Concombres Farcis

The morning air was cool inside the dark space that was the Master’s Suite, though it hardly bore any resemblance to the cramped room that had initially been provided to Caleb. The walls had expanded outward, with one wall now being entirely a glass window looking out to the city that was currently obscured by black blackout curtains. The one wall now housed an entire entertainment center, while the small lounge now looked ready to entertain people for afternoon tea. The bathroom now housed a luxury bath that looked ready to entertain multiple people.

Caleb hadn’t noticed the changes occur throughout the night; he had slept heavily with he warmth of Amy in his arms, his exhaustion from the previous day acting as a powerful sedative. After they had hit the bed, it hadn’t taken long for both partners to drift off. While the oni had requested to be held, she had little affinity for being the little spoon, so instead had wrapped her arms around Caleb’s waist as her horns dug in against his shoulder.

Now, as the master’s eyes steadily blinked as he rose from sleep, Amy was essentially acting as a second blanket with her body curled around him, half of it on top of him as his arms were still around her loosely. He carefully rolled his one shoulder, trying to loosen some stiffness that had settled in for the night, while trying not to disturb the horned woman in his arms. However, whether it had been his movements or that she had already been rousing, as he adjusted his arm, the Oni blinked blearily up at him and then yawned.

“Morning…” She said lazily, adjusting her position just enough so Caleb wasn’t pinned to the bed, even as her fingers grasped his shirt, “You feeling better? After yesterday?”

Caleb nodded quietly; the only remnant from his attacks yesterday was the muscle soreness that plagued his chest, but with the frequency of their occurrences in the last few days, it was beginning to just be the norm. “Yeah, I’m doing alright, how about you?”

Amy paused and looked down, pressing her horns and forehead against Caleb’s chest. “I don’t know. Caleb, I try to take this all in stride. I think you’ve realized that much by now.”

Nodding, Caleb gave a small smile, “I’d say more leaps and jumps, considering your desire to chase Jackelopes after all this.”

Wrinkling her nose, the oni gave a small grin back before pressing on, “Well, yeah, that’s kind of the thing.” She flipped to her back to look at the ceiling and freeing Caleb from her hold so that he was able to turn his side and look at her directly, “I think…Maybe it’s silly sounding, but when we talked before, it wasn’t like…I was blind to the larger cosmological implications; they were half of why I was so excited, y’know?” She turned to her side to face Caleb, her expression conflicted, “Demons, Angels, Gods, Bigfoot! It’s all really cool to think about. I just…I think I was still thinking in terms of the show and less thinking about what that would mean for normal people.”

Caleb thought he understood, “It’s interesting to think about demons and angels fighting, less fun to imagine demons ruining people’s lives outside of the context of a gameshow.”

Amy gave a quick nod, “But also just…people. Sometimes seeing how…horrid other humans can be, without them thinking they’re doing anything wrong just…” She gave a small shiver, “I mean, what’s the quote? ‘Hell is other people’?” The oni frowned, “It just kinda put things in perspective.”

Taking a second, Caleb rose from his reclined position, sitting up and looking down at Amy, “Yeah, I can understand why Lucian might hate people, given what he experienced, but at the same time, fuck that. We aren’t those people.” He drummed his fingers on his knee, “You know that quote doesn’t really mean people suck.”

Amy raised an eyebrow and rose to sit on her elbows, “‘Hell is other people’?”

The master nodded, “It’s from a play called ‘No Exit’ in the play, the people in hell lack eyelids and mirrors, it refers to the fact that essentially in hell, the only way to see ‘yourself’ is through the eyes of others and when we’re alive we let that control who we are and when we’re dead that perception is all that’s left.”

Smiling wryly, Amy sat up, “Sounds pretty heavy for a play.”

“Sartre wasn’t really known for his feel-good approach to philosophy.” Caleb drummed his fingers in his lap.

Smirking, Amy jabbed Caleb in the ribs, “Couldn’t look past an incorrect use of an idiom as I vented my feelings?”

Caleb winced more from the implication than any pain from the contact, “No, I just…I think you’re more right than you realized.”

Amy had been in the middle of going to rib him again and stopped, “How do you mean?”

