Noah chapter 7 morning and planning

Noah chapter 7 morning and planning

(Iris POV)

Yesterday had been quite trying, and in a way, Iris was glad of it, as it had enabled her to fall asleep almost instantly. No need to discuss this awkward situation with Arthur.

Fortunately, she'd had a dreamless, or rather nightmare-free night. If Arthur had wanted a chat, she didn't know how she could have escaped it. Sleeping with Arthur was embarrassing enough, despite all she'd said before. Oh, she hadn't lied. It wasn't the first time they'd slept together. After her parents died, she'd spent over a month sleeping with him. But that was more than 12 years ago.

they hadn't slept together. But since then, Iris had gone through an important event. Puberty.

At last, sleeping with her brother wasn't so bad. She would have gladly done so in other circumstances. No, what made the situation particularly awkward was that she was sleeping with her big brother as a member of his harem.

Her brother's Harem? How could she even think about that? It wasn't a harem. At best, it was a group of women gathered around a man for a show televised. Okay well that clearly sounded like a harem. Oh well, at least she had something to distract herself from these thoughts with her transformation.

Rabbit ears and tails seemed both strange and normal. She knew she shouldn't have tufted ears, and the sensation of touching her fingers was always strange. But at the same time, she couldn't remember what her normal/previous ears looked like.

She really had to get the notion of 'normality' out of her ears. Nothing would ever be normal again. How bad was it? She didn't know yet. Would she be able to adapt? She'd managed to survive worse.

These parents ... well, rather her biological parents, for she now considered David and Joséphine had raised her for so many years that she couldn't think of them as anything other than her parents. She remembers the moment when she accidentally called Joséphine Maman. She started crying and gave her a hug. It was probably one of her fondest memories.

This experience had taught her that even the worst can bring out the best. Of course she missed her biological parents, but it was just out of the question to brood over it. They would have wanted her to be happy, and that's what she intended to do. And it didn't matter if she had to marry Arthur to do it.

With renewed determination, she stood up, making as little noise as possible so as not to wake Arthur. She left their tent and made her way towards Jeanne, who was chatting with Lisa.

"Why refuse to use coal, oil and gas - these are literally the resources that made our civilization?" questioned the catgirl.

"And it's also the one that caused her loss. We're not going to make the same mistakes here," replied the dryad.

"Ah Iris you're awake help me talk some sense into this Amish woman that it would be foolish to refuse to use fossil fuels." asked Jeanne noticing that the bunnygirl was awake.

"Uh hello, is it really essential to have such a debate on a fine morning?" questioned the still half-asleep young woman.

"Yes!" exclaimed both opponents in unison.

"I'm not competent enough to talk about this kind of subject. I wasn't interested in the sciences and preferred to study Mediterranean antiquity. Anyway, I'm thinking that maybe it's too early to start thinking about this kind of thing. Oh, let's be clear, cars and boats are very practical, but that's not the point, civilization always starts with agriculture. You must concentrate on that before trying to acquire the rest, don't you think?" questioned Iris, remembering her first- year classes.

Jeanne was silent for a few moments before admitting that Iris's reasoning was pertinent. Lisa couldn't help smiling when she heard this. She had to take it as a personal victory.

Lily arrived at this moment, probably awakened by the intense discussions. "Good morning, did you sleep well?" she asked.

"I slept well," Iris replied automatically. Are you feeling better? Yesterday was a particularly trying day for you."

The cowgirl sighed. Yesterday's memories were surfacing.

"I'm getting better, but it's going to take me some time to come to terms with it all.

"Don't worry, we're all in the same boat, even if we don't necessarily show it," Jeanne replied, trying to put so much compassion into her voice that Iris couldn't help thinking it sounded false.

"Thanks but I know I didn't measure up yesterday. I'm the oldest one here and I behaved like a child. I apologize for that," said the cowgirl, bowing.

"No need to apologize," Iris said hastily difficulties in dealing with such an event. What's more, I'm sure you must have had a difficult week. In those conditions it's normal to break down."

"Thanks for the kind words but I wouldn't hide behind those excuses. Yes, I've had a terrible week, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. So I'm going to do my best to live up to them in the days to come," said the teacher.

"And we'll be there to support you. If not, do you know if the others are still asleep?" asked Lisa.

