism kink, isn't it!? First, you go around my worksites, wearing that little perverted dress that has your bahangas looking ready to fall out at the slightest jiggle, and your whole butt hanging out of your perverted short skirt with those threadbare panties that hide nothing while you keep going out of your way to climb on top of things where you know everyone can see you! Then you go and time your attempt at hanky-spanky time with your beau to when I was supposed to be coming up to meet him! You wanted to be seen, didn't you!? Why are you like this!?"
She then pointed at Joe dramatically, all but gnashing her teeth in overt anger.
"And why are you leaning into it!? Am I gonna start hearing about you damn pervert kids rutting like dogs in heat getting caught going at it in the hallways, or even on the benches in the street!? Why are you like this!? Why can't you damned kids lock your front door and do it in the bedroom or the washroom or kitchen like normal people!? What, you see a big pair of boobs and you just lose control of yourself!? Why can't kids these days behave themselves, damn it! Back in my day, youngin's at least knew to tape a sock or a scrunchie to the door if they were gonna make whoopie and couldn't lock it!"
Cinderella let Liter go off, and when the deceptively old woman paused to take a breath in the midst of her pissed off granny rant, she interjected. "'Exhibitionist' is such a crude-sounding word. I much prefer to say that I am 'free spirited and generous in sharing the bounty of my beauty with the world-'"
"YOU ADMIT IT!" Liter pointed at her again, now snarling like a very angry Welsh Corgi. "I knew it! You helping around construction sites was just an excuse to let everyone see up your skirt! I'd better not see you wearing anything other than pants on my worksites anymore!"
"How cruel. Why should everyone not get to exalt in my beauty?" Cinderella inquired, giving Liter an unimpressed look as Joe was strikingly reminded that, yes, this woman really was Andersen's daughter given how he'd previously said damn near the exact same thing about walking about the Avenger while basically naked, and that was starting to become Joe's problem specifically. "Everyone should be granted such a wondrous display of-"
"You're just a pervert that wants to swing her bazongers and butt around in public for cheap thrills!" Liter countered as she leaned forward, dramatically jabbing her finger out at Cinderella. "You-!"
Joe wished for an out from his own failing self-control, and boy howdy did the monkey's paw curl to grant him his wish. As Liter continued to scream, and started to shout in Welsh again, already, the Commander could tell that this was going to be a long day.
Andersen forlornly looked upon the many signs he'd had produced for the Outpost, reminded of just how badly Joe had disappointed him with his choice of name by Mustang's message. "'Shangri-La…' Come on, what were you thinking, when the obvious choice was right there? When we were so close to greatness?" He whined, running his fingers along the length of the sign that was supposed to be set up just outside the elevator to the Ark.
"A Big Boss denied his Outer Heaven…" Andersen remarked grimly, covering one of his eyes—the wrong eye that Solidus Snake, not Big Boss had lost, specifically—while grimacing. "Joe… I'll remember this, you bastard." He darkly remarked in the storage unit filled with 'Outer Heaven' branded signage. "I swear, I'll remember this."
Chapter 91 - The Centre of Attention
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Staring with no small amount of confusion, Joe blinked at the sight of Sunny in the middle of being swarmed by a gaggle of other mass-produced Tetra Line Nikkes in the Command Centre common room. The blonde was visibly flustered, a decidedly uncharacteristic rosy hue tinting her fair cheeks as she attempted to shrink in on herself in the midst of all the attention being poured upon her.
That caught the Commander quite off-guard, to say the least. Mia and Cammie seemed bemused by Sunny's predicament, while Anis, the Carronades, and Wardress were nowhere to be seen. The Command Centre had never been so stuffed full… And it was mildly amusing from Joe's point of view that he was standing at the edge of a sea of beautiful women, yet still he saw clean over the heads of even the tallest among the present Nikkes.
Women were typically short, yes, but damn, the constant reminder of how tiny Nikkes were was wild. Asian women were really small on average, but the Ark's population demographics weren't skewed that heavily towards Asians from what Joe could see. That even considering how instrumental South Korea was in the Ark's creation.
