The Breakfast Club

Sarah woke up at 5:00 AM like she always did.

She had considered sleeping in. It wasn't like she had to go to work today, but in the end she decided there was too much to do. Her roommate did not appreciate her early start. When Sarah's alarm went off, Bailey had buried her head under a pillow muttering very unkind things. Bailey had drunkenly stumbled into their room the night before just minutes before curfew started. Sarah had seen Bailey and Cassandra together in the bar while she was exploring the hotel the previous evening, but she had passed on by without drawing their attention. Her roommate didn't seem to hold her in the highest regard, and Sarah thought exploring the bounds of the hotel a more pressing matter.

The hotel amenities were extensive. During her wanderings Sarah had found the bar, the hotel restaurant, an indoor and outdoor pool (both with hot tubs), a small garden, a ballroom, a gym, and a spa. Under better circumstances the hotel would have made for a great vacation stay. Surprisingly, she had no difficulty accessing most of the areas of the hotel marked “Staff Only” which were largely linen and maintenance closets. Even though the restaurant should have theoretically been open for dinner she found the kitchen utterly devoid of staff. In fact, the only staff she had encountered was Simon, who had firmly but gently shooed her out from behind the front counter. The reception desk and the rooms behind it seemed to be the only working spaces truly off limits. Besides that, Sarah had found only two other places she was denied entrance. She could reach the front door of the top floor penthouse suite, but unlike her room door this one was locked. She assumed that was where Robert was staying, but she declined to knock. The floor beneath the top story was also comprised of a suite. The intricate script “A” on the door was all the hint she needed to not try that door at all.

Sarah was determined to thoroughly explore the block outside the hotel today, and she perused her wardrobe with that in mind. She didn't necessarily consider herself a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, but she thought it important and practical to have an outfit for any situation. She eventually picked a white blouse and a pair of comfortable jeans and tennis shoes that lent themselves well to walking. On her way out of the closet she grabbed a blue denim jacket to throw on over the blouse. She then retrieved a small writing pad and pen, both emblazoned with the logo of the Ambassador Hotel, from the drawer of the bedside table. Sarah was making an effort to move quietly, but based on the groans emitting from under the pillow Bailey was hiding beneath, it apparently wasn't enough. Sarah checked the time. 6:02. Perfect Curfew had just ended.

******

Sarah stepped off the elevator and walked briskly across the lobby. The hotel restaurant was located just off the right side of the lobby, through a pair of windowed doors. The dining hours were posted on a brass plaque mounted on the wall just beside the doors.

Breakfast: 6:00-10:00

Lunch: 11:00-2:00

Dinner: 5:00-10:00

Across the glass windows, in green script was the restaurant's name:

Dorsia

The splendor of the hotel at large continued throughout the restaurant. The ceiling was high and graced with elegant, square geometric designs. The wall opposite the entrance was mostly floor to ceiling windows that overlooked a small, lush garden outside. Solid wood tables of dark oak surrounded by matching wood chairs of lighter construction were spaced throughout the open dining area. The room could easily sit 100 people. There was an empty maitre d' station by the front door. A brass sign in front of it proclaimed “Please Seat Yourself.”

Sarah walked past the sign into the dining room proper. Across the far left wall she could see a long buffet table piled with food, far more then was needed for seven people. Sarah wasn't a big breakfast person, but she also knew the value of eating when one can. She put together a small plate of scrambled eggs, grabbed a cup of plain black coffee, and sat down at one of the tables closer to the buffet. As she nibbled on the eggs, she began to sketch a rough diagram of what she remembered of the studio layout from the walking tour the day before.

As Sarah finished up her crude sketch, Robin arrived in the dining room wearing a band t-shirt Sarah didn't recognize and a pair of jeans. She barely looked awake as she dragged herself past Sarah with a guttural “Morning” and headed straight towards the coffee. She put together a cup of what appeared to be more sugar then java and took a long swill before she began to browse the buffet table. Sarah turned back to her notepad, only to be interrupted by Robin plopping down in a chair across the table from her. Robin had a large doughnut but she was currently lost staring at her coffee, her head propped in her hand, elbow resting on the table. Her eyes were as glazed as her doughnut, and she was fighting to keep them open.

“Rough night?” Sarah looked up from her notepad at her unexpected breakfast companion.

Robin grimaced, and shook her head like she was trying to clear it.

“My transformation that makes me more sensitive at night?” she mumbled. “It's...pretty intense. I didn't get much sleep...”

She took another long swig of coffee and shuddered. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, then blinked a couple times, like she was stuggling to get them working in the bright morning sun.

“You find anything interesting poking around last night?”

Sarah shrugged as she turned back to her notepad.

“The hotel has a lot of amenities, but I only saw two staff members: the concierge and a bartender. To be fair, the spa was already closed when I found it, but I went back to the kitchen during dining hours and it was empty.”

“Anyone else up and about yet?”

“You're the only other person I've seen this morning.”

Sarah had moved on from her rough map of the studio, to sketching out the layout of the hotel. The hotel plan wasn't complicated and it had good signage providing directions to the various amenities, but she liked to see things laid out visually.

“How's Chloe this morning?” Sarah asked without looking up from her notepad.

