Salade Saint Jean

Back in the corner, Mira could feel the eyes of the rest of the harem following her and Maya as they separated from the rest of the group. Mira could hardly blame them. During the first week, this alcove of the dining room had acted as a symbol of the division in the group, with her and the lottery winner forming one faction separate from the rest. And after last week…Maya and her hadn’t spoken.

This also did not take a genius to explain. While Mira knew her actions last week would ostracize her, even before she reconciled with how wrong they were, it couldn't really be said that the group at large spent much time with her anyway. But she and Maya had been fast friends since rooming together. Maya had appreciated the agent's candor, while Mira saw a young person who needed support. Yet when the group separated, Maya went with them, and Mira couldn’t blame her.

The agent braced herself for a verbal lashing as they sat, but instead, the purple-haired woman avoided eye contact and asked, “You’re not wearing your normal clothes.”

There was no question mark, but Mira knew from talking to Maya so much before that what the young woman was really saying was “why are you not wearing the clothes you normally wear?”

She played with the cuffs of her suit jacket for a moment before answering, “My transformation pushes me to take charge if I wear the clothes they’ve provided. While they provided a sense of confidence, I thought avoiding wearing them might show that I’m not going to act out on my own again.”

Still avoiding eye contact, Maya’s eyes flicked to the other side. “So if you weren’t wearing those clothes, you would do more bad things?”

Mira let out a slow sigh, “I-no-it’s symbolic. I’m trying to show everyone I mean no harm.”

“Oh,” Maya said flatly, “Why do you need to do that?”

“Maya, you know why. I did a horrible thing. This shows-”

“No!” Maya’s voice rose as she interjected, “Why can’t you just not do the bad things anymore? Why does there need to be symbols or things like that?”

Mira found her mind drifting to the conversation with Stella earlier, “I know…the type of person I am. I want to help and make things better, so I want to show that I’m not going to hurt people to do that anymore.”

“Then just don’t do that!” Maya’s tone was frustrated, “If you want to help people, help people! Be a good person! I don’t understand.”

Raising her hand to reach out to Maya, Mira struggled to respond, “Maya, I…it’s not that simple.”

“Yes, it is! When we met, we both said that we were gonna play the game, and you always said you wouldn’t go out of your way to hurt people, so why-” the lottery winner’s words got stuck in her throat, making a sound like a croaking frog as she ground her teeth together.

“I wasn’t trying to-if it came down to helping people and people hating me-” Mira could barely get the words out as a choked sob came from the other woman’s mouth.

“You didn’t even get any points for doing that!” Maya’s voice could easily be heard across the dining room now, even if the others were trying their best to listen without looking like they were listening.

If you didn’t know Maya, you might assume her outburst was saying that had Mira earned VP from sexually assaulting Eliza, it would be ok. But Mira knew Maya well enough to know that wasn’t what she was saying, and that it was more along the lines of “How could you do such a bad thing if it wasn’t even worth anything?” Maya was questioning who Mira was, the person she thought she knew, and whether she was the type of person who just did bad things for no reason.

The difficulty was conveying that even if it had been a poor choice aggravated by magic, Mira believed that protecting the group and getting them through to the end was a good reason enough. Maya was a nice girl, but she was not a selfless one, and without it benefiting Mira specifically, it might be hard to get her to grasp.

Mira swallowed, “I thought…I think,” Mira corrected, “If we can all get through this game, unharmed, even if we-I…even if I struggle, or don’t, or if people hate me. If we all make it through to the other end-”

She was stopped by Maya’s hands slamming down on the table. “No!”

Blinking and taken aback, Mira tried to speak, “Maya, it’s just-”

“No! No, no, no, no, no!” Maya’s hands hammered the table, and she rose from her seat. Her eyes were open wide, and she was staring Mira down even as the corners of her eyes teared up.

The agent found herself backing up to rise from her seat as she was bombarded by the **** of ‘no’s from the other woman. Holding up her hands defensively, Mira frowned, “Maya, I’m just trying to explain-”

Clenching her fists tight, Maya exploded as she rounded on Mira, her eyes meeting hers for the first time, “So it's a good thing if everyone survives, but you don’t? Or if you do, but everyone hates you? Why are you being so selfish!”

