Consommé aux Paillettes d'Or

In the master’s suite, as Caleb stirred under the soft sheets of his bed, distantly he heard the sounds of springs and drums. As he blinked open his eyes, he noticed a light was shining through the room, besides the thin sunbeams cascading through the gaps in the curtain. He grabbed his glasses, and as he put them on, he realized the source of the sound and light was one and the same. As his eyes focused, he made out the TV showcasing the antics of a coyote and a roadrunner.

On the couch opposite the tv, Stella lounged. She was fully dressed, but as her body had returned to its normal size, her shirt hung loose, giving the casual stance a faint sense of eroticism. She turned her head slightly, noticing the sound of Caleb rising, and gave a cheeky grin, “Hey there, sleeping beauty, welcome to the world of the living.”

Caleb groaned as he reached over to grab his pants. “Is it really late?”

“Nah, just I’ve been up for a few hours watching cartoons, and you barely moved.” Stella turned back to the TV where the roadrunner was being captured, but the coyote was shrunk down too small to eat it.

Pulling up his pants, Caleb made his way to the closet to grab a shirt and idly spoke, “I was under the impression from your roommates that you tend to sleep in, why get up so early?”

Stella shrugged lightly on the couch, “Not much rhyme or reason, I sleep long or little. Today I woke up with so much energy I couldn't imagine going back to sleep. Plus, you kept trying to cuddle in your sleep, and if I let that happen, I wasn’t going to be able to leave the bed.”

Pushing his arms through the sleeves of his shirt, Caleb rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you don’t strike me as big on cuddling.”

Stella snickered, “Cuddling is fine and dandy, but I don’t like being trapped. With those Pop-Eye arms you got now, if I let you wrap me up, I wasn't going to leave any time soon.” She grabbed the remote and flicked off the television, turning to look at Caleb, “Got a question for you.”

Caleb finished dressing, buttoning up his shirt and focused on Stella, moving towards the couch, “I might have an answer.”

“You didn’t try to bind me up yesterday or anything, doesn’t that transformation make you like bondage or some shit?” Her voice was light and playful, with a casual ease of someone who was well practiced in not taking things seriously.

Caleb nodded, “Yeah, and if we did do that, I would have definitely been turned on. The wording is pretty specific. It gives me a fetish, but there's no compulsion to go along with it. Which is really the only upside to it. I’m not **** to do anything, just…I get really aroused by the thought of it.”

“Is that why you choked me?” Her tone remained light, and she was smirking, but there was an underlying inquisitive tone showing she was seeking an answer, “I’m definitely not complaining. I enjoy things rough, but even with my transformation, encouraging you to put me in my place, I was surprised you literally went for the throat.”

Caleb froze and thought, “I dunno, I just…in the moment it felt like the thing to do.”

Stella raised an eyebrow, “You were upset, and your first instinct was to **** me out? Like, I meant what I said, I don’t mind it was hot. But maybe you need to think about why the fuck that was your first instinct.”

Caleb paused and looked down, and then Stella reached out over the back of the couch and punched his arm, “Hey, fucker, don’t go sourpuss on me. I was just pointing it out because if you did something like that to Mads without warning her, it might really fuck with her. Not to mention you’re gonna get saddled with another fetish soon, and it might not be as tame as ‘bondage’”

Nodding, Caleb leaned over and crossed his arms and rested on the back of the couch, “Shit, I haven’t even thought about how to handle that. God, there’s always something else going on I don’t see.”

“You’re an in-the-moment kind of guy, I don’t hate that. I relate to that. So maybe instead of whining about it, just get better at making calls in the moment. Stop trying to focus on everything and focus on the thing in front of you, like your brain wants to do.” Stella smoothed out her skirt and stood up.

“You make that sound easy, you don’t have everyone’s fates hanging over your head,” Caleb said as he dug his face against his arms. When he looked up, it was to Stella’s face, giving him an irritated look before her finger shot out to flick his forehead, “ow, hey!”

“Don’t play the fucking martyr, it’s not sexy. Jesus, I told you round one. Everyone here is fucking in charge of their own fates. Maybe the show is focused on you as the ‘master’,” Stella made big air quotes with her fingers, “But we all control how we handle that. Focus on you, ok?”

Caleb frowned and rose up, “You’re telling me it’s not all about me, but then telling me to be self-centered. What the fuck?”

Stella’s tail flicked irritably, “What I am saying, Caleb, if you’d put down the hero complex and listen, is that you don’t control us! You control yourself, and your brain wants to focus on what’s in front of you. Enjoy it! Suffer! I don’t give a fuck, but rather than resist it and fight it and then give a soliquey about how you’re not doing enough, just do your best at any given time. Fuck man. It’s like pulling teeth to help you sometimes.” She threw her arms up.

