Challenge 2, Part 7: Some Replies, Some Results

Harper

All but 8 chairs have been removed from the contestant side of the makeshift Media Room stage. 6 of them are suddenly filled. 5 of them are momentarily confused (Tina’s confusion is tinted with irritation) by Ariel’s and Daphne’s new appearance. I mean, to be fair to them, I was confused and I saw why she changed. Damn, Daphne was cute before, but now? She is adorable. Ariel takes a position in the middle?

The mermaid puts on her best performance smile and begins, “Welcome back, all, to Harem Hotel. Wasn’t that an exciting challenge? For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Ariel, head of the hotel staff, and I have just accepted an offer to host for the rest of the season. So, we have several things to get to before the formal portion of the day is done, so let’s get started First...”

“Wait,” a voice shouts from the background, another mermaid shimmying awkwardly down some steps. “We have mail! Mail time! Iris delivers the mail at the perfect time!” Huh, did Daphne change things such that all of the frenzy have scale coloration like her?

Tina gets a package first as the Media Room screen displays a different season. Oh, the muscle mommy girl from that one season I wrote a letter to. Huh. The footage of her reading and responding to Tina’s letter plays.

“Pause! Tina!” Josie lightly growls at the first mention of the photo.

“Hey, to be fair, I thought you looked cute and it was an extra photo I had lying around. They were nice enough to not show it to the camera, so it’s just the three of us that’s seen it, as far as I know. And hey, she is hot. Not wolf-girlfriend hot or Scarlet-girlfriend hot, but, hot. Please continue.”

The tape plays to the end of the segment. Tina looks worried about the package in her hands. “Uh, guys, can one of you take this from me? If I open it and see a cotton candy burrito, I’m going to eat it. And, if I eat it, I’m going to start using it to jill myself off whenever I’m bored. So, please?”

Vix starts to jump towards the package; Harper snaps her finger and Vix is suddenly on her shoulder. Daphne takes the package and casts Dispel Magic into it. Tina relaxes.

“Phew. Now that’s over with, BOOOOOOO! C’mon anti-fun people! I wanna collab! In other news, sorry to hear about your date. Yeah, outside forces messing with your good time really suck, whether it’s from not giving you key information or brainwashing your date to REEEEEEEAAAALLY being into sucking cock. Hope your next one goes better.”

The second package is delivered to Josie. “Wow, that was fast. We started recording the tape like 15 minutes ago? Uh, can I answer this in private?”

Iris answers the first question at least, “Oh, due to timey-wimey nonsense, they actually answered your letters before any of you made them.” The screen playing the blonde wolf girl listening and responding to Josie’s tape recording answers the second. The video also explains why Josie’s hand is covered in blue ink.

When the tape gets to the point where Josie finishes asking about animal girl side effects, Josie yells, “Pause! Can I please get the rest of this in private?”

“Harper?” Ariel asks.

Seeing Josie look so distressed, Harper is more than happy to allow it. “Sure; go ahead.”

Josie

Josie is teleported into a plain, white room with a portable TV set-up like one finds in a school that can’t afford to have TVs in every classroom. The tape continues to play. Please don’t let this be a trick; I feel so embarrassed. It’s bad enough I asked those questions in front of the fish. I don’t need my actual girlfriends or Harper to hear them. Or the response.

“Thanks for returning the needle. I supposed I can use it to bribe a certain fish not to blab about what my letter was about. Thank you for the confirmation. I know I was definitely feeling more, I don’t know, predatory, even before the Berserker stuff came into play. I didn’t consider that multiplying the mental effects of going all wolfy. There may be some nuance in the nature of the transformation, too. Mine’s phrased as Pack Enforcer, which may lean it into something more aggressive? Something to worry about later. Either way, watch out. My teeth and claws are quite sharp; I imagine yours might be too. I’ve gotten close to snapping a couple of times already. Make sure you don’t get pushed over the edge.”

