How are the Contestants coping?

The room Alex had been teleported to felt like a very upscale hotel bedroom. She found herself lying on a comfortable queen-sized bed, in a room furnished with all the amenities one could hope for in such an establishment – a dresser with a TV, some comfortable chairs and a small table, two side tables with lamps, and a full wall of windows that looked out over the island they were apparently now living on.

Alex rose up from her new bed to take in the view. She was clearly towards the top of their new tower, and could see down to the well maintained island below as well as – in the distance – what appeared to be a city. She had no idea which city that might be, but the presence of a good number of skyscrapers some ways away in the city center suggested it was at least one of moderate size. The sun was setting to her left (which meant she was facing north), casting the vista in beautiful oranges and pinks.

Alex was pulled from her perusal by the sound of knocking from the door to her room. “Alex?” she heard Vivian’s voice through the door. “Are you alright? Can you let me in, babe?”

She turned back to the door, and had it unlocked an opened a moment later, only to be glomped on immediately by her tearful girlfriend.

“A-are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!” Vivian cried into her bosom, and Alex instinctively hugged her back. It was weird, in a way, how quickly both of them assumed this familiar entanglement. Whether in his male life or her new female life, Alex had always been the more even keeled of the pair, and she could recall male-Alex holding Vivian close to his chest when she got emotional. But since the transformation, Alex could recall a similar number of occasions where they assumed this position – Vivian clutching at Alex’s back and using her breasts as pillows of comfort. It made Alex feel downright motherly to be able to do this for her lover, a concept that would have made male-Alex shudder, but made the Alex of now crack a soft smile.

“Shh,” Alex cooed to her lover, “It’s okay, I’m okay. I’m alive, we’re both alive.” She rocked Vivian back and forth as the latter shuddered in her grip. It had struck her slightly in that bizarre soul world how truly broken up Vivian was about Alex’s death. She supposed, had she been the one to survive and been forced to see Vivian’s corpse, it would have felt more real at the time.

Here, now, as she consoled her girlfriend, it struck Alex just how much she loved this woman. They’d met during their freshman year of college in Psychology 101, a gen ed class Alex had signed up for with Nate since they’d heard it was an easy pass and it met requirements for both their degrees. Alex could distinctly recall both her male and female versions getting along instantly with Vivian, and though it hadn’t been love at first sight, she certainly considered it something close.

Now, three years later, three years that felt almost more like six due to two sets of memories, Alex marveled again at how she’d gotten so lucky to attract such a woman.

“Thank you,” Alex said as Vivian calmed down. The redhead sniffled and looked up at her in confusion. “For the wakeup call. You were right, I’m glad I’m here instead of the alternative, circumstances be damned.”

Vivian’s face lit up into her dazzling smile that melted Alex’s heart, and she reached up and cupped Alex’s face, drawing her down into a wet, sappy kiss.

After a moment they broke apart, and Alex led Vivian back into her room, settling them both down on the bed. She put an arm around her girlfriend’s waist, and Vivian leaned into the hug.

“…I’m glad you listened to me,” Vivian said finally. “I… wasn’t sure. I know… I know I can be manipulative, but I just didn’t want-”

Alex held up a finger to her girlfriend’s lips, stopping her midsentence. “You were trying to get me out of my head. And I love you for it, Viv.”

Silence dominated the room as the two lovers simply basked in each others’ presence.

Finally, Vivian broke the silence with a question, “How weird is it for you? This transformation?”

“Fucking insane,” Alex admitted. “Everything I know, everything I recall, has two different versions. There’s the male version, which I can recall in a rather vague sense of ‘oh, yeah, that happened,’ which I know intellectually did really happen. And then there’s the female version, which I know intellectually didn’t really happen, but still feels more real, more natural to remember.”

“Are you sure that’s the case?”

“Hmm?”

