Potage a la Tortue Claire

Backstage, Lucian watched the monitors, leaning heavily on his one hand. One set was showing multiple angles of the group in Kalliope’s lair, another showed Eliza pacing in her bedroom while Mira sat in a chair to the side, and the last set showed a cheering Noemi as Caleb, with an open umbrella in hand, made it down to the docks. A full spectrum of human emotion was on display, and the demon was scowling at every moment of it.

Reyna popped into the room in a puff of smoke, all smiles, “Lucy, just finished my meeting with the board!” She skipped over and planted her plush rear end on the console, eliciting a growl from Lucian, which she ignored. “They all agree, you’re really shining in the role, they loved the last challenge with the only note being that while the suits were great, some extra sexy material would have made it even better. Some food for thought.”

Tapping his finger irritably on the console dashboard, Lucian rolled his eyes, “I’ll get right on it. Maybe if they wanted sexy, it was ill-advised to pick out someone whose specialty is torturing people.”

Reyna just beamed at him, “That’s why you’re here, Lucy! To show that depth! Levels and different styles of depravity, we all know you have it in you…and well if you don’t…” She let the words hang and then chuckled before leaning in and pointing at the monitor, “Look at that! Caleb made it outside!”

Clicking his tongue, Lucian spun in his chair and got up, throwing his hands up, “Yes, very good, he is now capable of doing what most masters can do without thinking, and he needs an umbrella to do it, and he still hyperventilates. Saints above, why did you pick this schmuck? It’s such an obvious handicap.”

Reyna tittered away as she rocked back and forth on her perch, “Most Masters come with a handicap, Lucy! Usually, it’s morality and an unwillingness to take advantage of the situation. Caleb is special that way; he’s so twisted up inside that even with morality, he plays the game because he feels he has a responsibility to do so. Can’t stand seeing any of these women hurt just because he can’t get it up!” She raised her hand to her mouth and chuckled mischievously, “Also, he’s not a virgin, doesn’t have that hang up, not to mention he played Bodacious Captain Wei!”

“Ah yes, the shovelware you praise as art,” Lucian pinched his brow, “Also you act like virginity isn’t a core facet of the show’s narrative arc, how many characters first times are made more impactful by their choice to sleep with the master, or the master finally deciding to give it up in either the throes of passion or lovesickness.”

Reyna’s eyelids lowered, and she smirked, looking at the demon, “Of course, you of all people would see it that way.” She skipped over and reached up to pinch Lucian’s cheek, “Such a pure-hearted **** demon.”

Lucian’s face flushed scarlet even as he reared back and snarled, “The point remains! We have this entire island, and he can’t even explore most of it.”

The assistant gave a half-hearted shrug, “Like I said, he is so twisted up inside he’ll **** himself to, I mean, look at him and that umbrella.” She gestured to the screen, “That’s the look of desperation, Lucy! With the right key strokes, we can prompt him to do whatever we want, regardless of what it costs him.”

Lucian leaned in and brought his hand to his chin, “You say that, but this is still a dating show, how much can I realistically get away with?”

It was Reyna’s turn to roll her eyes. “Lucy! You’re being asked to show versatility, not be Genet! What good is having you as a host if we can’t utilize all those skills you’ve honed learning how people function inside to break them? You can’t **** them or kill them, you still need to stay in the confines of our structure, but Lucy, c’mon, there’s a reason you were brought here.”

“****?” Lucian replied snidely.

“Stupid brat,” Reyna muttered before smiling again, “No, Lucy, it’s your ability to get a read on people and push them that we wanted!”

Lucian turned his back on Reyna. It felt like a trap; every interaction with his assistant felt like a trap. Lucian was used to dealing with demons and devils of all sorts; he had practiced over the last few hundred years of doing so. While their reasoning and methods differed, you could always rely on a few things: demons wanted out, and devils wanted power. Lucian was the oddball who liked his position under an Archduke of hell. It made dealing with them a dance, but one that Lucian knew the steps to, regardless of who his partner was.

Reyna, on the other hand, couldn’t pin down what motivated her. He thought after putting her in her place, she’d be…something. Cross, afraid, sad, anything like that. Instead, she had waltzed back in the next morning, happy as a clam before heading off to her meeting, like nothing had happened. Her demeanor hadn’t changed in their interactions, and from the moment of meeting her, he had no clue what motivated her. Why wasn’t she a host? Why come on the show at all, and why be the assistant of all things? It put him on the back foot, and Lucian hated being on the back foot.

