Manipulation

"And that's a wrap on voting!" Kendra announced to the audience. "Let's see what each of these girls ended up with! First up...Becca!"

"Hooray," Becca muttered sarcastically. "Can't wait to see what you all are gonna do to me."

"Becca, is there any transformation that you would want more than the others?" Kendra inquired.

"I mean, all of these are pretty shit. Gold Standard...I don't want to be a trophy wife. I have a promising future and I pride myself on my independence. While I don't doubt that Turner would be able to provide, I don't want to have him be **** to. Wingwoman...that one's fairly obvious."

"You can be a bit possessive, no?" Kendra asked Becca.

"I mean, yeah," she explained, feeling a little ****. "Based on how I found him...I don't want him to be with other girls. Especially girls whose name starts with 'P' and ends with 'aige'. And the duality one...that might be the best if Turner can predict it, because he could let me know, but that randomness and the submissiveness really don't appeal to me."

"Honestly, you could use a little less dominance sometimes," Paige remarked.

"Oh, can it, you skank" Becca retorted.

"Well then, you'll be happy to know that 'The Duality of (Wo)man' was the least voted choice," Kendra announced, "with only 3.6% of the vote!"

"I don't know if happy is the right word," Becca said. "Unless all of them lose and we can all go home, in which case I'm over the moon."

"Well, no, all of them didn't lose," Kendra said, rolling her eyes. "The other one that lost was 'Gold Standard', with just over 30% of the vote! Becca, your transformation will be 'Wingwoman!'"

"Fuck you, that's the one I wanted least!" Becca exclaimed, getting up out of her seat and storming towards Kendra.

"Woah woah woah," Kendra cautioned. "I'm not the one you should be angry at, you should be angry at the audience!"

"Yeah, well they know what they've done, but YOU are the one who caused me and these other innocent people to be here," Becca reasoned. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I wouldn't even wish it on Paige."

"Gee, thanks," Paige sarcastically responded, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, what the hell?" Becca suddenly shouted. "My head!"

"Oh, yeah, the mental transformations might feel like a headache," Kendra said nonchalantly.

"Fucking hell, you have magical powers that can transport us here but you can't cure a headache that YOU caused?" Becca accused.

"I mean, not really," Kendra explained. "It's not our fault, your minds aren't really capable of handling this."

"Yet another thing that's bad about this shitty place," Kathryn said.

Becca's headache subsided a few seconds after it started. As a small test, she decided to think about if Turner was dating Paige, and quickly found the thought repulsive.

"Your stupid magic or whatever didn't work," Becca accused. "All you did was give me a headache."

"You may say that now," Kendra answered, "but remember that the trait says that you'll SLOWLY begin to enjoy the thought of Turner with other girls."

"Don't worry Becca," Turner finally spoke up. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Oh, but that'd be unfair to the other contestants," Kendra remarked. "You're really going to deny your girlfriend's wants and make the other girls deprived of victory points? You really do want them to get the punishments when the game ends, don't you?"

The guilt-tripping from Kendra had the intended effect on making Turner even more conflicted. She knew that he would break soon. No matter how loyal he claimed to be, he, just like pretty much every young man, would absolutely love to have all of these girls at his beck and call.

"Oh, don't guilt him into this," Charlotte said in a surprising act of camaraderie with someone she didn't remember. "He wouldn't have to do this if you weren't at the steering wheel of this whole thing."

"How many times do I have to tell you," Kendra sighed. "I'm not the one in charge. I'm just like the liaison between you lot and the higher-ups."

"That doesn't mean that we can't be mad at you," Paige noted.

"Oh, Paige, you're going to be sorry you said that," Kendra said with a smirk. "In fact, you're going to be sorry for everything unsavory that you've done."

"Wait, you don't mean-" Paige started.

"Oh, I do mean," Kendra interrupted. "'I'm So Sorry' has won the vote with 60.8% of the vote! Turns out very little people actually wanted you to get ****, since that option was the lowest voted with a paltry 8%.

"I see how it is," Paige's eyes narrowed. "I know I've done some terrible things, but is that really enough to make me repay him in sexual favors?"

"Yes," Becca, Liam, and Abby all immediately responded in tandem.

"Figures you would say that," Paige sarcastically responded.

"I do have to add that while this trait will mainly apply to Turner and any wrongdoings you have, or may in the future cause him, it will also apply to other members of the harem later on," Kendra added. "It'll just be a weaker urge."

"Hooray," Paige muttered. "This is gonna be so fun."

