Salades des Gobelins

After marching out of the dining hall Lily felt her face growing hotter and hotter. “No don’t you dare cry. We have already cried enough over that stupid bastard,” she chastised herself as she pushed her glasses out of the way to rub furiously at her face.

Just seeing them took her back to that moment. She had been planning to surprise him after her plans for the evening had suddenly changed. She stopped by his apartment, hoping to catch up with him, as they had been having scheduling conflicts lately. So when she entered the door and heard the undisguised sound of moaning and then have her fears confirmed when she ran to the bedroom to see her on top of him.

She hated her for it. Hated her toned body, hated the way she laughed and expressed herself with ease. Hated the way she didn’t care about anything. But more than that she hated him. Why had he done it? They had been together for two years at that point, he had shared things with her about his life that she thought meant something. She had opened up in a way she hadn’t thought she could. So how? Lily clenched her fists. How could he have been the one who would hurt her like this?

The flower girl found herself back in the lobby and wiped her eyes, despite her best efforts she couldn’t stop them from tearing up. She was planning to just barricade herself back in her room when she noticed something she hadn’t seen on her way to breakfast. Towards the center of the lobby was a smooth black screen with metallic gold filigree at its edges.

Lily walked over to it and saw it displayed the current standing of the contestants, their rank based on the latest popularity poll, and their current VP. BP was conspicuously absent.

“Probably to encourage us to buy Sabotages without fear of being tracked by decreased amounts,” Lily thought bitterly.

She gazed down at the names and then her heart stopped.

1. Eliza Dawson – 0 VP
2. Mira Gayen– 0 VP
3. Madeline Purcell – 0 VP
4. Stella Vincent – 0 VP
5. Amy Tanaka – 0 VP
6. Lillian Wright - -3 VP
7. Maya Quinn -0 VP
8. Noemi Castro - 10 VP

Why did Noemi have VP? What had she done with Caleb? The first day wasn’t even over and it was already happening? She felt bile rise in her throat at the thought that the other woman here would actually be throwing themselves at Caleb.

Of course they were, it was the game after all she thought bitterly to her conversation with Maya earlier. She imagined the professor or Maddy with Caleb and felt her stomach flip. She reached out to the board for support and when she touched it, it changed.

Now the title read “Bounty board” and despite being completely smooth earlier had three sheets of paper attached to it. The paper itself was old looking too like it had been hand-pressed rather than by machine. Lily tried to remember what Lucian had said about the board the previous day.

“Ways to earn BP and VP right? So money and less time having to deal with Caleb…worth a look.” She looked over the listed bounties:

Bounty Betrayal: Use a Sabotage on a sleeping Roommate 2 VP and 3 BP

Bounty Night on the Town: Convince Master to go outside. 4 VP bonus! 5 BP if he stays out longer than an hour.

Bounty Nighttime Frustrations: Wear a chastity belt for the remainder of the round (removed prior to challenge)- 3 VP bonus! An additional 1 BP and VP for every failed orgasm while wearing the belt.

She really shouldn’t have been surprised that this is what the bounties were like but still found her eyes widening as she read the details. Though they narrowed reading the specific amount the belt was worth. It felt targeted.

She almost wished she had the transformation that let her ask the audience right now. If she remembered correctly once the bounties were taken that was it, first come first serve. So if she wanted any of them now was the time to grab one.

Betrayal was out of the question. Even if she could convince Eliza the points would be worth it, she could not bring herself to do that to Maddy. She was maybe the one friend she had here, the girl was so sweet and didn’t deserve this happening to her.

Night on the Town, while in theory possible would require convincing Caleb to leave, which would mean talking to him in the next twenty-four hours, and she didn’t want to see the bastard if she could help it. Let one of the other girls drag him outside.

