Chapter 97

"Hey Nel," I said, before leaning in to kiss my busty elf porn star girlfriend. "Hey El." I gave a kiss to the porn star's familiar, before scooping her up in my arms and stealing her seat, letting the now-blushing coveralls-wearing elf sit in my lap. "Hey Indoleth. No kisses for you, sorry, Nel said she'd beat me up if I kept doing that."

"I did," Nel said, nodding.

"Um, Roxy?" El asked.

"Should I put you down?" I asked.

"Please don't," she said immediately. "I just... um... may I ask why?"

"Because you're my girlfriend, and I feel like I don't give you enough attention," I said. "So, I'm going to correct that deficit, one display of affection at a time."

"...So I guess you're still mad about Sandy, huh?" Indoleth asked, ignoring me and El in favor of her sister.

"I absolutely am," Nel said, nodding.

"Sandy?" I asked.

"My first girlfriend," Nel said. "I walked in on her and Indy making out- Sandy said she didn't know I had a twin, and thought it was me, but... well, I was never sure, y'know?"

"Ahhhh," I said, nodding in understanding.

"In my defense," Indoleth- or 'Indy,' according to her sister- "we have pretty much the exact same taste in women, and also it was really funny."

"Anyhow," Nel said. "What's up, Roxy? What brings you to visit us?"

"Wanted to chat, spend time with y'all," I said. "Y'know, 'cause I like you, or some junk like that. What were y'all talking about before I walked in?"

"I was losing an argument with my sister about politics," Indy said dryly. "It's been a fairly long-running one, too."

"Oh?" I asked. "What were you arguing about?"

"I won my argument with the case studies of the Red Forest, circa this time last year, and Purpleheart City, right now," Nel said. "Purpleheart City has no particular laws or policies that specifically favor betas, whereas the Red Forest is almost exclusively populated by betas, yet here in Purpleheart City, the average beta enjoys way more personal freedom and a higher quality of life than the average beta did in the Red Forest last year."

"Which leads to Nel's conclusion that, while beta-targeting oppression is real and is a problem- after all, Purpleheart's population of the poor and desperate fleeing the rest of Dorn in hopes of a better life is two thirds betas by population- it's still a totally valid political strategy to focus on other problems over beta specific problems," Indy said, folding her arms.

"That's one potential takeaway, sure," I said, nodding. "However, I feel like that understanding is... shall we say, dangerously incomplete. It's true that, in the big picture, oppression and control are oppression and control everywhere you look; The Powers That Be take advantage of, and sometimes even fabricate, hierarchies and divides among the populace, to keep the people struggling against each other for scraps of power and status, and allowing The Powers That Be to continue Being Powers. Just as the alpha asserts herself as the patriarch of her household, so to does the king assert herself as the patriarch of her kingdom.

"However, it is also the case that these discriminatory biases get into the cultural groundwater and poison us all, often without us even realizing it. A woman can be whole-heartedly dedicated to the freedom of all peoples from oppression, while still carrying negative attitudes about specific oppressed groups that they don't realize are coloring their thinking, and if we're to actually rid ourselves of these toxic thought patterns, we do have to actually focus on the specific biases and work intentionally to rid ourselves of them.

"For a look at that, consider instead the Red Forest right now against Purpleheart City right now. Over in the Red Forest, with the recent repealing of mandatory child-production quotas, the average beta citizen is either a volunteer in the army- who chose to be there, with the attendant limited personal freedom- or is free to do whatever the hell she wants, including 'enjoy her life without ever having to have kids.' Here in Purpleheart City, though, many beta citizens still live under the control of their paterfamilias, from whom they will inherit nothing, and who will never give them their blessing to marry and start their own family. Now, legally, there's nothing stopping that beta from simply walking away from her family and moving into a new apartment on her own, finding a nice girlfriend, and starting a family without her family's blessing, but culturally... A lot of people simply can't walk out on their families like that, even if, on paper, it is an option. The poison is in the well, and it takes a concerted effort to get it out.