A sudden headache plagued Paige, but she didn't say anything about it, opting instead just to glare between Becca and Kendra. A thought rose to the front of her head, saying "I can't believe that you would've abused Turner like that. He was such a great guy for you! I'm sure you can find a way to pay it back..."

"You can implant these thoughts into my head, but you can't make me act upon them," Paige noted.

"That's true, at least for now," Kendra assented. "But who knows when you're going to have enough of that guilt? You may seem like a bad person, but you're not a sociopath. Those thoughts are going to catch up with you sooner or later."

"Talk about guilt-tripping..." Emma softly mentioned, looking over at Charlotte.

"Emma!" Kendra yelled over at the eight girls who remained on the couch. "I heard that, you're up!"

Emma jumped off the couch and walked over to Kendra, Becca, and Paige. She didn't look all too fussed about the transformations that were about to come over her.

"Are there any transformations you absolutely want to avoid?" Kendra asked her. "Y'know, and this goes for the other seven of you too, if you're not a complete asshole to me, I can always use my veto!"

"I mean, not really," Emma answered. "I'd rather not be suggestible, but aside from that, I guess these aren't too bad."

"What do you mean?" Becca asked. "You're literally being transformed against your will and your thought about it is that it isn't too bad?"

"Eh, I figure that if I'm here, might as well make the most of it," Emma explained, hedging a wink over to Turner.

"Emma, I wouldn't-" Turner began.

"Don't mention it," Emma interrupted. "I don't want you to say something you'll regret when you need to give me some points. Alright, Kendra, lay it on me!"

"Um...okay," Kendra agreed. "I've never seen anyone actually WANT to have this happen to them."

"I wouldn't say I WANT it to happen," Emma amended, "but it'll be like an adventure, I guess. How bad could it be?"

"God, you're so naïve sometimes that it hurts," Paige mumbled.

"Okay, well...you'll be happy to know that the suggestible one, 'If You Say So', got last place with only 16% of the vote," Kendra revealed. "But the suggestIVE one, 'The Old Washing Machine Trick', won handsomely with 55.6%, a large margin above 'Too Long, Didn't Read', in second with 28.57% of the vote."

"Well, guess we'll be well-acquainted with one another then," Emma told Turner with a sultry tone.

"Emma, don't," Turner warned. "The transformation hasn't even taken effect yet, why are you saying that?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know? Ow, what the hell? That hurt!"

Kendra immediately appeared uninvolved, looking the other direction and whistling. Emma, for her part, didn't feel any different. She had only been flirting with Turner to lean into the game a little bit. She figured that if she was going to be stuck here anyways, she wouldn't make herself a target like Becca and Paige had been doing. Perhaps it was her naïveté, perhaps it was her youthfulness and inexperience, but she was going to embrace the idea of a vacation. She'd grown apart from Turner a bit since he had left college, and if this was the way she'd get closer to him, by golly she'd take it. She didn't necessarily want to have sex with him (although she wasn't all that repulsed by the idea), especially since he was taken by Becca. She just wanted more of a relationship with him.

"Anyways, Abby, you're up!" Kendra continued.

"That's Abigail to you," she tiredly revised. "I only let people I actually LIKE call me Abby."

"Whatever you say, Abby," Kendra said without taking what she said into consideration. "Are there any of these transformations that you don't want?"

"All of these are pretty garbage," Abigail said, "but I suppose after seeing Emma, I don't really want to flirt with Turner, especially if it's subconscious. 'It's Worth a Try' wouldn't really be my cup of tea either. What if someone says like 'Oh it's worth a try to lose the challenge' or something like that? I don't exactly want 'The Grass is Always Greener' either, but that'd be the one I'd be least upset about. Might be nice to get an upgrade."

"Well then you'll be pleased to know that 'The Grass is Always Greener' won with 54.9% of the vote, beating out 'Competition' and 'It's Worth a Try' with 31.3% and 13.7%, respectively!" Kendra announced. "I'm sure that one must specifically be a blow to you, Becca."

"Shut up," Becca said. "Just because Abby is gonna be what Turner always dreamed of doesn't mean that he's gonna jump on the chance to fuck her."

As the last few words leapt from Becca's mouth, she immediately felt different saying them. It wasn't that she wanted her sister and her boyfriend to be together, but she noticed that she would be AS upset about it happening. She was frightened by this, because it had only been a couple minutes since she had gotten her transformation. What would happen in the next day? The next week?

