On Envoie! 2

The time frame in which the votes were counted may have only lasted for a few minutes, but the tension in the air made it feel heavy and long. It was evident that everyone on stage was still carrying the weight of the challenge on them. The reality of their situation was impressed upon them as they waited for the iconoclast audience that was watching to decide their fates. This was only mildly undercut by the sight of Reyna with her inflated chest on the sidelines, doing a happy jig and humming to herself as she waited.

The seconds ticked on, and then a triumphant chorus accompanied by brass echoed throughout the theatre, and Lucian, center stage, raised his arms in performative jubilation. “The results are in, friends! Thank you, everyone out there, for participating. Looks like we had a lot of tight contests, but before we get to individual results…” The demon waved his slapstick, and the wall behind him lit up and began to cascade as panels flipped, “Let’s see how our girls are faring in all of your eyes!” The results were brought out, though the VP totals were only visible to the audience at home.

Popularity Poll:

Amy 17.6% +25 BP

Maddy 15.9% +25 BP

Maya 15.2% +25 BP

Noemi 13.6% +20 BP

Eliza 12.6% +20 BP

Lily 8.9% +10 BP

Mira 8.8% +10 BP

Stella 7.3% +10 BP

MVP Poll:

Maya 17.5% +12 BP

Amy 15.2% +12 BP

Mira 14.6% +10 BP

Noemi 13.7% +10 BP

Maddy 11.1% +7 BP

Eliza 10.7% +7 BP

Lily 9.1% +7 BP

Stella 8.1% + 5 BP

End of Round Totals

Lillian Wright - 42 BP – 17 VP

Mira Gayen – 45 BP – 15 VP

Eliza Dawson – 52 BP – 14 VP

Amy Tanaka – 52 BP – 3 VP

Noemi Castro - 32 BP – 38 VP

Madeline Purcell – 52 BP – 5 VP

Stella Vincent – 40 BP – 10 VP

Maya Quinn - 43 BP – 27 VP

There was some murmuring as the results came out. Maddy held her hands up to her mouth, She had expected to fall after the surprise first impression. “People actually like me? It wasn’t just a fluke?”

Next to her on stage, Stella was less than shocked at her results. “Why not? No one here believes in me, fanmail already made it clear no one out there does either. Fuckers.”

Maya was grinning ear to ear; She was happy to see herself in third on the popularity poll, but what mattered most to her was seeing that she was voted highest on the MVP. She had done her best and people really saw that! If only she could get everyone else here to understand!

Noemi stared, even-faced and silently seething. Fourth in both polls. It wasn’t good enough. If she was going to get Caleb to recognize her as number one, it was important everyone else did too. Fourth wasn’t going to cut it, and she was going to claw her way up to the top.

Sighing, Eliza shifted her weight on her hip as she stared at the results. Bottom half in both, “What did I expect? Everyone was expecting me to keep the girls together and look how that turned out.”

For her part, Lily had no illusions about how low she was placed. She knew she had been in the worst place this week, and the audience had seen her repeatedly make mistake after mistake. It was no surprise they voted her low. What hurt the most was seeing Maya so high, she figured the MVP poll, but the popularity poll too? “Guess we have some real freaks watching.”

If Mira was bothered by the results, she didn’t show it, though inwardly was relieved to see her MVP placement. “At least those at home understand what’s at stake and the reasons to try and get ahead.”

Amy just blinked, having done nothing but talk with Caleb over the course of the week, she had expected to be voted pretty low. Especially given the nature of the show, she had expected any attempt to keep the peace would net her negative. Still, the results were reflected in front of her, and more importantly, “I have enough VP for the Mask.”

Caleb could only watch from the sidelines and felt the perversity of the situation sink in. All these women had lives before coming here, goals, dreams. Yet now their worth was measured by complete strangers to be ranked based on their participation in this messed-up game show. It occurred to him as he pondered this that he really needed to talk to everyone about their goals and dreams, “Maybe, maybe when this is over, I can make sure some of them still happen.”

Feeling that he had given the group ample time to let the results sink in, Lucian twirled his Slapstick, “Yes indeed, we had quite the turnout for this vote, and people making their voices heard, so let’s not keep them waiting any longer. We know what they really want to see: Transformations! Starting with our good ol’ Master.”

The demon glided over in front of Caleb and then tapped the master on his shoulder with his rod, “Well, Master, we know you were looking forward to enhancing your performing skills, but unfortunately, the audience just did not care what you thought. ‘Getting Into Character’ got the least amount of votes, with just under 22%.”

Caleb grimaced, “Figures, alright then, so what is it then?”

Lucian grinned broadly and stuck his arms out wide as a red and gold Roulette appeared beside him, “Why our winner was ‘Pot Luck’ with just over half the votes going to it. Which means it’s time for you to spin our patented ‘Wheel of Fetishes!’” Lucian made jazz hands towards the wheel.

Caleb raised an eyebrow, “Really? Seems a little state fair. Also, what if I already have a fetish or the fetish would be dangerous to pursue?”