“It’s very possible, maybe even probable, that the world we’ll return to after this crazy competition will be, like, a world that reflects your female memories. When you consider yourself having memories of such a world, and the world itself reflecting those memories… Can you really consider your female memories less real?”

Alex considered that. Vivian was right, she realized, a phrase she had thought to herself far too frequently across two sets of memories to still hold any sting. Her transformation had said that history had been rewritten, which would likely mean, assuming the scale of Serena’s power was as it seemed, the world they returned to would reflect her new memories. Hell, perhaps even the presence of their old memories was a special privilege of those on the show. Alex doubted very much that Serena would extend such emotional baggage to those uninvolved.

And with that thought, Alex came to a decision. “Maybe… it’s best to consider Alex, the old, male me, to have died on that mountain. Treat this as a brand-new life, a mulligan with a twist. I think that would be better for everyone involved with this insanity, myself included. Because as handsome, suave, and manly my old self might have been, I don’t think he would do well in this situation.”

“Hey, that’s my boyfriend you’re talking about” Vivian jokingly nudged Alex in the sighed. Then she leaned back onto the goth’s shoulder. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right. Not like there’s a way to go backwards, anyhow. I’m guessing the transformations we’ll face will only move you further away from that charming Latin boy I fell in love with. Good news is you’re now a charming Latin girl I fell in love with!”

Alex laughed, relief settling in. “I am glad the transformation didn’t take away us. I always loved your bisexuality, but never expected it to come in clutch like this.”

Vivian giggled, “Yeah, lucky dog. And I already got confirmation that there’s no problem with us, like, keeping our relationship, though there was a caveat that worried me.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the blurry lady, who in hindsight was TOTALLY Serena, said that relationships in the harem were fine as long as the Master came first. Which is going to take some getting used to…”

Alex frowned, “Yeah, I… I’m not sure how easy that will be. Falling in love with Nate…”

Vivian looked up at her, a skepticism clear on her face. “I meant it was going to be troublesome for me. You already love the guy.”

The goth blushed, and sputtered a defense, “Wha- N-No I don’t! I mean, I love him like a brother, sure, an annoying little snot of a brother, but not like that!”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Vivian quoted with a cheshire grin.

“Vivian!” Alex’s face grew scarlet.

Vivian laughed aloud, glomping again onto her girlfriend. “Relax, babe, it’ll be fine. You already love him in one way. You’ll just have to explore romantic love with him. Not like sexual compatibility will be a problem, if his ‘boons’ are anything like I think they are. Looks like I might get that threesome after all, eh?”

As Alex and Vivian reconnected through a light-hearted lover’s quarrel, a similar reconnection was occurring in Helena’s room. Maria sat on Helena’s bed, her back propped up by pillows against the headboard, with Helena leaning back against her chest, the latina’s breasts acting as her wife’s pillows. Helena was admiring their wedding rings – the two had both found a ring box containing their respective rings next to their bedsides – a pair of golden bands that Helena had memories of purchasing alongside her wife but only in her newer set of memories.

“We picked well, evidently,” Helena decided as she admired the jewelry. They had decided to go for simple golden bands over diamond rings due to wanting fresh breaks from their past marriages – the drastic difference from both women’s first wedding bands removed any reminder of past marriages.

“Sí, mi amor,” Maria replied, hugging Helena close. A moment later, she let go. “…It doesn’t bother you, then? That we are in love, married, due to my transformation?”

“No!” Helena spun around to look her wife in the eye. “Does it.. does it bother you? I know it changed your sexuality…”

Maria smiled, but it was a smile of complicated feelings. “I… don’t know. I love that we have this, I love how you make me feel, mi amor. I find I love my situation more now than I did before, and that worries me. I can still remember loving you like a sister but having zero attraction towards you. That they can do such a thing, Serena and this audience…”

“It’s terrifying,” Helena agreed, relaxing back to her original position. “This whole situation is terrifying. We signed up for it, yes, but under duress, with our lives on the line.”