"Susan was still sound asleep when I got up," Lily replied. "Not surprising for a vampire," commented Jeanne.

"Tammy went with Felicity to run around and explore a bit," said Lisa.

"And Victoria and Elizabeth went for a walk about 20 minutes ago. They said they'd be out for an hour," Jeanne announced.

"Which means Violet and Kelly must still be asleep," Iris deduced.

"Which isn't surprising, given that they took the second shift," commented Lisa.

"Which makes, if I sum it up correctly, 4 people who are still sleeping, 4 people who have gone for a run/walk and finally 4 of us. That's only 12, we're one person short." calculated Lily.

"Who's missing?" asked Iris.

"Sophia. We forgot Sophia," exclaimed the catgirl. "Where the hell is she? Is she still asleep?" asked Lisa.

"It's true that she was very active yesterday," remarked Lily.

"No, I don't think she sleeps anymore. If Sophia hasn't changed too much in the last few years, then there's only one place she can be," declared Jeanne.

"Look out below!!!"

They all looked up at the track. Seeing an unidentified object hurtling towards them, they quickly moved aside.

"CRASH!!!"

The dust raised by the impact quickly settled, revealing Sophia struggling to her feet. "Nothing to say, I'm still having trouble with the landings," commented the dragongirl. This was undoubtedly too much for the catgirl, who let her annoyance explode.

"But you're completely crazy! You could have killed yourself, or worse, us. Did you even consider the risks you were taking before you took off?"

"Hi Jeanne, I'm glad to see you too," replied the prosecutor. "You! I don't know what's keeping me from you..."

"We're calming down. There was nothing serious. Nobody's hurt. There's no need to get upset," said Lily, stepping between the two young women.

"Thank you for making her listen to reason," Sophia commented.

"I never said you were right. What you did was reckless and dangerous. Please don't do it again." continued the cowgirl.

Sophia must not have expected this answer, for she didn't reply and lowered her head.

"Can someone explain to me what's going on? Why did Jeanne scream? And what was that noise? It sounded like an explosion.” Ask Arthur who was accompanied by Violet and Kelly, who must also have been awakened by the impact.

An embarrassing 15-minute explanation was enough to reassure Arthur, who couldn't help checking that no one was hurt.

Once this was done, they settled in around the rest of the previous day's fire. Everyone began breakfast. Iris noticed that she was the only one not to drink tea or coffee. Hot water wasn't her thing.

Elizabeth and Victoria were the first to return from their walk. They were all smiles and explained that the surrounding landscape looked a little like the Irish plain. It was a simple but incomparable beauty.

Tammy and Felicity arrived 15 minutes later. Although it was Felicity carrying Tammy on her back who arrived. The Amazon explained that the Kitsune was exhausted after trying to run at the same speed as the firefighter. Felicity couldn't help describing the feeling of strength and energy she'd felt while running. She particularly emphasized the quality of the air, which earned her the support of Victoria and Lisa.

"Good morning, everyone. Glad to see you slept well and seem to be enjoying Noah. I've spent over a millennium designing this planet it would annoy me if you didn't." said Nola appearing behind Arthur's back who gasped as he heard the Leprechaun speak.

"Nola, what are you doing here?" questioned Iris's brother.

"I host this show. First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on your first night. And congratulations to Iris for sleeping with the Master, even if I'd have appreciated it if you'd gone a little further than just sleeping next to him," declared Nola, making the bunnygirl blush.

"What do you have planned for us today?" asked Elizabeth directly.

"Why are you so impatient? Your curiosity will soon be satisfied. Can one of you go and wake Susan up? What happens next concerns her too," asked Nola.

Lily got up to wake her daughter, and the host continued.

"First of all, as agreed and until the end of the show. Each day you will receive 100 BP each. However, that's not all, as the audience had the opportunity to vote for their favorite candidate and this gives us the following order "

1) Felicity: 10.73

2) Iris: 9.72

3) Kelly: 9.46

4) Victoria: 8.71

5) Sophia: 8.45

6) Tammy: 8.2%

7) Violet: 8.2%

8) Jeanne: 7.57

9) Lily: 7.44

10) Elizabeth: 7.32

11) Susan: 7.07

12) Lisa: 7.07

Absurdly, Iris couldn't help feeling a certain pride at being so high up in the rankings. "This ranking doesn't matter anyway; the audience hasn't even had time to form an objective opinion yet," said Lisa, probably annoyed at being at the bottom of the ranking.