"So... Overall, I do think it's important to do stuff that'll improve everyone's lives without doing that much about customary hierarchies of oppression, but I also think it's important to do stuff that'll specifically improve the lives of the oppressed by attempting to dismantle systems of oppression, which wouldn't go away on their own, and simply become more tolerable when life for everyone improves."

I exhaled.

"But, I mean, that's just me," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'm not super well-grounded in the theory, unfortunately."

"Eh, it's not bad," Indy said, shrugging. "At the very least, you've convinced me that, to the extent you might have bad opinions about betas, you don't realize it and don't want to, and will gently accept correction."

"Also," Nel added, "you've convinced me that you understand that replicating the exact same social structures, just with betas in charge instead of alphas, wouldn't really fix anything."

"That was ten years ago," Indy complained.

"So was you making out with my girlfriend," Nel said with a shrug. "Sucks to be a shitty 15 year old, doesn't it?"

"God, am I glad none of my family live on this planet," I said, sighing.

"And how come she doesn't get yelled at for kissing your familiar?" Indy demanded, pointing at El.

"Don't include me, please," El pleaded.

"I don't get yelled at for fucking her familiar," I added.

"Not helping," El added, shooting me a distressed look.

"I mean, I've also fucked my familiar," Nel said, shrugging. "El and Roxy aren't my sisters, they're my girlfriends, and if they wanna have a go at each other, that's fine by me, as long as I get the same courtesy. Also, sometimes I like to watch."

El simply covered her face with her hands.

"Oh yeah, like that time with Nicky and Akane, where you got sucked off by a busty princess while I plowed El into a busty omega," I said, nodding. "Remember that, El? Remember that time Akane and I double-teamed you for the first time?"

El nodded wordlessly, face still covered.

"It sucks that the prevailing schools of thought back home would decry me as a traitor for wishing that was me," Indy said. "Also, obviously: I wish that was me."

"You can make your own polycule," I said. "When we go to the Red Forest at the end of the week, you'll have no trouble at all finding a bunch of sexy wood elves willing to pin you down and fuck you until you see god, and then roll over and wait for you to return the favor."

"There'll even be a sexy princess waiting there for you," Nel added.

"That's right, Annie is already there," I said, nodding. "I'm very confident she'll suck you off if you suggest the possibility that you won't stop her."

Indy snorted and rolled her eyes.

"See? Not so bad after all."

"The thing is," Indy said, "I don't want just a human and a bunch of wood elves, you know? I want variety, like you've got."

"...So, four Familiar Slot Unlocks and some non-elf monstergirls to fill them?" I suggested.

"If... you're willing to part with those..."

"I have effectively unlimited resources," I said, shrugging. "I won't even notice they're gone. Pick whatever monstergirls you want- even the four legendaries, I don't care."

"...I'll have to think about it," Indy said. "I've met your kitsune, Lisa, and she is very, very appealing, but I have to admit... unless my dragon can be particularly domineering, I don't think I'm that interested, and neither angels nor demons particularly call out to me. But... what to replace them with..."

"A cowgirl, maybe, if you'd like a fatter girl to be your Akane analogue?" I suggested. "Oh, a bunnygirl could be good, too. Catgirls, doggirls, beegirls... you name it, I've either got it right now or I can get it in a heartbeat."

"Hrm..."

"I like how much thought you feel the need to put into this," Nel remarked.

"Yes, it is silly, isn't it?" Indy asked. "It's not like I'm deciding on long-term life partners right now."

"You know, you could just take the kitsune and the dragon now, and then decide on the other two later, maybe with the input of your new long-term life partners," I suggested.

"Mm, point," Indy said. "To be honest... part of me is tempted to mirror my sister and take a Vlandish elf for my familiar, but..."

"But you don't want a guaranteed elf girlfriend, because you'll already get those when you get to the Red Forest," El said.

"Precisely," Indy said, nodding. "Well, then, I suppose my choice is made. The kitsune and the dragon now, please."

"That... will have to wait until I can bring myself to get back up and leave the room," I said. "After all, I've got an elf in my lap."

"I can- oh, you don't want me to go," El said, as I tightened my arms around her. "Apologies, Indoleth. I'm afraid Roxy insists."

For my part, I simply grinned.