Oeufs Pochés Frits à la Villeroy

When Lily had arrived back at the room the previous night after talking with Stella, Amy had already been collapsed in bed. The plant woman couldn’t blame her, knowing how long the woman had gone without sleep and then going through the catacombs on top of that, Lily was honestly surprised the Oni had made it back to their bed before collapsing. Lily had also changed back to her leafy pajamas. After yesterday, the last thing she wanted was to glitterbomb people.

Sitting up in bed, she bunched the covers in front of her as she reflected on what Stella had said to her yesterday. “Why is it when I try to do what’s right and make a mistake I’m always the one who is wrong? But Maya can actively be playing this psycho game, but it’s ok because she “doesn’t mean anything by it”. Lily punched the bunched-up blankets. Why was it always like this? She did her best, and it wasn’t good enough. No, it was less than enough; people didn’t care how hard she tried. The only time she had felt seen was with Caleb, and then he had to…had to..she punched the blanket again, causing a groan from beside her as Amy stirred awake.

The oni turned over and opened one eye and saw Lily up and groaned again as she rose up, “Good morning, did I miss something?” The oni scratched at her arm absentmindedly as she looked to Lily.

Lily looked abashed for a moment, recoiling slightly at the attention before straightening herself out, “No, just…I was thinking about something that happened yesterday.”

Amy said nothing, just raised an eyebrow and gestured for the plant woman to continue. Lily wrung her hands together in the comforter, “Stella accosted me after getting back and said I was a hypocrite, said that I was pushing everyone away with my attitude.”

After a few moments of silence, Lily’s expression soured as she stared at Amy, “You don’t agree with her, do you?”

Amy let out a hefty sigh, this wasn’t exactly how she had pictured waking up and she really wished she could dodge the conversation altogether but the look on Lily’s face made it clear that wasn’t going to happen, “I’ve already told you what I think, you’re prone to acting without thinking things through from multiple angles. I think it can make your actions shortsighted if well-intentioned.”

Face flushing red, Lily lowered her head and then snapped it back up. “She also said it was wrong to try and be one of the good guys, and said people like us were just making it worse for everyone else.”

Amy’s expression flattened, and she regarded the plant woman carefully, “People like us?”

Expression brightening, Lily leaned forward, “Yeah, you know our side, you, me, Eliza, Maddy, I guess Noemi, people who are trying to do the right thing while stuck here.”

Flipping the blanket off, Amy stood up and slid on her shoes. “Lily, I told you…I’m not on anyone’s side here. If I’m on anyone’s side, it’s my side, no one else's.”

In a tone that read slightly condescending, Lily leaned over and watched Amy as she got dressed, “Yeah, I know you said that, but like I figured you were just being cautious like normal. You’ve been helping everyone out with the AI, telling people your plans, going to the catacombs..”

“...manipulating you into voting Betray during the challenge?” The statement hit Lily like a ton of bricks and the shock was visible on her face as Amy sighed and continued, “Manipulate is a strong word, but I knew you felt you owed me and I knew if I brought up my position there was a strong chance you would try to pay me back. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t have held it against you; I wasn’t trying to strong-arm you. Just…working the likelihood.” The oni finished getting dressed as Lily stared from the bed.

When she finally found her voice again, it was stuttering slightly, but Lily pressed, “But you did all those things to help the group out. Why would you do that if you only care about yourself?”

Amy threw her hair back past her collar, “Being on my side first doesn’t mean I don’t care about other people. Whatever information I find I plan to share so people can do their best out there, I don’t want anyone to be turned into a living sex doll. I honestly didn’t know what would happen to me if I hit the negatives, so for that moment at least it was my safety over the group’s illusion of harmony.”

“So what? You help people out until it gets hard, and then it’s everyone out for themselves?” Lily’s face was burning red and she stood up to stare Amy down.

Amy raised an eyebrow, “Lily? Why does this matter so much to you?”

“What?” Lily’s voice was torn between confusion and outrage, “Why do I care if the people I’m stuck with for the rest of my life are good people or not? I would think the answer is pretty self-evident to someone as smart as you.”

The oni’s expression didn’t change; she just shifted her weight and put a hand on her hip. “No, I can understand that, but the things you freak out about don’t even fall in line with conventional morality. They’re all rules you’ve made up in your mind about how we’re supposed to behave in this situation. As if there’s a correct response to being magically kidnapped and **** to date a guy you had a fling for one night with.”

“You’re acting like it’s unreasonable to expect people to behave decently.” Lily was still gripping one of the blankets, and her flailing arms sent them to the ground.

Amy let out a slow exhale, trying to keep her own body from responding to the anger that Lily was dishing out. She grabbed her pack and slung it over her shoulder, “I’m trying to say that in this situation, it’s unreasonable to expect people to act reasonably. Everyone is doing their best, everyone is trying to make it through this, regardless of what form it takes. When we’re back in the real world, maybe I’ll start being concerned. Until then, as long as people aren’t actively throwing me under the bus, it’s not worth the energy.”

