Quaranteam: Remote Work Ch. 19

The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.

For those of you who don’t know by now, all bands I cite are real. This includes Sabaton and Dragonforce this chapter.

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Chapter 19: Statistics

9 October 2020

Things settled into something of a rhythm over the next couple of weeks. At least as much as they could. Callie and Esther kept up their remote work. So did Shannon, though hers was a lot more entertaining. As for Allison and Kaipo? Well, they were looking for opportunities, but in the meantime…

“This feels a bit unorthodox,” Adam said as he shifted himself into position, face down.

Kaipo had a small folding table set up next to the table Adam was on, and was getting various things arranged on it. Massage oils, a candle, a couple of hand towels, that kind of thing. “I’ve done this ten thousand times, Adam, and as I recall you have enjoyed the last two or three. You being nude for it lets me work more easily.” She lit the candle then walked over to the light switch in the living room, turned it off, and came back. The result, along with the soft music she played from her phone, wasn’t precisely the same ambiance one might expect from a professional, but it was close enough.

Adam adjusted himself again. The table he was lying on was, at heart, a fairly cheap plastic one that had been modified for comfort by Kaipo with Allison’s assistance. They’d done a good job, too, the cushions and raised sections let him lie flat face-down without suffocating. “The nudity wasn’t quite what I was talking about.”

Adam wasn’t the only one nude in the room, either. Kaipo was as well, saying it was more comfortable for her any time she could. Good thing, too, since the first thing to change about her had been her height. When she arrived, getting a decent position to apply pressure to Adam’s back without climbing up onto the table with him would have been a challenge. Now? She had gained over four inches in the two weeks she’d been here, and could simply lean over slightly. She began to gradually give the warmup pressure to several points on his back that she knew could often use it. “Then what’s the issue?”

His response was slowed by the radiating sensations coming from his back as she started to get into it. There are many kinds of massage, he’d learned, but the one she was trained in was meant for resorts. Sure, it helped relieve stress and pain, limber up muscles, promote blood flow, and all of those good things. The big thing, though? They felt GOOD. Customers didn’t come to her for a painful healing kind of process. They came to be blissed out under her hands for up to an hour at a time. Kaipo was, as it turned out, quite a professional. As Adam panted in pleasure, he tried to speak. “I… ah…”

“I think he means me, actually.” The voice that interjected came from beneath the table. Allison was down there, admiring a small but fiddly piece of handiwork she’d insisted on installing when they modified the table. Near the center was a small cutaway a couple of square inches in size, the edges thoroughly smoothed. This cutout was the perfect size to allow one particular penis to hang down when its owner was lying face-down on the table, which put it in position to be swallowed by a woman waiting beneath. Like, for example, Allison. It should be noted that her customers also came to her to get blissed out for up to an hour at a time, and she was also quite a professional.

Adam found himself sandwiched. Intense pleasure was coming down on him from above while equally intense pleasure was coming up at him from below. There he was, stuck in the middle, and he probably couldn’t have escaped if he wanted to. Not that he wanted to. Over the course of the next minute or two, both of them turned their efforts up. Even with the amount of sex he had been getting for the last four months of his life, there was no way he could last against that. His body clenched up, and he erupted down into Allison’s waiting mouth with both power and duration he had almost never experienced.

It took a while for him to stop, but once he did the equally-nude Allison crawled out from under the table, rose to her feet, and gave Kaipo a giant kiss… which included sharing the cum she still had in her mouth. Although Adam often felt that the powerful orgasm his cum triggered in the women was cheating the effort and attention, he had to admit that this was, to use the technical term, absurdly hot. Allison had to half-hold Kaipo up through it, though the latter’s screams were muffled by Allison’s lips locked on hers.

After Kaipo managed to settle down with a much broader smile of her own, she turned to get back to work on Adam. “You are much less tense for this part of things. Such a shock. Must be my magic hands from the first half.”

“That was certainly a part of it, yes.”

Kaipo focused in. “Okay, since the surface tension is mostly taken care of, time to dig a bit deeper. Tell me if it’s too much, but I will need to press a bit harder to get into it.” He made a sound that was approximately affirmation, she took a moment to find a spot along his spine that had been a bit stubborn before as Allison wandered off. She nodded, confirming it, then pressed in deep.

The resulting crack was shockingly loud, echoing through the living room like someone had just punched their way through a pine board.

