The First Lies (H,T,F)

After Richard was whisked away, Helena and Hazel tried to plan more with Felicia for their marathon. After Felicia finished her fruit, she laid a stack of papers on the table. It was probably seven hundred, maybe eight hundred pages thick. “While I can keep going all day, we will need to make some choices about which ones we cover. It could take the three of us months to get through every challenge here.”

“That’s a list of all the challenges?” Hazel asked

“It’s all the challenges that I could get access to. There were a number of entries in the catalog that the index just skipped.”

Helena got a look on her face. She had an idea. “Like seasons were removed? Why do you think that could be?”

Felicia responded, the tiredness creeping into her voice. “I’m not sure. These are plenty, honestly. Genet said that these were here if we wanted to prepare, so I assume that any removed just wouldn’t be helpful.”

“How did you print this?” Hazel asked. While their room had a television, they didn’t have a printer. The dining hall was empty of nothing but the tables and food, so she couldn’t have made it here.

“Maeve helped me. She had a magic printer in her closet that she let me borrow.”

Helena and her assistant exchanged a look. That was probably more useful than what had been left in either of their closets with their wardrobes, unless they suddenly needed night vision goggles.

“I guess you’re right,” Helena conceded. “But so there’s so many here, how do we decide which ones to work on?”

As she said that, Genet strode over from the food table as if on cue. “I see some of you are taking me up on that offer I mentioned. How’s that going so far?”

“How are there so many of these?” Felicia asked. She picked up the textbook sized stack and angled it towards Genet.

The rubenesque woman just smiled at her. “There’s so many seasons because we’re good at what we do.”

“There’s being successful and there’s this. There’s not enough people in the world to supply a fourth season of Harem Hotel: Journey to the Center of the Earth without anyone noticing!”

“That’s because we’re not restricted to one world. We’re pulling across as many worlds as we need. At least a third of that stack includes people that aren’t real in your world.” Genet looked at the stack of hundreds of papers on the table. “Are you trying to say it’s too much?” Felicia nodded, her brows furrowed. The revelation of physics could wait another day. She needed to know the rules.

“Then forget that stack.” She held her hand over Felicia’s work and the tome melted. The hundreds of pages disappeared until they were left with a couple dozen. “Hopefully that makes things easier. I cut this down to only nineteen seasons, each of which I thought brought something unique to the premise. I also marked them for you. You’ll find that relatively gentle seasons have been labeled “light” at the top of the page. These usually tend to be focused on the romance aspect of the show. The second group I labeled “dark” is obviously darker. Maybe that’ll be because the audience got a bit more sadistic. Sometimes that’ll be because the master is a worse person than your dear Richard.” At the phrasing, Helena glared at her and Felicia stiffened. “Maybe the host just decided a bit of payback was in order.”

“What about the last group?” Hazel asked.

“That is for those that push the boundaries of the show. Maybe the cast gave up their humanity completely for the master. Maybe the season started without a master. The point is, these seasons contain elements that bend the rules of the show and your world. Hopefully this would make things a bit simpler. Three categories, three of you.” Genet stepped back a bit halfway towards the buffet table so she could still listen.

“Well that solves the density problem you were worried about.” Helena commented. “Now we just need to decide who does what.”

“Can I get that last group?” Felicia asked. Helena gave her a questioning look. “If we’re doing this for a while, I want to keep it interesting.”

Helena slid over the “boundary pushers” list to Felicia’s side of the cyprus table. “I’ll be taking her dark ones then. I want to see our worst case scenario.” She handed the “light” list to Hazel.

The three of them started to get up when Genet came back. “Could you stay a bit longer Helena?” Both Helena and Hazel started to sit back down, but Genet raised her voice. “Just Helena. You can go to Richard’s room, he’ll be out in the forest all day.” Hazel nodded before retreating out the door to Richard’s.

Genet sat down in the place Felicia had just been. “I heard you ask about the seasons I restricted?”

“Yes. I need to know what you’re hiding in those.”

“You need to know? Ignoring the fact that I don’t think you do, it’s almost sad how much you don’t trust me. Even considering that you’re a new contestant on this show, I’m impressed how much you don’t trust me.” Genet put an elbow on the table, bringing her hand to her chin.

“You’re a liar, a schemer and a manipulator. Why would I ever trust you?”

“When have I ever lied to you?”

“You didn’t tell me when I agreed to be here that I was signing up for a sex show with Richard.”

“I didn’t lie there, I just withheld information.” Genet smiled at Helena. Helena scowled back.

“That’s called lying by omission.”

“Is it? Then sure, I lied to you. Would you have come on your own if I had told you everything?”

“Of course not.” Helena snapped.

“Then it’s a good thing I lied to you then." Genet placed a hand on Helena's shoulder that it looked like the short haired woman wanted to cut off. "You don’t get to know everything. That’s not how this works. But if you walk with me back to your room, I’ll let you argue for why I should tell you about some of the restricted seasons.

