Week 1: Diona's Date, Part 1

Aria was jolted awake by the sensation of someone jostling her.

“AAH! I’m awake! I’m awake! What’s going on?!” She shouted as she frantically sat up, finding an already-dressed Aífe standing next to her with an outstretched arm.

“I let you sleep in a bit, but we have to get going.” The redhead explained. “We’ve only got 20 minutes or so until we need to be in the dining hall. Unless you want Umbra to teleport you there like she did the other day?”

“Fine, I’m getting up.” Aria groaned with a yawn. “Fuck. Why do they make us get up so early? Only adults wake up before 10.”

“Well, you are an adult, last I checked.” Aífe retorted as her blue-skinned guest made her way over to the closet. “Or you’d better be, at least. Last thing I need is a visit from Chris Hansen.”

“You’re fine.” Aria called from the guest section of the closet. “I was born in ‘95.”

“Hold on, how do you know that?” Aífe scratched her head. “Your vtuber profile says that you’re 19—so shouldn’t you just be a 19 year-old?”

“Simple.” Aria walked out in her usual, ill-fitting attire. “Do you remember where you were on 9/11?”

“Really not where I thought this conversation was going, but no.” Aífe was taken aback by the question. “I would’ve been in preschool, so I wouldn’t remember it even if the adults around us hadn’t very wisely chosen to keep us out of the loop.”

“Well, I remember it happening when I was in first grade.” The alien explained. “My parents came home really worried, and all they would tell me is ‘something really, really bad happened in New York.’ Sure, the attack was on the US instead of Canada, but you guys are right next to us, so it makes sense for us to be a bit concerned about it.”

“Huh. So it didn’t totally rewrite your memories to perfectly match your backstory.” Aífe mused, following her guest as the blue-skinned girl brushed her teeth. “It just copied and pasted your appearance over it, and filled in the blanks. I bet that, for age, it probably just stuck you in a body that’s 19, biologically.”

“It should be 21, technically.” Aria corrected her. “Since I’ve been streaming for two years. But all of that is a lot more than I get paid to think about. Especially since I’m not getting paid, at all. I’m just going to leave those problems to future Aria.” With a noncommittal shrug, she left the Lily Suite, Aífe shortly behind her.

“Oh yeah,” Aífe said as they rode the elevator down to the first floor, “don’t forget to apologize to Ember.”

“Yeah, I remember. Thanks for the reminder, though.”

“And while we’re on the subject of things you need to be reminded of,” Aífe continued, “don’t forget that you still haven’t redeemed that voucher from yesterday.”

“You’re right.” Aria’s eyes widened slightly. “I completely spaced after what happened at lunch. It’d suck if I forgot to do that and ended up with that stupid bondage TF.”

“And while you’re at it,” Aífe added as they reached the lobby, “I know you don’t think it’d be much use for you, but you should really consider upgrading your current TF while you can still guarantee it off of the random upgrade. It seemed to really help Erica get more comfortable with hers, and now’s the only time you know you’ll be able to upgrade it for half-off.”

“Yeah, I’ll think about it.” The alien replied as she followed Aífe through the double doors.

The atmosphere in the dining hall was much more subdued than usual after the events of the previous day—likely to avoid accidentally pissing off the already foul-tempered redhead who was scowling at the plate of eggs she was eating. Aífe and Aria silently retrieved plates of food—the latter stopping by the kitchen to profusely apologize to Ember, who still wore her usual blank expression, though the slow, almost languid motion of her tail belied her disappointment—before nervously taking their usual seats, both afraid of poking the proverbial bear.

“So? How’d things go last night?” Erica asked, hoping to ease the tension in the room.

“It was pretty chill.” Aífe smiled and shrugged as she began eating. “We just hung out and relaxed—played some video games.” She glanced at yesterday’s date for confirmation. “Sound about right, Aria?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” The alien answered between bites of French toast. She would normally have just gotten a bowl of cereal for her breakfast, but she still felt bad, so she made sure to get something that she knew Ember had made by hand. “It was good for us to at least get used to being around each other.”

“Well, that’s certainly good to hear.” Sera’s voice startled them as she entered the dining hall with Umbra in tow. “Though I certainly would have preferred more physical intimacy from your date yesterday. I’m not too concerned—these things are just a matter of time, after all. Do keep in mind however, that time isn’t something you have an abundance of.”

“I’d have plenty of time if you weren’t forcing a deadline.” Aria retorted.

