LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 52: Party Planning
"Yeah!" Delphi let out a cheer of excitement and fist-pumped the air at the important milestone. "We're in girls," she called down the ladder to them all. "It's game on!"
She climbed through the doorway. Ahead of her, there was a small vestibule with another locked door.
This one was more straightforward with a simple keypad lock that operated a mechanical opening mechanism. She plugged in the code Consort Cheales had given her, and the second door opened just as Feifei and Lili entered the vestibule behind her. She looked back at them both with a huge smile of delight.
The three girls hugged each other and jumped up and down with joy, turning in a circle like little children. As the rest of the girls climbed across the gap and tumbled inside, they all joined the laughing, jumping circle of Guerilla Girls.
When they had calmed down enough to continue on, Delphi poked her head around the corner. There was a complex-looking control room.
The consorts had trained the girls on this technology, so they all knew how to do their jobs from here.
"Alright, let's get to work," said Delphi. "We need to get this place operational as quickly as possible so we're ready for the guards when they get here tonight. I'm going to brief you on the plan and your jobs for this evening. We haven't got long. Pull up a chair."
They all grabbed chairs from the control console and dragged them in a circle together for the briefing.
"The framework for tonight was laid out by the consorts before we left. We're freestyling a bit, but only where they gave us leeway based on how the journey over here played out." Delphi drew a deep breath, "so the plan tonight is, we're having a big party. It's going to be the party to end all parties."
"Woo hoo!" Lili cheered. "Best. Plan. Ever!"
"Let me finish before you get too excited. Though if anyone's going to enjoy tonight it will definitely be you, Lili."
Delphi shook her head with affectionate wonder at the crazy girl.
"We'll be leaving the doors open for the guards and hiding the dragons. We'll have electricity. So we're going to have pre-War music pumping."
"Oh my God!!" Arrie leapt from her chair with excitement and did a little sexy happy dance.
She loved music and dancing, and rarely got to hear anything other than classical recitals at the palace. The few snippets of rock, jazz and pop music from before the War that she had caught wind of at the Salamanca markets, had filled her with curiosity and a fever-pitch of creative energy.
She tousled Winter's hair furiously.
"Hey Arrie, what the heck?" asked Winter, smoothing her tangled hair back into place.
Lili laughed crazily and flung her arms back with enthusiasm, tipping her chair over backwards so that she landed on her ass on the floor.
The other girls laughed at her as they dragged the girl and her chair back upright.
"Well I'm glad to see you're all so excited by this part of the plan," said Delphi. "I hope you enjoy all of it, not just this first bit…"
She scratched her neck and looked away awkwardly. Some of this stuff was not glamorous and fun, it was sordid and bleak, and she didn't look forward to making girls like Feifei play their part.
She steeled herself for what had to be done for a cause that was much bigger than the eight of them. They all knew this. It was what they had signed up for.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat. "There'll be alcohol…"
Before she could continue, the cheers broke out again. This time it was from all seven of them.
Like all women, the girls hadn't been allowed to drink alcohol on the Island, so breaking this taboo was a rite of passage they saw as symbolic of the progress they were making for the cause.
"Yes," she smiled, "I know we're all looking forward to that. Although Loveday got there ahead of us and already tried some with Baer, before she knocked him out cold," she winked at her.
Lots of laughter and high fives for Loveday flew around the circle of women.
"There are cases and cases of muscat somewhere in this facility. The research says it should still be good for drinking. Everyone's to take it easy. No more than a couple of glasses," she warned them. "We need to be believable drunks, but not so addled we can't carry out the game plan."
"I can't wait to be a believable drunk," said Winter, covering her little mouth with her hand in glee.
"Winty, you're half the size of most of us except Arrie," said Delphi. "You two are going to have to be particularly careful drinking. Tolerance relates to body weight and genetics, and you both have low body weight and potentially a genetic heritage which increases the intensity of your reaction to alcohol."
"Do you have to take all of the fun out of drinking with science, Captain?" asked Arrie, pouting playfully.
"We can't afford to trip up tonight," Delphi reminded them. "The stakes are incredibly high."
The girls settled back down, listening seriously to their leader.
"The plan will be to lead them to us with the loud music. We'll be in the training ring, and there's a conveniently located balcony they can hide on overlooking it. We'll appear drunk, while we're actually tipsy. We'll be competing in a series of sexy wrestling matches."
"Yay! Sexy wrestling matches," shouted Lili, pumping her fists vigorously. "So cool!"
Delphi rolled her eyes. "The outcomes of the matches will be pre-determined, and the 'loser's' punishment is to undertake a sexy girl-on-girl hazing activity with the winner."
You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Delphi looked around the circle at their embarrassed red cheeks. No one could look her in the eye now.
"Well, that shut you all up. No, 'yay! sexy girl-on-girl hazing,' good times?"