Tense Conversations

Zachary waited a minute and even turned on the monitor for Caroline to make sure she got on the elevator. Once Caroline was well on her way to meet up with Lynn he turned the monitor off. “She’s gone. You can stop pretending to be asleep.”

Piper didn’t stir.

“Piper, your status literally says awake. I know you’re awake. Would you like me to come over and poke you repeatedly while you’re still sensitive?”

“Okay, fine. Yes, I’m awake. If you knew, why didn’t you tell my mom?” Piper sat up in bed but made sure to cover herself with the sheets.

“If there is something between you and her, I’m not getting in the middle of it. If you didn’t want her to know despite knowing how worried she was, that’s on you.”

Piper frowned slightly, having caused such worry. “Well, thanks, I guess. I love her and most of the time like her. She’s a bit overprotective sometimes.”

“From what I hear, you needed that help today.”

“Yeah… I guess I did a bit.”

“You don’t seem as bothered by what happened as Heather was.”

“Because I’m not. It was horrible for sleep, which is why I’m exhausted, but that was a rather pleasurable experience. Unsettling, yes, but pleasurable.”

“I assume you aren’t going to be wearing a suit like that again?”

“Oh no fucking way. I don’t think I could have gotten free on my own.”

“Good. If I find out that you do that again, knowing what will happen, I’ll tell your mother you were awake and aware for most of your time in here.”

Piper held up one hand in a placating gesture, keeping the other to cover herself. “Fine, I understand. Besides, I’m still quite sensitive. So…” Piper couldn’t help but notice the scoreboard and that she was at 0 VP still. “Thanks… thanks for not being a creep while I was like that.”

“That almost sounded like a compliment.”

“I’m trying okay. I mean it. It’s… do you know how unsettling you were to be around back then? It wasn’t just me either.”

“I’m aware of the rumors, but they are wholly unfounded.”

“If true, then I’m sorry. I’m still not sure that I believe that, but at this point, either you’re lying, and I’m royally fucked, or you’re not, and I should apologize. I’m simply going to move forward with the idea that I’m not royally fucked and only going to be literally fucked instead.”

“I’m not going to have sex with you without your consent.”

“Can’t really give consent right now as I’m under duress.”

“You know full well what I mean.”

“Touche. So, what do I need to do for you not to treat me as a make-your-ideal-sex-toy?”

“Not be a bitch, for starters.”

Piper rolled her eyes and stood up while keeping herself wrapped in the bed sheet. She sarcastically said, “Right, I’ll get right on that. Am I a bitch for having boundaries, or is it just if I actively annoy you?” Piper headed into the walk-in closet to get dressed.

“The latter somewhat. I don’t care if you have boundaries…” Piper stuck just her head back out of the closet raising an eyebrow and glared at Zachary, before resuming getting changed. “That came out poorly. I mean that you having boundaries isn’t an issue for me. What I have an issue with is if you cause problems or insult me repeatedly.”

Piper came out in a Mario Bros. T-shirt and sweatpants. “Fine, I can work with that. So, oh great and powerful Master, how are you planning to improve me?” Zachary gave her a ‘really’ look. “Oh, don’t tell me you have a problem with sarcasm. That would be a problem.”

“No. Generally, I don’t. It’s just not something I think is particularly wise for you to be using at the moment. As for your question, I’m not completely sure. I plan on waiting for a few more hours at least.”

“Ah, don’t want my mom to be pissed at you when she finds herself with larger breasts right after she left me with you ****.”

“Who said I’m giving you larger breasts?”

“Most guys don’t really care for a woman who’s an A-cup. Not saying that you’re some breasts-obsessed guy, but once I saw that you could increase them, I figured it was a matter of time for them to increase at least a bit.”

“That’s the thing, though, anything physical I change about you will happen to Caroline, too. Even only a few cup sizes for you would result in her going from large to huge.”

Piper shrugged, “I mean, non-physical changes are the ones I’m more concerned about, and I think my mom would be too.”