Josie points to her collar, assuming a vid of this will get to Allie, “Hey, the collar thing is fun. Mine’s different, but it makes me feel a little special, being the only one in the harem that has one. Try it out. You may like it enough to find a mundane one to wear everyday. Save the one I gave you for special occasions, though.”

“As for that other business, I guess I got some more thinking to do. I was hoping for an easier answer than ‘be honest and communicate.’ I hear enough of that from Tina. And Scarlet. Sigh. I hate feeling so ****. Ok, I’m done!”

Harper

Josie pops back into reality and pointedly asks Skye, “They stopped the tape here, right!?!?”

“Yes, Josie. You okay?” Skye wraps her arms around Josie and brings her into a brief hug.

“I’ll be alright, squirt. You, fish, here. Girl doesn’t like tats so they returned the present. It’s yours if you don’t tell them what all I asked about.”

Daphne claps at the present and pulls out a needle. She lightly presses it into her skin. Iris the mermaid turns to Harper.

“No package for you, just the last tape to respond to. Enjoy!”

The tape of Mark reading and responding to Harper’s letter starts to play. Then, something unexpected happened. The language suddenly switches to something... sinister.

“Pause! Give me a few minutes.” A (not-so-quick) ritual casting of Comprehend Languages later, ears tingling, Harper requests for the tape to continue. Infernal, huh? Shit. Wow, I did not expect my little gift to be perverted like that.

“I think I should also answer that letter in private. Is it okay if I take a brief walk? I have been sitting in this Jacuzzi for quite a while; be good to stretch my legs anyways. I can carry Iris out.”

Ariel sadly nods and Harper lifts Iris up to get her to the nearest staff tube. Once the mailroom fish swims away, Harper begins, “Mark, thanks for the kind wishes. I’m mostly at peace with all of this, with my ridiculously long list of transformations, even the shock I had this morning. I’ve fallen hard for most of my girls already (though I really wish I could phrase it better) and this insanity has brought me closer to them. I’ve failed one of them, I refuse to fail another.”

“As for the gift, I’m sorry. I intended it to be a little bit of surprise protection in case your Host does a heel-turn, I guess? My I suppose now previous host was obvious in her cruelty, so I’m naturally suspicious of another. I’d offer to help you figure out exactly what your season’s producer did to the ring, but Identify is a touch range spell and I highly doubt I’d be allowed on your set. Maybe if you convinced your Host to book Tina, maybe I could convince her to at least hand you a Scroll of Identify so you can figure it out yourself without having to use it. Maybe look in your shop for something (you do have access to a shop, I assume). Either way, be extremely careful. Devils are all about contracts and sticking disastrous determinations in the details; their infernal contracts aren’t always in the form of paperwork.”

“And as for you, Mr. Producer, don’t you dare try anything against me or mine, you hear me? I do have a wife who needs to kill another fiend to upgrade her weapon. Is threatening an entity beyond the comprehension of mortals the best idea? Nope, but I’ll do it to protect those I love. And anyways, I didn’t give him garbage spells. I admit, Shield and Absorb Elements would probably not do much for his situation unless he unlocks enough crazy power to try for the total show usurpation, but surely Counterspell could have done something! Fizzle a punishment transformation, maybe? Jerk.”

Ariel

That little interruption done as Harper returns (sans Vix) to the Media Room, Ariel is ready for the next bit.

“So, Mistress, would you like to play the same game that Beckie played last round? Guess your place in the best girl poll?”

“I suppose. I presume I’m one spot above Beckie. From my sporadic watching of other seasons, the archetype I was thrown into is typically extremely unpopular. If I beat any of the girls, that means the audience must truly hate her with a passion and I don’t want that for them.”

“Ooof, you are going to regret that probably accurate assessment, Mistress. Irene, if you please?”

The Media Room screen displays most of the poll results.

• 1st Skye (Last Week:4) 115 BP +a special prize!

• 2nd Scarlet (Last Week 1) 100 BP

• 3rd Tina (Last Week 2) 85 BP

• 4th Daphne (Last Week NA) 60 BP

• 5th Josie (Last Week 3) 45 BP

• 6th Harper (Last Week NA) 30 BP

Dinah hugs her kitten plushy as Harper hangs her head in shame. “Sorry, Dinah.”