Genuinely taken aback, Mira frowned, “I’d be helping everyone, how is that selfish?”

“What about the people who care about you? What about the people who get left behind when you become a pariah! What about them?” Maya openly had tears falling down her cheeks at this point.

Wetness formed at the corners of Mira’s own eyes, “Maya…I-”

Maya surged forward and wrapped her arms tightly around the Bengali woman and squeezed her tight to keep her from moving.

The lottery winner rubbed her face against Mira’s chest and cried out into it, “You’re my friend! You’re a good person! You aren’t allowed to go anywhere!”

Mira felt something crack inside her. For so long, she had told herself that it didn’t matter how she felt, as long as the people around her succeeded, she could live with that. Ever since her voice had broken, she had to give up singing. She had reconciled so long ago that her value was only in how she could push others forward.

Now here was Maya, crying for her…after everything that had happened. The dam shattered, and she wrapped her arms around the other woman and began to quietly weep too. She rubbed the other girl's head. “Shhh…shh…it’s going to be ok.” She cradled Maya’s head and rocked it gently, and then quietly began to sing, “Somewhere over the rainbow…”

The dining hall was filled with the melodic tones of Mira’s voice quietly filling the space, and though the others could feel their nether regions reacting to the dulcet tones, no one had the heart to ask her to stop as she held Maya close to her.

Across the waters in the Sabotage shop, Arietta looked over at Lucian. His posture was relaxed as she leaned against the wall, and he uncrossed his arms and looked expectantly over at the witch. She supposed this discussion was only possible to be put off for so long; now that he knew their connection, she would need to face it.

She reached up and ran a hand through her hair, removing the twigs and leaves embedded in it. “I suppose it was only a matter of time before you came to ask about it, though I don’t know if I can tell you anything you don’t already know.”

The demon languidly raised an eyebrow, “Oh, is that so? Well, this should be easy then.”

Arietta stood up straight, “And I’m ready for any **** you might have decided to put on me for your misfortune.”

“Misfortune? I’m afraid I’m lost.” Lucian’s smile remained intact even as he looked at Arietta, confused.

Arietta blinked, “For…your ****, being my responsibility?”

“Oh! That!” Lucian dismissively waved his hand, “Oh, it seems we have started this off with a miscommunication.”

Arietta frowned, “Wait, you’re not here to punish me for…”

“Oh my grandma, you have a penchant for the dramatic.” Lucian snickered, “I mean, come now, I have had literal hundreds of years to deal with the circumstances of my ****. Besides, I never knew you, and it wasn’t like you lit the torches that set the church ablaze.” He stepped forward and playfully tapped the side of her face, “Besides, if I hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have ascended to my current position of demon under my illustrious mas-Andrea.” Lucian coughed as he corrected himself, “If anything, I should be thanking you, though if I must comment, suicide by brigand? Couldn’t bring yourself to use the knife yourself?”

Arietta’s brow furrowed as her face reddened, “How-How dare you, I mourned you! I mourned my daughter and how I failed you both! By what right do you have to judge me?!” She slapped his hand away.

Lucian waved his hand in mock hurt as his smile showed off his canines, “Judgement of Sinners? Kind of my whole shebang. Well, it was. Now I’m here running a show, but it will be my bread and butter once we get over this hump.” He clenched his fist and looked off triumphantly, “Really, I hated this to start, but I think I’m starting to really…get it, you know?”

Staring in disbelief, Arietta stared the demon down, “How can you say these things? I saw how enraged you were when your story was aired, the eons you spent in purgatory lamenting your fate. How do you now treat it like it’s nothing?”

Lucian tilted his head and frowned, “I believe there has been some confusion. Of course, there would be; humans don’t deal well with perceptions outside of their mortality.” He waved his hand, “I was outraged about the circumstances of my ****, the betrayal, the agony, the injustice. It has now been…several hundred years, and while my hatred of humanity runs pure, that specific moment of existence was wiped clean when my m- when Andrea gave me my first gift.”

Arietta felt bile in her throat, hearing the way Lucian’s voice filled with adoration at the mention of the devil, “What did she do?”

