Halftime

Sarah

“Alright you little fucks, you’ve had your fun. My head is screaming for lack of coffee and I need to use the bathroom. Let. Me. Up.”

Sarah struggled against the ropes that strapped her to her bed in the hotel, but they gave her no more slack than they had an hour ago or the night before. After she’d been wheeled in here, the ends of the rope had loosened enough to free her from the restaurant chair, just long enough to grab onto her bed frame and drag her into it. Janet, bless her heart, had tried to throw a blanket over Sarah at least, but the rope was having no part of anything which might save Sarah’s dignity.

She looked down at the one hovering near her face. “You want me to piss on you or something? Let me up.” The two rope heads looked at each other and hissed back and forth, as if debating the issue. She’d started to notice the two had different goals. Pervy liked to hover near her chest, making sure to snap at anyone who tried to cover up her bare breasts, as Janet had. It shredded that blanket last night, most of her clothes, and the last vestige of her panties clung by a thread. Only her boots remained and she was thankful it didn’t have a foot fetish, those things were expensive.

The other end, Gropey, tended to lunge out and grab at things to secure her to. First the chair and the bed, but she had noticed it eyeballing things around the room, as if measuring if they’d be enough to strap her down.

So that was her night. Between these two assholes, she was almost completely nude and stretched out in a taut X, unable to cover herself in any way without attracting the wrath of a psycho snake… rope… thing. Not that they let her sleep either, Pervy apparently had a thing for swiping at her tits, which were marked up from his attentions.

The two apparently reached a consensus on her situation, and the ropes began to loosen enough to let her sit up. Fortunately, her newly transformed body was able to withstand that kind of extended bondage, otherwise she’d be stiff as hell and barely able to move. At least they haven’t figured out about the dildo. She thought, worried that Pervy might decide to grab it from her nightstand. One disaster averted, after several caught full in the face.

Sarah stood up, and Gropey quickly wound its way around her legs, leaving her in a short hobble.

“Really? You think I’m gonna run away? You’re wrapped around my body.” Pervy whipped her left nipple for backtalk. “Ow! Fuck!” She went to cover herself, but Pervy wrapped her right arm and pulled it across her torso, securing it under her breasts and pushing them up to make them more prominent. I’d rather not be on fucking display, but at least they’re gonna let me go to the bathroom. Sarah decided not to press them further. Walking in this thing was humiliating, but fortunately no one was around. Danica hadn’t returned from her night with Michael yet, Luciana was passed out and snoring like a garbage truck, and Janet had scampered off after the blanket incident. Presumably she was sleeping on the couch or in Mallory’s bed or something. She waddled through to the common restroom, which was fortunately unoccupied.

There’s a stroke of luck.

---

With one problem solved, a few minutes later Sarah sat alone at the breakfast bar nursing a cup of coffee to attack the second. The pot was endlessly refilling, which was merciful considering the rope still hadn’t given her right hand back. She wished she’d brought the pot though, as Gropey had immediately secured her legs to the stool the second she’d sat down, and her cup was running dangerously low now.

Ronnie was the first to emerge from her side of the common room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and shaking out her curly hair. Ronnie had on a crop top which read “Top Girl” on the chest and tiny shorts with “Bottom Bitch” across the rear. Adding Ronnie’s usual high heels and a large unladylike yawn made for a confusing whole. Ronnie noticed Sarah looking and shrugged.

“And I thought my outfit was embarrassing.” Sarah tried to joke.

“They don’t sell modesty in that market.” Ronnie said, taking a cup of coffee herself and joining Sarah around the kitchen island. “Which, I tried to warn you about, just saying.”

“I was kinda up against it, Ronnie, as you’ll recall. And I didn’t have a damned guardian angel to swoop down and buy me clear.” Neither Vivian or Danica was here to listen to that complaint, but Sarah wouldn't have cared if they were.

“That rope is creepy as hell.” Ronnie said, reflexively covering her own chest. She spared a glance up at the scoreboard to see Sarah’s chip count still deeply in the red. “You got a plan?”

“Get out of debt.”

“That’s not a plan, that’s a goal.”

“Well my first plan didn’t go so great, so I’m struggling for a second, ok?”

“Why did you even buy that weird-ass rope?”

“I didn’t!” Sarah pulled up the ropes wrapped around her midsection to show off the tattoo there. “I bought a vibrator! A perfectly normal, everyday vibrator like you’d find in your mom’s dresser. And the damn thing grew a cock and gave me this.” Ronnie nearly spit out her coffee.

“It did what?”