“Those are the harsh demands of show business, I’m afraid.” Sera shrugged. “Our viewers watch our show with certain expectations in mind, and while they hardly mind an occasional slow-burn romance, their patience has its limits.” She moved on before the alien had a chance to argue further. “Of course, you’re not so strapped for time that you need to panic. Besides, we have other matters to attend to, such as today’s lucky contestant, Miss Diona.” She turned to address the other shortstack at the table. “I assume you have something more titillating planned for your Mistress?”

“You know it.” Diona grinned. “Though I’d hate to leave her too weak to walk for Nat’s date tomorrow, so I’ll have to hold back at least a teensy bit.” She patted Natalie on the shoulder as the blonde gave a nervous chuckle. She then stood and walked toward her somewhat confused and concerned date, stopping once she was stood right next to her.

“I take it you’re ready to go, then?” Aífe did her best not to show how anxious she was.

“Oh, I’m always ready to go.” Diona answered, leaning in to speak in a low voice in Aífe’s ear. As the redhead turned to face her once again, Diona claimed Aífe’s lips for herself, eliciting a startled gasp as she wrapped their tongues together. After a few seconds that felt much longer to Aífe, Diona broke the kiss.

Made out with the Mistress! +1 VP

First time bonus! +1 VP

Current score: 2 VP

“While I’d love to take things further right now, I’m afraid I need some time to get ready for tonight.” Diona’s cherry-scented breath tickled Aífe’s nose, matching the flavor that was lingering on her taste buds. She righted herself, giving a pointed nod to Ember, who responded with a deadpan thumbs up, before strutting away toward the double doors leading out of the dining hall. As she reached Sera and Umbra, she stopped to whisper something in the maid’s ear.

“That’s not a very good idea.” Umbra warned Diona in response to whatever she’d just whispered. The maid glanced toward Sera, who responded with a dainty wave, as if giving her permission to take her leave. “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Umbra sighed, opening the doors to leave with Diona. As they were halfway out the door, Diona turned back, meeting Aífe’s gaze. She made a motion as if she were going to blow a kiss with her index and middle fingers, only to switch at the last moment, making a reverse peace sign and sticking her tongue through right above where the fingers met—a clear indication of what she intended to do later that night. With one last flirty wink, she and Umbra disappeared behind the doors.

“That was… a lot.” Aoba chimed in as she wiped a trace of Diona’s black lipstick off of Aífe’s face—the redhead still stuck processing what just happened. “I guess that means you have a free day.” She and a few of the others looked to Sera for confirmation.

“Yes, I suppose you do.” Sera replied. If she was concerned by Diona’s behavior, she certainly wasn’t showing it. “As I said previously, it’s up to the individual contestant how much of the day they spend with Lady Aífe—though I’d obviously recommend spending as much of the day together as possible. Perhaps she has something special planned, or believes that distance will make Lady Aífe’s heart grow fonder.”

“If she’s hoping the anticipation will make me more excited, then she’ll probably be disappointed.” Aífe leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temple. “If anything, it’s just making me stressed.”

“Hey, look at it this way—” Mallory pointed out, “you have the whole day to just relax and take it easy. That should give you plenty of time to calm down.”

“Indeed.” Sera interjected. “Of course, there are still a couple of matters to attend to.” Everyone’s shoulders tightened as they saw her look towards Cecilia for a moment before deciding to address Erica first. “We’ll start with you, Miss Erica. The results of your transformation vote are in—would you care to guess which one you’ll be receiving?”

“Shit, almost forgot.” Erica mumbled as she thought for a moment. “No clue. I could see them voting for either, so I’ll just guess that they were cool and gave me the one I asked for.”

“Indeed, they were ‘cool’ as you put it.” Sera waved her hand and they all looked to the mirror on the wall as it displayed the results. “With an even 80% of the vote, Internal Combustion won!” She snapped her fingers and a waved of transformative energy swept over Erica… with no noticeable effect.

Internal Combustion: Erica no longer sweats or gets hot when working out (beyond a light sheen to look sexy), building up a different kind of heat, instead. Whenever she finishes a workout, she’ll get hit with a wave of arousal proportionate to how much she exerted herself. To avoid a feedback loop, this transformation is inactive for 30 minutes after the arousal hits. (Athlete) (Neutral)

“Yeah, I guess I won’t notice anything until I actually work out.” Erica remarked as she looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers in an attempt to see if anything about herself felt different.

“And of course, with that out of the way, all that’s left is to see Miss Pine off to her new job.” Sera smiled as she walked over and stood next to Cecilia, motioning for her to get up. The redhead complied with a huff and a roll of the eyes. “Anyone that would like to join us on our walk to the new chapel is more than welcome to—what would be the point of her being there to offer counseling if no one knows where it is?” Between a sense of curiosity as well as not having anything better to do, they all stood up to follow Sera and her new employee as she led the redhead out through a side door to the garden.