Noah discussion post exploration

(3rd POV)

Nola had just disappeared and the 13 of them were once again at a loss as to what to do. "What do we do now?" asked Iris loudly, expressing what everyone else was thinking.

"We'll rest first. It must have been a tiring day for everyone," replied Jeanne, still in her bathing suit.

"You also need to start thinking about what you want to ask for as a transformation," Elizabeth remarked.

"Can we really trust her not to distort them perversely?" asked the obviously unconvinced

"No we can't." says Sophia before continuing "That's not to say the opportunity isn't interesting. We just have to be careful."

"I don't think Nola has bad intentions," said Arthur.

"It's easy for you to be complacent towards her. It's not you who's in danger of becoming nothing more than a sex ****," remarked Susan, visibly irritated by the Master's words.

"Calm down, Susan. I'm sure Arthur didn't mean to offend by saying that." asked Lily, obviously used to calming her daughter's nerves.

"And what could be his objective? He can't possibly believe we're going to swallow this crude lie!" exclaimed the vampire.

"Please let my brother talk. I'm sure he'll explain." pointed out Iris as if she had no doubt that there was a reason for her big brother's strange words.

The whole assembly fell silent to allow Arthur to speak. He seemed visibly embarrassed to have suddenly become the center of attention. Oh sure, he'd already spoken in front of a dozen people, but they were almost always presentations he'd prepared and for which he had a certain degree of expertise.

"Uh, yes of course, I can explain. I'm beginning to have some understanding of Nola after our long conversations. I obviously don't know her as well as I know most of you, but I think I've got the gist of her," began Arthur.

"Nola is as much a prisoner of this show as we are. Oh sure she has a different position and a different future, but she's no more free with her choices than we are. She wants to prove herself and make the show a success. She doesn't have the same relationship to sex as we do, but I imagine we'll all be **** to evolve our positions on that anyway, but that's not the most important thing."

"Oh, what's the most important thing?" asked Jeanne sarcastically.

"Frankly Jeanne I don't know how I managed to go without hearing your sarcasm for more than 5 minutes. The important thing is that Nola hasn't a clue what she's doing. She's watched and studied the previous seasons and so thinks about imitating what's already been done but you can influence her."

"If I understand correctly, you're telling us that the person in charge of this show is naive and highly suggestible," said Sophia.

"Exactly, as long as you go along with her and don't oppose her head-on, you can make her any proposal you like. So if you manage to turn one of your transformation proposals into something a little erotic or related to the harem concept, she'll probably be very enthusiastic and won't look any further." argued Arthur.

"And if, on the contrary, we try to avoid anything sexual, she will impose them on us by ****, if I follow your reasoning correctly," declared Kelly.

"That's what I fear," replied the Master.

"That's an interesting view of things, but do you have any evidence to back it up?" asked the prosecutor.

"None whatsoever. Everything I say is purely a feeling you are free to disregard," replied Arthur.

After that, no one spoke again, and the group dispersed. Everyone already had enough to think about, so they didn't want to add to it.

---

(Elizabeth POV)

Elizabeth didn't waste too much time and chose to move closer to her sister. They hadn't both been brilliant at this event, and she knew that her sister would not take kindly to a poor result in what could be considered a sporting event.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm less cold now," replied the doggirl.

"I imagine you were sent to an uncomfortable environment. I was lucky: the forest I landed in was rather pleasant, even if it didn't do me much good, given my ranking" commented the elf.

"The snow-capped mountains reminded me of our winter vacations with Mum in the Alps," says Victoria.

"We can go back there together then. You can show me the most beautiful scenery," Elizabeth asked, trying to cheer up her twin.

"Yes, of course. You'll see that the snow and the air have a purity that only exists in the movies. You feel like you're in a white paradise", says the athlete.

"I'm sure it's sumptuous. Do you have any idea what you're going to ask Nola?" asked Elizabeth, not wanting to dismiss the important subject.

"I don't know. The only thing I've been thinking about and dreaming about for the past few years is competing in the first women's decathlon in Olympic history. I trained every day for that goal. To take part in the Olympics and become the world's greatest athlete. And now it's all meaningless. Oh, I'm going to get back on track, but it's going to take time," said Victoria.

Elizabeth felt like throwing up. She had deprived her sister of her dream. She could repeat to herself that it was for her own good and that she would find other dreams, but in her selfish desire she had destroyed her twin's dream.

"I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I stopped you from realizing your dream by making you come here, and for that I'm sorry," Elizabeth explained with tears in her eyes.

"ouch!" cried Elizabeth as Victoria flicked her forehead.

"Idiot. How can you be so smart and so dumb? You saved my life. I don't care about podiums and trophies. You're my sister, I'll follow you wherever you go and whatever you choose." said Victoria.

"Tory ..."

"Besides, it's not so bad. We're together now. Even if I'd have appreciated it if you'd chosen a husband with a bit more muscle," continued the kobold.

"Are you sure you're not too frustrated?" asked the engineer.

"Of course I'm frustrated, but frustration is part of competition. Do you think I could throw the javelin perfectly the first few times? Failure is the road to success. I don't give up after a failure. I fall, I get up again. That's how I see my life. It's pretty simple really. I finished 9th in this event. Great, I've improved by 8 places. I finished 1(st), no worries, I can beat my own record. That's my goal," declared Victoria.

Elizabeth was speechless. When has her sister ever shown such wisdom? And to think she was the one who had been singled out for her intelligence. It was ridiculous. She was an idiot compared to Tory.

"I'm so stupid," she said.

