It's Been a Long Week

Dakota sank back on her couch and let out a sigh. Finally, the round was over. It felt like the thing was never going to end!

“What a brutal week,” she muttered to herself. No one could hear her after all, she’d taken care to give Nola a bunch of aimless tasks to do before the challenge tomorrow. A lot of things needed hiding on the island, after all.

Oh, yes, this challenge promised to be a lot of fun.

She just hoped that it would be worth the long wait.

Somehow, though, she doubted the audience would be pleased. Even though Rose’s date was short and sweet, she had a sinking feeling it would be too little, too late. Balancing so many women’s interests with Nick… it was difficult to say the least.

Difficult… but worth it. As long as Nick is happy, the rest doesn’t matter. It will all be worth it in the end… it has to be.

Dakota wouldn’t allow anything less.

So, resolved for the worst, she checked the feed to see what everyone was saying about this last round, for the first time in days.

While Dakota was making sure that everything was going alright with the show itself, the women involved were all left to their own devices. This was the last night before the challenge, after all, and while most of the girls had taken the day to relax, now that they had retired to their rooms, there was definitely some tension in the air.

Mary felt surprisingly aimless, actually.

“It’s weird,” she mumbled, pacing back and forth in the Master’s Suite, before sinking down onto the bed. “I didn’t expect I’d still be so nervous and jumpy before the challenge, you know?”

She wasn’t part of the competition anymore- more than anybody she had the right to take it easy and relax! But without Nick here… she mostly just felt bored. And anxious. A dangerous combination. She tried to read one of her favorite mysteries, but found that she couldn’t focus with her worries about tomorrow hanging over her head.

…Unfounded worries. She would probably just spend the whole challenge watching from the sidelines, after all.

“Was this how it was with you, Holly?” Mary asked, turning to her best friend.

“Hmm?” Holly looked up from her magazine. It was a catalog of sexy lingerie that Kim had slid under the door earlier. While she couldn’t actually buy anything, it was still nice to browse and fantasize. “What do you mean?”

Mary swallowed. “I mean… I feel so tense!” She said. “Even though I don’t have to compete in the challenges anymore, I can’t fight the knot of anxiety!”

Marley was still part of the challenges, and Dakota was the host now. The only person on the island who might share in Mary’s feelings of uselessness was her best friend.

“Huh…” Holly tapped her chin, considering what Mary said for the first time. “…I don’t know, honestly,” she admitted with a shrug. “It never really bothered me.”

Mary looked at her in surprise. “Wow, really?”

The shorter girl shook her head. “I mean, I’m just on the sidelines, watching. Enjoying. Fantasizing…” Her eyes glazed over and she started to drool.

“Holly!”

“What!? Oh. Right. Sorry!” Holly giggled, scratching her head sheepishly. “Yeah, uh… I don’t know,” she admitted with a shrug. “It’s just one of those things… my circumstances are a little different from yours, though.”

Mary blinked. “They are?”

“Of course they are!” Holly said. “I mean, you won’t be taking part in the challenges, but you’ll still get a transformation! So you’ve got a lot to excited about, actually! Isn’t that fun?”

Mary turned pale. Now that she mentioned it…

“Oh…”

Holly realized maybe saying that only made things worse.

“Uh… sorry?” She apologized, scratching her head sheepishly.

Mary sighed.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

Mary wasn’t the only one thinking about what tomorrow would bring. After all, this would be the first challenge for a lot of girls. Some of them were handling it well, and some…

“Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!”

Ella snapped the rubber-band on her wrist over and over to try and calm herself down. “It’s going to be okay,” she said to her reflection in the candy-covered mirror. “It’s all going to be okay… there’s nothing to worry about.”

She could say that until she was blue in the face, but she just couldn’t make herself believe it for some reason.

Ella swallowed. Her mouth was watering, and being in a room filled with candy didn’t help. She looked around at the sweet-covered paradise, and **** herself not to give into temptation.

On one of Ella’s first nights here, she’d gorged herself. How could she not? When she was a girl, she never got candy or sweets! And the delicacies had tasted better than anything!

…Nope. Never again. She had been given a multitude of horrible transformations that, while temporary, made her decide never to even risk it.

A shuffle in the bed made Ella jump, and she turned to see her roommate flopping down.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

The mute woman was easy to forget sometimes, given that she never talked. But now she had Ella’s attention. After all… Ella couldn’t ignore the “80” emblazoned on her hand.

She knew what that number meant. It meant Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… and Nick… they’d…

Something furious stirred inside of her. Just remembering the assassin’s smug smile this morning when she came down for breakfast… looking like she was queen of the world… and meanwhile, Ella was sitting at the bottom with a dinky little 43. She hadn’t gained a single Victory Point the entire round. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had nearly twice as many Victory Points as she did!

