Pommes Bonne-Femme

Earlier that Day

Amy couldn’t remember falling asleep; the exhaustion of the last few days had made it come like a heavy blanket gently smothering her. So when she was jolted awake to an unfamiliar ceiling, it took her a few moments to gather herself and recall that she was in the Master’s Suite. Looking to the side, sure enough, Caleb was sleeping softly, his chest slowly rising and falling.

She knew she had unloaded a lot of details on him yesterday, but it was better for everyone that he knew where things stood. They were already at such a disadvantage here, and Amy didn’t want to see anyone reduced to an object. She had told Lily before that she was looking out for herself first, and that was true, but that didn’t have to exclude looking out for others unless it came in direct conflict. No one had asked for this, and while Amy needed to make sure she survived, she would do what she could for the others in her own way.

She was stirred from her thoughts by a soft sound coming from the door of the room, a light rapping so tentative that Amy had to wait for it to repeat to confirm it had happened at all. The oni pulled the blankets off and, quietly so as not to disturb Caleb, moved to the doorway and opened it. There, shaking like a leaf, was Lily looking worse for wear.

Her eyes were strung out and tense, it looked like the flower girl hadn’t gotten much, if any, sleep. Now that Amy thought of it, she couldn’t recall seeing Lily at all yesterday and began to wonder if something had happened. Through the gap in the door, she waved and then whispered, “Lily? What’s going on? Why are you here so early? Did you need to speak to-” She mimed with her head towards the bed, and Lily immediately shook her head.

“No, I came here to speak with you, can you come outside for a bit?” The look on Lily’s face was ****, and Amy couldn’t help but be concerned.

Moving carefully to make as little noise as possible, Amy saw the sky outside through the window. It was still dark, so it must be quite early. She wrote a quick note using some paper in the end table and left it on her pillow. The last thing she wanted was to make Caleb paranoid that something had gone wrong. Then she snuck past the door and joined Lily in the hallway.

“Alright, so what’s up? I take it it’s pretty urgent if it couldn’t wait until breakfast. Is it about your date?” it was the only thing that made sense to Amy, so she just got it out of the way and asked.

Hesitantly nodding, Lily began to move towards the elevator, signaling Amy to follow, “Yeah, it’s not just that though…I…I’m falling apart here, Amy, and I couldn’t go to anyone else. Not after everything I’ve said.”

The Japanese woman found herself growing increasingly concerned as she entered the elevator with Lily, “Ok, keep going because I’m still in the dark here.”

Lily swallowed, “I had a fight with Maddy yesterday. I kept thinking about what we talked about and wanted to ask her about the Sabotage but every time I tried to bring it up, my throat seized up. I couldn’t get the words out because I was too scared it was true and that another person I trusted had betrayed me.”

Amy nodded and was glad she had decided not to pursue VP the night before, “Ok, so why did that cause a fight? I can’t see Maddy getting upset at you for having trouble speaking.”

“No, she thought I was mad at her for enjoying her date with Caleb, and I couldn’t correct her because I kept being stupid and- and- because I was upset. Not with her! Just the situation. All of this is too much for me.” The elevator door opened and Lily led them to the lobby. Outside of the bar, which was lit by its own furnishing, the whole space was dark in shades of blue, giving it a melancholy vibe.

Matching step with Lily, Amy rested a hand on the other woman’s back and gently rubbed. She could feel Lily shaking and wondered if she had been crying earlier, now seeing how swollen her eyes were. She just matched Lily’s gaze, “What do you need me to do? You came to me for a reason, right?” The words came out colder than she meant, but Amy also didn’t want Lily to beat around the bush if her suspicions were right.

Lily sniffed and then nodded, “I can’t handle today’s date like this, Amy. It would be impossible for me to handle it. I’m a mess, and all I can accomplish today is pushing Caleb further away and doing more damage than I’ve already done.” The flower girl swallowed. “Reyna told me about a Sabotage in the shop, I want to buy it and then give it to you to use on me. It will make it so I become the me I was when I was dating Caleb.”

