Sauce Maltaise

Meanwhile, completely unaware of what was transpiring upstairs, Maddy nervously made her way across the front lobby to the stairwell. It was always so strange to her; the glass ceiling above gave this sense of expansive space, but the way the balcony ran around the lobby, the centralized opening of the room, it all gave her the feeling of being watched. This did nothing to relax her nerves.

She had volunteered to go and talk with Lily, and she truly wanted to help, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that her and Lily’s relationship was still in a rocky place. They had spoken and been around each other since the challenge, and even smiled and joked occasionally on the journey below the city, but neither had addressed the feeling of distance between them. Not that avoiding it was making anything better.

Making her way up the stairs, she started making her way over to the Innamorti suite when a voice came from behind her, startling the chef and causing her to jump into the air.

“Whatcha skulking around for Mads?” After landing, Maddy turned to see Stella's curious face looking over at her.

Maddy hurriedly raised a finger to her lips, “Shh!”

Raising an eyebrow and leaning in, Stella smirked and whispered, “Why are we being quiet? Is it crime? Are we doing crime?”

Flustered, Maddy searched her brain for reasoning and couldn’t find anything beyond her own nerves. Shaking her head, the chef whispered back, “No, just sorry, Stella, I’m trying to do something here.”

“Oh, I see,” Stella didn’t bother whispering anymore; instead, she just came closer. “What exactly is it you’re doing?”

Maddy pursed her lips. Simultaneously, it felt ridiculous to hide, but sharing would involve telling Stella about Lily’s current predicament, and the chef had no way of knowing how that would go. The bartender was always a bit of a wild card.

Sensing Maddy’s hesitation, Stella hummed and then perked up, “Does it have to do with Lily or Eliza?”

Startled again, Maddy’s eyebrows shot up, “How did you…?”

Stella shrugged, “You’re sneaking around on the second floor, limited options there, and I figured you weren’t trying to hide the fact you wanted to sneak in a round of canasta, especially by yourself. So that leaves you either trying to sneak off to your room, which is pretty unnecessary because you could hurry to it, close the door, and get the same results. This leaves you wanting to visit someone who wasn’t at breakfast, ending with Eliza and Lily.”

Maddy found herself softly clapping, “Stella, you’re like a detective.”

Stella tipped her head and picked out some earwax stuck in her ear, “Not really, anyone could have figured that out.”

Maddy was skeptical of that, but decided not to press it. There wasn’t much point in hiding it now. “Yeah, well, you’re right, I was going to check on Lily.”

“Oh, not Eliza? I figured you might have some choice words for her after everything.”

The chef tensed, even after her talk with Mira, she could still feel the surge of resentment that she couldn’t help. She exhaled and tried to let those feelings flow out, “No, she’s dealing with her own things, I’m not going to pile on top of that.”

“Well, colour me curious then, so do you know why our resident flower child avoided us at breakfast then?” Stella grinned, and Maddy winced at the unknowing accuracy of the epithet

Looking to the side, Maddy considered her options and felt she could at least share the basics without giving away too much, and that may satisfy the bartender enough for her to move on. “Lily didn’t return to her room last night, so she received a punishment transformation.”

Stella’s back straightened, “Oh, for real? Well then, I’m in.”

Clenching her fists nervously, Maddy looked side to side as if searching for an exit, “Really? I mean, you don’t have to. I said I’d help, but if you have other plans…”

The bartender smirked and gestured towards herself with mock pompousness, “Hey, who knows more about punishment transformations and how much they suck than moi?” As if to punctuate her point, her arrowhead tail made a whipping motion that caused a small cracking sound. Stella turned back to look at it, “Huh, didn’t know it could do that. But yeah, I’m all for helping out. Unless you don’t want me around?”

Maddy swallowed. There was no good reason to turn down Stella’s help here, and to be honest, not having to do this alone would give her some comfort. It was just that, while Maddy liked Stella just fine, there was no denying her unpredictability. But, there was no question that her bluntness had helped her out last round, and didn’t Maddy say herself that Stella was better than people thought?

Maddy lifted herself from her hunched-over position and nodded, “No, you’re welcome to join me, just be careful. Her punishment is pretty…inflammatory, according to Caleb, some flower on her head that blurts out what she is thinking unfiltered.”

Stella gave a low whistle, “Ya’ll are lucky I didn’t end up with that transformation, the flower would never shut up.”

They made their way over to the Innamorti sweet, and Maddy went to grab the doorknob and turned it, only for it to be stuck in place. Well, that was an obvious roadblock. She turned to Stella, “The doors locked, so I guess that was a lot of talk for nothing.” She laughed nervously before looking down, defeated.

Stella cocked her hip and reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out her wallet, “Well, Mads, it’s a good thing you grabbed the certified hooligan of the season because…” She reached into her wallet and pulled out what appeared to be two oddly shaped wires. “No door is safe from me.”

Striding past Maddy, the imp knelt at the door and began fiddling with the lock as Maddy looked around nervously, “What if it’s magic? What if you get in trouble?”

