Tomates Concassées

By the time the rest of the breakfast crowd came to join the lobby crew, only Maya and Stella were left. Seeing Caleb look around the room, Stella smirked from the ottoman she was squatting on, “Mads went to change for your date. Maya wanted to leave immediately after we had finished helping with the bounty, but I figured we should stay behind so you didn’t run around like a chicken with no head.”

Caleb tilted his head and made an expression of mock annoyance, “Really? You think that’s all it would take to send me into a panic?”

Playfully kicking up her heels before springing to her feet, Stella leaned in close to Caleb with an impish grin, “Caleb, you start panicking the moment you see sunlight without your comfort umbrella.”

Twisting his face, Caleb wrinkled his nose and stared down the redhead before cracking a grin. “Maybe so. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“No probalo, Mr. Man.” The imp patted him on the chest and turned to look at Maya, who had been watching the entire exchange with fervent curiosity, “You ready to go, troublemaker?”

Maya’s lips formed a round “O” before her brow creased indignantly, “I am not a troublemaker! I don’t go out trying to cause problems like some people do.”

Behind him, Caleb could almost hear Lily rolling her eyes as Stella sauntered over and wrapped her arm around her roommate's shoulder, “Then it’s all the more impressive how much shit you stir up without trying.”

Maya’s expression faltered as she bent slightly forward with the weight of Stella’s arm, “I don’t get it. When have I ever caused problems?” She looked around the room curiously before settling her gaze on Caleb, who just scratched his cheek nervously and looked to the side.

“I wonder…” was all the Master could manage to get out. He expected to find Lily jumping in and volunteering some examples, but surprisingly, the plant woman was quiet behind him.

Stella clapped her hand on Maya’s shoulder and began to drag her away from the group, “Hey, don’t worry about it. Even if you do do something, I’m sure our kind and gracious Master will forgive you- honestly, he’s a bit of a pushover.” She turned her head to Caleb and stuck out her tongue while tugging on her eyelid with a finger.

Ducking under Stella’s grip, Maya waved goodbye to everyone, “See you, everybody! We’ll let you know how it goes! Start thinking of board games you want to play next week, too!”

With that being said, the two made their way outside to the docks. Amy looked over at Lily, who was waving goodbye to Maya as she left. “I take it you two have buried the hatchet?”

Caleb was tempted to comment as well, but was worried his involvement might accidentally lead to additional problems.

Noemi looked confused over at Amy, “Were they fighting or something?” causing Caleb to acknowledge it was probably good that she was going to be interacting more with Lily today, realizing how insular her experience here must have been so far.

Lily lowered her hand and wrinkled her face, “I don’t know if it’s fair to say we were fighting.”

Not able to hold back any longer, Caleb gave a snort of laughter as Amy raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, the same way Russia and the USA weren’t fighting during the Cold War. Lily, saying Maya’s name was all it took to put you on a warpath last week. So what happened?”

Turning her head indignantly, the plant woman shrugged. “We talked about things, and I learned that she is one hundred percent as crazy as I thought she was, just…” She paused and looked over towards the door, “She’s not crazy in a bad way, I guess. She’s still out of her gourd and potentially dangerous, but I don’t think she comprehends why.”

Lily kicked her foot awkwardly, “So I’m gonna still keep an eye on her, but…there’s no reason to antagonize her.”

Caleb could almost feel the weight lifting from his shoulders. Being trapped here in this bizarre circumstance was stressful enough without the women at each other’s throats. After seeing some footage of other seasons at Reyna’s insistence, Caleb had felt a touch resentful over the fact that it didn’t seem to be something others had to deal with.

Now? Increasingly, the girls were getting along, looking out for each other. Eliza was a loose end, but Mira had told him that she needed space. Still, he’d like to see her before their date day, but seeing as it was tomorrow, it was unlikely to happen. Still, it was encouraging to see this fractured group slowly becoming…whatever it was. Family would be overstating it, friends might be to simplistic, comrades in arms? Felt most appropriate. They were all out here surviving and learning to rely on each other.

Noemi leaned in towards Lily, “So, should we head out too then? I’m so excited! An actual girls’ day out!”

Shrinking back slightly from the intensity of her enthusiasm, Lily nodded, “Yeah, sure, I guess. Not much reason to stick around here all day,” She turned to look over at Amy, “You sure you don’t want to come along?”

The oni scratched the back of her head and gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “As much as looking through dresses and other such things sounds like ‘fun’. Yeah, I’m sure, I’m just gonna hang back here today, maybe do some reading. After all the activity from the last two days, I’m wiped.”

Frowning, Caleb felt like something was off about this, but Lily didn’t seem to have the same concerns as she began to walk with Noemi out, waving at the two of them, “Well, enjoy it. It feels weird to say, given everything, but this place is kinda a resort if you ignore the demon in charge.”