At any rate, the last time he'd set eyes on Sunny, she was in an induced coma, waiting to be shipped back to the Ark to have her totalled legs replaced. Relieved to see her in a better state, Joe started off towards her, ready to begin weaving between the girls-
"-Um," Rapi called out in a hushed voice, stopping short of reaching out to take a hold of his sleeve, the man didn't pause, as it hadn't been clear that she was trying to catch Joe's attention specifically.
So, the man started to make his way to the orange and black-clad iDoll, weaving his way through the crowd—
"It's him!"
Only to halt at having a particular Nikke jab her finger out at him in wide-eyed recognition, followed by every eye in the room landing squarely on the lone Commander. It was difficult to imagine she had been calling out anyone else, given that he was the only man in the Outpost, save for Mustang or Andersen's rare and decidedly unadvertised visits.
There was a long moment of silence as all of the Nikkes just stared up at him, leaving the burly figure feeling more than a little on the back foot.
However, Sunny lightly fretting in the midst of the silence caught his attention again. With a small sigh at the attention being focused upon him, Joe continued to advance upon the twintailed iDoll, who didn't exactly look happy that all eyes shifted off of her, only to have the Commander move to bring said attention right back to her at once.
But, given what had happened when he'd last seen her… "Are you alright, Sunny?" He asked, coming to a stop next to the diminutive blonde.
She let out a low whine as murmurs broke out around the room, though Joe kept his attention fixed squarely on the cyberpunk supersoldier. "...M'fine, Commander," she replied quietly, her own gaze locked on the floor upon which Joe stood.
He wasn't entirely surprised. Sunny was doom-and-gloom at the best of times, so it stood to reason that she'd hardly be particularly cheerful while being the centre of a packed room's attention.
Letting out a shallow breath, the man reached over and set a hand on Sunny's slight shoulder—typically encased in heavy armour when prepared for combat—giving her a gentle smile. "Good. You were really badly hurt protecting me out there. I was concerned about how you were holding up. I'm glad you're okay, and thank you for putting yourself in such incredible danger for my sake," he said with a grateful little smile.
As Sunny's blush intensified all the further at his words, they were quickly followed by a cascade of coos and girlish whines of glee.
"It's true! He's so nice!"
"A good Commander that really cares about Nikkes… Is this a dream?"
"I can't believe it! Can I transfer to the Outpost?"
"Isn't it called Shangri-La now?"
"I'll call it Heaven if it means getting to work for someone that isn't a heartless jerk!"
As the inter-Nikke rabble began steadily building into a fever pitch, Joe felt his smile become strained. He, unfortunately, did as was usual for him, and didn't fully think his actions through before committing to them. Thus, deciding that it might be best to beat a hasty retreat, lest he find himself swarmed by needy Nikkes desperate for competent and considerate command, he opted to quickly wrap up the interaction with the lady of the hour.
"You can take some time off after that last operation, alright, Sunny? You worked hard, so consider some leave a reward for your hard work," he asserted with a single squeeze of the blonde's shoulder, letting go as he presented an appreciative grin her way. The most minute of nods was what he received by way of reply from the little, tomato-red lady, and thus, he decided to set off to head off to his office.
That, and desperately not let the STARES and CHITTERING affect him too visibly. A sea of iDolls all hyperfocused on him, eyes glimmering with wonder and awe at the unfathomable idea of a Commander that simply wasn't a stupid piece of shit. It would have been upsetting, had Joe not been, well, so terribly overwhelmed by having so many very pretty and beautiful women looking at him the way they were.
Rapi, meanwhile, was looking at the man like he was an idiot; to which, honestly, he kind of was given how he probably could have waited for a quieter and more private moment to address what had happened with Sunny. Though, in all fairness, Rapi's expression was more half acknowledging that he was kind of a dumbass, but also happy to see him making an active effort to be decent to one of the girls under his command.
Cinderella's gaze was far and away more fixed entirely on satisfied pride. Every little showing of Joe going out of his way to reach out to the girls around him did wonders to show that he was improving: he might've sat around on his hands waiting for Sunny to approach him before. All the while feeling sorry for himself, no less.
