beWilder’s Wildest: Round #1, Match #7 - Post Match! (SFW Version)

Hello again everyone. Caroline, that’s me, is back again, though not in the city… No, I’ve still got sand between my toes and a bead of sweat running down my chest to my cleav… *Ah*… That is to say, I’m here to welcome you back to the heat of beWilder Island, now for the 7th time! Can you believe we’re a week away from the halfway mark? To think my time in the sun is coming and going so fast… *Gulp*… Well, things are far from over. In fact, they are really just ramping up, right? We’re only a single match left in Round 1 now, the biggest of all I dare to say we’re expecting, and after that we’ll see the winners all come back to do it again. Sadly for some, for every winner there must be a loser who’s dreams end abruptly, and this week’s no exception. The only consolation prize at this point is a time with me and my microphone, so we’d better make the most of it… Right Alice?

R-Right… Yes. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here with you…

You’re welcome. We don’t discriminate here. All officially entered girls will eventually end up here anyway, but today just so happens to be your day. Let’s have some fun with it… Having spent some time in the company of your boss myself, I figure you’ve earned a chance to let your hair down.

I wouldn’t put it that way myself, but thank you all the same… (*Hushed*) Really, thank you.

So shall we natter a while? We’ve got a few things to pick your brain over now we have you. Alright Alice, for the first time let’s get to know you and you alone, but first the context of the match.

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And that’s the end of Match the 7th, officially in the history books now and forever. The fans had their votes counted up, and like I told you last week, our 10 remaining girls are now officially 9. The headline is Quiet has beaten Alice, putting the score after 7 matches between beWilderversebranches at a now unbeatable or matchable 5-2 to AoH, at least in the first round. That being said, let’s not lose sight of the fact it’s every woman for herself at the end of the day. The parody girls are reigning supreme right now, but how long can that last? Until the finals, like in bWW!18? That’s a question for a little later, but even so, watch this space.

When it comes the win the first side of beWilder’s shared universe just added to their scorecard, it was actually a bit of a contest. Sort of. We’ll cover that in a moment. All things considered, we the hosts and hostess, were looking at the on paper aspects of this match up and wondering to ourselves if last week’s record of a new Top 3 smashing would last by the time you were seeing me today, only it wasn’t like that at all. The votes came in a little at a time at first, then in a large drop or 2 over the first night, and by then we pretty much had our answer as each girl only added +1 to each of their totals after that, but even so it was attractive to watch. Sadly, it’s not all good news all around, as once again after spiking for our return to contesting in Match #6, turnout dropped back to akin to Match #4’s levels. Not bad, but has been better. And on that note, let’s ask the woman on the rougher end about all that right now.

Sure. Hello there… Hi all. Welcome to S-… *Fssh*. Sorry, force of habit. *Awkward smile*. Please, ask me anything. I’m all yours today. I make it a point to give my customers all the attention I can so they enjoy their experience fully… Which is why any chance like this to lie back a minute is a Godsend. You don’t mind? *Aahh*…

So I’ve heard about the busting your buns. Most people here will only be familiar with you for your actions in NTR, particularly the nasty ones, so they may not know that you’ve actually got quite the consummate reputation as a hard-working professional waitress.

Thank you, that means a lot. I was starting to really believe I was only developing a reputation for something else entirely…

You mean as a spinless traitor in somebody’s biggest time of need?

N-No! I… I… *Pathetic groan*… That’s fair… Though I meant more that people think of myself and Beth as more like other “professionals” on Easy Street… Can I maybe explain though? “Traitor” may be sort of fair, but it still hurts, and by the end of things I think… Maybe…

Hold that thought Alice. We’ll get there, possibly. First let’s talk about the contest, alright? There’re some good things for you to get out there in the public sphere. *Hrmm*… Alice, Alice, Alice… It seems like we’ve had this date with each other from the start. We try not to play favourites here while matches are still upcoming, but I think I speak for beWilderand pretty much all the fans when I say that we figured you’d be here with me from the moment we saw the drawn pairing putting you against Quiet…

… Ok… I… I can see that, now that you say it…

Well, let’s not feel down because of that just yet, yes? See, expectations may have been low, but you still smashed them to an extent. For a few hours there, when the votes first came in, you held the early lead. Half a day into the match you were still on the heels… pun unintended… of Quiet and keeping it close. Even by the end of things you kept the contest within the outer bounds of possibility, and kept it under a 2-to-1 vote ratio the whole time. With a final score of 15-8 to Quiet of all girls, it wasn’t particularly close by the end but a lot closer than anyone expected. For a day you even gave us hope of a slugfest!

