Cold Ethics

"What do you mean by protect her from me?" Damien asked, frowning a bit as his eyes naturally roamed downward... He was certain there had to be magic at work there. There was just no way they could look that much bigger just from a simple outfit change...right? Obviously he knew things like push up bras existed, but what he was seeing couldn't simply be the result of something as mundane as physics. Could it?

"Ahem..." Crystal cleared her throat irritably, scowling at him. Damien quickly brought his eyes up to an appropriate level and opened his mouth to apologize. "I think that should be rather obvious. You are the focal point for this show, meaning everything my sister and I, and the others, do is centered around pleasing you for all intents and purposes. Take this for example..." Crystal said, gesturing to her body, which Damien had JUST managed to look away from... "In order to gain needed BP, I am tasked with performing the duties of a maid for your express benefit, and the amount of BP I earn from merely doing the job is pennies compared to doing it in some sex crazed outfit like this which you seem to be enjoying quite a lot." Crystal made the statement sound like an accusation.

"Now hold on," Damien retorted, his eyes focusing intently on Crystal's. "Yes, the outfits appeal to a certain part of my brain," as well as other parts of his anatomy, worked up by a certain redhaired cocktease, "I'd be a fool to deny that, but I have a more intellectual side as well that recognizes what you're going through. Surely you can respect that I wouldn't willingly put any of you through this, right?" Damien was hoping to get Crystal to soften up a bit, but she just rolled her eyes and continued to stare daggers at him.

"Obviously. You're as much a prisoner as any of us, even if you are getting the lion's share of the benefits. That much is plain to see for anyone, which is the whole point of this show. If the Master- ah..." Crystal's thighs clenched together and Damien hated that his hungry gaze plummeted down to them immediately. "If they weren't **** onto this show and made to participate at the point of a very large sword then they wouldn't garner the sympathy needed to incur favor with the audience. Imagine if Nymeera was the...focal point of a harem she assembled and confined against their wills. Anyone with basic empathy would revolt against such heinous greed, but if she's the enforcer that leaves the...you with clean hands. And that makes it so much more palatable for the audience, and you, to do whatever the hell you want to us because, well, it isn't your fault, right?" Crystal's eyes glittered menacingly, like steel daggers aiming for his heart.

"You're arguing that my moral agency is being corrupted, or perhaps degraded, by Nymeera simply with how the show is laid out?"

"You tell me, Profess-oh. Fuck..." Damien tried to ignore the erotic sounding gasp at the end there and thought through what Crystal was saying. She was right that if he had been the one to take all these women from their lives, transform and manipulate them into having sex with him he very likely wouldn't garner much, if any, sympathy from...well most people. But did Nymeera really think things through that much? When he spoke to her she seemed to be of the opinion that whatever she was doing was right, just because she COULD do it. Might makes right mentality... If what Crystal was saying was true, however, it would mean that her ethical ethos was a lot more complex than that... Which might mean she could be reasoned with.

"Nymeera strikes me as someone who doesn't particularly care about the ethical consequences of her actions, but I do agree that she seems to be taking into account the ethical obligations of her audience. People won't tune into things that disturb them if they don't have something to hold onto that helps them get through it. Sexual interest is certainly something that would do it, but emotional attachment and the idea of a competition are compelling too."

"It isn't just the audience," Crystal said coldly, still gazing at him with those icy blue eyes.

"Right, you mentioned that this show is structured to...'keep my hands clean.' People are far more likely to engage in behavior they believe to be immoral if they think they can get away with it, and if it causes some benefit for them."

"I'd say the benefits are pretty clearly laid out," Crystal smirked, sitting there in her skimpy little maid outfit. "But it's more than that. Nymeera, and this show, isn't just giving you a get out of jail free card to do whatever you want, they're instilling in you an ethical obligation to participate. You've already taken up writing transformations for us out of the obligation that whatever you do isn't going to be as bad as whatever Nymeera will come up with, but in order for that ethical statement to make any sense your transformations need to win AND not get vetoed. The veto is something Nymeera will do whenever she feels like it so it's hard to stop that, but the audience vote is hard to quantify and you probably have already noticed that sexualizing us tends to win more audience favor. So, all that said. Let's get to the reason why I'm here. What do you plan on giving Summer for her transformation path?"

Damien blinked, is that what she meant by protecting Summer from him? Seemed like a roundabout way to get to the point, but he had to admit that he hadn't thought about things nearly as deeply as Crystal seemed to. He wasn't blind, he noticed that Nymeera was trying to corrupt him, but Crystal's attention to detail was...almost obsessive.

"Excuse me. Spoilers?"

Suddenly Nymeera was beside them, smiling pleasantly in her barely functional stewardess outfit, waving a long, slender finger about chidingly. Crystal's eyes shot over to her sharply, but she relaxed and seemed to almost shrug off the intrusion. Which struck Damien as odd. "Honestly you girls need to learn a bit more about building to something. Anticipation is not a bad thing... Though that being said, while I'm sure the audience was positively glued to their seats during your ethics discussion, don't you have a date to get to...or a job to finish?" Nymeera arced an eyebrow in Crystal's direction, and the blonde maid gave the fox stewardess a big, **** grin.

"Oh of course. How silly of me. I didn't finish cleaning the spotless, barely lived in for one day room! What the fuck am I supposed to be cleaning anyway? And if you say his junk I'll smack you across the face god powers or no god powers!"

