The lights hit his face as the door open, piercing his anxieties for the challenge to come, a feeling that had been building since learning about his team, knowing that the rest of the games were all on Peanut, or himself.  He hoped that he wouldn’t have to put too much work in this adventure, but worrying about the well being of others was both new and exhausting.  He wished he could fade into the background, find a hole in GM’s sight and slip away, but he couldn’t; Isaac was trapped.

	The light let up as his eyes adjusted, a nearly managed garden begin the first thing to appear in his vision.  Flowers of every color decorated the lawn of a large marble mansion with architecture that was not unlike those represented in old lore of forgotten lands that creature such as Sasayaki inhabited.  The door was doubled, a deep cherrywood, and neat granite slabs led up to the door, Isaac knocking cautiously as he strolled up.

	“Fashionably late as always,” a young woman remarked upon opening the door, his heart sinking into his chest, “but I guess you always were on your own schedule, weren’t you, Isaac.”

	He stood there, looking her over, much more grown than the last he had seen.  “Your ears have really started to grow in,” he joked, knowing Sheila had always been self-conscious about them.  Even for a mink, hers had sprouted out of head at a length so long they had a tendency to flop down onto her short chestnut hair, complimenting a caramel swirl coat.  “What are we doing here?” he asked, looking around for the trap.  “I thought Georgy would be doing everything in his power to destroy me.”

	“I doubt he could do that,” she smiled, inching back from door to let him through, closing it behind him and beckoning him to follow her through entry to the next room, the mansion becoming more luxurious as they walked through.  “We all know he has his weakness, ones that you always manage to exploit, but that all stops today.”  She leaned over, her lips on his cheeks, before feeling something cool on his back.  “You see, Isaac,” she said with a smirk, “my father may be too blinded to see your weakness, but I know exactly how to beat you.”

	The door behind her opened, featuring a large room filled with some of the most attractive individuals he had ever seen, all standing in line, eyes darting between each other like hungry animals, ready to rip at the flesh.  “Sheila, wait,” he pleaded, realizing she was preparing his microphone, and hers as well.  “There has to be another way.”

	Anger flushed her eyes, giving her pause.  “Good luck keeping that popularity, Songbird.  By the time this is over, the crowd will be begging for your head,” she smirked, just before switching the mics on and leading them both onto the platform with the others.



	“Welcome, everyone here and those watching at home, to a very special treat!  We got all of your snails and we heard you, you want more love, am I right!?”  A man, well, half man half puppy, uncreatively naming himself Puppylove, declared, his tail wagging behind him vigorous.  A screen appeared behind him, and on the bottom messages from those at home scrolled across the screen, the viewers already commenting on the slew of attractive faces.  “I am happy to announce that while the games continue, we will run our very own show over the course of the next week, the highlights of each day being show every night!  But of course, this wouldn’t be the great pirate games without a twist.”

	[i]“Winner is the one who can lick most whipped cream off from GM’s ass,”[/i] he thought to himself, his face dropping at the very real possibility of something similar making it into the show.  “Umm, Mr. Puppy,” he asked, hand awkwardly raised.  “I think I might be in the wrong place.”

	The crowd gasped, a sound he had yet to hear, the dogman tilting his head and rearing an awe from the audience.  “Quite the contrary, Silverfox, a name the new world has snailed in, you have been specialty select from the remaining contestant by our viewers.”  He motioned to the crowd, and back to the monitor.  “We asked, and you responded,” he pointed to the camera, “20 strangers, forced to find love in the most dangerous place of all!  There will be obstacles along the way, drama to overcome, and dates unlike anything you’ve ever seen, but I promise you, it will all be worth it in the end.  Open your hearts, and all of you will not only make it out of seven days’ worth of trials, you will find your soulmates.”

	The crowd awed again, Isaac not learning from the first time he raised his hand.  “Uhhhh, Mr. Puppy..  What happens if we, I don’t know, don’t find love?”