*Blushing*… Thank you. She… She did have heatstroke at the time, for what that matters… Still, I did try my best. I usually do… Even if my best isn’t always enough. I did still lose in the end though, so Mr. Salvatore won’t likely be happy. I can handle that by now though, usually… His punishments… *Blush*… They aren’t always so bad, I like it when we do it in his relining desk chair for example, but please don’t tell him that… *Gulp*. Also, I’m kind of happy I didn’t give the superpowered sniper a reason to come after me… Even if I really did want to win…

Wins are important, yes, but they aren’t everything. Let’s make that clear. It’s also a game of expectations, and you Alice, yours is a story of defying your expectations by rising above them, even if with little in terms of results for your efforts at the end. One of few such stories so far at that. Just ask Asana after bWW!18 what good performances can do for you, even without explicit head-to-head wins.

That’s true. That is a positive way of looking at things… *Soft smile*. Since that wasn’t a question, however, can I ask one back instead? If outperforming your own highwater mark is enough to get you some positive attention from the developers, doesn’t that also mean that coming in very low also means they’ll… Does it mean bad things for you instead?

Still acting the Big Sister even now, huh? You just can’t help it, can you? You really are just a nice girl in that heart of yours, low cut tank top on you or not… You’re asking on the sly about Beth’s flop, aren’t you?

… I am… Yes… “Busted”. I know she’s only a few years younger than me and were essentially at the same level, but I can’t help it, you’re right. I’ve always been her senior, and after being called worse versions of being a “stocky” or “hardy” “Polack” most my life… Well, I have a thicker skin than most girls for being pushed around, especially Beth. That’s all, I think… So… About my question?

All I can say is try not to worry about it. That’ll all come later. Today is about the positives of your performance, but if you want to insist on the topic, we do have some leaderboard news to talk about, so I’m going to segway us right into that, ok? As you’ve artfully tried to dance around, your close friend Beth is currently sitting at the bottom of the pile with 4 votes, while Kelsey has been perched above all the other losers to come after since Match #1, having taken in 14 votes in her bout. With 8 votes yourself, you fit right into the middle of the 9-16 place pack… Which reminds me, we have something to sort out about that, don’t we?

Do we? What did I do wrong? Did I get disqualified somehow…? *Groan*.

Actually, no. Pessimistic, aren’t you? I suppose given where you find yourself most days that’s a defence mechanism to be expected, but even so, try to smile more girl. You’ve earned it for once…

… What’s to be decided is in fact a tie taking up the middle of the board, between you and another famous name you’ve managed to par up with: Mystique, can you believe?

Wait… I did? Myst… Mystique and I got the same amount of support? Wow… *Shallow smile*.

You did. Who’d have expected that on Day 1, eh? Sorry for how that sounds… Yes, you both got 8 votes, putting you both tied for what is T-12th place, possibly T-13th when the round is over let’s caveat. We could leave it at that, bWW!18’s list of 20 girls ended with a number of tied positions after all… FYI you yourself ended at T-18 back then, so even more good news for you climbing the ranks… But given all the tiebreak criteria we’ve set out for this tournament already, why not play it fair and make the ranks as clear as we can?

If we go by the strength of the Seeds, which we will, yours being the initially weaker of the pair means you should get the benefit of the performance vs expectation, wouldn’t that be fair? If we instead decide to go by the “goal difference” way of things like in soccer and other sports, “vote difference” we’ll call it, you would also come out on top as you both got 8 votes for yourselves, but while you got 15 against, Mystique let slip 16. Share of the overall vote is pretty much the same calculation in this case, but even so, you’d have that 35% to her 33%... So… Wouldn’t it be slightly unfair not to give you the tiebreak officially? Give you the tentative 12th spot all to yourself and Mystique 13th…?

Are… You’re being serious with me? This isn’t because the company I work for is the main sponsor of this contest, is it? I can’t help but think maybe that’s the case, but even if it is… It would be rather nice… *Awkward smile*… I really beat Mystique, all things considered?

You did, and that’s got nothing to do with Sal thumbing any scales either. Might have a lot more to do with Mystique’s fall than your rise, but it can’t be denied you’ve been putting in the work as Hatchet Girl #1 in NTR and adding x-rated participation since the last measuring up as well, so it could well you either. Who know for sure but the fans who voted?

