The Dame Walked In

It started out as a relatively normal morning on set. The sky was blue, and the water of the swan fountain in the middle of the plaza was crystal clear. Stella had made breakfast as she always did, and several people were there discussing the events of the day before or things they found afterwards.

Hazel was with Helena in a corner, whispering about a letter they’d found this morning.

“Is it worth taking seriously, Ma’am? Given everything he’s done, I can’t help feeling like this is a trap.”

“Aubrey helped me research him after Genet’s reveal. Jay- Zeus- manipulated people, but he never lied directly about anything but his identity. He’d trick people into exposing their flaws, or give them an opportunity to break the rules in front of him. If he’s offering it, I think he’s willing to honor it. That doesn’t stop it from being a trap, or course.” Helena quietly read it out loud again:

Ms.Turner,
I may have judged you prematurely. To give you a second chance and apology, I’m borrowing from one of my favorite hosts to offer a Secret Agenda. If you’re willing to engage sexually with your step-brother together alongside each of his doctors, then afterwards I’ll owe you a favor. Not something as big as a Wish mind you, just me doing something I didn’t need to do at your request.
There are two additional conditions. First, you must not rely on your blindfold. I want you to acknowledge what you’re doing and touch him at least as much as the good doctors. Second, this is a secret agenda. I will make an exception for Hazel and no one else. You can hardly dress yourself without her, after all.
I look forward to my expectations being proven wrong.
-Jay

The door opened and Helena grabbed the letter, crumpling it as she stuffed it into her pocket. She knew without looking who it was just out of who was left to arrive.

Richard walked into the dining hall. He’d taken much longer to arrive than usual, still wrapping his head around everything he’d done during the challenge and left wondering how much they knew about each other’s entry, wondering how much each of them would want to talk about what they’d done together now that he remembered.

His friends and loved ones were clustered between three tables. Hel and Hazel were whispering to each other in a corner. Probably not good to pry into that after yesterday. Maeve was sitting across from Luna, and he saw his therapist look towards him with some trepidation. She didn’t show me what we did like everyone else did. Then over at the table near the kitchen entrance were Stella, Aubrey, and Felicia, the last of which looked like she was trying to resist the temptation to touch her new horns.

“Hey.” He greeted them

“Hey. Have fun last night?” Felicia smirked.

He paused, having a sense of where she was going.

“It was good to have some time to relax.” He skirted around where she was implying.

“Oh, me too. After how busy she was with the challenge, Luna wanted to relax by going to bed early, and I took a nice, long, relaxing shower.”

“Is ‘relaxing’ supposed to be a euphemism for something?” Stella asked, as both her and Aubrey stared at them.

“I’m not using it as one.” Dick insisted. He stared at Felicia, as if to say: Do you really want to tell them about your masturbation at breakfast?

“Can I show you what I found waiting for me last night?” She decided to change the subject, sliding a toy across the table toward him.

He inspected it as Stella stepped away to fix a plate for him. It was just under five inches tall, and in the form of a goblin like in one of Ava’s stories. Though the goblin woman was shaped more like the Hotel might design than Ava would. She had a sheepish look on her face.

“It’s supposed to be like a mood ring, it echoes the strongest emotions around it.” Felicia explained. “A Host named Scarlet left it waiting for me after hearing that dumb joke I made last night.”

Stella came back with his breakfast.

“So what are you guys planning today?” He asked before starting the pepper fried eggs.

“Well, Ava suggested another Gauntlets and Giants session today, since we’ve got Aubrey and Felicia at the same time. Ava said she asked if Helena or her girlfriend wanted to join us, but they’re busy with something else today. But we should still be able to do the session after lunch, Ava’s just going to take me to the gym first.”

“Sounds fun.”

The girls already having finished their breakfast, he let them resume the conversation from before he’d arrived. It seemed to be mainly focused on explaining to Aubrey how Ava’s lore differed from the original myths their GM borrowed from. So he just listened and finished eating as the little mind goblin statue glowered at him. Wait, wasn’t it embarrassed a few minutes ago?

With the figurine’s warning, he looked around and saw the woman coming down Genet’s staircase. She had hair that fell in wavy ringlets around her, though that was the only easy comparison to their old Host. She had eyes that he somehow knew from looking at her could burn a hole through him with a glance. She wore a black slinking dress and matching heels that clacked down each step of her descent to them. The woman looked like she might have stepped out of an old noir rather than Genet’s apartment. Reaching the bottom step, her onyx upper lip curled before she addressed the room.

“Good morning, I thought I ought to make an appearance. I shall be your substitute Host while Genet is away. Are there any questions?” Her voice was quick, sliding to the end of each word in a transatlantic accent like he’d only heard in old movies.

“You’re not Philomedes, are you?” Aubrey asked cautiously.

“No. People know me as Lady Bo, or simply Bo to those I like. Which includes all of you for now.”

“Is there an… older name that I might recognize?” The mythology enthusiast asked. She was slowly standing up now, trying to avoid excessive attention for as long as she could get away with.

“You may have heard of Tymborychos.” The name was a mouthful, but the woman said it slickly like she was giving a cabbie directions.

Aubrey paled. Her long blonde hair twirled as she looked around the room. “We need to get out of here.” She urged Richard up, looking back and forth between the exit and everyone in the room she cared about.

“Can you explain why?” Maeve asked. Her voice was steady, but her brow was creased.

“Tymborychos was the name assigned to some of Aphrodite’s worst acts. Its English translation is gravedigger. If one of Aphrodite’s dark sides is here-“

”"You wound me, chickadee.” Lady Bo's voice overpowered Aubrey's attempt at a warning. "I am not a 'dark' side, and I resent suggestions otherwise. I am justice, retribution for when someone that claims to love you has betrayed you. Retribution is not evil. Accountability is not 'dark'. Or would you tell Miss Stella that there is never cause for vengeance?”

