The Secret is Out

Honey

Honey stirs from her quiescence to the dinging sound of text messages firing off on her phone. Her Mate seems... very agitated, especially considering she spent a night at a party:

“Honey, contact Ms. E as soon as possible.”

“Prepare NDAs for everyone not currently under one.”

“Emergency family meeting at breakfast.”

“Cat’s out of the bag.”

“Scarlet KNOWS!”

“And, as soon as I drop Calm Emotions on her, she is gonna be pissed.”

“Help?”

Honey stretches and starts to warm up her muscles for movement. She has a lot of work to do.

Scarlet

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU AGREE TO, HARPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Scarlet is absolutely furious. The whispered rumors she heard at the party didn’t bother her at the time. Things about Harper becoming a Host, about her volunteering to **** another batch of people through the suffering they went through.

The oread should have realized something was very, very wrong. Neither Ms. E nor Calypso showed up to handle the timey-wimey stabilization nonsense nor the tricky dimensional transport. She saw that bitch Genet and did not give her a piece of her mind for what she indirectly did to Dinah. She didn’t even offer condolences for the ladies affected by their Master’s beach ball fetish; That Laura mistress also looks like her back must constantly ache from the consequences of her lust for watermelon boobs, but, even now, Scarlet isn’t particularly sympathetic that she is hoisted on her own petard.

So, she is now pushing the fire resistance of the royal bedroom to it’s limits with her rage. Her arms are molten as she tries to get a hand on Harper. The sea elf is very slippery, dodging and juking Scarlet’s attempts to hit her almost as if she knows where the blows are coming from. Harper is trying to calm her down, but the oread isn’t listening.

Skye starts to sing, her spellsong dance beginning. Scarlet ignores it, still raging. Then, an unnatural calmness flows over her. Skye begs, “Please, Scarlet, I am upset too, but you need to remain peaceful. My lady love can’t explain those rumors – and I hope they were just rumors – if she’s too busy trying to deal with your anger.”

Scarlet starts to breathe, starts to try to naturally dissipate her rage. It’s so hard, even with Skye’s magical help. When Skye’s effect ends, and the rage starts to overwhelm again, Scarlet spends a ki point to still her mind.

When she speaks, the anger is still there, but her oread nature is not setting her magma blood to erupting, “Harper, what the FUCK did you agree to?”

“Everything will be explained to everyone at breakfast. Please, give me that, love. I wasn’t trying to hurt any of you.”

Skye looks disappointed. Scarlet’s rage is starting to simmer again, but she breathes and forces it down again with more ki. The oread growls, “Fine. But you better have a very good explanation.”

Not able to handle being in the same room with Harper at the moment, Scarlet turns around and leaves the royal bedroom. Skye scurries right behind, peeling off to the kitchen to work on breakfast. Scarlet stomps her way to her bedroom, where Alex awaits. Scarlet needs a hug.

Poolside

Honey has spent a few hours preparing and it shows. She knew that her mate would not be able to keep her Hosting duties secret forever, but did not expect the news to get out so soon. The NDAs are arrayed on a picnic table big enough for the harem by Daphne’s birthing pool. Skye, feeling as irritable as she looks, is helping Aelene and some castle staff to set breakfast out for everyone.

“May I be of assistance, Ms. O’Connor?”

“No, Honey, you may not. I suppose you know what is going on?”

Honey nods. Skye sighs, “Of course you do; my lady love is probably already having you work on it.”

“Work on what?” Tina asks, walking up with Josie and Nyadia. Tina and Josie both look confused. Nyadia sees the table and starts to be concerned.

Honey speaks before Skye can answer, “Our mate requests some paperwork be signed before we discuss the topics on our agenda.”

Daphne pokes her head out of the water, her egg sacs looking painfully full. “Hey, guys. Something happened?”

Mattie sits and grabs some breakfast, verbally guessing, “Sarge probably did somethin’ dumb at the party and we gotta deal with it. Maybe she got really drunk and went to pick a fight with the volcano at Coder’s set. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?”

Airika sits by Mattie, asking, “Why would Harper drunkenly challenge a volcano to a duel?”