Another step taken towards being who he used to be. That made Cinderella and Rapi's smiles and pride feel incredibly earned. Thus, despite himself, he couldn't help but feel his own chest swell at the looks he was receiving from the two girls. This alone was plenty of incentive for him to put in the effort to keep doing better.
The murmurs intensified as Joe left the common room with Cinderella and Rapi flanking his either side, the three stepping into the elevator and riding up to the penthouse suite in comfortable silence together.
Until Cinderella reached out and hit the button to stop at the floor housing the officer's quarters. "Got something else to do?" The Commander inquired, glancing over at the platinumette as he did so.
"To change into something more casual," the blue-eyed beauty noted in her dignified tone of voice. "As comfortable as I am with my bodysuit, having options is freeing in its own way, after so many decades of wearing nothing but my second skin—save for when I would strip to clean myself and my suit in a river or stream, at least." Her gaze drifted off, and she seemed to focus on some unseen sight in an equally unseen distance. Closing her eyes, a small smile played across her features. "Such moments were freeing in their own right, I must admit…"
Joe blinked, and at once had to fight his mind's eye attempting to immediately conjure images of Cinderella flying around, completely naked on the surface. Granted, she was Andersen's daughter, and had inherited a lot of his particular quirks when it came to body shame—or rather, a lack thereof—but she'd never crossed the line into outright exhibitionism like Andersen was all too prone to back in the day-
Having reminded himself of that time Andersen tried to waltz around the Avenger in nothing but a banana hammock, his officer's cap and shutter shades, with his ID clipped to the crotch of the bathing suit which left damn near nothing to the imagination, Joe found himself quickly unflustered. A horrible reminder that thinking unsexy thoughts often worked.
Then it became funny, considering the reminder that finding Andersen giving the entire crew an unsolicited Chippendales show was how they discovered that Cinderella had a twin mattress-sized novelty flip-flop sandal in her room. A giant sandal which existed for the express purpose of breaking out la gran chancla when Andersen pissed her off, and needed a reminder that her mother was Puerto Rican, and she was a super-soldier with super strength.
Christ, that chase sequence was a sight which was as hilarious as it was horrifying-
"Y-you ran around on the surface completely naked!?" Rapi—hand slapping over her mouth in open shock as her eyes went wide—unfortunately, brought Joe right back to being flustered by putting that thought in his head again.
"Occasionally," Cinderella noted matter-of-factually as the elevator came to a stop, opening to reveal the hallway leading to the rooms of the remnants of Goddess. "Particularly once I'd finished washing my bodysuit," she stated as she ran the tips of her fingers down the length of her torso, tracing the skin-tight bodyglove hugging her curvaceous figure for emphasis. "Flying while holding it was the quickest way to dry it out swiftly, after all."
Rapi had turned bright red, staring at her fellow Grimms' body with wide, unblinking eyes. Joe, in turn, kept his eyes locked forward on the closed elevator doors as he did his damned best to think unsexy thoughts, rather than imagine Cinderella flying about completely nude, which she affirmed she absolutely did.
"T-that must have been…" Rapi's voice became shaky, her gaze remaining fixed on the stark woman's figure. "Q-quite the sight to see…"
Joe blinked, then he remembered. Oh. Right. Rapi was also into girls, wasn't she? Wait, what the fuck was he wondering about, he'd lost track of how many times he'd been doing something at his desk, only for her to strut up behind him and announce her presence by encircling her arms around his head and pulling one of her nudie mags right into his face, because she was such a tomboy that she behaved more like a horny guy than the actual resident horny guys did. "'Check it out, this chick's bobbers are huuuge, ain't that hot?'" Shit like that among the tamest comments she'd make, by a wide margin.
To say nothing of all the threesomes she doggedly attempted to get started with himself, Dorothy, Rapunzel, Cinderella— It was just Snow White she didn't creep on, actually, given the age gap between the squad's youngest and everyone else, wasn't it? Hell, she'd even tried more than once to entice a deeply unimpressed Scarlet…
It was that which caused Joe to fully remember that Rapi, back in the day as Red Hood, had been more than a little perverted, actually.
