A Master Met and Transformed

Beckie Petersen

Beckie beams at her grandeur as the B-roll for The Master rolls. A strong start, she smugly muses, generally excellent contestants to build drama around. Now to introduce the next twist.

“The audience has now gotten a taste of this season’s Master. Now before we get to talk to The Master, I must introduce our next twisty-turny twist! Our contestants here will have no real contact with The Master until their first dates this week! We have already blocked the memories of The Master’s appearance for our couple of contestants that knew The Master in their previous lives. The same is true of The Master; The Master cannot remember the appearances of the couple of contestants The Master knew. Those memories of course will be returned upon the beginning of their respective dates. While the audience will get to enjoy our Master sitting nude upon the throne in the box, the contestants will hear the dulcet tones of noted sex icon Bea Arthur!”

Skye

Who’s Bea Arthur?

Francis

That’s a little messed up, Francis thinks as he hears Tina(?) argue with the shrill voice of the host. Francis does agree that Sydney Sweeney is a much better sex icon. They are intentionally trying to hide the fact that I’m a guy to maximize the drama. This is heinous.

“Well, Master, now that that is settled, would you like to introduce yourself? Be aware that the contestants will be hearing the sultry voice of Bea Arthur if you want to add some of her witty catch phrases into your response.”

“How much of my introduction is going to be censored?”

“All of the parts that would ruin the surprise!”

Francis takes a moment to form a response. This is going to take more tact than what I got.

“Ladies, I am so sorry that you are here, wherever that would be. While I am just as much of a victim of these circumstances as you, you would not be here if you were not selected to be paired with me. Dinah is quite right; this game is cruel beyond belief. I am not what you would want to be paired with. The mere fact that Josie wanted to reject me gently, despite the fact that she is apparently really open-minded with who she sleeps with, should be evidence enough. I hope that we can survive this situation and I will do whatever I can to make sure we do. Given how we were magically kidnapped and I have no idea what’s going on except what I heard in this void, I don’t know how much help I will be right now. I won’t stop trying. See you when I can.”

“That was mostly irrelevant fluff. Thank you for reducing the usual several days of whining from The Master into a single paragraph. I appreciate that, at least. Now for an introduction?”

“The audience can meet me as the ladies do, you harpy.”

A pause in the noise. Apparently I made her mad. Good.

“Our Master for this season, folks! Now our third twisty-turny turny-twist! Our first challenge, so soon! Now Master, we have been monitoring your subconscious emotional state as the contestants were introduced. The challenge is simple: you are to simply state your preferences for the contestants based on those introductions. You can give whatever justifications you like to your rankings, Master. Do note that we will be punishing any contestant you rank inaccurately. We already know the ranking; we just need you to state it.”

Francis pauses. He hears some quiet sobs. I haven’t even thought about this. While I hate going with the gut, that probably is going to be the “right” answer.

“First place without question, Dinah. I presume the contestants were not allowed to watch the recording of me, but the audience knows that it was not a good morning; it is touching that I actually mattered to someone. Thank you.”

Have to think a little here...

“Second place, Tina, I guess? She seems fun, but seen enough of the real world to not just be a pretty face. Third place, Vix. I know her online persona is fun, if a little perverse. I hope she has a more deep side in person.”

A little easier now...

“Fourth place, Skye. I’m sorry, but I have a feeling that most of your intro was visual, so I didn’t get the best picture of you. Hopefully, I will get to know you better as we go along. You seem nice.”

The sobbing he hears gets a little louder. I don’t want to hurt her, but I don’t think I have the choice.

“Fifth place, Scarlet. It’s not fair to judge you based on a future profession, but my Dad was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital when I was five. I was never allowed to see him due to the ‘danger’ he would pose to my ‘health’. To grow up like that hurt immensely. I didn’t even get to attend the funeral when he died a few years later. So you can see where I would have some issues with shrinks.”

Another set of tears.

“Josie, you are the closest thing I have to a friend. Oftentimes, the only reason I get out of bed is to see you, whether I actually am going to the gym that day or not. While I understand that you don’t feel the way I do about you and why, the hurt is just too raw right now. Please forgive me when you can. I will do my absolute best to get you and the rest of the ladies out of this.”

“And that’s enough from The Master. We are just going to use a fun sleep spell, activate the first round Master transformations, and send The Master to the luxury Master Suite right now!”

“What?”

“Boop!”

All is dark. Again.