Ari stumbled into her room just as the first rays of the morning sun began peeking up over the mountains. Covering her eyes, she thought back and tried to remember the last time she’d felt so tired.
Her new album’s big reveal with Mort’s last-minute stand-in had proved exhausting, as she knew it would, but what could she have done? The asshole had left her searching for a date at the last possible second. She obviously couldn’t have made him go, and she just as obviously couldn’t have gone alone. And sure, she had a roster of back-ups to call, but they all knew when they were doing her a favor, which meant they all knew the deal.
She’d tried to pick someone esteemed and older, but as was often the case with all her “biggest fans,” the Malforian had proved to possess the libido of a Senator half his age as well as the pathetic clinginess of a small child. It had been enough to make her wonder if she shouldn’t have just taken Lrasa or some other routine Sword member. They tended to treat her (and most Avarians) like a second-rate form of depraved entertainment, but at least their dismissiveness tended to go hand-in-hand with letting her go home early. After all, there was nothing so boring to the rich and powerful as spending too much time with a familiar pretty face.
Dragging herself across her room and to her windows, Ari supposed there would always be someone who found her shiny and new. It was both a hazard and a benefit of the job. There was no way to meet the entire Mountain, much less the trail of foreign diplomats and high-ranking officials that popped by throughout the years. There would always be someone left still yearning for her as this perfect, unattainable, untouched Avarian. And poor little Ari was cursed to run into them one by one, these enraptured admirers who’d watched and longed from a distance until, when their turn finally did come around, they spent the night drawing out the agony, like a tantalizing self-torture, talking for too long, undressing too slowly, straining to temper their love-making, fighting to savor all of her luscious benevolence as they struggled to both embrace and stretch time, an ill-fated paradox if ever there was one.
Mmm! It was enough to nearly get her going again. But for now, she needed to rest, particularly before she had to get up and possibly do it all over again tomorrow.
Ari grunted in effort while slamming her shutters closed. Then, sailing high toward her bed, she touched down, yanked off her dress, and finally dropped into her sheets to fall into an exhausted sleep.
Several hours later the pleasant trills from one of her favorite hit songs began pouring in from her bedroom console, gently rousing her awake. Rubbing her eyes, she couldn’t help smiling at the golden sunlight gently pooling in as the shutters slowly re-opened, bouncing light playfully across her favorite place on the Mountain. Taking in a deep breath and enjoying the soft aroma of her flower infused pillow, she slowly began gathering enough energy to start the day. At first it was a losing battle amidst the cool softness of her downy coverlet, but musings on the different types of breakfasts she could afford to indulge in broke through this languid mindset.
“A fresh madrilian, two bites of thake, and…” Ari scanned her mind for the best weekend indulgence that wouldn’t completely wreck her caloric count for the day. “A crinkle roll with shaved sucra-legraun, mmm…” Her mouth was watering by the time she sat up and tapped her bed’s central console to call the kitchen.
“Good morning,” she chirped pleasantly. “I would like to request breakfast for room—”
“I know which room, Ari,” replied a smiling voice.
“Zokie, is that you?” Ari always flirted with Zokie mercilessly and, as a result, was able to keep all sorts of sweet treats off her dietary record. She usually had to wait until the work week to catch him, though. “I didn’t know you were going to be here this weekend!”
“Yeah. With the big party coming up, they’ve got everyone on prep.”
Of course. Mort was holding a private get together to introduce everyone to his latest discovery, the bedraggled, dark-haired cretin across the hall. Slated as a small, “intimate” gathering, this would no doubt be crawling with over a hundred of the richest, most powerful Malforians on the Mountain. “Ahh, makes sense. I’m sorry you lost your weekend.”
“That’s all right. I get to see my favorite singer.” Ari couldn’t help but smile at this. She loved Zokie. “So, what can I get you?”
“I woke up with this wild craving for something sweet.”
