Am I bright enough to shine in your spaces?

Morgana burst out of the bathroom looking like she’d seen a ghost.

…No, wait, knowing her, she’d probably like seeing a ghost.

…

Morgana burst out of the bathroom looking like she’d seen a cheerleader. Her face was paler than normal and she had a wild look in her eye. She clutched her diary tightly to her chest and started hyperventilating, completely terrified.

Dawn may not have been a psychiatrist, but she could see that something was seriously wrong with the other girl.

“What’s the matter?” She asked, getting out of bed and running over to her. She could tell that the goth was about two seconds away from a panic attack.

“The… my diary…” She sniveled, falling to her knees. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “I… I-!”

“What?” Dawn continued pressing her. “What did you do? Tell me, it’s fine. Did you write my name down? It’s okay, I won’t get mad.”

Morgana shook her head. “Not… not your name,” she mumbled. She held up the book for Dawn to inspect, and the shorter woman took it, flipping through the pages. She arrived at the most recent one, and her blood went cold.

“…Oh,” she said as she saw the name written next to it. Then her eyes slid over to the fantasy itself, to see what Morgana had written about her. “…Oh oh.”

“I… I didn’t mean to!” Morgana pleaded, **** for the other woman to believe her. “I didn’t, I swear! But… when my fantasies, come, they just… and if I don’t write someone’s name first, I guess I just…”

She was taking frantic breaths, and Dawn feared she might suffocate. She couldn’t even finish a sentence at this point. Dawn set the diary aside and placed both hands on Morgana’s shoulders, shaking her.

“It’s fine,” she said sternly. “It’s going to be fine. You don’t have to worry.”

Morgana looked up at her with watery eyes. “R-really? But… but I… I wrote Mary’s name.”

Yep, that she did. Mary, probably the last person in the hotel who would be happy with receiving a dream like this, except maybe Dani. Honestly, it was a coin toss between which one of them would respond worse to such an erotic dream with Nick.

Dawn sighed. “Yeah… Mary… she might be mad,” she admitted. That didn’t go well for Morgana. The goth froze, and began shaking even more. She looked just about ready to bawl.

SMACK!

So Dawn did what she usually did when someone was freaking out on her, and slapped her across the face.

…Yeah, maybe it was for the best that she didn’t become a doctor.

“Uwehg?!” Morgana gulped, staring at Dawn in shock. The diminutive cat girl was the last person she expected to resort to physical ****!

“There. Are you calm now?” Dawn asked acerbically. “Because I really don’t want to have to do that again.”

Morgana nodded obediently.

Dawn sighed. “Good. Now, about this issue. Yeah, you really messed up writing Mary’s name in that book. At least you realize that it’s a mistake. That’s good.”

“But it wasn’t my fault!” Morgana protested. “I didn’t mean to, my transformation made me do it!” She protested.

“And do you think that’s going to make a difference?” Dawn asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Um… but… if I didn’t mean to do it, then it’s fine, right?” Morgana asked hopefully.

Dawn quickly put an end to that.

“Not even close. The problem is that nobody’s going to believe you when you tell them that you didn’t mean to do it. Not even Mary, and she’s the most trusting person I know.”

Morgana gulped. Her eyes started watering again. “B-but… it’s the truth! I didn’t mean to write it down, you saw me rush out of here after begging you!”

Dawn nodded “Yeah, I did,” she confirmed. “But even if that’s the truth, even if you’re believed, that doesn’t mean your answer is going to be accepted.”

Morgana stared at her. “I… I don’t know what that means,” she admitted. “Accepted?”

Dawn helped Morgana stand and guided her over to the bed, sitting the other girl down.

“Let me explain to you about something called ‘perspective’,” Dawn said. “It’s the way people view those around them, and how they interpret the actions of others. Because the truth isn’t always accepted as truth.”

“But… it’s the truth,” Morgana muttered.

“Yes. But that doesn’t matter. “Listen, when I was in school, a girl sat next to me in physics, Julie Zwickie. She was smart enough, not as smart as me, of course, but smart. And unlike me, she was very popular. I’m sure you know the type.”

