A study in... contrasts?

MIRIAM AND ANNA

Miriam had gone straight for the tablet, barely noticing the opulence of the room around her, but Anna had different plans. She saw the beautiful silks and fine tapestries, the elegant bed and the doors elsewhere, but what attracted her was the sight of the garden beyond. While Miriam swiped furiously on the tablet, Anna strolled leisurely into the garden.

It was a large, rectangular place, with soft grass and many flowering bushes breaking up the squareness, making the place seem larger. Just right of the door, a small stream of water fell from the level above into a babbling brook, which meandered lazily through the garden to the edge. On one side, short palms provided shade, while other parts were left in the sun.

Two luxurious loungers stood by the brook, each with pillows and blankets, but Anna simply grabbed a blanket from one, threw it on the ground in the shade, plopped down on it, and laid on her back, enjoying the pleasant mix of warm air and cool shadows.

Finally, she had a moment to just… breathe. So that’s what she did - she closed her eyes, and breathed, listening to the sounds. She did not want to think about the game, about having been kidnapped by a strange woman who claimed to be a goddess, about the way her mind had been casually altered against her will, or about how the game was trying to **** her into bed with Theo. So she didn’t. She thought about the softness of the blanket, the feel of the breeze, and the sound of the water. And she thought about the quiet. Anna was a city girl through and through, used to the ever-present sound of cars, parties in the distance, drunks on the street, and the many other sounds of life that filled her surroundings. To be able to lie in the sun and hear… no one, it was new to her. It was disquieting, an unnatural absence of people, a silence only imperfectly filled by the breeze and the leaves and the water. But there was something peaceful about it too, and she found herself slowly relaxing, breathing in time with the rustling leaves.

She supposed that was a good thing about being here. The hotel was a lovely place. She had never laid in a quiet garden like this, and she had never even seen beds as soft as the one in her room. Under any other circumstance, she would love this place, where she could just listen to the wind and the gentle movement of the water, and sleep in soft beds, and enjoy the sun…

While Anna enjoyed the sun, Miriam was looking through the tablet, immediately jumping to the General Purchases tab, which was simply… a list of purchases, with a pink little “buy” button next to each. She scrolled down and down, but the list just kept going - there must’ve been more than a hundred options. She didn't read or remember all of them, but she did try to remember the most interesting ones:

500 BP: Master Suite Visit.

1000 BP: Upgrade transformation (Self)

1000 800 BP: temporarily increase suggestibility (self)

1500 1200 BP: Random transformation (24 hours, self)

1750 1400 BP: temporarily increase suggestibility (other)

2000 BP: Challenge Hint

2000 BP: Hint for pleasing the master

2200 1760 BP: Become the subject of the Masters erotic dream for one night, sharing the experience. This will cater to the master's kinks.

2500 2000 BP: Random transformation (24 hours, other)

3000 BP: trigger vote for additional transformation (self)

3500 BP: upgrade transformation (other)

4000 3200 BP: suppress Master's inhibition (own night)

5000 BP: trigger vote for additional transformation (other contestant)

8000 BP: change transformation path.

Her head swam with it. It looked her transformation gave her a 20% discount, but she wasn't sure she ever wanted to use these options. Maybe the hints would be useful? She supposed it was also quite useful to be the subject of one of Theo's dreams, but the note about “catering to his kinks” worried her. She wasn't exactly sure what they were, but based on what she'd learned so far, she could take a few guesses. She could upgrade her transformation, but she had no idea what that would do - increase her discount? Make her addicted to feeling transformations?

There was another tab, “‘Personal Purchases,” but Miriam was already overwhelmed enough.

Anna definitely hadn’t dozed off, and definitely wasn’t sleeping, when she heard a voice above her.

“Have you had a look at your tablet?”

Anna blinked, squinting up at Miriam. The well-endowed nerd was standing above her, a tablet in each hand, holding one out to Anna.

Still bleary-eyed and squinting, Anna sat up and took the tablet from the other girl.

“What’s on it?” she asked, squinting at the tablet.

“Personal and general purchases, a list of date nights, points, and so on.”

Anna sighed, and tossed the tablet to the side.

“I’ll look at it later.”

Miriam raised her eyebrows. “You’re not even going to look? there could be something useful on there.”

“Useful? I’m not going to try to seduce Theo just because some crazy s- “ She stopped herself for a moment “- just because Ishtar told me to. Besides“ - here she gave Miriam a wink. - “I wouldn’t need help if I did. I know just what he likes.”

At this, Miram blushed, though she quickly composed herself.

“Yeah, we all do. The show hasn’t exactly been subtle about it.”

Anna smirked at the other girl’s blush, and slowly got to her feet.

