Garniture Beatrix

As the demon vanished, the oppressive atmosphere in the space lessened rather than vanished. Most everyone present was still weighed down by the events that had occurred over the course of the challenge, not to mention some members were now wrestling with transformations. Still, the moment he felt able to move his legs, Caleb dashed over to Noemi and Maddy and put his hand on the blonde’s shoulder.

“Hey, you did great out there. That was really brave of you to tell Lucian off like that.” He rubbed her back and frowned. The chef was shaking.

Noemi tried to smile reassuringly while trying to catch Caleb’s eye as she spoke to Maddy, “Yeah, that was really impressive, even if you didn’t manage to get the words all out.”

Maddy made sounds like she was sobbing, even if no tears were streaming from her eyes, Caleb paused, recognizing it, and lowered his voice, “Hey now, deep breaths, slow, you’re safe, he’s gone now.” He ran his hand over her back comfortingly.

The chef nodded hurriedly and tried to control her breathing, making a sound that was almost a parody of an inhale as she audibly swallowed air before letting it out as she coughed. Rubbing her back, Caleb began to recite a mantra of “In and out” as Noemi watched. Eventually, the shaking subsided, and Maddy focused her eyes on the two beside her.

“Thanks….sorry about that, whoo…” She fanned herself lightly, “I just got overwhelmed, I…didn’t expect him to get so upset. Mad, yeah, but…he looked like he took what I said very personally.”

“He’s a demon, they’re kind of hijoeputas by default, aren’t they?” Noemi raised an eyebrow while grinning, “No need to let him get to you, you really did amazing during the challenge, sticking to your guns like that.”

Maddy smiled over at Noemi, though Caleb was now reminded of what had happened in the first round before Noemi had been kicked out. She had played it off like it had all been Mira, but Mira claimed that was a lie. He leaned in, “Hey Noemi, before you were kicked out of the challenge, what really happened there?” He tried to focus his eyes on her, and he could see her becoming uncomfortable under his gaze.

“Drop it, please.” To the Master’s surprise, it was Maddy who spoke up rather than the Chilean, “The challenge has already done enough, let’s not give it any further power over us, ok?” Her voice shook, but the chef’s expression was firm

Noemi looked relieved, but Caleb pressed on, “Are you sure that’s what you want, Maddy? You were the one who seemed to take it hardest.”

Shaking her head, Maddy pressed her hand to the ground and stood up, “I know, and I really wish things went differently. The whole point of that game was Lucian trying to prove to us that we’re bad people who can’t trust each other. And maybe he’s right.” she bit her lip before continuing, “I know for sure though, if we can’t move forward from this and show each other a little grace and kindness, we’ll only keep proving him right. Speaking of…” Her eyes followed Stella, who had jumped off the stage and was marching angrily out of the auditorium before looking at Caleb, “You need to talk to her.”

Caleb shifted his gaze sideways and sighed, “Yeah, I know that, I don’t even know where to begin with that mess though.”

Maddy leaned over and gave Caleb a kiss on the cheek, “Just be honest and try to make peace without rising to her provocations. She feels really alone right now.”

Noemi, not wanting to be left behind, grabbed Caleb’s face and gave him a kiss on the lips, “You can do it, Caleb, you even helped me when we were in a bad place, right? Just…be kind, you’re good at that.”

Not knowing how to feel about that, Caleb nodded, “I guess there is nothing for it but to try, I’ll head after her.” He broke off from the two girls and jumped from the stage to run after where Stella had gone.

Noemi then turned to look at Maddy and then wrapped her in a hug, which caught Maddy off guard and caused her to sputter in surprise, “What? What’s going on? Not that I mind the hug, just…um”

Nuzzling her cheek against Maddy’s, the Chilean woman smiled, “You’re just so very sweet, working so hard to be nice to everyone, even problem children like Stella.” Noemi grinned, “You’re going to make Caleb so very happy.” She glanced around the rest of the stage where everyone else was, “So will they once I’m through with them.”

The first place Amy moved to was to help Lily untangle herself, the poor plant woman still suspended from the lighting. It wasn’t easy; the vines were tough and seemed determined to manipulate themselves in ways that only put Lily into more and more compromising positions. After spending a minute fruitlessly tugging at a vine, the oni sighed

“I’m not going to be able to remove these, I don’t think.” Amy gave another tug, resulting in the vine barely budging, “At least without harming you. If I pull any harder, I’m going to end up tossing you around or ripping the vine off, and I don’t know what that would do to you.”

Lily’s eyes bulged as she became more distressed, “What do I do then? I can’t be stuck hanging from the rafters for the rest of the round!” She began to squirm in her bindings to negligible effect

Amy paused to think, “You’re supposed to be able to control this. If this is considered your current outfit, maybe you need to think about taking it off?”

Lily clenched her eyes shut and tried to concentrate, her entire body tensing as she imagined being naked on stage. To her surprise, it worked. The vines and the few leaves attached to her body went limp and began to decay rapidly, turning brown and then fading to dust and leaving her thoroughly unclothed. The flower girl tried to cover herself with her hands, blushing furiously as she looked up at Amy, “It worked! Now I just need to figure out how to make clothes without being strung up.”