“Ugh, some blonde slut, I bet,” Morgana sneered with scorn, already seeing the beach ball-boobed bimbo now. “Spends more time on her back then sitting in class, always spreading her legs whenever-”

Dawn raised her hand. “Yes, yes, very vivid, thank you. But my point is, when finals came around, Julie copied off of my test. And I caught her doing it, too. And guess what? She got a perfect score. I lodged a complaint with the dean, and there was a full inquiry, and you know what happened?”

Morgana shook her head.

“She got off completely. There wasn’t enough ‘evidence’ to support her having cheated off me, even though all the answers we put were the same!” Dawn growled, feeling anger buried for years beginning to surface. “You see, I was the stuck-up kid who never had fun and nobody wanted to talk to because I was always focused on my work, and Julie was charismatic and popular. So when she said that she studied really hard and batted her eyelashes, everyone believed her, and nobody believed me. I was telling the truth, but it didn’t matter, because they liked Julie more. Fucking lying bitch.”

Morgana was starting to get angry too. But she didn’t really get the point of this. “What does this have to do with me? I mean, you’re a witness, right? You can just say that I didn’t mean to write it! It’s not the same thing at all.”

Dawn nodded. “I could, yeah… but… I can’t.”

“What?!” Morgana sputtered. “Why not?!”

“Because even though I believe you, I don’t have any proof this time either,” Dawn said. “For all I know, you DID mean to write it, and you’re just lying to me. How am I supposed to prove to Mary and the others that this is the truth?”

“But…” The goth’s black lip began to quiver.

Dawn sighed and scratched her head. Her ears flattened. “This is exactly what I was trying to warn you about earlier, damn it. Morgana, your biggest problem is that you have a terrible reputation!”

“I do?” The tears were coming back again. Damn it, Dawn really hated seeing people cry.

“Yes! You do!” She didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but she was frustrated by the poor girl’s naïvete. “Morgana, Mary isn’t going to believe you when you told her you didn’t mean it, and even if she did, she’s not going to give that any consideration, she’s just going to get upset. And the reason for that is because of how you comport yourself all the time!”

“Com… port?”

Dawn sighed again. “How you act, I mean. You go around bragging about how you’re this witch who will win Nick’s heart and turn the rest of us into his sex slaves, but that doesn’t buy you friends. Julie was popular and charismatic, so she got away with it. You’re the kind of patsy who gets framed as a troublemaker by the popular girls because of your bad behavior!”

Morgana started bawling for real. “But… that’s not faaaaaaiiir!” She wailed.

Dawn shook her head. “No. It’s NOT fair. Unless in the case of overwhelming evidence, people don’t believe the person telling the truth, they believe the person who seems like they’re telling the truth. The way you present yourself, the way you interact with others, how likable and sociable you are, all those things are necessary parts of functioning in society.”

She stood up and placed her hand over her chest. “Take a look at me for example. Do you think I care about things like personal grooming? Of course not. And yet I always make sure to clean the lenses of my glasses every day. I make sure to wear neat clothes without stains or wrinkles, and without the smell of sweat. I take showers every day to stay clean, and I make sure to brush my hair every morning to prevent split ends. I behave with dignity and professionalism as frequently as I can, because I’m a functioning member of society. And because of that, even though I don’t have many friends, I can be confident that people will still trust my word when I give it to them. That was the lesson I learned with Julie Zwickie. I can’t just be some antisocial nerd who doesn’t take care of her appearance, I need to maintain a certain level of professional decorum at all times. Do you understand?”

Morgana shied away from Dawn’s piercing stare.

“I asked you if you understood,” Dawn pushed. “It isn’t enough to be right, you have to be reliable. Brush your hair. Take a shower for God’s sake, and change your robe every once and a while. You’re not living in your bedroom anymore, Morgana, you’re interacting with people and you want them to like you. And please, please, PLEASE stop going overboard with all your tiring statements about magic and being a witch. It’s not going to help anyone take you seriously, alright?”

Morgana nodded, thoroughly excoriated by Dawn’s harsh assessment.

“I-I know you’re right,” she mumbled, hugging her knees to her chest. “But what if… what if it doesn’t matter?”

“What do you mean?” Dawn asked, confused.

“If I… if I do all that stuff… and people still hate me… what do I do then?”

She looked up at Dawn, her crimson eyes watering with desperation. Dawn didn’t know what to say.