Meanwhile, Abigail was just standing there, bracing for something to happen to her. After a short while, when it became clear that nothing was happening, she turned to Kendra again, confused.

"Uh...Kendra?" she asked. "What's...why is nothing happening?"

"Oh, it won't happen immediately," Kendra answered, not really explaining anything.

"So what, is it just gonna happen over the course of a day or something?" Abigail prodded.

"You could say that," Kendra still refused to give information.

Abigail was a bit worried. She wasn't that concerned that she was gonna be Turner's ideal form, but she was thinking towards the future. If this was what the first transformation was for her, would the following be that she would have his ideal psyche? Would she suddenly find him attractive? Where would it end? Would she be able to hold out with everything that Kendra would throw at her? What about when her figure changed, would it feel natural to her or would she have to adjust everything she did to accommodate for it?

"You okay, Abby?" Turner worriedly asked, noticing her pensive state.

"No, yeah, I'm fine," Abigail dismissed. "I'm just thinking...what'll happen in the future if this is what they did to me now?"

"Don't worry, I won't do anything you don't want to," Turner eased.

That elicited a wary look from Becca, who wondered what he was insinuating with that comment. If Abby wanted to take her man, would he just let that happen? Why was that not immediately repulsive to think about?

"Aw, well isn't that sweet," Kendra said with obviously fake endearment. "Easing his soon-to-be-fantasy's thoughts. I'm sure that it'll be REAL easy to do that soon."

"I'm not easing her because she's gonna be what I've imagined," Turner corrected. "I'm easing her because, y'know, she's a friend of mine, and I care about her? It's called empathy, maybe you should learn some next time you decide to abduct people."

"No good deed goes unpunished, eh?" Kendra said to herself. "Try to make someone's life better and you get insane amounts of pushback for it. Anyways! Sara! You're up!"

"Whatever, let's just get this over with," she said as she stood up.

"Tell me, Sara, how often do you read?" Kendra changed the subject.

"Oh, all the time," Sara admitted. "I'm working in law; I'd be miserable if I didn't like reading. Why do you ask?"

"Would you say that you read a lot of romance novels?" Kendra avoided the question.

"Um...yes?" Sara answered warily. "Why...why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," Kendra lied. "Anyways, what are your thoughts on your transformations?"

"I mean, any of them would be about the same to me...oh, wait a second," Sara suddenly realized. "You were asking me about romance novels because that one won, right?"

"Wow, looks like someone's perceptive!" Kendra answered, mainly addressing the audience more than answering Sara's question. "You're exactly right, 'Hopeless Romantic' was our first non-majority winner, with exactly 50%! It looked like 'Best of Both Worlds' was going to take it, but with only 27.1% of the vote, it isn't enough."

"Well, I guess that's probably the best option for me," Sara relented. "I mean, I don't really like girls that much, and bondage is not my thing."

"Ah, but if those had won, those WOULD be your things," Kendra explained. "I get your reasoning though."

Sara didn't really feel any different, which she expected. She figured that once she got into her first candlelit dinner or fireworks show or anything like that, she would definitely feel it, but for now she was more or less the same.

"Alright, Kathryn, get up here!" Kendra called.

"Fuck this," Kathryn defied, staying put. "I don't doubt that you can just change me while I'm sitting here, but I don't want you the satisfaction of having me follow yet another one of your whims."

"Kathryn, Kathryn, Kathryn," Kendra repeated, like a disappointed parent. "You really are a tough nut, aren't you?"

"What can I say?" Kathryn said, a bit prideful. "I work with the people who hunt down terrorists for a living. Defying some woman on a power trip is more natural than reading or writing."

"Well, you were right about me being able to transform you from your seat, if you want to stay there," Kendra relented. "But tell me, what do you NOT want to happen?"

"I'm not going to answer that, you're just gonna use one of your vetoes and make it whatever I want least," Kathryn answered.

"I ought to just give you 'Declassified' and then you'll finally tell me something," Kendra threatened. "But that would be too easy. The votes were 63.8% in favor of 'Assist Bonus."

"Thank God, now I won't spill all that stupid shit I-" Kathryn began, before covering her mouth in surprise.

"Oh, you totally bought that, didn't you?" Kendra said, laughing. "That's too good. 'Assist Bonus' was the winner, but Turner already has someone doing that job; Becca's gonna be setting him up."

"Oh, shove it," Becca said when Kendra looked over at her.