Amy paced a little, Lily trying not to let her eyes wander to the new heart-shaped ass the Oni sported as she turned. The Oni paused shortly later and asked, “When you tried to make clothes last time, what were you thinking about?”

Shifting her posture slightly and turning her face away, Lily frowned, “I was just thinking about how I was naked and on display and didn’t like it. I mean amidst everything else.” Her eyes turned downward.

Amy gave the flower girl a sympathetic look before continuing forward, “Well, maybe try picturing an actual outfit. It feels like its directly tied to your thoughts at the time. Maybe it got screwed up and focused on the naked bit and only enhanced putting you on display because of how messy your thoughts were.”

“Ok…I’ll try.” Lily frowned and tried to concentrate again, and tried to picture any sort of outfit she could make from leaves. Shortly, there was a rustling sound as vine and leaf wove around her body and formed a tube dress with a jagged V-neck.

Amy breathed out a sigh of relief and then smiled at her friend appreciatively, “A little derivative of Poison Ivy, but we take any wins we can get.”

Blushing hard, Lily averted her gaze, “Well, who else do you think of when it comes to plant clothing? Besides, the version of her in The Batman was super cool.”

The oni raised an eyebrow, “We stan an ecoterrorist queen?”

“Oh, hush, thanks though…I think I've got a handle on this now. For now, it might be more accurate, don’t ask me to make a ball gown, but at least I won’t be walking around naked.”

Amy clapped Lily on the back, “It’s not like you can’t wear normal clothes either. You just have to deal wi-”

“I’ve had enough of my pollen to last me a lifetime, thanks,” Lily cut the Oni off. “Maddy and I had to cope with it all week, it's not a mild effect. It was all Maddy and I could do every morning we-” She paused, her eyes drifting across the stage where Maddy and Noemi were, and her shoulders slumped before looking at Amy with downcast eyes, “Did I make a mistake in the challenge?”

Amy had really been hoping to avoid this exact question, but maybe it was better they rip the band-aid off now. The Japanese woman sighed and looked off to the side, “I can’t tell you that. You made a choice, one motivated by helping me out, and if you hadn’t, I would be in the negatives right now. These are the facts. But-” The word hung in the air and felt like a lead weight on Lily’s shoulders. “You chose to doubt others, put my interests above those of everyone else, and in so doing betrayed the trust of some people closest to you. For the record, I’m thankful and grateful for what you did, but I can’t tell you if it was the right choice.”

Sighing, Lily nodded, “Thanks anyway, I…don’t even know how I feel about it if I’m honest.” Seeing Amy’s inquiring look, the flower girl continued, “Like I hate how I made Maddy feel, but if I’m being real with myself…if I could go back knowing what I know now, I don’t think I’d do it differently. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but throwing you under the bus just so things were more comfortable with Maddy…feels wrong to me. I do have to make it up to her…for every mistake I’ve made.”

Amy looked over at where the chef currently was. Personally she understood how the actions could feel like a betrayal but the Oni was worried about the level of naivete going forward if these were the sorts of games they would be playing. Her eyes turned back to look at Lily, and she shrugged, “That’s something you’re gonna have to figure out, I mean I’ll help out if I can, but for now…fancy a trip with me before dinner?” Amy turned to begin moving off stage

Looking surprised, Lily’s expression quickly shifted to quizzical as she moved to follow the Oni, “What did you have in mind?”

Amy’s expression was determined, “I mean, I made my intentions clear with everyone; it’s time to go shopping.”

Eliza found herself on the floor of the stage, kneeling down on her ankles. She may have been the winner, but never could she recall feeling so low before. Well, no, that wasn’t true; her husband walking out on her definitely. Or maybe when the divorce papers arrived in the mail, or when she had seen social media posts a week later of him with some leggy brunette.

She may be the oldest person here (technically); she had taught more lectures than she could count, and thought of countless moral thought experiments. This game though, had put her up against the wall, a wall of life experience that she was **** to admit she found herself woefully lacking in. Did anything she had to say have merit? She clearly couldn’t practice what she preached, she had betrayed one of the sweetest girls due to fear of another.

She had been staring blankly at the ground when she felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Mira standing there looking down on her with concern. “You need to get up, Eliza. Beating yourself up isn’t going to change anything.”

The professor wanted to protest, wanted to slam her hands against the ground and throw a fit about her moral failings, but couldn’t bring herself to do so under the persistent gaze of the Bengali woman and found herself begrudgingly rising to her feet. Once she was finally standing, Mira released the blonde from her grasp.

Mira smiled, “Congratulations are in order, you did win the challenge after all and earned no small amount of points.” Eliza winced at the praise, and Mira raised her eyebrow, “Come now, even if you aren’t happy about the process by which you got them, this is a good thing. No one wants to see you turned into a sex doll, Eliza, you can’t tell me you want that for yourself.”