That left Nighttime Frustrations. Lily wasn’t a prude by any means and had been known to touch herself on occasion but a week? She could abstain for a week easily. It’s not like anything this hotel had done had managed to do anything but infuriate her so she wouldn’t need to worry about her transformation going off and complicating matters. Not to mention the look on Caleb’s face on their date night might be worth it alone. And it would pull her out of the red.

Solidifying her confidence, she reached out and took the paper off the board, and almost instantly Lucian appeared, grinning down at her, “Hello my girl, I see you have taken the bounty requiring some material aid, I am here to facilitate that.”

Lily shrunk back gripping her pajama bottoms, “I’m perfectly capable of putting it on myself thank you!”

Lucian’s eye twitched, “Like I want to touch your filthy-” he cut himself off and cleared his throat and a **** smile returned to his face, “No my dear, you misunderstand I’m not going to do anything untoward, I’ll leave that to the Master,” this earned him a glower from the flower girl, “No, I just need to do- this.” He snapped his slapstick to the ground and there was a sound of chains rattling and Lily felt a foreign presence on her person.

She looked down and into her pants to see a cherry red chastity belt secured with a heart-shaped lock, she looked up at Lucian, “Just…how do I use the bathroom?”

Lucian rolled his eyes, “My dear it’s a magical chastity belt, it will let you do your business, we just want to ensure no cheating on the bounty. Now if that’s everything…” He pinched the bridge of his nose, “I have matters to attend to, my assistant bought an island’s worth of fruit and I’m dealing with the aftermath.” With a spark of flames, he was gone leaving Lily alone.

Lily took one last look in her pants and sighed. She had made her bed. At least by the end of the week, she’d be out of the red. She gathered herself up and headed back to her room.

After everyone had finished breakfast, the collected group began to file into the lobby. Maddy was the first to notice the board and pointed it out.

“Hey, do you think that’s the board mentioned by the host yesterday?” She walked over to it.

Caleb followed suit and looked over, “Wow, I had totally forgotten about that with everything else going on.”

Maddy shrugged and smiled shyly, “You learn to catch a lot of details on the line in a restaurant if you want to avoid being yelled at,” she managed to get out before shrinking in on herself.

“Ooh, so this is the type of challenge they are, feeling up to the task roomie?” Maya grinned back at Mira who shot her a stern look.

“If I wake up transformed in my sleep, I’m tying you up for the rest of the round.” The singer growled to her roommate.

“Kinky,” The group turned and saw Stella descending the stairwell. She was dressed in what appeared to be ripped jeans that barely covered her crotch and did nothing to hide the visible strings of a black thong as well as a short tank top, “What do I got to do to get that kind of treatment? The tongue action Amy gave me last night is just not enough.”

The group turned to look at Amy, who despite her blush looked more irritated than embarrassed, “We made out, that’s all.”

Maddy's look of shock made it clear that she did not view that as being a sufficient enough explanation so Amy continued after sighing heavily, “Stella was pent-up and I wanted a distraction, so we made out until the brat started dirty talking and lost her privileges.”

Stella grinned and spun on her heel as she joined the group, “Yep yep, then we just jilled in separate rooms, it was fun.”

Feeling his face overheating, Caleb looked at the Oni, “You really have no problem with that? Either of you?” he looked over at Stella who just gave a devious wink.

Amy shrugged her large shoulders, “For me sex and its corresponding activities are more of a hobby than anything. I don’t attach much feeling to it other than that.”

Maddy looked very concerned and piped up as Eliza shifted nervously on her heels next to her, “What about love? Or at least like? Shouldn’t you only do that with people you care about?”

Noemi looked wistfully over at Maddy, finding herself blushing for the sweet girl.

Smiling at the chef, the Oni shook her head, “Sex without love exists as does love without sex. Learning to differentiate the two made my life a lot easier. But, that’s just for me. I think if we looked around this room I bet everyone has different feelings on it.”

Stella piped up, “Jeeze, you all think way too hard about this stuff, also Noemi holy shit. Your melons look bigger out of clothes. Why are you naked? Can I have a squeeze?”