…It just wasn’t fair…

But what did I expect? After all, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything with him… and then… and then I… I just-!

She’d turned things over to Cinder, even though the chance of Cinder earning points with Nick was less than zero.

How could she turn this around? How could she make these negative feelings inside her stop!?

If she knew that, she wouldn’t be such a mess, would she?

Ella sighed and trudged over to bed, worrying and fretting about what tomorrow’s challenge would bring.

“So Teach, what do you think tomorrow’s challenge is going to be like?” Vivian asked, only half-serious. She was trying on new looks in front of the mirror and only half-paying attention to the other woman. “You’ve been to this island before, right?”

“I did not have the opportunity to observe any challenges firsthand,” Amelia reminded her delinquent student coolly. “Perhaps you should have asked one of the other girls.”

“Yeah, prob’bly.”

Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes. Wasn’t that just like Vivian? The heiress had always been a procrastinator, and now was no different.

“Aww, come on! Don’t be like that, Teach!” Vivian turned back to the older woman with a bold smile on her face. “It could be fun! I’m excited, aren’t you?”

“Not particularly,” Amelia icily replied. “Have you forgotten? After this challenge, we’ll receive three more transformations. Each.”

“Huh, oh yeah. I forgot about that…”

In the hectic enjoyment of the week, Vivian had completely forgotten that they’d only received half their promised transformations up front. The rest of the transformations would be given to them after the challenge.

Amelia hadn’t forgotten that for one second, in comparison. She’d been mulling over what that could entail this whole round, while Vivian had been as fancy free as she liked.

Well… Amelia’s transformations weren’t as fun to take advantage of as Vivian’s were.

“I’m excited,” Vivian said again, turning back to the mirror. “I bet it’s going to be a lot of fun! And I’m gonna give it my all so that I’ll win!”

Amelia didn’t bother responding to that. The two of them, as usual, were on completely different pages.

While the new contestants were divided between worried about the upcoming challenge and not being worried at all, things were a little more complicated for some of the other girls. For the most part, nobody was really that worried- they were all veterans of Harem Hotel by this point.

That didn’t stop a certain someone from being concerned.

And she wasn’t even a contestant!

“Come on, Marley, two-player with me!” Carly urged her sister. She was dressed in a sleeveless gray vest with a black and electric-blue miniskirt, with two large blue twintails framing her head. She looked like the kind of excited gamer girl ready to party!

But her sister was dragging the mood down.

“Rose isn’t here telling us to be quiet so she can get some sleep,” Carly reminded her sister with a cheeky smile. “So come on, let’s have some fun! When was the last time you had an excuse like this to just cut loose?

Marley sighed. She had been wandering aimlessly around the room (what parts of it that were within 10 feet of her sister, anyway) pacing nervously.

“I can’t right now, I’m worried about tomorrow,” Marley replied.

“Why? You aren’t even going to get any transformations.”

“That’s not what this is about!” Marley groaned. “Have you forgotten what else is tomorrow?”

“Uh… well, I know it’s not your birthday because it would be mine too, so-”

“It’s the Popularity Poll!” Marley reminded her sister, rolling her eyes. Why was her sister always like this? Carly either never took things seriously, or took things so gravely seriously that it was problematic and harmful for her, there was no in between.

Would it kill her to worry a little bit!?

“There are four new girls joining the rankings,” Marley reminded her. “You can’t just be content that Mary isn’t in the running anymore! The audience has a bunch of new women to vote on, and I don’t know if you’ll get a lot of BP, even with two stacked boons!”

Carly frowned. “Hey, it’s just a popularity contest,” she said gently. “I’m just trying to be my best self. People can like it, or not.”

Still, she knew that she was going into this competition handicapped. After all, her night with Nick, which was her main chance to appeal to the audience, had been a complete disaster.

She’d have to make up for that somehow next round. But in the meantime, no sense in getting all flustered and worried about it, right?

Carly shrugged. “I’m more excited for the challenge,” she admitted. “Even if I get a low score in the polls, as long as I can ace the challenge, I’ll be golden!”

She was really working hard. Determination surged through her, and she resolved to get as high as she could next time- maybe even win!

Marley really hoped it would turn out that way.

“Haah… my family is a mess,” she groaned, knowing that Sylvia probably wasn’t worried at all about this either.

Marley would be correct about that.

“I can’t sleep!” Sylvia was a bundle of energy as she practically bounced around the suite. “Tomorrow is the challenge! Can you believe it!? It’s going to be a ton of fun, Gina! Last time was a little rough, because I was the Auditionee, and that was… yeah. But now I’m a fully-fledged member of the harem, and there’s no Auditionee at all! I can go all-out without worry!”