Ignoring her, Kendra continued, "I'm using my first veto on this. Not only because 'Assist Bonus' was a job that was somewhat taken by someone else, but also because Kathryn, you've frankly been nothing but a pain since you got here. Why would I allow you to have pleasure that easily? No, you got a milder version of 'Declassified' and 'I Like it Like That'. As for 'Declassified', we've made it so that you can stop yourself, but only if you're really focusing on what you say, which will probably make it hard to do other things while talking if you want to keep all of those thoughts in your head. 'I Like it Like That' has been modified to, well, I guess you'll find out."

"I hate you so goddamn much," Kathryn said to Kendra. "I want nothing more than to just punch you in the face right now, but I need to look good for the audience-shit!"

"Get used to that happening, hon'," Kendra said, looking like she was on top of the world.

"Aw, it's not so bad saying whatever comes to the front of your mind," Emma said, walking over to Kathryn. "I deal with it every day, you just have to make it part of who you are!"

"Yeah, but everyone loves you because they see you as young and endearing," Kathryn explained. "I'm neither of those things. And frankly, you're the last person who I want consoling me right now, it feels patronizing."

"Ooh, this is gonna be good," Kendra observed. "But we have to continue on with our scheduled program, so that means it's your turn, Charlotte! Anything to say about these transformations?"

"Seems like you still think I'm a generic cheerleader, not a nursing student," Charlotte remarked. "I guess whatever's fine, just not 'Bench Warmer', I don't really want to be like an observer in my own life."

"Well, luckily for you, 'Bench Warmer' raked in exactly none of the votes, it was the only one to do so. Frankly, I'm a little surprised, that's probably the first time that's happened in the history of this show. It seems like most people want to keep you as another dominant contestant, like Kathryn over there."

"Great, another person that's gonna be harder to compete with," Kathryn said, before covering her mouth again.

"Wow, how does Kathryn saying that sit with you, Charlotte? Or the rest of you, because she said 'another' person?" Kendra asked, trying to stir up drama.

"I mean, it's what I expected," Abigail answered, taking the lead. "It's a competition. We have to compete with one another."

No one else answered, all of them either accepting her answer as their own or just not wanting to talk.

"Man, y'all are no fun," Kendra pouted. "Anyways, Charlotte, your vote was a landslide, with 'Energetic and Bubbly' winning a whopping 81.2% of the vote! And as an added bonus, because the poll was so skewed one way, we're going to ramp it up a little bit and make it so your energy and the like is somewhat contagious, so go out and spread joy to the world!"

"Figures," Charlotte said. "Oh well, I'm sure it won't be as bad as I'm imagining it to be. Maybe I can use it to my advantage, who knows?"

"That's the spirit!" Kendra said. "See everyone? You don't have to view all the changes as all doom and gloom, especially you, Paige."

"It's a lot easier to take it in stride when you're gonna be a more positive person than if you're gonna have to apologize to your ex by sucking his dick or something," the addressed girl responded.

"Well then maybe next time don't be so annoying, and your changes will be better," Kendra advised.

Charlotte, for her part, felt like a weight was lifted off of her chest. The air was lighted, her confidence was mixed with an optimistic outlook to the world.

"Yeah, Paige!" she said, her voice noticeably higher. "It's not all bad! I'm sure you can find a way to use it for a good purpose!"

"And then there were three," Kendra said, turning back to the three girls yet to be transformed on the couch and Kathryn, who was sitting there sulking. "You're up, Lauren!"

"If I have to," Lauren said with resignation.

"Aw, c'mon!" Charlotte said, trying to cheer up the dejected woman. "It might make you feel better to have one of these transformations happen to you!"

"Are you serious?" Lauren responded pessimistically. "Making me a sex addict? Making me a masochist? Making me someone who cares even LESS? How could these stand to help you?"

"Maybe they'll give you a purpose," Charlotte noted. "You seem like you're just floating through life without any drive to do anything."

"Whatever, do your worst, producer lady," Lauren turned to Kendra, finding talking to Charlotte and her new over-the-top optimism exhausting.

"Well, you won't care less about this game," Kendra told her. "So Charlotte is correct in saying that you'll get a purpose from this transformation, because 'Go With The Flow' only got 12.5%."

Lauren's face twisted at that. She had silently hoped for that one to win, because it wouldn't have amounted to much of a change for her. Charlotte's words were getting to her a little bit, maybe a transformation was just what she needed to get her life back on track. Granted, it'd be preferable if she didn't have to become a nymphomaniac or someone who got off on pain, but beggars can't be choosers.

"Looks like you're going to have a new fixation, because 'Addict' has won with 66.7% of the vote!" Kendra announced.