"I'm not sure there's anything objective about a popularity ranking," retorted Sophia.

"Anyway, it's not like the audience's opinion matters at this stage of the show. I doubt they'll really be involved for several episodes," said Jeanne.

"I'm sorry you don't attach more importance than that to the audience's opinion. In the end, she has the last word. She'll be deciding a lot of things in this show, and although she doesn't control everything, her influence isn't negligible," said Nola, before resuming when she saw Lily returning with Susan, "I'm glad we're going to have you with us, Susan, my favorite vampire. You and your mother will be able to admire the popularity rankings. Alas, you're both pretty low in the rankings, but don't worry, that can change quickly."

"I beg your pardon, but was it for this trivial matter that you woke me up? Mother, you know I don't start my day until 2 p.m." replied Susan.

14h? What kind of world was this? Iris wished she could just get up at 9 a.m. every day.

"Frankly, you're beginning to annoy me by considering that it's not important. And how strange that the ones who say that are at the bottom of the ranking. Aren't you aware that nobody likes a sore loser? The girls on the podium complain less. And no, that's not unimportant. On the contrary, first of all, the podium will receive 500 BP for Felicity, 300 BP for Iris and 200 BP for Kelly. Don't tell me that's not important. Unless you've given up on bringing your loved ones here? Perhaps in future you'll be more careful not to displease the audience. Then your ranking will determine the running order for the day", announced Nola, annoyed by the lack of consideration for the audience expressed by the participants.

A heavy silence fell over the assembly. Lisa was about to get even angrier, but the presence of Violet on her right was enough to calm the environmentalist. HR had had the intelligence to take the nurse's hand to make her feel her presence.

The rest of the assembly remembered that, despite her friendly appearance, Nola was not to be taken for a nice person. She was doing her job, and she was going to do it well.

"No comments? No sarcastic remarks? Well, I'll go ahead then and give my analysis of the results. I think that the audience has chosen simplicity and authenticity versus ego and intellectualization. The separation of the participants is clear, there are the first 7 who knew how to show simplicity or at least knew how to keep quiet so as not to offend the audience. Then there are the last five..." Nola paused for a moment, then continued "Frankly it's pretty pathetic that a cowgirl, catgirl and an elf are so low in the rankings. These are normally the audience's favorite transformations. It forces me to conclude that the problem lies with you girls."

Iris couldn't help thinking that, from what she'd seen of porn while surfing the Internet, cowgirls, catgirls and elves were indeed far more representative than dragongirls, leprechauns or kitsunes.

"Lily it's easy to explain the audience doesn't like whiners and the fact that you're cracked can't have worked in your favor. As for Elizabeth and Jeanne, I can't help thinking that it was your know-it-all attitude that irritated the audience. As for Susan and Lisa, you're also pathetic. Lisa your militant unionist, environmental activist side has its charm but clearly seems to put the audience in an ambivalence since they've done you a disservice for the popularity ranking but at the same time they've assigned you the dryad transformation at 52%. I think your problem is that you're far too honest and straightforward, don't be political or divisive, just say what the audience wants to hear and you'll be more popular", said Nola.

"I won't grandstand. I'm not going to deny myself in order to please," Lisa replied.

"As you wish, someone has to occupy the bottom of the ranking. Then Susan, one of the big surprises of the vote, I'd definitely underestimated the share of the audience who are vampire fans. In many ways, you're the opposite of Lisa. You're 20 while she's 31. You're a fan of capitalism and new technologies, while she refuses to cut down trees. You love to eat burgers while she's a vegetarian. Frankly, you don't have much in common. Clearly, we wouldn't expect you to end up in the same position in a popularity poll. But of course, there's a simple explanation. You're so egocentric and arrogant that the audience wants to put you in your place. I thought it was important to remind you that you're nothing here, and that you have to respect the rules of this show", said the Leprechaun.

Iris expected Susan to refute the host's reasoning, but Arthur intervened.

"Nola, let's relax. You said it yourself. There's bound to be a first and a last in a popularity poll. Besides, the difference between Felicity and Susan isn't huge either. Susan was, is a bit annoyed at having been kidnapped against her will. Everyone can understand that. We need to give people time to acclimatize to the idea that Noah is our new planet," said Arthur.