“No kidding?” Zokie deadpanned in good humor. “Ari Lumiere after something sweet first thing in the morning? Who would have guessed it!”
“Ha ha, very cute. So, can you hook me up?”
Ari heard a sigh coming from the other end of the line. “I don’t know, beautiful. It’s really jumping in here. There’s people everywhere. I don’t think I can sneak anything out without anybody seeing.”
“And here I thought we were friends,” she pouted. When he didn’t respond, she suddenly had a new idea. “You know,” she said, drawing herself up close to the speaker, “if I had something sweet and delicious to look forward to, I might get so caught up thinking about it, I’d forget to do anything else until you get here. Like get out of bed.” A wicked smile curled the edge of her mouth. “Or get dressed.”
She could hear Zokie shifting closer to the speaker on his end. When he spoke again, it was lower and huskier. “You’re not dressed yet?”
“Nooo,” Ari purred quietly. “I was so tired last night, I just threw my clothes off and fell into bed.” Ari drew her feet up and down the covers, letting the soft rustle of her legs sliding over the fabric drift into the speaker. “And I’m always so tired first thing in the morning. I don’t think I could move a muscle. Zokie-eeeee,” Ari whined sensually. “Won’t you please come up here with something warm and delicious to help wake me up?”
Zokie swallowed hard. “I’ll figure something out. What do you want?”
“A sucra-legraun glazed crinkle roll and my usual.”
“Okay. I’ll be up in twenty. Just…stay exactly where you are.”
“You’re the best.” Ari cooed before ending the call. Yawning one more time and giving her shoulders a good stretch, she hopped up and took a running leap out of bed, twirling to grab her favorite gauzy robe off the back of a chair as she went. If she only had twenty minutes, she’d need to get her face on fast.
Sailing across her sitting area, she landed near the front of the room at her five-mirrored vanity, the single most ornate and organized space in her place. Floating daintily just above the chair (as her mother always taught her), she immediately began scrubbing and rinsing her face before pulling out her anti-aging kit to lay out the tools and carefully sterilize them.
She hated sticking the skinny needles into the problem areas around her eyes and mouth, but she hated letting someone else do it more. Her doctors had a funny way of acting towards her ever since she slept with that one Dr. Jajurut, and she preferred to avoid them except in emergencies, which she’d explained to Dr. Pittrin, her psychiatrist. Dr. Pittrin had been sweet enough to give her a waiver for the supplies and to secure enough classes for Ari to learn how to administer them herself. So, really, she was incredibly lucky to be doing this, which she kept repeating as she pricked herself over a dozen times to situate the semi-permanent gel into the fine crevices in her skin. Working quickly, she soon finished and was happily putting everything away for another week.
Done with that, she was moving onto her foundation when she heard the telltale click and rustle of someone coming into her room. “Just a minute!” she called out, pulling a face projector onto her neck while glancing at her clock. That was fast.
“Have you seen the new one?” came Senator Mortaco’s unexpected voice. “He keeps sneaking out of his room, and I can never find him when I need him.”
Ari held in a groan and pulled off the projector, the vision of her pre-made face disappearing in the mirror. “Maybe if you stopped barging into places unannounced, he’d feel more comfortable staying in his room.”
Mort waved this off while hunching down to look under her furniture. “He’s got to be around here somewhere.”
“Well, he’s not in here.” Tapping her mirror console, she prompted her first level of colors to rise and unfold itself over her vanity, revealing all her favorite base shades and brushes.
Huffing, Mort rose to put his hands on his hips while looking around the room in confusion. Then he squinted over at her. “You going somewhere? I thought you had the day off.”
She glanced at him in the mirror. “I’m going dress hunting. What do you care?”
He stuck his tongue in his cheek as if considering something. “You want to take him with you?”
Ari’s eyes went huge. “Uh, how about ‘Fuck no. How dare you?’ You blew me off last night, and now you want me to take your homeless, broke-ass, weird-ass obsession shopping on one of my only days off? Go fuck yourself.”
