Anges à Cheval

Getting to Kalliope’s chambers the second time was a much simpler task, given that Stella and Maya didn’t have to take the long way round. As they entered the cavernous room, a Faun was shrinking back as it held up a large platter of fruits, figs, and olives that the serpentine woman was gently picking from and then popping the food in her mouth in one swallow. As she licked her lips clean of a particularly luscious olive, her eyes narrowed and focused on the new presence in her abode.

“Ah, visitors.” The s at the end of the word lingered as her body uncoiled, the faun with the platter scurrying to get out of the way. The Lamia leaned in towards the duo, “So soon? I admit I expected your group to hold out a bit longer, given the general resistance you had to my games.”

“Not me!” Maya piped up, “I love games, I wanted to play immediately, but was dragged out.” She stood proudly, as if being forcibly escorted was something to boast about.

Stella rolled her eyes dramatically, “Yeah, I’m just here to make sure she doesn’t go overboard or start betting on other people's transformations.”

Maya shot Stella a hurt look, “I said I wouldn’t without permission! Why doesn’t anyone trust me?”

The imp gave Maya a flat look, “Try not to think of it as not trusting you, it's more your excitement that people don’t trust. I’m here to keep the exuberance at play to a happy medium.”

Kalliope pushed the table forward with an ease and grace that made the heavy wooden table appear akin to a child’s toy, as the scattered fawns made a mad dash to the edges of the room. Kalliope leaned in over the table and locked eyes with the lottery winner, “So you’re the one playing? Are you rolling the dice or challenging me to a game? Also, are you playing for your own transformation or someone else’s?” The Lamia’s eyes were narrow slits focused entirely on Maya like a cat might watch a mouse.

“Gambling does sound fun…” Maya began as Stella face-palmed beside her, “But I really want to play a full game against you, gambling would be over too soon.” Stella’s hand dragged down her face, and she stared at Maya with an expression that fully communicated her disbelief at Maya’s reasoning.

Kalliope hummed and brought out a large stone box onto the table, and with a swipe of her hand, she sent the contents scattered across the table. Boards, dice, cards, pieces to games old and new flew across its surface as Kalliope stretched out her hand, “Feel free to peruse, just know once you have paid the cost and chosen the game, there will be no going back. All purchases are final.”

Maya, with a laser focus, stepped up to the table and began to examine the pieces on display, turning them over in her hands as Kalliope watched her carefully.

Kalliope gently rested her head in her hands as her eyes traced the path that Maya’s hands made as they looked through, “And what transformation will you be upgrading, for good or ill?

The purple-haired woman didn’t even bother looking up, still peering over the options in front of her, “Oh, I’ll be upgrading my Crass Class transformation.”

Stella’s interest was piqued, and she raised an eyebrow, “That’s the one that makes you good at dirty talk, right? What? You trying to make Caleb cum without touching him?” She asked the question skeptically before her face turned thoughtful, “I mean…that would be pretty hot.”

Crass Class: When the lower class becomes rich, they are often mocked for their way of speech, no longer! Maya will become very versed in dirty talk, and her narrations will increase the arousal of whoever hears them. (Nouveau Riche)

Still not bothering to look over, Maya shook her head. Her voice was distant as if this was a conversation she wasn’t particularly interested in having, “I mean, I guess that might be worth some points, I just don’t really care about this transformation right now, not like I have much use for dirty talk.”

Stella, who was not clued into Maya’s struggles with her feelings for Caleb, pushed on, “Don’t doubt the power of dirty talk, guys and gals love hearing the person who they’re fucking say some depraved shit. I have absolutely zero shame, and I have made people cum to the wildest things. Like you pass a certain threshold and you can say the wildest fucking shit and they’ll cum.” She clutched her hands together and put her voice into a falsetto, “Oh god, please! Fuck this bad little heffalump, make my stuffing burst!” She returned to her normal posture, “Shit like that.”

“Hmm,” was the only response the lottery winner gave as she kept sorting through pieces, “I just want something with a bit more use outside of the bedroom. As it is, even if Caleb and I had sex, it doesn’t earn me more VP or BP, right? It just makes us feel good.”

“Right…because who just wants to feel good having sex?” The imp responded dryly. She peered around Kalliope’s tail, which circled around the table to get a glimpse at what Maya was looking at all under the Lamia’s sharp gaze, “Might want to do something like chess, checkers, or mancala? You know, that way it’s skill-based. I imagine with your experience playing games, that would make things real simple.”

Nodding absentmindedly, Maya picked up some six-sided dice, “I think I know what I’m doing.” She looked determinedly at Kalliope.

Stella frowned, trying to think of strategy games that used dice, as Kalliope leaned in, “Then you’ve made your decision?”

A broad smile crossed Maya’s face, “I have. Kalliope, I challenge you to a game of Yahtzee!”

Kalliope returned Maya’s smile with a fanged one of her own as she cleared the table and took the dice from Maya’s hand, “Very good then, highest score wins.”

On the sidelines, Stella looked at Maya, shell-shocked. She jumped over Kalliopes' tail to run over the table and slam her hands down as she stared at Maya, “What happened to picking something skill-based?” Flabbergasted, she gestured as Kalliope made her first roll, “Yahtzee is literally up to the luck of the dice! It’s pure chance!”

