Letters from Other Seasons, Part 3

As someone who cared deeply about the traditions of Harem Hotel, perhaps because she was created to, Paisley cherished getting fanmail a great deal. She teleported with her mail to the stage she had setup elsewhere in the bunker that was tricky to access for contestants, and in a space that felt like her own. Upon opening the envelope, she got a case of Crab Trapper. Setting aside the **** for a later time, she then read the letter.

“Paisley,

Calypso here. You may not be very familiar with me because I don’t tend to go visit the central offices. They aren’t exactly mermaid-friendly; too many zappy thingies (power blocks on the floor, not computers). And my producer prefers her office be more... private than what she'd get in the Junior E-suite floor.

Just in case you need a refresher, I started Hosting towards the tail end of what I think central called the “Interdimensional Jesters’ Day Promotion Fiasco.” You’d think a throw away mid-season season wouldn’t result in all that chaos, but it did. Got to steer that bull shark for it’s last few days. Been quietly grinding and perfecting my season formula ever since. 12th season of Harem Hotel: Mermaid Frenzy Justice is ongoing, if you wanna watch.

You know, my producer is always looking for new talent and has several sets sitting fallow, if you want to approach her. I’ll warn you, she’s less “throw ‘em in the pit of infinite fire snakes” (where, I assume, someone could fish you out if they want), more instant smiting, if you displease her. And her standards are... different. Frankly, she’d have blasted me already if I didn’t make arrangements to secure contestants exclusively from interdimensional super prisons for the criminally insane. I do have a better rehabilitation record than most of said prisons at this point. Seems threats of having your delicious testicles gnawed off makes criminals more willing to comply. Who would have thought? We still get to eat them all by the end (much to Ms. E’s displeasure).

Your latest newbie is certainly running an experiment over there. My big complaint was that she wasted the testes, but that’s just being a mermaid. How she convinced her producer to approve that plan is beyond me. She may not take it so well if you get **** to pull the plug on her. Watch out; she doesn’t seem to be a pushover.

If you don’t mind me picking your brain for a moment, my daughter-in-law is set up to start a season herself and I need advice on how to talk her out of her cockamamie plan to actually try to get something resembling consent before starting the kidnappings. She thinks that the Cruise season actually got that right; I blame my runty fingerling on that. Raise a mermaid girl on Harem Hotel and they naturally want to do the Cruise season thing.

Courtesy of one of my satisfied Mistresses (she runs her dimension’s version of Tamworth Distillery), I present to you a case of Crab Trapper, the official liquor of the Harem Hotel: Mermaid Frenzy Justice set. While the knockoff cocktail we got around the time I first started hosting is a pretty good substitute, nothing beats the real thing.

Yasou!

Calypso

Host with no Betta (that pun probably works betta in person...)

Harem Hotel: Mermaid Frenzy Justice, Season 12

Now Streaming on Harem Hotel Hereafter”

"I thank you for your gift Calypso," Paisley said while making a show of teleporting the booze elsewhere. "I'm very familiar with the Interdimensional Jester's Day Promotional Fiasco, to put things mildly. Look, I'm someone who’s normally quite forgiving and protective of hosts as they are, if nothing else, a rare resource, but Beckie shouldn't have ever been allowed to host. She was incompetent, and even worse, lazy, a sin I have no tolerance for in a host."

Before Paisley continued, she decided to get up onto stage, and flicked to have some studio lights turn on so everyone could see, not just hear, her answer. "I applaud you greatly Calypso for working with a very difficult situation. If I could've, I would've intervened earlier to get rid of that lazy moron of a host, and while you may not have become the host in that situation, I suspect many of the horrific incidents that happened later on would've been avoided."

There was a pause as Paisley thought about how to discuss the producer next. "Ms. E is a rarity, in that most producers are in it for the long haul, if only because immortality, among other prizes that I don't even pretend to understand, are granted for running it. It's strange how beings of such incomprehensible power depend on attention from normal people, but it is how it is. I suspect I won't please Ms. E, given her more personal reasons for choosing to be a producer. With that in mind, Calypso, I want to extend you an offer for when she, inevitably, fulfills her contract, and leaves Harem Hotel given her ethical objections to it. When that day arrives, I'm going to help find you another producer that will appreciate your particular set of skills, and that includes being willing to accommodate specific desires on the part of an unusually picky producer."

"That brings us to your daughter-in-law," Paisley continued to pace the stage. "I will say to her advice I got from a past host when I asked them why they never gave the master a contestant he actually liked. This host was a Jinn who controlled the world of dreams, and who subjected everyone, including the master, to immense levels of torment. Her answer was that it was cruel to the master to bring anyone they actually liked, because Harem Hotel is a cruel contest. Trying to introduce concepts like consent is dancing around that fact, and ultimately making things worse for everyone..."

Vizrokoth had gotten quite a bit of mail, and in that moment, she realized why Paisley cared about it so much. To get personalized messages from others, rather than just the chaos of fan forums, was meaningful. It especially mattered when it was from other hosts, because they'd understand what it was like to be stuck in a season, trying to ensure everything worked. She took all her mail to the meeting room, and went to the flipped version of it so that her contestants couldn't see it. Once in place, she opened the first envelope.

"I appreciate your twists on the season, and that you give rewards and punishments in equal measure. Even though this is a vengeance season, you're one of the nicer hosts. I think you're also doing well at making Felix a better person.

