The Price of Fame

Cassandra left Needful Things disappointed.

She was well short of the BP needed to upgrade her transformation and there was no way she was willing to “make a deal” with that creepy shopkeeper, no matter how eager he seemed. She didn't need to be a horror aficionado to realize that was a bad idea.

Defeated, she made her way back into the hotel lobby, trying and failing to convince herself that maybe spending the rest of her life in formal wear wasn't that terrible. Her moping was interrupted by someone excitedly calling her name.

She turned and braced herself as she saw Samantha zooming her way. The curvy woman looked like she was coming in for a hug. Before Cassandra could hold up her arms to stop her Samantha seemed to think better of it. Instead, she awkwardly stopped a little too close to her, near enough that she was in Cassandra's personal space, but just far enough that creating distance would draw attention.

“How was your night? My date with Robert went pretty well!” Samantha gushed.” But I did…well, I did fall asleep on him…” she admitted, blushing slightly.

Cassandra managed a polite smile and a curious sounding “Oh?” Inside, she was dying. She was sure Samantha meant well, but her starstruckness obviously hadn't diminished any in the last twenty-four hours and Cassandra found it exhausting. She especially didn't have the energy for it after the day she had been having.

Cassandra mindlessly nodded along as Samantha told her all about her date with Robert. She had seen this before; fans that thought they knew you from TV, and not the role you were simply playing. At the height of her fame there were people that would screen her from this, publicists, production assistants, event security, so she rarely had to deal with it head on. Now, there was nothing separating her from Samantha. At least the younger woman didn’t seem deranged, just excited. Not like that one fan that showed up with the wheelbarrow full of handmade birthday gifts for her that one year. Some people would do anything for their idols…

Cassandra was suddenly struck by an idea. A terrible idea. An idea so awful that she immediately brushed it aside. Yet as she stood there in her heels and evening gown listening to Samantha ramble on, the idea began to insidiously creep back in. There was no way she could bring herself to do that.

Was there?

“Samantha, would you care to join me for lunch? I was just heading that way when I ran into you.” Cassandra turned her full attention on her fan as she hit her with a warm practiced smile, her blue eyes holding Samantha’s own excited gaze.

“I’d love to!” Samantha nearly squealed. Still smiling, Cassandra took Samantha’s hand in hers like they were old friends and began to lead her towards the dining hall. The sudden display of familiarity left Samantha at a loss for words, which suited Cassandra just fine. She broke her grasp so they could each prepare a plate from the lunch spread, then the two of them took a seat at a table near the buffet.

As Cassandra ate the small feta salad she had put together, she was very aware of Samantha’s gaze. Her dining companion could barely keep her eyes off of her, but Cassandra pretended not to notice. Despite being roommates the pair hadn’t spent a lot of waking hours together due to Samantha’s date yesterday.

“So which episode of Lily Livin’ Loud is your favorite?” Cassandra suddenly broke the silence, causing Samantha to **** and sputter around the pimento cheese sandwich she had in her mouth.

“Probably the prom episode,” Samantha finally said after clearing her throat and taking a long swig of water. “When Becky and Peter realize they could go together as just friends and they were both OK with that.”

Despite the mention of her former costar, Cassandra managed to maintain her smile.

“That’s a good one. Filming the dance scene was fun.” It wasn’t a complete lie. It had been fun at the time.

“Which one is your favorite?” Samantha asked with wide wondering eyes.

“Definitely the senior prank episode. 'Trashing' the school was a lot of fun. The props department gave us fake spray paint that we could use all over the set without damaging anything.” Cassandra answered with skillful regularity.

In truth, after filming five seasons of twenty-five episodes apiece they all kind of ran together, but she had quickly realized that telling fans that was guaranteed to disappoint people. To be completely honest, she hadn’t even seen all the completed episodes. The senior prank episode had become her go-to answer in situations like this. It was one she had watched, and it was a fairly memorable episode so fans tended to remember it as well.

“That’s a great one!” Samantha’s eyes lit up even more somehow. “I love the part where they can’t find the third chicken.”

Cassandra smiled and nodded gently as Samantha reminisced about some of her other favorite episodes from the show. She was only half paying attention. Despite her smiling face, a storm was raging inside her. Could she really bring herself to do this? She despised stars that threw their weight around, was she really going to do so herself? As she looked down at her salad her eyes landed on her exposed shoulders and the tops of her breasts, pushed up and accentuated by her dress. It won't hurt Samantha. And besides, it's for a good reason...

Cassandra would have to find a way to steer the conversation without it seeming contrived. She couldn't believe her luck when Samantha unwittingly provided the opening herself.

“So have you checked out any of the stores yet?” the writer asked around a mouthful of sandwich.

“I have, yes” Cassandra responded, trying to keep her tone even. “I was actually just coming from the transformation shop when I ran into you.”

Samantha stopped mid-bite.

“There’s a transformation shop? What do they sell?”

“They have a whole catalog full of various transformations you can buy for yourself or for someone else. Changes from our paths are in there too, and you can 'upgrade' ones you’ve already received.”

Samantha’s eyes went wide.

“Upgrade how?”

“I’m not sure. The descriptions are vague and I didn’t have enough BP to buy my upgrade.”

“How much do they cost?”

Cassandra’s stomach did a little lurch. Bingo.

“Buying a new transformation on your path costs 3000 BP. Upgrading one is 2200 BP. There’s various discounts, but that’s the base price.”

“I can afford that!” Samantha exclaimed. “Can you show me where the shop is?”