Similarly to Becca, Lauren didn't feel any different at first, aside from the headache, which she just took in stride.

"Now, yours will probably take a little longer to take effect than Becca's, but it still shouldn't be too long before your mind is diverted to some...shall we say...more risqué topics," Kendra explained.

"Great," Lauren said. She wasn't much for talking, especially when she had just had her mental programming rearranged.

"Shit, if she's gonna be fucking Turner the first chance she gets, then I have to-fuck, didn't mean to say that," Kathryn blurted.

"Have to what?" Turner said, eyes wary.

"Uh...don't...don't worry about it," Kathryn dodged, although it seemed like it took a lot of effort for her to say that.

"Liam! Our penultimate contestant and only male contestant!" Kendra called. "You're up!"

Liam stood up timidly and shuffled over to Kendra, looking at the floor.

"Or, I guess I should say, our soon-to-be-former only male contestant, because all three of your options had you turning into a girl. The question is then, how much of a girl will you be turning into?" Kendra rhetorically asked.

"Seriously, Kendra?" Turner called out from the lounge. "You couldn't have made him get the wingman transformation and, y'know, NOT have to become a girl? Then you could've given Becca something beneficial..."

"Turner, sugar, even if I was in charge of these, it wouldn't've amounted to a hill of beans," Kendra explained. "That'd've been boring for your best friend over here to just become your assistant, the audience'd've chosen somethin' a bit more exciting for him."

"It wouldn't've amounted to a what now?" Sara asked, genuinely confused.

"Anyways, Liam, you will not be a tomboy, as 'One of the Boys' only amounted to just over 10% of the vote. And with our other two options, we actually have a tie between 'Stream Starting Soon' and 'Opposite Day', both of them obtaining 44.8% of the vote! So...I'm going to use my second veto here, since I don't reckon I'll have to use it on Mandy, and have the vote skewed towards 'Stream Starting Soon'!"

"Wait, why?" Abigail asked.

"Variety, mostly," Kendra answered. "We already have an outgoing, charming girl with Charlotte here, and we'll have someone with a knockout figure with, well you, Abby."

"I swear, if you call me Abby one more time..." Abigail began.

"Anyways," Kendra interrupted and turned back to Liam, "Enjoy your new life as a gamer girl."

Unlike Abigail's physical transformation, Liam's happened right away. His brown hair lightened to blonde as it began to flow down his back. Streaks of pink appeared in his now-long hair reaching to around his mid-back. His face contorted, moving his features around to make him appear more girly. His lean, scrawny figure filled out more as small breasts pushed out against his poorly-fitting T-shirt. A pair of pink headphones appeared around his neck. His waist flared out slightly as his ass pushed out behind him and his-her dick was pulled inside, replaced with a cleanly shaven pussy.

Liam started to cry, having his...her masculinity taken away by this game. Mandy, for her part was furious at Kendra. She stormed up, ready to defend her child.

"I might've been willing to sit back and take it earlier, but this", she motioned over to Liam sobbing and sitting back down, "is unacceptable. You're going to reverse this, and NOW."

She was pissed, more pissed than when she had found Turner and Liam digging out the plants in her garden when they were kids. Turner was genuinely scared for Kendra's life as they stared each other down. Mandy was shorter than Kendra was, but that didn't make her any less intimidating.

"Or what?" Kendra said, posing the same challenge that Liam had said to Mandy several times over the course of his childhood.

Mandy's face heated up even more as she tried to think of something, anything that she could do to Kendra, but she was powerless in this scenario.

"Mmhmm, that's what I thought," Kendra said smugly. "Anyways, that segues perfectly into YOUR transformations, Mandy. What do you hope that you got?"

"Stuff a sock in it, fucker," was the response that Kendra got.

"Interesting choice, but unfortunately that wasn't one of the options," Kendra continued, ignoring Mandy's protests. "'Confidant' was probably the least obstructive one for you, but that one only got a measly 6.4%. It was a close race between 'Use What You've Got' and 'Expertise', but 'Expertise' won out in the end with just over 50%. So...prepare your mind for a boatload of facts."

"Fuck. You," Mandy responded.

"Yeah, exactly like that," Kendra said.

Abigail moved over to console Liam, she put her arm around her and started lightly rubbing her back. Everyone got more sullen as the atmosphere shifted to something way more serious than before. Mandy was rubbing her forehead, overwhelmed with the multitude of information bombarding her mind, but that didn't stop her from trying to dote on her son-turned-daughter.