Velouté de Nymphes

Mira sat in the corner of the room, in the armchair in the sitting area. All the while, across the room, splayed out on the bed, legs and chest sticking out of the sheets, Stella slept. Mira had dressed herself in a bright blue pantsuit, the type of outfit that, while working, had given her a sense of control and power. Now, under the effects of the transformation, she could feel the subtle workings against her, the cracks in her willpower, the desire to please raised up in the corners of her mind. And regardless, it changed nothing about what had to be done.

She had been wanting to wake Stella and question her about last night's behavior from the moment she woke, but felt it would be better to hold off. Despite the age difference, she wasn’t this girl’s parent; she was an adult, so she should talk to her like one. Even if her behaviour was more akin to a rowdy fratboy than anything resembling a functional adult.

Seeing Stella begin to stir, the Bengali woman crossed her arms and spoke, “Welcome to the world of the living.”

Stella stretched her arms above her head, brazenly sticking out he chest, emphasizing the little she had as she blinked and then stared blearily at Mira, “Oh my god,” she half yawned the words, “Watching me sleep? Creepy much?” She swung her legs out and stood, making her way over to the dresser and rummaging for her clothes.

“If it helps, I wasn’t watching, I was just waiting for you to wake,” Mira stated matter-of-factly.

Stella threw a discarded shirt over her shoulder, not turning to face Mira, “I mean, still creepy, just more in the serial killer way and less the stalker way.” The imp began to pull up a skirt and muttered, “Lousy fucking tail…” Her tail swerved as if affronted by the castigation.

Ignoring the comment, Mira tried to press forward, “Since we are going to be rooming together, I thought it would be important to communicate that the way you came back to the room last night and subsequently drenched the bed was…” Mira turned her hand on her wrist, “unseemly.”

Giving a barking laugh as she slid on a shirt, Stella turned her head, “I mean, I was pretty shitfaced, so it’s no surprise there.”

Mira tapped her foot impatiently, “I just wanted to make it clear that I hope that it won't be repeated over the course of our time together.”

Stella ‘finished’ buttoning her shirt, leaving half the buttons undone as she threw on a vest, “Oh? What part bothered you?” The tone was questioning, but there was something at the periphery.

Mira frowned, “Primarily, you're soaking the bed we both sleep in, but the loud…noises from the shower…I could do without. Also…while I know it’s not my place, you must know that that level of intoxication is…”

“There it is…” Stella hissed, and Mira raised her head to see the imp staring her down, “Listen, Mira, I’ll do my best not to inconvenience your beddy bye time in the future, but let’s get one thing straight, I don’t want to be your new project. I think we’ve both seen how that turns out.” She then raised two fingers, “Oh, but if you want to finger me, I give you full consent to do that. There, that’s another problem you don’t need to worry about.”

Mira’s face grew hot and she half rose in her seat, “That-No, this isn’t about that. I’m not making anyone…”

Stella ignored her and walked over to the mirror and began adjusting her hair, “Save your breath, I know what type of person you are. You’re a fucking meddler, can’t help yourself. One of the people who’s gonna drive herself insane trying to ‘navigate’ the situation we’re in. Sometimes you just got to lay back and ride the current. Might as well have fun doing it.”

Rising up from her seat, Mira walked over, “Stella, listen here. I know I made mistakes…I’m not trying to pick a fight, I’m just trying to make sure we get through the round without killing each other.”

Stella turned and faced the older woman, “Oh, really? Is that it? So let me ask you this. Have you given up your little agenda of helping people out, even if they don’t want it? Because the end justifies the means or some bullshit?”

Pursing her lips, Mira clenched her fists at her sides, “I’m just trying to help the best I can. I made a mistake…I can’t undo that. I still want to make sure everyone makes it through.”

“God, you’re exhausting. Is the air thinner up there on your high horse?” Stella ran a hand through her hair, “All you people are exhausting, everything has to mean something, everything has to be for a purpose. Why can’t you just do what feels good and move on?”

