Round 1- day 1- A meeting full of questions

Ryan and Chris entered; to their own surprise, they were the first. No one was there earlier. Chris decided to check in with Samson. “So I need to be able to navigate and would like my phone to be waterproof. Samson, what will that cost me? Whilst we are on the topic of my options for a chastity device?”

“Direct as ever, I see. No problem for me; it makes it easier for me. You aren’t eligible for that quest, sadly. For the app and the hardware upgrade, give me a moment.” He gives Alex a call. “Chris wants the app and a waterproofing upgrade. Can I give a discount?” “But he is barred from some quests that others can do.” “Okay, I will tell him.” He hung up the phone before answering. “I can give them to you for 10BP. Normally it would cost 14 BP with current prices.”

“Did you just remove the markups for the first week?” Samson didn’t respond; he just shrugged with an eyeroll. “Deal. This is going to help me anyway; having a functional navigation app is always useful.” After hearing a ping from the phone, Chris checked the phone. “What are all of these other maps for?”

“This week you shouldn’t leave the grounds, but your harem members could plan for a trip to a different location with me. If you know they have specific ideas on where they want to go, send them my way. That way I can plan it in advance, as well as let them know how much BP it costs. We could also come up with better details. Don’t tell either of the annoying women, please.” The goblin explained, realising the trouble two of the harem members would be causing.

“Any women or just Heather and Missy?” Chris asked, having heard about the trouble from yesterday. Samson didn’t want to answer as the Jessies and William had just entered. Instead he placed two fingers on the desk. “Option two good. I will do that.”

“How did you guys sleep?” The master of the harem asked the three newcomers as the three of them headed to the ‘buffet’. The buffet was made up of overnight oats in portioned bowls, more Greek yoghurt and several bowls of cut fruit, as well as a large container of warm oatmeal. No bread, no eggs, no meat, no cheese or anything else you would expect, not even orange juice, just milk, water, tea and coffee.

William cracked his neck. “Could be worse; I wouldn't want to repeat it for too long. Tonight I will at least sleep in a normal bed, right?” His conversation partner gave a small nod to signal he was correct.

Jesse said, “Not bad; we prepared the floor thoroughly, so nothing too bad. A cot would be nice, but yesterday we didn’t really have too much time to check things out, but we can do that later.” Chris had grabbed an apple and was munching on it and held up a thumb.

“Would either of you mind Becky and Missy joining the workout?”

The Jessies didn’t answer but looked at Chris, who thought for a moment, chewing his apple and his cud. “Sure, that should be fine. I think Becky and I can keep her under control.”

“Yeah.. No! Wait! What did you say?”

“I am okay with Missy joining, especially if Becky is joining as well.”

The coach couldn’t figure out why they were so at odds with one another before. “Care to explain?” Hoping for a way to convince him otherwise, he asked the question.

“Avoiding her isn’t an option. I don’t have to forgive her. I do need to interact with her; interacting with her in a group setting is the safest option I have. On top of that, currently she can’t move more than 10 meters away from Becky.” Chris explained, leaving out the bit about the new transformation allowing him to train her better.

When Missy and Becky arrived, they noticed that both Will and Chris were wearing short, easy-to-remove clothes, as were the Jessies. William stomped over, frustrated. “Here is your 10 BP. You guys are allowed to join the workout.” He said before leaving.

As Becky sat down at the table with Chris and the Jessies, she saw a bunch of fruit in front of Chris as well as two bowls with overnight oats and two spoons. He shoved a bowl and a spoon to her. “Eat, especially if you are joining me on a workout. Your new transformation will not allow you to not eat and get proper form. Your body will behave normally whilst also trying to maintain your weight. You can’t lose it… But you can start eating your muscles. Magical hormone balancer is a double-edged sword with your other transformation.”

“That is not how it works, right?”

“Ask someone with authority if you don’t want to listen to me. I, of course, don’t know how exactly it works, but it suggests your body would act as a normal human body would. A normal body needs food to build muscles and function. If it doesn’t get food, it will eat itself, be it fat or muscle. Muscle is denser than fat, so you can lose muscle and get wider as a result.”

Instead of accepting what Chris had said, Becky rushed over to Samson. “Is what Chris said correct, sir?”

Charmed by the formality, be it due to his prank on Heather or actual respect he didn’t know. “Well, yeah. He is correct. Your body needs energy to survive. We could play with the laws of physics to make it work, but you don’t have one of those upgrades, merely one that makes it so your body functions as it should. Not one that magics away the need to eat.” This explanation is greeted by an ever increasingly annoyed face. “You currently don’t have the BP to allow you to gamble on a transformation; otherwise, I would have shown you the list.” The woman gave up and returned to the table. She grabbed the bowl of overnight oats Chris had set in front of her. The dish wasn’t much, but Chris’s had about an equal mix of fruit and actual oats. He shoved a bowl of strawberries as well as other berry-like fruits in front of her.

Syl had sneaked into the room whilst everyone was focused on their conversations about the night as well as their food. “Welcome back, ladies, gentlemen, gentlewomen, lads, lassos and anything in between, to the start of our first day. I want to commend everyone for at the very least trying to do some of our side-quests as well as doing the main objective to some extent. Everyone at least gained a single point of VP. Did you all sleep well?” A groan came from the people who slept on a mat on the floor. “Wait…” She did a quick count, and she missed someone. “Where is Heather?”

