But the wine and the song

It had been several weeks- almost two months!- of Dani having long hair. She was starting to get used to it. The daily upkeep, the inordinate amount of brushing, how big of a pain in the ass it was to wash in the shower, all of those stressors were things she was slowly but surely adapting to, and served as a constant reminder for why she’d always cut her hair so short in the first place.

Things weren’t so bad… she admired women with long hair, and as much as she liked having it short, she did at times appreciate when she checked out her reflection in the mirror, and saw how feminine and attractive she could be.

But then there were times like right now.

Swimming with long hair… that was a big of a drag. Like, literally. Her long blue locks were physically dragging her head down, clinging to her as she tried to swim. Fortunately, she had the strength to not care about that.

Still… she was impressed.

“How do you do it?” She marveled, popping her head out of the water and brushing her bangs out of her face.

“Hm? Look this good? It’s easy,” Carly answered with a wink.

Dani laughed and rolled her eyes. “No, obviously, you look great,” she giggled. “I mean, how do you swim with your hair so long? It’s such a pain in the ass!”

Carly shrugged, an awkward gesture when she was treading water. “I mean, I usually don’t,” she admitted with a sheepish smile. “Remember? I always keep my hair pretty short, just like you used to do.”

Dani blushed. Of course she remembered that. Carly always reminded her fans that while she liked having long hair, she also enjoyed keeping it short, so she could wear wigs easier. But she’d always assumed that was a bit of a fib.

“Is it really for your wigs?” Dani prodded, flashing her girlfriend a knowing smile.

Carly returned that smile with one of her own. “Weeell… I wouldn’t say that’s the oooonly reason,” she admitted with a coy gleam in her eye.

Dani burst out laughing. “I knew it! You like short hair too, don’t you! The whole wig thing was just an excuse!”

“What can I say?” Carly leaned back in the water, letting her breasts float up slightly. “Boys like when a girl has a bit of feminine charm to her. Short-haired girls like us get a bit of a stigma on the internet, so I had to come up with a reason they’d believe.”

Dani smirked. “Well, it isn’t just boys who like that sort of thing,” she pointed out.

Carly batted her eyelashes and swam forward, kissing Dani lightly on the cheek.

“H-hey! Cut it out!” Dani splashed her, while at the same time being delighted that she got that bit of affection. Carly could turn hot or cold on a dime, and Dani loved the times when she was overly affectionate like this.

“I considered shortening it,” the cosplayer admitted, running her fingers through her soaked orange locks. “It’s not so easy though. It would completely ruin the look!”

“Well, you could just pretend like you’re cosplaying as Nami prior to the timeskip,” Dani pointed out, an idea that Carly definitely could consider. Still…

“…Eh, I think I’ll keep it like this for now,” Carly decided. “It’s not like we’re doing any Olympic laps or anything like that.”

Good point. They weren’t exactly swimming at top speed- it was more like two girls splashing about in the water.

“Besides… we’re better-suited than those two, I’d say,” Carly said, pointing past Dani.

Dani glanced over her shoulder to where Mary and Morgana were. The two curvy girls were having trouble with the water.

Namely, dealing with their new curves. Both girls’ figures had gone through some major adjustments, and they were still… adjusting. Morgana had gotten some practice in the various pools, but she was trying to swim while also conserving her modesty. And as for Mary…

…Well, not being able to wear anything other than a sexy farm girl costume had made swimming a little difficult. Factor in that she also tended more towards modesty in her previous life, and you had a girl who wasn’t used to the situation she found herself in.

It made Dani wonder why she even decided to come out onto the water in the first place. It didn’t seem like the kind of choice she would have made.

Carly thought similarly. She would have expected the redhead to cling to Nick’s side all day, like the doting wife she was. Carly hadn’t felt a similar impulse, since she’d be spending the night with him tonight.

“Want to go help them?” Dani asked, turning to her partner.

Carly nodded, and the two athletic girls quickly swam back to the shallow shores, where Mary and Morgana were frolicking in the waves.