The host clicked his tongue and walked over to the coatrack and grabbed his suit coat. “The dates are coming up next, if I notice any…Slacking, I won’t be afraid to step in. I assume that meets your approval?”

Reyna sat back on the console and kicked her feet. “Lucy, you haven’t disappointed me yet! Well no, there was the Milf thing, but water under the bridge.” She looked at Lucian getting dressed and raised an eyebrow, “Somewhere to be?”

Straightening his clothes, Lucian sighed, “Yes, I have recently been made aware of an old…acquaintance stuck in a similar rut. I thought I’d go check in on them.”

Making a round “o” with her mouth, Reyna gave a performative gasp, “Going out at all hours to meet with strange people. Lucy, this is not how I raised you.”

Lucian’s features sharpened, and he glared at Reyna, “You did not raise me, let’s be clear on that.”

“Hmmmm?” Reyna hummed and gave a sharp-toothed grin, “Did that touch a nerve, Lucy? If I didn’t know better, I might swear you had some hang-ups surrounding parental figures.”

“Reyna, I hear you breathing. If I keep hearing it, I may be tempted to fix the problem,” the demon said offhandedly as he grabbed his slapstick, and Reyna mimed zipping her lips. “Keep eyes on the girls with Kalliope, if they end up purchasing anything, it’s priority that I know.”

Reyna made a big show of talking with her mouth closed while gesturing with her hands, and Lucian pinched his brow, “Goddammit, you can talk.”

Saluting, Reyna piped up, “No problem, boss man, enjoy your date, and I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

“It’s not a-” Lucian cut himself off and gave an exasperated sigh, “It’s not worth it.” He slammed the slapstick against the ground, and in a burst of flames, he was gone.

Reyna grinned to herself and turned to the monitor, “Ah, young people get so flustered so easily these days.” She flipped through the channels and brought the screen up, showing the Innamorti suite and zoomed in on the side table where the mask was sitting, “He still hasn’t noticed too.”

Kicking her feet up on the dashboard, Reyna smirked, “Ah, well, seeds planted and all that. Though I suppose this is more like nitroglycerin. He’s coming along nicely. I can only prompt so much. If I just tell him what to do, where’s the amusement in that?” She hummed to herself as she kept her silent vigil over the screens, only broken by her chuckles every now and again, and she imagined what was coming.

The group took some time to get rehydrated while under the Lamia’s watchful eye. While it seemed the woman didn’t mean the group any immediate harm, there was no denying her red eyes; looking them over was enough to send a shiver up the group’s spine. Eventually, they had all finished their water and with enough time could see no one else’s chest was expanding like Maddy’s. Amy stood up and looked up at the Lamia

“Thank you again for your hospitality. It was a long journey to get here. If you wouldn’t mind, we would like to know more about what it is you do here and this…Ante Table.”

“Of course, my dear,” Kalliope’s body extended, and she circled around the group until they were all ensnared by the black scales that made up her body, making Maddy shiver. “Let’s get comfortable and talk. So I should start with the basics, this is the shop where you contestants can purchase “upgrades” for your transformations.” Kalliope's tail rattled gently at the end of her statement.

Encouraged by this, Maya smiled, “How much do these upgrades cost?”

Kalliopes' own smile widened, “Why, it’s the simplest thing in the world, upgrades cost 20 BP if you are purchasing them for yourself and 10 BP if you are purchasing them for another contestant. They don’t even have to be here for you to do so.”

Lily’s face soured. Of course, this wasn’t really about upgrades; this system encouraged using these upgrades on other people. It may as well be another form of Sabotage in all but name.

Amy pushed forward, “Is that all there is to it?”

The circle around the group tightened as Kalliope shook her head, her canines on full display as she grinned widely, “No, it’s not, after all, think about it for a moment…what is an upgrade?”

Stella scoffed, “We’re solving riddles now?”

The Lamia chuckled, but her tail wagged dangerously, “No, just answer honestly, what do you think an upgrade is?”

Holding her arms close to her chest, Maddy spoke with a quivering voice as her eyes kept focus on the ground, “Something that makes our transformation more manageable?”

The Lamia leaned in towards Maddy and reached out, tilting her chin up, “A good answer, certainly from your perspective, that would be an upgrade. But what about the audience?”

