A Trip To The Buffet

Nzinga twirled the key to the buffet around her finger like a wild west gunslinger. “Okay ladies, I think you’re going to be very happy with your choice to join me.” Diaochan and her newly assembled crew were following not far behind. The king placed her key in the door and opened it up.

The sight that met Diaochan was as impressive as it was surprising. The buffet lived up to it’s name. The room was dominated by a table draped in fine cloth, and weighed down with piles of food. Fruit, cylinders of juice, stacks of pancakes, drenched in butter, syrup, and compotes. Bacon steamed on pans, while eggs awaited in all forms, sunny side up, scrambled, and more.

Most schocking of all? There were six people already at the table, snacking away. “What is this?” Nzinga asked, her dark shade warming into a livid shade.

“Nzinga!” Eve cheered. “It’s about time you got up sleepy head, we saved you two a seat!”

“What are you doing here?” She wasn’t able to keep the cool attitude she was known for.

“They gave me a key!” Eve said simply, waving the little bit of metal around.

So it wasn’t just the changes, she got everyone’s bonuses as well… Nzinga’s buffet, Erica’s underachiever. The king sighed. This game just got a whole lot harder. “I see you decided to bring everyone.”

“Yep! I wanted everyone to be together on our first day! Plus the food is really yummy!”

Diaochan hid a giggle behind her sleeve. “You are quite generous Lady Eve.” She waved her three minions off to have breakfast with the peons outside of the room, seeing that there was no seats to spare.

It was only Eve who was blind to Nzinga’s anger. But the rest of them did look on with interest on how the king would handle things. She was the clearest threat and any slip up from her would be welcome. If she lost her cool, and yelled at Eve for rendering her bonus null, that would be a good excuse.

“What a marvelous idea.” Nzinga’s face broke into a smile. She clapped her hands and went to her seat. “What’s good?”

“Everything!” Boudica moaned, mouth full of bacon and biscuits.

“It better be.” Erica had a cup of ‘Way-Fat Yogurt’, and was reading the nutritional information. “Their yogurt is a thousand calories.”

“What’s a calorie?” Olympias had a bowl of fruit she was picking from.

How to explain it to people who didn’t know what k-pop was? “It just measures how fast something makes you fat.”

Boudica was sucking some grease off her fingers. “And a thousand isssssss?”

“Bad. For yogurt? Bad.” She dipped her spoon in and had a taste. “Mmm.” Her eyes we cross with pleasure. “So worth it though.”

A few of the table goers observed Erica. As she ate the yogurt some of the roughness and bumps from her lingering teenaged years looked like they were rubbed out in photoshop, her pours shrunk and a healthy glow radiated from her face. It actually looked like she was wearing very slight makeup to highlight her cute features.

“Hmm.” Cleopatra looked around the table. “What else does this stuff do?” She looked to Nzinga. “Did this place come with an instruction manual?”

Olympias looked down at a place card by her plate, and gave it a gander. Not entirely surprised none of the girls here chose to read something. “Welcome to Gluttony’s Buff-et. Here you will find a selection of food for your enjoyment. You’ll notice the table is split into seven distinct section.”

They now noticed that there were seven statues on the table. Goddesses which overlooked their own domains.

“The food in each of these sections boosts a single human stat. Strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck. One portion provides a small boost, eight portions a massive boost. Upgrades can be purchased for further benefits.”

Erica whistled. “The yogurt‘a a thousand calories, if you eat a whole ‘portion’ you’re gonna get thick girl.”

“It’s all about moderation.” She replied throwing some tobasco on her eggs. By which she meant only dining during a challenge. She didn’t need to understand calories, to understand that even a single person’s portion was a lot of food.

As this conversation was starting to ebb, Helen leaned in to Boudica. “So how did it gooooooo?” She batted her eyelashes, and made a kissy face.

“It didn’t. Bastard said he was going to make us work for it!”

“Work for what?” The conversation had caught Diaochan sensitive ears. The Perception Porage helped.