Glitterdust, looking a little sad, answers as she takes a big hunk of meat, “Oh, Scarlet’s Week 3 date on the show involved MY Harper having to go fight a fire giant in a volcano. She did not have fun.” Glitter also silently muses and that is when Josie added ME to the harem and MY MtF Goddess still doesn’t need ME like I need her.

Scarlet and Alex are the last to arrive. Alex looks worried, which is a disturbingly rare occurrence. Scarlet looks angry. Barely keeping it together angry. The oread snarls, “Harper didn’t go fight the volcano. She…”

Ms. E appears, lazing on top of Harper’s chair, purring, “We have some fun legal paperwork first, Ms. Smythe. Have a seat and have some breakfast. You are not yourself when you are hangry.”

That sets about half of the table off. Josie growls, looking ready for a fight, “What are you doing here, Cat?” Tina starts simultaneously whining that Ms. E is not a bunny and fearing that they are going to be kidnapped again. Mattie mutters about mutually assured destruction. Scarlet actually starts to charge at the producer cat, only to be compelled to take a seat. Aelene, being only slightly more sensible, starts to run to fetch the palace guard, only to be compelled to turn back around and take a seat.

The producer cat has a big grin on her smug cat face, purring, “Love the energy, ladies. Now, if you would all be kind enough to sign the NDA before you, we can begin.”

Most of the girls just start reading the form and signing it at the bottom, seeing that it’s a pretty basic thing. No clothes on when dealing with the producer in her real form. No telling people her real name.

Of course, some ladies want to be difficult. “And if I don’t want to sign an NDA?” Josie asks with more than an edge of irritation in her voice.

“Well, then you don’t get to know why Ms. Smythe there wants to kill your future wife right now. I am curious when you are going to ask Ms. Tyalangan to marry you, by the way.”

Josie sulks as Mattie notices something else worth asking about, “How come Blue and Blue don’t have to sign?”

“Oh, they already did during the show.”

Josie signs as Scarlet starts raging, eyes ablaze, “You two knew about this for years and didn’t say anything?”

“Knew about what?” Tina squeaks, by far the most nervous about signing contracts.

Scarlet starts to open her mouth, only for her voice to catch in her throat. Ms. E merely says, “Sign and find out. And you know I’m not Vinny, Ms. Campbell.”

The final signature applied, and the whole breakfast table is suddenly in a different plane of existence, a repeat visit for about half of them. The half unfamiliar with Svartalfheim take in the wonder of this subterranean forest with glowing mushrooms and flowing streams with a sense of wonder. Daphne finds herself floating in a carnival game dunk tank, conveniently placed at the foot of the table, but she doesn’t notice for a while. Of the ones that have been here before, only Nyadia is completely content. Scarlet calms down a little, but is still very, very angry. Mattie is annoyed. Josie is even more pissed, if anything. And Skye is just confused.

The drow asks, not yet looking at the table, “Um, Ms. E, why are we in The Lady of the Dance’s divine realm?”

“Why, my little cinnamon roll of a champion, who is this Ms. E? Have you replaced me with her in your heart?”

The shuddering of an incoming orgasm rocks through Skye as Alex nonchalantly greets, “Hey, naked purple lady. Sooo, what are we doing here, wherever here is?”

Skye and Nyadia both shoot Alex a dirty look as the goddess laughs, “I do love my bards, even if you are not quite one, my **** metal angel.”

Josie snarls, “So not only did you mess with my rabbit, but you were responsible for all of the bullshit we went through?”

“Not ALL of it, my grumpy Josie. SOME of it. Come and gather round. I have a tale to tell.”

Harper

“How are they taking it?”

“Oh, my cousin from the briny depths, you gave me the difficult task today. You have so little faith in your wives that you sent a goddess to do the dirty work of begging for them to forgive you?”

Harper smiles and shakes her head. Eilistraee has a teasing smirk on. Instead of immediately answering, she poses in the mirror, checking out her Host costume. First time to really wear it. Harper considers how similar the stereotypical ringmaster getup most Hosts choose to wear is to her usual Napoleonic era military officer inspired outfit. The jacket with epaulets and accent stitches is basically the same as what she normally wears: a royal blue tailcoat with silver accents instead of the usual gaudy red and gold. The vest underneath is different, a forest green with an old-timey pocket watch purely for flavor. The silver tux shirt is left with the top buttons undone to let the girls breathe. Tercanonehtar sleepily sheathed to her side via a silver swordbelt. Forest green pants tight enough to look painted on, tucked into her mithril knights boots (why mess with perfection). The silver top hat is nice, but not something she’ll wear most of the time on the show. Harper is not one for hats, especially since she’s gotten used to using her hair as extra hands; the hat makes that harder.