Mira paused and slowly raised her eyes, “Are you still talking to me? Or is this about the questions and answers before yesterday’s challenge?”

Stella flinched like she had been hit, but a manic grin crossed her face, “Oh, clever work, detective! Not like anyone with eyes could have seen how pissed off I was.”

“I’m not trying to be clever, just trying to figure out who you’re really mad at here. Me, the audience? Everyone? Caleb?” Mira pushed.

Stella reached out and grabbed Mira’s tie, causing the woman to flinch and fall back on the bed, “See? What did I tell you? A meddler, through and through. What does it matter? It’s my business, not yours.” Her words were venomous, but she kept a smile on her face the whole time as she stared Mira down.

Frowning, Mira let the silence hang for a moment; she felt her knees weak and against the other woman’s will the distinct need to shrink back. Turning her gaze downward, unable to make eye contact, she quietly said, “Pushing through when you’re hurting will only cause permanent damage…”

Stella clicked her tongue and through Mira’s tie in her face, “Yeah, well, if I meet anyone needing your sage wisdom, I’ll send them your way. Till then, you can keep your fortune cookie bullshit to yourself.”

As Stella made her way to the door, she turned back to Mira, “Oh, you can go ahead and let Maya know I’ll be at her game night, until then I’mma peace out. I’ve had about enough of what I can take of all you.”

Mira watched as the imp opened and slammed the door shut, leaving her alone in the bedroom.

The Bengali woman took a moment to collect herself. She had not expected…that. She had obviously touched a nerve before with the Q+A thing, but that couldn’t be all that motivated the outburst, could it? Meddling. She guessed that was what she did. Being an agent made you a professional meddler. Someone who just wanted the best for the people in your care, even when they didn’t.

She picked herself up off the ground. There was nothing to be gained spent ruminating on the confrontation. For now, she should just meet up with everyone for breakfast and hope that spirits were better there.”

“Betrayal!” Maya called out from the table as the others stared on at the sudden outburst. Then watched as she deflated, “No, that only goes up to five players. Jeeze, this is hard.”

Ignorant of the confrontation happening upstairs, everyone else had gathered in the dining hall and was sitting together at the table where, for the last fifteen minutes, the conversation had been Maya announcing a board game she wanted to play and then becoming disheartened at why that wouldn’t work.

Lily gave a half grin and offered, “Maybe Lords of Waterdeep?” She was only familiar with the game because there was a video game adaptation.

She was met with an unamused stare from Maya, “That’s also only up to five players!” she bemoaned

Amused, Caleb scratched his cheek as he took up a spoon of cottage cheese and berries, “I suppose we do have a rather large group, don’t we?” It was nice for something like this to be the problem for a change. What board game to play versus how to navigate the game and each other without being reduced to sex toys, was a welcome change up.

Maya nodded and melted into her arms and began muttering to herself

Maddy looked over sympathetically, “I wish I could help, but I never played many board games. Mom would struggle with them.”

Noemi looked over curiously, “Do they not make braille versions?”

Maddy shook her head, “It’s uncommon, and while some companies make accessibility kits, it’s only fairly recently you could get them easily, and I’m generally too busy with work, so…”

Noemi nodded, “I getcha there. If I’m not working, I’m usually doing stuff to help my mom and dad, so I don’t get much time to play that stuff either.”

Looking over, Caleb tilted his head, “Never played games with your younger siblings?”

Beaming over at him, Noemi chuckled, “No, maybe monopoly every once in a while, but we were much more a play games outside kind of family.”

“Monopoly can fit eight, but…Ugh, Monopoly is such a poorly designed game though…” Maya groaned and melted further.

Eliza chewed on a baby carrot, “Also, it was designed by a woman as an indictment of capitalism, and then Parker Brothers bought it and made crushing your opponent’s the entire point.”

