'Cause every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser

Sylvia watched with glee as everyone slowly trudged to the stage. Everyone looked completely exhausted, even Dakota.

“Here again, huh?” Nick sighed.

“Master?” Sylvia rose from the throne and presented it to him with a bow. “Your seat awaits.”

She stepped aside and let Nick sit down, while the other girls hovered warily around the other chairs. Dawn was the only one sitting down, nursing her injured ankle.

“Well, that’s something,” Sylvia smirked, glancing at the state of dress of the contestants. “Tell me Mary, did you bring enough sweaters for the whole class to share?”

Mary turned red and glanced down at the sand. The reason for Sylvia’s question was because Kim, Rose, and Dakota were all wearing thick sweaters to hide their underwear. The only person still half-naked was Carly, who still covered herself with the hood from her Ruby Rose costume.

“It’s indecent… for ladies to be walking around in their underwear in public,” Mary mumbled.

“Thanks, Mary, you’re the best,” Kim said, hugging the fidgeting redhead. Sylvia was surprised she could even wear a sweater given her transformation, but she supposed that some school uniforms did come with sweaters so it was just close enough to count.

“Yes… thank you,” Rose murmured, turning her necklace over in her fingers. Her mind was a thousand miles away as she waited for what was to come next.

“Sylvia.” Dakota glared at the host, and the blonde actually flinched.

“Um… what is it?”

“What do you think you were doing?” Dakota growled. “First the Nine gimmick, where you steal someone’s banked cards? And then the Joker?! What the hell is the matter with you?”

“Yeah!” Gina frowned. “You said specifically that once cards were banked, there was no stealing them! What gives? I would have gotten way more points than Dawn if not for that garbage!”

Sylvia cleared her throat. “Yes, well, what I said was the truth. No banked set was ‘stolen’ from anyone. The proper term is ‘traded’. You traded one banked set for another, see?”

“And you really don’t see any overlap between something being stolen, and something being traded away without your consent?!” Holly exclaimed.

Sylvia blinked. “…No!” She said with an innocent smile. “Now then, enough sour grapes from the losers. Let’s get to it, shall we? Please, take your seats my girls.”

Everyone reluctantly sat down in the same chairs as before, leaving Rose still standing awkwardly off to the side. She seemed to be looking for a place to sit of her own, but felt uncomfortable saying anything.

“…Ah, yes, our Auditionee…” Sylvia smirked, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “I’m afraid we don’t have any seats for you, my girl… so why not kneel in the sand before us like the loser you are?”

“Sylvia…” Nick glared at her. The pallor of Rose’s face was enough motivation for him to tell her to cut that shit out.

Sylvia sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Well, what can I do? I’m but a servant of the master, after all… Rose, today is your lucky day, my girl!”

“Mm?” Rose brightened.

“You get an extra, special seat, courtesy of the master’s favor!” Sylvia’s eyes gleamed with malicious delight. She spun around Nick’s throne and twirled her cane, before tapping the tip against his thigh. “…You have the privilege of sitting on the master’s lap!”

Rose turned red, her eyes widening. It took her less than a second to regain her cool, however, and force a shaky smile to her face.

“Y-Yes, it would be… my privilege,” she mumbled.

Everyone stared awkwardly at her as she walked towards the stage. Only Holly reached out to her as she passed.

“Good luck,” Holly whispered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. I really wanted to keep you around if I could.”

“It’s fine,” Rose said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you win.” She smiled with tears in her eyes. “I hope that, at least, even if I’m eliminated, I’ll still be able to support you.”

Holly didn’t have a response to that, following Rose with her eyes as the other woman walked up onto the stage. So she’s convinced she’s going to be eliminated… I guess… maybe she’s not wrong. I don’t think anyone but me would have chosen her as their buddy… unfortunately. It felt wrong. Holly wanted to be eliminated. She didn’t like having to compete against the others to see who could please Nick best, she already knew it would never be her. She wanted to see them all do their best while she watched from the sidelines.

If only I could convince the others to pick Rose somehow, instead of me, then I could be master’s pet. How perfect would that be? She could already picture it. But she’d lost her chance to have a say in this. It was up to the others.