“So, Eilistraee, how do I look?”

“Like if your normal clothes and Jocelyn’s outfits were mixed in the wash and you threw on the results.”

Harper rolls her eyes at her goddess / boss. “Who’s Jocelyn?”

“You’ll watch her season when it premiers in a bit, at least a bit on the cosmic scale. The analogy works just as well as for Sylvia’s outfits, but it’s been so long since she was Host that most people forgot what that looks like.”

Harper snorts at the bad joke. Man, Nick’s season just keeps on going, huh? “Regardless, my wives ready for my appearance?”

Instead of answering, Harper is dropped off in her seat at the table. She looks over the table, at her companions. They look less angry than she’d expect. Still angry overall, but less than she expected. Honey and Nyadia, already knowing that Harper was becoming a Host, are fine; Nyadia looks relieved, as she did not exactly like keeping Harper’s side-job work a secret. Some, like Daphne and Mattie, look a little smug, like they already kind of knew what Harper was up to and just had it confirmed. Some, like Skye, heavily flushed with arousal, and Aelene, look like they have already accepted the good intent of Harper’s decisions and have forgiven her; the sea elf feels relieved at that.

Then there are the ones still angry. Scarlet, eyes still blazing with ire, smolders, “Harper, I understand why you agreed to Host a season, but you should have told us a hell of a lot sooner.”

“I’m sorry, love. I was trying to...”

“No, Harper, no excuses. You should have told us when you started working on the set. Keeping all of this secret, did you not trust us?”

That was a gut punch. “You’re right. I wanted to bring you all in, but I kept putting it off. I should have told all of you before it came out at the party. I’m sorry, loves. Please forgive me.”

Nyadia speaks up first, “Harper, I am eternally grateful to Eilistraee and you for what you did on the show for me and my people. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be enslaved by the ultraviolions, who would still be enslaving people.”

Airka adds, “And I would be dead. Slowly being eaten alive by harpies is a hell of a way to go.”

Mattie quips, “And I’d be either eliminated from my first season or stuck in Hotel extra limbo.”

Skye, still riding the edge of an Eilistraeen induced orgasm, notes, “And we’d all be damned to extra hell, too. Thank you, My Lady, for taking up the mantle for us.”

Harper releases a long slow breath, quite a bit of tension relieved, and asks, “So, are we all good?”

Scarlet stands, stating, “Not exactly. Assume the position.”

Harper snorts. When Scarlet doesn’t stop glaring, Harper answers, “You aren’t being serious, right?”

A single arched eyebrow from the oread, and Harper realized that she fucked up. She bends over and shoves her pants into her inventory. Scarlet places one hand on the small of Harper’s back, her other rubbing the sea elf’s toned asscheek, murmuring, “How many?”

Oh, okay. Time for some penance. “Five?”

“Ten. Good ones. Count ‘em out or I start over, love.”

Harper takes the punishment with only a few embarrassing grunts. She counts. The burns she takes from Scarlet’s molten spanks blister by the end. It hurts like hell, but Harper endures.

Harper: 154 HP left

Then Josie stands, bloodlust aura already blazing. “Stay, old lady. I get why you agreed, but I’m still pissed that I’ll have to deal with more Hotel bullshit. We should be done with it all by now. So, how many more?”

Harper sighs. “How many more of you are gonna want to do this?”

Airika stands up, only for an armbinder to appear, pinning her arms behind her back. She pouts.

“Correction. How many more of you are gonna want to do this for a legitimate reason?”

Mattie quips again, “I’d like to, just ‘cause it looks fun, Sarge. That legit enough for you?”

Harper rolls her eyes and turns to face Josie. “Ten more good ones. Then we’re done with this. That fair, whipper-snapper?”

Harper grits her teeth. She counts them out again. Josie’s claws rake across her skin. Some blisters pop. It again hurts like hell, but Harper endures.

