Fonds Blanc

Lily woke up in hell and the sound of dinging. Every day now this pattern had repeated, her dreams were so vivid so sexual. She had dreamed about so many people now Amy, Eliza, Mira, to her shame Caleb. Not that she was beating herself up over it, it wasn’t her subconscious fault that he was the only one here with a dick. She paused and the image of Lucian briefly appeared in her brain. Shaking her head furiously she flipped her blankets over scattering pollen.

If she ever started fantasizing about their kidnapper, then she might as well throw in the towel because it would mean she is much too far gone. The plant girl groaned and clutched her head. She had been edging herself unintentionally for almost five full days now, and it was stringing her out. She couldn’t remember the last time she had ever been so on edge. Between her quivering core feeling like it needed constant attention to the game she was stuck in…it was all too much.

Not to mention she had reason to be even more on guard now than ever. She had been so sure of the fact that Maya was behind Eliza’s condition. The fact that she wasn’t actually scared the shit out of her. It was unlikely to be Mira, just the timing of everything didn’t line up and Maya had claimed to be able to account for all her time. Not that Lily could trust that snake but the logic did not line up.

Who else was there? Eliza couldn’t have done it to herself. Noemi surely wouldn’t have betrayed Eliza like that after the professor stuck out her neck for her. The whole reason the Chilean woman was in the front of the competition was because of the professor so there was no way. Maddy? Ignoring the fact that Lily couldn’t even seriously entertain that as an option, she personally could account for most of her roommate's time since they got on the Island.

That left two suspects both of which Lily had dangerously little information on she thought as she entered the shower. There was Amy, who had kept mostly to herself the last few days, Lily had seen very little of her since their talk. She wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt after the oni had come clean to her. What reason did she have to lie? Unless she was lying before? What if it was all an act to get on her good side so she wouldn’t be a suspect? Lily groaned, if she started thinking like that then she’d constantly be back at square one. She wanted to believe that Amy was the person she spent the day in the garden with…not anything else.

Lily got up out of the shower and began to change for the day. Finally, there was Stella who…outside of being some sexual deviant Lily knew little and less of. Part of her reasoned that the girl seemed too straightforward to pull a move like that. If she wanted points she seemed to be the only person here who had no hang-ups on how to get them. She had kept her distance largely from the group outside of small engagements at meals, so if she wanted to she definitely had the opportunity to go to the Sabotage shop, it just didn’t feel like it made sense even if the logic lined up.

Lily ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, she was no closer than she was yesterday at figuring this out and she couldn’t talk to Eliza about it without bringing up what happened yesterday. She needed some insight, maybe she could talk with Amy, Amy wouldn’t judge her probably and she’d be able to eliminate her as a suspect.

Sighing heavily Lily made her way to the door and then stopped, Maya’s words from yesterday ringing in her mind.

“What if she starts having genuine feelings for Caleb, for your ex hmmm? What if he starts liking her back? What if you walk into the breakfast hall tomorrow and see them cuddling up to each other?”

Her hand faltered at the door. She had told Maddy it would be ok, that she didn’t mind her doing what she had to do. But Maya was right…the thought of seeing her happy with Caleb…and him happy with her…it was making her stomach turn. She hated herself. Hated the fact that she couldn’t get over this despite her friend needing her to be supportive. Maddy was sweet, she didn’t deserve any backlash for being happy.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” Lily slapped her cheeks and stamped her foot on the ground. She couldn’t go to breakfast, that’s all there was to it. She couldn’t bear to see them like that and she didn’t want to hurt Maddy. But she realistically couldn’t hold back her feelings. The only way she could fix it was by avoiding the situation entirely.

Maybe Maya was right, maybe she was two-faced. Maybe she wasn’t as nice as Maddy and Eliza, or Noemi or whatever. But she would do what she could to make sure she didn’t hurt the people she cared about. They didn’t deserve that.

She opened the door and stepped out into the lobby and then walked towards the next room over, the Columbina Suite, and knocked. To her surprise, it didn’t take long for the door to open. Amy was at the door wearing nothing more than a sleeveless t-shirt and sweats, her eyes looked tired like she hadn’t gotten much sleep.

The oni yawned, “Lily, hey, um,” She scratched the back of her head, “Didn’t really expect to see you this morning, what’s up?”

Lily was clutching her skirt and avoiding making eye contact,“Hey um…do you want to join me for breakfast? I got some things to talk about that I can’t risk being around everyone else right now…”

Amy tilted her head out to check on either side of Lily, “Lily is something wrong? Why can’t you be around other people.”

Lily looked ashamed and clenched her fingers tighter on her skirt, “I can’t really say here, just I can’t go to the breakfast hall today without harming someone I care about.

Behind Amy, there was the sound of ruffling Blankets as Stella stretched while wearing an off-kilter sheer black teddy, “Hey Amy who’s at the door? What’s going on?”

The Japanese woman turned back, “It’s just Lily needing to talk,” She turned back to Lily, “Sure yeah, I’m at a decent stopping point anyway, I’ll join you for breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” Stella piped up, “Are you two going on a morning date?” She half yawned the statement.

Lily blushed and Amy just shook her head, “Come on let’s go, there’s got to be other places on this island that we can grab a decent bite to eat.” She left the room closing the door behind it.

Back in the Columbina suite as the door Shut, Stella sat up, “So Lily is out…Maddy was on her date which means…” A cat-like grin crossed her features before she called out, “Lucian?”

In a burst of flame by the bed adverting his eyes from the sloppily dressed petite woman, the demon appeared, “Yes Miss Vincent?”