The oni began to head towards the door, sighed, and turned back to Lily, “Lily, we’re not enemies here. We get along well enough, which is saying a lot from where we started. Please, is this really worth getting bent out of shape for? I’ve enjoyed our time together and I thought you did too.”

“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before trying to leverage those feelings to get your way.” Lily snapped through her teeth.

“Lily…” Amy’s voice rose slightly, “Please don’t do this.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s whatever. It’s stupid, right? It’s so forking stupid to want people to actually care about you and to be reasonable. No, it’s my bad, I get it.” She stepped forward and kicked her backpack from yesterday on the floor into the closet.

Amy just stood there watching as Lily’s chest violently heaved as she faced the closet, arms tense at her side, hands twisted into fists. After a few moments of quiet, the Oni spoke up, “I’m heading down to breakfast, you’re welcome to join me.”

“Yeah sure, whatever.” Lily didn’t turn to face Amy as the oni straightened her pack and walked out the door. As the door closed, Lily slunk down slowly to the ground and wrapped her arms around her legs and began to quietly sob next to the closet.

As Amy approached the breakfast half a cursory glance showed that almost everyone was already in attendance. Almost everyone, as she didn’t see Caleb or Eliza anywhere, and obviously Lily had not made her way down. The groups were split, Mira, Maya and Stella at one table and Noemi and Maddy at another. Amy grabbed a muffin from the buffet and joined the table with less people.

Maddy smiled as the oni sat down, “Oh, good morning, Amy! Are you alright? You look a little distracted.”

This caught Amy by surprise. “Do I?” She lifted the muffin and took a bite. “I suppose that makes sense. I think Lily and I had a fight. She’s probably not coming down for breakfast.”

“Oh,” Maddy’s face froze as she processed that information, and then she sighed, “Try not to hold it against her. She means well, I know it’s exhausting sometimes.”

Amy’s eyebrow raised, “I’m not holding anything against her, when I say we had a fight, it was more that I was a passive observer of the argument she was creating. I’m not mad at her, she’s just convinced we’re…I don’t even know the right word for it.”

Noemi crossed her arms and nodded sagely, “Yeah, it can be hard. Sometimes romance makes feelings a lot more intense.”

Nearly **** on her muffin, Amy pounded on her chest as Maddy looked on, concerned. Finally, Amy recovered enough and turned to Noemi, “I’m sorry? What? Romance? Who? When? Where?”

A genuine expression of surprise came over Noemi, “Oh, are you two not involved? I just assumed, given you’ve both made it clear you have no issues with women…and you spend so much time together, it just made sense.”

Amy shook her head, “No, we are not like that. I just happen to have a lot of patience for her specific brand of nonsense. I also feel I owe her a little having…well yeah.” She ended lamely.

Noemi seemed to deflate as she listened, “Such a shame, really in times like these, Love is the way you ride through it. I’m not sure what I would do if not for the fact that Caleb and I are together now.”

Maddy’s face turned crimson, and she looked away as Amy looked on, her expression flattening, “A week ago, weren’t you yelling at each other pretty harshly? I still don’t quite understand this turnaround.”

Raising a hand to her cheek, Noemi took on a blissful expression, “It’s the healing power of love! Caleb has accepted me for who I am, flaws and all and now I have been transformed by love with the power to do anything for him.”

“Uh-huh,” Amy replied flatly. She couldn’t help but regard the reverence in the Chilean woman’s voice with some disdain. If love did that to a person, well it was perhaps scarier than any magic their demented captors could unleash on them.

Noemi’s features relaxed, and she looked over to Maddy, “Oh, if Lily’s not coming down, this is probably the best crowd you’re going to get.”

Setting down her fork, Maddy nodded, “Yeah, I also doubt Lily would be interested in these anyway.”

Raising an eyebrow, Amy watched as Maddy walked over towards the buffet and then cleared her throat quietly. Seeing no one respond, she tried again, slightly louder. When that didn’t work, Noemi cupped her hands around her mouth and called, “Hey, everyone! Maddy has something to share.”

Maddy jumped at the noise and then saw all eyes were on her and felt the creep of sweat on the back of her neck. “Um…good morning everyone,” She said quietly.

Stella from her table called out, “Gonna have to raise your voice, Mads, can hardly hear you from here.”

Maddy yelped and then closed her eyes as she raised her voice, “Good morning! I just wanted to inform everyone I received my treats for the round and wanted to see if anyone would like them for their date or anything else!”

Raising her hands like a criminal in the spotlight, Stella barked, “And I promise not to steal them this time!” eliciting a few scattered chuckles.