“I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you that time is a tricky thing once you leave the mortal plane, where it intersects and how the exact nature of whens is not something I fully understand, but despite the fact that it had been hundreds of years for me, then ten more of tutelage, when my m-Andrea thought I was ready she gave me my first assignment- the **** of one father Pietro,” the witch's shock must have shown on her face because the demon’s grin broadened, “yes! Despite the years that had passed for me, Andrea delivered him moments after his passing, wracked with guilt and sin.”

Lucian clenched his hands together and looked up, his face taking on the quality of one remembering a particularly delicious meal, “Oh, the look on his face when I took the form of my youth, and he recognized who I was. He knew it was divine punishment! His screams, sometimes remembering them is all it takes to help calm my nerves in times of stress.” he clapped his hands together, “By the time I was done…heh by the time he was done, my soul was lifted of the burden of feeling that pain and knowing that the path I had been set on was the righteous one.”

“You speak of righteousness even as you serve a devil…is this really all you are now, Luciano?” Arietta looked at him pleadingly and in return was met with a scowl.

“Only my Master may use that name. You will call me Lucian or Host for the duration of your time here, Nonna. If Reyna thought putting you here would put doubt in my heart, then the fox truly is losing her senses,” the demon shook his head.

“If you are at peace, then why the bluster and rage when your story was released?” Arietta pushed her hand, grasping against the side of the shelf as if finding purchase might cast aside the awful truth in front of her.

“Because while the circumstances themselves don’t bother me…the humanity does. I am a proud and noble demon. I do not need or desire to be perceived as some weak infantile human.” Lucian straightened his suit.

“You set the shop ablaze…just for that?” Arietta shook her head

Lucian sighed, “I don’t expect you to understand, you are a spirit who clings to your past and humanity like an old, ill-fitting suit. Despite sharing the same blood, it's clear I dodged some faulty behaviours.”

Arietta looks off to the side, her mind filled with shame and sadness, “What have you come here for then, host?” she said the word bitterly.

“Ah, yes, back to business. I need to know where you keep sneaking off to at night when the shop is closed.” Lucian stated matter-of-factly

“My contract bids me freedom of the island as long as I perform my duties as proprietor of the shop. Because of your curfew, that means wherever I go is well within the rights of the magics that bind me here,” the witch stared Lucian down defiantly.

“Mhmm mhmm, yes.” Lucian nodded, “See, that’s true, but I also need to make sure whatever you are doing isn’t going to violate the integrity of the show…see, like I said, I’m really starting to figure this out.”

He held out his hands, and floating candles began to circle around him, “See I’ve come to realize that running this show isn’t that different from torturing a soul. Its not so much about bending and breaking but using their own natures against them. Like burning a candle, the candle does all the work. I just need to provide the flame.” The candles hovering around him flickered to life as the demon held out his hands.

“The issue comes if someone does something to put the wick out or feed it extra wax. Now, I don’t think you’re foolish enough to try and thwart a season of Harem hotel, Nonna.” Lucian reached out and pinched out the candle in front of him, “But I need to know if what you are doing in your free time is going to extinguish the flame on my candles.”

Arietta kept her expression even and stared up at Lucian, “I’ve been going out into the wild islands at the periphery, where I know the camera's scope less, to gather herbs and be outside of the audience's gaze for a short period. I uproot and cultivate the plants there, so unless you think an herb garden is a danger to you, then you have nothing to fear.”

“Ah! I say, falling into the patterns of your human life, well, that makes the most sense.” Lucian tapped his chin thoughtfully, “So you’d have no issue with my visiting the islands then?”

Arietta grit her teeth but **** a smile to her face, “Of course, look away.”

Lucian reached over and tapped Arietta's cheek, “Fantastic! Glad we had this talk, Nonna. Keep up the good work.” And in a flash of fire, he was gone, sending the floating candles falling to the ground.

The witch moved and began to gather the candles, putting out the flames one by one. It had only been a matter of time before this happened; she hadn’t expected it to hurt so much when it did. He would find nothing, and nothing of what she said was a lie. She just had to make sure it stayed that way.