Popularity polls results!

Ishtar gestured with her microphone-staff, and a list of names and numbers appeared behind her, floating in the air.

Jessica: 19.4%

Joanna: 19.1%

Miriam: 18.0%

Anna: 16.8%

Chloe: 15.6%

Nina: 10.7%

“Now, there were a few interesting developments! Joanna, darling, you were in the lead right up until the end. For a little while it looked like Miriam might overtake you, but in the end, it seemed like people liked your best friend more.” She gave Joanna a cheeky little smirk. “But don’t get me wrong! Twice as many people had you in their top spot compared to the runner-up, but accounting for the second and third places, well, Jessica takes the win!”

The girls all stared at the floating numbers.

“Now, let’s add the Bonus Points to those numbers…”

Jessica: 19.4% - 1950 BP

Joanna: 19.1% - 1900 BP

Miriam: 18.0% - 1800 BP

Anna: 16.8% - 1700 BP

Chloe: 15.6% - 1550 BP

Nina: 10.7% - 1100 BP.

The girls’ eyes went wide when they saw the numbers.

“Jessica!” Joanna started. “You won! I'm so happy for you!”

“I… I guess I did?” her witchy friend replied, stunned, though she could not figure out why. “But you did well too! So many people had you in their top spot!”

“Yeah, I’m… surprised,” said Joanna, not quite believing the numbers on the screen.

“Why?” asked Jessica, giving her friend a smile. “You’re very lovable!”

“Lovable?” Joanna replied. “To Theo, maybe…”

“And to the audience, obviously!”

There was a shadow in her eyes, but if Joanna noticed it, she said nothing.

Meanwhile, Nina was scoffing. “Really? What did i do to earn the audience’s anger? Not suck Theo’s dick for a year?”

“Maybe they like people who are excited for their transformations?” Chloe suggested. “Jessica was the only one to actually want one of the options on display. You were silent, and I let them know that I hated all of them.”

“Maybe,” Nina conceded, giving Chloe another look. She hadn't thought much about the young cheerleader before, but maybe she should. She seemed perceptive enough, at least.

Miriam was pondering the same question, but she could not figure out the throughline in the votes. Chloe's suggestion made sense, but it didn't quite account for herself or Anna. It also wasn’t closeness or connection to Theo - Joanna was very high, sure, but Jessica was the winner, and both Anna and Chloe were closer to him than Jessica, as far as Miriam understood. It wasn’t conventional attractiveness - Chloe or Anna were undoubtedly the winners in that department. It wasn’t kinkiness or submissiveness, either, or Joanna or Nina would have won. Most likely, it was some combination of them all, or some sort of general-

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Anna pulled her out of her train of thought.

“Sorry?”

“You seemed lost in thought. Penny for them?”

“Uh, sure. I was just trying to figure out the criteria. Why did Jessica win? Why did i get third? That stuff, you know”

Anna nodded, looking the other girl over. She didn't know Miriam at all really, though she vaguely remembered Theo mentioning her once or twice. As far as Anna was concerned, she was just another one of Theo's nerdy friends.

“So what did you figure out?”

“Nothing really. Some mix of playing along, tit size, and being seen as ‘cute’ maybe?”

“Oh, so you're saying you're cuter than me, hmm? You think red hair is ugly, then? You know, we gingers have enough-”

“No, no, of course not, sorry!” Miriam started, almost stumbling over the words. “I just think that, uh, maybe the audience likes certain….” She trailed off, finally noticing the twinkle in the other girl's eyes.

“Relax girl. I was just joking with you,” the oh-so-persecuted ginger replied. “Maybe not the best time though, I'm sorry. Bad habit of joking though things.”

Miriam relaxed a little at that. She still wasn't quite happy with the other girl, but she took a deep breath.

“Don't worry about it, I understand,” she replied. She could hardly blame the other girl for coping however she could.

There was a loud noise from in front of them all as Ishtar clapped her hands together.

“Now!” She said. “There's just a few more things to see to before I let you girls loose everywhere. If you'll follow me, why don't we start with your rooms?”

She gave them a moment to gather up, then lead them into the little building everyone had emerged from, which showed itself to be… an elevator. It was large and modern, and with labeled buttons on its panels:

Gardens

Master's suite

Concubine quarters & lounge

Great hall

Shops and services.

