[This story is part 1 of 3 the Playground 51 miniseries, but each can be read in any order. The three stories overlap, so be sure to check out the others as well!]
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Swarms of muscular, naked bodies writhed on the floor, everyone connected by hands, mouths, or genitals like some kind of pornographic polymer of people, looking from overhead not terribly unlike the multimolecular structures Lane worked to create in their lab. Lane cringed a bit at this daunting sea of nude people in the midst of a massive orgy. How was Lane supposed to enjoy any part of this?
The fact that it was all in Lane's head did not make a whole lot of difference. They would prefer a much more intimate setting in which to enact their fantasies. Regardless, Lane had basically been coerced into checking out the new Playground 51, but imagined it would not be their cup of tea.
"We're here!" The cheerful voice next to Lane in the taxi belonged to their coworker, Priya. Priya had been to The Playground before, as people who went there regularly called it, and she loved it. "I can't wait 'til you see! You're going to have a bunch of fun." She was practically bouncing in her seat as the driver pulled to a stop in front of a big, gray building that looked a bit like a warehouse.
"That's what you keep saying," Lane rolled their aqua-blue eyes and chuckled. "I'm committing to fifteen minutes and then I'll make my way to the exit." Their deeper voice always surprised new people, coming from such a small-framed person.
"Alright, alright, you do you, I guess!" Priya barely waited for Lane to scoot out of the back seat of the taxi before clomping up the walkway to the entrance where a broad-shouldered security guard stood waiting. Why Priya insisted on wearing heels and a dress to what amounted to a sex party, Lane couldn't understand.
After their IDs were checked and personal items were stowed, Lane and Priya made their way through the second set of doors at the other end of the dimly lit entry room. They could hear electronic dance music coming through from inside. Pushing the heavy doors aside, they were struck by the sight of colorful, moving lights in an otherwise dark room. It looked like a rave mixed with a museum, with a large sculpture of a white rabbit taller than Lane sitting on a platform in the front room. Lane had to assume it was white, anyway, as lights from the floor threw dancing colors onto it from all angles, making it appear as a cunicular kaleidoscope.
The walls were all black, but there were pieces of psychedelic-looking pop art across them, and the vibe was far from boring. Through the undulating bands of light coming from the ceiling, Lane could see that there were various bars and other rooms coming off the main one, each of which had different lighting and perhaps decor, from what they could see. The building also had very tall ceilings and a good circulatory system, Lane noticed, sensing the lack of dank sex smell they had anticipated.
"Let's go get a drink!" Priya, always energetic and bubbly, was ready to have a good time. She grabbed Lane's hand and tugged them along toward the large, oval bar in the center of the room. Now that the two had gone further into the building, they could see everything better in the semi-darkness, and realized there were a lot of people moving around, coming and going from the bar, or sitting and chatting, but only about half of them were clothed. The other half were wearing anything from business-casual attire to lingerie, and not one of them seemed to bat an eye at the difference.
"Hey, there, what can I get for you two?" The bartender, smartly dressed in dark slacks and a button-up white shirt that glowed under the black lights, had made it back around to that side of the bar.
"I would love a Harvey Bedbanger, please," said Priya, pointing at a pink menu in front of her.
"What's that supposed to be?" Lane chortled at the play on the classic drink title.
The bartender answered. "This menu is our specialty non-alcoholic drink list. We use natural nootropic stimulants and various other ingredients to enhance your experience here without the potential detriment of alcohol." He was somehow already mixing the drink in a shaker, breaking no sweat to give his spiel and make cocktails at the same time. "The Bedbanger here is made with CoQ10 and guarana, a bit of caffeine, and our proprietary blend. Other than that, it's just orange juice and a cherry on top."
The bartender poured the mixture over ice, added a black straw and a maraschino cherry, and placed it in front of Priya. Seeing Lane's sideways look, he gave a little wink and said, "our blend is completely legal, of course."
"Interesting," Lane responded. "I guess I'll just get a... Clothing Libre?" They winced at the terrible name, but it seemed like something on the list they could stomach.
