Transformation Results pre round 1: Part 1 Sollutions and Master

Syl walked up to the cast who had been frozen since the last time and looked at the camera. “Hello, ladies, gentlemen, gentlewomen, lads, lassos and anything in between. As you may have noticed, we had to re-edit last week's episode to fix polling issues. Still, a significant portion of the people voted in the original post. However, we were unable to see the ranked results. In our behind-the-scenes episode, we asked you to give us your feedback on this issue. The results are going to be determined by using the external polling, and if there is a tie, it will be broken by the integrated poll. I will throw all of you lovely people who voted in the integrated poll a bone. I will add a second carry-over transformation for the first place if it doesn’t match either the first or second place of the external polling.

Secondly, we had a poll about our head editor -for fuck sake, why would I let a fey do bean counting and poll results, Sybil.” Syl muttered under her breath. “Albert has a poll of his own for his punishment as overseer of putting in a functional poll and failing to do so twice.” The hostess waved, and the portly gnome in a dress-shirt, blue vest, dress-pants and a red pointy hat made his way over next to her with a step stool so he could be in frame. “The people caused a tie between ‘you don't deserve punishment’ and ‘you becoming a contestant’. Yeah, I have a veto here. You won’t get punished THIS time, let it be a warning. I overreacted the first time… The second one was on you. Some other notable punishments which we will definitely keep on hand for Albert are:

• His name becomes the last one used to address him. And it can no longer start with any letter in Alberto.
• Each day, each contestant gets one dart. The first person to hit Alberto with their dart (it disappears if they miss) will randomly give him one of their TFs for the day.”

Syl gave a little bow with a small grin, looking over the options she had displayed.

“For the curious, Chip-of-the-Boulder-at-the-Foot-of-an-old-Hill is our head bean counter. They have been doing this work forever. I do wish elementals picked shorter names in human tongues, but that is what you get if you have specific niche words for specific formations of your element.

Thank you all for participating. In fact, I had so much fun, I will say this. If you have fan mail, please send it. Be aware that video messages will not be accepted simply because it is no fun watching on a small screen when you are roughing it. Same reason we have no peep feed for the master of the harem. The other notes I have are: NO SPOILERS, and we will get to them when we receive them. I will have any gifts you send their way checked by one of our ‘trap-disarming’ goblins and or gremlins. Whoever decides they need a distraction first from the monotony of their job.”

As the elf in a ranger uniform ended, she gestured towards Alberto, who had to get his two cents in. “First, it is AL-BER-TO. Second, thank you all for letting me keep my name.” He bowed deeply with tears in his eyes. Afterwards, he left the audience and the hostess with nothing more.

The boss of this operation decided to unfreeze Chris first. “Here you go. Have a look, pick if you need to use your veto or not.” Chris read through all of them and decided he did need to use his veto and engaged in a conversation with Syl about the wording, deliberately obscuring the discussion from the audience.

After the contestants had been unfrozen, the elf continued. “Did you enjoy that look behind the curtain over the last week?”

Ryan raised a hand and was allowed to ask his question. “A week it has been barely a moment, and last we saw you, you were cursing up a storm.”

“And all of that is fixed, don’t worry. We have our wonderful results, but yes, a week has passed for our audience. Do you think time is linear? Well, for starters, I thought your planet knew of general relativity. Not that that matters because it is magic that froze you in time. I have no idea how it works. I understand elemental magic. It is stupidly simple, you ask them to do something, and they do it if they like you.” The hostess told her captive audience. “Now on to the main event, our transformations. Are you guys ready for it?” The elf paused, hoping for a response, but got none. “Well, let’s start with the master. You got ‘Friend of nature’. How do you feel about it?” She said with a wave as the transformation started to affect Chris. The wave also placed a text box in view.

Friend of nature: The master has been kind to the world around him and has tried to improve it where he could. The spirits of nature decide to bestow a gift upon him, expanding his senses.

The outgoing ecologist blinked; his sight had changed, and he was surrounded by spirits? No, what he saw would better describe something closer to elementals, beings of pure natural energy. One looked like a cloud holding up something that could be mistaken for a microphone if you squinted. Another looked like a small fire, holding an object, pointing at him. It was also where Syl had spoken when addressing the audience. “Sooo, I can see elementals now? Is that fire one holding the camera? Do you guys understand me?” He fired in rapid succession, and the ball of fire started crackling louder in a rhythm. Was it speaking to him? But he didn’t know the language.

Syl broke in. “Sweety, he doesn’t understand or speak your language. Good that you learned his though, good on you, but Ember-from-an-acidental-forge-that-made-a-masterpiece, he still can’t understand you. So to answer your questions, Master. Yes, you can see elementals, yes, the fire one is holding the camera, and yes, they can understand the human tongue, just not speak it. Before you ask, elementals tend to name themselves things related to their birth and in their tongue, it is quite simple.” She made a short crackle. “See not the mouthful humans have to make of it because you don’t have the niche word for it.”

“Is there a way I can learn it?”

“Let me check. I am surprised it isn’t included, to be honest. It isn’t much of a boon without it.” Syl turned around and answered in the blink of an eye; she must have frozen them again. “They agreed it was an oversight, so I will be adding that now.” With a soft pull on his ear, he felt different.

“So you can understand me now?” The little ember asked.

“Yes, I do, Ember,” Chris replied.

Panic shot into the hostess’s eyes. “Hold! Before you reply, Ember-from-an-acidental-forge-that-made-a-masterpiece, know that if you accept that nickname he gave you, you might be bound to him. You will be connected to his soul like all of the contestants, irrevocably, until he dies. That will mean that you will be fair game for the show. It won’t consider you a contestant just yet, but… I suspect by the end of the round it will. I have not got enough experience with this to say this for certain, but… yeah.” The hostess said, leaving the space for the two to continue.

“I understand, Lady Syl. I understand the risks. I don’t mind being bound to the master. He is kind, and even if he doesn’t know how to work a grill properly, he does know how to cook. I was born from one such mistake. Sure, master, I accept the name Ember. It would be an honour to be addressed as such.” Ember replied to the conundrum.

“How would that even work with an elemental in my harem? Why would that work, especially a fire one? Why is no one asking for my opinion on this situation?” The master spoke, befuddled.

“I know Tyalangan has Scarlet, who was turned into an oread, a fire nymph, not exactly the same, but close enough for the example. Elementals can control their heat and their shape as they gain power. There could also just be a transformation that could help bridge the gap. There can be many solutions. If any hosts have additional info, please, I would love input. I am out of my depth here. Until you join the show as a contestant, you are still working for me, so continue shooting.” Taking a deep sigh, the hostess decided to move on again, not replying to any questions of the master’s consent.

“Before I forget in the commotion, the winner of the integrated poll was ‘Listen to the man’, which was second in the external one. So only one carries over."