“I bought the thing from Esmeralda’s back room, and it looked fine. I used it two nights ago, and apparently it gives points. But it makes you earn them, every time I used it, it started to look less like a little bullet and more like a dick. Based on this unsightly addition, I imagine it's Michael’s dick, but you’d have to confirm that.”

“And the rope-”

“Is interest.”

Ronnie whistled. “That is a big problem, girl.”

“You don’t say.”

Ronnie shrugged, as if she didn’t need to say more. It was understood. “Let’s look on the bright side-” The look Sarah shot her could have melted steel, but she continued anyway. “You’re still alive in the game. This thing got you in the restaurant so it counts for the voting tomorrow. I think the viewers will like that.”

“I don’t care what the viewers want, Ronnie, I want to cut this thing off and burn it.” Pervy AND Gropey took offense to that, taking turns swatting at her exposed skin while she feebly defended herself. One strike to her tits, one to her backside, and back again, and only one free arm to try to protect both. “Ack! Fine! I love you both! Marry me you shitheads!” They finally eased off.

“I’ll be honest though, you’ve gotten farther than some I’ve seen.” And farther than I expected. “You blew off the first challenge entirely, and escaped by the skin of your ass.”

“So did you!”

“I was upstairs having sex with Michael, Sarah. That’s why I was forgiven. That’s what’s gonna win this game… or lose it.”

“Ronnie, you know I don’t swing that way, right?”

“I’m not a lesbian but these are prison rules, Sarah. You gotta make do with what you’ve got, and if you can’t bring yourself to be with Michael AND you can’t be fucked to give the viewers what they want…”

“What other points are there?”

Mallory and Janet entered from the Team Al bedroom, and Ronnie gave Sarah a meaningful look. First to the pair, then to the scoreboard. Sarah’s eyes lit up with recognition, and some disgust.

“Is that the only way?” She asked quietly.

“No, but it might be the way you need to go.” Ronnie said. “Fill your coffee?” She snatched Sarah’s mug from her hand without waiting for an answer as the others joined them.

“Damn! That thing won’t even let you put your titties away?!” Mallory said at an inappropriately high volume. Ah fuck, she’s ‘drunk’. She reached over and bounced Sarah’s left breast. “Womp womp.” Sarah slapped at her hand, but Mallory just laughed and made a game of it, trying to dart around Sarah’s defenses, just as the ropes had done. She slipped over to Sarah’s right side, much more **** with Sarah’s arm tied down.

“Woah! Hands to yourself, please!” Sarah leaned away as far as she could without tipping the stool. She stole a glance at Pervy. “So you’re just gonna allow that?” Pervy nodded. “Fuck you, then.” Is everyone going to take advantage?

“Don’t stress about it girl, we’re all ladies up here.” Mallory laughed and winked, then sat on the next stool and threw her arm around Sarah’s shoulders. Sarah furiously tugged at the bonds holding her legs to the stool, but nope. Gropey was not letting her out of this situation.

“Be nice.” Janet said. She offered Mallory a cup of coffee but the blonde snatched it away before she could add any Irish Cream to it to try to calm her down.

“I like it black and strong, like my men.” Mallory toasted the cup to Ronnie.

“Watch yourself.” Ronnie said in a low tone, but with an edge in her voice.

Mallory, in an oversized shirt clearly stolen from one of those men, was the second-most modestly dressed at the table. Janet’s clothes were all modest to a fault, and her own pajamas wouldn’t have looked scandalous in a Victorian costume drama. They’re not bad looking at all, but chasing straight girls was never my thing. Still if it's between that and elimination… Sarah wondered how Janet’s transformation might have changed that dynamic, but the she and Sarah were still strangers so it was not having any effect. Yet.

Janet looked at Ronnie with barely-disguised envy. “...What?” Ronnie asked, catching Janet staring. Janet looked away quickly, her speed confirming her guilt.

“It’s nothing, sorry.”

Ronnie waved it off. “Don’t stress, this is more than I wore most of the time when I was working here.” Janet bit her lip, holding back a question. Ronnie picked up on that immediately. “Out with it girl, before you pop.”

“...What was that like? Just…”

“Being on display?” Janet nodded. “It ranked pretty low on the horrible shit they did to me, not gonna lie.”

“They’re doing horrible shit to all of us.” Sarah grumbled, but Ronnie continued anyway.

“-And they changed me so much it felt like it wasn’t even me they were looking at, you know? Like they were eyeing up my Halloween costume.”

“I felt that way in the outfit at work.”

“What? The one you arrived in? That was kinda cute.” Ronnie said.