"It took you a long time to admit it. I admit it was probably easier for me to admit it when it was repeated to me all day long, but I guess it's better late than never. Welcome to the group of morons, idiots and feeble-minded people," announced the doggirl.

"Thanks Tory, I needed to hear that. If it's okay with you, I'll go have a chat with Arthur," said the chemist.

"No problem Eli, I'm always here if you need me to remind you of your stupidity." replied Victoria.

---

It took Elizabeth a few minutes to find Arthur chatting with Iris. The bunnygirl and the Master were having a quiet laugh together.

"I'm glad you had a good time with Lily. I loved having her as my teacher," says Master.

"I know you've already told me, but now I understand why it's nice to have a chat with her," Iris replied.

"Excuse me, Iris, but could I borrow your brother for a moment? There's something I need to discuss with him alone", asked the elf, **** to separate the charming duo.

"It's all right, I was done anyway. You know what siblings are like, in small doses they're fun, but leave them together too long and you're guaranteed a fight." said Iris before walking away.

When Elizabeth was sure no one was listening, she began to speak.

"I've come to talk to you about Nola and the transformations she's asking us to propose."

"I see, and I imagine you want me to suggest a specific transformation for you," Arthur replied.

"No, not really. I wanted to talk about Victoria," replied the elf.

"I admit I don't really know her, Susan or Kelly. In fact, I could probably add Tammy to that list, as I've never had a conversation with her lasting more than 10 minutes," Arthur reminded himself.

"Yes it can't be easy to choose for people you don't know," Elizabeth admitted.

"That's the least you can say. And when all this is over, I'll have a whole country to run. Making decisions that will affect thousands of people," Arthur continued.

"Probably millions," commented Elizabeth. "Very reassuring," said the Master sarcastically.

"I thought you were interested in politics. Running a country should appeal to you," remarked the elf.

"Yes, I'm interested, or rather I was interested, in politics, but that was mainly because it entertained me and I hoped that politicians would realize that '1984' is a warning, not an instruction manual! I admire democracy and I've become its gravedigger," he concludes.

"You don't have to become a dictator, you know," she replied.

"And what other alternative do I have? You've got to understand that, haven't you? My decisions would have the **** of law. I'd have absolute power, but you know the maxim, 'power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely'. How could I remain the same after a certain period of time with such power?" he asked, no doubt hoping for an answer that didn't exist.

"Acton really was a shrewd politician," Elizabeth commented. "Who?" asked Arthur, visibly confused.

"John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, nineteenth-century English politician you just quoted. Don't tell me you had no idea who you were quoting?" she exclaimed.

"You see, I'm pathetic. You deserve to rule this world 100 times more than I do. If only this show wasn't sexist..."

"Yes, I'm sure a **** game would be much better," says Elizabeth ironically. "That's not what I meant," he replied.

"No doubt, but you have to admit that even if the context isn't perfect, it's easy to imagine much worse. I stopped believing in angels and benevolent gods a long time ago. The producers and audience of this show want to see a sexy show, so let's give them that.

They're nice enough to provide so many survival opportunities for us and our loved ones in return. As for your concern about becoming a tyrant, well, I'd like to tell you that you'll just be a king, and while your word will be absolute, you'll be far from omnipotent. What's more, it's up to you to decide what subjects you want to get involved in. You won't be governing, of course, unless you want to. I see you more in a role somewhere between a symbolic figure like the King of England or the Constitutional Council," Elizabeth explained.

This seemed to plunge Arthur into deep reflection, and he finally lay down on the grass and stared up at the sky. Elizabeth chose to lie down beside him. In any case, if they were going to be together, they might as well start getting closer.

"Looking at the clouds is relaxing, don't you think?" he asked.

The question took Elizabeth by surprise and she took a few seconds to answer.

"I've never taken the time to really look at it, but yes it's nice, after that I doubt you really want to talk about the weather."

"I'm such a coward. Postponing important decisions whenever possible. It's always been hard for me to commit to one path and then abandon the others. And to come back to the present, I don't know what I can propose as a transformation for 12 people," says Arthur.

"Why don't you start describing what you like and dislike about each person. I'm sure Nola won't have any problem with a transformation aimed at increasing the breast size of any member of the harem," replied the elf.

"Elizabeth!"

"What? You're not going to tell me you don't have a thing for big breasts? I know you, Arthur," she replied.

"That's not the point. I can't impose that on them. It wouldn't be ethical. It wouldn't ..."

"You're the one who defines ethics, I remind you, and you're the one who explained to us that we'd probably have to offer transformations with a sexy aspect so that they'd be accepted as such by the audience and Nola," remarked Elizabeth.

"It's not the same thing! You can choose a handicap for yourself, but it's not the same thing to impose it on others," replied Arthur.

"You're going to have to learn to make choices about other people, Arthur. You're even going to have to make choices without asking the main people involved, so you might as well start now." declared the blond elf.

"What can I suggest? Let's start with you. What should I choose for you?" he asked.

"Ah no, no, no. I'm not going to answer that question, it would just be counterproductive. You have to come up with an idea on your own," Elizabeth replied, laughing.

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" he said. "That's all we need. It's up to you," she replied.

"Well, are you at least going to help me with your sister? I'm not asking you to give me a ready-made transformation, but please tell me about her." he asked.

Elizabeth hesitated a moment before nodding. She spent the rest of the afternoon and evening describing her sister in detail, dwelling on the slightest anecdote. She decided to sleep with Arthur, Nola having passed on the message that it was necessary to vary the person sleeping with the Master each night.