This confirmed Amy’s suspicions of why Lily was coming to her. She still hadn’t settled anything about the previous sabotage disaster, so she probably couldn’t bring herself to speak to either Eliza, Noemi, or Maddy for fear of seeming like a hypocrite. The fact that it had been Reyna’s idea, though, worried Amy.

She had asked her AI about assistants and comparing them with the hosts, and the results had been less than helpful. The feedback was that, compared to Hosts, it was not abnormal for assistants to take a more personal and helpful role in interacting with contestants. In fact, in most cases, assistants yielded benign or neutral interactions. That being said, there was no question that they were still extensions of the show itself, and what they did to try and help might not be in the best interests of those they are helping.

Amy sighed, “So you want me to mind wipe you, that’s it? Lily, I don’t think it’s a good idea to avoid confronting Caleb or avoiding your feelings. You’re going to have to do it eventually.”

Lily bunched up her shirt in her hands, “Amy, I get that I do, but if I were capable of doing any of that right now, do you think I would be coming to you? Listen, I get that this isn’t healthy, but Amy, right now I need the VP, and I need to have at least one day here where I don’t feel like I’m treading water, ok? Just one day when I can remember how things were. I think it will help me get over this stuff with Maddy and maybe…Maybe I can start moving forward. But I need this, Amy. Please.”

Staring at the desperation in Lily’s eyes, the Oni sighed. She wasn’t persuaded, but she could tell from that look that there was going to be no dissuading Lily. If she ignored it, she might just ask someone else like Stella, and that was asking for trouble, “Alright, but I’m making a deal with you. I’m buying the Sabotage, you tell me what it is and I’ll buy it. I have more BP than you. Second, I will not buy it until after breakfast, so you have until then to grab me and change your mind. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume you still want to go forward with this plan.”

Lily reached out and hugged Amy, “Thank you for doing this for me. Promise me you won’t tell anyone?”

Amy sighed and pat Lily’s head, “Yeah, I promise. I just don’t want you doing anything riskier, I hope you get what you want out of this.”

Currently

In the Sabotage Shop, Amy looked down at the card in her hand that was slowly disintegrating.

SABOTAGE! Tabula Rasa: For eight hours, set back the target’s memories to a set point. Their mind will supply the reasoning to fill in gaps that may appear.

Amy: 18 BP - 3 BP: 15 BP remaining

As the card finished vanishing, she sighed. She still had a bad feeling about all this, but at the very least, she had given Caleb a heads up. That should hopefully result in avoiding the worst-case scenario.

She waved at Arietta, who had helped her find the card and then circled round the shop. While she was here, she might as well inspect the one section she hadn’t gone over. The display of masks sat at the far end of the room, with a little wooden platform with inlaid buttons for controlling the selection. The masks didn’t have descriptions, but a little plaque above the platform reminded of what each grade of mask did.

She pressed the buttons to give a cursory inspection of how the masks moved and did a basic confirmation that there was one for each of the contestants, one for each grade. Given the prices, it was a very real possibility after the first challenge that people would start purchasing these, so she wanted to make sure she had a full understanding.

The oni ran a hand over the stand and began to wonder how it worked. It looked carved and solid with no visible electronics. It was probably some sort of magic but she couldn’t help but be curious. She tried to run her hand in the small gap between the stand and the wall, looking for loose wires. Of course, there weren’t any, but she felt something on her fingers. She traced it with her fingertips, and her eyes widened. It was a third arrow button, hidden from sight.

She pressed it and watched as the middle row made space as the wall opened up and a new mask appeared. Outlined in ruby, the mask was a male, and it only took Amy a few moments to recognize the facial features of their host.

“Well, isn’t that something…” The Oni said under her breath.

