Page 10 of Control

Clover tried to hide her nervous smile, but I could tell what she was thinking about. Every one that plays this game does, at least when they first start. Sex really is a huge part of the community and to try and ignore that is asinine. I’ve always looked at this game as more of a social gathering first, but there is no denying the strong sexual tone that is carried here and in well over half the rooms that users open. While there are relatively normal rooms such as Lunar and Vicious D, there are other rooms that make it very clear with their names what their purpose is. I knew Clover wanted to explore and I would rather she do it with me guiding her than some other unknown that may take advantage of her and her naiveté.

“Come on,” I said as I slid out from behind the table and pushed myself up and off of the bench. I thought of our waitress Alice and made sure to leave her a respectable tip for taking care of us. “I know you want to see them.”

“See what?” Clover asked, not wanting to admit what she was thinking.

“The sex rooms,” I said as I finished standing up, smoothing out my clothes as I did. “They’re all pretty different in size, scale, and type.”

“What?” Clover said, still not wanting to admit when I knew she wanted. “We’re going to a sex room?”

“Yeah. There are literally hundreds of them.”

“Oh, I didn’t wanna go to those. That’s kind of….”

“Scary?”

“What?”

“Clover,” I paused to give her a moment to think of what she wanted to say. “Dear, it’s OK to be curious. We’re all that way when we first get started here. It’s perfectly fine and nothing to be ashamed of.” Clover stood up from the table, her puppy dog eyes locked with mine. I followed her gaze as she moved around the table as I normally did with everyone I encountered. After a moment of intensity between us, she nervously looked away, choosing to break off her stare. I knew she wanted to say it. I just needed to hear it from her. I moved closer to her and reached out for her hand, taking it into my own. After a few seconds of nervous silence, she looked up to me.

“I do,” she said in a near whisper. Even with my music almost muted, I could still barely make out what she said so I used my HUD language enhancer to spell it out for me so I could visualize it.

“Are you sure?” I asked in a soft and caring tone. “It’s OK to say no here. We don’t have to do anything you won’t want to.” Clover stared at me with her piercing green eyes, looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t. “Clover, consent is a real thing here. Just like in the real world, if you don’t want to do something, you can say no and I won’t be upset. Some people might be if you reject them in some way, but not me. Regardless, it’s important that you are comfortable with any interaction you have here in Aurora. If something bothers you or if you’re in a situation that starts to feel wrong to you, it’s OK to say no or to just get up and leave. Your comfort and safety comes first, no matter what.” Clover digested my words and gave me a heartfelt smile, letting me know she understood what I was saying. “If you’re OK with it, I’ll take you to a fairly mild location. I don’t want to throw you in the deep end. Not yet anyway.” Clover let out a small laugh at my comment. I smiled at her, happy that she and I were beginning to understand each other. She nodded her head.

“I wanna go,” she said in a calm voice. “I’m gonna run into it at some point so why not. Let’s just go for it then.”

“OK,” I said while nodding my head at her. I brought up my HUD and shared it with Clover so she could see what I was doing, our pairing from earlier still in full effect. I filtered through all the various room types and sorted by room size and population. I wanted something fairly large in physical size, but not too busy so she wouldn’t get overwhelmed. After scrolling for a minute, I found a room I’d been to before but not in the last few months. I used to have clients and friends that liked it because it was more risqué than your average club or bar, but not a full on sex room. “I think I know which one will work for you.” I looked over to Clover once more. “Remember, if it’s too much for you, just say the word and I’ll get us out of there.” Clover nodded her head while letting out a deep breath. I watched her for a moment more to make sure she was ready, looking into her eyes and watching her facial expressions to ensure she was mentally ready for what she was about to see. Once I saw that she was, I selected the room and took her by the hand to try and save her from the dizziness I knew she would feel from the jump.