Caleb frowned, chewing on the words that Stella just railed against him. He wanted to argue. A part of him felt like this was Stella pushing her own selfish mindset on him, but seeing how she earnestly looked annoyed, it was clear she was trying to help. He reached out with his hand and touched Stella’s shoulder, “Ok, I’ll try. Thank you.”

Stella blinked for a moment, clearly taken aback, a faint blush forming on her cheeks as she brushed Caleb’s hand off and crossed her arms, “Yeah, well, it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. Jeeze. Besides, even before transformations, it’s challenge day. Should we go meet the others who are likely anxious about whatever the fuck that demon has planned?”

Sighing, Caleb took a step toward the door. If it was anything like last time, he was not looking forward to the challenge. Being stuck in the audience watching as the girls were **** to face off with one another, while he was unable to do anything? He felt a pit form in his stomach just thinking about it. He looked over to Stella, who was following his lead out of the Master’s Suite, “Are you nervous at all?”

As they crossed the hall to the elevator, Stella looked like she was mulling it over before shrugging. “I don’t know. Last round, I was just so pissed off at everyone; the challenge just felt like an extension of that. Today? I dunno, we watched some other seasons' challenges that Reyna said were related. They were all hunting games of some kind.” The imp threw her arms up and crossed them behind her head, “So I imagine it's gonna be a lot of us running around trying to find someone or something. Maybe naked to make it’sexy’”

Caleb grimaced as the elevator doors shut and they began their descent downward. That was always the other thing; the challenges ostensibly were supposed to be sexually titillating, but whatever part of Lucian’s brain that designed these things seemed determined to think of that as an afterthought to how much emotional anguish he could wring out of the girls.

Trying not to focus too much on that, he looked to Stella, “You think you can trust that info? I mean, it came from Reyna, and I feel like at this point she’s just as suspicious as Lucian.” “maybe moreso because we have no idea what’s motivating her,” he internally added.

The imp lowered her arms and shrugged, which Caleb realised was a default emote for her for various feelings, “I’m sure she has an angle, why else would she be involved with something called Harem Hotel if she didn’t? That said, motivation-wise? I can’t see any real reason to lie to us about that. Subverting our expectations yields a moment of confusion, but it doesn’t heighten emotion or increase stakes. It’s not like she gave us an answer key we are relying on. Just a hint.”

“I guess that makes sense, you a detective or something?” Caleb smiled down at Stella, who snorted in response.

“No, just thinking of it like an improv scene. You want to build layers of drama. Lying doesn’t do that, which leaves two options: Reyna is incompetent, or Reyna is telling the truth.”

“I mean….” Caleb leaned towards Stella, who nudged him in the ribs.

“Yeah, sure, maybe, but listen. I’d rather believe the people who captured us are good at their job.” Stella said firmly.

Caleb tilted his head curiously, “Why the heck would you want that?”

The elevator bell rang as the doors open and Stella exited ahead of Caleb, “Because incompetent leads to things like Chernobyl, and I don’t want to be the power plant in that scenario.”

Caleb swallowed and followed Stella towards the dining hall. When they arrived, they were greeted by what was becoming a fairly normal sight of several tables pressed together and pretty much everyone was gathered and was eating together. The only person missing was Mira.

Stella threw open her arms as he strutted towards the table, “Good morning, fellow sluts!” She pulled a chair out, turned it around and sat on it backwards.

Amy rolled her eyes, “I take it you had a nice date?”

The imp wagged her finger, “A very profitable date, isn’t that right, Caleb?”

Caleb just sighed and then gave a beleaguered smile, “Yeah, sure, we had fun.” He then remembered the book from yesterday, “And Stella showed me something, we know what all the bedrooms do now.” He quickly laid out the information from the room guide to the gathered group.

Maddy’s hands went to her mouth, “That explains…oh my god.”

Lily gazed over at Maddy, “Maddy? Everything ok?”

“I…I uh talked with Mira yesterday. She…it was like it physically pained her to ask for help. If the room is responsible for that, then…” The chef shook her head

Noemi hit her fist against the table, “Ok? So the room made her feel a certain way. It doesn’t change what the hijoeputa did.”

Everyone’s eyes subtly drifted to Eliza, who, throughout this entire exchange, was quietly eating her waffle. Noticing everyone looking over, a light smirk crossed her features, “Guys, cmon. You don’t need to tiptoe around me. I’m not that fucking weak” Her grip on her fork noticeably tightened.