At being mentioned, Stella’s eyes dropped to stare at the table.

Aubrey reattempted her protest, though with less strength. “I’ve seen what kind of stories have been attributed to you. You’ve torn so many people’s lives apart.”

“And if you know my victims, you know what every one of them did to deserve it.” Lady Bo shot back. “Would you say that any of you have earned my target on your backs?”

“Of course not.”

“Then there is nothing to fear. ” Bo sat down on the closest bench. Aubrey’s attempt at a resistance against their new Host was starved of oxygen at the coarse woman’s disinterest in her. A new person took over, full of suspicion.

“Why are you here, rather than Philomedes like Genet expected?” Helena asked.

“She was busy. Had some plan to sneak into a wedding. Jay was looking for someone else, so I volunteered before he could get a real shitheel like Anosia.”

“And why did he accept you? Why did you want the job?”

“He wanted me to help do something I’m sure is going to happen no matter what. And I signed on for the job because I trust him as far as I can throw him. Genet and I annoy the shit out of each other, but I’m still going to watch her back if I can help it.” Helena didn’t have another question ready, so after a moment Bo addressed the room again. “Do you all have any other questions before you stop looking for rats?”

The room was quiet again for a moment. Stella finally spoke. “Are you hungry? Would you like breakfast?”

Lady Bo allowed herself half a smile. “No and no. But thank you, doll. If there’s nothing else, you all can just carry on like you would if Genet was here.” The femme fatale pulled a cigarette out of the air like Genet would pull perfume and lit it with a look.

Both Helena’s and Aubrey’s group pointedly stopped looking at her, trying to talk about Bo without it being obvious they were doing so. The third group in the room actually followed through on Bo’s advice to ignore her.

“Hey, Dick, could you come here?” Luna asked.

He switched tables to see her and Maeve. His therapist was holding a case for a DVD like the others had dropped off last night.

“Richard, I… I need you to watch this.” She set it on the table, revealing Hands-On Therapy. The cover showed her with one hand on the couch in her office, slightly bent over as she stared at the camera. She was in something very similar to her work outfit, sized to fit her better than most of the clothes Genet had given her after her original transformation.

“I- sure. Can I ask why it wasn’t with the others last night?”

She held his hand. “It felt of more consequence. When you saw it, I wanted you to have someone to discuss it with. Especially someone that was not me, so you could decide how you felt in hindsight without feeling like you needed to appease me. We were supposed to give you privacy for dinner and the evening after last night, so I thought it best to wait. Luna has seen what this shows, and she’s agreed to be present when you see it if you need to. Knowing what you’ll see, she has invited me to your date. But I am telling you now that you have the ability to rescind that invitation, if that’s what you and Luna decide.”

She’s treating it like a bomb. “With that much preamble, are you sure you want me to see this?”

Maeve briefly looked at Luna before answering. “Perhaps I should not want this or other things, but… please. Take it. I hope I’ll make more sense after.” With her open hand she slid the DVD closer to him, while holding him tighter with the other.

“I will.” He promised.

“Thank you. I will be at the library until lunch, if either of you decide to talk to me before then. If not, then I will meet you back here for whatever the two of you wish to do.” She kissed him on the forehead before slipping her hand away and retreating from the dining hall.

“She’s up to ten BP now, right?” Dick mused aloud. “Maybe we should talk to her about upgrading Cuddle Therapist. I can’t imagine how she’ll feel if we tell her that she kissed me.”

Luna froze for a moment before she managed to recover. “Right. Maybe we can talk to her about upgrades, but first we should get your memories of the challenge back.”

The two of them left with the recording, heading back to the Master’s Cottage. The others slowly petered out too, leaving for their own plans.

***

About three hours later, Ava arrived at the dining hall for breakfast. She found it empty, save for a strange woman smoking in the corner. Huh. I didn’t think that smoking was allowed.

“Hi?” She offered.

“Hello. You can call me Bo, Genet has me filling in for her.” The woman tossed her cigarette in the trash can by the kitchen. “You’re here for breakfast, I assume?”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“Nothing worth apologizing for. I can try something, though I hope you’ll understand Genet’s the domestic one.”

“Of course. Thanks.”

“Sit down somewhere, pet, I’ll have it out for you in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

So Ava sat at the middle table. Usually when she was up this late Genet would have a steaming plate ready for her right as she walked in. It wasn’t a problem that this Bo person didn’t do the same. It just was a little awkward to wait by herself.

But Bo came back, with a large helping of scrambled eggs that were only slightly burnt and a bottled sports drink that she set down in front of the athlete. She had her own black coffee that she brought over, sipping from it as she sat down across from Ava.

“Geck-Ade?” She asked, looking at the sports drink.

“I’ve been told people in your lane of the road like it. Was that wrong?” Bo raised an eyebrow, and Ava felt like she’d done something wrong somehow.

“No, Genet just hasn’t done those before. Plus they’re not on Luna’s part of the menu.”

“But it’s good?”

“Yeah, I like these. Though the purple ones are the best.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. I don’t care about the menu, as long as you don’t care enough to get the fuzz.”

Ava barely knew what this Bo lady was saying half the time. But she nodded and started eating, having the sense for once not to ask a thousand questions.

“How have you been settling in since last night? I thought I’d check on people in their new living arrangements.”

“Um, fine. Helena doesn’t really talk to me.”

“Is that what you want?”

Ava shrugged.

“I know you value your privacy.”

Ava shrugged again, this time feeling a bit defensive.

The new Host rose. “I tell you what. If anything goes wrong or needs to be adjusted, just let Lady Bo know so it can be fixed.” She nodded and took another sip of coffee before sashaying back up the steps to her quarters.