Nicole and Anby Demara, from the Cunning Hares talent agency

Wise held one arm in front of his mouth reflexively, trying to avoid breathing in the white smoke billowing through the doors as he proceeded past the Bangboo engravings.

“Oh, stop that, you silly man. It's a fog machine. Yes, I'm magical, and yes, I'm dangerous, but I have neither the need nor desire to use toxic gas,” the Loverboo sighed, shaking its nubby head back and forth in a pitying way. “We'll all have a better time if you can lower your guard a little and stop questioning every little harmless cloud.”

Reluctantly, Wise took her advice, allowing his arms to rest back at his sides. He found himself silently wondering: perhaps that was the host's weakness, if she could be said to have any at all? She seemed very insistent that he get into the right headspace and put aside his reservations about acting as the beneficiary here. It could well be that her neck was on the line if the game’s participants didn't put on a show for the audience.

… Then again, that might be less of a weakness and more of a good reason to avoid ticking her off too much. She might be more high strung than she was letting on and he didn't want to give her a reason to take it out on the contestants.

The checkered marble tile pattern persisted as they continued, but with the addition of countless statues of Bangboos striking various saucy poses, cute at first glance but a little upsetting to view at length. A long, white carpet was rolled out from the entrance to the end of the hall, with red rose petals scattered along its length. It reminded Wise a bit of a wedding chapel. “I guess this is technically my wedding, isn't it?” he joked quietly to himself.

“I guess it is!” the Loverboo at his side chuckled, giving him a wink.

Certain fixtures he thought were statues turned out to be more Bangboo, moving quietly through the hall. These ones might actually be typical robots with installed AIs. They didn't say anything to him as he passed, but they did bow their heads like servants. It was certainly odd to be the guest of honor… and to see such well-behaved Bangboo, for that matter. Most of the ones he knew behaved like unruly children at the best of times.

Wise noted they were passing a lot of doors without opening any. “Isn't this supposed to be the grand tour? What, are those all storage closets I don’t have any reason to look at?”

“Eager to see the sights? Splendid! Those are very real, very entertaining amenities for guests, of course, but we don't have time to view every room in this impossibly large hotel resort. Best to save some surprises for later in the competition anyways, I say. No, we are going to focus on a few key rooms where the other contestants have also conveniently been gathered.”

Finally, the Loverboo turned a corner, leading Wise away from the lavish, spiraling staircase he was sure they were headed for. Instead, the hard right landed them in a dining room, one with a lengthy, glass-topped dinner table, an extensive drink bar, and a back door leading to a kitchen area. The breakfast selection put that of any other hotel to shame, but the atmosphere wasn’t exactly to his liking. All the marble and polished silver made it look like a place ancient gods would eat– pretty awkward for day to day meals, he thought.

That said, he spotted something else of greater interest: one wall of the dining area held huge glass panes, and behind those was an outside eating area with beachy umbrellas, looking out towards the coast. Was the inside of the hotel all this crazy Valentine's Day shrine motif and the outside a classic beach theme? It made him want to go outside immediately.

To his surprise, he was allowed to do so. He walked past Loverboo and opened the door with no resistance– it felt good to feel a door open under his own power again. As soon as he stepped outside, he felt the salty breeze hit him and the sun upon his face, appreciating the genuine refreshment after all the unwanted ‘hospitality’ of the hotel. Even better, he spotted a beach down below, dotted with palm trees, and an endless blue ocean. It was the kind of thing he'd only seen in movies about the old world. Even the people working the fisheries probably couldn't go out far due to ethereal monsters, but this sea stretched out as far as the eye could see in unbroken waves, just as mind-boggling as any of the magic he'd seen up to this point.

He wished Belle could see this– it would be hard to describe it perfectly later. Or his other friends, for that matter. Of course, if Nicole was here, she’d probably be hitting the complimentary breakfast embarrassingly hard. She seemed to grow a second stomach when it came to free food.

“Wise?!”

As if on cue, a familiar voice called out from his right, where an awning attached to the hotel cast shade over the otherwise warm, wooden deck. He spotted the familiar pink, twintail hair of Nicole Demara, one of his longtime companions in the hollow commission business, along with all the rest. Her crazy hourglass figure was all on display thanks to her immodest tube top / short-shorts combo. The one thing missing was her usual weapon, an oversized briefcase gun she usually lugged around.

Wise felt a surge of hope rising in his chest for a moment. If the Cunning Hares were here, that dramatically improved his chances of finding a way out of the game. Those agents had a way of slipping free of even the hairiest situations.

