Heated Exchanges

When the room emptied out of spectators, Erica's comfy chair suddenly felt cold and restrictive, more uncomfortable than the plastic seats. The eight most important women in her life stared right at her, two with burning rage, three with simmering anger, and three with a mix of compassion and hurt.

Despite spending little time together and no clear communication in the moment, the harem women had evidently come up with a gameplan to confront Erica. With Amelia gone, Sophie took command. "Have at 'em, Alexis."

Alexis stomped right up into Erica's face. Her bright green hair may as well have been flaming around her like an animated Disney villain. "What the FUCK is wrong with you?! Amelia? Of all people? You could have said anyone in the world and you picked the only one holding us captive! I knew you were behind this the whole time!"

Erica was ready to take the yelling on the chin and just sit there, but she will always push back on the notion this was some grand scheme. "No, I swear that isn't the case. How many times do I have to tell you I didn't bring you here? I had never even heard of Harem Hotel!"

"Infinite times! Because I'll never believe you, you insufferable shit!"

"We are getting off track here," Michelle cut in. "Even beyond the whole premise and your...incestuous fascination," Michelle shook her head, disbelieving the words coming out of her own mouth, "the main thing is you want Amelia sitting here with us, as if we are all supposed to get along. We, of course, find that unacceptable. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I understand that might be the implication," Erica began, "but really all I meant is that I'm attracted to her as well, and she was top of mind standing right in front of me. I could see some of you were flushed looking down her shirt, as well."

"Don't turn this around on us," Veronica warned. Intentional or not, her child was talking about her. "So if someone asked you the same question at a random time, would you have a different answer?" The six of them who joined the show with positive opinions of Hector hoped the answer was yes, but the three closer to him especially so.

"Uh, probably. Again, I don't want anyone to be forced into a harem, but if we get someone else, it would be nice to see Jennifer again. She's a lot of fun to be around."

Erica's answer seemed to lower the temperature a little bit, but Sophie took issue with her phrasing. "What do you mean 'we'? We're stuck in your harem. You get to have someone else chained to you."

"Like the Professor said, I actually want all of us to get along. Remember how I said I care for each of you and want you all to win? That will never change no matter what else I think or what else happens here."

Penelope nodded at the response, having drawn the same conclusion. She was keeping quiet as the high levels of anger in the room were overwhelming her senses, but she knew the feelings were completely valid. Fortunately for her, Carla decided to say something similar to what she would have said.

"Not to take Erica's side, as I am cross as well, but she is right that we are better off cozying up to each other. There are positives to a communal sharing of the same experience."

"Of course you would say that," Kristie muttered bitterly.

The out-of-pocket response set off alarm bells in Molly's head. She didn't want to say this out loud, but she was happy to discuss something other that her friend's sexual interests. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean, Kristie?"

"It means," Kristie said, standing up, "that Carla here shoved her new sex toy in my face last night when I didn't ask for it."

"We're getting off track again," Michelle tried.

"No, this sounds important." Veronica defended her roommate. "Carla, is that true?"

"Well, I thought she was interested. She knocked on my door late in the evening."

"Yeah, 'cause I wanted dinner. You knew that." Penelope sensed that Kristie's anger was rising after the feeling had dimmed for most in the room.

"I thought that was a convenient excuse. I'm used to the fairer sex not being able to resist my natural charms and voluptuous body."

Penelope decided then to intervene. She concluded that if no one stopped the fight, the nine of them would keep arguing until Amelia returned, which would only spur a new round of yelling. "This sounds like a big misunderstanding in the worst way. And whether or not we want to admit it, I think the transformations might be doing some of the thinking for us. Let's go back to our rooms and cool off."

The more level-headed ones in the group nodded and started heading out, and Erica quietly let out a sigh of relief. They were still mad at her, of course, but at least she wasn't in the hot seat the rest of the afternoon. Plus, she would finally get some much-needed time to herself. Alexis, though, was bothered by what her friend just said.

"Wait, what do you mean 'the transformations might be doing the thinking for us'?"

****

In the midst of a banquet hall on the other side of the mountain, where the tables were smoother than a baby's face, and the golden dishes shone brighter than a disco ball, the thousands of servants of different Olympians shared a daily feast made especially for them. While mortals eat at certain times of day and gods bathe in their own nourishment, the humans-made-immortals took a bite out of both. Massive boars laced with ambrosia, surrounded by a moat of potatoes, stood prominently in the middle of the long tables. Instead of cutting out large chunks, the servants would use their limited magic and float over pristine slices to their own plates. Surrounded by this banal frivolity of everyday revelry, Amelia found herself eager to get back to that night's events.

In her head, she was planning out the last few possible transformations while listening to their targets argue pointlessly back in the main room. And, at the moment, she was listening to a rumbling servant of Artemis boast of her accomplishments. "You may have heard that I caught the boar today. It was no easy feat, let me tell you that. The tusks nearly pierced my ribs as I managed to stab it through the eyes!"

Amelia's greatest strength was being able to multitask. That was especially handy when talking to those who thought higher of themselves than they should. "Is that so, Andrea? Fine work indeed. The taste is exquisite, and I can only imagine what would happen if it had taken you down with it." Due to their differing views of femininity, Aphrodite and Artemis had a kind of rivalry that extended to their servants. Amelia dreamed of knocking her counterpart down a few pegs.

"That's right!" Andrea exclaimed, missing Amelia's fantasy. "I took it head on, all by myself."

"Oh, please tell me more!" Gabrielle called from Amelia's other side. "I want to hear everything!" Amelia sent her favorite temple servant a look of gratitude as the gruff hunter engaged with a different woman in pink. That gave Amelia the opportunity to focus more on what she really cared about: helping people discover the love within themselves.

Her list was almost done, but she was struggling with one person in particular. How can I get someone so reluctant to embrace how they should really feel? The tough part about being the host was building towards a certain goal while maintaining suspense about whether or not that goal would actually be achieved. But Amelia loved the challenged, and she was just getting started. I got it!

While winking at a shy male servant of Hermes who kept glancing at her, Amelia spelled out the word "BOND" with her potatoes before getting up and looping her arm around the bashful guy. She walked out of the room, ready to bend over the skinny man. I love my job.