Stella got up, out of bed, and straightened her teddy as she walked to her dresser, “Can you tell me something about our living situations?”

Lucian kept a firm stare at the wall as Stella began to get changed, “As long as it doesn’t break any rules, I am here to facilitate you contestants. So please ask away.”

Stella was rummaging through her clothes and settled on a cropped-off black sailor suit, “Great awesome, can you tell me then, do our bedrooms have locks on them?”

Tapping his foot, Lucian nodded, “All your rooms are equipped with manual locks on the interior to ensure privacy if you so choose. Though your rings dictate where you must stay after curfew unless staying in the Master’s Suite.”

Finishing getting dressed Stella popped up, “Thanks that’s all I needed to know! Thank you, Lucy.”

With a grumble Lucian vanished in a blast of flames, leaving Stella admiring herself in the mirror. “Yes, this will do nicely, may be that I'm up earlier than planned but I think I’ll take advantage of the situation to add some excitement to my date.”

She hummed to herself and made her way out the door, she needed this to work out just right for things to go the way she wanted. Caleb wasn’t going to know what hit him.

Waking up Caleb looked down to see Maddy sleeping soundly underneath him in his arms. Her breathing was soft and low as he peacefully held her there. He didn’t want to move and disturb her so he tried to stay as still as possible as he laid there his head on the pillow.

He began to wonder what he had done to deserve this. He had asked the same question his first night here but under a completely different set of motivations. At the time he had felt like he had been singled out to fuck with and while there was still very much that feeling…he couldn’t deny the fact without it he wouldn’t be getting to sleep in a bed with a different woman every night.

But why him? Was there truly no reason beyond opportunity? He felt his shoulders tense. The more he saw of this place and its resources that felt like too shallow a reason for what they were doing. If they could pick whoever they wanted, why him? Why these women? He thought about different reality shows, casting was always about what “character” a cast member brought to the competition. If anything that confused him more, what sort of character was he supposed to be? They could have gotten someone more handsome, or more lecherous, or someone who didn’t spend most of their time in their head. Why would the-

“Good morning,” He was interrupted by the sleepy groan from below him and looked down to see Maddy’s eyes fluttering awake.

“Hey,” He smiled down at her, “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmm” Maddy burrowed her head against his chest, “Very well, you’re comfy” She smiled and squeezed him gently with her arms.

“You’re comfy too, like a teddy bear,” Caleb smiled down at her and lifted a hand to stroke her hair.

“What were you thinking about?” Maddy caught him off guard.

“What do you mean?”

“Well when I woke up, your brow was all furrowed and your forehead was wrinkled, so either you were doing your best to impersonate an old man or you were thinking about something.” She smiled up at him.

Caleb gave a beleaguered sigh, “Just…about this competition this situation. I can’t help but wonder why we were all chosen. Like I understand it was because of all these connections to me. Well except Maya. That’s another can of worms. But I don’t know why I was picked. Why would they pick someone like me?”

Maddy pushed herself up and looked Caleb over, “Maybe because you’re easy to get a reaction out of?”

For the second time, Maddy had caught Caleb off guard, “I’m sorry? Wait, what do you mean?” He pulled himself up to maintain eye level with the chef.

Maddy looked bashful and away from his gaze, “I just mean, you don’t let things go. Even this. Um does it really matter why they picked you? Either way you’re stuck here same as us.”

“I…I- um” Caleb stuttered momentarily at a loss for words, “But maybe if I understood why it might help us understand their motivations and what to expect going forward.”

Maddy shrugged, “Maybe yeah, or maybe it will be like looking at an ingredient list without a recipe. Like we’ve seen how Lucian acts, he hates us and he makes it clear every time he talks. They’re bullies, beyond that it doesn’t matter we know what to expect from bullies.”

Caleb paused soaking that in, he was so focused on trying to figure out why, he hadn’t thought about the actual situation. Maddy was right Lucian had told them everything they needed to know about their situation but Caleb had become so fixated on figuring out motivations he had completely ignored it

Maddy patted him on the shoulder, “Like not just that, but I think you think about a lot of things like that. How often do you spend thinking in your head rather than paying attention to what’s in front of you?”

Caleb frowned, “I was present on our date, when you were cooking and when we ate together….”

Maddy raised an eyebrow, “Really, did you not spend any time thinking about Lily or the competition?”

Caleb pursed his lips and Maddy gave him a pitying look, “I’m not saying it’s inherently a bad thing, but it is something you do which means you react to EVERYTHING this way. The show just has to poke you a little and it’s likely to send you into a tizzy. Not to mention if one of us does anything. And that’s probably good TV. But you’re not gonna have to impersonate those wrinkles if you keep it up.”

She then poked Caleb gently in the shoulder, “Like I said it’s not a bad thing, and honestly like I said I don’t think it’s important to know, but if you need a reason. That’s my guess.

Caleb sighed and shook his head, “Feels like everyone has been reading me for filth since I got here. Not that I don’t deserve it.”

Maddy tilted her head, “Isn’t that a good sign? My dad always said only people who are close to you can really hit you where it hurts. Doesn’t that just mean you’re getting close to the people around you?”

Caleb pulled the blanket off, “Yeah I guess so, well no more delays. I’m hungry we should get to breakfast.”

Maddy got up after him, “Do you mind if we stop by my room? I want to change before going to the dining hall.”

Shrugging, Caleb nodded, “I don’t see any reason why not.

Together they rode the elevator down to the main lobby and Caleb followed Maddy to the Innamorti Suite and waited by the door for her to get changed.

He was quite perplexed when the door swung open and Maddy in a state of partial dress looked at him in distress, “The magic sweets! From my transformation! They’re gone!”