Amy’s eyes went between Noemi and Eliza, “You're right, it doesn’t change what happened, but it does recontextualise it some. Also, no one here thinks you’re weak, Eliza, we just thought- given the volatile nature of what happened…”

Eliza’s smile took on a **** quality, “Let me cut you off there. I don’t need you all to be considerate like that. If I needed that, I’d ask for it. I’m a grown ass woman twice over at this point, so don’t start treating me like I’m made of porcelain.”

Lily reached to take Eliza’s hand, “No one thinks that that, we just want to help.”

Eliza withdrew her hand, “Well, I didn’t ask for it.” She set down her fork and pushed out her chair, and as she turned to go, everyone’s eyes followed and made out the figure who had gone unnoticed by the entrance.

Standing there, back against the wall, holding her arm was Mira. Unusually, though, for the first time since receiving her transformation, she was not dressed in the reflective leathers and latex that her latest transformation encouraged. Instead, she was wearing a white button-up shirt, a dark suitcoat and matching slacks and looking like they were the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

Everyone froze, waiting for someone to break the silence. Surprisingly, everyone, it was Maddy, “Mira! We just learned your room pushes you to do what you feel is your worst trait. That's…that’s why you’ve been feeling the way you have.”

Mira’s eyes widened, and she briefly made eye contact with the chef before giving a small nod. She visibly took a deep breath and looked to Eliza, who was staring her down, unmoving. She then clenched her fists tight and closed her eyes, biting her lip before forcing her mouth open with great effort. “I’m sorry!”

The words rang out through the room awkwardly, hanging in the air before the Bengali woman continued. “I know that’s not enough to make up for what I’ve done to you, Eliza, but I need you to know it’s true. I’m sorry. I care about you, and it was because of that misguided care I did what I did to try and keep you here and I…I did something I can’t take back. I don’t expect your forgiveness, I just need you to know I’m sorry.”

Her eyes closed tight, and the room was silent before laughter began to echo throughout the dining hall. It was unkind, merciless, mocking laughter, coming straight from Eliza as she stared down Mira and filling the room with unease.

The blonde professor then went quiet before speaking, “You don’t expect forgiveness? Good, I wasn’t going to give it. You know, everyone was just talking about this room effect as if it absolves you. I just think it shows the type of person you really are deep down, Mira. We’re all so worried about being changed by this show, when really we should have been worried about it showing off who we really are.”

Caleb stood up, “Eliza, I know you’re mad, you have every right to be-”

Before he could continue, Eliza waved a hand dismissively, “Shut up, babe, I’m talking.” She walked forward in front of Mira and stared her down until Mira averted her gaze, and Eliza gave an amused scoff, “But you don’t need to worry, Mira, because I’m going to make sure your worst qualities never get a chance to show themselves again.”

Before anyone else could speak up, there was a burst of flames, and suddenly the plump form of Reyna appeared from midair. The assistant was lacking her normal pep in her step that the group was used to seeing as her eyes darted nervously around the room before speaking, “Um…heheh” She giggled nervously, “Lucian sent me to gather you for the pre-challenge event. It and the challenge will be taking place at the coliseum… um.” Reyna gave a short bow. “Please make your way over as quickly as possible.” And with that, she fizzled out of existence once more.

Maya tilted her head curiously, “She was acting strange.”

Caleb nodded, his face twisted in concern, “Yeah, strange.”

Stella kicked her legs out and went over to the buffet, grabbing a banana and tossing it to Caleb, who haphazardly caught it before the imp grabbed one of her own. “Nothing for it but to start moving. Let's go!”

The trip over was filled with anxious energy; even if the challenge was not enough to permeate the air, the scene that had occurred in the dining hall was enough to leave everyone contemplating what might come next. Eventually, their fleet of boats touched down, and they arrived at the foot of the colossal structure, similar to Rome’s Colosseum; the only difference was the domed roof that shielded it from the elements and provided cover for the Master’s phobia.

Walking inside, the enclosed space felt like it was looking down on you, so despite the large encompassing area, you still felt the presence of the building from all sides. Towards the centre of the room stood Lucian, wearing a mocking grin as he watched the group approach. Above him, hanging from empty space in a cage was Reyna, looking down nervously at the group. At Lucian’s side was a woman, handsome with short curly black hair, shining green eyes and dressed in a sleek black robe.

As soon as Amy saw her, the oni stopped in her tracks, “No, there’s no way.”

As the group approached, the woman pressed her hands together, “Oh my, these are your contestants! What a lovely little group.” Her tone was similar to if she had just spotted a group of puppies, equal parts doting and condescending, as she moved forward.

With surprising speed, she crossed the distance and stopped in front of Caleb who could now see a large black snake rising up over her shoulder as she leaned in and extended her hand, “You must be Caleb. I’m Andrea Malcolm. I have so looked forward to meeting you.”