	Everything went silent, the constants all looking at him with the sort of disgust that came only from weeks of brainwashing.  “Well then,” the dogman spoke, ears down and tone hushed, “you face the fate of all those who close their hearts..  a cold and miserable fate.”  He looked back up to the crowd, gaining power in his voice.  “Not only that, the world must feel your love,” he explained, pointing to the monitor.  “Be the bottom couple at the end of each day, and the divorce wheel will judge you.  Only three couples will make it to the end, where a surprise will be waiting!”  The crowd cheered again; names already being shipped together at the bottom of the screen.  “Two hours remain before the first licking ceremony, good luck!”




[u]Dogs of Love: Night One[/u]

	“So,” Issac asked, awkwardly leaning against the counter, two women more interested in their bottles of wine than his posture, “you girls like fighting?”

	The one on the left laughed so hard her wine came up and through her nose.  “You looked taller on the monitor,” the other nodded.  “and you might look cuter if you did something with that hair.  Who cuts that?”

	He put his hand over his shoulder, but there was no one to hold back.  Isaac had spent so many days with Sasayaki, that being this long without her made him bare.  “My,” he stumbled, reaching for the comfort of marble behind him, “my friend cuts it for me.  She likes the way it looks.”

	Wine girl laughed again, reloading with another gulp.  “Come on, this kids a loser,” she loudly whispered to her friend.  “Let’s get someone with muscles!” she hickuped, stumbling into a soft ivory sofa as she turned around, rolling over it with fashion.  It was the fifth girl her talked to, a fact that would have been shameful if not the most successful interaction of the night.

	Half an hour remained until the licking ceremony, and Isaac was drained.  Winning the appeal of a crowd was one thing, but opening up to a complete stranger, especially without backup, was impossible.  What made matters worse with Sheila, pleasantly watching from afar as she lured in another man with a mask of insecurity that made any decent hero want to intervein.  It was pitiful, and he had forgot why they had what they had all together, but she didn’t, waiting until the clock dwindled down to approach him.  “What’s wrong?” she asked, reaching behind him to a stuffed shell, bringing in the plate to avoid any semblance of interest.  “Feeling a little limp without your blade?”

	“I know you’re pissed,” he teethed, looking at the monitor, the words #YouGirlsLikeFighting blasting across the screen, “but isn’t there a better way to do this?  I mean, it wasn’t that bad, was it?”

	The faint sound of shells grinding into the marbled drilled into his bones.  “I told you I wanted to get serious, meet my family, and you told me you wanted an enchilada.”

	“I was hungry!” he defended.

	“Then you stole my ship, left me stranded on that island, and kidnapped my butler.”

	Is that how it ended?  Isaac had done some crazy things for berries in the past, but most of them started to blur together.  At the time, it all seemed like the right thing to do, and as long and he could move on with Sasayaki, that was all that mattered.  He imagined what she would say to him now, how she would silence him and jump right into the conversation when he needed to, but his cracks were much more apparent in her absence.  “I was just looking for some quick cash,” he answered, a drink instantly hitting his face.   By the time he could wipe his eyes clear, he saw #IWasHungry across the screen, instantly realizing that it didn’t matter how much he whispered, the mics picked up everything.

	“I gave you everything,” Sheila cried, tears running off her fur like they were genuine.  “And this is how you treat me?”  Three men came to her aid, two at each side, and a third ready to pounce, yet staying in line as Sheila had her hand raised.  “All you know how to do is use people, and for what?  You never even touched me.  I can’t stand to look at you..  This..  This heart husk of a man,” she sobbed, her face buried in another man’s chest.