Maya didn’t turn to face Stella as Kalliope tallied her points; she just reached across the table and began to shake the dice in her hand, “Luck is a skill, Stella. I’ve won the lottery, got chosen to be on this show, what are the odds of all that? Astronomically low. If I trust anything right now, I trust my luck.”

As Maya tossed her dice, Stella stared into the middle distance and spoke to no one in particular: “Caleb, you can’t blame me. She’s a moron. I couldn’t stop her.”

At the beach, Caleb had gotten changed, balancing that act with holding his umbrella had been a challenge, but he had successfully managed to replace his pants with the trunks that Maddy had picked out for him. They fit well and were very form-fitting, showing off the musculature of his legs. Caleb wondered where she had picked them up as he walked back to the blanket and sat down cross-legged.

“You can open your eyes now,” He said gently, smiling over at Maddy, who had not only turned away but closed her eyes and buried her head in her hands to avoid peeking accidentally.

As she looked up and blinked, Caleb could see that her face was bright red and she had a slight glow to her features, the slight sweat she had going from the heat making her look almost like she was covered in massage oil. He felt a heat and restlessness stirring within himself as he stared and made a quick adjustment as if the water had suddenly become very interesting.

The chef smiled and reached out to touch Caleb’s knee, and he immediately felt his nerves calm as she spoke softly, “I’m glad they fit. I’ve never picked out clothes for a boy. But I guess it makes sense that all the clothes on the island for men would fit you.”

“Yeah, I guess so, outside of our esteemed host, I’m the only guy here. I’d imagine it would be harder for yinz to shop here.” He gently lowered his hand on top of Maddy’s and patted it.

Her face flushed in response, and she smiled, “Well, it’s a bit hard, but probably not the way you’re thinking.” She ran a hand through her hair. The attention she was receiving was simultaneously keeping her calm and revving up her nerves simultaneously and she was desperately trying to keep it cool. “Our wardrobes seem to be all our clothes from home, so that’s nice, but if you want to buy anything, they have it at the bazaar in your size. The issue is pricing. Normal clothes are much more expensive than fetish gear and l-lingerie.” She stuttered on the last word and avoided eye contact.

Caleb nodded. It made a twisted sort of sense, given the nature of the show, “They want to make sexy times as easy as possible while making more casual items a luxury good. Kind of makes you wonder if there were an exchange rate between dollars and BP what it would look like.”

“Well, we get most things for free. Food, rooms, and most of the facilities are free, so it probably would be a bit of a mess.” Maddy took her hand away and reached into the basket, “I hope you enjoy lunch. I made a lot of it yesterday with some final touches this morning.” She brought out some cups and the thermos of horchata before bringing out the dish containing the watermelon salad and finally handing Caleb his sandwich.

Caleb felt the weighty sandwich in his hand and grinned over at Maddy, “A lot of food for just two people.”

In the basket, Maddy’s hand brushed over the blondie, and she retracted it like it had shocked her before turning her attention back to Caleb, “W-well, I wasn’t sure how hungry we’d be after swimming, y’know? And this way no one has to worry about being hungry, I’d rather there be too much than too little.”

Beginning to unwrap his sandwich, Caleb just smiled, “You really enjoy taking care of others, don’t you?”

Maddy blushed as she unwrapped her own food, “It’s definitely one of the aspects of cooking I enjoy most, yeah I-” She paused and the pink on her cheeks deepened, “I think it’s what really drew me to it in the first place.”

Caleb just smiled at her and then took a large bite of his sandwich, and his eyes widened. It was a steak sandwich, so he expected it to feel heavy, but with the fresh tomato, pesto, mozzarella, arugula, and the satisfying crunch of the focaccia it was on, the taste was borderline refreshing to the palate, and he found himself quickly going in for a second bite. He lifted a hand to his mouth as he finished chewing, “This is incredible.”

The blonde flashed a bright smile as she finished her own bite, “I’m glad you like it, I thought with being out in the hot sun all day, we could use something that would feel like it was cooling us off, you know?”

They sat together eating their meal, at some point their seating positions had shifted so they were right up against each other, shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. Caleb decided to take a risk and closed his umbrella, keeping it within arm's reach in the sand. He couldn’t quantify what exactly was happening, but being next to Maddy like this was keeping him calm; any separation caused his anxiety to go up, but just having the umbrella nearby was enough with the emptiness of the island to keep him together. He wondered if it had anything to do with the cocktail of sabotage she was under, but so far, he hadn’t witnessed anything completely out of the normal.

Leaning back with his arms supporting him, Caleb looked up towards the sky, “That was fantastic.” He turned his head to gaze over at the chubby blonde, “I can tell how hard you worked on it, thank you.”

Maddy blushed and avoided eye contact, rubbing her hands together, “I mean, when I’m cooking, it doesn’t feel like hard work, you know? When you’re that excited and passionate about something that it stops feeling like work? That’s what cooking is for me.”