“I know, right!” Mallory said. “I almost tried to apply there so I could wear it.” All three of them turned to stare at such a transparent lie.

“It made me feel so exposed though, I asked them to let me wear a sweater and they wouldn’t.” Janet continued.

“I bet it helped your tips though.”

Janet had to laugh. “It did help my tips. Had a few ‘regulars’ who liked to come back on nights I was working. The tacos were not worth that many trips, I assure you. But you know about that, I’m sure that you had a few too.”

“A few what?”

“You know… guys that came back… to your club?” Ronnie’s face darkened, and Janet just kept stammering, unable to stop digging herself into a hole. “The club where you worked… You were a dancer… right?”

“Oooooooooooo” Mallory said, sensing a fight. Sarah could tell she loved fights and drama, moreso when she was drunk.

“I was not a stripper, girl.” Ronnie grumbled. “I was a real dancer. Music videos, concerts, I was hooking up with a traveling production of Stomp before I got dragged here.”

“I’m sorry, I-”

“You assumed. A lot of people did. My own damned mother did. You know the last thing she told me before I got on the plane? ‘I’ll pray for you to come home safe.’ I swear she thought I was moving to L.A. to be a prostitute.”

“What did she say when you told her about Stomp?”

“You were in Stomp?” Sarah interjected. “Olivia made me go to that show, it was so bor-” She shut up before she got herself further in trouble.

“...Never got to tell her.” Ronnie picked back up again. “I had only been accepted for a few weeks and we were still in rehearsals. I wasn’t going to tell her until it was time for me to take the stage. She doesn’t know I made it...”

Janet quickly tried to change the subject. “But what about Michael, she must have been excited about that?”

“Ooof, that was a fight. She liked Michael well enough when she met him over the phone. But she was hoping for a big church wedding, not the courthouse ceremony we got. She said she liked the pictures though.”

“She didn’t come?”

“We were kinda in a hurry. Mom left me with just enough guilt about ‘sinful fornication’ that I held out on Michael until he married me. And then, we didn’t leave the apartment that weekend.” She saw Janet’s growing discomfort and decided to tease a little. “I was a married woman for nearly four days before I put on panties, girl.” Janet blushed furiously. Mallory and Sarah begged her to stop, but Ronnie just piled on more detail. “Days and days we went at it. We just kept burning our savings on takeout. I answered the door naked for the pizza guy and the Chinese food guy. Our orders always jumped to the front of the line after that.”

“Stop, stop! I get the picture!” Janet laughed but her nervous energy came through.

“We weren’t newlyweds, but we still had that energy up until they grabbed me.” Ronnie, realizing she’d walked herself right into a discussion about her own season, quickly changed the subject herself. “What about you? What’s with… this?” Ronnie fondled the flowing fabric of Janet’s PJs. “I’ve been out of the dating game for a while, but I doubt most 21 year olds are sporting these.”

“That’s what I keep saying!” Mallory jumped up, excited that someone had finally taken her side.

“Not really, Mallory follows the trends.” Mallory nodded at this, even though it wasn’t clear from Janet’s tone whether it was meant as a compliment. “I’ve just kinda had to wear what I get. I was on scholarship at school, but the rent and everything swallowed up everything I was making at the restaurant. My grandmother had some money, she handed me down some stuff. It’s comfortable…”

“But dated.” Ronnie added and Janet shrugged.

“And booooooooooring.” Mallory chimed in, nodding vigorously with a ‘She gets it’ face, but the others ignored her.

“Why don’t you buy some of the stuff here?” Ronnie asked, but had to smile at Janet’s incredulous expression. “Hey, it’s not all this bad!”

“Some of it is much, much worse!” Sarah warned.

“That’s how my mom dresses.” Janet said softly, then apologized. “I’m sorry, that- She just always wore such skimpy stuff, and grandma used to say awful things about her. It kinda messed me up a little, just like what you were saying…” Janet paused, like she was building her nerve. “What happens after this? The whole show? Do we all go back home this way? Do people remember us again?”

Ronnie shook her head, slowly. “I think so, but I honestly don’t know. When I was on, the show got canceled before we made it that far. And the finale is just the contestants, no staff. I’ve never seen it.” She looks unnerved. Sarah thought. Ronnie looked as though she was going to continue, but couldn’t bring herself to. If that unsettles even Ronnie then what chance do the rest of us have?