Cassandra did her best to keep her voice level.

“Sure! Right after lunch. I’ll be more than happy to go with you.”

******

Robin's eyes slowly fluttered open. She wasn't sure what time it was, but the sunlight streaming through the room windows suggested it was mid-afternoon. She rolled over in bed with a groan, only to come face-to-face with Chloe.

“Jesus,” Robin croaked, “Have you been sitting there all day?”

“Certainly not,” the blonde huffed. “I've got better things to do than wait around for you all day.”

Chloe was sitting on the floor next to the bed. Robin blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes functioning, before letting them slide closed again.

“What time is it?”

“2:30 in the afternoon. I brought you some lunch.”

Robin pried her eyes open to see a small plate of food sitting on the wooden vanity across from the bed. She gave Chloe a questioning look.

“I...I wasn't sure when you were going to wake up and I didn't want you to miss lunch...”

“You didn't have to do that.” Robin rose to a sitting position, and slowly slung her legs over the side of the bed. Chloe immediately blushed a deep red, and suddenly averted her eyes.

“Um, Robin? You're....uh...”

“What?” Robin asked bluntly. Looking down, she realized the issue. She was still naked from the waist down from last night's activities. Her pussy with its small crown of bushy black hair was on full display. The faint smell of sex still clung to it.

“Shit. Give me a minute.”

Chloe kept her eyes firmly fixed on the windows while Robin stumbled to her closet to grab some clothes. Her own cheeks were blushing slightly from accidentally flashing her roommate.

But what does it matter? Robin thought to herself. We were knuckle deep in one another last night.

But it was different somehow. Maybe because last night was compelled because of Chloe's transformation, or maybe because it was now the clear light of day. Or maybe it was simply because Robin hadn't removed her pants last night until she was fully under the covers so Chloe hadn't technically seen anything last night. Whatever the reason, Robin just knew it was different.

Robin returned wearing a pair of black cotton shorts. She took the small stool by the vanity, and began to dig into the plate of sandwiches Chloe had brought up. Meanwhile Chloe had moved up onto the bed, and now sat on the side, her legs dangling.

“Was it bad last night? Your transformation?” Chloe asked tentatively.

“It wasn’t great.” Robin mumbled around a mouthful of sandwich.

Chloe crinkled her nose and frowned.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not being awake to help.”

Robin snorted as she took another bite of sandwich.

“Not sure what you could have done.”

Chloe looked pensive as a silence fell upon the two women.

“Have you thought about upgrading it?” Chloe asked hesitantly.

Robin's mouth was full, but she arched one of her eyebrow in a inquisitive way. Chloe pushed on.

“Your transformation? Have you thought about upgrading it? It might help.”

“Absolutely not.” Robin shot back.

“Why not?”

“First, I can’t afford it. Second, because I doubt the 'upgrade' is going to be a straightforward improvement with no strings attached. That doesn’t seem to be the way things work around here.”

“Oh...OK,” Chloe looked a little crestfallen, but Robin was too busy with her sandwich to notice. Another long silence fell before Chloe broke it again.

“Can you help me test something? About my Sampler transformation?”

Robin eyed her roommate warily over her sandwich.

“Maybe…”

“I’m trying to figure out if only words spoken by other people trigger it, or if reading things that people write will set it off too. I already know that things I say and write won’t do anything.” Chloe's words were rushed, like she was afraid of losing her nerve.

“How do you know that?” Robin asked slowly, shooting Chloe a quizzical look.

“Because I tested it while you were sleeping.”

Robin’s eyes went wide and she paused mid-bite.

“That wasn’t smart Chloe.”

“I had to find out one way or the other! I figured the sooner the better.” Chloe pulled a small folded sheet of paper out of her pocket and held it out to Robin.

“Here, I wrote done some “less bad” sexual things I haven’t done before. I already spoke them aloud to myself as I was writing them and nothing happened. Now I want to see if reading what someone else wrote will do anything.”

Robin hesitatingly took the paper sheet.

“So you want me to…?”

Chloe blushed furiously, but kept her eyes on Robin.

“I want you to pick something off the list you would be willing to...'help' me with if I have to do it. Write it down on a piece of paper, then hand it to me to read.”

“And what if I don’t want to 'help' you with any of them?” Robin eyed the paper suspiciously.

Chloe’s face fell.

“Then I’ll get someone else to help me.”

Robin eyed the petite blonde with surprise. Chloe's face was set with a grim determination.

“Jeez. I’ll help you Chloe, I’ll help.”

Robin slowly unfolded the paper. It was a short list, just three items.

• Lesbian make-out
• Nipple play
• Mutual masturbation

Robin almost laughed. Chloe wasn't doing anything to dispel her “blushing virgin” image.

“Chloe, I can understand one of these, but are you saying you’ve never tried any of these before?”

Chloe’s blush deepened as she nodded her head.

“Ok, at some point we’re going to have a talk about your dating history.”

Robin picked up the pen and notepad that had come with their room. She wrote something down, then handed the paper to Chloe, watching her face closely.

Chloe took the paper and read “Lesbian make-out.”

“How do we know if it worked?” Robin asked, watching her roommate closely.

Chloe shifted uncomfortably, not meeting Robin's eyes.

“We don’t yet.”

“What?!”

“We won’t know for a couple hours at least.” Chloe's blush held steady. “If I start getting...aroused...out of nowhere then we’ll know.”

Robin sighed.

“Well, no point in just sitting around waiting. C'mon, let's go for a walk. I need to get out of this room.”