Well, it wasn't as though she was still like that, right? Her mind switch and the time spent as a member of Absolute seemed to have matured her quite a bit- Joe thought, only to notice out of his peripheral vision that Rapi was still flagrantly staring at Cinderella's chest even as her entire face lit up with a blush. To which Cinderella was smugly preening at the undivided attention.
The Commander, at once, felt deeply concerned, his gaze snapping between the two women with no small amount of mounting worry. The only reason he hadn't already slept with Rapi not so long ago was because his concussion had denied them both the chance to jump on the opportunity. Cinderella had also just… She didn't beat around the bush; she was in love with him, and clearly actively sought a very, very serious relationship with him.
Cinderella was just enjoying the attention she was receiving from Rapi, because she had a vain streak she shared with her father, right? She didn't think that Rapi's stare was openly and unabashedly lecherous, right?
As if his potential love life wasn't complicated enough as it was, with Marian- And maybe Privaty, in the picture too, come to think of it…
The elevator dinged, beginning to close again, to which Cinderella reached out and caught the door, humming as it reliably opened again. "Anyways, I will get changed and rejoin you in your room, my Prince," she smiled broadly at Joe, then presented a similar smile to a still blushing Rapi.
With her typical distinctive grace, the silver-haired beauty stepped out of the lift with an attention-grabbing sashay that firmly reminded Joe that her bodysuit was designed as such to leave her entire backside damn near wholly bare at a glance—the back was actually covered in glossy, if wholly transparent material. Yet functionally, the suit was designed to create the illusion that Cinderella was walking around in a thong with a transparent microskirt adorned with Petrine crosses, and thigh-high boots.
The most powerful living Nikke disappeared into her room, and after a moment of silence, the elevator dinged again—only for Rapi to reach out and catch it once more, quickly stepping out of it herself with a shuddering huff.
"-Rapi?" Joe inquired aloud.
"I just-" the blonde started, her voice as shaky as her legs seemed to suddenly be. "I-I need to do something, I'll catch up in a bit!" With that, she took off to her own quarters at a light run.
The man blinked as the door once more closed, this time actually being allowed to do so, before he quickly found himself on the top floor, moving for his own suite with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. She must have had to use the washroom or something.
As Joe moved for his desk to look over his work documents—eyes momentarily catching on the old Marlin lever-action now occupying the gun rack First Affection once claimed—his personal gold-plated Tetra Line phone started to buzz where it sat on the desk; Joe only took his bulletproof Elysion phone into the field, after all.
Lifting the phone which automatically unlocked upon detecting his biometrics, he found that he was being messaged by Mustang. [Ah, my friend! So many requests from my little iDolls to transfer to the newly christened Shangri-La—a perfect name for a paradise for Nikkes I might add—in the wake of seeing with their own eyes that the Commander of Counters is truly a kind and caring man…]
The audacious CEO tacked a single inquisitive sentence on to end his cheering paragraph.
[My poor, perfect girls may rely upon being taken care of by the Ark's number one Commander, yes?]
The automatic translator Rapi had directed Joe to install ages ago was really pulling its weight. Mustang was actually understandable now, thankfully. Thus, the Commander replied in text. [Let me check with Mighty Tools to see how the housing project is coming along before I commit to anything.]
He, of course, had no issues whatsoever with having Shangri-La basically become a Tetra Line colony, given the close ties he had with Mustang and that he knew any girls tied to him could be trusted more than most others. The Commander didn't want to leave the girls all packed into the communal barracks like sardines, however.
The residential district apartments might have been small and tightly packed together, almost being identical to metropolitan Japanese units in layout, but they were private quarters Nikkes would have all to themselves regardless. Speaking from experience, even living in one's own shoebox was preferable to sharing a hostel with everyone else.
Mustang's reply came quickly. [Individual domiciles for every Nikke that works for him? Resplendent! Absolute perfection! My girls shall all flourish under your care, my glorious friend! They shall know true happiness for the first time in so very long!]