“Oh yeah, I-” Caleb froze, his mind reeling as it searched through his life. What did he have like that? Voice acting was a job, fencing was a hobby that he hadn’t done in years; what did he do for the sheer enjoyment of it? He knew the answer. Nothing. He had given up on himself, on his ability to enjoy life. It should be no surprise how empty he had made it. He looked at the ground, “I don’t really have anything like that, sorry.”

Maddy looked scared and began looking around, “Oh, I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to-to…”

The master held up his hand, “No, don’t worry about it. You did nothing wrong. It’s just the truth. Before coming here, I also wouldn’t have had a problem with the fact that there was nothing, but after spending time with everyone…” He clenched his fist, feeling sand in his palm, “I don’t want to just be this sad, boring, lump of a man anymore. I didn’t choose to come here, and I wouldn’t ever want to choose to put all of you in this position, but…”

He squeezed his fist, the sand digging in, “The fact is that I am here, and now meeting everyone here, I want to be worth it. I don’t want anyone to leave here lamenting our connection. Maybe love isn’t in the cards for everyone, I’m ok with that, but…I want to be someone who the members of the harem are glad they met and know.”

His face was determined as he looked out to the water, and Maddy leaned in and touched his chest, “I’m glad that I got to know you, Caleb.”

Caleb responded by wrapping his arms around Maddy and giving her a firm but gentle squeeze. She was quite huggable, like a giant pillow you just wanted to squeeze as tight as possible. The more he held her, the calmer he felt, but he also rapidly felt blood reorganizing its course of directive, and not wanting to spoil the moment, let her go.

Maddy pulled away slightly and ran her fingers through her hair before smiling, “Should we go have a swim?”

Caleb looked to the water and felt the need to cool off, so he quickly nodded, “Yeah that sounds great.”

“Ok, I just need to get ready…Caleb,” She looked him in the eyes, “I’m going to use one of my treats, and I want you to remember that all of this was my choice, ok?”

Caleb gave a slow nod. He was uncomfortable with engaging in any magic shenanigans, but if there was anyone he trusted not to try and **** them, it would be Maddy.

“Good, now…um..” He pressed her fingers together, “Could you look away a bit, while I get changed?”

“Oh-yeah, of course!” Caleb grabbed his umbrella and opened it to form a barrier as Maddy stepped up, and he closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, Maddy swallowed hard; every step away from Caleb made her more anxious, but she reached for that small bit of courage inside her and reached into the basket, grabbing the blondie and scampering off to a corner of the island. It was time to change in more ways than one.

Landing on the island where the burnt church was, Amy stepped out and immediately began to cast her gaze around her surroundings. There was no mistaking the scenery here; this was the same church from her vision, the same place where a young Luciano had been brutally betrayed and burned to ****. The surroundings may have changed, but there was no questioning that the building itself was the same. The oni frowned as she approached the partially collapsed entrance.

Whoever put this here had to also be the person responsible for the mask. If Lucian didn’t want people to know his past, it only made sense that it wouldn’t be him. This left very few options: Arietta, who was a mystery but Amy felt was just as much a victim as the contestants, a gut feeling, sure, but sometimes you had to trust your gut. It could be Kalliope, but Amy doubted, as monstrous as she was, that given her role as shopkeeper, she could have reach outside her domain. That meant the most likely culprit was Reyna, as indicated by that Hardric’s letter. The only question there was the motivation: if she really had this much authority, this much control, why not just be the host herself?

There was the possibility that it was an unseen third party they had not encountered, but Amy doubted that for one reason, as nonsensical as it was. It would be bad TV. Mysteries are only fun if the audience can play along. Which meant that, despite it not making sense, Reyna was most likely the reason behind the mask.

She stepped forward over debris and looked down to where she knew the hidden entrance to the cellar would be. She walked over and began to move a stone when she heard movement behind her. She turned quickly toward the sound, “Who’s there?”

There, grabbing a pillar for balance after tripping, was Mira, who moved to raise her hands above her head, “It’s just me.”

Scrutinizing Mira, Amy’s eyes narrowed, “Did-did you follow me here?”

Mira gave a nod as she lowered her hands, “I saw you head out from the balcony, since you said you were hanging back to everyone else, I wondered what must be so vital that you’d lie about it. You haven’t lied before, so I figured it was extra important or dangerous.”

Amy cursed. Mira being here was a complication; she couldn’t keep searching without explaining herself, and if she tried to just shoo her away, she’d end up looking more suspicious. She grit her teeth and looked to the agent, “Listen, I need you to go. I will explain things later, but the more of us that are here, the bigger a problem it’s going to be.”

Mira clearly was not taking well to being dismissed like this and instead stepped forward, “Listen, I’m here now, so let’s stop beating around the bush and just tell me what’s going on.”

The oni’s eyes darted towards the floor where the entrance would be, and growled in frustration as she looked back at Mira, “No, you don’t understand, I’m trying to help you-it’s not safe to be here, I was risking a lot coming on my own.”

Mira rolled her eyes, “Just give me a reason, it’s not safe, just one.”

Both women’s heads turned as a rush of air signalled the burst of flames that appeared behind the pulpit, with Lucian stepping out. He looked over at the two of them, “Oh, I think we can think of at least one.”