	She was right, but not fully.  Isaac was manipulative for sure, but Sheila had obsessed over this moment for so long that she actually became better at it, and he knew he could no longer win.  He thought of the burden that would be resting on peanut’s shoulders as 10 more minutes remained, when the unforgettable sound of a karaoke machine started across the room, an almost familiar face cradling the mic with spunk.


https://youtu.be/fd_7jIC9180


	Her face unraveled as the beat hit the floor, all eyes on the woman as thing strands unwounded reveal a pale beauty beneath, and a face he had not yet forgot.  “Pen-“

	A thin noodle shushed his lips as she swung her hips closer to him with the beat, vocals unexpecting powerful and soulful.  Sheila went to interrupt, walking through the woman as she unwound and reassembled, her arms playfully on him, the woman offering a wink before tossing him on the couch and continuing her song, the tag, #Heartbreaker, infesting the screen.  Normally, Isaac would want no part in the display, but his only metric for doing something right at the moment was Sheila’s face, urging his involvement with the shifty woman.  Isaac did his best to smile, his body being forced down as Penne slinked on top of him, waving up and yanking him to his feet in a spin that brought him to her face.  “Well?” she asked playfully, her body tucked tightly against him.  She stared at his eyes, then down, then his eyes, then down, confusing him.  Whatever she wanted, he couldn’t decipher it.

	“I-“ he attempted, cut off by another noodle to the lips.  He was nervous, out of his element, unsure what the woman wanted, when the comfort of pressure against his waist returned, a pale shape of Sasa peaking out over his shoulder.  It wasn’t her, he knew, but even the illusion was enough to clear his mind, his anxiety, understand what she meant as Noodle Sasayaki nudge his head down and pushed him closer, words spelled out in noodles on her chest, words that terrified, but the only words that could save this man in this desperate hour. 

	Hesitantly he grazed her face with his left hand, Noodle Sasayaki guiding his right to Penne’s waist, Isaac looking down and biting his lip finally getting his first sentence.  “Fuck it,” he declared, pressing his mouth against unsuspectingly firm lips, his own lingering before pulling back.

	“I’m not afraid of a challenge,” Penne glared over to Sheila.  “I’ll tame you yet, Heartbreak.”

	It was then that the woman licked his cheek, an action he saw far before it happened, yet lacking the skill the to stop.  He went to pull back, when the lights flashed, Puppylove returning from his dog house with a paper tongue, pinning it on Isaac, which didn’t make the moment any clearer.  “Congratulation,” he started, pushing Isaac and Penne together.  You two have won the first impression lick, giving you immunity tonight!  How about that!?”

	“Yes,” GM’s voice broadcasted on the monitor.  “Despite a low appeal early on, it seems the world has snailed #Wetnoodle and #Silvefox together.  You’re safe tonight, but is this.. pairing one that can last?  I guess we will have to wait and see,” he half smirked, a level of confidence that was terrifying.  Were they in the endgame now?  This couldn’t be it, could it?  Regardless, the two were excused, taking off their mics and entering a new room, a small room, with only a twin sized bed for the both of them.

	“Hop in,” Penne teased, noodling over to the bed.  “We have a lot to talk about.”

	“What is he planning?” Isaac questioned, trying to piece it together as he paced in the room.  “He is too confident, and letting his daughter join the games?  He has to have a backup plan.”

	Penne dropped against the bed, her body squeezing apart before returning.  “You’re never going to win, you know.  At least, not like this,” she sighed.  “That out there, that was pathetic, and if I didn’t kiss you, you’d be stardust by now.”

	“I never asked you to do that,” he said, sliding his back against the wall.  “I just, need some time.”



	“Screw time,” he laughed, disassembling off the bed and pinning him against the wall.  “What you need is me, and that’s painfully obvious.  Without a partner and crime, you mine as well be the wet noodle.”

	“I’ve never done this, okay!”

	Her eyes rolled to the ceiling.  “Juggle girls?  Yeah, that was painfulllly obvious.”

	“No,” he stumbled.  “I..  well..  I’ve never actually kissed a girl before today.”

	Penne perked up, almost excited.  “Never?  Not even with Miss Bitchy?”

	“I mean, what’s the point?  Doesn’t get you much further on the sea, right?”

	The woman remind silent for a moment, but he could see something brewing inside that squishy head of hers.  Her hands came together, her face filling with color.  “Perfect!  This just might work,” she smirked.