“Yeah, it should be fun,” Gina said, cracking a wry smile. She was a little nervous herself, but Sylvia’s infectious enthusiasm had a way of lightening the mood. “I’m a little more worried about the transformations, though, if I’m being honest.”

Sylvia turned to her and blinked. “The transformations?” She asked. “Why that?”

Gina shrugged. “Well, I mean… I’ve been getting a lot of them,” she pointed out. “Normally, I wouldn’t sweat it, but right now…”

She was in a bit of a bind to be honest.

“I’m trying to be more mature and adult-like,” Gina pointed out. “But my transformation paths, they’re a little… …Okay, well, I really like them! Just to be clear. But… adult and mature they are not.”

Gina didn’t have a problem with being a rebel per se. If she really didn’t like her look, she would have changed and maybe gone back to that dowdy “good girl” costume she’d been shoved into.

Ugh. No way.

But she was worried that she might get a transformation that was a little embarrassing.

“It’ll be fine, Gina!” Sylvia assured her. “Dakota’s going to give us both some really sexy transformations, I bet! Oooh, I almost don’t even want to win, just so I can see what I get this time! Who knows, maybe I’ll get a fun new one! Huh?”

Gina laughed. “Well… leave it to you to think of the positives,” she said, flopping down on her bed as Sylvia continued to bounce around the room.

Gina wasn’t worried about the upcoming challenge as much as the transformations.

Dawn and Morgana were very concerned about both.

“I-I don’t know if I can sleep,” Morgana stammered, curling up into a little ball. “The challenge, it’s… well… you know what happened last time-!”

Morgana still hadn’t worked through all the guilt that came with her last challenge, in spite of Dawn’s urgings. And as for the transformations…

“It’s hard to believe you used to be so eager to be here,” Dawn said with an amused smile, remembering how enthusiastic Morgana had been when she first arrived.

Morgana laughed a little. “Well… there are definitely parts that are still fun,” she admitted. “Maybe I’m overreacting…”

“The audience seems to like you a lot,” Dawn said. “Whereas with me…”

She sighed. Very rarely did she ever get high in the popularity polls. It was like the audience didn’t even care about her!

“But… you had fun on your date, right?” Morgana pointed out. “Maybe that’s good!”

“I didn’t even really go on it,” Dawn said, shaking her head. No telling how the audience would react to that. Her only hope was that they’d find twins sexy. “More importantly… we need to think strategy fro the challenge tomorrow.”

Morgana blinked. “Strategy? Huh? But you don’t even know what the challenge is going to be,” she pointed out.

Dawn looked up at her and smirked. “Oh, don’t I?” She asked, calling up a list of things to buy from the shop.

Last time she’d done this, it ended up getting her the win. And she could really use the VP that came with another win tomorrow! Now that she had the money to spare.

And if she was being frank, she wasn’t sure how many more transformations her tiny little body could take. The pleasure overload from how Nick had sequenced the ones she had before, that had been overwhelming.

…In a good way, yes, but still. Overwhelming…

Dawn licked her lips in spite of herself and made the purchase.

Dawn: 10000 BP – 2000 BP = 8000 BP

Morgana goggled in amazement at what she’d just done. She couldn’t imagine spending that much BP just on a hint!

“Don’t write my name in your diary tonight,” Dawn urged Morgana. “I don’t want to risk it.”

With that, she flopped back down into bed and stared up at the ceiling as the comfortable mattress swallowed her whole.

As much as she loved the bed in the Luxury Suite… she really hoped this would be the last night she ever spent here.

Kim and Dani were getting ready for bed.

“You worried about tomorrow?” Kim asked.

“Nah, not one bit,” Dani scoffed, waving her hand. “I mean, I’m already expecting to score pretty low in the Popularity Poll anyway.”

Kim nodded. “Yup. Same.”

“Really?” Dani was surprised. “But you had your night with Nick, didn’t you?”

Kim blushed. “Yeah, but that was a little… excessive.”

She had no idea what she’d been thinking with all those breast expansions. Maybe it would appeal to a certain maniac fringe, but she doubted that even losing her first time would put her that high up in the polls.

“What about the challenge?” Dani asked. “Worried about that?”

Kim shrugged. “Last one, that was a little…” A shadow crossed over her face. “…If Dakota does something like that again…”

“You got a rough one too, yeah,” Dani nodded thoughtfully. “Still. I’m not too worried. We just need to face it head-on!”

Kim cracked a smile. “That’s the spirit!” The two bumped their fists together and got ready for tomorrow night. Whatever Dakota had in store for them, it wouldn’t break their spirits!

As for Dakota, the host was currently…

“Is this round over yet?”

“Longest round ever.”

“Dakota is stalling because she doesn’t want Nick to leave the island, how cute #CultOfDakota”

“I’m so done with this season, unsubbed.”