A sinking feeling in his gut followed. The only one reason she'd logically be here at the hotel was if she’d been **** to become one of the contestants…

“Have you seen that creep they’re calling ‘the Master’ yet? I'm ready to give him a piece of my mind!” Nicole growled, crossing her arms and leaning forward disarmingly in his direction. Despite her protests, Wise did indeed notice she was carrying the empty wrapper of a complimentary breakfast muffin clenched in her fist. “Whoever this jerkwad is, he's got a pretty huge strike zone, huh? If you and I are both here as contestants, I mean. Not to mention Anby and all the others.”

“She's here too, huh?” Wise questioned, shielding his eyes against the sun as he looked past Nicole towards the other side of the deck. The white-haired cool beauty of the Cunning Hares, Anby, leaned over the banister, as if that extra little stretch would help her inspect the unfamiliar ocean more closely. She tended to be a little aloof, so for a moment, Wise thought she was just going to continue ignoring him to focus on the waves. Her tantalizingly short skirt fluttered in the breeze, flipping up to reveal… her trademark pair of tight, black spats.

Spotting Wise staring, she left her spot, placing one hand on her hip as she stood beside her faction leader / adoptive sister. “Nicole, you didn’t read the rules, did you?”

“I skimmed them,” she answered defensively, pouting and letting her ally take the lead.

Anby was in charge of the Cunning Hares’ finances, such as they were– it was no surprise she'd gone over the rule set with a fine-toothed comb already. She lowered her head for a moment, not sighing, but mimicking the gesture, before continuing. “The ‘Master’ is also an unwilling participant in this game. Also, based on Wise's late introduction, I have a theory. Wise, please confirm: are you the ‘Master?’”

“Guilty as charged,” he muttered, placing one hand awkwardly upon the back of his head. “And you're right: I don't have a choice. I guess that means you two are-?”

“We're ‘contestants’ which seems to be a fancy way of saying we’re supposed to act like bimbos and do whatever you want us to like your personal slaves!” Nicole interrupted, poking one bright pink painted fingernail into his chest repeatedly in an accusatory gesture. “Who ever heard of a TV show like this? And the prize? ‘One wish?’ Talk about shady!”

This time, Anby interrupted, swooshing in with cat-like speed to stand between Nicole and Wise. “This is actually a favorable situation for us.”

“Favorable?!” Nicole scoffed, closing her eyes and crossing her arms as she backed off from Wise. She opened one eye to barely glance at Anby out of it. “What do you mean ‘favorable?’”

“I will elaborate. We were worried that the ‘Master’ would be someone who would exploit us and make us do demeaning things, as per the rules of the game. Now that we know it's someone like Wise-”

“Trustworthy?” Wise asked, smiling hopefully.

“Ha! More like boring,” Nicole cackled, smiling with sympathy. “Boring in a good way, I guess.”

“... It will be less of a dire situation for all of us,” Anby finished. Just as Wise was mentally praising her even-headed thinking, she suddenly became distracted as a flock of seagulls flew by overhead. “Did you know? Seagulls are also called ‘sea cats.’ Since we’ll likely be here for some time, perhaps we can build our trust with them using dried fish, like with the stray cats?”

“Anby, will you get your head out of the clouds?! At any rate, at least now we know why Billy isn't here. Guess he wasn't in Wise's wheelhouse.”

“Look, I didnt pick the contestants,” Wise reminded her once again.

“Uh huh,” Nicole smirked, cocking out one hip and half-shading her teasing grin with one hand. “I notice you don’t seem to be sweating the whole deal. This is a dream scenario for guys like you, huh? Getting to date a girl like me without having to pay for it!”

Wise cursed internally while smiling along in silence. Could she really not tell how hard he was working not to freak out? This wasn’t anything like a date!

Continuing to push it, she threw her arm around him from one side, pushing up her breasts against the left of his chest in an overly familiar gesture– he wasn’t used to this much skinship from her. He actually found himself blushing a bit, wondering if she was getting in the mood for the game, until she whispered into his ear: “Don’t worry. We’re busting out of here! Just go with it for a while.”

So it sounded like they were on the same page after all… but did she really have a plan, or was she just winging it? There was no time to discuss in more detail right now.