• 1st Skye (Last Week 4) 115 BP +a special prize!

• 2nd Scarlet (Last Week 1) 100 BP

• 3rd Tina (Last Week 2) 85 BP

• 4th Daphne (Last Week NA) 60 BP

• 5th Josie (Last Week 3) 45 BP

• 6th Harper (Last Week NA) 30 BP

• 7th Dinah (Last Week 5) 15 BP

• 8th Beckie (Last Week 8) 0 BP +a special punishment

“So, Skye gets the special prize and that bitch Beckie continues to be hated with the power of a thousand suns, as she did not even earn a single point in the poll. We’ll let Mistress and her slut think about what they want this round for a bit. So, Harper, what to guess how the audience voted on your dates?”

“Ariel, please don’t insult my wife. Or, frankly, any of them. For Beckie’s punishment, I’m very tempted to pick giving her another 2nd place transformation, but I suppose I should wait until I see the list before going with that over just cranking up the Brain Pop Survey. As for the date poll, have me shove my foot in my mouth once, shame on you. Have me do so again, shame on me. Irene, just pop up the results.”

Ariel whines, “That’s my job, Mistress.” as the date poll results fill in besides the best girl results:

• 1st Skye 75 BP

• 2nd Daphne 60 BP

• 3rd Scarlet 45 BP

• 4th Josie 30 BP

• 5th Tina 15 BP

• 6th Dinah 0 BP

“So, with all of that, we have a couple of empty seats to fill. For a solid day and a half, we had a three way tie for how many new girls Harper was going to get that would have been a logistic nightmare to resolve. Do I average the winning numbers? Just go with the biggest one, ‘cause bigger is better? Then a late vote broke the tie and we ended up with a relatively small 2 additions. 2 very special girls are about to join Harper’s harem and I can’t wait for some fun first impressions. Harper, are you ready?”

Harper takes in a big breath, then nods.

“Um, Ms. Ariel? I know what I want for my prize. I was really scared this morning when my love started suffocating. Is there a transformation I can give her that will help her not drown in air?”

Oh, sweet, innocent little Skye. You shouldn’t be so vague.

“Sure, Skye, we can whip something up real quick. Should I apply it now?”

Ariel turns to watch Harper’s reaction. When she starts to try to talk Skye into thinking her way through it, Ariel silences the sea elf. This is Skye’s prize, after all. Harper gives her an irritated look, especially as she feels the transformation set in.

The screen displays Skye’s prize:

Dive, Dive! – As much as we tease the Mistress for being a Pillow Princess, Skye actually is one. Let’s give Harper another reason to go muff diving. Whenever Harper brings a contestant to an orgasm with her tongue, she gains an additional 8 hours of air tolerance. This effect can be applied once for each contestant and all values reset upon treating her air tolerance issue with submerging in salt water (Sea Elf).

“Um, Ms. Ariel, what is a Pillow Princess?”

Ariel lets Harper answer that, “Sigh, a pillow princess is a sometimes derogatory way of referring to a lady that prefers to get sexual pleasure instead of giving it. I disagree with the sentiment. Thanks, Skye. I appreciate the gift.”

Skye runs over to give Harper a hug, “You’re welcome, love.” Harper gives her a kiss of the top of the drow’s head and strokes her hair for a bit. It takes a few moments for Skye to let go and return to the contestants’ area of the stage. Ariel is getting a touch annoyed.

“Can we finally start the introductions? First off, a lovely lady from a far away land. This noble elven lass gave up her claim to a throne, now her freedom is being taken from her. Let’s give it up for Aelene!”

The Show-runner

I have been avoiding plugging in a show-runner aside into the text proper, but I need to do a citation real quick. Thanks for legolus for letting me write some letters for the Missed Encounters branch. I had fun writing them in the lull waiting for votes to come in (and more fun writing the responses in this chapter). The branch starts here if you want to read from the beginning, but the chapter in question is here if you just want to check that out.