“Oh!” Maya’s eyes widened, and she raised her hand as she answered, “An upgrade that makes it more manageable would be more boring for the audience, so they’d want something that makes our transformations more ****, which is also a type of 'upgrade’.”

Kalliope clapped and began to pull her body back into a coil on the raised dais, “That’s right, the idea of upgrades isn’t straightforward, so neither is their purchase.” She waved her tail over the table in front of her, and a large triangular prism appeared. “For every transformation upgrade bought, I roll this fate die. It has three sides.” She flipped it, showing a side with a fresco of angels on a heavenly mountain, “Beneficial.” She turned the die, showing a fresco of a human city, “neutral.” She turned the die once more, revealing a fresco of a fiery pit where horned demons danced, “disastrous.” Her eyes gleamed brightly.

Lily crossed her arms, “So it’s completely random, we can buy something and get completely screwed over or purchase someone trying to screw them over and help them?”

Amy frowned. It was definitely less than ideal, though it fit with what she knew about transformation upgrades as a whole. From what she read, though other seasons just had it be a general toss-up, not this modular design. “Ah.” She let out an unintentional exclamation as it clicked in her brain, explaining to them how the system worked rather than just knowing it was random, which played into the gambler's fallacy and made them feel they had some control or understanding.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Kalliope speaking up, “That is the case unless you Ante-Up.”

Maya’s eyes gleamed. This was gaming language for sure: “What does it mean to Ante-Up?”

Kalliope swung her tail over the table once more, and the large die vanished and was replaced with numerous gaming paraphernalia, coins, chips, playing cards, numerous types of normal dice, and an hourglass, as well as various other bits and bobs the group didn’t recognize. The Lamia then spoke, “If you Ante-Up, instead of rolling the die, you play a game against me of my choosing. Should you win, I will tell you what each type of upgrade will be and then you may choose. If you lose? Then you get the disastrous result.”

Lily leaned in angrily, “Wait, doesn’t that mean if you want to sabotage someone else with an upgrade, you can just lose intentionally?”

Kalliope touched her cheek, “Why yes, that would be the case now, wouldn’t it, what a strange loophole to include.” Her tone suggested genuine confusion, but the grin on her lips conveyed this was definitely intentional. It fit with everything else about this game. Screwing each other over was easy by design, helping yourself or others was difficult.

Stomping her foot Lily growled, “Well screw that noise, who would bother with such a system?”

Kaliope's eyelids lowered, “Surprised to hear you say that when you can’t function in normal clothes without dosing people, what about the girl who is **** to look like a devil and an Oni? What if you receive a transformation that compels you to do something you’d hate to do?”

Lily’s eyes turned downward, and the Lamia smiled and continued, “Yes, it’s not so straightforward now, is it? Sometimes the risk is worth the reward. I’m not here to **** you to take it, only make the option available to you.”

Frowning, Amy looked around. The girls had met their goal of finding this place, but everyone except Maya now carried a downcast expression, suggesting the prize hadn’t been worth it. She gathered her pack together and looked up at the Lamia, “Well, thank you for all the information you’ve provided. You’ve given us a lot to think about. But we probably should get moving, we have a several-hour-long trek to get back after all.”

The snake woman laughed, “Oh right, about that.” Her tail wrapped around a lever on the dais and tugged, and an archway appeared on the far wall. Amy walked over and heard the sound of water. The archway had appeared in the side wall of the opening by the docks, they were right by the entrance.

Stella came over and gave out a long groan, “You’re fucking kidding me! All that traveling and we went in a big circle?”

Kalliope laughed, “By getting here, you’ve earned the right to easy access to the Ante Table going forward; you just had to earn the privilege.”

In the back, Maya cheered, “Now we can come back whenever we want!”

Grinding her teeth, Lily trudged forward. She had honestly hoped the long trek would discourage people from wanting to use the shop, but so much for that!

Turning back, Amy looked to Kalliope, “Thank you again for all your help,” before descending out to the entrance.

Everyone began to file out, but Maddy stopped and looked up at Kalliope, “I’m sorry, miss, but um, do you happen to know how long this um” she gestured to her chest, “Will last?”

The Lamia leaned in, “Depends how much you drank, my dear, but don’t worry, you’ll likely be back to normal by the time you wake up tomorrow.”

Maddy’s expression brightened, “Oh! Thank you.” The chef ran off to meet with the others who were filing into gondolas at the docks. It was finally time to get back to the hotel.