Adam’s body jerked in shock as he let out a surprised yelp, then flopped limply on the table. Kaipo jerked back like she’d touched a red-hot pan. “Adam! Are you okay?”

He nodded a bit into the pillow. “Uh. Wow. Okay, one sec. I feel kind of boneless, but everything seems to be working.” His fingers and toes all wiggled. “What the heck was that? It felt like every vertebrae in my spine shook itself loose for a second there. You never did that one before.”

“I… um, I didn’t mean to do that!”

There was a sound of scrambling feet, and into the room charged Esther. Her lined face was noticeably less so and her movements much smoother than they once had been, making the bathrobe she was wearing flow like the cape of a superhero. “Is everyone alright? I heard a crack from across the apartment.” She walked over to give them a look.

Adam, still on the table and unmoving besides breathing, replied. “All good, Esther. Massage just got more intense than expected.”

“Kaipo, care to explain?”

The Hawaiian woman looked a bit sheepish. “I did the same thing I usually do! He was tense along his spine between the shoulder blades, so I was applying some deeper pressure. I’m no chiropractor, I never try to pop vertebrae.”

The doctor immediately turned to start checking her primary charge. “Bah, chiropractors. I have dealt with too much of the fallout from bad ones to trust any of them. Let me see here… C2… 3… 4… 5… you said between the shoulder blades?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. I do not feel any damage in the area or the surroundings. Adam, move your neck for me.”

He did so, turning his head to look her way. “It seems to be working, Esther.”

“Good.” She looked over at Kaipo. “It looks like you are doing more growing than just vertical. Flex for me.”

Kaipo obeyed the command immediately, curling one bicep. The muscle there obediently stood out as if carved from marble. Nobody in the room was more surprised by this than her.

Esther nodded. “As soon as you are done here, I will need you to step on a scale. The calibrated one next to my room, please, I have a feeling this is going to be important. Then make sure to put more proteins on the grocery list.” Any further discussion was interrupted by a sudden and violent half-cough, half-retching sound coming from the nearby bathroom. Esther’s head sharply turned towards it as she thought quickly. “Allison. I had best go check on her.” She half-ran towards the noise, bathrobe flowing behind her.

Adam started to get up from the table. “I think the relaxing part is done. Do you know anything about this?”

“The growth or Allison?”

“Either.” He started pulling on his underwear and pants.

“Neither.”

“Figured.”

It was around the time Adam was helping Kaipo pick up the sheets and cushions that Allison came back into the living room, looking a bit worse for wear but wearing a bathrobe of her own now. “Hey, guys. Sorry about the noise.”

Adam guided her over to one of the chairs. “Sit down. Can you tell us what happened?”

Allison sat down, frowning. “I don’t know. I was over in your room, chatting with Shannon about that cute girl who just sent her another picture. Started coughing out of nowhere. That turned to choking, and next thing I know I’m bent over a toilet hacking up a lung. The wobbly one in your bathroom we haven’t fixed yet.”

“That didn’t sound like just coughing, you sure you’re alright?” Kaipo sounded like her concern was a bit more than you might otherwise expect.

“I didn’t say it was just coughing. Ten seconds later I’m spitting up unholy amounts of gunk in colors I’d rather not describe. Breathing easier than I can ever remember since then, though.”

“And I will forgive you eventually for making me dip samples out of a toilet. That day is just not today.” Esther was standing at the edge of the room, having come in during Allison’s description of events. She was holding several sample vials that included substances in varying shades of green, brown, black, and red. “I haven’t seen samples like this since I last worked with cystic fibrosis patients who finally got onto the right medicine.”

“But I don’t have cystic fibrosis!”

Esther held up the vials. “Tell that to the samples. Or let the poor lab techs tell it to them after I bring these in.”

***

19 October 2020

Callie shocked everyone first thing in the morning. When the food came out at breakfast, she filled a plate and dug in for the first time in two months. She was also already wearing a sweater to the table. “Why is it so flipping cold in here?”

Kaipo replied “it isn’t.” Given the source, that particular statement could be taken to the bank. Kaipo had continued to grow, and was now around 5’7”. Tall enough that Adam was looking at her nearly evenly, and her muscles had remained strongly cut even in proportion to her slowly-broadening frame. Despite this, the Hawaiian had not quite gotten used to the icy bite in the Washington air outside.

Esther was the one to put it together first. “Callie. When you stepped on the scale this morning, what did you weigh?”

