Chapter 13: Recruit House
"Welcome home," said Tad.
"Easy there," said Ellie. The door carvings had sent prickles up her spine. Tad gave his usual bark of a laugh.
He opened the doors and stepped aside for Hannah and Ellie to enter.
The interior was unlike the Reset housing Ellie had been shown. The sprawling floor was made not of wood planks, but of ornate rust-colored ceramic tile glazed with royal blue floral detailing.
A massive stone fireplace accented the rear wall in the center, flanked by gargantuan pane glass windows installed symmetrically on either side. Sunlight streamed through these enormous windows. They offered a spectacular view of the mountains, lake, and village beyond. The craggy peaks were mirrored in crystal clarity in the water below. Previously-toured clusters of log buildings wound charmingly downhill toward the lake shore, framed perfectly in the view. Between the windows on either side of the fireplace stood tall bookshelves stocked with volumes new and old, paper and hardback, thick and thin.
Three doors led off of the room: two of these were on either side of the foyer/kitchenette. Ellie guessed these led to the two-story wings she observed outside. The third door was set further down the wall on the right, next to the righthand-most bookshelf.
Inside this sprawling living space, several clusters of furniture -- multi-colored couches, lounge chairs, poufs, and bean bags -- occupied the space. They were perhaps procured from secondhand stores; mismatched, but tastefully arranged.
Ellie was taken aback to notice that the walls were decorated with graphically erotic paintings.
On the right-hand wall hung a large horizontal image of a nude woman -- faceless, sprawled on her back in ecstasy, arms pulled behind her head -- accepting the erect cock of an equally faceless lover who held her hips tightly against his pelvis with strong hands. His fingers pressed indents in her flesh.
Ellie liked this one.
The left-hand wall offered a collage of extremely provocative artworks displayed in several different frames. An erect member --the sole subject of this painting -- leaked cum down the length of its own shaft, painted in high-contrast technicolor reminiscent of an Andy Warhol; In another frame, a close-up of a shimmering tongue caressing a hard nipple. Still another frame featured a frank and unapologetic headlong display of a vulva leaking semen. A more abstract work -- done in simplistic, swirling avant-garde lines -- represented a sort of X-ray view of a penis embedded deep in a vagina, its head nestling against a wanting cervix.
"Goddamn." The only word Ellie had to offer. Then she found two more: "Not subtle."
"The artwork inspires, that's for sure," said Hannah. "It's best for the project that you're in the mood as often as possible." She swigged the last of her bottle of breast milk and chucked it into a bin under the counter of the kitchenette.
Tad was busying himself in the kitchenette to the left of the door. He was filling a ceramic cup at a stainless steel sink, another touch distinctly more modern that what Ellie had seen elsewhere. "I need to hydrate after the climb. May I offer you some water, Ellie?"
"Yes, please," said Ellie, still taking in the overt sexuality of the space. Tad nodded and filled a second cup for her.
A person emerged from a door on the left. It was Riley. She was completely naked.
Ellie gawked, but conditioning up to this point made her less inclined to hide it. Riley sported a modestly pregnant tummy on her short, chubby frame. The lower half of it was decorated with a spider web of shiny stretch marks from previous gestations. Her smaller-than-average tits perched proudly on top of her roundness with boldly dark, quarter-sized areolas. An unruly dark bush peeked out playfully beneath her belly. Riley's thick brown head of hair, released from its bun, was long and damp. She had clearly just bathed and had pushed her hair over one shoulder. It draped over her front, just low enough to flirtatiously stick to one of her nipples.
"Oh! What's up, y'all?" said Riley. "Liking the tour so far, Miss Googly Eyes?" She grinned at Ellie and pivoted her lower half to expose an ample ass. Riley winked at her over her shoulder.
Ellie wasn't sure how to respond. As delicious as Riley was to behold, Ellie was too distracted by her ostentatious surroundings to fixate.
Do I like the tour so far?
Yes, if she was being honest. But in a way that was deeply conflicting.
The experience could best be described as discovering a new fetish; like encountering a concept that you didn't realize was intriguing until you were faced with it head-on. Ellie was in the phase where she wasn't sure if the idea seemed appealing enough to confront full-scope, or to merely relegate to brief visits in her fantasies.
One of the more compelling factors was the warmth of it all... sexually and otherwise.
She hadn't yet met anyone she didn't like. Tad was a little much, but overall people seemed to navigate their surroundings with a certain glowing benevolence. She'd met and seen a multitude of children who possessed remarkably advanced intellect and perception for their ages. They seemed happy, well cared for, and in touch with the reality (?) of their situation. The recruits, for their part, appeared to work and nurture dutifully and laboriously in the interest of these remarkable children with, despite theoretical doom, a free-spirited aura that surprised Ellie.
And now she was receiving at least a partial explanation of their care-free demeanor. These people party. This living room looked conducive to an orgy.
"Because the recruits have agreed to a burden that does not offer the longevity Resets enjoy," Tad said, handing Ellie her water, "we allow ourselves some minor creature comforts. You will not find televisions or swimming pools, but we designed this space with perhaps a bit more flourish than the Reset housing. You will find that they agree our limited days justify these small upgrades."
"Do people have sex in here?" Asked Ellie, ignoring the dark comment. "Just, like... in front of everybody?"
"If they wish, yes," said Tad, "though Resets are not allowed in here. This is our space. A retreat after long days of hard work in service of those who own the future of our species."
Lighten up on the doomsday stuff, bud.
So far, Riley was the only person she'd seen in the building outside the touring group. She must have been enjoying downtime between flights. As Tad spoke, Riley strolled her naked self over to one of the bookshelves, selected a paperback volume, and sprawled onto a couch.
"Riley, did you bring my suitcase up?" asked Hannah.
"Yeah, it's on your bed," said Riley. Her legs were splayed on the couch. She was now casually stroking her pussy, book propped in one hand.
"Thanks," said Hannah. She turned to Ellie. "Will you be okay with Tad for a little while? I want to unpack and then go feed some babies. I'll meet you back at dinner?"
"S... sure," said Ellie, sipping her water and gazing at Riley's casual public masturbation.
In the merry old land of Oz.