Noemi leaned in to Caleb and smiled, “Have fun on your date!” before skipping off to join up with Lily.

As they exited, Caleb peered back over at the Oni and sighed, deciding to just ask, “Is there anything I need to be concerned about?”

Amy had to quickly hide a look of surprise, collecting herself and looking away. “Am I that bad of a liar?”

“She’s not bothering to hide it once called out,” Caleb thought that either meant she didn’t feel much guilt over it or had been waiting to be noticed. In response to her question, he gave a laconic shrug. “No, I don’t think so, I just can’t remember a single time you’ve ‘relaxed’ since coming here. Even our date was about being productive with the time.”

Wincing, Amy shifted the weight of her body between her feet, “Ouch, Caleb, tell a girl what you really think.”

“Hey, you don’t mince words with me, why should it go any differently the other way around?” Caleb’s expression softened, “I figure it was probably something important if you were hiding it from the others. Either that or you were a whole lot more serious about the coup attempt than I thought.”

The oni laughed, but it was hollow with little to no mirth in it, “After seeing what the mask showed me, there’s a place I need to go. I had planned on doing it yesterday, but I figured if we got caught, everyone would get wrapped up in it.” Her eyes were cast downward and focused, and Caleb could tell her mind was looking somewhere other than the floor. “So I’m going to head to the church.”

“Amy…” the master’s tone was sympathetic but with an edge of warning, “You know he’s on high alert, that’s got to be a place he’s watching, you know it has to be.”

“But, things slip through his attention; he hasn’t noticed me yet, right?” The statement was hardly convincing to Caleb or herself, and she let out a long stream of air, “You know when you have a bug bite, you know you shouldn’t scratch it, you know it will make things worse, but you just can’t help it?” She didn’t give Caleb a chance to respond, “That’s how it feels to me, having potential information at my fingertips and not being able to grab it. It’s always in the back of my mind, and keeping my distance only makes it feel worse.”

Turning his gaze on the Oni’s face, he could see the determination, and another look in the eyes showed something else. A craving, bordering on obsession, it was clear that if anything, she was underselling how intensely she wanted to go out and do this. Despite the danger, despite the high likelihood of being caught, he knew then and there that if he told her no, he would achieve nothing.

His fingers tensed. “What can I do to help?”

Amy just scoffed, “You can keep your attention where it needs to be; it’s your date with Maddy. Don’t waste time thinking about what’s happening with me.” The oni shook her head lightly.

“But what if Lucian attacks you? Or if he tries to…wipe you from existence or some shit?!” Caleb couldn’t help but raise his voice; the mere idea of trying not to care about this was outrageous.

“That’s not going to happen,” Amy said coolly, still not looking over.

“You can’t know that, he’s unhinged! He’s literally from hell! He could-”

Caleb was cut off as Amy growled with frustration and reached over, putting the master into a headlock, “You need to cool your jets, ok?” She paused for a moment, “I get it, you’re scared and you don’t want anything to happen to me, and I appreciate it…I-I’m also scared.” She let the words hang there for a moment before continuing, “But, there are rules…Lucian can’t get rid of contestants for playing the game, even if he doesn’t like it. I’m sure he’ll do something and -yeah- I’m not looking forward to it. But I need to know, it’s driving me crazy not to. So just…trust me and enjoy your date with Maddy, ok?”

“Amy I-” Caleb tried to speak when they were interrupted by the sound of Maddy coming down the stairs. She was dressed in a loose, red, flowing sundress and had put decorations that looked like white flowers. She was wearing some loose flip flops and had the picnic basket she had made under her arm.

Her eyes were wide as she stepped down and looked over at them both, Caleb still locked in Amy’s vice grip. “A-am I interrupting anything?”

The Oni released Caleb, sending him stumbling forward as he tried to regain his balance, “Nope, I was just showing Caleb how I could still kick his ass even with his magically enhanced physique.”

“Uh..yeah,” the Master straightened up, “Guess I got a little cocky. Had it coming, really.” He shot Amy a look of concern, to which she responded by rolling her eyes.

Maddy blinked, looking between the two, her face turning pink as her grip tightened on the picnic basket, “O-oh, I see, well, I suppose that’s fine then.” She tried to smile and look over at Caleb, “Are you ready to head out?”

Caleb shot a look at Amy, who just shook her head, before he tried to straighten his expression and smile at the blonde chef, “Uh, yeah, I’m ready whenever you are.”

The chef’s expression shifted to look a touch relieved, “T-that’s great.” She looked over to Amy, “We’ll see you later then?”

The oni just shrugged, “Whenever you see me. Have fun.” She gave the two a quiet salute as Caleb turned to walk with Maddy out to the docks.

This left the Japanese woman alone to putter in the entryway for a few minutes. She quietly walked to the scoreboard and tapped it to flicker to life, reading everyone’s scores at this point past the halfway mark.