“We brought her clothes this morning.” Becky volunteered.

“Alex, can you have someone track down and bring Heather back here?” “No need to punish her immediately.” “She was warned. You needn’t have disregard for anything but her safety.” “Yeah, you can tear her clothes if necessary to catch her.” The host said on a call with Alex.

“How likely is it that that is necessary?” Chris asked.

“Depends on Alex. She has the right to make decisions, especially if I deputise her like this.” The hostess said with a shrug. “We, however, will continue with the announcements of today. As all of you know, today is William's date day. I will also add that we had a writers' vote for best spend of BP. Best spend of BP was simple with the three people who spent it voluntarily: two took a rebate at that time for a small bonus; one invested in a way pricier transformation. As a result, Ryan wins. He will get 5 BP. That is all for this morning.

Let’s have a look at our current scores.” She waves her hand, a board shows up, and Ryan blushes at the ridiculously high number compared to the rest.

Ryan 34 VP

Missy 6 VP

The Jessies 4VP

Becky 4 VP

William 2 VP

Heather 1 VP

“Any questions before I leave?”

Chris was the first to react. “I have two. Why so few bonus points/quests for me?

And what happens if someone takes a huge lead?” Ember looked at Ryan and then to the rest, having as result that the camera panned over everyone, starting with Ryan.

“Firstly, we assume you don’t need a lot of BP. We provide you with a lot, but as you seem to be spending a decent chunk on helping your harem. We can add a pot that you have to spend on the harem, or otherwise I let Samson spend it in whatever way he wants. To be clear, it can’t be gifted; it can’t be for facilities upgrades or equipment, only on them.” She paused, thinking Chris would immediately answer but also for effect. “I have no issue with people getting in the lead. The fire at their heels should be enough to drive them forward. I don't need to make it harder. Due to the high numbers, there are other considerations like keeping tension. I have to consider if the competition for the wish remains competitive. That, however, is going to be a question for when we have people reaching 100 and after all of your dates. One of you got ahead due to basically grabbing an extra date.” Syl said, looking at Ryan. “I also know some within your suitors have already agreed on doing at least one of their dates as a double date, so I am not that bothered by it.”

“How much would that stipend be?”

“100 BP.” The hostess replied, already having thought this through. Five times his weekly personal stipend shouldn’t be too much.

“Only to spend on transformations or upgrades?”

“Yes, effectively.”

“Can I get back to it later?”

“Sure, you can contact me anytime. You will only get the stipend for that round and onward, not any of the previous ones. So receive it this round, you will have it for all others. This doesn’t stop you from asking for it on the day of the last date or even on the challenge day.” Chris nodded as each sentence made him doubt how wise it actually was to accept the extra BP. “Anyone else?”

Ryan stepped forward. “What are pathways? Samson mentioned this yesterday.”

“A short answer for you might be that they are like families are to species.”

“So pathways are like a common grouping for specific transformations.” Syl nodded. “But they don’t have any evolutionary relationship.”

“They do. I will likely not send the same transformation from a pathway twice without tweaking. Selection is literal sense, and if one is selected or favoured in a vote, we likely write things in a similar vein, building on what was there. Sometimes figuring and solidifying functional upgrades as a result.”

“I can see what you mean… Will paths go extinct?”

“Low votes for a while or if we have no inspiration for it, yes.” Ryan nodded along, realising that votes were the lifeblood for the transformations.

Missy finally was fed up and asked, “Why do we have to live like this anyway? I can’t update my followers like this.”

“You can if you buy the other transformation. You would be obligated to, but you would be able to. However, the broader deprivation of technology and needless luxuries is something I insisted on to encourage you to interact, to live in the moment and not be on your phone. At least 4 of you spend all of your time on tech, and I could make that five if I add Becky, who is studying and working all the time. The Jessies and Chris need to be forced to be with people in a setting they are comfortable with.”

“How dare you suggest I give up more of my freedoms than I already have!”

“The people are still watching, and it is still up for a vote at the end of the round. People at home, remember she wants to use her phone to post.” The hostess said with a wink.

“I am only on my pc or phone at home outside of work.” William protests.

“Indeed, instead of interacting with people. I was afraid you would do that here as well. Most seasons hamper interaction outside of the harem. This season is no exception; we are only slightly more extreme.”

[Ma’am, it might be worth it for them to have a movie night as an option? You could pick seasons you like or think are useful to show off or have Alberto make a compilation.]

“A movie night? Like as a date or as an event? Do you think Albert would be up to making that?” Syl said to Ember into the void for most.

Subtitles appeared for no reason except to say. ‘Ember is correct, Alberto's name is AL-BER-TO, not Albert like Lady Syl implied. Do you at home want to see that? What do you think would be good clips?’

[You could offer both for a BP value of your choice. He has decent taste, and he likes cutting things together; you would need to give him directions as to what you want in it.]

“Thank you, Ember. I will take it into consideration. I will think about it. Nothing more?” Nobody chimes in. “Then have a good day and enjoy your planned exercise," Syl says before simply walking out of the building, having at some point decided that appearing and disappearing is only useful if you are in a hurry. You miss so much if you don’t walk places.