Within a couple minutes and drinks in hand, the two were back to wandering the large hall. They peered into each room as they passed, deciding which one to go in first.
"It's in the water, in the lube, and makes up the surface of every fuckable object here."
Lane jerked their head to look for the source of that sentence. It was one of the staff members explaining a feature of Playground 51 to a curious customer. That feature happened to be Lane's own invention, a polymer created originally for safer medical products.
It was Lane's turn to yank Priya's arm. They pulled her into the nearest room and out of sight of the door.
"I can't figure out your issue," Priya laughed, but with a hint of admonishment. "You should be excited about how well your creation is doing - it's a revolution! It's -"
"It's embarrassing," Lane interjected. "They had to put me on the cover of Time and THEN turn it into a sex product?"
"Having more uses doesn't make it a bad thing, Lane! Safer sex is a big deal to some people."
"No, I get it... I do, but I don't want to go down in history as 'sex-toy-boi' or something... no... NO!" Lane gave Priya a playful punch on the arm, seeing her expression.
Priya busted out laughing while holding her arm in mock-pain. "Come on, that's actually a great name! I want to see Sex-Toy-Boi in the history books one day!"
Lane rolled their eyes so hard they almost hurt.
"Anyway, I assume that's why work sent you to check it out for yourself. It's time to be proud of something you've accomplished... in all its glory," said Priya with a sideways smile at Lane. "Oooh, what is this room you pulled me into?" Again distracted by her surroundings, the brown-skinned beauty bounced off further into the room.
Lane had to turn around to see what the room actually contained. For the first time, they recognized the sounds of cheering and arcade game sounds. Looking around, they saw that the room was set up like a typical arcade, with similar-looking games, but there was something distinctly different about them. Roughly ten feet ahead, they heard Priya exclaim, "Oh HELL yeah!"
When they finally caught up with Priya, she was standing amidst a group of several other people watching something with great interest. Lane, being on the shorter side, had to peer over the shoulders of someone ahead to see. There was a girl. Riding a bull.
Well, it was a mechanical bull, over the soft mat platform it sat on, but she appeared to be holding on with dear life. The girl had long, blonde hair that covered her whole back. At least, it would, if it wasn't moving all over the place as she jerked around on the bull, and it was possible to see that she wore nothing but a tiny dress, pulled up to the top of her hips.
As Lane watched, they came to realize the girl was not only riding the bull but a jet-black dildo that appeared and reappeared as she bounced with each mechanical movement of the bull. Her eyes were shut tightly and her mouth was hanging open in ecstasy. The saddle of the bull appeared slick with liquid, which was currently streaming out of the girl's pussy and onto the bull. Was she possibly about to cum? If Lane was interrogated, they would have had to admit that this was pretty fucking hot.
Suddenly, a buzzer went off and the bull came to a halt, mid-lurch. The blonde had to grab the bull's neck to avoid flying off completely.
Before Lane could ask what was going on, a club employee dressed like a referee yelled, "TIME!" and pointed up at the clock. According to the large blue digital timer on the back wall, three minutes was the limit on this bull-riding game. Just three minutes to see if you could cum or not. The crowd watched as the girl slowly dismounted and shakily walked back out of the ring. She sheepishly grinned at some friends, and went off with them toward another game in the arcade.
Lane looked to see where they were heading to. They were about to ask Priya if she knew what the other games were all about when they realized she wasn't nearby anymore. After a moment of scanning the small crowd, Lane realized, with a jolt of horror, that Priya was standing next to the referee. She was already completely naked and handing him her black mini-dress, getting ready to ride the bull.
Oh, God. Lane hadn't come here to watch their coworker get off in front of a crowd of strangers. Lane almost walked off, but stopped. Maybe it would be interesting to just see how the whole thing got started, since they missed it before. For research purposes and such.
To their surprise, Lane did find something interesting. No one bothered to clean off the bull whatsoever between riders. It must have been a testimony to the trust everyone put in the substance that shared surfaces were made of here. Not that Lane doubted it in the least, being that they were the creator and had seen firsthand, at the microscopic level, what it could do.