CHAPTER 6 - FIRST KISS

THE ROOM I chose for Clover was called The Lover’s Lounge, a smaller, but well known haunt for those looking for a human connection but aren’t beyond a casual hook up. As we spawned in, I could see that the place was the same as I’d remembered it. There was no dance floor beyond a small hardwood section placed in the corner where a handful of couples could get in a slow dance if they wanted. The lights were kept low and the windows were covered by the drawn, blackout curtains almost all the time. There were several tables as well as couches and loveseats, almost all occupied by the various people that had managed to find someone to help fill the void in their life, at least for the rest of the night.

While spawning into a room is silent, people still take notice of you as you enter, almost as if you’d walked in through a bar door and a few patrons sipping on their drinks had turned to see who was coming in. I stepped out in front of Clover to partially shield her for a moment while I took in all that was happening. I was still holding her hand, knowing there was a chance the dizziness was still potential a problem. After looking around, I could see that there were several couple in various stages of undress and at least four of them were currently engaged in coitus. I turned back to look at Clover and saw that she’d managed to shake off the dizzy spell from our teleport.

“Here we are,” I said to her in a low voice, pulling her beside me by her hand so she could have a look at the room. After a few seconds, I heard her lightly gasp as she realized what was happening. Her eyes grew as large as dinner plates and I could feel her grip on my hand tighten. “This is The Lover’s Lounge. It’s owned by a player named Polyopoly. He’s had it for the past year or so. Fairly popular place for those looking for a little fun without getting overly indulgent.”

“Wow,” Clover said almost under her breath. She looked around, her eyes bouncing back and forth across the room and taking notice of the couples having sex, locking onto them. She could not stop staring. “So this is a sex room.”

“Quite tame,” I said as I glanced over to her, seeing her completely enchanted with what she was seeing. “But yes. It’s technically a sex room.” She was staring at a couple maybe 15 feet from us on a loveseat having sex. She quickly became entranced, her mouth slightly agape. I was convinced it was the first time in her life she’d seen two other people having sex at all, much less in public. I couldn’t help but smirk. “These kinds of places are common. They’re all over the game world. Just need to build a decent room, set it up, fix up the lighting, pipe in some music, and give it an alluring name.” She was still staring at the same couple. “Taking a shine to them, I see.” She snapped her gaze away from them and back to me.

“Oh,” she said, realizing she’d been staring at them for a good 30 seconds. “I was just…umm…I didn’t mean to stare.” I felt myself smirking again.

“It’s ok if you do,” I said, looking over to the couple that was deep in the throes of passion. Either that or they were both just really horny. “When people have sex like this in a public room, they generally want or at least don’t mind if people watch. That’s part of the thrill for them.”

“Is it?” Clover asked as she began watching the couple with me.

“Exhibitionists,” I said as she and I looked on. “It’s a common kink for a lot of people around here as far as I know. It’s something most people partake in at some point in their adventures here in Aurora. That’s part of the reason rooms like this exist. Sure, you can meet someone and have them back to your place for sex, but there’s always that little extra thrill you can get when you know someone is watching you.”

“So you’ve done this?” Clover continued to stare as she spoke.

“Many, many times.”

“Did you like it?”

“Sure. It’s kind of fun really. To be having sex with someone and then you look over across the room and make eye contact with someone who’s been watching you, looking over your body, seeing someone with their hands on you; gives you a small adrenaline rush. Because at that point, assuming the sex isn’t awful, you’re already feeling good and then you add that extra something and it makes it that much better.”

“I don’t know if I could ever do this,” Clover said, her eyes still glued to the couple. “I mean…you can see…everything! It’s like there’s no secrets anymore. It’s all out there for anyone to look at.” I could feel her hand squeezing mine even tighter.

“I think I’m seeing you develop your first kink,” I said which caused her to turn her head to me in an instant. “What you and I are doing right now? It’s voyeurism. Pretty much means you derive some sort of pleasure from watching people either engaging in sex or simply just looking at them while nude. Here it generally means you like watching people have sex though.” Clover stared at me for a moment as the realization hit her. She looked back to the two people she’d been watching and tilted her head slightly as if trying to get a better angle. I couldn’t blamed her though. They were a beautiful couple and it looked more like they were making love than just merely having casual sex. “You like watching…and that’s OK.” Clover nodded her head, the loving couple squarely her focus.

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