“One seventy-five, same as yesterday.” Her body under the sweater was a much sleeker thing than the one she’d arrived with. Neither her breasts nor hips had reduced in size, but most of the flab from around her belly and arms was gone. Everything had pulled in and firmed up, her skin had cleared, and nobody there missed that she was much more energetic and breathing easier than before. While her build wasn’t going to be mistaken for a supermodel any time soon, Adam rather enjoyed the effect.

Esther kept talking while he pondered. “Do me a favor and go take your temperature before we go too much further. I have a suspicion that it will confirm.”

Callie stood up from the table to head to a bathroom and get the thermometer there. Esther took the opportunity to lean across the table and snag a sausage from the platter. It didn’t take very long before Callie yelled “Ninety-eight point one” from the bathroom.

Esther nodded, chewing on a slice of toast along with her thoughts. Callie rejoined the party, and at her pointed look Esther swallowed her mouthful. “Your weight loss has frozen and the low-grade fever is gone. It appears that your course of changes is now complete. Congratulations, Callie.” The others around the table started clapping, Callie rolled her eyes, and everyone dug in again.

The routine was well-set by now. Dishes cleared and cleaned, personal cleanliness done (and Adam, having gone last, enjoyed about half a shower’s worth of hot water), it was time for the ladies to get to work. Allison and Kaipo headed out to get groceries, and wisely added a few extra items to stock up for the fact that Callie was actually eating. As for Shannon, it was a streaming day. She set up her VR rig, swapped out some batteries, got her camera on, and turned on her stream. It was still fun for Adam to be able to pull up the stream and compare the dancing purple tiger striking down blocks there to the eye-catching dark-skinned woman dancing around in reality.

He preferred reality, but it was cute that the owl she made for him was used as a “Give A Hoot” emote in the chat room. Callie’s red mule and Esther’s crane were also on the list, joined by Kaipo’s coconut crab and Allison’s bee. Shannon’s running commentary was always good for a smile as she greeted long-time viewers and first-timers alike. It was like she was a different person, really. The reclusive and somewhat shy person who had struggled to open up to Adam disappeared. She was the Purple Paw Princess, the outgoing and gregarious ruler of her little slice of the Internet, funny and flirty and engaging.

It was even more of a show than her intended audience would get.

Adam felt weights settle on the couch and looked over. Both Callie and Esther were there. “You two alright?”

Esther shrugged. “The system that directs telehealth appointments went down, technicians say that it’ll be an hour before it comes back up, so my break is a bit early.”

“The people at the office are having a retirement lunch for someone and I’ve done as much as I can without them for now, so there isn’t much I can do until they’re back… and knowing them, they won’t be back unless there’s a court date this afternoon. Might as well enjoy the show.” Callie wiggled a bit to settle into the couch, still not quite used to how her body worked. The Sabaton hoodie she had put on seemed to be helping with her sudden chills. “Hey, Princess, you got any better music?”

Adam saw Shannon smile, and knew the fun part was about to begin. “Alright, chat, I’m not sure if you all heard that but Redhoof is in the room with me and asked for a music change. You know what? I think I’ll give it to her. Now, you all know this is the only avatar I have, but for the next bit, she’s going to be playing rock and metal tracks. First up is going to be Resist And Bite. Everyone say hi!” And with that, she pulled off the headset, handed Callie the controllers, got her strapped in, and flopped onto the couch. It should be said that Callie was nowhere near as good at the game as someone who did it partially for a living, but she did manage to do decently.

Even if her commentary was less smooth and more along the lines of “I can’t believe I let her talk me into doing this on stream…” The chat room seemed to be eating it up, though.

Shannon’s deep breaths were doing fully-expected yet highly-fascinating things to her chest. “Not gonna lie, I needed the break. New songs just dropped and the track maps aren’t exactly easy.” Her voice was low enough that the mic wouldn’t pick her up.

Esther smirked. “Callie asks for better music and this is the best you have? Electronica, then metal?”

“Oh? And what do YOU consider to be good music?”

“Give me something meaningful! I want stories and thought in my lyrics.”

Shannon tilted her head, pointing an ear towards the songs playing. “Tell you what. I’m willing to bet you weren’t listening to this one, because it tells a whole story by itself. Next song is another example. Adam can judge. If you win, I’ll pick up a Broadway or ballad pack and play through it right now, on stream. If not, you play next. Either way, loser listens to the winner’s playlist tomorrow.”

“I will take that bet, and I do not make wagers I can lose.”