Maria shook her head. “No, it wasn’t under duress,” she argued. “We were dead. Muertas. Pushing up daisies. Duress would have been if the options were to participate or die. That wasn’t the case, as we were already dead. If anything, the fact we breath is the reward we are given for taking part in this game.”

“That feels a lot more like a philosophical argument than I’m ready to have,” Helena admitted. She sighed, “This entire situation is fucked up, pardon my French.”

“I like your French as much as you like my Spanish,” Maria joked. “But yes, this is indeed a fucked up situation. For all of us. It’s funny,” Maria laughed, “For a show building a harem for little Nate, Serena certainly did pick a cast of characters filled with people whose relationship to Nate would make such a thing muy difícil.”

Helena nodded, counting on her fingers, “Putting aside myself, Sarah, and Sam, even before the marriage transformation, you knew him long enough he likely considered you family in all but name. Alex was his best friend, and male, but even with the transformation I remember those two being closer to brother and sister than any other relationship. It is odd that Vivian, one of the only contestants coming into this with an established relationship, would likely be considered the one least conflicted with such a deal.”

Maria sighed out, reminded of her daughter’s transformation. “We both lost a son today,” the Latina said, hugging her wife closer.

Helena turned back to Maria. She saw the pain in her wife’s eyes and reached out to hold the older woman close.

The gesture was enough to make Maria break. She wept into her lover’s bosom, mourning the loss of her son. True, Alex still existed, was still her child, but the boy she had raised into a man was now history, never to return. She loved her daughter, truly, she was proud of the woman Alexandra had become, and she cherished the memories she had of her baby girl going through life, but it still hurt to lose her son, her baby boy. To know that she would never again see his smiling face.

After a few moments, Maria managed to calm back down. She raised her head from the laying position Helena had shifted them into during her emotional distress to look at her wife. “How… how are you feeling about Sam?”

Helena sighed. “It’s… a little different from your case. Sam’s still in there, he didn’t get the history and personality changes that Alex did. He’s just in a female body now. Which…” Helena hesitated, then gave in, hoping to further comfort her wife, “…is maybe less of a surprise than you might think.”

“Oh?” Maria asked, interest sparked.

Helena pursed her lips in amusement, “Let’s just say I caught him dressing up in his sister’s clothes a few months ago, so I’ve had some time to grapple with the concept. Oh, don’t tell Sammy, though, he didn’t realize I saw him, and I didn’t want to spook the poor boy.”

“Ah,” Maria’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Well if that is the case, then perhaps we can consider that one of the few good things to come out of this ordeal.”

“I want to check in with Sammy, but I think that would be smart. If we’re going to get through this going forward, we’ll need to find the levity and bright spots where we can. Focus on the good outcomes and cope with the bad. If we let ourselves get to the breaking point this early, we won’t survive in the long run.”

Maria’s response to Helena’s optimistic outlook was to snuggle closer to her best friend cum wife. “I love you. And I’ll consider the fact that I love you like I do to be one of those bright spots.”

Helena smiled and slid her head forward to kiss her lover. “Me, too.”

Sarah was stretching in her room, trying to gauge how much, if any, of her transformation had already kicked in, when she heard a knock on her door. She rose up and trotted over to the door, swinging it open to reveal Sam. Her brother… sister… sibling was standing in front of Sarah’s room having shed her bodysuit for more comfortable clothing, though Sarah snorted a laugh when she saw said clothing.

“You look like a girl who’s stolen her boyfriend’s favorite shirt,” she teased.

Sam rolled her eyes, “Very funny. It’s not like I have anything that fits me, now.”

Smirking but holding in any further comment, Sarah stepped to the side, “Come on in, I’ll see if I got anything that’ll fit you.”

Both Sam and Sarah had discovered that the closets in their room held what appeared to be their entire wardrobe of clothing from back home, or perfect copies of the articles, at least. Sam sat down on the bed, while Sarah went into her closet to spelunk through the depths for clothing that might fit on her siblings now-much-smaller frame.