Rose sat on Nick’s lap, smiling uncomfortably. He tried to smile back, but it was clear that they weren’t exactly thrilled to be in this situation. Maybe if it had been the Rose from before their night together, she would have played it coy and flirted with him, hiding behind her seductress persona like a suit of armor. But Rose was trying to be herself now, and that made things… awkward.

“Now then, my girls!” Sylvia clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “You all did quite well! Yes, quite well indeed! And I see most of you managed to complete at least one set and got some nice, juicy rewards for your troubles!”

Her eyes slid from Dakota to Mary to Dani. “Though… whether or not you feel the same is another matter entirely, of course,” she mused.

“You’re damn right!” Carly growled, glaring up at Sylvia. “What the hell was that!? Those slime girls! You call that a reward?!”

“It was certainly a reward for the audience,” Sylvia smirked. “And for the master as well. After all, were it not for that child, he probably would have had to wait months before seeing Pretty Mary Sunlight’s bouncing boobies.”

“Yeep!” Mary turned red and instinctively covered her chest, even though she still had a couple sweaters left over. It was a wonder she wasn’t dying of heatstroke in this weather.

“Now, as I was saying, any rewards you got, they’re yours to keep for the remainder of this competition,” Sylvia informed the girls. “Although… only one of you managed to get an item that will still have use in the rounds to come.”

She glanced at Mary as she said this, who nodded.

“To explain, for those of you who don’t know, Mary won an item called the Ace in the Hole,” Sylvia explained. “The way it works is that, before an elimination, she may use her Ace in the Hole to compel her buddy to choose her. It’s basically like an immunity pass, a ‘get-out-of-sex-slavery-free’ card.”

Mary’s face just turned redder and she sank deeper into her chair.

“Now, this cannot be stolen from her. And, clumsy thing that she is, she might lose it. If either of those things happen, it will be returned to her room immediately, and any responsible parties will be punished.”

Sylvia narrowed her eyes, running a glare across the crowd. “…Severely.”

Everyone got the message. Sylvia immediately brightened up. “But let’s not worry about that right now! No, we have more important things to focus on, like everyone’s points! To start, let’s take a look at some of the changes, shall we? Here’s the point totals as they currently stand, before we factor in any gains and losses from this round's placement.”

1st: Carly – 39 VP

2nd: Gina – 33 VP

3rd: Dani – 26 VP

4th: Rose – 22 VP

5th: Dakota – 19 VP

5th: Kim – 19 VP

6th: Dawn – 17 VP

7th: Holly – 16 VP

8th: Mary – 8 VP

“Well now, things are pretty tight!” Sylvia smiled. “A lot of ties there! And we’ve got some girls really shooting up in the rankings! Way to go, Kim, you managed to get 13 Victory Points in a single challenge! And that’s just on your own, without even factoring in the Victory Points for placing! Looks like you’re getting a hang of that winning spirit!”

Kim blushed. She had gotten those points from her rewards, but she felt particularly embarrassed by the last few she got, from when Nick landed on her and touched her breasts. Even worse, he’d probably gotten a glimpse of her in her underwear thanks to the whole mess with the slime girls.

If I’d known he was going to see, I would have worn something sexier… wait, what am I thinking about right now!? She turned red, embarrassed by what she’d just considered, and shook her head.

“With all those Victory Points, it’s a shame you had to waist that coin flip on doubling a paltry 6 VP,” Sylvia said, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. “Tsk, tsk, you really could have won big, my girl. Imagine if you’d saved that coin toss until after you got all those VP, and then doubled it? You would tied for third place with Dani!”

Kim winced, glancing down at the sand. Her face heated up and she clutched the hem of her sweater in embarrassment. That had been exactly what she was thinking.

“Or she might have lost it all,” Dawn said, glaring at Sylvia. “Don’t pretend like it would have been a sure thing, just because she got heads once.”

Kim looked up, surprised. Dawn nodded to her, and she smiled back.

Yeah… maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself. Just because I won that flip, that doesn’t necessarily mean I would have won if I did it again… it was just luck after all. Kim felt a lot better about her decision now. That’s right. I’m sure I made the correct choice!