That being said, that ends your run with finality, at least for this contest, and cements you as 12th or 13th out of 16 overall, we’ll see after Match #8. Good to see it’s not Alice and Beth +14 above as our list, but that’s about the best that can be said as well. Also, you may have come out above the likes of Mystique, who was once our 4th place woman it’s true, which is not something to spit at, but at the same time you’re finishing beneath even the lowest vote getting waitress on the Little Toscana side of Easy Street, Kriem (on 9 votes), significantly below Kelsey (on 14), and Frankie who’s still in the contest on the winners side (23 votes and counting)… That’s the hard pill you still need to swallow coming out of this.

*Depressed sigh*... That’s true too… It’s already hard enough to look across the street to where we used to be and see that girl wearing the same black shirt I used to while my new fishnet tights chafe my woman’s place… Now I’ll have to do it knowing she’s more liked than me too, huh? Even with that scowl and the ill-fitting spikey bracelets… And the bully did even better than her? *Soft moan*…

… Bright side, Alice… Focus on the bright side… The game’s not over and the war is far from won… It can all work out in the end. Those girls can’t stay on Easy Street forever, right? Not with the behaviour they’ve been getting into more and more… Mr. Salvatore will think up something and then it’ll only be us and Noemi again… Somehow… *Calming breath*… Yes, keep working hard and it will all work out. We’ll all be happy and whole again, in one uniform or another…

You need a minute to absorb all that? I wasn’t trying to throw you off kilter or anything, I was just laying out the state of play as it stands, if a little bluntly. You understand? Just doing my job… And as it so happens, we pretty much covered all we have to say about the contest numbers, unless you’ve got some things you’d like to add in yourself about how it was to dance with Quiet like that?

*Pensive hum*… No… No, I think that’s really all. Like I said, I just did my best, dignity be damned, and she came out the winner, try as I might. I don’t want to start complaining. I’ll just be happy with having done better than expected and say thank you all again.

Alright then, speaking of doing our jobs like we do, now’s the part that’s more fun for us both. Let’s talk a little bit more about you and the future rather than anything bittersweet that’s now the past. Get your commentator cap on, Ms. Wyrick, it’s speculation time! First question: What’s next for you, Alice? What do you know or think you know about the future that we don’t yet?

Oh. *Um*. Did you clear this question with Mr. Salvatore before we sat down, because if not I might have to be careful with my answer… Given my position I’m a confidante of his plans by necessity… *Umm*…

… I think I can at least tell you all that Mr. Salvatore has big plans to be the only shop left on Easy Street by the time Noemi can finish repaying her debts, which she’s doing a lot faster than I think anyone expected, even him… I’ll be helping him do that of course… “Once a traitor, always a traitor” I guess, even though it’s not like that. Really. I just made 1 big mistake is all… Beth and I both… As long as we end up working under Noemi again by the end, we can make up for it once and for all and all will be well again… I’m sure… It will be, yeah, just as long as we all work very hard…

… Other than that… I’ll be waitressing a lot. Now that I’m 23 and been doing it for years, I kind of have fallen into being a professional waitress by now. Mr. Salvatore has been paying to send me to night school though, to study up on restaurant management, and if I can pass that he might even make me the next recipient of the Salvatore’s Deli Scholastic Grant so I can go to an actual college in Philly. Isn’t that grand? For all his bluster and sometimes temper issues, he really is a nice man when he takes a liking to you… I think he’s making room for me to a bigger part of the Salvatore’s Deli company in the future, not just a floor employee forever, so for that reason too I’m going to work doubly hard for him so I can earn his generosity.

What you’re essentially saying is you’ll be sticking around Easy Street for the foreseeable future, upping your game as part of the NTR cast, and if you had your way you’ll be getting your foot in the door of the management side of things. Self-improve. Show some upward ambition. Still stay close you Sal’s side so you don’t make that loyalty mistake again. That about it?

Y-Yes, Yeah, pretty much, only you can’t call him “Sal”, it has to be Mr. Salvatore, all respectful like. Ok? Thanks.

