Heres to New Beginnings

As Allie was explaining what Ellen and she had been up to, Ellen had come back into the room wearing a matching outfit to Freya. Though, Ellen was definitely filling it out more. Allie didn’t go into every detail but did hit the highlights.

“Okay. I guess that isn’t too bad.” Mary said “I’m glad you had fun Allie. Ellen, would you say you enjoyed everything Allie did?

“Very much, Miss. It was a treat, we sorted many things out. Also I don’t think Allie mentioned this but I agreed to what we did while naked so I wasn’t under the influence of any outfit, Miss.”

“Okay and do you feel any lingering effects? From having the outfit on that long. Or the hookah?”

“I don’t think so, at least from the outfit. I will say I think that I might still have a bit of the hookah in me. As I still feel more willing to trust people but it has definitely decreased in strength a lot. I also think Allie has mostly returned to normal too. Though… I hesitate to bring it up…” Ellen looked toward Flora and Aubrey.

“Ellen, please just tell me.” Mary began, “If you’re worried I’m going to punish them don’t be.” Mary turned toward everyone but faced Flora in particular. “Okay I want to clear the air on this. I talked with Laura earlier today. I’m not going to get into all the details feel free to ask her later, nothing we talked about I consider private. Flora I was wrong to treat you like I did. You’re a grown woman and I treated you like you were a naughty child. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have threatened you like I did.” Mary paused for a moment to collect her thoughts

“Mary…” Ellen cut in, “Before you continue can I say something, because this was something Allie and I discussed.”

“Of course, Ellen.”

“Look, I get why a lot of us are nervous about you threatening to punish Flora, myself included. But I don’t think you were wrong, to think she deserved some sort of punishment, but she’s had enough. I also think you were wrong to blame Flora more than Aubrey. Flora got carried away but Aubrey recognized they were going too far, and did it anyway. Now I also think Aubrey has paid for what she did whether she realizes it yet or not.”

A few of the others seemed like they didn’t fully agree with her assessment about punishing Flora but kept quiet.

“What do you mean by that?” Mary and Aubrey asked at the same time.

“Well, Mary, I don’t think you were wrong. There may have been lasting effects. I have been getting a little bit more horny, than I normally would about things. I also might have become a tad more submissive. I think the first is from the intense orgasm and the latter is from being bound like I was for so long, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Aubrey might also be affected similarly.”

Mary turned to Aubrey, “Would you agree with that assessment Aubrey?”

Aubrey thought about it, “Yeah, a little, not a lot though.”

“Okay.” Mary took a deep breath in. “Now, for this incident unless there is a strong objection I am simply going to consider it resolved. There might be hurt feelings or loss of trust but I expect that no actions are going to be taken because of it. Going forward though we need to establish some sort of system. Not just during the competition but afterwards as well. Laura is going to talk to you all on specifics. For now though until we figure out that system, I am going to ask Freya to make the call if any of you crosses a line that needs to be responded to by me. I’m sorry Freya for making more work for you.”

“Think nothing of it, Mary. I’m happy to help you manage your harem.”

“And what about you?” Chloe asked, the others looked at her in confusion so she clarified. “What about if you cross a line?”

“Sorry Chloe, Cassandra made her stance on that discussion crystal clear. We aren’t having it. Right Laura?”

“Yeah, she said if we tried something in that vein, she would give me a punishment TF, for suggesting that we do it.”

Mary picked back up, “So, I’m sorry if it’s unfair, but it is the way it is, add it to the list of things we can’t change about our situation.”

“Okay, not going to push against that.” Chloe said with her hands up.

After a moment of silence Talia spoke up, “So… A slumber party? What exactly is the idea there? I mean I’ll admit to not really ever being to one myself. I mean I’ve had sleepovers but typically only one, maybe two other people were there. Not sure that qualifies. Also… ummm we aren’t planning to do anything sexual right?”

“We are not. I want to make that clear.” Mary said authoritatively, “I don’t want it suggested or brought up. Now, Talia I will say I’m sorry if we might discuss some things that make you uncomfortable but we WILL NOT be doing anything sexual. Freya has been instructed to restrain people by **** if need be to stop it. Actually Freya… Do you have a taser? I realized you might need something, if Laura is the problem.”