“How are you coping?” Sarah asked.

Sam considered the question for a moment. “Can I answer than tomorrow morning? I feel exhausted and would honestly have just fallen asleep if any of my pajamas had fit.”

“Oh,” Sarah poked her head out, “You’re looking for jammies, specifically? I think I have a set or two from when I was still growing, let me see….” She disappeared back into the closet.

It took Sarah five minutes to dredge up some suitably sized pajamas, a pair of fluffy blue pants and soft white long-sleeve shirt.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “This is all I have that might fit you. You’re much thinner than I think I’ve been since middle school.”

Sam shrugged, “It’ll hold for the night. Looks like I can buy new clothing tomorrow morning using BP.”

Sarah frowned, “Really? Where’d you find that out?”

In response her sibling moved over to the side table closest to the door and opened the drawer, reaching in and pulling out a sheet of paper and what appeared to be a phone. She passed them over to Sarah.

“The first thing I did was look for the schedule Serena had mentioned, which just so happens to have the BP details on its back.

Sarah glanced over the front side of the paper. On it was a very simplistic schedule for the day.

8AM-9AM: Breakfast

9:30AM-11:30PM: Personal Training

12PM-1PM: Lunch

2PM-4PM: Team Training

6PM-7PM: Dinner

8PM: Master Retires

“That’s a far more forgiving schedule than I expected,” Sarah admitted.

“You would know better than most that training doesn’t help much without rest breaks. I imagine such a fact holds true even when superpowers are introduced. Turn to the back.”

Sarah did, and found the BP details Sam had mentioned.

The following rewards may be purchased at any time through your new cell phone.

800 BP – Claim the Master’s next free night.

1000 BP – Schedule private training session with the Master during the Master’s next available personal training session.

2000 BP – Increase the severity of a Transformation and increase the associated superpower’s rank.

2000 BP – Suppress one transformation’s effects for 24 hours. Not applicable for full-body transformations.

2000 BP – Prevent villains from beginning challenge for 24 hours. Cannot affect final 24 hours in possible challenge window.

2000 BP – Increase one D-rank superpower to C-rank.

4000 BP – Increase one C-rank superpower to B-rank.

6000 BP – Increase one B-rank superpower to A-rank.

In addition to the above, several shops on the first floor of the Contestant Tower accept BP as payment, including a clothing shop, where one may custom order any clothing they wish to better seduce the Master.

Sarah snorted. Gotta hammer that last line home, eh, Serena?

“Also, it looks like we’ve been scheduled to accompany Nate for a single night in the next six nights, assuming everyone gets a turn.”

Sarah looked up. Sam was pointing her new cell phone (a suspiciously non-branded touchscreen smartphone) towards her. On the screen read the message, ‘Welcome to Harem Heroes, Sarah Hawkins. You have been scheduled for the Master Suite in 3 days, 22 hours, and 58 minutes.’ Which, given the current time of 9:02 PM, lined up perfectly with the ‘Master Retires’ window on what would be day four of the competition.

“I’m night five,” Sam said as she handed the phone over. “Which would lead me to guess that we’re going in order of popularity.”

Sarah snorted as she took her new phone and set to figuring it out. “I guess that’s considered another reward for winning in the poll.” She motioned to the closet as she moved to the bed. “You can change in there if you want. Sam nodded, and disappeared into her closet.

Sarah sighed as she investigated her new phone. It appeared they had only a few apps on the phones they were given. She had every Contestant and Nate’s phones numbers, and both a calling and a texting function. Additionally, there was a BP app that would likely be where she could find the listed BP purchases. Finally, there was an internet app. She hesitated with her finger hovering over that one, before ignoring it and locking the phone.

She’d have time to find out how the rest of the world was dealing with an alien invasion once she’d gotten her bearings here. No need to invite more tension into her mind. Ignorance is bliss, and all that.