Shannon grinned, a fierce and feral showing of teeth much more like her online persona than herself. “You’d better start warming up, then.”

The music faded out as one track ended, the next came in strong with heavy drums and electric guitar. Then came the lyrics. “On a cold winter morning, in the time before the light, in flames of Death’s eternal reign, we ride towards the fight.”

Esther’s face soured as the heavy metal ballad of “Through the Fire and Flames” demonstrated that she could, in fact, make wagers she could lose.

Shannon smirked. “Go ahead and tell them Durumi is next!” It took a moment for Adam to remember that was what she called the crane character.

Callie sounded relieved when she did, Shannon adding that chat should go easy on her since she had only played it a couple of times before. It took some help getting her set up and on the right song (and difficulty), but Esther started flailing the controllers around. Callie flopped MUCH harder than Shannon had. “I definitely got my workout for the day. Not sure if I need a shower or a cigarette after that last song.”

“I did warn you a while back not to take sets that have DragonForce in them if you weren’t ready for the consequences.” Shannon giggled, but her eyes were glued to Esther as she reached to hit a few notes.

Both Adam and Callie noticed. Adam was the one who asked the question they were both thinking. “Shannon, why are you staring at her so hard?”

“I’ll tell you in about five minutes, once her song ends and I close the stream.”

The suspense was real. They were thankfully distracted momentarily by Kaipo and Allison getting back and needing some help putting groceries away. Kaipo was the one to look over at Esther. “Why is Esther the one in the headset, and why is it playing broadway music?”

Shannon smirked as she put away some frozen sausages. “She lost a bet, and is about to lose another one.”

“I’m not sure what I expected you to say, but that wasn’t it.”

Esther suddenly called out from the living room. “Alright! It is done. You had your fun, now help me get this thing off, please.”

Shannon helped her as the others finished putting away what they needed to, and before long everyone was gathered up in the living room again. This time with sandwiches, since it was in fact lunch time. Callie was the one to break the ice. “So, you said Esther lost two bets? Do tell.”

Esther’s eyes opened in a bit of a panic. “Just one! There is no need to add to it.”

“Oh, there were two. Let me explain. We’ll start with the obvious: I made a point that there are good stories in songs outside of what you usually listen to.”

“Yes, and that lost bet got me more exercise than I’ve done in the last three years.”

“Music? You have any Katy Perry or Brittany Spears?” Allison perked up.

“Or J-Pop?” Kaipo added, to which Esther winced.

Shannon saved her from having to respond. “And that leads me to bet number two. Everyone here knows you have been checking on the rest of us. Thing is, Callie and I noticed you haven’t been doing measurements on yourself as much, so I had to be sneaky.”

Adam started chuckling. “Oh, I think I get it. Esther had to stretch and move a lot to hit those goals, didn’t she?”

“Exactly” Shannon walked over to the armchair and sat in it like it was a throne. “There is no WAY the Esther of two months ago could have gotten past thirty seconds of those songs at that difficulty. Esther, it’s about time for you to admit it. You have not been telling us nearly the extent of things.”

Esther’s look, if looks could kill, would have resulted in Shannon needing her services as a doctor. Rapidly. “Fine. No, I have not been checking everything to the full extent that I should have been. Happy?”

“Not yet. Tell us what you’ve found!”

And then, Esther was on the spot. Everyone in the room was looking directly at her. “You realize that I am your doctor, right?”

“And that you took an oath to do no harm, so spill.”

“Fine.” She looked up to gather her thoughts, and the gesture made it evident just how much healing her body had been doing. Her skin was smooth, the wrinkles gone, her hair was straight and jet black. Though her build was still slender, almost every hint of sag had left it. “I’ve known that whatever is happening to me is taking years off of the wear my body has gone through. I suspect that it has also knocked off several years of actual biological age as well, though I do not know this for certain nor what it will mean if true.” She breathed out. “I am waiting for a telomere measurement lab to return, though that is not very precise as these things go. Either way, if the pattern holds, there will be two or three more weeks of this before the de-aging process stops. Will I return to how I was before, or will whatever it is keep me looking and feeling like this? Will I live longer, or is it just cosmetic? I do not know.”

There was a heavy silence around the circle as everyone considered these words. Shannon’s mouth in particular opened and closed a few times before she managed to speak. “I’m… sorry I forced that…”

“Do not be. It was overdue to come out.” She glanced at her phone’s calendar and did some mental math. “Now, since it has been almost a week and this process is having a predictable effect on my libido, I will need Adam’s assistance for the next half hour or so to test other possible changes.”