The two of them got up and walked towards the door. Helena took a deep breath. She needed to put her emotions aside for this. She’d negotiated with bigger pricks before. If she couldn’t put her anger aside, she never would’ve been able to make partner. So she smiled, and opened the door for Genet to walk through. She followed the host out the door to the plaza.

And she immediately fell on the ground. Despite Richard’s visit this morning, her transformation was back. That shouldn’t be possible. But it was obviously here. It was throwing her to the ground, making her knees and ankles too weak to overcome it. “Genet?”

Genet stared down at her. The business woman was on the ground again, just like the first time they met. The sleeves of her pantsuit were being scuffed against the cobblestone of the plaza. “Yes Helena?”

“Why is this happening?”

Genet played dumb. “Are you asking about why you’re on the ground?”

“Of course I am. Richard already turned it off today.”

“Richard didn’t turn it off. From what I remember, he wanted to just pause it until after breakfast today.”

Helena continued staring at the ground as she talked to Genet. “Genet, please. What are you talking about?”

Genet stopped. Helena had been rude and domineering during all of their conversations, no matter how much she’d been on the backfoot. ‘Please’ was new. “Richard’s exact words were Just walk with us to breakfast. The three of you are done with breakfast, so you can't walk with him to breakfast anymore. So you just need to live with it unless you have a chance to see him again today.”

Helena braced herself with her left hand and took her new phone out of her pant pocket. It was annoyingly heavy, but she managed to balance both. If she needed to see Richard again to fix this for her, she’d just ask them to stop by again. Him and Audrey couldn’t have gotten too far into the woods yet. She found him in the pre-prepared contact list and started typing, only for it to flash

No Service Found

Maybe the island had some blind spots in their network. She switched to Hazel and started typing again. Hazel could probably find them pretty easily. But the same pop-up appeared mid-message.

No Service Found

Hazel was within walking… or crawling distance. If anyone should be accessible, it should be her. Clearly the phone itself was the problem, and Helena had a sense of why. She figured that some new obstacle would present itself if she tried to get Hazel on her own and she’d made a promise to Genet already, so she turned back to the Arrow Cottage where she’d been planning to go before her legs were taken out from her yet again.

She crawled across the stony plaza, grateful for the long pants of her suit protecting her from the rough ground. As she crawled, she tried to start her argument as if everything was normal. “You said last night that you want to earn our trust.”

“If possible.”

“Then let me see what’s in the rest of the index. Give me some transparency, and I can work with you. We can negotiate.”

“You’re a contestant, I’m the host. Why do you think I need to negotiate with you?”

“If I don’t contribute to your show, you’d need to eliminate me. Your rules require you to get all of us on board completely.”

Genet dismissed the argument. “Only to win outright. I’m willing to bet that when your brother-”

“Stepbrother”

“When Richard has five women in his bed willing to share him, I have a feeling he’ll want to work with me no matter what.”

Helena went pale, grateful that Genet couldn’t see her face. “Do you want to eliminate me?”

“Gods no. That’d be such a waste.” Genet scoffed. She wouldn’t have been looking at Helena’s face if she had a chance. Most of her walk with the broker she’d been trying to make the argument more pleasant by staring at her ass.

“Then will you work with me at all?”

“Sure I will. A majority of what I didn’t allow Felicia to see was not in English. We’re almost to the house by the way.”

It was true. They’d be nearing the steps soon with how close the Arrow cottage was to the dining hall. Helena likely only had one more chance to win her over. “Not every season could’ve been successful, right? I want to see what happens when things go truly off the rails, make sure nothing happens that’d hurt Richard.”

Genet didn’t reply right away as she led Helena up the stairs of her house. That was something to consider. That could be helpful if Helena was being honest. She might actually do something with that later, but for now she had to just needle the fellow schemer further. “You’ve got some plans to get to, and Ava’s on her way to breakfast now.”

Helena stopped at her doorstep. “I didn’t persuade you then?”

Genet finally looked her in the eyes. “You made some good points. But you didn’t walk with me.”

“What?”

“You fell in the same trap as before. You agreed that if you walked with me back to your room, I’d consider your arguments.” Genet walked back to the dining hall, leaving Helena to just give up and head to the bedroom.

Bitch. She found her way to the bed, and pulled out the list of “dark” seasons that she’d taken. She found the first on the list of challenges. Levi Summers’ Endurance Test. She had to start somewhere

Hazel went back to the main menu. She’d just finished another of the challenges on her list, a water gun fight on another island that had been a fun little hour. It had almost been strange seeing another veteran on the screen. She was pretty, and Hazel wondered which branch she’d been in. Seeing her fight, it looked like the host of that season had given her at least one physical transformation. She moved through the halls like she was used to clearing rooms, but there was a clumsiness to her turning as if she was marching with twenty pounds more than she was used to. Most of her mistakes during the episode had been out of protectiveness, Hazel realized as she was watching that she probably would’ve made those same mistakes.