“Bweh! Hah!” Mary’s head surfaced, and she was coughing. “I… wow, it’s a lot harder to swim like this…”

Mary didn’t have much experience with swimming. She’d grown up in a rural farm town in the middle of nowhere, it wasn’t like they had any pools. No, the most swimming she’d done had been in the creek running past town, and that never came up to higher than her stomach.

It was definitely not the experience she was used to.

“You… you do know how to swim, right?” Morgana asked.

“Of course I know how to swim!” Mary huffed as she treaded water. “I went to college with Nick and Holly, remember? And one time, we even went on a beach trip together!”

Ah, that was a good memory. Just the three of them, packed into Nick’s car, air conditioner blasting as they drove for the shore. Yep, just four friends, having a good time…

…

Wait, four?

Mary squinted as she tried to reconcile her memories. She could have sworn there were only three people on that trip… no, wait, four, no…

She gasped.

“Urgh, that’s right! I almost forgot!” She groaned, slapping her forehead. “Dakota!”

That’s right, thanks to Dakota’s transformation, she had seamlessly inserted herself into Nick’s life. That included his college years, unfortunately. So any memories she had of the three of them, had turned into memories of the four of them. Mary so rarely thought about those days, that she hardly even picked up on it.

But the host had definitely been there. Sitting along with them in the car, fawning over Nick on the beach, while Mary and Holly went off to enjoy themselves. The other memories, the ones of just the three of them, those were there, too. Mary could try and recall them if she really wanted to, but any effort to do so just seemed… wrong.

Like denying Dakota’s existence.

Even if it was a lie… Mary just felt guilty, trying to do something like that.

She took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm herself down.

“…Sorry,” she admitted sheepishly, looking at Morgana. “Just… Dakota invaded my memories a little, that’s all.”

“No, no, I get it,” Morgana said, shaking her head. “It’s just so weird. Because you’ve got all these memories of Dakota being alive, but me…”

Morgana had never met Nick before getting invited onto the show, and she certainly had never met Dakota. But where Mary had two distinct sets of memories, Morgana only had the one- the set of memories where Dakota had died, and Nick had used that as inspiration for his book.

They’d reasoned out early on that Dakota’s inserted memories would only retroactively apply to the women who’d been present when she got them, but that was just a little oddity. It made for a strange contrast between what Mary and Morgana knew of Nick’s life.

Before either of them could really explore those thoughts, though, Dani and Carly were quick to show up and say hello.

“Have no fear, girls!” Carly called, popping up beside Mary and startling her. “If you’re drowning, you’ve got this handsome tomboy right here to save you!”

She elbowed Dani playfully under the water, causing the tan girl to blush.

“H-hey!” She mumbled, splashing Carly back. “Don’t tease me like that!”

“Who’s teasing?” Carly teased.

“We’re fine,” Mary said. She couldn’t help but smile at the display of affection between the two women. It was just so sweet! “But I’m glad to see you’re both having fun.”

“You sure everything’s okay?” Dani asked, concerned. “I know a thing or two about getting used to moving a brand new body.”

Morgana nodded. “I-I am!” She assured them. “I’ve done a bit of swimming since I got to this island… these curves are a little hard to get used to, but… it’s not like I was ever a strong swimmer before coming here or anything.”

Dani nodded sympathetically. She could hardly remember the stringbean of a goth that Morgana had been before the transformations had given her a makeover. Still, that lack of athleticism wasn’t helped at all by her meaty curves.

As for Mary…

“I used to be okay at it,” she admitted sheepishly. “I had the figure for it, I guess?”

True. Mary’s breasts had been granted by a transformation, but her curvy rear end? That had been all her. She was one of the most well-endowed on the island in that area, and the only girls who had better were the ones who’d been given transformations in that area.

“True, bottom-heavy girls make for decent swimmers,” Dani agreed. “So let me guess, your boobs are giving you some trouble?”

“Yeah,” Mary admitted, holding her arms over her chest as she sat on a shallow sandbar. “They’re really sore, and they bounce around a lot.”