“Well…” Stella stuck out her tongue as she worked on the mechanism, “If it’s magic, it just won’t work right? No problem, also if I get in trouble? Oh no, what else is new? Like, if you want to help Lily, it's got to happen today, right?”

“Right…” Maddy said hesitantly.

“So why let a small barrier like this get in the way of that? People spend way too much time thinking about why they can’t do things. Just do them, the worst that happens is you fail, and it sucks for a bit, but no more than it would suck if you never did what you wanted to do.” She turned the one tool.

Maddy frowned and then asked, curious, “Where did you learn to do this?”

Stella smirked even as she spoke through gritted teeth while concentrating, “Oh, you never get lock-picking videos on your feed? Whenever I get an instructional video like that, I can’t help but try it out, also how I learned how to make one-pot pasta, knife throwing, and close-up magic.” She flicked her wrist, and there was a click from the door, “Voila!” Stella stood back, triumphant, and put her picks away before reaching out and turning the knob. With a turn and a click, the door opened.

Maddy silently cheered, lifting her arms and bouncing on her heels, “You did it!” She pushed the door open and saw that all the lights were turned off. She stepped in, only borrowed light from the hallway illuminating the space and making her and Stella’s shadows cascade across the room, “Lily?”

“Go away!” Lily’s voice came from the back corner of the room, where the armchair sat, and was followed by another voice, going, “I don’t want to see any of you losers!”

Maddy winced, but had expected this sort of reception, and crossed the room towards the voice, “We came because we were worried about you. Caleb told us about your transformation.”

Lily’s voice cracked as it echoed through the room, “I don’t need help, I need to be left alone!” The second voice piped up, “None of you actually care! You just want to make Caleb happy!”

Maddy and Stella finished pressing forward in the room, and as they turned to where the armchair would be, the bartender let out a low whistle.

Around the armchair, vines had coiled around like a cocoon, obscuring Lily completely from view as vines shot out from the cocoon and latched onto the nearby walls, ceiling, and furniture

“Think she is serious about not seeing anyone?” Stella asked sarcastically. Maddy winced. The situation was worse than she thought, but she wasn’t going to leave Lily like this.

She walked up and tried pulling on one of the vines, and it wouldn’t budge. She wondered if she should go grab her knife and cut the vines like they had done underground, but didn’t know if that would harm Lily.

She let out a breath and sat on the nearby bed, thinking about the next move.

Together, Mira and Maya had made their way out to the docks after breakfast. They had invited Stella to join them on a trip to the Sabotage shop, but the imp said she smelled mischief elsewhere to attend to, whatever that meant. Now the two women were riding a gondola on the calm waters of the Island as their Faundolier steered.

Mira eyed her former roommate carefully and then decided it was time to bridge the unspoken gap in conversation, “I take it last night didn’t go like you planned?”

Startled, Maya folded her arms over her chest, “I um…how did you know?”

“Well, you mentioned pretty much everything else that happened yesterday besides that. I figured you’d be puffing out your chest about taking first place in the ranking, but you didn’t do that, so…you either learned modesty in the last twenty-four hours, or something didn’t go according to plan.” Mira said calmly while smiling at Maya.

Maya looked away at the water lapping at the side of the Gondola and sighed, “I had…um…” She paused, “I couldn’t sleep with Caleb,” she ended simply.

Mira probed further, “Because…? He stopped you? It just didn’t work out?”

Lifting her eyes briefly to look at Mira, Maya looked away quickly, “No, I stopped it…I had a little bit of a meltdown.” She exhaled sharply, “My mom told me to give my virginity to someone I loved. I don’t think…” She hesitated, “I don’t know if I love Caleb, so I can’t sleep with him.”

“Oh,” the opera singer looked at Maya with concern in her eyes, “That’s…unfortunate. Are you ok?”

Despite herself, Maya felt tears brimming in her eyes and wiped them away, “Yeah, I’m ok. Caleb was very understanding and tried to help. Even if some of the help was stupid.” The purple-haired woman reached down and ran her hand through the water. “I’m just going to have to find out ways to earn points for now.”

Mira was tempted to bring up that her saying “for now” was probably rather telling of her true feelings, but held back. Mira remembered what it was like to sort through those feelings for the first time, and being rushed and adding pressure was likely to only cause further distress. So the singer just looked off into the distance, “There are other acts you can do, not to mention challenges. Though be mindful that performing well is never a guarantee. You’re competing against me after all,” She flashed Maya a cheeky smile.

This earned a competitive smile from Maya, who stared Mira down, “Yeah, well, good luck if it’s a physical challenge, aren’t you a little old to be running around?”

“I’m plenty fit and thirty-five isn’t old!” Mira sniped back, and the two looked at each other intensely before bursting out laughing. They were jostled from their laughter as the boat rocked as it made landfall. The faundolier hopped out and mimed at an invisible watch.

Maya looked over, “Time for your break? Ok! See you when we get back.” As the faun skipped off, the purple-haired woman looked to Mira, “You know, while muted, they’re so nice you can forget that they’re all sexual deviants.”