Yeah, well, that was the very least they deserved. At any rate, Joe shot a message to the Mighty Tools group chat Liter preferred to use for official communications for convenience's sake, and the foreman replied rapidly.
Joe grimaced, and took a moment to parse what she'd said. Liter had abominable texting habits, making it difficult to actually read what she typed at a glance. However…
He replied to Mustang. [It looks like we could accept a handful of new squads with the apartments Mighty Tools has finished already. There's also a fair amount of free bunk space in the Command Centre barracks if anyone is willing to live communally in the interim between buildings being finished.]
A few more notifications pinged to alert him to Liter sending him more messages, but he was distracted by the CEO's immediate reply.
[Magnificent!] Mustang eagerly declared. [I shall let my poor girls know at once!]
Joe let out a small huff of satisfaction, a little lopsided grin finding purchase on his features as it registered to him that yeah, he was already having a positive effect on the lives of these Nikkes. It was encouraging, considering how the girls would be able to live in Shangri-La without worrying about discrimination for once in their lives.
All the more reason to double down and do all he could for these girls that sacrificed so much for mankind. Let them be happy! Let them know joy! Shangri-La, where Nikkes are recognized as the Goddesses of Victory they are!
…Hold up, shit, that would make for a good marketing line. In fact… Joe quickly typed that sentiment down, sending it to Mustang in quotes.
[PERFECTION!] The CEO replied in all caps, clearly approving heartily. [Your sentiment is beautiful! I will forward it to Andersen to replace the woefully inaccurate signs he presumptively had produced for Shangri-La ahead of time at once!]
Wait, what? Andersen had signs for the Outpost produced before Joe had actually confirmed its official new name to anyone? What had he put on them then-?
His thoughts were cut off as the hallway door slid open, Cinderella's big blue eye immediately locking onto the Commander as she stepped into the suite with a sensual sashay. "What do you think of my new outfit, my Prince?" She smugly asked.
She knew full well, of course, given that Joe had loudly dropped his phone on the desktop and let out a strained, hurgling cry the instant he'd set eyes on her. After all…
Holy underboob, Batman!
Cinderella was wearing a perilously high-cut cropped grey turtleneck sweater adorned with a white pleather choker and a harness strap between her chest and clavicle. A fashionable loose, baggy white jacket with black accents hung loose off of her shoulders. A high-waisted white miniskirt kept secure with a tied ribbon belt adorned her midsection, while her thigh was decorated with a random thigh strap which looked halfway between being a lone garterstrap and a pistol harness, worn under her skirt. There was nothing attached to the thigh strap, so it was clearly just there for aesthetics.
The blue-eyed beauty would have easily blended into the Ark, dressed as she was. Cyberpunk fashion was common down there, and she looked pretty cyberpunk with this new outfit.
The white-clad woman approached a staring Joe, the levels of smug on her porcelain-perfect features reaching levels heretofore unknown. Upon coming within arm's reach of him where he sat, she promptly reached out, took a hold of the sides of his head, and planted his face right in the danger zone.
Joe gasped, wheezed, and let out a strained, quiet cry from the back of his throat. He was an ass man, yes, but he was still a straight man, and Cinderella was clearly getting intense satisfaction from getting him got, using her front-facing assets rather than hitting him with the easy mode cake factory she could bring to bear against him, no less.
He was, needless to say, defeated, and the woman standing tall (figuratively) in victory preened. Then she pulled him in closer, achieving as much contact as she could while rapidly growing more distinctly affectionate. It took Joe a moment to register why she was suddenly getting more forceful and brazen. The man had been more frustrated than he would like to admit by all the beautiful women giving him so much positive attention since waking in that Ark hospital.
In other words: his hands had decided to act of their own will, and Cinderella took that as encouragement. Understandably so, but still! Danger! Danger! Rapi said she was coming up at some point! She'd walk in to see Joe's face buried in Cinderella's chest, and with two handfuls of her admittedly Heavenly posterior! Had he ever touched her like this before? No, he hadn't! He just gave her the green light when Rapi might be on her way up! Oh fuck, oh shit, oh-
To punish him for his increasing lack of self-control, Joe heard the hallway door slide open. His entirely obfuscated eyes went wide, and his hormones were assaulted all the more by the sharp intake of perfumed air he inhaled as horror hit him like a brick.