“Hey, just because I’m super horny doesn’t mean I’m going to be an issue… Okay I see your point, I am rather strong right now.”

“Not needed, Miss.” Freya looked Laura up and down. “I can handle her. The one to actually watch out for is Sam.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sam said rather offended.

“Oh not that you would be a problem, but your ability to restrain people would make you rather annoying to deal with if I needed to stop you.”

“Oh,” Sam’s annoyance completely left her, “Well that’s okay then.”

“To answer your first question Talia,” Mary continued, “Aubrey has some ideas for activities, I think would be both fun, but also get all of us to know one another better. Like actually knowing one another as people. So, I am going to let Aubrey lead here. I reserve the right to change that Aubrey… you have already betrayed me once tonight.” Clearly teasing Aubrey for putting her in the dress she was currently wearing.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I’m pretty sure that was your butler’s choice of dress style. I just suggested pink would make your emerald eyes pop. I was right, of course. Anyway the top options would be truth or dare, which I would normally insist on as it is the classic choice, that does tend to get towards more… erotic at parties than I think Mary would like this to get. So I was thinking either, never have I ever, would you rather, or two truths and a lie.”

“Look, those all actually sound rather fun normally… but what’s the forfeit?” Laura questioned. “Normally, I would suggest ****, or strip a piece of clothing off, but I don’t think we are okay with that tonight. Like sure I’d like to get to know people better too, but like those games are a lot more fun when people can loosen up or there are some sort of stakes.”

“Okay… Mary…” Talia began super hesitantly, “Could… could I talk to you alone for a minute.”

Most people looked a little confused. Laura just sighed, realizing Talia had likely already taken the deal.

“Okay, let’s use the walk-in closet, it will afford us the most privacy.” So they entered the closet.

Talia was amazed at the size of the closet. “Mary… this isn’t a closet. This is bigger than some apartments I’ve stayed in.”

“Yeah, I told Freya the exact same thing. So, what exactly did you want to talk about? I mean I assume this is about the deal with Cassandra.”

“It—it is. I was wondering if you know if you can do it piecemeal or have to do it all at once.”

“I don’t, sorry.” ~ping~ “Well that’s Cassandra, let’s see what the answer is. Okay she says I can do it one at a time, but they are locked in once I make the choice and I can’t undo a change with another one.”

“Okay so, I was thinking about what to do for our date tomorrow and I came up with something and talked to Cassandra about it. Anyway I don’t want to spoil it too much. My point is when planning the date I realized the difference between our lives and the lives of the other versions of us, that work together. Either you are a lot more like me, rather religious. Or something about me changed. The thing is that there were a lot of things about me that could changed that made us compatible but not a lot of things ever really changed about you, that didn’t essentially boil down to you being more religious. Look I don’t want to be a wet blanket tonight I would like it to go well.”

“Talia, I respect you, I want you to know that. I lost most of my faith during college, now strangely coming here is making me believe in a high power again, not sure they’re benevolent though. Anyway there have been plenty of times I wished I could still believe. I don’t like a few of the Catholic teachings which is why I stopped going to church first, and lost my faith second. It’s more complicated than that but the main thing I really didn’t like was what the church and a lot of people that went there said about people who I considered dear friends. Specifically LGBTQ+ individuals and how they handle a lot of sex related issues. I don’t want to mess with your faith, Talia, and unless you say it is okay, to change your sexuality, I won’t. But I don’t think I’m going to tolerate you having an issue with queer people.”

“That is actually something I’m okay with. Look I’m not going to change overnight or easily, at least without magic, but… Look long story short, I want you to make a retroactive change to me about my family.”

“Umm… What?” Mary was so confused.

“Look, I love them and did this to protect them. But, at the end of the show, I still want them to be able to accept me, which won't happen as it stands now. They would probably never talk to me again once they learn of the situation. Maybe even try to have me committed and you arrested. My mother is much more accepting than my father, but she’ll go along with his stance. I don’t know what my siblings will do to be honest. So I want you to make a specific change there that I think would end up making us more compatible while also not changing my household too much and allowing me to maintain good relationships with my family without actually impacting our faith too much. I actually spent a great deal of time thinking about the exact word change of this today, using my boon. I have been using it a lot actually to bank time for later.”