Sylvia watched Kim’s mood improve with a sour look on her face, frustrated that she hadn’t been able to make the other woman question herself more.

“Well, whatever. It doesn’t really matter anyhow. Congratulations on pulling yourself out of last place, my girl.”

“Hey!” Mary pouted, annoyed that she was still in last herself.

“…I apologize, I meant tied for last place. Don’t worry, Mary will be happy to keep the seat warm for you!” She chuckled. “Now then, enough about those numbers. Things are about to really heat up! Don’t forget, we have to tally up all the point scores from the challenge! So let’s take a look and see how many points each of you accumulated from all your cards, and how many Victory Points you’ll each be getting!”

With a flick of her cane, the screen switched again.

1st: Dawn – 73 Points (+10 VP)

2nd: Dani – 56 Points (+8 VP)

3rd: Mary – 52 Points (+6 VP)

4th: Gina – 44 Points (+4 VP)

5th: Carly – 40 Points (+2 VP)

6th: Kim – 38 Points (+0 VP)

7th: Dakota – 36 Points (-2 VP)

8th: Holly – 25 Points (-4 VP)

9th: Rose – 0 Points (-6 VP)

“My, my, my,” Sylvia shook her head in disappointment. “What. A. Change. Would you look at that? Pretty Mary Sunlight in the top 3! Look at how many VP she’s getting! But that’s not all, take a look at who’s at the bottom of the rankings! Why, Holly and Rose! Rose in particular had a very pathetic showing for an Auditionee, not getting one single point!”

Rose sank back, curling up slightly in Nick’s lap. He blushed, and his penis started to get hard (he couldn’t help it! His shorts were really tight, and she wasn’t wearing anything over her soft butt besides a pair of lacy panties!). But when he felt her tremble, he knew now wasn’t the time for this.

“It’s quite a shame,” Sylvia sighed. “For a while there, Holly, you were in first place. What happened? How could you fall so far?”

She shot a pointed look at Dawn, who winced.

“Ah, that’s right. Someone stabbed you in the back. You girls were all working together as a team, when little Dawnie over here snuck away to take the Joker for herself, and steal your Victory Points along with it!”

Sylvia shook her head again. “I’m so ashamed.”

“Enough of that,” Dakota scowled. “It’s your fault for introducing that stupid mechanic in the first place.”

“Whatever. But as I was saying, our big winner today is Dawn! For getting in first place (by stabbing someone in the back, can’t forget that) she has earned herself not just immunity from elimination, but immunity from transformations this round as well! Unlike several of you, who may have more than one transformation coming their way…”

She clapped her hands together and smiled. “But anyway! Factoring in all these changes to the VP score, let’s take a look and see what our new totals are!

1st: Carly – 41 VP

2nd: Gina – 37 VP

3rd: Dani – 34 VP

4th: Dawn – 27 VP

5th: Kim – 19 VP

6th: Dakota – 17 VP

7th: Rose – 16 VP

8th: Mary – 14 VP

9th: Holly – 12 VP

“Well now, that’s a bit of a shake-up!” Sylvia laughed. “We finally don’t have any more ties! We’ve got a firm ranking from first to ninth place, and you just love to see that! And look, Carly’s managed to maintain her hold on first place, but Gina and Dani are catching up fast! It’s not always interesting when first through third don’t change… but the fact only two of the three girls here have had sex with the master is really something!”

She turned to Dani and winked. “In other words, any time you’d like to be in first place, it’s yours for the taking my girl!”

Dani glared at the insinuation and clutched the armrests of her chair.

“As for the ones below third… yes, quite a shakeup! Due to her terrible showing this challenge, Rose dropped from fourth all the way to seventh! And she wasn’t the only one to fall. By merit of the negative points they accrued, Dakota slipped down into sixth behind Kim, while Holly fell to dead last, behind Mary! Out of everyone here, Dawn had the most significant rise, getting up to fourth! But who can say where things will settle? The game is still young, and there are many points to be won!” Sylvia finished with a cackle, tapping her cane on the stage as the screen shifted away.

“Now then. I know most of our audience has been waiting for the transformation rounds, and I don’t blame you. I’m excited too! But before we can get to that, we have something more important to focus on.”