"Commander-" A sharp pause. It was worse. It was so much worse. That wasn't Rapi's voice.
"Oh," Cinderella started, still holding Joe's face in her chest. "Foreman Liter, hello-"
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO PERVERTS DOING!?" Liter cried out, audibly stomping towards the desk, to which Joe forcefully drew his face back and out of Cinderella's chest to whip his gaze around to focus on a very visibly displeased tiny and brightly-coloured safety-yellow foreman. "I literally just told you I'd be coming up here to talk about zoning and building stuff since you brought it up! Why the Hell would you start with your nasty whoopie when-!"
She sharply stopped, then presented a withering glare Cinderella's way, upon noticing her underboob sweater.
"YOU," the pint-sized foreman started, pointing an accusatory finger at the twintailed bombshell. "This is you on your weird exhibitionism kink, isn't it!? First, you go around my worksites, wearing that little perverted dress that has your bahangas looking ready to fall out at the slightest jiggle, and your whole butt hanging out of your perverted short skirt with those threadbare panties that hide nothing while you keep going out of your way to climb on top of things where you know everyone can see you! Then you go and time your attempt at hanky-spanky time with your beau to when I was supposed to be coming up to meet him! You wanted to be seen, didn't you!? Why are you like this!?"
She then pointed at Joe dramatically, all but gnashing her teeth in overt anger.
"And why are you leaning into it!? Am I gonna start hearing about you damn pervert kids rutting like dogs in heat getting caught going at it in the hallways, or even on the benches in the street!? Why are you like this!? Why can't you damned kids lock your front door and do it in the bedroom or the washroom or kitchen like normal people!? What, you see a big pair of boobs and you just lose control of yourself!? Why can't kids these days behave themselves, damn it! Back in my day, youngin's at least knew to tape a sock or a scrunchie to the door if they were gonna make whoopie and couldn't lock it!"
Cinderella let Liter go off, and when the deceptively old woman paused to take a breath in the midst of her pissed off granny rant, she interjected. "'Exhibitionist' is such a crude-sounding word. I much prefer to say that I am 'free spirited and generous in sharing the bounty of my beauty with the world-'"
"YOU ADMIT IT!" Liter pointed at her again, now snarling like a very angry Welsh Corgi. "I knew it! You helping around construction sites was just an excuse to let everyone see up your skirt! I'd better not see you wearing anything other than pants on my worksites anymore!"
"How cruel. Why should everyone not get to exalt in my beauty?" Cinderella inquired, giving Liter an unimpressed look as Joe was strikingly reminded that, yes, this woman really was Andersen's daughter given how he'd previously said damn near the exact same thing about walking about the Avenger while basically naked, and that was starting to become Joe's problem specifically. "Everyone should be granted such a wondrous display of-"
"You're just a pervert that wants to swing her bazongers and butt around in public for cheap thrills!" Liter countered as she leaned forward, dramatically jabbing her finger out at Cinderella. "You-!"
Joe wished for an out from his own failing self-control, and boy howdy did the monkey's paw curl to grant him his wish. As Liter continued to scream, and started to shout in Welsh again, already, the Commander could tell that this was going to be a long day.
Andersen forlornly looked upon the many signs he'd had produced for the Outpost, reminded of just how badly Joe had disappointed him with his choice of name by Mustang's message. "'Shangri-La…' Come on, what were you thinking, when the obvious choice was right there? When we were so close to greatness?" He whined, running his fingers along the length of the sign that was supposed to be set up just outside the elevator to the Ark.
"A Big Boss denied his Outer Heaven…" Andersen remarked grimly, covering one of his eyes—the wrong eye that Solidus Snake, not Big Boss had lost, specifically—while grimacing. "Joe… I'll remember this, you bastard." He darkly remarked in the storage unit filled with 'Outer Heaven' branded signage. "I swear, I'll remember this."
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