“Okay… I’m listening, also why does it seem like you have specific details about our other selves.”

“Because I do. You’ll find out tomorrow. But that info is why I want this. I looked at other versions of me, and determined that this change keeps me the most me, but will make things a lot easier for me. I would like you to change it so instead of me growing up in a socially conservative Catholic family, I grew up in a socially liberal Catholic Family.”

“Okay, I get that but why retroactive?”

“Because otherwise I’ll change as if it was true but my family wouldn’t be socially liberal after the show. This way they would be. So they should be far more accepting. I should be far more accepting. Would you be willing to do that now? Because, I want to make the most of this opportunity. But, I don’t think I can right now.”

“Okay, I have a question Talia, can I make some of the other changes to you right now as well?”

“Ummm, like what?”

“Making you rich for sure. If you’re willing bisexual or pansexual, I'd like to make you younger and smarter. I’d like to make all that retroactive as well.”

“Umm, okay. I don’t really have an issue with most of those but why my sexuality? This form is temporary right?”

“Yea but, I think you would end up happier if you were more willing to be with the other women. Plus Talia… Like I said, this form is comfortable… I prefer my other form but I also want to make everyone here happy, and most if not all the others are currently attracted to me like this. There is almost no way that an option that allows me to be like this sometimes doesn’t come up for a vote at some point in the future, or purchasable in the store. And I would take it, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I would live full time like this but… there would be plenty of advantages to having this as a form. Could… could you not tell the others I said that. I don’t want to let them know just yet, but I thought it was important to tell you, so you could make an informed decision.”

“That’s… Thank you for trusting me, Mary. If it was just to be with the other I would have told you no. But you really think this is going to end up being a part of you? Then, yeah I would like to be able to accept you fully.”

“Okay, I’m going to make these five changes consecutively as I think it will work out better that way for you. Are you ready?”

“Mary…” Talia hugged her. “I’m really not, but I don’t think I will be. But I’m not scared, not anymore. Thank you, for being decent enough that I can trust you to do this. Please do it.”

Talia is Thirty-Seven -> Talia is Eighteen (retroactive)

Talia is smarter than other women -> Talia is smarter than all other women. (retroactive)

Talia’s family are middle-class -> Talia’s family are Billionaires (retroactive)

Talia grew up in a socially conservative Catholic family -> Talia grew up in a socially liberal Catholic family (retroactive)

Talia is extremely straight -> Talia is extremely pansexual (retroactive)

Talia could feel things changing slowly at first then more rapidly. She lost a couple inches in height as she went back to being eighteen again. Well that’s nice I feel a lot better. Oh, crap I have to earn my PhD again… Or not… Talia felt her intelligence increase considerably. Okay so I was, correction am a genius now. Ah okay that was smart of Mary since I now have five PhDs and like fifty patents I earned my wealth which means that I’m not becoming some rich snob. Talia then felt her history shift as her family became more liberal. Wait, is that it? They just seem a bit **** and more accepting, like I thought it would be really different. Talia thought about how she acted towards the others these past few days. Wow, well I need to apologize. Oh, I don’t think Mary thought that last change through well enough.

“Mary… what was the exact change to my sexuality?”

“I changed it from extremely straight to extremely pansexual.”

“Did you need to put, extremely, there?”

“I couldn’t remove it and I got back, ‘this is not an accurate description of Talia’ when I tried to use it as a base. So, yes.”

Talia breathed in slowly and exhaled. “Okay, it’s fine just going to take some getting used to being sexually attracted to anyone who looks even slightly above average in appearance.”

“Sorry about that, is anything else an issue?”