Clenching her fists, Eliza shook her head, “No, of course I don’t want that, but how can I take pride in anything at this point? Maybe I don’t want it, but maybe that’s what I deserve after betraying my girls like that.”

Lifting a gloved hand to her forehead, Mira rolled her eyes. “You cannot be serious about that. Do you think either Madeline or Lillian wants that for you?”

“I-I don’t know what to think right now. I can’t trust my thoughts.” Eliza tucked her head in, looking down as Mira’s expression became increasingly exasperated.

“I do not have patience for melodrama and pity parties, Eliza.” The agent put her hands on her hips and reached over to tilt Eliza’s chin up to look her in the eye, “I understand you’re distressed and upset, but your acting like this isn’t going to help anyone. Not you, nor the people you care about, and I will not indulge you.”

Eliza stared upward into Mira’s stern expression before turning her eyes away and gathering her hands in front of her chest as if to act as a barrier between her and the criticism of the other woman. She understood what Mira was saying, but she couldn’t get past this lump inside her stomach.

Luckily, she was spared from further indictment by Maya crossing the stage and coming over to the two older women. Mira lowered her hand and smiled at Maya appreciatively, “Second place, you handled yourself well.”

Maya’s smile is bright as she answers, “Yeah, I did my best, and Amy was very cooperative the last round. I think she came to the same conclusion as me about how things were gonna shake up. But that’s not what I came over to talk with you two about.”

Eliza’s eyebrows raised, she thought that Maya had come over just for Mira, “Both of us?”

Nodding enthusiastically, Maya’s smile straightened, “I was wondering if you could give me advice. Since I respect both of your opinions, I thought it would be best to ask each of you.

Maya glanced over at the professor and then focused a smile on Maya, “Sure, I don’t have any problem with that. Over a cup of coffee, perhaps? What do you think, Eliza?”

Eliza swallowed, exchanging a nervous glance between Maya’s bright, smiling face and Mira’s more measured expression, “S-Sure…”

Without more ado, the three began to exit the auditorium.

Backstage, in the dimly lit monitoring room, Reyna and Lucian appeared in a blaze of flames, and Lucian immediately walked up to the nearest piece of furniture, grabbed it, and threw it against the wall as flames licked at his skin.

“How dare she have the gall to say that after everything!” The demon slammed his fists down on the nearby coffee table, causing burn marks to rapidly spread across its surface. “They had everything handed to them! I literally told those skin puppets how to win and get through, and they couldn’t!”

Reyna propped herself up on a wooden box and pulled out a bag of chips as she watched the host flip his lid.

“‘Aren’t bad people’ the fucking arrogance. They think they’re special? Unique? They’re just humans! Rotten to the core, give them a chance and they’ll betray each other, and they did! Like rabid dogs fighting for a scrap of meat. I proved it to them and she-AUGH!” Lucian lifted the coffee table which rapidly ignited as it was tossed against the wall.

Reyna made a mental note of what furniture would have to be replaced as he munched on a chip and then piped up, “Lucy, come on now, we all know the real reason you’re mad.”

The demon's face was contorted in feral rage as he turned to the red-headed assistant and snapped, “What?! What the hell would you know, you monster?”

“Words are hurtful Lucy,” Reyna smirked as she popped another crisp into her mouth and chuckled, “But come now we know the real reason you’re mad is because you wanted them to succeed and they fucked it up.”

Lucian’s arms ignited as he took a step towards Reyna, “Mark your next words very carefully, beast.”

The assistant’s grin only grew, showing off rows of carnivorous teeth, “Lucy, we both know you can’t do anything to me, so let’s not waste effort. You built a challenge with a loophole. On purpose. Do you know how many Hosts have done that? Shar hasn’t even done that.” She kicked her feet back and forth, “You gave the girls a full-on no TF winning scenario, not because you knew they wouldn’t get it, but because a teeny part of that juvenile heart of yours wanted to see it happen. How very ack-” The assistant was cut off by Lucian’s hands wrapping around her throat.

“You forget yourself, maybe you think I’ve been declawed, but I am still a demon. I have tortured countless humans to madness, brought endless misery to the damned and made them wish they could die. I may not be able to kill you runt, but never forget, despite what some may think,” his grip tightened and he watched Reyna’s eyes roll back, “I am in charge.”

He released and let Reyna fall to the ground, where she sputtered and gripped her throat as she caught her breath.

Behind her, the screens lit up, the results of the room poll were in and the assignments flashed over the screens:

Pierrot Suite: TEAM ENVY (Eliza and Mira)

Columbina Suite: TEAM GREED (Maya and Stella)

Brighella Suite: TEAM SORROW (Noemi and Maddy)

Innamorti Suite: TEAM VAINGLORY (Amy and Lilly)

Lucian went over to the screens and without looking back at his assistant just said coldly, “Make yourself useful and get the fauns to inform the girls of their placements”

Struggling to rise to her feet, Reyna stood up and coughed, “...ok Lucy” She then stepped off into the hall the door closing behind her as she suddenly righted herself and smiled, “Oh yes, he’s coming along nicely.”