The singer watched as the faun met up with one of its compatriots, and they immediately started dry humping each other before walking off and winced, “Quite…”

Stepping out onto the Dock, the Market was bustling as usual, the Fauns must take their breaks in scheduled shifts as there were still plenty hawking their wares. Maya looked at some of the clothes on display and leaned in toward Mira, “Planning on buying anything for your date tomorrow?”

“Oh, quite a number of things, but I’ll save clothes for last. Some of my purchases are quite expensive.” She smiled conspiratorially,

Maya was curious but didn’t press. Sometimes surprises were more fun, “So the Sabotage shop then?”

The singer nodded, and the two made their way to the back corner of the shopping island, where the apothecary was tucked away. As they pushed in the door and a little wind chime rang, they were surprised to be greeted by Arietta, not asleep but moving some playing cards about on her front desk as she gave them a furtive glance.

“Welcome, customers don’t mind the mess. Simply looking forward to what’s to come.” Her golden eyes lingered over a loose card before flipping it.

Maya leaned in to look at the playing cards. “Are you playing a game?”

“No, I’m divining. My oracle cards didn’t make the trip with me to this realm. But tools don’t make the witch, and the witch can make do with what she has.” She flipped another card and frowned, her eyes filled with a hollow sadness, “And she doesn’t complain, no matter what the cards tell her.” She sighed heavily and then looked up at the two customers, “Never mind that, it would not do to keep customers waiting, the bosses might dock my pay.” She let out a musical, sad laugh, “What can I do for the both of you?”

Maya turned away, no longer interested in the cards upon finding out they weren’t a game, and began to browse the shelves. Mira, meanwhile, quickly grabbed the card she was looking for and went to the front desk. “I’ll be purchasing this, and just to clarify, with the masks, you will not divulge who purchased them?”

Making a sweeping motion with her hand, Arietta collected the cards on the table and began to tap them against the hard surface to even them out. “I’d be a poor shopkeeper if I gave away my customers’ secrets. No, like anything else you purchase here, it will remain anonymous until you reveal it yourself or inevitably slip up.”

Nodding, Mira looked towards the cabinet in the back holding the masks, “Fits the nature of the game then. I will be purchasing the bronze mask in the likeness of Ms. Dawson, along with this Jekyll to Hyde Card.”

The proprietress of the shop raised a sharp eyebrow, but nevertheless raised her hand. A porcelain mask framed with flowing blonde hair and glasses and outlined in coppery bronze appeared in her hand. She extended it out to Mira, “Knowing what another is thinking is a dangerous thing. Something to keep in mind.”

“I appreciate the warning, but I am not overly concerned. I have a…cultivated experience in mind.” The songstress reached out and took the mask and the Sabotage card before tucking them away in her purse.

Mira: 45 BP - 28 BP: 17 BP remaining

Mira was waiting while Maya continued to look through the displays and then looked to Arietta, “What’s your stake in this?”

The white-robed woman smirked and leaned in over the desk, “Excuse me?”

“Out of everyone here, you’re the most confusing to me. The fauns I see being here for the perverseness of it, Reyna and Lucian clearly have agendas or jobs, even if I may not understand them. We’re all here to go through cycles of joy and suffering for the amusement of the audience. So what are you?” Her eyes glanced down to the shopkeeper’s bountiful chest, “Eyecandy?”

Arietta waved a hand in mock embarrassment and laughed, “You flatter this 50-year-old woman.”

Mira gawked, “What the fuck?! There is no way you’re fifty.”

“You’re right, I’m forty-nine.” Arietta smirked, “The bodice does a lot of heavy lifting, though, let me assure you.” She squeezed her hands over her chest.

Shaking her head, the singer refocused, “Regardless, you haven’t answered my question.”

“No, I suppose not, nor do I have to actually. Another key difference between me and the fauns.” She smirked and leaned in with hooded eyes and a shadow from her hood over her features, “I do not have to dance to your whims, I do not have to do anything I don’t wish to. As long as I do my job as a shopkeeper, I am free to operate as I wish.” She then broke the tension with a yawn. “That being clear, I don’t mind saying this. Our roles, as you say them are more similar than you might think.”

Sighing, Mira tapped her foot, “So even in answering, you’re determined to be as cryptic as possible.”

“It’s half the fun, my dear. Ah, but it seems your compatriot has found what she was looking for.” Arietta chuckled as Maya skipped over.

Mira watched as the shopkeeper rang Maya up. This was an annoyance, an open declaration of ability to mess with them without clarifying her intent. It was dangerous and liable to interfere in the future. She’d have to keep her eye on her.

Maya: 43 BP - 3 BP: 40 BP remaining

Interrupting her thoughts, Maya hopped over full of smiles, holding the Ask of Amontillado Sabotage she just purchased to her chest before tucking it away. She leaned in toward Mira, “Ready to pick out some clothes?”

Mira glanced back at Arietta who just waved at the two as they exited, “Yeah, sure. Let’s do that.”