As she put the phone away, Sam exited the closet, forcing her to look up. Sam was still too tiny for the shirt she had provided her, though she at least wasn’t swimming in it like she had been her own t-shirt. The pants fit her well, though there was plenty of room – she had not been graced with the wide hips Sarah and her mom possessed. It was still very bizarre to see her little brother in a feminine form, especially one that was an entire foot shorter than his male form had been. And the pigtails…

She pointed to the hair features in question. “So how do those work, anyways? You’ve got a compulsion to wear them, yeah?”

Sam nodded, grabbing hold of her left pigtail and pulling it in front of her face. “Thinking about taking my hair out of them is… distressing. It’s like a lesser form of how you would feel contemplating walking about in public without a top, though there’s nothing sexual about it. I think, having not tested it, that I should be fine when it comes to showering or sleeping, but past that I think I may just have to get used to this.”

“I think we’re all going to need to get used to a whole lot more before this is through.”

Sam nodded, then hesitated. Seeing her sibling was clearly holding something back, Sarah said, “Out with it, what’s up?”

“It… I-I was wondering if you could help me learn about, um, f-feminine hygiene?”

Oh. OHHH. Shit. Yeah, Sam had been tossed in the deep end on that account. Everything she’d learned over the course of growing up was suddenly a problem for her new sister. In a way, she was touched Sam would look to her for help. Having said that, Sarah had a different idea.

“I can, yeah, but you’re gonna want to know about makeup and all that shit, right?” Sam hesitantly nodded. “Well, you may not have realized since you wouldn’t think to look as a boy, but I’m pretty basic when it comes to all that girly stuff. Consider me a D-rank in womaning. I get by, but I’m not good for much past the basics.

“Instead, there’s someone else I think you should ask, someone who might take great joy in exploring that with you.”

“Is it mom? I-I don’t want to bother her, since she’s dealing with the marriage and everything…”

“Fuck no, you kidding me? I grew up her daughter, I know what it’s like to want to avoid going to mom for this stuff. Shit’s embarrassing, and going to mom can feel like you’re back in elementary school and running to mommy for help.

“No, I was actually thinking that Alex might be a good option. She’s got a whole new life of being a woman to explore, and given she knows her way around makeup if her goth look is anything to go by, she’d be leagues more help for you than me. Plus, it’s a good bonding sesh, especially since she’s now also our sister. God, that is still weird even after a year. It’s even weirder given I both never really experienced that to begin with, and I had always thought the way she’d join the family was through Nate. Or, well, alternate reality me thought that.”

Sam was digesting her suggestion and had a look on her face that said she’d tuned out Sarah’s mini-rant once she’d stop being helpful. It was a look Sarah knew well, and a bizarre look to see on such a delicate, feminine face instead of the annoying little brother face she was used to. After a moment, she nodded. “You’re right. This might help both of us adjust.”

“Exactly! She’ll probably even enjoy it! Better than me half-assing it, screwing something up, then running to mom for help because I forgot how to do some basic-ass shit.”

Sam cracked a smile and finally Sarah felt a wave of relief. Her little brother had always had difficulty expressing emotions, but they’d always had a rapport that let him let down his walls enough for her to get a glimpse. Sam had been stoic since the transformation, and the lack of reaction to Sarah’s antics had proven how shaken he truly was in his new body. That smile was the first sign that Sammy wasn’t freaking the fuck out anymore, which was exactly what Sarah had hoped to see.

“How prophetic. Speaking of the others,” Sam said, “We should probably convene a meeting to figure out some plans.”

“Say less. We should see if we have access to some coffee, too, wake everyone the fuck up after this long-ass, bizarro day we had.” Sarah popped up from her bed and followed Sam out the door. “Though considering most of us died, does that like, count as sleeping? Like the saying, I’ll sleep when I’m dead?”

“I don’t think so, sis.”