The Chilean woman shrank away from the exuberant bartender, “I think…I need to go to my room now.” She began to hurry to the stairs, then stopped and turned, “Hey Caleb, can we talk tomorrow? Just the two of us. I want to clear this up.”

Caleb tried to keep his eyes from wandering as he looked up at the naked woman and slowly nodded. If she was willing to put in the effort, he saw no reason not to meet her halfway, “Yeah sure, sounds good. We can meet after breakfast?”

Noemi’s eyes sparkled and she smiled with newfound hope, “Yeah that sounds great!” She then felt an overwhelming sense of affection brought on by rush of emotions. Unable to hold back the impulse, she rushed down the stairs again and gave Caleb a quick hug before running off.

Noemi- Hugged the Master! +1 VP FIRST x2 BONUS

There was a tiny chime from the Bounty Board as it switched displays to show the updated total for Noemi. Stella looked at the board and scoffed, “Really that’s all it takes to get on the board? Easy peasy!” She lept over and wrapped her arms around Caleb

Stella- Hugged the Master! +1 VP

Stella then leaned forward with her tongue sticking out towards Caleb’s face and he actively leaned away and then pushed her off, “Hey cut it out, Listen I’m not gonna judge anyone by their standards and how they want to conduct themselves. But I personally need some emotional connection before I do something with a person.

Maddy looked relieved while Stella looked like she had just been told that Christmas had been canceled, “C'mon Caleb, you can’t tell me you spent all that time staring at me at the bookshop and didn’t think about doing more.”

It was here that Eliza decided to interrupt, “Let’s not get carried away, obviously if things go…as expected we’re going to need to consider all that but maybe not right now in the lobby. I’m sure there’s stuff people wanted to get done today.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Amy responded, “I got a plan I want to set into motion and it’s definitely going to take time, but if it works, hopefully, we’ll get some answers,” she locked eyes with Caleb who nodded in affirmation before she turned to leave the hotel.

Maddy raised a hand, “I was going to go check on Lily, but Eliza I wanted to talk with you about…things.” She nervously glanced at Caleb and then back at Eliza.

The professor sighed, she had been fearing that, “Yeah I’ll join you in checking on Lily and we can talk about whatever is concerning you.” Her eyes were downcast as she turned to leave with Maddy and Caleb had a few guesses about what they wanted to discuss. Tomorrow the dating rounds started, and the professor was first up after all.

This left Caleb with Stella, Mira, and Maya, the latter two had mostly observed the earlier exchange so when Maya crossed to stand in front of Caleb, an impish look on her face he found himself feeling disarmed.

“Mira and I were going to go and investigate the city, would you like to join us?” Her smile was sweet as honey but there was something in her eyes that the Master couldn’t determine. Regardless his answer was clear.

“No, I’m afraid not…maybe another time.” He clutched his arm awkwardly, already feeling the pressure this competition was going to put on his condition.

Maya’s laughter was like birdsong as she pulled away, “Drat, thought I might be able to claim that bounty, oh well maybe another time.”

Maya sauntered off with Mira following after her. After they were some distance away the songstress leaned in, “I’m surprised you didn’t go for the hug. Seemed like an easy win for you.”

The schemer’s eyes narrowed but her grin remained, “Exactly an easy win, I’m going for the big payday. You’ll see,” Mira couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the young woman and went off with her to the docks.

Back in the lobby, Stella leaned in, “So it’s just you and me now…” Mischief was written across her entire face from ear to ear.

Deciding not to let the sex goblin get her footing, Caleb led, “Hey they have a library here in the lobby, I was going to check it out. Do you want to join me?”

Torn by being thrown off her game and the actual temptation of what might be available, Stella kicked her foot, “Fine. But don’t think I’m letting you off that easy.”

Caleb swallowed, hoping that whatever was in the library would be enough to keep Stella occupied.