The Worst of Talents

Justine checked her dress. Her qipao was good. Silver leaves on navy blue were striking. She leaned against the front doors and looked at the contestants gathered in the foyer. All were waiting for the master to arrive. This was the season's first challenge, and the producers had selected something intriguing. She was looking forward to seeing how it played out.

The grouping was so predictable. The college people were huddled by the store door, Alexa hovering near them. The other two were loitering around the dining room. All were talking about topics not interesting to her. She would slink off if it weren’t challenge time, so instead, she observed their choice of clothes.

She was frustrated that Julia hadn’t worn the costume she’d gifted her the day before. None of the costumes she had carefully placed in Julia's room had been touched either. Instead, Julia was dressed in a light blue blouse and white slacks—a combination that, annoyingly, suited her perfectly. It was the sort of look that would have worked for any of the challenges, she supposed. Justine’s lips curled into a frown. That dislike of hers was strong, some adjustments needed to be made. But not now. Later.

At least Julie was presentable compared to Mica. Still in her night clothes. Disgraceful. Lucky for her, she would get a change of clothes for any of her challenges. Or, as Justine smiled to herself, nothing at all. And she would not be in a rush to restore any clothing. Mica glanced nervously around, was she worrying about the challenge? Or was staring a hole in her giving that impression?

Alexa was glued to her tablet, after getting a verbal jab from her most excellent self when Alexa asked some pointed and rude questions. No doubt deciphering it right this minute. What path would that one be taken down? It would be interesting. More to the point she didn’t change from last night at all. Rude.

Clara looked good even in her clothes from yesterday. Justine blinked slowly. Clara’s breasts were changing ever so slowly. Personally, it was a disappointment that non-humans did not count in the transformation. Ah, well. She couldn’t hide forever.

Nothing notable about Mia’s dress now. She wished that she had seen Mia’s fall in the pool. That would have been kěxiào.

The other three were dressed well. Agatha wore blue jeans and a green blouse. The Popovs wore almost identical outfits: mid-length dark gray skirts paired with blouses in shades of red, blue, and green. Rita opted to wear clothes similar to yesterday's. Overall, that lot was satisfactory. Agatha had given up on holding back the Irish twang. Her choice might or might not change that this evening.

This lot was too calm for her liking but her contract had stipulations. Justine grinned as she felt her brother coming down the stairs. Spotting the master descending, she cleared her throat. The others glanced at her.

Straightening up she started walking towards the opposite wall, “Huí lái, viewers to Harem Hotel: Historical Treasures. No, you’re not on the wrong channel. Our producers have finally given us a subtitle for our season. Moving on to more salient points. The last time you saw me was after the initial transformations. Course you, the audience have seen much more of our master and contestants since then. However, I bet some of you are complaining that you didn’t see much from the current transformation. No real interactions that make up the heart of any good show.”

She grabbed Mica and pitched her cheek, “Not to worry. While the next transformation will happen before the next challenge it would be a shame if we didn’t spend some more time with them. So after this challenge, our dear contestants will have their transformation slowly dispensed. So, we guarantee the contestants will have at least one date before they transform more.”

She grabbed the tablet from Alexa and threw it to her brother, “Moving on to the terms of this challenge for our contestants. Some shows would expose how good their contestants were or were not. Give them challenges within their grasp. Instead, we are allowing them to explore the things they are less good at. You might say they will use their worst talents for everyone to see.”

She released Mica, scampered to the end wall, and tapped it, “Now we are not unkind so we will offer them some choice in what they are doing.”

A digital board rotated out of the wall, “On this board, the contestant will pick one of three options. There are also modifiers to how hard or easy their challenge will be. So what would prevent them from picking the lowest option or even not paying the BP to play?”

Justine swept her hands around, “A graphic was shown to you, but to fully explain it to the contestants and the master, here’s the breakdown. Firstly, we have a rule that if you don’t play you don’t get any positive VP points. If there are negative points on offer the order of the contestants not paying gets the highest negative leftover.”

She stared and pointed at Julie, “Secondly, if they refuse to play, we guarantee they will not like the negative modifiers for their transformation.”

She wagged a finger, “Playing is the only shot at good modifiers.”

She puffed her chest out as she lowered her arms, “Third, contests have points of course. For this challenge, contestants can choose the upper bound of how many points they can get. We’ll tell everyone what the contestant scored after each contestant finishes. And so you, the audience, don’t feel left out, we’ll be hosting a poll at the end to see who is popular or the most entertaining. Points will be distributed based on that vote.”

She gave a little bow, “So, to state for everyone. Welcome to the challenge. This week’s challenge is to test you, the contestants, on your worst talents. When I call your name, I expect you to come up and state whether or not you’re playing. Then you’ll pick your challenge and move on from there.”

“Mica! Come to the board.”, as she straightened up and pointed.