“I’m down for more Gina! #Subbed”

“Gina definitely went through quite a transformation #GinaParty”

“Not nearly the kind of transformation Dawn did! #TwinKitty”

“We need to see Double Dawn again #TwinKitty”

“Heh. Twink…”

“I thought Sylvia changed a lot, too! Her hair is gorgeous now! #SylviaSquad #BetterRedThanDead”

“Sylvia’s inheriting all the best parts of her roommate, like a sponge.”

“She really is Marley’s mom, she’s a mimic jelly too #SlimeTime”

“I’m excited for this round to finally be over, bring on the transformations!”

“Rose’s date is so sweet.”

“I agree, need to see more of that diabetes”

“I feel sad Rose can’t have a family yet. We need to change that! #GetRosePreggers”

“A cause I can get behind, #GetRosePreggers”

“Jacques and Madeleine need to exist in the real world! #RoseGarden #GetRosePreggers”

“Madeleine already exists though, in that other branch with the Wendy’s girl.”

“Oh right, her, #ChubbyRose”

“I’m rooting for Arima Kana myself in that branch #NotMyOshiNoKo”

“#AkaFail”

“What a cruddy ending”

“Forget about Oshit no Kope, let’s talk about how fucking hot Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s date was last night!”

“Finally Nick bangs a girl on her first night here!”

“Actually I think ASHA banged him.”

“It was a mutual banging, they both banged each other.”

“No she definitely banged him more.”

“And poor Ella getting so jealous lol #EllaGang”

“Cinder wouldn’t have baulked she’d have seized the day #CinderGang”

“Cinder is the whole reason nothing happened in the first place! #EllaGang”

“#EllaGang”

“#CinderGang”

“Whelp should have seen the fighting coming.”

“Need mommy to assert control over them #AmeliaClass #DommyMommy”

“I can believe no one was talking about how great Auburn and Bianca were”

“What do you mean”

“We love them #TwinKitty”

“Hopefully we get tosee more of theem”

“yes i wanna more”

“We alrdy have that, Dawn”

“No Dawn is borig”

“Yes, very ‘borig’”

“I want Morgana to wear twintails again! #MorganaCoven”

“I’m really feeling this next challenge for Kim. Her moment is coming! #KimClique”

“Kim and Dani have really been a great team so far #TomboySupremacy”

“It’s been a while since we had a challenge that pitted the harem directly against each other, I’m looking forward to seeing if we’ll get one”

“Yeah Dakota hasn’t been ruthless like last challenges”

“The last one was pretty brutal tho”

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin will destroy”

“I’m looking forwardto Dani! #DaniCrew”

“The popularity polls should be interesting”

“I vote for Vivian! She’s a lot of fun!”

“I also vote for Vivian, horses are wonderful.”

“I still want to vote for Mary #ChurchOfMary”

“I’m offering 1 million dollars every day to people who can show their proof of voter registration. #TooBigToRig #ReleaseTheXFiles”

“Vivian has all the best people”

“Vote for Vivian, komrades”

“#VivianRebels”

“#FancyGirl”

“We’re being invade by bots”

“Something smells suspicious here”

“What, an election with a billionaire? Nothing could be safer.”

“I’m gonna vote for Carly! She had a rough week, she needs some support.”

“I’m also gonna vote Carly, #CarlyFans”

“If we vote Carly high, then maybe her spirits will pick up and we’ll get sexy times next week, I’m looking forward to it!”

“Ooh, good thinking”

“Vote Dani high too, that way maybe threesome #TeamGamerGirls”

“I don’t think Dani would like that”

“Maybe just the two of them”

“I think that should be up to her.”

“We’ll have to see how it goes.”

“I’m just glad this round is over… what a slow. *slog Oh also #DawnPosse”

Dakota sighed and rubbed her temples. Just as she’d anticipated, this round really had gotten under the audience’s skin.

“Next one will be easier,” she muttered to herself. “It dragged on because we had to introduce the girls, and because I was too permissive with the party… I’ll have to do something to account for that in the future…”

As she schemed her schemes, a sly smile spread across her lips and she looked up at the camera.

“…And there you have it, folks. This round is coming to a close… almost. It’s that moment you’ve all been waiting for, the Popularity Poll! As I explained at the beginning of the round, for those of you who can remember,” she added bitterly, “We switched things up, and we’ll be broadcasting the Popularity Poll the day of the challenge! After all, there’s no longer a need for a failing Auditionee to appeal to the master! And so, with that in mind…”

She waved her cane, and summoned up a black screen.

“…Let the voting commence! Choose your girl, and we’ll come back in three days’ time!” She declared loudly.

https://strawpoll.com/e6Z2A7D6EgN