Panino Porchetta

Eliza was still undressed but sat thunderstruck at the edge of the bed. Noemi had pulled in a whiteboard into the room, and Eliza had nary a clue where she had procured such a thing. She simply watched as Noemi flipped through the pages with a smile on her face and a casual confidence as she wrote on the board: “Don’t be a victim, be a C.H.A.M.P.!”, leaving the professor increasingly concerned about how this was going to go.

“Noemi, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I just need time, though, so you don’t need to do this really…” Eliza kept her voice gentle and patient, but was met by Noemi turning round and slapping the book across the board.

“No, Eliza, I can’t do that. You see as the person with…” Noemi closed her eyes and grit her teeth as the words came out, “second most VP, it falls on my shoulders to make sure all you who are straggling behind do your best! I care about you all and want to see you doing the best you can by being the best harem member possible for Caleb. Don’t you want to be happy? Don’t you want to make Caleb happy? Don’t you want him to hold you? Kiss you? Bend you over and put a baby in you?” Her mouth hung open towards the end as the Chilean took on a dreamy expression, and Eliza could swear she saw drool.

Eliza had garnered that Noemi had taken a radical turn since her entry in the competition. She had roomed with the woman and watched as she turned from resentment to excitement over the prospect of being together with Caleb. Until now, she hadn’t really seen the degree of that devotion, and she had to admit, it filled her with not a small amount of concern. “I know the transformation made her have a pregnancy fetish. Does this mean the rest is just her?”

“I understand what you’re saying…” Eliza spoke carefully as she broke Noemi from her revelry, “I certainly want everyone to be happy, the other stuff…Caleb and I don’t really have that kind of relationship. We’ve only had the one kiss.”

Noemi pursed her lips and puffed up her not-insignificant chest, “Yet. You don’t have that relationship with him, yet.” Her eyes stared down at Eliza, brooking no argument and causing the professor to shrink into herself.

“I suppose…yes, that’s the point of the show after all is to get us together.” Eliza looked to the side to avoid gazing into the peering saucers looming over her.

Noemi leaned back and smiled, “That’s right, so I’m here to help break you out of your funk, Eliza. You did so much for me in the first round, and I want to repay that favour.”

Eliza felt touched, a warmth spreading through her chest as she looked over at the other woman, “Really? Noemi, it means so much t-”

She was cut off by the Chilean continuing, “So that’s why I’m here to get you out of this funk and to get you ready to be impregnated as soon as possible.

Eliza’s expression fell, and she shook her head.

Either unaware of Eliza’s change in expression or willfully ignoring it, Noemi popped open an **** marker and began to write on the board, “So we will be focusing on changing modalities with which you are currently thinking about the harem, and working to synergize your way of thinking with being the best harem member possible. To that end, the C.H.A.M.P. model will guide you to success.” She turned away from the board, beaming, and revealed what she had been writing.

C: Changing your Thoughts.

H: Having a Postive Outlook

A: Achieving Results

M: Measuring Success

P: Perfecting Strategies

Eliza just stared at the board and then glanced over to Noemi, who, when seeing that the words did not result in the instantaneous epiphany she had been hoping for, bit her cheek and pouted before gesturing with the book. “These are the five simple steps towards becoming an effective work-I mean harem member.”

More than a little skeptical, Eliza raised her hand, “Can you please elaborate? I’m afraid I’m not seeing how this applies to my situation.”

Adjusting her glasses, Noemi opened her book, “Of course I can explain, it’s really straightforward. See the first step in C.H.A.M.P. is changing your thoughts and taking responsibility for yourself. Remember that you have 100% of the control over yourself and how you deal with things.”

Eliza reached up and massaged her brow, “You mean I control my reactions to situations, correct? Because surely, given our current circumstances, you cannot mean to suggest I chose to be kidnapped and put into a harem of one of my students.”

“I um…” Noemi flipped through the pages, “Yes. Yes, that’s what it means.”

Eliza’s face was deadpan. “And this next step suggests that because I have 100% control over myself, that I should use it to focus on the positives?”