Nymeera just smiled pleasantly at Crystal's display then gently tilted her head toward Damien's bedroom where his currently unmade bed was on full display. Crystal rolled her eyes so hard her entire head followed through with the motion.

"Obviously... What do I need to change his towels too? Dump his garbage? Replace his shampoo?" At that moment the door to Damien's room opened and a little purple fox entered pushing a maid cart full of fresh towels, bedsheets, trash can liners and those unlabeled candies and bath care products. Crystal sighed and slinked over to the maid cart. "I suppose I need to act like some sex starved bimbo too right? Oh Master, please check out my ass while I change your bedsheets!" she sang sweetly as she bent over the cart, letting her short little dress ride all the way up...

Damien was ashamed to say that he couldn't resist looking, the view was just as good as before and this body of his seemed always primed to become aroused... Hmm, that was something that resonated with what Crystal mentioned before actually...about Nymeera priming him to think of the girls sexually first. He wondered if their bodies were also primed to be more sexual than normal...actually Nymeera mentioned something like that before didn't she?

"Wait, what the fuck is this?" Crystal asked, picking up one of the unmarked chocolates. "What the hell is 'V Industries?'" she asked turning the chocolate over in her hands.

"What did you say?!" Nymeera's shout was so loud and out of character that it startled both him and Crystal. "You can see that? But why would..." Nymeera trailed off, frowning and looking very lost in thought. Damien stepped over to Crystal and looked over the chocolate, but couldn't see anything unusual about it, other than that completely bare label.

"It looks blank to me..." Damien said, puzzling over the tiny chocolate.

"It has a giant golden 'V' emblazoned on it, and in tiny print on the back it mentions it is from 'V Industries.' No ingredient list or even a name for what kind of chocolate it is. I found a couple on mine and Summer's pillows earlier, but tossed them out the window. Along with all of this...stuff..." Crystal gestured to the unmarked shampoos, soaps, and conditioners and frowned heavily.

"Let me guess..." Damien said, looking over all of them and failing to see anything noteworthy. "V Industries?" Crystal nodded, turning toward Nymeera who was pulling herself together.

"Well..that was...ahem, unexpected. I wonder what it all means, turns out this season will have twists even for the host," Nymeera said, playing it off, but clearly shaken. "What could've changed..."

"Well, you and I did just make a contract," Crystal said with a smirk, playing with the candy between her fingers. Damien blinked.

"Wait, you made a contract with her?!"

"Yes," Nymeera said, smiling and getting back some of her usual poise. "A contract whose details are not to be discussed with ANYONE," she looked dangerously at Crystal. "Or else..."

"Details yes. Vague generalities...I didn't sign anything mentioning a ban on that. Perhaps you imagined it in your old age." Damien saw Nymeera's eye twitch.

"Don't you have a room to clean like a good little **** slut? Oh, sorry you're getting paid for this. **** whore?" Crystal just smiled smugly.

"Yes ma'am, of course ma'am, mustn't keep the Master waiting ma'am. Would Master like to take me up the ass while I clean? My pussy is sooo wet from saying 'Master' I'm sure he could slide right in if he wanted to." Crystal's words were obviously supposed to be mocking, but Damien's cock didn't seem to get the memo, rising to the occasion as though to take Crystal up on those offers right away...

"Charming...but it does give me some ideas for next week's transformations. You're such an asshole, I bet the audience would love to give you an anal fetish... It'd fit so well under 'Lawyer.' Especially with how anal you were with the terms of our deal. Objection just didn't seem to do so well during the voting did it? Our audience seems to abhor giving you girls power. Much better to take your power away..." Nymeera's smile turned venomous, and Damien could see Crystal shiver slightly as she practically ripped the bedsheets off the cart and retreated to Damien's bedroom to change his sheets and make his bed.

Damien was keeping his cool though, not letting himself get too sucked into the blustering surface text both women were putting on for each other, and trying to focus on the subtext. Crystal might appear in calm and collected, but she retreated very quickly into Damien's room. Was she scared of something? Nymeera kept giving these sadistic grins and smiles that didn't quite touch her eyes, but those eyes continued to flick toward the bottles and candies on the maid cart. Something had shaken her, and she wasn't used to being on the backfoot. Whatever 'V Industries' was must be important, but why would Crystal be able to see the labels if Nymeera didn't want her to? Because of their deal? Neither women seemed to have expected such a thing. Which just led Damien to another question... What deal did Nymeera and Crystal strike? And right before coming here and telling Damien that he was getting too caught up in Nymeera's game! That rubbed him the wrong way. Did Crystal think only she was smart enough to make deals with Nymeera? No one should be making deals with her! Damien learned that lesson already... The pen and pad full of this week's transformations was still in this room, inside a desk drawer. At least Crystal seemed to know what she was doing, and as a lawyer she was good at reading the fine print. Damien hated to imagine what would happen if someone made a deal with the antagonistic host without knowing what they were getting into...

Gabriella stared at her phone for the umpteenth time today, willing the words across her screen to change...but they wouldn't. Of course they wouldn't, and now her fate was sealed...

BP Loan Services
Terms and Conditions:
Loanee agrees to a favor set by the Loaner to be completed at time of Loaner's choosing. Favor must be agreed upon before time of loan, else Loanee agrees to perform any task Loaner asks under magical compulsion, compulsion will be set by host. Host or Master can overrule favor if it is deemed too disproportional to the loan amount given. All favors set by host in exchange for loans are fully binding and cannot be overridden.

Gabriella frowned as she noticed her screen shaking slightly...then realized that it was her hand. She was trembling.