“Probably because of all the milk,” Carly pointed out. “I remember, when I was lactating… ah. Never mind.”

She quickly fell silent and shook her head.

Dani glanced at her for a second, and then turned back to Mary. She opened her mouth to say something herself, but then a dark thought crossed her mind.

“…Wait, Mary, you’re not, um… ‘producing’ right now, are you?”

Mary gave her a blank stare, not sure what she was trying to say.

“Um… producing? What… Ah!” She gasped in realization, and her flushed face turned an even deeper shade of red. “D-Dani! What are you saying?!” She exclaimed, flailing about in the water. “Something like that-! I-!”

Morgana let out a yelp as she realized what Dani was trying to say. “Wait! You mean… Mary’s milk, it could be-?!”

She looked down at the water, and started to wonder if the white specks in the waves were caused by seafoam and surf, or if there could be something a little more sinister mixed into the ocean along with it…

That was definitely a thought.

“I’m not!” Mary put her foot down fiercely and shook her head. “My… my boobs, they don’t just leak whenever! You have to actually put some pressure on them, you know!?”

She clutched her shoulders in an effort to make herself feel smaller, in an act of defensiveness to preserve her dignity.

It had a vastly different result.

Mary turned pale as she felt her swimsuit get even wetter. It wasn’t something you could tell just by looking at it, but she could certainly feel the telltale sign of her milk spurting out, thanks to squeezing her chest like that.

She gasped.

“We… um…” Her brain started to spiral as she was struck with two different thoughts. She could tell the girls about her sudden lactation and they could all get out of the water, or she could keep her mouth shut, and maybe they’d swallow a mouthful or two of her milk while swimming around her, diluted though it might be.

Although certain urges were telling her to do the latter, she was too good of a person to give into those dark, depraved thoughts.

“We-we should get out!” She gulped, flailing her arms. “I just, um…”

She was too embarrassed to say it, but luckily she didn’t have to. The girls all got the message, and made a hasty retreat to shore, making sure to keep their heads above the water.

Mary, encumbered as she was, was the last one to reach dry land. Sighing, she dragged her body out of the surf and flopped down in the sand, face burning with guilt and shame.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Nah, it’s fine!” Dani laughed. “We’re all good. Thanks for the warning!”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Mary,” Carly said, shaking her head. “I was about done with swimming anyway.”

Morgana nodded in agreement. Swimming had been awkward and uncomfortable- she was glad to be back on dry land.

Although now that she’d used her swimsuit for its intended purpose, the darn thing was really uncomfortable. She kept having to tug it up over her nipples, which kept threatening to come spilling out!

“Hey, you okay over there?” Carly asked, walking over to the goth girl as Morgana fiddled with her swimsuit.

Morgana flinched and looked up at the cosplayer, her red eyes wide.

“Err… what do you mean?” She asked warily. “Why-why wouldn’t I be okay?”

Carly raised her eyebrow. “You’re kinda groping yourself. Like, a lot,” she said, pointing to Morgana’s breasts, which she was cupping.

Morgana’s pale face turned a deeper shade of crimson.

“I… um…” Morgana looked down, embarrassed. She gave her swimsuit cups one last tug for good luck, and then glanced up at the other girl. “…I’m having some trouble keeping my swimsuit on straight,” she admitted sheepishly.

Carly blinked. “…Oh, yeah, I totally get that,” she chuckled, shaking her head.

Morgana stared at her in surprise. “Wait… you do?!”

Carly shrugged. “Oh, yeah, sure. You can tell by the design. That’s absolutely one of those suits that was made to look sexy, but not intended to actually be worn to go swimming in.”

Morgana’s jaw dropped. “Th-those exist?!”

Sure, she may have picked it out in the raunchier section of the boutique, but innocent Morgana never would have expected in a million years that people would make swimsuits that weren’t intended to be worn while swimming!

That sounded completely stupid and pointless!

“Yeah, basically they’re just sex outfits,” Carly said. “Trust me. I’ve had my fair experience with them on my streams and gallery postings.”