Beaming, Noemi nodded aggressively, “Yeah, see? It’s not that difficult to understand. Once you do that, it becomes easy to set goals to achieve results, and from there, you can figure out what success looks like to you. Then it's just you know, reflecting on the process and improving on it. CHAMP is the perfect model for self-improvement.”

Not able to stop herself, Eliza clicked her tongue, “More, it’s the perfect model to explain away unproductive behaviour in work staff as being solely their responsibility and absolve a business from any looking inward at how their procedures or management might be harming employees.”

Wide-eyed, Noemi panicked and flipped through the pages rapidly, “No, um…see because these are also tools for management…I..um..”

Eliza sighed, “Capitalism will always villainize negative thinking or taking time to recover because it does not produce commerce.”

“It works, though.” Noemi clung to the book like a life preserver, “They have all these reports of companies that have turned around after using the CHAMP system.”

Eliza paused, “How did they turn around? How was it measured? Did they just remove workers who refused to participate? If all these companies have found a faultless guide to management and working, why is the unemployment percentage going up?” The professor shook her head, “Thank you for trying to help Noemi, but corporate propaganda isn’t going to make me feel any better.” She crawled over the bed and threw the blanket over her head.

Noemi dropped the text with a heavy thud and slumped to her knees, “I just wanted to help…I” She began to sniffle, “Now I’ve just screwed up again.”

Turning under the blankets, Eliza peered over at Noemi before lifting them up and asking, “How do you mean ‘again’?”

The Chilean woman looked over with teary eyes, “I got my business degree to help out my dad. I wanted to help him to be able to work less by setting up his own business. I thought after I got some real-world experience, I could take care of that. Then no one wanted to hire me. Now I just tried to use what I learned to help you, and that was wrong…”

Pressing her lips tight together, Eliza crawled out and wrapped her arms around Noemi, “I appreciate you trying to help, I do. It’s not your fault corporations are evil.”

Noemi chuckled in the professor’s arms, “Isn’t the thing supposed to be you get more conservative as you get older?”

This earned a chuckle from Eliza, “Only if the system benefited you. I’m a woman in education, the system has routinely fucked me over and made me extremely critical.” She let go of Noemi. “Besides, shouldn’t you be focusing more on your date tomorrow and less on helping me?”

“I mean, yes, I want my date to go well tomorrow.” Noemi blushed, “I meant what I said, though. I appreciate everything you did for me in round one. I don’t know if I would have been able to reconcile with Caleb if not for you. You’re pretty much responsible for me getting a chance at true love, and I just wanted to return the favor. Everyone here has the chance to fall in love with the perfect man, and I want to make that happen.”

Eliza decided it was probably best for now to overlook the glaring red flags and just focus on the intent behind the words leaving Noemi’s mouth, “I appreciate the sentiment, we all have to look out for each other.”

Noemi stared at Eliza starry-eyed, “Did it work then? Will you leave your room?” She gave the professor her best puppy dog impression and Eliza struggled for a moment.

“No, I’m…not ready. Not yet. I will leave bed, though, and get dressed. If not for you, I probably wouldn’t have done that, so thank you.

The Chilean looked a little crestfallen that she hadn’t immediately fixed all the professor’s anxieties, but tried to swallow her feelings, “Is it ok if I spend the day with you at least?”

The professor was about to reject the offer on reflex, but closed her eyes and swallowed the feelings and pushed back on the wall inside her just enough to say, “I think that would be fine.”

After leaving the coffee shop, the couple of Mira and Caleb, made their way over to Bazaar Isle where Mira helped Caleb pick out some clothes to add to his wardrobe. Apparently, clothes were something he could just grab for free, considering he lacked any BP himself, and the fauns carted them off to the master’s suite. Frankly, it was probably a smart idea because, as Mira had correctly surmised, when Caleb asked about the activity

“You probably only have around three outfits, I imagine? Given how long you’ve spent inside, it would be nice to have a bit more variety.” The agent had so aptly expressed.

It also gave Caleb an opportunity to test his theory about the collar as he donned a puke green Hawaiian shirt and watched as Mira spasmed before finally saying she hated it.