Sylvia turned to the camera, and looked at the audience directly.

“One of these lovely ladies here… has just faced her last challenge as a member of the master’s harem.”

The ominous tone of her voice fought with the chipper smile on her face in a way that unnerved Nick and the other girls. She wiped a fake tear from her eye and turned back to the crowd.

“That’s right! The first order of business… we must decide on new buddies for every… buddy. Heh. But seriously folks-”

“Sylvia!” Nick snapped. He stared her dead in the eye. “Do you really… do you have to do this? Eliminate someone?”

Sylvia pouted. “Yes, Nick, I do,” she said. “These girls need motivation! And more than that, they need to get closer to one another! The fear of being eliminated is the greatest tool to motivate that!”

A wicked smile crossed her face. “And besides, we’ve got a new Auditionee coming in soon… and you won’t believe who it is.”

Nick didn’t like the sound of that.

Sylvia brightened up immediately. “Now then! The question of the day is who’s going to be eliminated! Has Rose passed the trial by fire of an Auditionee, and found a place within the master’s harem, thus eliminating one of the current girls? Or will she be shoved aside in place of the new Auditionee? It’s quite a pickle, yes… but before we can sort things out, I think it’s important to remind everyone of the rules of elimination. You see, when a girl is eliminated, all her BP and VP are forfeit. They will be given to the Auditionee as sort of a ‘starting bonus’, so she isn’t completely behind her competitors. Think of it as passing the baton off to the next member of the harem!”

She licked her lips. “And it’s not like you’ll have any use for those points where you’re going.”

The girls tensed.

“For the eliminated girls, usually on Harem Hotel we do something really degrading and humiliating,” Sylvia continued. “But because Nick is being such a good sport about this, I promised that whatever exit transformations you get will be a little more… moderate than the standard fare. In other words, you’ll still be keeping human shape, which is something to be grateful for!”

Rose shivered. That hadn’t even crossed her mind as a possibility.

“And, of course, you will lose your place in the master’s harem,” Sylvia added. “But don’t worry! You’ll still remain here, on Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season, until the season is over and the master’s harem is set in stone!”

The canned applause echoing across the beach sounded a lot more ominous than it used to.

“Of course, once the season is over, you may do whatever you wish. Remain on the island, go on back to your old life, if you’re in a position where you can do that, and hey! You can even stick with the master as his sex slave or whatever if you like! We don’t really care,” Sylvia added with a shrug.

Holly felt her pussy moisten within her chastity belt. She resisted the urge to drool.

Sylvia winked. “So in other words, there’s nothing to worry about! Being eliminated isn’t some big thing! Just be your best self! And who knows, you might even like your exit transformation!”

Out of all the women here, Nick was pretty sure the only one who might like her exit transformation would be Holly. Maybe Gina, depending.

“Well now, since we know about what’s going to happen to the eliminated party, let’s see who’s up for elimination, shall we? Taking a look at the scores, from this challenge, Dawn, Dani, Mary, and Dakota have all gotten immunity within their teams!” Sylvia announced. “That means any of their buddies is vulnerable to being voted off! What a conundrum! What a pickle! Who’s it going to be?”

The girls squirmed in their seats. Even the ones pretty sure that their buddies would pick them couldn’t be certain.

“The girls who may be leaving the harem today are Gina, Carly, Kim, Holly, and, of course, our sweet little Rose. But it’s not up to me! And it’s not up to Nick!”

“Hey! Shouldn’t I at least get some say, since it’s my harem?” Nick protested.

Sylvia glanced at him curiously. “Oh, really now?” She smirked. “Are you telling me that you’re really willing to condemn one of these girls to an elimination directly?”

Nick felt Rose go cold in his lap. He looked past her out at the sea of staring faces in front of him.

Holly had her hand raised and was practically bouncing out of her seat like a straight-A student desperate to be called on in class.

Sylvia smirked. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. No, the ones who will choose will be you ladies, of course! You’ll each get to choose who you want to be your new buddy. But to keep things fair, we’ll be going in ascending order from lowest placement this round to highest.”

“What?” Dani gasped, surprised. “You mean we don’t just get to pick at once?”