“Are you competing for VP right now, Nicole? Should I join you?” Anby questioned, grabbing Wise from the other side. Her breasts, covered in a green tactical gear jacket, weren’t as impressive, but it was still pretty unusual to be this close up to her. She wasn’t the touchy-feely type. Her face held a stoic, but cute, frown... it reminded him of the look the neighborhood cats gave him when they nuzzled his leg.

An unwelcome presence sprung up in front of Wise, wiggling its rabbit ears. “If you two really want VP, you’re going to have to go in harder than that! I don’t want to do all your thinking for you, but it should probably involve someone’s sexual organs.”

“Butt out, bunny,” Nicole grumbled, sticking out her tongue.

“Don’t be that way. We haven’t even done your official introductions for the benefit of the audience yet, have we? Let’s go ahead and get right into it.” The host Bangboo knocked its nubs together again, and suddenly, the TVs inside the dining room lit up, along with countless other monitors previously camouflaged by the environment. Nicole’s familiar face was displayed on each one and Loverboo’s voice boomed from all around.

“Our first contestant: Nicole Demara, leader of the Cunning Hares! Wise’s ‘bad friend,’ if you want to put it in anime tropes, she’s got a running tab at every establishment on Sixth street as long as her legs in those jean shorts. Is it finally time for Wise to collect on that bill? Her dream is to swim in a swimming pool full of Dennies– that’s New Eridu money, if you didn’t know. Her charm point is the beauty mark on her tit. Her best personality trait is the way she’s always pretending not to care about people but actually gives money to orphans. Her worst personality trait is the way she never tries to return money she finds on the street, even if it’s a whole wallet.”

“T-That’s called being thrifty!” Nicole protested, stomping one boot upon the wooden balcony.

“Now on to our second contestant: Anby Demara, the accountant of the Cunning Hares! She's almost like a robot and she never smiles, but there's one thing she loves: Burgers. She likes hamburgers a lot more than you would expect from her petite figure. She and Wise spend a lot of time watching movies together– maybe they’d like to make their own? Something a little X rated? Her dream is to eat a hamburger stacked with fifteen patties like in an animated movie. Her charm point is the shape of her glutes in spats. Her best personality trait is her honest and straightforward nature. Her worst personality trait is that she's always spoiling movies.”

“I don't think that's such a bad trait! Who cares?” Nicole chuckled. Wise started to speak up and say that, as a movie buff, he thought that was one of the worst things a person could do, but he held his tongue.

"Personally, having seen her in action, I think her bigger problem is her total lack of a sex drive," the host chuckled now that the reel was over.

"... That's just an assumption on your part," Anby muttered, casting her eyes to one side. Was that bashfulness or annoyance? It was hard to tell.

“Prove me wrong, then,” Loverboo cooed, then waddled past the group towards the exit. “Grab a muffin and follow me, Wise. We’re going to head to the pool next.”

“Next… How many contestants are there?”

“Let a girl have a few surprises!”

Before leaving, he turned back to the girls and waited till Loverboo had gained some distance. “Look, one way or another… things are going to get pretty awkward in a bit. Let’s all just try to remember you’re not against each other. It’s reality TV, so they’re going to try to make drama, but in the end, you’re all on the same team.”

Nicole nodded, but Anby frowned and crossed her arms. She spoke quietly. “Wise… I agree, but you should know… if it comes down to it, I have to protect Nicole over everyone else. I can’t let her lose the contest.”

“I actually feel the same way. I can’t let Anby get eliminated. It’s not about the big prize– that elimination thing in the rules just sounds super shady,” Nicole agreed, closing her eyes and thinking hard. “So, you know, we’re playing along, but… we’ll also be playing to win. No hard feelings to the other girls.”

Wise couldn’t blame them– Nicole and Anby were as close as sisters. If Belle was here, he’d want someone watching her back the same way. “I get it. Take care of each other,” he agreed, before heading after the increasingly impatient host Bangboo. It was reassuring to have them here and… there were worse girls to be bound in matrimony to, if he was being honest with himself.

Nicole was pretty, smart, and really easy to get along with. They hung out all the time– it wasn’t that different from dating.

Anby loved movies even more than he did and she was remarkably kind. It was hard not to be curious what it would be like to have a closer relationship with her.

It was crazy to think that by the rules of this game, he’d actually get both of them. He wouldn’t even have to choose. He wouldn’t have to reject either one of them either– it would all just happen and he’d be blameless at the end of it.

“No, no. The problem here is that I’m thinking about it like it’s actually going to happen. Come on, Wise. Get your head in the game! Or… back out of the game, I guess.”