“Boudica struck out with Satan last night.”

Nzinga raised an eyebrow. “They don’t allow guests up there on the first night.”

“Must have known he would shoot her down.” Helen reasoned. She sipped from her coffee with a smile. Looks like she ended up having a better night than her roommate.

Erica was fascinated. “How exactly did you work the shift from. ‘I’m going to kill you’ to ‘I’m going to ride you?’

Boudica stuck her tongue out at Erica. “Seduction is a fine art kid, I’ll teach ya when yer older.”

Erica returned the bratty gesture.

“Can’t believe you tried to score those points day one.” Nzinga had honestly discounted Boudica. She seemed a natural pick for elimination. For her to actually try something so bold was surprising.

Olympias nodded. “Can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”

Cleopatra stood to her feet, and addressed the room. Despite her diminished place among the, sometimes her splendor was enough to overwhelm them. “That brings me to a topic, I’ve been agonizing over…”

“Man!” Eve shouted, as she stared out a ceiling length window. “Am I the only one seeing this beautiful morning?” The glory of the morning was real. The run rising up the mountain, the valley, the trees the snow, it was heart breaking in it’s splendor.

But she was the only one seeing it.

Cleopatra cast an avian gaze around the table, and posed her question. “In this game are we on a team, or is it every woman for herself?”

The boldness of this question made the room fall silent. The camera even caught Eve watching through the reflection in the window. These women were all plotters and schemers, and none wished to let their intentions known, lest it be used against her.

Erica stood up. “You already know my position. I’m shutting this game down. If you’re with me, we’re on a team. If you’re against me, you’re on the other team.” Her three lost years had not utterly erased her boldness, and this declaration of war was issued without so much as a blush.”

“I’m with her.” Boudica stood and nodded to the woman of the future.

Cleo looked pained by this. Or maybe is was shame? Some unpleasant emotion traveled across her face, taking her composure as it went. “I need to become queen Erica, I’m sorry. Im here to win.”

Olympias nodded. “As am I.”

Nzinga nods as well. “I did not ask for this, but I will not get in my own way when it comes to my freedom.”

Diaochan speaks only because a majority of the heads have turned to her for her answer. “The question to me seems of little importance. We’re here for the pleasure of the master. Regardless of the sticks or carrots that motivate you. His pleasure is our only concern. There is no ‘us’ or ‘we’ or ‘I’

Cheery little response.

“I need that wish.” Eve returns to the table, looking serious for the first time. “I’ll do all i can to stop you all from being eliminated, but I must ge the one to win the prize.”

The last to answer had been frowning some time. Her thin figure shaking, her beautiful face turning red. When Helen did speak, it was in the form of a bestial roar.

“Rrrrrrrrag!” Helen screams from her seat. She slammed her fist on the table making all the plates clank and clatter. “Listen to all of you! You’re letting them split you apart for your own selfish goals…Erica excluded because it sounds like she’s trying to save the world. But you should all be ashamed! We are women! And Eve fucked us! We’ve gotten the fuzzy end of the lollipop since the dawn of time! And it’s shitty men who’re to blame. But it’s shitty women like you too! “ tears were streaming down her face. “They’re out there trying to control our bodies and our minds and all you’re asking yourselves is ‘how can I fuck over the other seven so I can benefit?’ When are we going to face this awful world they’ve made and say ‘fuck you! We’re not buying!’?”

Shame moved all of them to look away, at least for those who could feel it. The others she simply moved with anger. “That day… is not today Helen.” Nzinga said, her voice laden with an apology.

“Well fuck you! Fuck all of you, because I don’t care! I don’t care about becoming the queen to someone I hate. Been there done that. I don’t want all the treasures of the world. I just want all of us to get out of this in one piece.”

Before she could go on there was an explosion down the hallway. Plates shook, and the statues fell on their sides taking pastries and soups with them. Smoke and Debris zoomed past the dork. smog was filtering in, and it looked like breakfast was over.