Lucian tutted and wagged a finger, “Master, who do you think we are? We took careful inventory of your interests before you even got here, and you are decidedly vanilla. Also, any fetishes on the wheel are perfectly safe for all parties involved. No need to worry about surprise vore showing up.”

Sighing once more, Caleb stood up to the wheel and with a hard yank gave it a spin, causing lights and plinking sound effects as the coloured entries of the wheel blurred together and the spokes danced across the pointer with a satisfying repetitive clicking noise. The sounds slowed down, and eventually the pointer landed on a black pie piece labeled “Bondage.”

“That’s pretty broad. Does it mean I’m going to like tying people up? Being tied up? I thought it would be more specific.” Caleb frowned.

The demon gave a half-hearted shrug, “The point, Master, is to encourage you to try new things. Find out what feels good and see what sticks, we’re just guaranteeing it gets you hard. Now come along, time to share the spotlight with someone else.” He pushed Caleb to the side and moved over to Lily who held her hands together as Lucian approached, “Well, Miss. Wright, it may interest you to know that you had the most lopsided poll of them all, almost everyone seemed to agree that you need a change in wardrobe.”

Lily’s eyes widened as she looked up aghast, “No, you don’t mean!”

“That’s right! With 70% of the vote, ‘Au Naturale’ won, so let's get rid of these…” With a swing of his Slapstick and a flash of flame, Lucian made Lily’s clothing vanish, all while looking forward instead of at her. This elicited a shriek from the plant woman as she went to cover herself with her hands. Clearing his throat, Lucian continued, “Now, my dear, to make your clothes, you just need to concentrate on it; it should be a very natural thing for you.”

Lily tried to do what he was saying but was so distracted and panicked by being exposed that as vines and leaves sprang forth and coiled around her body, they also stretched out to the lighting fixtures, leaving her barely covered and suspended from bindings of her own making.

Caleb had an up-close view of this taking place, and while he was worried for Lily, he could not deny the newfound heat building inside himself, seeing her bound up like that. Seems like his new transformation did not waste any time in that regard.

Lucian merely clicked his tongue, “Well, first time is rarely perfect, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.” He then advanced toward Mira, “Well, Ms Gayen you did pretty well for yourself in the challenge, despite being all tied up, though I think it may have awoken something in our audience because they seem eager for more.”

The Bengali woman let out a long breath and closed her eyes, “Of course they are.” She relaxed her posture; she might as well make this as easy as possible.

“Yes, with 50% of the vote, you are moving into our Master’s new striking range with ‘Looking the Part’! Time for another wardrobe change!” He flicked the slapstick and in a flash of Flames, Mira’s more modest business casual attire was replaced with thigh-high boots, garters, a stringy corset, and long black vinyl gloves.

Mira tried to look as unbothered as possible, even as the new clothes clung uncomfortably to her body. She turned and saw Caleb gazing appreciatively at her body, and the edge of her lips turned up, “Well, I can certainly make the most of this.”

Lucian glided past Eliza and landed in front of Amy, who was looking determinedly forward and not at the demon as he came by, “Now, Ms. Tanaka, your vote was quite close. Just a 2% difference between first and second place. But just barely Ass lovers beat tomboy enjoyers with ‘Oni’s love Peaches’ winning with 36% of the vote. So with that in mind, it is time to enhance your peach.”

Amy gritted her teeth. She had hoped so much for the cyberpunk look but guessed her luck was running out: “Just do it.”

With a spin of his slapstick, Amy’s torso was engulfed in flame, and she felt her body changing, hot, prickly, pleasurable sensations came from her body as she felt muscle shift and expand. She clasped a hand to her mouth to keep a moan from coming out as flames finally fizzled out. She dropped her hand and looked over her shoulder to see her newly plump and defined asset being shown off by her jeans.

Lucian tapped his slapstick in his hand, “Yes, you’ll find your new posterior doesn’t just look good but will feel very good engaging in all sorts of activities. Maybe you’ll actually earn some VP this week, eh?” Amy shot the demon a look of disdain as he moved over to Noemi, who was scowling in Mira’s direction, before shaking it off and looking at Lucian

“What did I get? I can work with anything, I was just hoping…” She ran her fingers along her neck.

Giving the Chilean woman a measured look, Lucian shook his head, “Sorry, My Dear, it was close, but I’m afraid you’ll need to pursue getting the Master to collar you in your own time. He should be more open to that this week anyway,” Noemi’s face brightened at the sound of this before Lucian pushed forward. “That being said, you had another close race, but in the end, ‘Harem Hermana’ won out, securing 39% of the votes. Brace yourself, these mental effects can be a doozy.” Lucian chuckled before tapping Noemi on the forehead with the end of his slapstick.

Noemi’s eyes went wide, and there was a moment like a wave of nausea threatening to overtake her senses. For a moment, the sense of where the parts of her body were felt out of sync with her limbs, and it was like she was floating. Then, as quickly as it came, her body righted itself, and she stood up and shook her head. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you ok?” Maddy was looking at her with concerned eyes.