***

28 October 2020

“What a month!” Shannon and Adam were settling down in their room one evening, the day having gone like so many before it. Half trapped inactive, half frantically busy, everyone doing everything they could to make sure everyone else didn’t go batty while the family kept moving forward.

“No kidding. Kaipo’s taller than I am, now, and bench pressed ME for ten reps this morning. Callie’s still a rock-solid 175, Esther looks like she’s a model who just got out of the business, Allison’s even bouncier than before… I don’t know what to make of it.”

Shannon looked over from the computer, where she was working on one art project or another. “And yet you still make it work. Yes, you. The five of us would barely tolerate each other’s presence if not for you smoothing things over. The sex helps, but that isn’t everything.”

“Good to hear. There are days it can be hard to keep up.”

“First time I’ve heard you complain about it.”

“It wasn’t a complaint.” Adam coughed a bit. “I’m not exactly a young man, and Duo took a lot of the fight out of me, but it wasn’t a complaint. Speaking of sex, who’s that onscreen?”

Shannon blushed a bit. Onscreen was a picture of a remarkably cute and tattooed redhead, posed casually lying down on a bed. It is worth noting that the tattoos were the closest thing to clothes she was wearing. She looked freshly showered… and in the grips of an afterglow that could come only from Serum sex or a grand master of their craft. “Oh, uh, that’s DoodleFox. Jess, she’s been asking me to call her by her name in correspondence. In the UK.”

“No need to explain it too hard. I certainly don’t mind when you’re having threesomes with Allison and Kaipo, so why should I mind this?” Adam was smiling.

“I mean… she’s not in the family?”

“DoodleFox… oh, with the paintbrush? The one you drew buried in your cleavage?”

Shannon blushed harder. “Yeah, that’s her. Or was, it led to a lot of requests from others so she isn’t the only one I’ve drawn like that.”

“Shannon, if you two ever meet, you have my permission to do that to her in reality. And more if you’re feeling it. How do I put it… I know you’re mine and coming back to me, so why object to you having fun? Just one question, really.”

“What?”

“How did you end up doing… this?”

“Oh!” Shannon desperately tried to compose herself, clearly torn between embarrassment and horniness. “It kind of started with her sending me reference pictures of herself, then Allison pointed out that she was flirting, so I sent a picture in response, and they kind of escalated.”

“Just out of curiosity, can I see the last one you sent her?”

She pulled it up without hesitation, but then started blushing again. Hard. On the monitor was a picture of Shannon, alright. It caught her from about the nose down to the knees, reflecting a lascivious smirk, one hand spreading her pussy open, and between the two a clear focus on her enormous breasts. Given her pose, she had probably taken it herself, but given what she normally did, Adam was willing to bet that Allison had helped frame it. The picture made him go from relaxed to rock hard in seconds, and that was with the woman in question sitting right next to him.

She couldn’t seem to speak further, so Adam filled the gap. “Quite a picture. Artistic, even, and I’m pretty sure the intended emotion was conveyed.”

She smiled at his words. “Good to know.” She looked like she was about to say more, but a soft ping from the computer distracted her. “You’ve got mail.”

“Are you even old enough to make that reference?”

“What reference?”

Adam looked pained, like the words struck him in the soul. “Never mind that, does it say who it’s from?”

She clicked the notification. “Says it’s from a Metis Group. Want to take the seat?”

“Yes, please, I’ve been waiting to hear back from them.” They swapped spots and Adam pulled up the full email. “Dear Mr. Jeffries, we apologize for this response coming as late as it has, researching your qualifications took longer than expected given all circumstances. There are several openings in the US Pacific time zone for History, Civics, and Social Studies specialists. Therefore, we at Metis Group Education Services would like to formally extend our invitation for you to join our team as a Teacher/Tutor.”

“Oh, AJ, that’s wonderful! You can teach again!” Shannon stood and hugged him from behind, the chair getting slightly in the way. Neither really minded

“I… I can.” Adam’s face showed stunned disbelief, a tear of both joy and sorrow descending from one eye. “I will have students again. I can help make sure the ones who come after us know the mistakes of the past, and how not to repeat them.” He took a long, shuddering breath. Resolutely, he went to the website the email told him and entered his information. If he was going to be teaching students, he’d best have his own account in order. He had an example to set, after all.