The virgin & the bad boy (Gravity)

Chapter 55/Buda and Pest

"Well we have to be sure of terms. How do we know that if the pictures and movies have gone then they won't resurface later?" '

"You don't. You have to trust me." said Zhickararie "When I get what I want I generally stop."

Did I believe him? About as much as I would believed Ronald Bentham was a sane individual, and keeping two cats would make kittens appear spontaneously from the air.

"Right then. Yell if your keeping there is something you should know about the artwork. You see I went to see Casey and when I told him about you, he agreed to make a special commission. What makes this artwork special is that the cameras not only play the images of what they see back but record it. Think of it as fifty little web cams."

Zhickararie sat up to this one like someone had injected his veins with ice. Kentro handed me a digital tablet.

"I, well Kentro at first, suspected that you would take the picture and put it on display. The cameras on the iPhones aren't sentient but they are smart enough to dig through your network and phone home. We've been recording everything you've been up to for the past month. I couldn't be bothered to watch you but Kentro put together this mix tape."

I started the movie off on the pad and handed it over to him.

"I see It's not just sex you get up to on this sofa" I said. "well boy on girl sex any way. I'm not sure what your fathers would approve to what you get up to when your on your own. I'm not sure what the robot-formally-known-as-artist would think of your use of his banana artwork, it would certainly lower it's resale price. One careful if rather vigourus owner right? I'm still impressed you could do it and not break the plinth it's on. Any way Kentro watched the stream in all it's casual mundaneness. You don't mind if a robot see's all your stuff do you? After all Google or Hotmail read all your mail on their servers to sell you stuff and no one minds them do they? So currently I know very little of what you did in this flat and what Kentro did tell me if you want all of your dads to know about 'project Rosa' they you would be even less comfortable than Io was on that very piece of furniture."

Zhickararie looked like someone had filled his pants with Piri Piri sauce and just introduced a very Hungry lion called Ripper into the room.

"She consented to everything she did" said Zhickararie.

"I'm no lawyer but I could play one on television. " I started, I walked over and sat on the arm of Zhickararie's sofa "Io didn't know what she was consenting to, any way you certainly consented to everything you did to your self. This is all rather irrelevant, the chances of these playing are about as high as another season of Firefly.. We are taking our - my - artwork back, I'm not expecting any complaints and I'm expecting certain videos never to be published because if they do then you will find it a link next it saying 'people who liked this video also really really had a very long laugh at this one'."

"Plus there was one frame from your tape where you had this really dope look on your face." Dante started " I thought I would turn it into an oil painting, big enough to fill that wall over there and give it to you as a present for Christmas, that's after I exhibit it at college."

"You can't blackmail me" said Zhickararie.

"It's not black mail, revenge porn isn't illegal in Bud or Pest" remember.

"Plus we promise not to mention Project Rosa" said Dante.

"We don't mention Project Rosa" I said.

"Quite, I didn't mention Project Rosa" said Dante.

Zhickararie then cracked, he professed he was never actually going to publish the sex tapes, it was just a joke. He made up some other lies, but who cared? I was fairly sure he was smart enough to believe us and not self destructive enough to go 'oh fuck it' and do it any way. On the way out I told him he could keep the costumes he had got for Io to were after all I knew they fitted him.

I couldn't help but smiling smugly on the way to London to return Casey's loan picture.

"You can be really evil you know that?" said Dante with the 'special' Casey Young under his arm.

"I know" I said smirking "but it's his own fault for watching porn on the big screen."

"So what is Project Rosa" said Dante as we passed under the meditrainin going to London.

"No idea, Kentro has laws about how much into someone's privacy even a sum bag like Zhickararie, he can dig and tell people i.e. us. We are free to watch the hours of tapes and find out our selves. All I know is it's enough to get Don Kipperbatch on Zhickararie's back if he find out. To be honest I was freaked by the compilation tape I'm not sure I want to see that man's life in stain detail."

"It did have the quality of watching a car crash on the other side of the high way all rubbed in baby oil" said Dante.

"Thanks for coming" I said.

Dante was silent for a minute "I was there for Io. Not you."

****

/Casey Young Studio/London

Dante went his own way and Kentro and I arrived at Casey's studio to find him waiting with Io. Casey was sitting next to Io on a sofa.

"How did it go?" said Casey.

"How did it come back?" said Io.

"Yeh it went well I don't think Zhickararie would be bothering Io again" I said sitting down to Casey "I can't thank you enough for the special piece."

Io looked at Casey's eyes.

"You want hot girl friend like me?" Io said to him slightly tilting her head.

"Io, I know you have just lost your boy friend but...." I started.

Io looked at me confused. "Havn't lost boyfriend. I know exactly were he is. Just don't like him any more."

I started again "Io I know you no longer have a boyfriend but you don't have to go propositioning every boy you meet again with that line until you get one." I said.

"I don't, this time Io want to" said Io

Casey nodded slightly and had the faint hint of an assured smile.

"Yeh sure" said Casey.

"Right answer" said Io.

"You don't have any metal bananas around?" I said.

"No" said Casey "why is your robot hungry?"

"No I'm just checking" I said.