Mica's Choice

Mica was dragged in front of the board. The host released her and turned toward the front hall door. She noted that the cat, which was pacing, started pawing at a scratching post. That was probably not good.

The host declared into the hall, “So the most VP for this challenge is ten, the least is negative four.”

She turned to Mica. “Are you playing?”

“I will.” She stammered.

The host gave a Cheshire grin, and the cat went back to pacing, “Excellent. Place your hand here.”

They indicated a small button on the side of the board. Mica’s trembling hand pressed the button, and the board flashed into life. It displayed the following:

1. Talk Birds and Bees with Parents - 75
2. Track and Field - 100
3. Chemistry Lecture (18+) - 125

The host bowed slightly, “Your choice.”

Mica glanced at the host's head. Pacing cat. But surely she needed to ask the host to clarify her options.

She stammered, “Are you going to explain any of these?”

Cat pace slowed, “Which ones are you not sure of?”

She swallowed, “What with the 18+ on the last one?”

The cat started on a scratching pole, its tail flicking side to side. “Oh, it's just that we have a splitting of the minds there. I would have liked to have put you in a room with middle schoolers and laughed at the chaos of you trying to teach them. However, our producer had some concerns about that being on our show. So some alterations will be implemented to comply with their demands.”

She cleared her throat. “You didn’t answer my question.”

The host shook her head, “God, you are thick. Think about the show even a little. We must comply with certain rules. Anyway, pick something soon or there will be some trouble.”

Mica glanced at the board. Bad choices. Which one to pick, though? It is prudent to choose the highest point values. However, teaching a chemistry lesson to middle schoolers or whatever equivalent they set up seemed … rough. Best avoid that then. Talking to her parents about sex would be hella embarrassing, but that's all it would be. She would have snapped it up in a flash if it had only had higher points. As it was, she might need all the points she could get. By process of elimination, it seemed to lead to the middle option. It would be tougher than talking to her parents, however, it couldn’t be that much harder, right?

She pressed ‘Track and Field’ and watched as it got replaced with a screen called Modifiers. There seem to be many selections to choose from.

“Mica here has made her choice. Right now, there are modifiers that she can choose for her challenge. Positive modifiers add to the challenge, and negative modifiers reduce the challenge. Positive modifiers add potential score, negative ones subtract. So that our contestants don’t take ages, we start with one modifier for this challenge. Each challenge in the future will have its limits increased.”

The host pointed at the myriad options: "Will she add any?”

Mica looked at the list of modifiers closely. As she expected, there were pages of modifiers. However, if she only had one, she was going for the maximum allowed. She located a filter option and looked for positive high values. The max value she saw was +25. There were several options, and she randomly picked one. A pop-up with the title "On The Wild Side," the point value, and a confirmation screen, with nothing else.

If there were no description, she would have to guess based on the title she supposed. The one she randomly picked was as good a choice as any. Nothing concerning that was visible there. Would she regret taking it? She would have to see as she hit the confirm button.

The host spun her around and pulled her in close, “Viewers, you saw the choices Mica picked. We now go to the field for her challenge. So we’ll be back after this commercial read.”