Noemi stared at Maddy and felt a kinship with the blonde she hadn’t been aware of before. The girl was working so hard to get Caleb to like her. Such a sweetheart. Noemi would show her, could teach her everything Caleb liked, and make sure she was a good, loyal wife for her master. She smiled, “I’m fine, thank you.”

Pausing to let them have their moment while silently signaling the camera to catch it, Lucian then moved over to Maddy, “Ah, Ms. Purcell, the last refuge of all things good and the only person to vote Trust in every round. You have my deepest respect, even if you were only punished for your good deeds.” Maddy’s head sank and she gripped the hem of her skirt so tight her knuckles went white, “Really, we’re just seeing how dedicated our fanbase is because there was another close call here as well. In the end, though, the audience agreed with you and ‘Cater to Taste’ won out, maybe something for you and Caleb to explore this week with his own newly discovered interests.”

Maddy blushed but then raised her head, “I’m not going to stop you know.” Her voice was shaky, but as she held her hands to her side, her stance was resolute.”

The demon raised an eyebrow in curiosity, “I’m sorry?”

“People may do bad things, but that doesn’t make them bad people. Just because people screw up doesn’t make them awful. I hated that game, I hated what people did, but you’re the one who made them do it. So I’m going to keep doing the right thing, because I know…maybe if I manage to do it…others will…others will…” She couldn’t get out the last words, and when she looked up to meet Lucian’s gaze, she lost them.

His expression was filled with wide-eyed contempt, eyes glowing, fangs bared, flames licked at his skin, running off the outline of his face. Then he said simply, his words loaded with white hot rage, “Not a good person then, just a fool.” He then stepped away, leaving Maddy to collapse on the ground as his presence left her feeling overwhelmed. Noemi leaned in to help her up.

The flames dying down, Lucian stared at Stella, “No need to leave you in suspense my dear. You know from the polls how well you’re faring. So, is it no surprise that they want to see you as a devil? With just under 48% of the vote ‘Impin' Ain't Easy’ took it.”

Stella clenched her fists, “I get it, ok? No need to rub it in anymore.”

Lucian raised an eyebrow, “Oh, well then, I suppose you don’t want to hear that this is where I’m using my veto.”

Eyes widening, Stella looked up at the host, “What? You’re not turning me into a demon.”

Lucian’s smile grew to a sneer, “Not what I said, no, you’ve done so disastrously in both polls, I just don’t think one transformation is enough, so I’m vetoing your result to add on your second place result ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It?’ on top of it’

Letting out a sound like a drowning cat, Stella lunged at the demon, “You rat bastard son of a-” she was cut off being blasted with flames as she regrew the horns, tails, and wings she had sported from earlier in the week along with the world-altering dizziness that accompanied her second transformation. She slowly gathered herself up and stood on her feet, her expression making it clear how fed up she was with everything that had taken place.

Smirking at his handiwork, Lucian made his way over to Maya at the end of the lineup, “Last but certainly not least, our resident lottery winner, Ms. Quinn. You’ve certainly proved divisive over the last week, with many not knowing how to feel about you and your actions. Let’s hope you keep providing good TV this coming week as well, makes my job nice and easy.”

Maya tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, “I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I’m here to play the game after all.”

“Good on you, girl, at least someone here is honest about their nature as a duplicitous backstabber. But, I’m afraid, the audience would rather you talk dirty than talk strategy. With 46% of the vote, Crass Class beat the next-ranked option by 15%.”

Maya pouted as Lucian tapped her on the head with his slapstick and then clutched her forehead with her hand as she felt knowledge and patterns of talking warping their way into her mind that hadn’t been there before. As it subsided, she looked up at the host with one eye, “Is it over?”

Lucian nodded, “Yep, you are now essentially a sleeper agent of sex talk, you’ll find innuendo and dirty talk come naturally, so natural they’ll likely worm their way into your conversation. Enjoy.”

Caleb looked anxiously down the line towards where Maddy was and shouted at Lucian, “There, we got our transformations, are we done? Can you let us go?”

Making a show of sighing dramatically, Lucian sighed, “Always so hasty, Master, there are new roommate assignments to be had. We will be using the MVP poll this time to determine roommates as well as the date order for the coming week. This means our teams are as follows!” He pointed toward the backscreen, which lit up.

TEAM GREED: Maya Quinn and Stella Vincent

TEAM VAINGLORY: Lily Wright and Amy Tanaka

TEAM ENVY: Mira Gayen and Eliza Dawson

TEAM SORROW: Noemi Castro and Maddy Purcell

Lucian then turned to the audience, “As always, our viewers at home will get to decide where each team spends their evenings. That poll will last until this evening at curfew. Now then with that settled…” He turned to the contestants, “Congratulations on making it through the first week, you have the rest of today and tomorrow to prepare for the coming week and the remaining 4 challenges. 100 VP is still the goal. Tata. Come Reyna” With a burst of flames the demon vanished

Reyna waved and smiled from the side, “Bye, everyone, have a good night! Enjoy some cake! It’s tasty!” Before she vanished as well, leaving everyone alone for the evening.

Room Placement Poll: https://forms.gle/6LkgZhx8oVQSmzYM7