Mean Street

Ali was frightened, though not entirely unsurprised, to see Shock and Awe lead the voting by a comfortable margin.

"Well, shit..." She said with a sigh. "So, only radical changes going forward, huh?"

"If only it were that simple," Jack said with a theatrical, pitying head shake. "The audience wants cruelty, so we need to take one extra step to give it to them."

Ali watched, puzzled, as Crissy removed 5 of the boxes and replaced them with 5 others.

"In addition to the mean spirited nature of the transformations you receive, we've also removed all but the largest cash box. And to more thoroughly facilitate a terrible run for you, we've also removed the Harmony box." Jack explained, "In their places we've added a few special grab bag changes, just for you, as well as an additional billion dollar and wish boxes. So from here on, only the most **** outcomes await our contestant."

"What? That's not fair!" Ali protested.

"Of course it's not. One might even say it's shocking."

"Why did I write a host that was so fucking lame?" She asked.

He only grinned in response.

"Pick a box, Ali. You only have 4 until you can go home."

Ali thought for a moment and pointed to one of the new boxes. At least with those she had an improved chance of getting a billion dollars or a wish.

"That one."

Crissy opened it to reveal a little cloth bag; one of the new grab bag boxes added to the game.

"Our category is Voice and Vocabulary," Jack said. "This will fundamentally alter the way Ali here speaks. Let's see the options."

1. Little Talks - Ali will only be able to speak in small words; one syllable only, with a possible second allowed only for suffixes.

2. Short Circuit - Ali's vocabulary has no more limits than it currently does, but she can only speak in one to two word sentences.

3. The Sound of Silence - Actually, who needs to talk at all? Or cry, moan, yell or anything else, for that matter. Nobody will hear a peep out of Ali ever again.

4. Beginnings - Ali's speech patters will go all the way back to the beginning...of man. Think caveman dialect, both simplistic and in third person.

5. The Truth - Ali can tell no lies, but this isn't a limit on how she speaks. Rather, anything she says will now BECOME the truth.

Ali stared at the choices in a mixture of wonder and admiration. They were certainly ****, both in their meanness and, in that last's case, in the power it would grant her. Nervously, she waited for the results.

Stealing the poll idea, though do feel free to leave comments still :) https://strawpoll.com/9g1p7wgs2