• Lillian Wright - 17 VP
• Mira Gayen – 42 VP
• Eliza Dawson – 14 VP
• Amy Tanaka – 44 VP
• Noemi Castro – 50 VP
• Madeline Purcell – 29 VP
• Stella Vincent – 10 VP
• Maya Quinn– 38 VP

Noemi was back in the lead, but only just. Amy had honestly expected the Chilean woman to be farther along after her date; she must have shown a surprising amount of restraint yesterday. She also noted that Maddy had had a surge in points before her date even started. What was going on there? Stella, Lily, and Eliza still lagged behind, all with understandable reasons behind, given Lily and Stella’s attitudes at the start and the fact that Eliza had hidden all this round.

The oni flicked to the bounties and saw that quite a few had been claimed and cashed in. Including some surprising choices. She clicked her tongue and bit the nail on her thumb. Every time she thought she had a handle on what was going on…she had been so consumed by this mask stuff that someone had been making plays without her noticing. She hadn’t noticed anything abnormal while with the others, so maybe it was fine, but…

She pivoted away and made her way outside towards the docks. She had one mystery to solve already. She would focus on that for now. She directed the Faun, and the gondola pushed off from the dock.

Behind her, she missed the door opening again, as another figure climbed into a boat that began to trail after hers from a distance.

In the gondola, Maddy sheepishly looked over at Caleb at the other end of the boat. He had his umbrella in his hands and was staring off into the distance, back towards the hotel. The blonde felt a lump in her throat, “S-Sorry that you’re spending time with me.”

Caleb’s eyes flew open, and his attention turned to focus on the chef, “Maddy, what? Why are you apologizing?”

Maddy’s fingers fiddled in their grip of the basket in her hands as she tucked her head down, “Well, it just seems like you would rather be somewhere else, and I don’t want to be a b-bother.” She felt her throat tremor on the last word as she tried to swallow her feelings.

Freezing in place, Caleb tucked the umbrella under his armpit so he could reach across the boat and touch Maddy’s hand, “Hey, no, I’m sorry. I-I just learned something right before our date, and I let it distract me.”

Looking down at Caleb’s hand, Maddy frowned but felt some of the anxiety in her chest lighten at his touch, but kept her expression hidden, “It’s ok, if you need to go do something else, we can meet up tonight, that’s all that’s required.”

Caleb cursed under his breath, “No, it’s really…It’s ok. I’m sorry. I want to be here with you, Maddy. I want to go on this date, but I’m just letting my worries take over. Y’know, like always.” He gave a lopsided smile.

Maddy’s hands tensed around the basket, and her gaze turned up to look at Caleb warily, “You really want to be here?”

“Maddy, I like you, I like your company, I’m looking forward to whatever you have planned, especially since you prepared all this.” He gestured to the basket.

Startling him, Maddy reached down and took his hand from hers and put it against her cheek and nuzzled against it before seemingly catching herself with a sharp yelp and look of embarrassment. She recoiled back and hid her face, “Ok, um, good!” Her face was scarlet, and she felt like she could have prepared an egg on it with all the heat it was giving off.

The master let out a long breath; he had almost done exactly what Amy had cautioned him not to do. He had to focus, regardless of what was happening elsewhere on the island; right now was his time with Maddy, and he had to prioritize that. No time for other anxieties.

Eventually, the boat shook as it came to land on an unfamiliar island. The isle was small and round, with white sand covering most of it, though towards the center it gave way to grass and then a small paved circle in essentially three concentric rings. You could see from one edge to the other before it gave way to the clear green-blue water, with the city being distant on the horizon.

Maddy climbed out, glistening slightly with a thin sheen of sweat, her face having a rosy tinge to it that Caleb imagined was left over from earlier. She walked onto the beach and began to lay out the blanket before sitting down and tucking her legs in as she looked up at Caleb.

“We must be pretty far out,” Caleb commented as he sat down next to the chef, “You can barely see the other buildings from here.

Maddy nodded, “I thought maybe we could go swimming, and thought maybe if you didn’t have to worry about any other people around, it might help with your anxiety.” She gestured around them, “N-no one could sneak up on you here.” She said with a slight smile

“I guess you’re right…I mean no harm in trying. There is one issue: I didn’t bring a swimsuit with me.” Caleb scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“I-I um…” the blonde bashfully opened the basket and pulled out a set of black swim trunks, “I figured that might be the case, so um…” She thrust the bottoms toward Caleb, who gingerly took them from her.

“She really thought of everything.” Caleb felt a nice warmth fill his chest before another thought occurred to him, and he looked around the Island with no cover in sight, “Where are we going to get changed?”

“I promise not to look!” Maddy said hurriedly before tucking her head in embarrassment while the Faun, still by the docks, adjusted her sunglasses and gave a thumbs up.

“Well, almost everything…” Caleb stood up and began to walk towards the opposite side of the Island.