Robin had just begun munching on her doughnut, and she had to swallow before she could respond.

“Better then I am. She was in the shower when I left. I told her I'd meet her down here.”

As if on cue, Chloe arrived in the dining hall at that moment. She was dressed in a light blue v-neck shirt and white skirt that landed just above her knees. Her blonde hair was still a little damp and her face slightly flushed.

Someone must enjoy their hot showers, Sarah absentmindedly thought to herself as Chloe made her way to the buffet. Robin seemed to finally be fully awake. She eyed Sarah's notepad as she took another bite of her doughnut.

“Whatcha working on?”

“I'm planning on exploring the street we're on today and making a list of the 'establishments' Ava has out there for us. Try to figure out what we're dealing with.”

“Want some help?”

Sarah looked up from the pad and fixed Robin with a skeptical gaze as Chloe took the seat next to her roommate with a small bowl of cereal.

“I thought you were against fighting back.”

“I said we didn't know enough to fight back.” Robin said around a mouthful of doughnut. She swallowed and continued. “Besides, knowing what's out there helps all of us.”

“I'd like to help too,” Chloe piped up.

Sarah weighed her options. Robin and Chloe both seemed capable enough, but with the stakes so high, did she really want to trust two people she had just met? Then again, they were just making a list of the stores on this street, a pretty straightforward task.

“Ok, sounds good. We can do this a lot quicker with the three of us. Let's split the block up and each take a section. Robin and I can take the side of the street opposite the hotel.” As she spoke, Sarah indicated the relevant portions on her crude sketch. “Let's each start on opposite ends of the block and work our way back inwards towards the hotel. That way when we meet back up we know we've covered it all.”

“Cool,” Robin replied.

“Chloe, do you mind taking this side of the street? Turn right as you exit the hotel, go to the end of the block, then work you way back. We'll all meet back here for lunch, compare notes, and see how far we've gotten.”

“What about to the left of the hotel?” Chloe asked. “Who's checking it?”

“If you beat us back to the hotel, feel free to keep going. Otherwise, we can figure it out later. We're already covering most of the street, so I'm not super concerned about that last section for now.”

Sarah liked this, the feeling of control. There was a plan. They had something they could do. They had agency. It wasn't much, but it was something. Anything was better then just lying around the hotel, waiting for the next shoe to drop.

******

Samantha stared at her new ears in her hotel room's bathroom mirror.

They were just long enough that the pointed tips would poke through her dark brown hair if she wore it down, but right now she had her hair tucked back behind her ears so she could see them better. Turning her head from one side to the other, she peered at them through her large round glasses, still trying to come to terms with them. Samantha cautiously reached up, and tenderly ran two fingers down the back of one of her ears. They were quite sensitive. It felt similar to running her fingers across her inner thighs and she couldn't help but coo softly at the feeling. The worst part about them? She wasn't sure she hated them...

Samantha knew she should be furious, or terrified. or feeling something like that. She'd been magically **** and then her very body had been twisted to suit the whims of a faceless audience. But all she could feel was...excitement? It wasn't truly excitement, the fact that her life was now tied to a man she'd never met was a serious damper. But to discover that magic (or sufficiently advanced technology), multiverses, and pocket dimensions were all real, AND to experience them herself? Maybe excitement wasn't the right word, but she definitely didn't feel as upset as she knew she should be.

She shivered slightly as she couldn't help but run her fingers down her ear again, Robert's words from yesterday echoing in her mind.

Knife Ears sounds kinda cute...

As the winner of the Best Girl poll, she had the “privilege” of being the first to go on a date with Robert, a poll she had no idea how she won. Samantha knew she was pretty cute. She knew she was curvy in all the right places, but she was also curvy in a couple of the wrong places too. There was just a little too much pudge around her middle, and while she found plenty of people didn't seem to mind that, it was something that weighed on her. She couldn't believe the audience had voted for her, her, in such overwhelming numbers. Were they blind? Samantha knew she wasn't bad looking but compared to Chloe, or Cassandra, or...or Bailey? How could anyone pick her over them? Cassandra was literally the star of her favorite TV show growing up and somehow Samantha had beaten her in a popularity contest. It was honestly harder for her to come to terms with that than the ears. But then again, she had been picked over Bailey before...

That was enough for her to finally tear herself away from the mirror. Samantha enjoyed sex, and she had done her fair share of casual hookups, but she had never been in a situation like this before. She had no idea that Thomas Valenti was engaged. She just thought he was hot and looked like a good time and hey, if it meant he paid a little more attention to shopping her script around that what was the harm? If she had known he was in a relationship she would have never gone that far. And now not only was she trapped on a studio lot with Thomas' fiance, but they were both bound to the same stranger for the rest of their lives?

And what did that mean? Ava had declared that Robert was now Samantha's “Master” and that she was stuck in his harem along with the five other women for all eternity, but what did that actually look like? Their Host had been surprisingly sparse on the details. Based on the nature of the transformations they had all received it was pretty obvious the show was pushing a sexual relationship, but beyond that were they supposed to serve him in other ways? Cassandra's cleaning transformation certainly seemed to indicate so. Samantha's hand involuntarily went back to her ear and she shivered as she imagined her life and very body being outside of her control.

Knife ears sounds kinda cute...