“I was thinking the same thing, hence my conundrum.”

“Can you explain how the points work to me? I can only see the various things you can put points into. Not how it works.”

“Sure. Now this isn’t exhaustive, but the things I’ve looked at so far have followed this pattern. Each increase costs one point more than the previous increase. I currently have ten points at the moment. I don’t know how many points I get when you earn VP.”

Piper sighed, “I wish I didn’t have to give you more control over me, but I don’t really have a choice. Will you let me do stuff I’m comfortable with to earn VP, or are you going to simply decide what we’re doing? I would like at least ten, possibly more, VP by the round’s end.”

“Some things, yes. Though I’m not having sex with you, even if you were offering. ”

“I wasn’t.”

“I have some suggestions for easy points, if you’re interested. There’s also some sort of bonus system in place for the first person to do something with me.”

“How large of a bonus?”

“I think it’s double, but it could simply be a flat bonus that happened to be double so far for the things I’ve figured out the point values for.”

Piper sat down at the table across from Zachary, wincing slightly as she made contact with the chair.

Zachary asked, “That sensitive?”

Piper nodded. “Even wearing these clothes is frustrating.”

“Well, you could always take them off.”

Piper blurted out, “And you wonder why I thought you a perv.” As soon as she said it, she regretted it and covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Mmm-hmmm. I’m sure.”

Piper started to become anxious. “Please, it just slipped out. In any other setting, I’m sure you would agree that your comment was inappropriate.”

“For the most part, yes. Though I can think of plenty of situations that could be counted as flirting. In this instance, I was just trying to be helpful, as it would solve two problems for you. It would help your sensitivity problem and get you points.”

“Wait… if seeing me naked earns me points, shouldn’t I already have some? There’s no way you didn’t look at me while carrying me into the room.”

Zachary shrugged, “Don’t know, but I do know both Lynn and Heather got points for being naked in front of me. Might be duration, might be context. I wouldn’t put it past Delilah that if I’m not aroused by the sight, it doesn’t count. You were quite a mess when you got here.”

“Figures. I’ll consider it. I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble by doing it now, in case my mom sees the scoreboard somewhere.”

“So you can be considerate,” Zachary said, teasingly.

Piper sighed, “I deserve that. Seriously, though, what are you planning on doing to me?”

“I had considered a few options. I’m also interested in hearing what you want. I had also considered asking your mother for suggestions, since this can affect her as well.”

Piper frowned. “At least with the initial ten points, I think you should just give me double-Ds.”

“You sure? Because I doubt that shirt can handle breasts that size. Based on Xin and Melinda, you’ll have to buy new clothes if I do that. Do you want to spend your BP that way?”

“Shit. I hadn’t considered that. Damnit. My mom would also need new clothes.”

“And you’re smaller in other areas than her too, so just using her old clothes won’t work. Also, I think you’re forgetting something else since it hasn’t really mattered to you: Bras.”

Piper closed her eyes in frustration and moved her hands towards her head as if to scratch her head with both hands, but she stopped, realizing that wouldn’t end well. “That also means I’m going to have to spend a crap load on clothes every time you make physical changes to me.”

Zach nodded, “At least if they change your body shape. There are things that wouldn’t do that.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want a higher libido or sensitivity permanently.”

“What? Don’t want to feel like this all the time? I’d be happy to make that happen if you want.” Zachary said teasingly, clearly not serious.

“God no! I know you were joking, but dear God, no.”

“So, what do you want to do while hiding out here?”

“We could watch a movie? I’m not really up for moving much with how sensitive I am, but maybe we could just hang out?”

“Works for me.”

“How about the new Fantastic Four movie?”

“Eh… I haven’t really watched Marvel Movies since Endgame. Do I need to be up to date on them?”

“Depends. I guess we can just start from Endgame if you want.”