“So… you knew, then.”

Morgana sniffled and nodded. “Of course I knew,” she mumbled. “I knew that people wouldn’t like me acting so high and mighty, or loudly declaring myself to be a witch.”

“Then why do it?” Dawn asked, sitting down beside her.

“Because… if I do all the things you said… and people still don’t want anything to do with me, like back in school… what am I supposed to do then?!” Morgana buried her face in her knees and started to sob. “I don’t want that… I don’t want to be an outcast again…”

“…I see. So that’s what it was.” Dawn placed her hand on Morgana’s back and patted her gently. She was so thin and slender, compared to her bounteous curves. “If you were going to be mocked and seen as an outcast, better to do it yourself.”

“It’s easier that way,” Morgana mumbled. “Being a witch, having magical powers… it made everything so much easier. People disliked me because I was different, not because I… was me.”

Dawn sighed. “Well… I can’t say I don’t understand that mindset,” she admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I can support it. Morgana, you should be yourself. Even if it’s hard, it’s who you are. You know that, right? You know who you are inside.”

“Yeah…” Morgana raised her head to nod. “Yeah, I know…”

“Then wouldn’t you want to be loved for who you are?” Dawn asked. “Not for who you pretend to be? Isn’t it the same? I know you’re scared of people disliking the real you… but is avoiding that really worth giving up the chance for everyone to like the real you?”

Morgana didn’t know the answer.

“Well… you don’t have to decide now,” Dawn said, seeing that the goth wasn’t budging on this. “But I think it’s worth considering how you interact with others, don’t you think? Finding ways to become friends with them. Show them your real self. It worked with Rose, I’m sure it can work with you, if you give it a chance.”

Morgana looked up and wiped her eyes, then nodded. “Maybe…” She mumbled noncommittally.

That was good enough for Dawn.

“Okay then,” she said, standing up. “Let’s get going.”

Morgana stared at her. “Huh? Get going where?”

“We’re going to see Mary.”

“WHAT?!”

Mary paced back and forth. She knew the soreness in her chest couldn’t be attributed to her milk production, it had to be something else.

She was nervous. She was DYING of nervousness.

And why shouldn’t she be?

Nick had agreed to her request for a date.

A date!

Her and Nick, on an official date!

What would she wear?! What would they do together?! Would there be a kiss at the end?! On the cheek, perhaps?! How daring!

…Well, she’d be wearing a flannel shirt tied at the waist and daisy dukes, but beyond that, she couldn’t answer any of the other questions.

Gosh, how would she ever get to sleep?! She wanted to look her best for the guy of her dreams, and she wanted to give him the best night possible! But she was too nervous to even try falling asleep… unlike Gina, who was snoring away in the sheets and twisting them around her like a tornado.

Mary sighed.

Maybe I should take another shower, she considered. She’d already gotten one after the milking incident, another one wouldn’t hurt. Those always work to calm me down and help me relax.

A knock on the door interrupted those plans, though.

“Who could that be at this hour?” She wondered aloud. Nick was in his room with… Carly and Marley, right? It was their night, yes. Then she had a thought. Maybe Holly had been kicked out of the room, so the girls could have some private time with him? Maybe she was here to come see her!

Mary then realized she’d never told her best friend about her plans to ask out Nick. She felt like such a shameful fool! Holly would have been thrilled to hear it, and she deserved to!

She felt a little awful, realizing that she was starting to become like Sylvia and Dakota in some ways, not giving any thought to the girls who weren’t in Nick’s harem.

Deciding that, if it was Holly, she needed to make amends, Mary didn’t hesitate to head to the door to say hello.

Her disappointment when she saw who it was felt palpable.

“What are you two doing here?” She sighed, looking between Morgana and Dawn. Dawn looked dressed for bed but had a firm expression on her face, and Morgana looked like she always did, save for the puffy red eyes and completely worn out look about her.

She couldn’t even meet Mary’s eyes, her cheeks just flushed.

“Morgana has something to say to you,” Dawn informed her, elbowing the goth in the side. “Don’t you, Morgana?”

“Mary… I’m so sorry!” Morgana gushed, nearly knocking Mary over when she rushed to the girl. Her eyes were wet with sorrow and regret. “I didn’t mean it! I swear!”