Sincerely, Sassafras"

The demon appreciated this message, especially coming from a season that was on the lighter side. Vizrokoth had thought someone from a season like that would be far more judgemental, but Sassafras at least had appreciated that she hadn't been as harsh as many other vengeance season hosts were.

"I thank you Sassafras for your response," Vizrokoth said. "I do not punish for the sake of it, but rather to test both the master and the contestant. Also because Felix, and the contestants, need to be shaped by this particular environment."

Satisfied with the answer, Vizrokoth opened the next envelope.

"Vizzy,

Hello! As the Founder, President, and CEO of the Harem Hotel MtF Fetish Fan Club, I wish to extend to you the offer of joining our illustrious organization! Can I call you Vizzy? I don’t know how you feel about nicknames, but MY brain feels icky when I try to think about your real name.

You have done much for our righteous cause of replacing gross boys with sexy women! Most Hosts only fix, at most, one gross boy, but you fixed seven! Plus, when you refixed that gross Austin boy, that fixed sooooooo many more gross boys. I’VE spent hours watching that field plowing MYSELF with MY tail. So Hot! Don’t tell MY MtF Goddess that I’VE been watching your season. She doesn’t approve ME indulging in gross boy improvements.

Of course, the job isn’t done. You still need to fix Felicity. I am sure you will get around to it.

In anticipation of you fixing Felicity, I am sending you a giant plushy of ME from the Harem Hotel shop. Enjoy cuddling with ME!

Hashtag Fix Felicity

Glitterdust

Royal Treasurer

Queendom of Nimlith Grove"

This was the type of message Vizrokoth dreaded, because she either had to disappoint the sender, lie to them about getting their wish eventually, or saying something vague enough to put any reckoning over such matters far into the future. The demon decided to go for the third approach, figuring that this fan would be relatively satisfied by the end of the season, even though Felix would keep his gender. Although she supposed an Andy style temporary MtF option could be in the cards.

"I cannot quite join your club at the present moment, but I'm glad you enjoy my season," Vizrokoth said. "I especially like that you appreciate Austin's punishment on a more carnal level than most. As for whether Felix will get transformed... you'll need to wait and see."

The matter dealt with, the demon turned her attention to the final letter, and by far the most important she had received. It was from a host Vizrokoth respected more than almost any other, as it was from the oldest host that she knew of, and one of the most accomplished. A host so powerful that she was quite possibly also the producer for her season, not just the host. While the demon was powerful in her own right, even doing many of the transformations herself rather than borrowing the power from others to do it, she still paled in comparison... to Arabella.

"It is customary to welcome a new Host with unqualified enthusiasm. I will offer you instead something more sincere.

You have claimed your season with confidence. That, in itself, is no small thing. A bunker is an austere cradle for a harem—concrete instead of coastline, steel in place of sun—but austerity can be clarifying. It strips away illusion. It forces attention onto power, choice, and consequence. In that, your design is coherent.

I have watched with interest. Allowing the contestants to dictate Felix’s presentation is a daring choice. Many Hosts guard the Master’s image as a symbol of authority. You have inverted that, trusting that being relentlessly desired is, for him, a deeper form of power. Perhaps you are right. Just take care not to mistake intensity for nourishment.

Your use of transformation is… decisive. Splitting women into dyads. Drawing out secondary selves. Rewriting temperament as consequence. It reminds me of an earlier period in my own tenure, when I bore the name of Hecate, before I softened certain instincts. Division can be clarifying. It can also fracture more than intended.

That said, I do not see negligence in you. You watch Felix closely. However theatrical your structure, your interventions bend toward his stability. You have built a season around control. I once believed control was the highest form of stewardship. Time persuaded me otherwise. A Host sets conditions. We do not determine outcomes. There was a period in my past when I governed a place built for intensity rather than comfort — and I believed that pressure alone could guarantee refinement. It cannot. It only reveals what was already there.

You will change, Vizkoroth. All Hosts do. Longevity pares away spectacle first, then certainty. If you are truly crafting the perfect harem for Felix, ask yourself: perfect for the boy he was, the man he is becoming, or the version of him you prefer?

You need not answer me. Simply ensure that when your doors open — however thick — those within can step forward without feeling smaller than when they entered.

-Arabella"

Vizrokoth had to gather herself before responding. The audience would see her reaction, but also, she knew Arabella would as well, and that meant her reaction needed to be careful, well thought out. Not just something put on for the audience, but also to let the other host know.

"Felix is the one I most try to shape here," Vizrokoth said, her voice more careful than ever before. "Not so much towards a particular outcome, as after all, that is meant to be unpredictable, but to instead away from his present state. I mold him using pleasure and pain, but it isn't to **** him towards a specific endpoint, but instead away from his present, pathetic self. The contestants are the same."

The demon moved towards the center of the room, carefully choosing the words to wrap things up with, but speeding up as her confidence grew. "The other tool, and the one I focus on in all my work here, is desire. Whatever happens, whatever form the contestants or Felix end up with, I must ensure that the contestants desire him. Deities, humans, or any other creature are bound together by wanting things, and it is through creating, or enflaming that desire, that everything falls into place. A harem should be bound to their master because they want him, so badly, that they cannot imagine wanting to be free of him. Any punishment or sticks I use is to just keep them on that path. I almost failed with one contestant because I didn't enflame her desire quickly enough, and let another fail so that the remainder could see their desire blossom. This obsession may seem strange to new, but in my lifetime, I have never seen a **** stronger than desire..."