Zachary shrugged, “Whatever works for me. I guess I should get to know you a bit, since I’m stuck with you as much as you’re stuck with me.”

Piper pursed her lips, “Yeah, but if you don’t like me, you can just fix that. I don’t have that luxury.”

“Piper, while I’m willing to try and make things work, I’m not actually thrilled with the idea of having a harem.”

Piper gave him a disbelieving look. “I’m sorry, but I find it improbable that any guy that isn’t some dyed in the wool believer of the sanctity of marriage hasn’t wanted more than one woman to himself. And you don’t seem that type.”

“I’ll admit I’ve fantasized about threesomes before, but an actual romantic relationship with more than one woman? No. I’ve never really fantasized about that. I’m not sure that I’ll end up with that even with this show.”

“Are you saying you’ll just be picking one of us to be involved with, and the rest are just going to be slaves and concubines?”

“No, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s likely that I take any of you but Lynn as a wife. Mistresses, concubines, servants, fuck buddies, honestly I don’t know what else, but you shouldn’t assume that we are going to have something like a normal relationship, where you become my girlfriend and eventually my wife. I won’t rule it out either, but right now, the only one I actively care about is Lynn.”

“So, the rest of us are side pieces that you would be more than willing to discard.”

“Depends on what you mean by more than willing. If you mean if Lynn asked me to tell you to go screw yourself, and you would be on your own to survive this. At least for you, your mom, and Xin, then no, I wouldn’t be willing to do that. If you start being a pain in my ass, that changes, but none of you have made me dislike you enough that I’d throw you to Delilah to deal with.”

“But Heather and Melinda have?”

“My ex-wife, I’d be more than willing to ignore entirely. Melinda… I don’t know.” Zachary started clenching and unclenching his hands, thinking of her.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t believe she meant to maim me. It doesn’t change the fact that I’ve lived the past ten years in physical pain because of her.”

“It’s healed, though. She seems repentant to some degree, too.”

“Piper, give me your hand.” Piper hesitated but complied. Zachary held her hand in his with his thumb resting on her palm. Piper recoiled at the initial touch being so sensitive, but let her hand be held. Zachary could feel a slight tremor in her hand as he held it. “I take it this isn’t pleasant?”

“Not exactly, it actually feels weirdly nice, but it is a tad overwhelming.”

“What about this?” Zachary pressed down with his thumb on her palm, not overly hard, but enough that it would be normally uncomfortable.

Piper winced in pain, and Zachary immediately stopped pressing down, and Piper yanked her hand away. “FUCK! That hurt!”

“Tell me, do you think you would just be able to move on. If you felt that every day for years? I ask because you aren’t in tears right now, and having reactions like yours while on strong pain meds was a regular occurrence for me.” Zachary held out his left hand, showing a large linear scar on it. “This…” Zachary traced the scar, “happened when my bow broke. I had the bow fully drawn and the string whipped into my hand so deeply to reach bone, and damage my nerves. More than the physical pain was everything else that happened because of this. I lost most of my hobbies, because I couldn’t even use this hand for years.”

Zachary frowned, remembering the years shortly after the injury. “I got depressed, really depressed. If not for Lynn… and Heather… I don’t know how bad things would have turned out for me. I get that she didn’t mean for this to happen, even if she did intentionally sabotage my bow. But she, without question, made my life agony.”

“That’s… that’s worse than I thought, from seeing you the first night, and from what I remember of you. You never seemed to be in pain.”

“Prescription painkillers. Even then, it hurt regularly, but people can adapt to pain. It doesn’t make it go away, but it becomes more tolerable.”

“Look, people fuck up. Doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a second chance.”

“Doesn’t mean I should have to be the person to give her that chance either.”

“I’m not going to tell you what to do about that. Honestly, I’m willing to admit, I’m selfishly prioritizing myself and my mom. If you decided to ice out Heather or Melinda, I might not like it, but you won’t hear me complaining either. My mother, on the other hand, will almost certainly complain. Is it going to be a problem that she seems insistent on helping Heather? Pretty sure she’ll end up doing that for everyone who she thinks needs help.”