Ishtar casually pressed the third button, and the elevator moved for less than a second before the doors opened.

Beyond them was the greatest lounge any of the girls had ever seen. It was a large room with a central recess in the floor, lined with soft fabric and silk pillows, dotted with little tables with decanters of wine and water, baklava, ice cream in coolers, and many other little snack foods.

The walls across the room of the elevator had three large doors, each flanked by a pair of statues. The one furthest right had two large lion-centaurs with spears, while the one in the middle had a strange lion-man with a human body, bird’s feet and a lion’s face, and the furthest left doorway had two statues of winged lions with human faces.

On the right wall, a display showed the girls’ names as well as their current VP, a simple line of zeros, while the left wall had a large open arch opening into a beautiful flower garden with a stream running through it.

“Here we have the lounge area. As you can see, the display shows current standing, and there's opportunities for refreshments, relaxation, chatting, and so forth. And on the other side here are your rooms.”

She crossed the room quickly, walking to the lion-centaur statues, the girls following, most of them gawking at the scenery.

“In the rooms you have all your usual clothes and possessions, including the ones you came here in, as well as tablets for keeping track of VP, BP and so on, and for making some purchases, though most will be found in the shopping level.”

“Wait, our clothes?” Chloe asked, hope edging into her voice. “We can go and change?”

“Of course you can!” Ishtar replied, giving the blonde girl a wide smile. “But before you do… “

The host turned and gestured at the display above the wall, which changed to show a different screen:

MINI CHALLENGES:

Wear your slutty outfits for the entire week: 500 BP

Best night with Master: Host veto card.

“Wait what?” Asked Miriam. “Host veto card?”

“That's right! It's a one time item you can use to **** my veto. You can use it on your own transformation, help a friend, trade it with each other, give it to your Master, whatever you would like. You can use it the next round or in two, three or four rounds, whenever you'd like, but only once. The only exception is that it cannot be used if I've already used my veto.”

“And what counts as ‘best night’ then?” Nina asked, suspicion dripping from her voice. “Theo's opinion? Yours? Another audience vote?”

“An excellent question! Now, I won't reveal the whole trick, or it would be too easy to try and game it, but the audience plays a part, but not the whole part. Theo's opinion plays a part, but not the whole part - and not in a way he can try to manipulate. And there are other factors. Don't worry, it's entirely fair.”

Nina did not seem entirely mollified by this, but she had nothing to say.

“And the other challenge?” Asked Miriam. “I assume it just means wear these ridiculous fetish outifts you put us in?”

“That's right, it's quite simple! Now, it's within reason - you can change into a bikini if you go for a swim or change into your underwear to sleep and so on, as long as you don't cover up more than your current outfits, and change back into it afterwards. Don't worry about the cleaning, the hotel takes care of it.”

“Okay, you've got your challenges, can we get our rooms now?,” Anna asked, her voice edged with impatience “Or is there any more random rules we need to go over?”

Ishtar flashed her a smile.

“But of course! Now, this room here” she gestured at the nearest room, with the lion-centaur statues “This is for our two sexy slaves, Nina and Joanna!”

The two mentioned girls looked at each other in shock, Joanna's eyes particularly wide. Nina was the first to recover, giving Ishtar a bitter look.

“Really? Is this your idea of a joke?”

“Oh darling, my jokes are funny, but you seething is just sad,” Ishtar responded, pivoting quickly. “Now the next room down here, that's for our unlikely duo, Jessica and Chloe!”

Jessica and Chloe looked a little less shocked than Nina and Joanna had been, but their eyes met for a long moment - just long enough for Chloe to blush and look away. Neither of them said anything.

“And this obviously leaves our two little perverts for the last room, with Miriam and Anna!”

The two girls had already figured it out, and just shrugged.

“Now, to be clear, except when your night is in the master's suite - or you've been invited along - you will sleep each night in your room, in the provided bed. This is not up for debate.”

She gave the girls a look, but seemed satisfied with their reactions

“Now, I'm going to take your new Master to his room. You six are welcome to do whatever you want, explore the hotel, have a nap, visit the other floors and so on… if you need help, just ask a statue.”

With those words, the goddess disappeared, seeming to simply wink out of existence without so much as a “pop,” and Theo with her, leaving the six girls confused and bewildered