That reminder of their unknown fates killed the mood, even Mallory could sense the shift and went quiet. The foursome pecked at their meals and drinks with no more casual chat. Vivian emerged, took one look at the solemn foursome, and especially at the ropes hovering around Sarah, and gave them a wide berth on her way to the shower. Sarah followed Janet’s eyes to Vivian’s silhouette through the frosted glass. Girl’s been a lesbian for two days but she’s already falling for the dangerous ones. Sarah considered whether she should warn Janet about Vivian, but considered that what she’d said over dinner the night before was enough. Beyond that, it wasn’t her problem.

The elevator chimed, causing the unsuspecting Ronnie to grip the table for balance as the small climax hit her. Sarah expected to see Danica returning from upstairs, but instead the cloud of smoke billowing through the doors produced Al. Ruby had come up the day before, but somehow Al invading their space felt like much more of a violation. Especially considering he had come up so much earlier and caught everyone half-dressed.

“Good morning, Ladies.” The slime drips off this guy even when he’s being polite.

“Fuck off, Al.” Mallory sniped, “I don’t care if saying that costs me points.” She took a sneaky glance at the scoreboard, and saw no change in her total. “A-HA! So insulting the hosts is just fine, then!”

“I was curious how you’d behave in the morning before you dove into the liquor bottle. Turns out, you can be an obnoxious bitch at any hour, baby, and that’s a skill. I’m impressed, truly, but shut your mouth for now until we can handle business.”

Mallory wanted to fire something else back, but he waved his hand and her voice went silent. She grabbed her coffee mug, but both Janet and Ronnie grabbed her wrist before she could do anything stupid.

“Where’s the third of my musketeers?” Al asked, just then noticing her form in the shower. “She could be in there for ages, ain’t nobody got time for that.” He made a “come here” gesture with his thumb and forefinger and Vivian suddenly hustled out of the shower into the living area, clearly without her consent as she hadn’t time to grab a towel. She stood there, soaking wet and trying feebly to cover herself with her hands. Fortunately, Al allowed her that scrap of modesty. Sarah took a look at Mallory’s lips and she appeared to be complaining that she’d had no such opportunity when he’d kidnapped her.

Sarah had always thought Vivian was a stunner. Sarah had been loyal to Olivia, but she didn’t own Sarah’s eyes. Or her imagination, both of which were doing double-duty with the soaking wet nude blonde in her presence. Sarah dragged her attention back to Al, hopefully before he caught her eyefucking another contestant. But even if he did, so what? That goddamn Master’s Favor had driven her into a frenzy and it had taken forever to abate. She still felt somewhat charged ever since. Sarah did notice that she wasn’t the only one enjoying the view, once again Janet’s

“Could this have waited until I was finished?” Vivian demanded.

“Probably, but I’m not patient.” Al just smirked. He pulled the envelope with the day’s date roster from his suit coat pocket, and magically opened it in the same manner as Ruby had. “Interesting choices. First up, we’ve got Rhonda.”

“Wait, hold up.” Ronnie jumped from her stool and tried to take the envelope from Al’s hand. “I’m supposed to be last, tonight!”

“Woah, wait. If Ronnie’s not taking the night shift…who is?” Vivian asked, sharing a concerned look with Mallory. Sarah could see it across their faces, obviously neither one wanted that job.

“Ronnie first, then Vivian, then Mallory.” He handed the envelope to Ronnie, who looked through it and solemnly nodded a confirmation.

Mallory’s eyes nearly bulged out. She shook her head and waved her hands furiously, as if swatting away a swarm of insects.

“Cards say what they say, sweethearts. Order can’t be changed now, it's locked in.” Al took a puff of his cigar. “You should see the opportunity in-”

By way of response, Mallory again grabbed at a coffee mug and made to wing it at Al, but this time Janet was only able to deflect it and sent it careening off to shatter against the far wall. Al just laughed at that petulance.

“MALLORY!” Janet struggled with her. “It’s ok! You just have to sit up there for the night, you don’t have to do anything!”

“The hell she doesn’t,” Al snorted. “This is a competitive game you’re all playing.”

“You can’t eliminate her if she goes up there, that’s all she’s gotta do.” Ronnie interjected. “Anything after that is on her. You can’t use your magic, you can’t **** nothing. I know the rules.”

Al ground the cigar in his teeth. His expression admitted the truth of that statement. “No, I can’t. But the voters are watching, and if they don’t like it, well…” He shrugged. “Seize your chances, is all I’m gonna say. Maybe talk to mommy dearest, I’m sure she’d be willing to share with you. If not her pills, then her moves.” Al made a few vulgar hip thrusts and suddenly the thought of breakfast had fled everyone’s minds. “Good luck on your date, Mrs. Rhonda.” He cackled all the way to the elevator, and they could all still hear it coming up the shaft as the car descended.