But yes, once I finish paying my dues as a server again after starting over at the Deli, I’d like to become more, if I can. S-Someday… Someday, I’d like to be skilled enough to be a real help to Noemi too, once she’s my boss again… Maybe enough to manage a whole storefront for her and the Deli’s brand. If we can get her onboard someday, please God, she’ll have at least a dozen branches to handle in Philly alone as Mr. Salvatore’s special subordinate advisor, and maybe together they’ll even make it to New York City in the future like he wants to… So if I can even just help them handle the Easy Street locations day-to-day, with the wine bar annex on top… I’d like to… I like it here…

… Though, honestly, I’ll be happy just as long as I can be proud of myself again, like the old days. Before… You all know… *Gulp*.

You’re not proud of yourself now?

*Umm*… You mean, as like a waitress…? I am. There’s nothing wrong with being a waitress, 6 of us here in this match-up game are that so it’s no shame, even if you’re 40+ like Frankie. She even won, didn’t she…? I have so many regulars that come to see me and I take care of with care and attention too...

… If you mean the kind of waitress I am when they order more than just food, care and attention… and being “Hatchet girl #1” like you said before… No. Not really. *Glum sigh*.

Someday the warring will end though. Somehow. One way or another. By then the subtle whoring will stop too… I hope… and then I can go back to being proud of myself, and of Beth, the way my family say they are proud of me… Of my actual little brothers and sisters say think they are of me… If they only knew… Please, never let that happen.

*Tsk* Well, we can only hope, right? I have my doubts given this is the future of the beWilderverse we’re talking about. I won’t bet against drama forever… But there’s no harm in hoping for some good things. And if you can tell yourself the kinds of things you’ve been doing are “subtle”, then you can tell yourself anything!

*Ffsshh*… Ok…? I’m sorry?

Don’t be. I’m just thinking out load is all, mostly without a point. Let me change the topic to something more upbeat then, and something bWW! related too. Who of the remaining 9 are you picking to win? I ask, pretty sure I already have an idea… *Heh*…

If I had to pick? I think Lara…

That’s what I thought, yeah. You just scream Team N-… Hold on. Lara? You’re picking Lara?

Yes. I can’t pick Lara…? I can, can’t I? Then yes, Lara is my choice.

Firstly, I’ll admit to a teeny bit of schadenfreude in seeing that little bully who gives Beth a hard time getting beaten thanks to her, but it’s not even that. It’s not that Lara’s the counterpart to Quiet who beat me either. Lara is a low-level celebrity even in our lore. She’s like a Bear Grylls to us, only not a big fake for the cameras. She’s like an honest to God heroine, or as least as close as we’ve got, and I kind of have a soft spot for strong heroes… Plus it’s really something cool to even be considered in the same contest as her… I wouldn’t feel so bad about losing early in a contest that only a pretty, athletic girl like her would win twice in a row. A tiny bit of me would also like a European to win too, even if I’m more American by birth than I am Polish, my older family members are very “Old Country” Polish, so the pride is still there in me…

… Besides, if the person you thought I’d say were to win a Salvatore’s Deli sponsored contest, I don’t know if Mr. Salvatore would explode with joy or rage, and I don’t want to find out. Maybe she can come 3rd again? Then we’d all be happy…ish?

… Ok then… Those are certainly reasons. Way to think for yourself and outside the box. Lara it is then.

So this usually the part where we call it in, wrap it up and start to say goodbye. Or in other words, it’s pretty much the last bit of bWW!23/24for you. Just one last chance to say a few words to the beWilder fanbase for who knows how long… And I believe you had something you wanted to bring up? Over to you Alice…

*Oh*… Ok… *Umm*… Well, first, thank you all for your support. I really am happy to have improved so much since last contest, even though I’m still near the bottom… I’m not the very bottom. *Soft smile*. Oh. Sorry, Beth… *Wince*. We’ll both work harder to do better, I promise.

And about that big mistake I made… Back in NTR Origins: Noe Way Out… You know the one? I’m really sorry. Beth is too. Honestly… But we can’t go back and undo things, so “the only way out is through”, so said Robert Frost, and so all we can do is to press all the harder and make it up later, after we win all of Easy Street. We won’t give up, ok? Even if we’re sorry…

And there you have it from the mouth of the most caught up in the middle girl you might well find… That’s our interview done! Thank you Alice Wyrick, you’ve been one of the better expectation breakers and one of the better talkers thus far too. I’ll pass you over to a man you know perhaps the best of us all, while I prep for our outro and the next match’s hosting duties. No humiliation challenge for me this week… *Relieved sigh*… So Sal-*err*…vatore… Over to you…

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Thank you Caroline… Somebody’s getting a little smug for her boots I’m coming around to thinking… As you’ve said however, your time in the sun is almost half up, so enjoy it while you still can. *Hmph*. And to you, Alice… Let’s talk.