Harper: 100 HP left

“Gonna sit now, old lady?” Josie teases as she allows her bloodlust to fade.

Harper winces in pain as she stands. Her strongest unarmed fighter companions spanking her hurt. A LOT. Harper is not sitting for a while. She’ll endure the pain, at least until the meeting is over. Instead, she explains the situation back in their original plane. Mattie helpfully confirms. Their world will soon be doomed, when the Weave, the source of magic, finishes repairing itself. Harper watches her companions from their original plane as she describes what will happen. The horror on their faces almost breaks Harper’s heart. But, she knows what the plan is; Harper lays it out. She knows that she has buy-in with Nyadia and Honey already. She needs to convince the others.

When she’s done, Skye is the first to respond, as Harper honestly expected. “If The Lady wishes us to use the power of the show to save our old world, I will gladly do what I can to help. Tell me what you need, my lady love.”

Aelene is next. “You all saved my home. It is only fair for me to do what I can to do the same. As distasteful as I find the show, using it’s power makes a certain amount of sense.”

Airika just shrugs, “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this. I will play along.” Not the best endorsement of the plan, but I didn’t expect much more from my bratty birdie.

Mattie looks extremely serious. “Sarge, I devoted my entire career to preventing armageddon. You are telling me that we’re gonna stop the big guy when it finally breaks free? Risky plan. Why not just keep the guy asleep? Or tear the Weave apart again?”

“The Weave is repairing on its own and the big guy, whoever that is, is responding to the return of magic. The amount of magical energy needed to tear it apart is well beyond what we all have combined. We’d fry ourselves to nothing and we’d only delay the big guy from waking for a couple of decades, maybe? Stopping when it is out and weak is our old world’s best chance.”

“And if this harem you assemble fails?”

“Then we step in.”

“Fine. I’m in, Sarge.”

Daphne asks, “I get to be the Dungeon Mermaid, right, Beloved?”

After Harper nods, saying, “If you want, Daph,” the mermaid does her little wiggle dance in the dunk tank. Her egg sacs wobble dramatically.

Tina, who has been quiet though all of this, asks, “If we are putting on a season, can I perform?”

“I’ll need an assistant host, my bonny bunny. Hosting is a side hustle for my duties as Queen. Job’s yours if you want it.”

Tina beams, “Really? You’d trust me with that?”

Harper nods. Tina bounces in her chair, “Okay! I’m in!”

Glitterdust asks, spines and horns wiggling, “Soooo, how many MtF Goddesses are WE going to make, MY Harper?”

“One or less. Ideally, zero.”

Glitter growls quietly. Her spines lay flat on her back. “Whatever.”

Scarlet looks resigned. “So, we are going to make a bunch of people suffer like we did. How can you be...”

Harper interrupts, snapping, “We are NOT going to make the harem suffer like we did. I’m not dragging a bunch of people into darkness, love. They may not find everything pleasant, but I want to be like Arabella, not like the hag, not like Azure or Yuki or Kendra or Aurora.”

Scarlet nods. “Fine, love. I’m in.”

Alex has a slight smile. “I’m not banished to hide from the camera?”

Harper shakes her head, “Nope. You’ve already been on the reunion episode, Alex, and some of that was taunting one of Scarlet’s novices. If you want to help, I would appreciate it.”

Scarlet nudges Alex in the ribs, whisper-shouting, “Stop flirting with the novices, Alex.” Alex just giggles, and turns to the sea elf, “Oh, you won’t be able to stop me, Harp.”

Josie glares at everyone, then focuses back onto Harper. “Are we really going to be doing this? After everything?”

“Josie, while I would prefer you help, I understand if you don’t want to. There are people back there that you care about, too. Anna, the other girls at the gym, your family. You can help make sure that they don’t get their minds eaten and their bodies warped beyond recognition. Or you can just trust us to not mess it up. Up to you.”

Josie growls, but relents, “Fine, old lady. I’ll help. Don’t want to miss my bunny-girlfriend’s big break. Don’t make me regret it.”

Harper nods and the cavern forest returns to the picnic area by Daphne’s birthing pool. The mermaid lands in it with a splash. Okay. Now the real work begins. This season is going to save the multiverse from a dimension eating threat. And we’ll do it as a family. One step at a time.