The Audience Will Decide
"Okay then." She started to walk away with Mattie. "The hardest part of this, besides watching for the bastards, is your guards."
"Guards?" Mattie asked. "Why would the guards be tough?"
"Your guards won't want you doing what you are supposed to do. Dilly dallying with men. Accepting their gifts, going out on dates, etc. I've seen several episodes of the shows. Several seasons." She knew what to expect. "The bastards lie, but you'll hate the guards for their overbeating sense of protection. It's one of the reasons the women either find them more frustrating than the bastards, they get the worst drill sergeant names one can think of, or? They end up with them." She rolled her eyes. "They won't let them spend enough time mixing it around with the others, and by choosing day, the only one they knew well enough was their guard. The only thing in your favor is the challenges."
"The challenges are actually good for us?" Mattie asked as they made it to the kitchen finally. "Geez, look at this place!"
"Yes, it was made to handle the load," she told her as she started to pre-heat the ovens. "The hardest part in the cooking, Lily, is just keeping orders straight. I have a man for that. He leaves the list on the main counter everyday."
"Do the names have to start now?" Lily asked.
"Yes," Sweetie replied. "6:00 PM is where the world changes. Your brother should not be very far from me from now on."
"I'm not." Devin was right at the entrance. "This is the kitchen."
"What if we don't follow the naming rules?" Mattie asked.
"You get kicked out and they just choose of the dears or darlings you've interacted with the most," she warned her. "It's best not to push." She grabbed her nametag and placed it on her as a reminder she was Sweetie now. She also grabbed the pen near the list and wrote Mattie's name, so she wouldn't get into trouble.
She gave it to Mattie then looked at her orders that day. She had several chunks of meat already, that would make it nicer. Steak and eggs looking like it was up today, probably in celebration of the show.
Devin tried to navigate around the kitchen to learn where things were. This was what she was dreading. It'd be faster if she just made the food herself, everyone would have to learn the kitchen.
She brought out the egg shape holders. Devin and Maggie asked about it as she started to cook.
"How many are you going to cook?" Mattie asked. "That thing makes 20."
"172," Sweetie said. "Lily, could you make the coffee?" Breakfast wasn't hard, she had the means to get it done with her kitchen.
"How crazy." Lily saw the coffee flavors lying out and the coffee urns. "This looks like a mini cafe. All of your stuff is like a restaurant."
"How else could I cook?" Cooking was not a problem. She watched Devin going through things. Fine, she had to give him something to do. "Guard? Please make twenty chocolate milks." Not everyone wanted coffee or a breakfast meal every morning.
"When do you use the fancy coffee?" Lily noticed the espresso machine.
"It is already ready. They make their own whenever they want to," Sweetie explained. "They will come get their coffee from the large urns you are making too."
"This isn't tough, it's just a restaurant of food," Lily complained to Devin. "She can handle this. I think the cleaning is probably where it gets hard."
"Then that is what we'll take over," he insisted.
"Wrong." New people arrived at the door with one leader. "Since when did you see the wives cleaning all day? We have a service crew that will take over cooking and cleaning mostly. We will leave some things open because this is a dream show to watch. Family and women. They do want to see the women doing some cooking and cleaning but happily and not all day."
Different people were rushing around her kitchen. Yes, it was all about to change.
"Now, no one stays Saturdays or Sundays at the house. The first major rule.
"What about my daughter? Sweetie asked. "She's outside."
"She will be taken with you during that time," the man insisted. "You see, I am Deacon Deveraux. Our audience will not enjoy seeing some of the things that probably went on in this home before. We need to have a better class of men now, not freeloaders." He dusted off his jacket's right shoulder. "Making them stay somewhere else for two nights every week shows us who is really committed, and who just wanted free rent and food."
"Can we go to our home?" Devin asked.
"Yes, you should," Deacon Deveraux insisted. "It will give you time to meet up with your children without the show's antics. We need a serious amount of time to get that girl talking and not be seen as a pet."
"Sounds like you know the score," Lily muttered.
"Things pointing. Not nice." Deacon didn't go farther. "You need to name the girl too."
A name? For her daughter? There were so many she always wanted. "I want to go in a different direction than Wolfie."
"Can we get the boy's name changed too? Devin asked rudely.
"What is wrong with Wolfie's name?" Absurd.
"They named him like a pet," Devin muttered. "He should have a real name."
Ugh! Well, she never. She tried to remain gentle and polite. "I am sorry, but I hate to inform you that I named him."
"You named him?" Lily looked shocked too. "You named your kid, Wolfie?"
"Yes."
"What possible reason-" Devin started up.
"Because his sister is stuck outside on a chain while he is spoiled on the inside and rarely ever gets a chance to change. It is a reminder every time someone calls to him that he is not any better or worse." Without compassion and understanding between her children, they might never get along. "He hears her. He knows she exists. He knows nothing else and he never gets a chance to visit." Only she and Juniper visited her daughter.
"Oh. I assumed-" Devin started.
"You assume too much," Deacon Deveraux complained to him. "You are definitely a guard. A word of advice? Advice I give to every guard. Ask what the woman you are guarding wants first. If you don't, they will run away from your presence more often. A den is a hellish paradise. Addicting. Wonderful. Instinct centered rush of adrenaline to be enjoyed, and that lands people into trouble. Which is great for the show, not great for the rep of the house. From now on, this house runs differently. The old rules are gone now. Get used to it."
Deacon snapped his fingers at Sweetie. "Oh, human interaction. That will bring them in. In the first episode, we'll tell the audience they can name the girl and boy."
What?
"What?!" Devin bared his fangs. "Are you kidding? They don't have any right to name them."
"It's great interaction. No one's done this before," Deacon said.
Devin growled. "Who do you think you are?"
"Me? I'm a judge," Deacon said. "Now, it's better to play nicely with the audience. Don't mistreat each other, unless we say to do that."