Pulling out the descriptions from her pocket, Maddy continued, “One has already been claimed by Noemi, but I still have the Bumkuchen and the Beach Blondie.” She then proceeded to read off the description for each option and concluded, “If anyone wants any of them, let me know now and I can give them to you from my room.”

Stella's hand shot up, “Give me that cake, please.”

Looking slightly disturbed, Maya looked to her roommate, “You really want to take it up…there?”

Stella raised an eyebrow, “Don’t knock it till you try it reach girl. Plus, this sounds like it removes any of the downsides. Plus…hehe” A dopey grin took over her features, “I have no doubt I can taunt Caleb into giving it to me as hard as I want.”

Blushing furiously, Maddy nodded, “Um, ok, unless anyone else wants it, Stella can get the Bumkuchen. Now does anyone want the Beach Blondie?” Seeing no one raise their hands, Maddy sighed, “Well, I guess that’s fine. It can just go away at the end of the round.”

Mira raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you use it?”

Maddy flushed and shrank back, “M-m-me?!”

Raising her cup of coffee to her lips, Mira nodded, “It seems like your biggest obstacle is your nerves, and you need the VP, sounds perfect for you.”

Stella let out a barking laugh and smiled, “Dude, I want to see beach babe Mads, but I mean only if you’re comfortable with it.”

Still shrunk back, Maddy tucked the descriptions away and tried to compose herself, “I’ll think about it.” With nothing else to say, Maddy shuffled back to the table and resumed eating her breakfast.

Caleb awoke in his bed feeling quite refreshed from the previous day, the only remnant of his efforts being the aching pain in his chest. It was still extremely annoying to Caleb that a reaction to a fake threat to his life could still cause lasting ramifications on his body. Unfortunately, regardless of the reasoning, the chest muscle contractions were no less real, and he had provoked them several times yesterday in his efforts to get to the docks before even using the umbrella. He would need to let the girls know that they could leave the hotel on dates now. Was it a perfect solution? No, far from it, but he didn’t have time for a perfect solution when they were all counting on him.

A voice at the end of the bed shot the Master from his thoughts, “Good Morning, Master! A new day is upon you and your first date of the week! How exciting!”

Caleb reared back and looked to see Reyna smirking at him while leaning over on the sheets, several of the buttons on her top undone to reveal a mountain of cleavage bursting through her clothes.

Seeing his flustered reaction, Reyna slung her head back and gave off a high-pitched laugh somewhere between a cackle and a giggle. Caleb pulled the sheets up towards his chest as his back pressed against the backboard, “So it’s just you? Shouldn’t your handler be around somewhere?”

“Lucy? Oh, he’s nursing a hangover backstage; he probably won’t be up and about until noon, so I just wanted to come and congratulate you in his stead.” Reyna’s smirk never left, but she leaned over and reclined on her side like a pin-up model, staring up at Caleb.

Caleb kicked out his feet to the side of the bed, trying to ignore the assistant’s provocation, moving to the dresser, “Congratulate? Doesn’t really seem like something that would be high on that Demon’s to-do list.”

Reyna tutted, “Oh, you misunderstand, we’re both quite proud of you, Caleb, though Lucy might hesitate to admit it. Sometimes it takes several rounds to get a Master off their ass and moving so we wanted to let you know how much we appreciate the effort you’re putting in.”

Throwing on his shirt, Caleb glanced back at the red-headed assistant, the words of warning from the fanmail ringing through his mind. “You seem to do quite a bit on your own. Is that normal for an assistant?”

Reyna sat up and stuck out her tongue, batting her forehead playfully with her hand, “Caleb, you gotta be careful, suspicious minds break down trust, how do you expect to form meaningful relationships like that?”

“So you came here just to congratulate me? That’s it? No hidden agenda?” Caleb turned after hiding behind the changing screen to do up his pants.

Smiling widely, Reyna sauntered over and straightened Caleb’s shirt. “The only agenda I have, Caleb, is fun. Making this show as fun as possible from as many angles as possible. I’m rooting for you! Have good dates! Fall in love! Have lots of good sex!”

“If that’s all you wanted, why push everyone against each other?” Caleb was stone-faced as he stared down at the assistant.

Reyna stuck out her tongue, “Caleb, I’m just an assistant, I don’t have all the answers, maybe you and Lucian need to have a proper heart-to-heart? Wouldn’t that be fun?” She patted the Master’s chest and then skipped away. “Anyway, do you really want to spend more time interrogating the dopey assistant? You've got eight lovely women waiting for you.”

Caleb frowned, yeah, there was no trusting anything that came out of this woman’s mouth but it wouldn’t be productive to just hang around here and talk in circles. “Fine, but I’m not gonna let you and your demon just get your way. I’m not gonna sit back and let you **** us.” Not giving her any time to respond, Caleb left the Master’s Suite, leaving Reyna smiling to herself.