“Honestly less than I would have thought. The biggest change is that I’m no longer the oldest child, instead I’m the youngest. Most of my friends are different, but the important ones are still my friends, so that’s fine. I feel bad about how I treated the others, especially Laura, with how supportive and kind she’s been the past couple days. It is also a little odd to have two sets of memories. But comparing the two, I am definitely happier right now than I was and so is my family too, especially my sister. I had no idea she was gay. Guess that explains why she only ever half-heartedly attempted to be with guys, she didn’t want to be shunned by our parents. I’m more confused than anything, I really thought my life would be radically different with everything you altered, those are some big changes but not much in the grand scheme of things.”

“I’m glad you’re happy, because I’ll have to make five more changes. I want to let you know that, unless you give me very clear direction, I’m going to take Merida’s advice, and make some changes for me. Nothing… drastic or anything but—”

“Mary, it’s fine. I’ll think about it but honestly, I’m okay with it. Change what you want, within reason of course. Please check with me on the wording though first, I would prefer not to have the issue we had with the wording on my sexuality. Because I can think of five different ways you could have simply made me bisexual or even pansexual without the intensity modifier, thanks to my new intelligence. How smart did you make me exactly?”

“You’re the smartest woman there is, might be limited to earth… I don't know, but that’s what I changed it to.”

“Okay thank you really, I know you said no sexual stuff earlier. If that was for me you can lift the rule but I realize that might have been for you instead. Though I still would rather not just go barreling into crazy stuff but being a bit daring wouldn’t hurt. Let’s go out and meet the others.”

Mary went out first, and found what looked like them all conspiring somehow. “Hey, everyone!”

They all jumped in surprise. “So, Talia asked me to come out and tell you first. I made some changes to her as part of the deal she made. Nothing to drastically mind you. Alright, Talia! Time for you to come out of the closet.” They could hear a groan of annoyance, from just inside the closet.

Talia walked out much younger than before, and she hadn’t noticed immediately but when she saw herself in the mirror she realized, that her new youth and openness to thing had made her more willing to embrace her transformations and so she was looking more goth even if she didn’t find nearly as much sinful as before.

“You just couldn’t help yourself could you?” She scolded Mary. “You just had to make a joke. Ladies, seriously we need to find some way to correct this behavior before she gets all of us pregnant. I for one don’t want to be a teen mom.”

“Richt, I'm pure confused, what's the joke, eh?” Merida questioned.

“One of the things Mary changed was to make me pansexual.” All of the naturally non-heterosexual individuals groaned as they got the joke.

“Exactly.”

“I still dinnae get it, care tae explain?”

“I was in the closet, physically. She was making a joke about the fact I’m not straight anymore.”

“Och, Mary, if it wasnae official afore it is now, yer jokes are pure awful.” Merida shook her head in disapproval.

“Hey, my jokes are fine. Just, I can’t be as quick as her because I want to eat the rich lady out. It doesn't make me not funny.”

Laura glared skeptically down at Mary, “You just tried to make another joke didn’t you, because it was bad. I understood the joke, it just wasn’t funny.”

“I’m surrounded by critics, now what were you all plotting while I was in the closet with Talia?”

“Just some fun for tonight.” Aubrey teased her.

“Oh, I thought I should mention to everyone, I told Mary that I would be fine if she lifted the no sexual stuff rule, so if she wants to keep it in place that is just for herself then.” Talia said wanting to join in on the teasing.

“Talia! Betrayal!” Mary exclaimed “And after I made you happy, smart, young, and rich really? You would sell me out like that?”

“Oh to the others, in a heartbeat.”

Mary feigned being wounded.

“Okay, Okay Ellen’s made us all popcorn, and Freya made tea for everyone. Let's all move over to the couch and we can start some games.”

“Hey, Mary. Are you sure we can’t do anything sexual tonight? With Talia not minding?” Laura questioned.

Mary thought about it for a moment, and she felt a slight impulse to embrace the changes. “Okay fine, but anyone gets overly uncomfortable that ends things. Got it. Freya you heard that right?”

“Yes, I should physically restrain Laura the moment she makes someone uncomfortable.”

“That is not what she said!”

“Are you sure?” Freya tapped her chin in thought “I’m pretty certain I know what my Mistress intends quite accurately. Perhaps you just weren’t paying attention. Now, who wants some tea?”