“Of course not,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “It would be too hectic that way. No, my girls, this way the person who had the biggest loss this challenge will get to choose who she wants for her buddy in the next challenge. Which means the selection order will be Dakota, then Mary, then Dani, and finally Dawn will choose between who is left.”

Dawn turned pale. She’d be the one making the final decision as to who would be getting eliminated.

Enjoying the look of worry on Dawn’s face, Sylvia tapped her cane on the stage and a table popped up into existence right in front of the fire pit. An elegantly designed tray sat on the table, and resting in that tray were four roses.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Dakota groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Not at all!” Sylvia chirped. “Now, shall we get to it, then? Dakota, please come up here and tell us all who you think deserves a rose!”

---

Hi. Sylvia River here. We have a lot of fun here on Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season, don’t we? But you know what’s not fun?

Vote tampering.

Every year, more and more people try to tamper with votes. Even on election years, can you believe that? Well, I say, enough is enough.

For the sake of a more secure election, we’ll be using a new, special kind of voting for this upcoming poll. If it works, we will probably do the same for all elimination rounds. Please go to the form, and choose who you think should earn each girl’s rose. The choices are from First Choice to Fifth Choice, and please indicate for each one. If a girl’s First Choice has already been selected, then we will continue to her Second Choice, and Third Choice, all the way down to Fourth Choice if we must. And, if you would, please leave a little note after each choice so we here at Harem Hotel can understand why you chose that girl in particular.

https://forms.gle/cRFpcxpADpDARNWG9

Thank you! And now… on to the fun part!

You see… one of our girls has a special transformation coming up! That’s right, a super-secret surprise! And that person is one Gina DeAmico. She relinquished her first transformation… but in exchange, she’s going to get a brand-new one! Unless she doesn’t get a rose, of course. But I like to think positive! So with that in mind, here will be the seven possible transformations that our newly-reborn alt girl will be given!

• Dancing with Myself: Gina likes to party, but from now on, she’ll find that when she’s by herself, she can’t find fulfillment. Her highs don’t feel as high. Her buzz doesn’t get her buzzed enough. Even her music doesn’t sound as good as it does without someone else joining in. But for every person she CAN get to party with her, the more enjoyable she’ll find the activity. (Party Animal)
• In for a Penny: Drugs and alcohol aren’t the only things you can get addicted to! Starting now, Gina will feel an overwhelming urge to gamble whenever the opportunity presents itself, on everything from card games to birth control. This pressure will only subside when she “wins” her gamble, whatever that entails. (Party Animal)
• Who’s a Good Girl? Yes, You Are!: Gina rejected her status as a “Good Girl” once already. So we’re going to approach that from a slightly different angle! Now, Gina will become a puppy girl, with dog ears, a tail, and a nice studded collar just for her! (Good Girl)
• Leave the Clothes, Take the Cannoli: Gina doesn’t want to wear pretty dresses or wash out her hair dye? Fine, she can dress however she likes. But that won’t help the overwhelming urge she’ll have from this point on to become more responsible and behave like a “Good Girl”, especially as far as others are concerned! (Good Girl)
• Just WHAT Do You Think You’re Doing, Young Lady?: Gina might want to regain some of her rebellious spirit, but she knows it’s wrong to go against the audience’s wishes like this and relinquish her transformation. From now on, whenever she does something that she thinks her parents wouldn’t approve of, she’ll feel compelled to punish herself in their place. This compulsion will continue to build until she finds a suitable punishment. (Submissive)
• Darker than Black: Whenever Gina gets aroused from something other than pain, she will feel a compulsion to spank herself 10 times, if possible. If unable to do so, such as if her arms are bound or she is asleep, that compulsion will be banked until the next possible opportunity to fulfill it. (Submissive)
• Feh. Fucking Posers: God, those girls at the top of the popularity poll? They’re so lame. Gina wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with the “cool crowd”. She knows the real awesome folks who need her support are the ones at the bottom. The audience may not see how fucking badass they are, but a rebel like Gina knows they’re tight. (Hipster)

And those are your options! So, what will Gina receive, in place of her previous transformation? I leave that up to you to decide!

https://strawpoll.com/PKgl3wW2anp

Both of these polls will close in 5 days.