“I’m not going to hold her being nice against her. If she starts berating me for not being as tolerant of bullshit as her, that’s another story.”

“Well, shit.”

“I assume you think she’s going to tell me off on our date night?”

“Probably. She might not, out of fear of you retaliating against me.”

“I won’t be doing that. I told her as much as well. I’m also not going to retaliate against her for issues I have with you.”

“Thanks. That’s actually a little reassuring to hear. How about we stop focusing on heavy crap and just watch some movies?”

“Sure. I’m a bit emotionally spent.”

Piper moved over to the couches, which reclined with leg rests, while Zachary made popcorn. Piper made sure to leave significant space between her and Zachary, still clearly uncomfortable being around him. Zachary gave her a bowl of popcorn and the remote to let her pick what to watch.

The two settled into their seats as the show began to play. Piper’s eyes, though, kept flicking nervously to the scoreboard above the screen, showing that she still had a big fat zero VP.

Lynn stepped into the shower, as it wouldn’t do if she encountered Zachary later and was a sweaty mess. She had thought that she would have needed to go to the gym for her exercise, but there was a combination yoga-zumba-dance studio she was sent to instead. As she let the water flow over her, she let her mind wander. I have to admit that was a nice routine. If I keep at it, I bet I’ll get more flexible and will be able to try all sorts of positions with Zach. Thinking of Zach caused her hand to slide between her legs as she thought about him just happening to walk into this communal shower and having his way with her. She restrained herself after just a little bit of fun. I hope Xin’s exercise routine is the same. I should probably see about getting all of them into better shape. Wouldn’t do for them to get exhausted when Zach wants to play with them.

Lynn finished up in the shower, then dried her hair and redid her makeup, figuring she would likely be penalized if she didn’t. Lynn checked the time, and it was slightly after she said she would meet up with Caroline and Heather. Good, got to make it clear who’s in charge here. Well, after Zachary, of course.

Lynn showed up, finding Heather and Caroline both waiting outside the store. Heather had her phone in her hand and said, “I was just about to call you. What kept you?”

“I had to shower after my workout and make sure my makeup was in order.”

“Right… because it would be horrible if Zachary saw you without it,” Heather said snidely. “What’s with the ridiculous dress anyway? Trying to be his stepford wife already?”

Lynn turned up her nose at Heather, “Hmph! I’ll have you know I’d be happy to be his housewife. Never understood why you were so opposed to it. But no, both the makeup and dress are part of my room. Xin and I have schedules we have to keep. Part of those schedules includes putting on makeup. Our ghost butler indicated we could be punished if we refused to wear the selected outfits or comply with the schedules.”

Heather dryly said, “How horrible. You have to dress up like a Barbie doll, instead of being molested by tentacles. You have it so rough.”

“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a skank, the audience would like you more, and you would have done better in the polls.”

Caroline finally disrupted the conversation, “Okay, this isn’t why we’re here, and it isn’t productive.”

Lynn asked, “Why did you two want to meet with me, anyway?”

Heather replied, “I wanted to know what you are trying to do. I thought you would be trying to get Zach to simply have me eliminated. What’s with you advocating for giving me a chance? I’m fairly certain you hate me and have disliked me since you met me.”

“Hmm…” Lynn closed her eyes as she considered her response. When she opened them, she moved close and got up in Heather’s face. “First, let’s set the record straight. I DO hate you. If you get eliminated, I won’t be upset. You betrayed Zachary, and not even in a moment of weakness or drunkenness. You did it to hurt him. Plain and simple.”

Heather looked away from Lynn’s stare but didn’t back away from her.

Lynn continued. “As for always disliking you? No actually. Was I envious? Jealous? Absolutely. I hated that Zachary picked you over me. I hated that I didn’t gather my courage and ask him out sooner. But honestly, as much as I wanted to hate you, I couldn’t. Not until you betrayed him.”