“Lucian is stuck, right? By what you’ve told me, he’s been around for hundreds of years, minimum, and yet is still acting like the wound is fresh. He died because of the way others interpreted him, and the way he looks at others has been frozen since that point. Even this game?” Caleb gestured around, “Is all set to fuck with our perceptions of each other, our morals, ourselves. Like in the essence of that quote, this right here is ‘hell’”

“You know it’s a shame you didn’t end up becoming a teacher,” Amy ran a hand through her hair as she got up from the bed, “Just think of how many young lives you could uplift by talking to people like that.” The oni tilted her head and stuck out her tongue at the master.

Caleb’s face flushed, and he averted his gaze as he got up, “I just-you know I- It felt appropriate!” was what he managed to get out.

The oni just laughed as she began to get dressed and looked around the room, “Looks like our activities yesterday earned you an upgrade.” Her tone was bemused even as she watched Caleb’s face go further crimson.

“You know I don’t care about that stuff.” The voice actor looked over at the entertainment setup, “Like, do they expect me to spend time watching TV or playing games with everything else going on?”

Shrugging, Amy pulled on her pants, “Some do, I read about seasons where Masters didn’t leave their rooms for entire rounds. Some weren’t allowed to, others just lacked the interest in doing anything else.”

Gritting his teeth together, Caleb changed his shirt, “Yeah, well, I’m not going to do that. Sit here while you’re all struggling with this? Fuck that.”

Amy’s expression softened as she saw the determined look in the master’s eyes and knew he truly meant it. Feeling her chest start to hurt again, Amy cleared her throat in hopes of dislodging the pain before asking, “So…Mira, any plans for your date together with her?”

“I uh…” Caleb’s determined expression immediately gave way to the awkwardness always just beneath the surface, “No, I hadn’t thought of anything. I had planned on trying to think on it more yesterday, but…well, yeah- not that I’m upset about it or anything,” he quickly added at the end.

The oni mockingly raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, I hope my going **** wasn’t too much of an inconvenience.” She then smiled, “No, don’t worry, I get it. Yesterday was rough, nothing went like how I planned, so I get it.”

Caleb shook his head, “It’s also more of an excuse than anything. Like, I won’t pretend to be some Casanova who has this all figured out, especially when it comes to Mira. Like…it’s still hard not to just see her as my boss.”

“Lots of people fantasize about fucking their boss, you’re not one of them?” Amy asked, her tone suggesting genuine curiosity.

“I-” Caleb stopped as he finished getting dressed, “Listen, obviously I could recognize that Mira was attractive and maybe that factored into a fantasy or two during some shame-filled self-pleasuring. But, fantasies are different than the real thing.”

Amy flung her back as she put on her jacket and cocked a hip as she looked at Caleb, “Caleb, I’ve seen her VP. I know you’re bare minimum beyond the pure fantasy thing at this point.”

Caleb’s face flushed again, “I…well, that’s part of it, last date she entirely took the lead and I kind of just got swept along with her pace.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, you know?” Amy walked over, “I know you don’t want to be passive in all the things going on, and I explicitly told you not to, but that doesn’t mean needing to be in charge all the time.”

Seeing the master’s confused expression, Amy sighed, “Yesterday, did things go to plan? No, but whose plan was it? Mine. I know you took a more active role in planning your date with Maya, but not every relationship dynamic is going to be the same. We’re all eight different women. So if Mira wants to take charge and you enjoy it, let her, just also be willing to put in the work when you need to.”

Caleb gave a mock bow, “Once again, I owe any and all success to the grand vizier.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amy flicked her hand dismissively, “Get me a tall pointy hat and we’ll talk more,” she joked before adjusting her jacket, “Ready to head down to breakfast?”

Gathering himself together, Caleb moved towards the door, “Yeah, may as well, time doesn’t pause for anyone.”

The elevator ride down was uneventful but as they came to the lobby, Amy moved towards the scoreboard instead of turning towards the dining hall. Caleb raised an eyebrow, “What’s up?”

Amy shot him a smirk, “I worked hard yesterday, and I want to see if it paid off.” Before walking to the board and flicking it to bring up the scores as Caleb walked up behind her.

• Lillian Wright - 17 VP
• Mira Gayen – 15 VP
• Eliza Dawson – 14 VP
• Amy Tanaka – 44 VP
• Noemi Castro – 38 VP
• Madeline Purcell – 5 VP
• Stella Vincent – 10 VP
• Maya Quinn – 38 VP

The oni gave off a low whistle, “Not bad, not bad, that’s right around where I want to be right now.”