She gestured at her own curvy figure, which was squeezed into a bikini. It may have been designed for an anime, but it still functioned like a normal swimsuit.

Morgana’s clearly did not.

“Yeah, people who buy those, they usually do it because they want to show off,” Dani said with a nod of agreement. “And I mean, wasn’t that kind of what you were aiming for yourself?”

Morgana flinched. Dani definitely had her there. As much as she was embarrassed to admit it, she had in fact bought this swimsuit for the purpose of showing off her new look to Nick.

“Yep, you can tell by the material. It’s high quality, but if you’re swimming, it’s going to drag down your body,” Carly said, helping Morgana adjust her top. “I’d stay away from swimming in that for now. Running, too. And beach volleyball? Yeah, no dice.”

“Well, let’s not get too hasty now,” Dani interjected. Her worst impulses were telling her how much she would like to see Morgana bouncing around on the volleyball court the way she had been a couple hours ago.

Carly looked at her and sighed in exasperation, her lips curling up into an amused yet exasperated smile.

“Come on, Dani, let’s not get too drastic here,” she said, elbowing her partner. “You’re gonna make me jealous if you keep this up!”

Dani smiled back at her and stuck out her tongue.

Morgana remembered how Dani had been on the volleyball court, with her curvy body bouncing around. She blushed when she inserted herself into the same situation.

“…Yes, well… let’s not talk about this,” she said, clearing her throat quickly. “No volleyball, thank you. It’s not like I would have done that to begin with!”

Morgana wasn’t exactly the athletic type. Even if she had been wearing the most conservative one-piece in the world, or heck, a wetsuit, she still wouldn’t set foot on the volleyball court if she could help it.

Mary sat back in the sand and laughed. “Aw… I think that’s sweet.”

“Hmm? What, us helping out Morgana?” Carly blinked, not sure she understood what Mary was getting at. “I mean, that’s just normal, isn’t it?”

She looked over at Dani, who nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, normal,” Dani echoed, also confused what Mary was alluding to.

The redhead just shrugged.

“I don’t know, I still think it’s sweet,” she replied. “In fact-”

Whatever Mary had to say next was drowned out by the sound of gunfire from further down the beach. All four girls flinched, and Dani sprang to attention.

Morgana let out a scream out of reflex and bundled up into a ball.

“Wh-what was that?!” Mary wailed, scrambling to her feet. “Was that a gun!?”

“It came from over there,” Carly said, gesturing towards where the others were. “Come on, let’s go!”

The four of them tore down the beach, to where the rest of the group was.

What they saw when they got there was Vivian with a rifle in her hands, firing at a target set a ways down the sand.

“Oh, hey you guys!” She lowered the barrel of her gun and waved at the girls as they showed up. “You have a nice swim?”

“V-Vivian…” Dani sputtered in disbelief. “This-!”

“What are you doing!?” Mary took charge immediately, taking on a scolding tone as she put her hands on her hips. “Why are you firing a gun like that?!”

“Like this?” Vivian raised the rifle to point at the target again. “Because it’s the proper form for shooting a rifle, obviously?”

She said that so matter-of-factly that Mary couldn’t even come up with a response. She just stared dumbly at the heiress.

“…I think she meant why are you firing a gun in the first place,” Carly said, coming to Mary’s rescue. She had an uncomfortable look on her face. “That… that can’t be safe, right?”

She looked over to Dakota, who didn’t even glance her way.

Then all eyes turned to Nick as he approached them with a tired expression on his face.

“…Apparently, this is what Vivian does to have fun,” he pointed out. “And she’s not the only one, either.”

He gestured to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and Gina, who were eagerly waiting their turns. “Dakota already gave them the okay. Don’t worry, it’s a special gun that can’t actually hurt anybody, so there’s no need to worry about that, at least.”

Morgana still shivered with confusion, and Dani just sighed. Mary slowly shook her head, and Carly… well, Carly actually thought that it looked like a lot of fun, now that she knew there wasn’t actually a problem here.

Not a big problem, anyway.