“Bullshit!” Heather retorted, “You constantly critiqued everything about my relationship with Zachary!”

“DUH! I wanted you to improve! I was trying to help you, since you made Zachary happy! That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to hate you. Not only did he actually ask you out, but when he told me about you, it was the first time in nearly a year a saw a true, genuine smile on his face. Nothing I was doing was pulling him out of the depression that his injury caused. So when he came to me and told me that he asked out a woman in his class and wanted my help to impress her, I shut the fuck up about my own feelings and helped him plan his first date with you. BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT IT MEANS TO LOVE SOMEONE! Would I have preferred it to have been me in your place? Of course I would. It wasn’t, though.”

Before Heather could retort and continue this, Caroline asked, “Why help Heather now, then? You even said it, you hate her now. Why help?”

Lynn took several deep breaths. “Simple. First, Heather’s sisters don’t deserve to be here.”

“None of us do.” Caroline retorted.

“Second, I hate that Xin is probably right about this, but Zachary would likely end up hating himself eventually if you were turned into a literal sex toy, at least if he didn't give you a chance at all. Third, you made him happy. I figure you might be able to again if I work hard enough to rehabilitate you. Finally, this way, what happens to you is your fault, and Zachary won’t feel burdened when I assume you’ll ultimately be eliminated because you refused to cooperate.”

“None of this is her fault!” Caroline said, pushing Lynn away from Heather. “I don’t care if she cheated and broke his heart on purpose or not. It might make her a horrible person and a terrible partner, but she doesn’t deserve this any more than the rest of us. The only one I’m starting to think might deserve this crap is you.”

Lynn stared at Caroline with a nearly dismissive passive expression. “Caroline, I agree with you. None of us deserves to be here.” Caroline was slightly caught off guard by Lynn’s easy agreement. “Apparently, I lost my chance to be with Zachary and have him to myself, again. Which isn’t fair. I agree that being turned into sex toys is a bit too far for the sins committed. I will say I would have found Heather getting the transformation, making it so only Zachary could give her pleasure, to be poetic justice. Heather, tell me something. How has your life been going since Zachary left you? From what I hear, the answer is that it’s going to shit.”

Heather frowned and looked away again, “That wouldn’t be an inaccurate assessment.”

“I also know you wanted to try and work things out. I know that because your sisters reached out to me to see if Zachary would even be remotely open to the idea of couples therapy. Not that they thought you deserved a second chance either. But guess what, you’ve got one. It might end up costing you more than you thought it would, but you’re getting a fucking second chance. One you certainly don’t deserve.”

Caroline looked aghast, “You think she’s lucky to be here? You’re insane.”

“No. As I said, the risks are stupidly high. We don’t deserve to be under these threats, but she also doesn’t deserve the second chance she’s been given either. As for the rest of you? When talking with Xin while shopping yesterday, it sounded like she was going to be pushed into an arranged marriage with a sexist pig that would make Heather’s parents look progressive. I don’t really know your situation, Caroline, or Piper’s, but I can tell Melinda has regretted what happened to Zach even before coming here, even though she didn’t realize the extent of the damage she caused. She’s getting a chance to make things… well, not right, but make things up to Zach to some extent. She doesn’t deserve the chance to ease her guilt. She deserves to be a felon for grievously injuring him. Now, are we done?”

Caroline frowned, “No. I’d like to get to know you a bit, if for no other reason than you have an incredible influence over the man who gets to decide our fates. Especially when I’m worried that you’re going to try and persuade him into curating my daughter to whatever role you think she deserves in his life.”

“Well, you’re welcome to tag along, but I’m going to start browsing the first floor of the shop as I have limited free time. So if you want to continue to talk, you can follow me.”

Lynn angrily walked into the store, not checking if Heather or Caroline were following her. After a wordless glance and a shared nod, the two of them followed Lynn into the store.