Eyes running over the scores, Caleb frowned. Everyone had five rounds to get to 100. This was the second round, which meant to be on pace; everyone needed to end the round somewhere around 40 points or above. He found himself staring at Maddy’s total.

Amy followed his eyes and gave him a pat on the back, “It will be ok, there’s plenty of time, and her date hasn’t happened yet.”

Caleb gave a solemn nod, trying to take comfort in what the oni was saying, but…Maddy was the one player who kept ignoring chances to get ahead, and he couldn’t see her doing what Amy did to rapidly earn points.

He closed his eyes. He couldn’t freak out about that now; he had Mira’s date to focus on, and he could talk with Maddy before their date in two days. It would be ok, it would have to be.

Sensing the Master’s discomfort, Amy lightly tapped his shoulder with the back of her head, “Hey, out of your head, there, Caleb. Just focus on doing what you can in the moment. Right now, you have to focus on Mira.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Caleb nodded and turned and **** a smile onto his face, “So, breakfast?” He marched forward to the dining room, leaving Amy to shake her head behind him before she moved to join him.

Arietta yawned as she moved through the aisles of the Sabotage shop, dusting the displays. The shop didn’t really collect dust, but the action and busyness of the activity gave the shopkeeper something to focus on after the assistant’s visit the night before. She had been confined to this shop for years now as the season was prepared, and she had learned early on that playing at normalcy was the best thing for keeping herself grounded and centered.

**** had been easy, almost incidental. The news of her grandson’s **** had reached her, and she found the wreckage of the church. The hollow aching that followed caused her to wander in places she shouldn’t have without a care for what might happen. She didn’t believe in sin, not the way that the Christians did. But she felt the weight of responsibility, and she let that weight drag her under. The dagger in her side, as her coin purse was claimed, was merely the reconciliation between her body and mind.

What came after had been peace. She had heard many interpretations of what life beyond **** would be and remembered at some point having her own thoughts on the subject, but the reality was far less grandiose. She remembered feeling suspended as if in liquid, with a dullness in sensation as if everything was muted. Even the heartache that had plagued her until the moment of her **** felt distant.

So she slept in that place. It was all there was to do besides spend time in her own mind with memories and thoughts. But those brought the feelings to the surface, made them real again, so she slept for so long. She couldn’t say exactly how long; there was no meaning to time in that place. It became her default mode of existence, and any time that her mind stirred her to wakefulness, she felt the draw to go back.

So she had no idea when it was that the fox had appeared in front of her. She didn’t immediately recognize her, after all, in the stories she was familiar with, the scoundrel had always been male, but it became increasingly evident with her animated nature and the casual contempt for decency that emanated from her being.

Arietta had tried to dismiss the fox and return to her dreaming when the fox presented her with the option of seeing family again, informing her that her grandson had found a new purpose in the afterlife and that she would provide the witch with a chance to see him again and make amends. That old pain that had been dulled by years of sleep became sharp again, and the witch found herself making the pact with the fox only to see what her grandson had become.

A demon, fallen from grace and fueled by hatred and contempt, and it was all her fault.

Reyna placed her in the shop, then, as payment for services and informed her that the reunion would be forthcoming soon. Then left her.

Arietta set down the duster and leaned against the wall, another yawn overtaking her. Even now, the sleep called to her. The gentle peace of oblivion always clawed at her as the gnashing teeth of reality burned away at this borrowed flesh. She could only do so much from here, and the previous day was weighing on her. She lazily moved to her desk and leaned in, prepared to let sleep overtake her once more when the bell rang.

Who would it be this time? Arietta ran through the list of unfortunate souls trapped here, but as she opened her eyes couldn’t help but smile bemusedly, “Well, I don’t know if I’ve seen you here since the initial tour. How can I help you, dear?”

Standing across from her, wringing her hands and avoiding eye contact, dressed in a light blue sundress was Maddy. The chef’s voice trembled nervously, “I n-need a sabotage for today, but um…I need help figuring out which one I should pick.”

Slowly rising up, Arietta glided along the floor like a phantom to wrap her arm around the blonde’s shoulders, “Well, I can certainly do that much, let’s see if we can get you sorted.”