Mira, for her part, was doing her part to be as truthful as possible. What the collar hadn’t mentioned in its description was the lingering effects of those spikes. With every press of that searing hot poker, her body was left with a throbbing heat that grew worse every time it happened. She found herself unconsciously squeezing her thighs together and shifting them to try and tamp down the heat. Her nipples were hard as diamonds underneath the black leather that encased them, and she had to keep refocusing on the tasks at hand.

Following their foray in the Bazaar they got on the boat again and Mira led him to the isle containing numerous restaurants, where they stopped at a small Porchetteria and sat down at an outside table with its own umbrella, allowing Caleb to briefly close the one on him. As they sat together eating their dinner, Mira gave a glance at the folded umbrella and examined Caleb, “How are you holding up?”

Caleb gave a rough chuckle as he wiped some salsa verde from his cheek, “Honestly? When it’s at its lightest, I feel like I’m having constant heartburn, at its worst, it’s pretty much only willpower keeping me standing upright.” He leans forward on the table and sets his sandwich down, “Pretty much anytime I leaned against a wall or laid back in the boat was one of those times. Just kind of have to power through.”

The agent set down her own sandwich and tapped her lips with a napkin, “What changed?”

“Excuse me?” Caleb looked over.

“I tried to get you to therapy for your condition multiple times, even offering to cover the cost. You even seemed reticent after we spoke on our last date, so colour me curious. What exactly changed?” She leaned in, elbows on the table, and rested her head in her hands as she gazed across at Caleb.

“Oh, um…” Caleb scratched his temple, “It wasn’t one thing…it was a lot of things clicking together. You talking to me about stepping up, Amy showed me the details surrounding a bunch of other seasons, and then just…” He blew out some air, “After interacting with everyone, especially after the first challenge, I just realized how much I was holding things back.” He tensed his knuckles, “Not just with dates, but just constantly taking a backseat while letting Lucian run the show. The one time I played directly into his hands just emphasized that trying to get special treatment would only put a bigger barrier between me and all of you.”

“So I decided to try, to not just go outside but to put myself out there for everyone. No holding back, no hiding away.” He grit his teeth, “No matter how scared I am. So like I said before, I’m not going to get hung up on trying to get all of you to love me or anything like that,” He shook his head, “Maybe the show wants that, but honestly, all I care about is making sure everyone makes it to the end on everyone’s terms.” He matched gazes with Mira, “That’s why I’m not upset that you don’t see me romantically, if that happened, I’d do my best to make you happy. I’m going to do that anyway, but if all you need is a way to get VP, I’m alright with that too.”

Mira realized her mouth was open and quietly shut it before closing her eyes and taking a bite of her sandwich, “You have salsa on your shirt…”

Blinking, Caleb looked down at the green stain and scrambled for a napkin as Mira used the sandwich to hide the blush rising on her cheeks.

As they finished up and tossed the sandwich wrappers away, Caleb looked across at the sky when the sun was beginning to crest, the sky taking on a burnished orange colour. He looked over towards Mira, “So are you ready to head back to the hotel?”

Mira looked over and tossed Caleb the umbrella leaning against the side of the table, “Actually, there is someplace I want to go still.”

“Oh,” Caleb didn’t bother to hide his surprise as he opened the umbrella, “I mean, sure, I've got no problem with that. Are we going to be ok for curfew? Most places are shutting down, right?”

The agent began to make her way towards the boats, “I’m not too concerned, the place in question is only open at night, I doubt they would make such an attraction available without a means of returning on time.”

Following her lead, Caleb just shrugged and got into the gondola together with Mira. Their destination wasn’t far, and in the looming darkness that began to fall over the city, it became prominently visible.

The circus tent of the Twilight Circus was illuminated from the inside, a glowing beacon against the darkness. If that wasn’t enough, several multicoloured spotlights waved across the sky boldly declaring its presence. As they docked, Mira helped Caleb out of the boat, and he gave her a quizzical expression, “I never saw you as the circus type.”

Mira responded with a plain smile, “I enjoy all forms of performance, but it’s not just that.” She stepped assuredly towards the tent, “Aren’t you the least bit curious about what sort of show they would be putting on here of all places?”

Feeling his soul take on equal parts fear and excitement, Caleb followed Mira inside.