“Come onnnn,” said Mort. “He needs someone to take him around. Show him the ropes.”
“Okay—get him a tour guide. Why are you asking me? In case you haven’t noticed, he and I kind of hate each other.”
Mort shrugged this off. “He hates everything.”
“You’re kidding!” Ari gasped. “Now I’m super excited to spend the day with him!
Mort crossed his arms, but a playful grin danced across his face. “Now Ari, is this any way to talk to your number one corporate sponsor?”
“Are you still my number one? Because I didn’t remember signing up for someone that leaves me stuck taking whatever horny, bottom-feeding Senator has nothing better to do out on a weekend night.”
“Aw, Ari. Don’t be mad,” Mort said, beginning to saunter closer. “I didn’t know you were going to miss me so much.”
“I never get a chance to miss you. I’m too busy cleaning up after you.”
Mort came up from behind her, his warmth hitting her back like a revved up engine. The fingers of one hand began tracing over her shoulder and neck, feeling along the lines of her clavicle and throat with insistent curiosity. She was suddenly reminded of the fact she was naked under her satiny robe.
She humphed and tipped her face away.
Mort leaned down to pout at her in the mirror. “I really am sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to get me back my album reveal or erase the all-nighter I had to pull with that ancient, groping—”
“Shh,” Mort shushed, brushing a thumb over her lips and the rest of his hand under her jaw. “Come on. Let’s make up.”
“Uh-uh, no you don’t,” Ari said, soaring out of the chair to turn and float above him, eyes full of fire. “I don’t need to make up for anything. I am not the one that messed up. I am not the one always asking for last minute favors! I am not the one that agreed to this event months ago! I’m not the one who stood me up because you’d rather sit around slobbering over some uninterested, uncharted nobody who—”
“But he’s a—” Mort stopped and tapped a finger against his teeth. “He’s a virgin! On IA!”
Ari squinted in suspicion. Mort didn’t usually get nervous about things involving Avarians. He’d definitely been about to say something else, but it wasn’t worth arguing over. If he didn’t want to tell her, nothing she could say would make him. “That’s not good enough! Now either you’re going to promise to never do this again, or…the next time you call, I’m going to be busy for the next five years!”
“Okay, okay.” Mort held up his hands, his eyes making clear he was loving every second of her fiery show of force. “I was going to offer you this extra touring stipend to make up for last night,” he said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a thin black packet, “but if you’re really that angry with me, I should probably just go…” Putting it back, he turned towards the door.
“Don’t you dare!” said Ari. Dropping fast, she pushed the larger Malforian into the nearest chair to straddle him and begin digging through his pockets. “I knew you wouldn’t come in here empty-handed.”
Mort laughed as the tiny blonde continued flipping through the half a dozen pockets on his left side before starting in on the other. It occurred to her he’d likely chosen the outfit on purpose to mess with her.
“Mm, have you checked the front of the pants? I think there might be something interesting there.”
Ari looked up at him with a sly grin. “No, that’s a whole other endowment I need to take care of.”
“Want to take care of it first?”
Ari stopped searching, an easy smile coming over her face. “I thought you’d be tired from all your virgin drooling last night.”
“Who, him? No, I only saw him for a second last night. Like I said, he hates everything. Which is why I need someone wonderful, sparkly, and beautiful like you,” he said, poking her on the nose. “To show both of us a little love.”
Ari rolled her eyes. “You really want me to take him shopping?”
“Just for a few hours while I go take care of a couple of things. Show him the sights, spend some money, talk about how great life on IA is.” Sitting up, he adjusted to a more comfortable position in the chair. “It’ll fly by. Next thing you know, you two will be best of friends.”
“I don’t know that I want to be best friends with someone that hates everything.”
“It’ll be fine,” Mort said, reaching down to pull open her robe. “Just don’t lose him.”