Week 1: Intermission

As Aífe and Natalie drifted off to sleep together in a post-coital daze, Sera was watching them through a tablet-sized mirror in her office. She smiled with satisfaction at the unexpectedly explosive end to the first week of her season. That was quite the impressive finisher. She mused to herself. Even if it took a bit of meddling to get them there.

“I’m sure the viewers are in quite a state,” Sera thought aloud as she switched the mirror to show the comment section. Indeed, the viewers were going crazy over the surprise finish to the final date of the week.

Sera was pleased with how well her season was performing, ratings-wise. Though, it wasn’t anything she didn’t at least somewhat expect, given how popular Shar’s is. She supposed it would be inevitable that the two would receive comparisons due to their similar tones, but what could she really do? She shrugged and figured that the differences between them would become more apparent once her real plan for the season was revealed. Smiling in anticipation for tomorrow’s challenge and votes, she turned to address the invisible camera.

“Well, I’m happy to announce that, with that thrilling and unexpected play from our dear Miss Natalie, the first week of this season is coming to a close.” She snapped her fingers, conjuring a burst of illusory confetti. “And with the conclusion of the week comes the first opportunity to engage in a tradition I’ve been quite looking forward to—fan mail! Once the link is posted in the livestream chat and on any other relevant pages for this season, feel free to submit mail to whomever you’d like, whether cast member or Lily Garden staff. Though it will only last a few hours here, the submission period is two weeks in whichever dimension you’re viewing from.”

Bidding adieu to the audience, Sera cut away from the camera and picked up her tablet again to post the link, only to spot a couple of new posts in the chat.

How vulgar. Sera’s face twisted in disgust. It’s never enough for them to simply turn their meager attention spans to whatever garbage they normally choose to consume, is it? They always feel the need to spew their bile for all to see. She used her admin privileges to delete their comments before ringing a bell to summon Umbra.

“Yes, my lady?” The maid asked in her usual unenthused tone.

“Umbra, dear? See that those two are collected and sent to the ‘other side’. We’ll let your ‘sister’ have some fun with them.” Sera sighed as she vented her frustration until it calmed to cool indifference.

“Of course.” Umbra answered with a curtsy. As she turned away to leave Sera’s office, she remarked, “I almost feel sorry for them.”

“Come now, Umbra,” Sera smirked, “you’re usually a much better liar than that.”

Author’s Note: Thank you for sticking with this season through its first week! If you’re interested in submitting fan mail, you can do so via the link below, or by contacting me in the official HH Discord server. The submission period will be open until August 16th, at 12pm CDT (GMT-5)

Link to fan mail submission

Link to the HH Discord