At the hotel, Caleb and Lily were having a coffee together in the lobby, lounging on one of the couches. From what Caleb could gather, as far as Lily was concerned, they were on a spring break holiday, had won exclusive tickets for an all-expenses-paid vacation, and were now happily enjoying themselves. She seemed to totally disregard the difference in their ages in her fantasy, and Caleb could only assume some magic was at play here. He was giving a lot of credence to Amy by not trying to snap Lily out of it and just going along with it.

His concentration and worries must have shown on his face because Lily snapped her fingers, “Earth to Caleb, are you listening?”

Caleb blinked and refocused on looking at Lily, “Sorry, I was um…thinking about the school work waiting for me when I get back home.” He looked down at his coffee guiltily

Lily’s expression softened, and then she smiled, “Come on now, Caleb, try to relax. How often do we get to just enjoy ourselves, huh?” She leaned in close and put her hands on Caleb’s knees, “What do I have to do to get your full attention on me?”

“Oh I have an idea…” She smirked and lifted a leg and in one smooth motion positioned herself to be straddling Caleb’s lap on the couch. Her hand took his coffee from his hand and put it on the table beside them, and then she leaned in and her large chest pressed against him.

Caleb struggled to find words, “I umm…” He found his eyes peering down at the hefty cleavage shown off by her cardigan.

Lily smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear before taking Caleb’s face in her hands, “That’s more like it.” She brought her lips to his and quickly pulled him into a heavy kiss, her tongue darting out to catch his as her hands slid down his neck and over his chest.

Caleb was torn between the part of him that felt he should be responsible and not take advantage of the obviously compromised Lily. The other part of him was hot, hard, and insisting that he hold on to Lily for dear life as she rolled her hips against him, as his hands clutched her hips.

She then took one of her hands and grabbed his wrist, bringing it to her chest and then panting out, “I think they’ve grown a bit, don’t you?”

Lily- Master Touched Her Boobs! +2 VP FIRST x2 BONUS

It was at this point that the part of Caleb’s brain that had been trying to be responsible turned in its two-week notice as his hand squeezed her ample breasts through her cardigan. They were so big that his hands couldn’t fully get a grip on them, and Lily let out a low moan with each squeeze. He brought his mouth to her neck and kissed down to the nape of her neck, remembering what she had always enjoyed back before.

Lily panted on top of him, her hands now braced against his shoulders as she feverishly and needily rolled her hips against the bulge in his pants. It was like she was possessed. Caleb could never recall her moving with such urgency before as he thrust up towards her movements. They were having sex through their clothes in the middle of the lobby, someone could come in at any moment.

“Caleb…I’m I’m so close I’m-I’m!” With a convulsing shudder and a ringing ding sound she collapsed on top of Caleb, still panting desperately by holding onto him as if all her bones in her body had dissolved.

Caleb ran his hand over her back and looked at her concerned as his senses returned to him, “Lil, are you alright?” He found himself using the pet name he had always used when they were dating.

Through a mixed smile, Lily turned towards him and nodded, moving to straighten her hair, “Yeah, just um worked myself up. Sorry, didn’t mean to put a damper on things.”

“No, not at all, I just wanted to make sure you were ok? Did you hear that bell sound?” Caleb asked her, and Lily quickly shook her head.

“Nope, I mean I couldn’t hear much of anything…haha. Though I think it’s safe to say I had your full attention for once, eh?” Lily shot him a wink.

Caleb smiled guiltily, “You don’t need to do that in order to have my full attention Lil, I enjoy your company.” he paused, “I always have, just being with you was enough.”

“Was? Caleb what are you talking about?” The flower girl shot him a curious look and Caleb sighed and pulled himself up.

“It’s getting close to dinner, why don’t we head upstairs? I hear the restaurant here is great.”

Still eyeing him curiously, a smile returned to Lily’s face, “Alright, sounds good. Caleb?”

“Yeah, Lil?” Caleb turned and looked directly at her.

“Being with you is enough for me too.” She smiled and walked in front of him and Caleb felt a dagger in his chest.