Walking into the store, the three of them were immediately ambushed by the store clerk. A small, feminine, three-foot imp appeared in mid-air about a foot in front of Lynn. “CUSTOMERS! HI-HI! I’m SOOOOO excited!” She disappeared in a puff of smoke just to reappear behind Heather, with a tap measure, she wrapped around her waist. “I just got back from vacation. Sorry, I missed the beginning of the round. But enough of that.” She kept taking everyone’s measurements, disappearing and reappearing at will. “Tell me about you! I just want to make you all SO SO SO PRETTY for your Master!” She flipped up Heather’s skirt and measured her chastity device. “OH, we got a kinky girl here! At least you’ve learned to let your Master control your pleasure.” Then she reappeared right in front of Heather’s face with a shocked expression on her face. “Wait! Were you perhaps a BAD GIRL??? Did the Master punish you?” The thought clearly only just came to her as a possibility most foul.

Heather began to retort, “I didn’t—”

“Oh, that’s wonderful to hear that you didn’t do anything naughty. Not that I have a problem with naughty girls, we have a whole section of the store to deal with them. Wouldn’t make much sense, to be upset when we’re looking to cater to them too! Now what can I do for you all of you? Upgrades? Transformations?” She reappeared, floating with an arm draped over Lynn’s shoulders, and conspiratorially said, “Dare I say Sabotages?”

Lynn said, “I was just—”

“OH, OF COURSE! You’re here to improve yourself for your darling of a Master. How lucky you ladies are,” The little imp then muttered under her breath while measuring Caroline’s breasts by fondling them, “Especially the hag…” Then returning to normal volume as Caroline batted the imp away, only for her to reappear, groping Caroline’s butt in an attempt to weigh it, “to have been chosen to be part of something wonderful. Ah… how I long for the day that I’m swept away to serve the one I might have the privilege to call My Master.” The imp had a dreamy expression on her face.

Heather asked, “Who are you?”

Hardly believing that someone else was able to utter a complete sentence in her presence, even a short one, the imp facepalmed at having forgotten something so important. “OH HOW SILLY OF ME! I forgot that De-la-la didn’t introduce me like she normally does because I was on vacation. But FRET NOT! No longer shall you have to deal with the horrid self-checkout lane.” The imp summoned a ball of fire in her hand and launched it at the self-checkout lane, causing it to explode, and the register was scattered all over the floor. “For now, you have me! The wonderful! The exuberant!” She paused as if she didn’t remember what came next. Then literally pulled out what looked like a script.

Muttering to herself while flipping through the script, “Now what did De-la-la decide my name was this season? Hmmm, right, she said that name was taken, that one would cause confusion with another season’s store clerk, and so would that one. Oh, here we go, odd… it says here the store clerk’s name is ‘The annoying pain in the ass the producers saddled me with.’ That doesn’t make any sense. De-la-la loves me! Hmm, I guess I’ll just have to come up with my own name for once, surely De-la-la won’t be mad about that!”

Putting away the script and returning her attention to the three newcomers who were momentarily rendered speechless by the imp’s actions, the imp said, “Now, where was I? Oh yes. THE WONDERFUL! THE EXUBERANT! PITA!” Pita did a wide set of jazz hands floating about a foot above their heads.

There was silence until Heather asked, “Are… we supposed to clap?”

Pita frowned, “I’m starting to get the impression that you might be a naughty little girl in **** need of some help, after all. Now what are your names? I do so love meeting new people.” Pita floated down, so her head was around the same height as the others.”

“I’m Lynn, and I’m sure we’ll be fast friends.” Lynn beamed at the exuberant imp as she wrapped an arm around Pita’s shoulder, dragging her into the store before the others could introduce themselves. “Why don’t you tell me all about the various things on offer?” Lynn said with a smile that worried both Caroline and Heather, as Lynn was clearly up to something. The two hurriedly followed after Lynn and Pita, hoping to at least mitigate the damage.