John opened the door for his girlfriend, who gave him a smile, a wink, and the view of her fantastic ass swinging seductively as she walked into the room. Following her quickly, he closed the door behind himself. The reporter was sitting on one of the many chairs. Like all of the rooms dedicated to meetings on this floor, the aesthetic was burgundy red, ebony and crystal glass. Since it was one of the smaller ones, it only contained one tall closet, a table, four chairs and a couch.

When Karla looked up and was greeted by a nude and clean Rave raising her hand and saying, “Ya asked for me?” the reporter’s first reaction was to blush and blink repeatedly for two seconds. The Lightbearer paid no mind to that, and sat down in the chair opposite to Karla. John made his way to the couch. Standing behind her would have given the meeting a needlessly aggressive air and he wasn’t sure he could keep his hands to himself if he sat down next to his girlfriend. “Don’t be shy now, ya got this far,” Rave teased.

Karla cleared her throat. “Shyness is not the emotion I’m feeling right now,” she clarified and reached over the table. “Karla Keens, pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Shaking the offered hand, Rave said, “Likewise.”

“If you don’t mind, I would like to know why you decided to come naked, before we start with the actual business,” the reporter ran a hand over her carefully styled hair, once she was seated again. Her eyes continued to look all over Rave’s upper body. It was the gesture of a woman that knew she was thoroughly outclassed in the looks department and it was also the gesture of someone who wanted to look good in front of a person they admired. “Rumour has it that you are rather exhibitionistic. Is that the reason?”

“Nah,” the gorgeous pink-haired half-Asian waved off, “I mean, I am exhibitionistic, but I ain’t getting off just because a reporter sees me. Ya visited me in my home and I didn’t feel like putting clothes on for you.” Shrugging, Rave added, “A home is a woman’s place to be free. Down with the yoke of clothing. Right, tiger?”

“Absolutely right,” John responded with a grin. Sure, he was acting against that statement at the moment, with his suit pants and shirt covering most of him, but that was just a minor contradiction.

“Not like I got anything to hide either.” Rave smirked and leaned back.

“Great confidence and great looks, yes, you’re definitely icon material!” Karla declared and got both Rave and John to raise an eyebrow. “I guess I should start up slowly… the American Abyssal’s Weekly is a newspaper founded about two months ago. We’ve made it our goal to become Fusion’s most well-known, homegrown, dedicated and national newspaper.”

John was aware of that much. Since founding the media arm of the executive branch of government, he had been getting regular updates and a registry of active news companies. Most Abyssal information networks operated globally and had outposts at several places. They had arisen, for the most part, from organizations that sold non-specialized information on the Abyss Auction and had eventually grown to something that closely resembled their mundane counterparts.

However, these differing origins meant that most news organizations in the Abyss were globally oriented, reporting on outstanding developments anywhere in the world. This was the biggest difference to mundane news, which were generally focused around local affairs and added only the hottest topic of the globe. This reversal in nature also had some other effects, such as Abyssal news usually coming with a gimmick – such as being half news and half fucking hot catgirls – in order to make their reports stand out from the rest. They were also almost universally subscription based, since very few places in the Abyss had the necessary centralization to fund a news network.

Because of all of these factors, John was quite eager to see home networks grow. He had been briefly considering a central television network, but in the age of the internet, that seemed like investing into a dying genre. If he did create a centralized system, it would be something like YouTube.

Rave wasn’t aware of any of that and just nodded. “Okay, so ya want an interview because that would sell or what?”

“Yes, but also more than that. Are you aware of the two jobs of the press?”

“Ya mean informing people and being dirty smear merchants?” Rave asked in a joking tone.

“In the industry we call it editorializing,” Karla responded with a little laugh. “The press has to report facts, but it also has to decide which facts to present and in what way. Of course, that then enters the realm of opinion pieces.”

“Ya say ya have to, but do you? Do you really?” Rave wanted to know.

“To the same extent that police has to exist, yes,” Karla stated. “Think about it, what would happen to a nation that didn’t enforce its laws through, as the word says, force? Another faction that is willing to apply violence will come along and supplant the current authority. That’s not me making a moral argument, that’s just fact. To the same end, a nation that doesn’t have a press that editorializes its content towards a narrative will eventually be invaded by a press that does put a spin on things. At that point the ‘honest’ journalists will have to run a counternarrative, which is editorialization in and of itself. The best you can ever get, in terms of honesty, is a panel with a clear structure, separating truth and opinion.”

Rave looked over to her boyfriend, who nodded. So far all of that sounded correct. A bit aggrandizing towards the press, but correct regardless. The media did wield the power to shape perception of reality and it was important for the cohesion of a nation that certain things were agreed on. Whether that was the holiness of the pope, the power of capitalism or the greatness of waffles, a nation was better off with a central narrative.

“So ya want to shape Fusion’s culture?” Rave asked, grasping onto these things much quicker than she would have a year ago. Saying his girlfriend had been a stupid person would have never been accurate, but she had been quite lacking in education about social structures. She made up for that by actually getting social interactions, something that John had a decisive deficit in before meeting her. They had learned quite a few things from each other.

“We want to do our duty as the press and provide a hopeful ideal that the people of Fusion can strive towards,” Karla put it in more propagandistic terms. “Since Fusion is the creation of your boyfriend and you are involved in many philanthropic projects, it only makes sense that the ideal woman would be you. I’m here, as a representative of the American Abyssal’s Weekly women’s magazine, in order to ask for the opportunity that we may make you into an icon.”