“Wh-what’s going on?” Mary stammered, looking between the two women. Then she looked over her shoulder to make sure Gina was still asleep. Thankfully she was. Gina was normally a pretty chill person, but Mary didn’t want to risk her going on a rampage if she woke up.

Morgana held up her diary and passed it over to Mary. She was too ashamed to say what actually happened, so she let her writing speak for her.

Dawn was willing to offer her own perspective.

“Morgana feels just awful,” she informed her. “She said that she didn’t mean to write that stuff down in the book, it just came out all of a sudden.”

“That’s what happened!” Morgana exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to, I swear! But after today, what happened between us, I just… I don’t know, I guess I got excited, and when I fantasized, it ended up coming out before I knew it!”

Mary froze, her fingers tracing over her name.

“You… you wrote my name in this?” She growled.

Even Dawn flinched at the anger in the other girl’s voice. She didn’t expect that from Mary of all people. The overwhelming fury actually made her gulp.

“I said I didn’t mean to!” Morgana burst into tears. Not a trace of the so-called “Accursed Witch Mistress of the Ebony Cauldron” could be seen in her frightful expression.

She started hyperventilating. “I just… I wanted… I couldn’t… I… haah… haahhhaah…” She panted, holding her heart. She wanted to look away, down at the floor, up at the ceiling, turn her neck 180 degrees, but she felt paralyzed by Mary’s glare. “I just snapped out of a trance… and it was written…”

That was the shittiest excuse Dawn had ever heard. But it was all Morgana really had to offer at this point, sadly.

Feeling pity for the poor girl, Dawn stepped in to try and take some of the heat.

“It’s my fault, too,” she said, putting herself between the two of them. “Morgana pleaded with me to let her put my name in the book instead, and have her write one of my fantasies. But I turned her down, because I didn’t want to.”

“As anyone would,” Mary muttered.

“And… she did. So when she felt the compulsion to write, she put down your name instead. So I guess I’m, like, partially responsible? By my calculation… about 3%.”

Morgana’s jaw dropped and she stared at Dawn in shock.

3%?! But that’s nothing!

Mary sighed. She suddenly looked very tired.

“You know I have a date with Nick tomorrow,” she said plainly. Everybody knew that, of course. “A date with a man that I love.”

Both women nodded their heads.

“And you really expect me to believe that this wasn’t some attempt at sabotage?” She looked suspiciously at the two of them, and it was only now that Morgana remembered Mary’s love of mystery novels.

Hopefully the redhead’s nose for the truth could work out for her this time. After all, it wasn’t like she was actually guilty.

“…Fine,” Mary said, opening the diary back up. “I’m not happy about this. But I’ll see what you wrote here.”

She scanned the pages. Then her eyes widened. Her face turned red. She clutched her chest. She gasped, and placed her hand over her mouth. Then she looked away, only peeking out of the corner of her eye. Then she gulped. But she read the whole thing.

“And… you said that I’m going to see this dream tonight?” Mary asked, handing the book back to its owner. She couldn’t meet their eyes.

“We both are,” Morgana said glumly. “Mary, I’m really sorry… I didn’t mean to write your name, I just-”

Mary held up her hand. “You don’t need to apologize. We’ve all made mistakes before, I’m not going to hold it against you.”

The two women stared at her in shock. Not long ago, Mary had been radiating a murderous aura, and now it was like all her anger had sputtered and died in an instant.

“Are you feeling okay?” Dawn asked, concerned. “You look a little red.”

“No! I’m fine!” Mary loudly declared, moving to slam the door. “It’s nothing! I’m just feeling in a very charitable mood, because of my date with Nick! That’s all! That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to right now, nothing else. Don’t worry!”

She basically slammed the door in both girl’s faces and rushed off to take a shower. She remembered earlier today, and the pleasure she’d experienced at Rose’s hands. That had been fine, because Rose didn’t have a choice, she had to pleasure Mary, and Mary didn’t have a choice now, either.

That’s right, I don’t have a choice. Morgana **** this dream on me. So even if I end up enjoying it, it’s not my fault, she MADE me!

And with that thought in mind, Mary drifted off to sleep.