One: Tentacles

The asphalt leapt up and hit her in the face. Or seemed to. She lay there, stunned, one myopic eye staring at a pebble now grown to boulder size by its proximity, her glasses tossed somewhere off to the left.

Narrow-eyed scowl. Growl. "Fuck." She pried her face out of the grit, and brushed the grit out of her face, gathering up her red rubber coated rope tentacles, to lurch to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Roberta asked her, skittering over from the back lot.

"Yeah." Tish spit out a lock of hair from the lavendar wig that had gotten into her mouth. "Damn ankles."

Roberta helped her rerrange the tentacles that had come unwrapped from around her legs. "Ooooh, sexy! I like."

Tish looked up at her, surprised and pleased. "I should have guessed you were my kinda freak."

"Like in the hentai. Yeah, I know the look." Smile.

Inside, it was far too dark and strobey to make much out of other people's costumes. The music was an enveloping rhythmic change of air pressure, some whump-chish whump-chish whump-chish re-hash of the latest mega-pop-star's current persona. Ugh, thought Tish. Fuck Clear Channel and the RIAA and the strangulation of all that is creative and interesting. Fuck pureed baby food consumeristic mind control cra--

"Hi!" shouted a face in the gloom. She thought it was Dan but couldn't really be sure until he got closer. "Wow! Great costume!" He then asked her something, but she couldn't make it out.

"What?"

He leaned in closer, "What's it from? 'Alien?'"

"Yes, it IS an alien!"

"What?

"I said YES! It IS an alien!"

"IS IT FROM THE MOVIE 'ALIEN'?!"

"OH! No." She shook her head in case he didn't get that. "NO, IT'S FROM MY OWN PERVERSE IMAGINATION!" She smiled sweetly. Dan didn't seem to know how to take that; he looked stunned. But he recovered himself.

"DRINK?"

"YEAH!"

"WHAT KIND?"

"ANYTHING!" Her voice was going out on her. She shimmied through the crowd after him to the bar where he gestured at a couple of just-freed stools, then rearranged her tentacles to keep them from getting tripped over. The stuffed mask of an alien head strapped to her body grinned up at her, all fangs and oral tissue, hot pink hair trailing down from the back of its head to hide the masking tape bundle of its tentacle roots. She smiled at it fondly. "You love me, don't you?" she murmured, "You writhing mass of tentacular eroticism." Her monster kept its silence.

"Welcome to Nowhere." Tish unlocked the door, and an orange furball shot out of the house and between her legs to join the shadows of the outdoors. The house was not completely quiet. A hubub of voices came from behind the closed door to the downstairs bedroom, and some sci-fi noises drifted in from the living room. She led her guest that way.

"Hi guys, this is Dan." Several silhouetted heads mumbled something greeting-like and resumed staring at a laser battle between a golden hulled breast shaped space cruiser and swarms of tiny craft. She turned and glanced an invitation at him on her way to the stairs.

"This is a pretty nice house."

"I think so. We have nine people living here. It's like family. I like that a lot."

"Wow, nine." They made their way up the hardwood stairs. "But you don't get any privacy that way do you?"

"Sure we do. Everybody gets their own bedroom, except whoever just chooses to pair up. Most have their own bathrooms. A little bit of sharing, but not so very much."

"But what about when you want a snack in the middle of the night? You have to get dressed for that?"

"Well, in this house, that kind of thing really doesn't matter. We're pretty clothing optional. Oh, guess I should have warned you about that beforehand." She smiled guiltily and gathered her tentacles more closely about her, tying not to trip. "I can't wait to get this thing off."

His hand slid around the bare small of her back. "I can't wait to get it off you." Mutual exchange of leering looks.

She opened the door on a world of black and red. Lush and wicked - those were the words she had in mind when she put this place together. Scarlet carpeting, wrought iron, black lacquered wood, dim reddish lighting. Silver fixtures. Pillows and cushions.

The central piece of art was a huge anime-style print of an innocent faced, blue haired schoolgirl (past puberty, according to the features from the neck down) being savaged by a throbbing mass of red tentacles and fangs. Glistening droplets dripped and beaded all over every surface of monster and victim. Her mouth, and other orifices, were stuffed with cock-like flesh. Tish loved it.

Dan stood stone still, his eyes big round Os. He took in the room and its contents before fixing his gaze on the art, whereupon all the color left his face, and his mouth fell open.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, casting him a sidelong look.

"I ... eeee ... need to go. I ... forgot something." He turned and fled, but his shadow was passed by another, and Roberta appeared in the doorway.

"Who was that?"

"That was Dan."

"Are you terrorizing the norms again?"

Tish sighed. "Apparently so."

"Nice print." Indicating the focal point of the room. "Where'd you get it?"

"The Internet. Where else?"

"You know, you really oughta stick with me. I understand you." Roberta was fondling with one of the tentacles, bending it into a spiral.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm not a lesbian. Gotta have the cock."

"I've got several in my room," said Roberta, with a wicked grin.

Tish grinned right back at her. "Not the same."

"Well, at least I can get you by until you find the right cock."

"Maybe so."

Roberta began peeling off the tentacle that was spiralling a cone around Tish's breast. "Oh, I know so."