‘You’re aware she leads my harem of cute and sexy girls, yeah?’ John thought, but spared himself bringing up the point. All he would get would be confused glances. Both of these women had grown up in the Abyss, what was wrong or ridiculous about that state of affairs didn’t even cross their minds. Granted, harems and particularly harems of his size weren’t commonplace in the Abyss, but they were certainly more accepted and regularly seen than they were in the human world.

“So, you’d make me the general role model for the women of Fusion?” Rave asked.

“That depends entirely on how often you want to appear in our magazine or other programs,” Karla pointed out, conveniently skipping on the idea that Rave could go to other publishers. “And we wouldn’t try to advertise you as a role model. The goal isn’t to convince people to follow the same path as you, the goal would be to make sure your way of life is appreciated. The former might follow from the latter, but it’s not what we aim at from the outset. We’d also like interviews with the other women of John’s harem,” she respectfully nodded in his direction, “and give them similar treatments. Our ‘ruling family’ should be part of the cultural fabric of the Federation.”

“I guess I can see where you’re coming from…” Rave paused and hummed thoughtfully. “Could ya leave the room for a bit, I wanna talk this over with my boyfriend.”

“Of course,” Karla said with a wide smile, displaying openly how pleased she was with herself to have gotten this far. “I’ll be waiting outside the door, if that works for you?”

“As long as ya close it.” Rave said that as a joke, but to John that was an important detail. The room was properly soundproofed to a degree it took Eliza-level superhuman hearing to know what was happening inside. Once the reporter was outside, the Lightbearer took her round bubble butt off the seat of her chair and strutted over to John.

John welcomed her in his lap and held her tightly. Their lips found each other in a kiss that lasted for as long as it took his right hand to travel down her side and between her legs. “Look at that, you really didn’t get excited about being seen naked,” he teased her.

“I told ya,” Rave returned.

“Technically you told her.” He used his head to point at the closed door.

“Factually you’re a smartass, brainiac,” Rave returned swiftly. “Exhib is a bonus to sex for me, its not something I’d do on its own. I ain’t some creep in a trench coat.”

“You couldn’t be a creep in a trench coat if you tried. Nobody would call the police because an incredibly sexy woman was going around showing her naked body to people. People only discriminate against male and ugly people’s nudeness.”

“Wanna bet that other women would call the cops on me, while only other men would call the cops on you?” Rave asked.

“Hmm, might just be ugly people nudeness then,” John conceded. “Anyway, the offer, do you want to take it?”

“I don’t see a reason to not at least try it.” Rave scratched him behind the ear. It felt incredible in ways his own fingers would never have managed to achieve. Compared to hers, his hands felt almost wooden in their movements. That was despite the Gamer knowing very well that his Agility was far above average. “I’m a public person,” she continued, “de-facto First Lady of Fusion, or whatever; I guess it makes sense to have at least somewhat of a media presence.”

“It definitely makes sense, yeah,” John nodded, his lips almost touching the skin of her neck. “Scarlett and I were talking about me upping my media presence earlier. It’d make sense for all of us to get a bit more public with our personas. She overstated the role of the media a bit, but it is true that news has an important role in shaping the culture. If Fusion is to last, we need a few topics everyone is involved in. Whether they like us or not, everyone has some interest in how and what we are doing. We rule over them, after all.”

“Would make sense for me to take the charge of us girls there. I was on your most popular interviews.” She cheekily nibbled on his earlobe. “I guarantee they were mostly watching for me,” she whispered.

“We’ll see if you’re still that popular with clothes on and when I’m not fucking you silly.” John lightly slapped her jiggly ass and she gave him a satisfying gasp in response. “You should know that Scarlett and I want to drop a couple bombshells on the media over the weekend. Where my scar comes from and her true identity, for the most part.”

“Oh, that is finally happening?” Rave asked and pulled back from his ear. With a move of her head, she made her pink mane fly over her shoulder as a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. “Want me to get involved with that? Like, if I give an interview right now, I can drop a few teases here and there. If I then appear on some actual programs, I’d probably be asked about that stuff too, ja?”

“You and your ‘Ja’,” John giggled.

“No mocking my speaking habits, we went over this!”

“And I never agreed to any of it,” the Gamer pointed out. “Anyway, that’s all your call. If you want to try and become more public, you’ll doubtlessly get asked about things I do all the time. That’s just natural given the power dynamic between us two.”

“Ya mean the pinky and the brain?” She tapped his forehead.

John laughed out loud and his girlfriend quickly joined. Not because she was laughing at her own joke, presumably, but because she heard him laugh. John could only assume that was the reason, as her jovial tones prolonged his own joy. “You’ve been keeping that one for a while, haven’t you?”

“Nope, all spontaneous Rave action,” his girlfriend insisted. “Anyway, I get it. You’re the president and I’m… well, I’m the First Lady. Kinda hitched my wagon to yours there.”

“We’re getting hitched, alright,” John promised her. “Just give it time.”

“We better.” Rave grinned. “Anyway, ya trust me, right?”

“Until the very last star fades in the sky,” John promised.

“Didn’t know tigers were known for eating corn, but there ya go, being corny like that.” She tried to deliver that line as drily as possible, but the growing smile made that near impossible. “Alright, Imma give Karla here an interview right now and we’ll see what comes of that. You’re going to start the bombshell releases today?”

“I’ll talk more about our strategy with Scarlett later, so tomorrow at the earliest,” John told her. “We want to put out all the dirt and then do a bunch of nice things.”

“Good thing ya have me doing all of the nice girl work then,” Rave told him. “I’m sure I can start some more beneficial projects with our private funds. Make for good PR, I get to do something productive and the people get happier. Everyone wins, right?”