She switched to the next episode on her list. It was a partnered scavenger hunt which the host was sending them back to Earth for. It seemed like a strange choice to make them strip for this, when there were real consequences that could follow them after the show. That qualm partially resolved itself as she watched. While the civilians had a reaction to the streaking contestants, they weren’t screaming at them or calling for their arrests. Hazel wasn’t sure if it was something that the season’s host had prepared for the challenge or if it was a standard part of the show. She’d need to bring that up a bit later with the other.

The contestants on from the castle to several more stops. They finally chased each other onto a bridge where they were trying to race each other for who could give the fastest blowjob. She wasn’t really sure where she wanted to be looking, so she tried to just listen while she reviewed her notes on the episode. She felt flushed listening to their moans, like she was doing something wrong being able to see this.

She heard a sound at the edge of the room. What was that? She twisted in her chair to see what was happening. Oh no. Richard was right there, with Aubrey Conners in his arms. She was in his bedroom, watching porn. Richard had come back from a date to find her in his bedroom, watching porn on his TV. How does she explain this? She can’t. “Sir?” She tried to get his attention and let him take over the conversation while she tried to turn off the TV. She needed to see how quickly she could get out. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon. I’ll get out of here.” He tried to reassure her, as if he had **** her to watch porn in his bedroom. She tried to focus on anything else in the room. Aubrey was out cold. “Is she alright?” She asked, seconds later than someone with her experience should have.

Again, he waved her off. He was clearly as embarrassed as her to be in this situation. She took her chance to get out and ran, taking her notes as she burst out to the plaza.

Where do I go now? She couldn’t go back to the Arrow Cottage, not now. She’d have to explain to Helena why she was back so early. Who knows where Dr.Petrov had gone for the day, and she’s the only other person Hazel knew well. Maybe Felicia would understand. She made a quickstep for the Stone house, hoping that Felicia would be able to help.

A few minutes later, she was in one of the leather chairs of Felicia’s bedroom. “I really think you’re more worried about this than you need to be.” The blonde woman said to her after hearing what had happened.

“I got caught watching porn by Richard. She’s going to fire me!”

“She told you to watch these. So there was a blowjob competition. At least half of these have a pornographic aspect. You did what she asked.”

“I appreciate you trying to be supportive, but you don’t understand how protective Helena is of him. When she finds out-”

“So don’t let her find out.” Felicia interrupted. “We’ll just tell her that Richard came back early but you were in between episodes, maybe I asked you to help me.”

“What about when Richard talks to her?”

“We make sure that doesn’t happen. Richard is an asshole and a sore winner, but he’ll hide this for us. He’ll do it if we ask, and with how long you said Richard’s known you I don’t think we need to.” Felicia answered back. “You’re going to be fine”

Hazel slumped in her chair, starting to calm down. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” Felicia said. “Now we’re going to get back to our project, there’s still a ton of these left. After the next episode I want to show you something my roommate sent me a picture of.”

And so they found the next one on Hazel’s list, and started watching. It was an elaborate game of tag in this maze where the contestants were slowly stripping. “How in the world is this on your list and not mine?” Felicia asked. “There’s a cat woman that's somehow also a cyborg, a life size pixie, and a giant. Hell, that woman’s breasts look like they might weigh more than I did two days ago.”

Later that night, they met back with Helena at the dining hall for an early dinner. She was the first one to get there, slowly sipping a bowl of ramen. She didn’t seem to notice or comment on the two of them arriving at the same time.

Once they had their own ramen and crackers, they tried to compare notes. When summarizing, Helena wanted to go first. “It seemed like most of mine were **** women being tortured. Some of them seemed to be a bit more self confident, but even when they weren’t being violated they were losing trust in each other."

Felicia commented. “I saw a few of those, but mine were honestly all over the board. I saw brawls, a modeling contest, even a test of how well the contestants knew facts about the master. There really was no pattern."

“What about you?” Helena directed at her assistant.

“Mine weren’t too bad. There were a lot of just games altered to fit the show. Even the fights I saw seemed like they were more erotic sparring than anything else. As long as it’s not that cooking competition that I saw, I feel like we’ve got pretty good chances.”

The three of them continued talking, planning for the rest of their marathon and the challenge at the end of the week. When it was time to go, Helena turned to her bodyguard. “I need you to take me back to our room.”

Hazel stood up, offering her boss her hand. “I’m ready when you are.”

Helena took a deep breath. “No I… I need you to carry me back.”

Seeing her anxiety, Hazel decided further explanation could wait. She bent down at the knees and picked up her boss, pulling her into a fireman's carry. They went back to the Arrow Cottage next door, calling it a night.