"The Master is right, let's not dwell on things that upset us. Let's talk about the day's activities," Nola announced with a smile, to everyone's surprise.

"What do you think is the first thing you should do if you're going to set up an empire here?" asked the host.

The question surprised Iris, but she didn't really have time to think about it, as Lily replied, "Developing agriculture?"

"No, but nice try," replied the hostess.

"Sleeping in something other than a tent," Tammy replied sarcastically. "No more, but we'll get there," says the hostess.

"Find water," Jeanne finally replied.

"No, but we're getting closer to the answer," Nola said with satisfaction. Suddenly, the answer appeared in Iris's mind: "Explore!”

"Bingo 10/10 for our bunnygirl" congratulated the Leprechaun "Indeed you know little or nothing about this world. So, you'll have to explore it."

"But that's just impossible. It will take us months, years to explore everything," Sophia retorted.

"Always exaggerating. I know that's your prosecutorial training talking but learn to exercise moderation. First of all, you don't have to explore everything in detail at once. Mankind has taken 300,000 years to explore every nook and cranny of planet Earth, and not all of it has been explored at once.

explored," explained the host.

"Okay so if you're not going to do any exploring for years how you are going to do it?" asked Kelly.

"I'll give you a treasure hunt!" exclaimed the Leprechaun, delighted to present her idea.

However, she was rather offended by her audience's lack of reaction. She must have expected reactions like: a treasure hunt? But how? But why?

But all she got was silence accompanied by septic looks from 13 people.

"Okay, you've probably missed the point. I'm going to send you to the far corners of the globe to look for treasures in the form of animal statuettes to collect." continued Nola.

"And that's supposed to excite us?" asked Tammy sarcastically. "Yes!" replied Nola spontaneously.

Arthur, sensing that the situation was getting out of hand, decided to intervene.

"I'm sure it will be very interesting, Nola. It's been years since I've been on a treasure hunt," replied Arthur, no doubt trying to display enough enthusiasm to calm Nola down. An angry hostess with magical powers could undoubtedly cause a lot of damage.

"I'm really glad you like it Arthur, but you won't be participating directly I've got something else planned for you in the meantime. But I've wasted enough time explaining the rules of the game. You'll see, it's very simple. You'll be teleported to 6 different locations. There will be 2 of you in each location. Within a 10 km radius of your arrival point, a total of 16 statuettes like this one will be hidden", says Nola, before bringing up a horse statuette. "These statuettes aren't very big, just 30 cm long and 20 cm wide and high, so you'll have to be very careful. When you touch a statuette, you win a point, and the statuette is stored in your inventories. The winner will be the one with the most points at the end of the race. The race ends at sunset. Any questions? Perfect, so I'll teleport you all over right away. I'd advise you to find as many statues as possible, because animals in statuettes you haven't found won't be teleported here, which would be a shame. So, if you want to see kittens again, I suggest you find the feline statuette," says Nola.

"I thought we were supposed to be looking for statuettes of animals, not animal families," commented a surprised Iris.

"Do you have any idea how many living species there are on your planet? More than 8 million. I wouldn't mind giving you a statuette for each species, but that would be too long and, above all, too boring for the audience. So I've chosen to reduce it to a few significant sets of animals. I've excluded most of the smaller animals, which will be automatically added to make the world viable. So there are a total of 96 statuettes to find. And so that the popularity vote is of the least importance you will be teleported in the order of ranking

with 5 minutes between each teleportation. Felicity, good luck," said Nola before making the Amazon disappear.

"Nola, you could at least have given her time to pack her things," Arthur commented. "Oops. Never mind, I'm sure she'll be fine," apologized the Leprechaun.

"Iris, be careful, you're next," Sophia reminded her.

"Huh? But I'm not ready. I don't even know what I'd need. What if I found myself on top of a snowy mountain? I'm not equipped. Or worse, if I found myself in the middle of the ocean. I can swim, yes, but not that well."

"Iris. Calm down. Calm down. I frankly doubt anything will happen to you. I know you're going to be fine, and we'll see each other again tonight", Jeanne affirmed.

"Thank you, Jeanne, but I..." Iris couldn't finish her sentence before disappearing in her turn.

---

I'm working on some images with Stable diffusion, it's fun.

Popularity poll 2: https://strawpoll.com/ajnE1e1DonW