Amy watched the conversation, amused as she worked on a basic diagram of the points breakdown of each contestant on a napkin. She didn’t know the full details of what each girl had done with Caleb already, but some educated guesses based on points and previous bounties confirmed her fears that overall, most of them had fewer ways to make points coming into this round, with a few exceptions.

She had thought that with the bulk of the group over the halfway mark, they were safe, and then Lucian had to introduce this. Not to mention, if previous rounds were anything to go by they might only have six bounties between all of them? Maybe a few more if they were lucky, less if they weren’t. Not to mention that if they kept going by structure, they each only had one chance with-

“Amy!” Maya called out, breaking the oni from her thoughts and turning to see an exasperated lottery winner staring at her.

“Sorry? I um…” She tucked the napkin away. “What’s up?”

Maya pouted, “I was calling out to you because I wanted to know what type of games you like.”

Amy frowned and tilted her head, tapping her pen against the table, “Sorry, I don’t really have an answer for that. I’m not really a gamer.”

Noemi tilted her head, “I thought you worked with computers, aren’t most computer people big on playing games? That's why they need the sheep, right?”

Amy blinked, baffled, and then realization struck, “Are you trying to say RAM?”

“What does the gender of the sheep make?” Noemi asked, legitimately confused.

The oni sighed, “Regardless, yeah, I know a lot of my coworkers are big on gaming on the computer and off, but it’s just not my thing? Computers are just interesting to me. I like reading stuff online and seeing what other projects people are working on, but I dunno, playing games by myself never interested me.”

“Might just be you haven't found the right sort of game. I wasn’t much into them until Sengoku Musou.” Eliza offered

Amy gave a halfhearted shrug, “Maybe?”

Lily looked between Maya, who was looking frustrated, and Amy, “I think she’d like games with a puzzle or social deduction element. Since you’re always trying to solve problems logically, I think you’d enjoy that sort of thing.”

Maya nodded, “We can work with that.”

Maddy looked quizzical, “Social deduction? Like a mystery?”

Lily smiled, “Yeah, essentially it makes everyone a detective.”

Caleb gave a sly grin to Maya, “You know…in that case, maybe what we played on our first date might work.”

“Oh!” Maya returned the look and then snickered, “Perhaps, perhaps.”

Lily frowned, “No scheming! Not before the games even start!”

Amy leaned back, “I’ll leave it all to you guys. I’m not sure how into it I’ll be, but I’ll try anything you throw at me.”

“Looks like a pretty lively morning.” As Mira stepped into the dining room, she smiled at the group. Reactions varied. No one was sure exactly how to treat Mira at this point, so Caleb decided to try to lead by example by waving her over.

“Stella still asleep in her room?” He asked

Mira walked up behind him and smiled awkwardly, “No, she…she’s out for the day, thought she said she’d be here for game night later.”

Caleb wanted to press more, but was beaten to the punch by Maya, who suddenly stood up, “I…can I talk with you?”

Looking surprised, Mira gave a nod, and Maya frowned, “Maybe we can sit at our old table?”

Mira nodded again, “Sure…whatever you like.”

Caleb exchanged a look with the others, who also looked unsure as to what this was about, but kept a smile on his face. “Let us know if either of you needs anything?”

Maya didn’t respond but made her way to the corner table with Mira following after her.

The bell of the Sabotage shop rang out as Arietta crossed its threshold. She had been out the bulk of the night and was only making her way back in now. There were mudstains on her white robe, a stray leaf tangled in the fabric, even as errant twigs found purchase in her hair. She lowered her hood and let out a long sigh.

Even as an ethereal entity, her stamina wasn’t boundless, and centuries of trying to block out thoughts with slumber had left her prone to exhaustion. Even so, she had to press forward. She didn’t know if what she was doing was even necessary, but the thought of it becoming necessary yet not being ready kept pushing her forward. And maybe it was the exhaustion that caused her to miss him standing there, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed.

Arietta stumbled back, suddenly aware of Lucian's presence as his eyes locked with hers and he said firmly, “I think it’s past due that you and I have a chat.”