“No, I mean, I really know. And if you’re really so interested in scoring points, I could give you some pointers…”

“What, no, i - what the fuck?” Was all Miriam managed in response.

“Well, he’s got quite a thing for hypnosis, obviously, but he also quite enjoy when you get on your kn-”

“I don’t wanna hear it!” the flustered girl nearly shouted in response. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Easy, easy, I’m just getting a rise out of you,” the redhead said, fighting to keep the laughter out of her voice. “Bad habit. But seriously, you're a little more uptight than I'd imagined for a freak who fucks dressed as a vampire.

If Miriam noticed the twinkle in her eyes, she didn't care.

“Uptight? Well, you're a bit more judgey than I'd expected for a LonelyFans slut who brags about the guy with a girlfriend she's fucked.”

“LonelyFans slut? Well excuse me for - actually, screw this, I'm going to go get some food.”

Miriam just rolled her eyes in response, and turned back to her tablet while Anna pointedly closed the door behind her.

Despite their different outlook and personalities of the two girls, there was also a strange similarity between them: For Just as the door hit the frame, the exact same thought went through their heads: Shit, I fucked that up.

CHLOE

While Anna went looking for something to eat, Joanna was walking through the gardens, strolling along a shaded path with a beautiful row of trees on the right side. To her left was an intricate arrangement of flowers and tiny water streams, a beautiful but baffling array of colours and shapes.

She hadn't had any luck finding Theo. The elevator simply hadn't moved when she'd tried the Master Suite button, so now she was just… wandering the hotel, thinking. She was struck by the beauty of the whole place, from the organisation of the flowers to the carvings on the wall, and the vastness of the place. She would love to just… walk around and study everything, with Theo. But what she was really thinking about was this whole wretched show. This competition to be Theo’s “queen.” He already chose me!, a petulant part of her thought. But other parts were thinking of ways to prove herself, to the viewers… and to Theo. She needed to win.

She had put on a brave face in front of Nina, but the other girl was beautiful, and everything seemed to indicate that she was absolute in her submission - was she more beautiful than Joanna? Theo had broken up with her over something that had gone “too far,” and part of her resented the other woman for it, for daring to demand more than her Master had wanted to give, but another part feared the implication. Was her submission more complete? Could she give Theo more of herself than Joanna? Theo had always seemed to have enough in her, and was often the one to slow down their relationship. He was not demanding, except when she wanted him to be.

But… She had never offered him anything he would not take. If there was a limit to the power Theo wanted, to the things she could offer him, she had not found it. It sounded like Nina had. Had the other girl given him more than Joanna? Would he take it again, if she offered? Joanna trusted Theo with her life, but still, the question gnawed at her.

And then there were the other girls. Chloe was pretty in a way Joanna had never been, Anna was smoking hot, and already enjoyed being hypnotised, Miriam had bigger tits…

A quiet, gentle sound pulled the young sex **** out of her thoughts. She looked around, seeing no one, but heard it again moments later - a sad, quiet sob from somewhere ahead of her. Carefully, she continued forward, coming to a little dead end in the garden, a small semicircle of hedges with a beautiful table and chairs in the middle. and tall trees to provide shade. That’s where Chloe was sitting, elbow propped up on her knees and her face buried in her hands.

“Hey, Chloe...?” Joanna asked gently. “Are you okay?”

The sad cheerleader blinked, shook her head for a moment to clear it, then looked up at Joanna. Her eyes were puffy, like she’d been crying, but her tears had dried by now, and she looked… at least a little put together.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

Joanna wasn’t so easily deterred, however, and squatted down in the grass by her friend, looking the other girl in the eye.

“You don’t seem fine. Do you want to talk about it? They had ice cream in the lounge.”

“.. not really, no,” the other girl replied, but there was a small moment of hesitation in her voice. “It’s between me and Jessica, I’ll handle it on my own.”

That gave Joanna pause. Jess was her friend - her best friend - but she also wasn’t always the most… graceful. She didn't know what was going on between the two girls, but she was quite certain Jess had bungled something. She just had to hope her friend could fix her mistakes - she'd done it before, and she could do it again.

“I see. I won’t pry then. Still - let me know if you need to talk?”

Chloe nodded, and then gave Joanna a curious look, as if suddenly remembering something.

“Actually… there is something I wanted to ask you about,” she said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “It’s… uh..”

Joanna waited for a moment before prompting her again.

“Come on, I don’t bite - what’s up, Chloe?”

“When… When you call Theo Master, what does that mean? I thought he was just your boyfriend, but Ishtar calls you a ‘sex ****’. What does that mean? Does he… hurt you?”

“Ah,” Joanna replied, sighing. “Well. It’s too early to drink, but let’s at least have that conversation with ice cream.”