*Hanging head*… Yes, sir…

I told you not to disappoint me, didn’t I? I did say not to disappoint me.

You did, sir. I did my best for you and the team, only it wasn’t enough, I know… I’m sorry.

Sorry doesn’t exactly cut it, not with the 2 woman supplied for this contest that bared my branding being sent back to me like this, and not a single win between them to at least save face… It’s a shame I didn’t need, I’ll put it lightly. That being said, with all the hoopla about speaking of how you did better than anyone would have figured against a half-naked soldier in a latex bikini, perhaps I can find it in me to forgive… Perhaps.

… Does that mean you’ll be unloading your shame on Beth instead…? Please, don’t… Sir…

Oh, get a hold of your tits, woman. Or whatever it is that British Crumpet you picked as your hope for remaking champion in my tournament might say… Beth has earned her own session at my desk, it has nothing to do with you. It’s one thing to not be able to claim at least one of the fandom’s Top 10 women as members of my personal harem, thank you both… but to have the bottom of the barrel girl under my roof…? That needs some punishment to inspire better from said girl.

*Umm*… S-Sir… The last match isn’t over yet, so maybe Beth might still be one up from the bottom by the end of Round 1…? M-Maybe…?

Alice, don’t make people go back to thinking your brain is smaller than that bust of yours again, and just when people are starting to perhaps like you. It would be beneath even our red-ribboned little ditz’s faculties to think either of the pair left will only get 3 measly votes or less…

… Let’s stop this now, before I really do get upset. As I said, we’ll sort these things out later in my office, alone. For now it is our obligation to put a challenge of your design to Caroline, if the voters turn out next time, and we’ll do just that. In fact, I’ve saved you the trouble of thinking one up. You shall merely sign off on my idea right now. I’m going to push Caroline further into the deep end of things, before she gets too comfortable with those jabs of hers, specially by having her perform your special wine service for the camera. You can be the judge of her performance, as the talent behind the trick. Agreed?

A-Actually, Boss… Sir… I had an idea of my own that you might like better. It’s almost the same but… People keep stealing my wine trick, like No-*err*… like people we know… so it’s kind of getting diluted, right? Don’t you want me to keep it rare so you’re the home of the special chest pouring service? So what if… Maybe…

…Maybe we could have Ms. Caroline try the other one… You know, the trick Beth has yet to fully master… The version of my service but with her shorts down… We can make Beth watch and learn to get better, and then you’ll have 2 special wine servers with their own skills, and maybe that’ll be all the punishment Beth will need given where her face will have to go… Up against Caroline’s… Y-Yeah…

*Mmpph* Alice, my darling, you can be devious when you need to be. Throwing Caroline to the wolves and your friend Beth’s nose to her wine-stained back knot for a few minutes, if it saves her an afternoon under my full ire? So be it then. I’ll consider this your reward for doing so well, by peon standards. Go and make me a happy man and owner of 2 wine trick-turners of my own… Muhahaha!

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That doesn’t sound at all good for me… *Gulp*… It’s fine… Totally fine… It’ll never happen. It’s not like the next match will be a real vote vacuum, since it’s only… Oh… Oh my good God, help me… *Whimper*…

… Just 1 more match in Round 1 left… What some are calling “The Whole Damn Show and a Half”… Yes, it’s finally that time. It’s Goddess against Goddess. Tough woman vs Tough woman. Foundational character we’ve built a world on the back of vs foundational character we’ve built a world on the back of… It’s Natasha Romanov vs Noemi Bellocchio… You know, the two women you can see right now at the very top of the main page of this beWilder site and all our media? This time next week, one will be going on to fill that last quarterfinalist slot with a wide smile, and the other will be right here with me, her podium spot officially vacant and to be later filled with a woman who’s not her… That’ll make for a civil interview knowing them, I’m sure… The only questions left are which will be which and what’ll the scoreline be, as we pit the protagonists against each other for the first time ever in head-to-head. Heads will roll, I just hope one’s not mine… that is if we’ve all not been burnt to a crisp by the hotness of these two celestial bodies colliding supernova style…

… Can you tell that even I’m excited to see what happens? Well, come Sunday it’ll be me your hostess Caroline, 2 top women, and the final of Round 1. I know I’ll see you there…

Be staying on the island and beWilder!