Don't feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone

“Well, this is a surprise,” Dani said. “You don’t usually come to work out with me.”

“Yeah, well, what did you expect?” Dawn grumbled. She was sitting on one of the gym mats in her leotard- the one from middle school, which still fit her, because of course it did- doing stretches. Currently she had her leg up beside her head, bent back.

A great position for Nick, if he were here, but she wouldn’t be experimenting with her Poser transformation today.

“Calling me lazy… saying it’s my fault I can’t get out of bed in the mornings… as if I liked it?” Dawn muttered to herself, fuming. She remembered every word out of Dakota’s mouth. “Who does she think she is?”

Dani didn’t want to comment on the cat girl’s clear outrage at Dakota’s accusation, so she kept her mouth shut. Personally, though, she wasn’t sure. The subtle transformation Morgana had gone through this past week really seemed to support the claim that the Luxury Suite had this magical effect on the two of them.

And she knew quite well how transformations could affect someone’s perspectives and perceptions, given how comfortable she was with Nick touching her now. She’d never really had a problem with skinship, but in the past…

“Maybe… maybe it is the room,” Dani suggested.

Dawn’s head snapped up in a glare, and she unwound herself and rose to her feet.

Even though Dani had lost a couple inches in height with her Soft as Silk transformation, she still towered over the small cat girl. Dawn wasn’t doing a great job of being intimidating.

“Look, just listen, okay?” Dani held up her hands. “You know that transformation I got, Just One of the Guys?”

“Yes,” Dawn said, nodding. “The one that got upgraded to go from you being comfortable with boys seeing you naked to you being comfortable with being touched.”

“Right, well, it could be like that,” Dani said, trying to explain her perspective. “I mean, think about it, Dawn, I would have been cool with Nick touching me, like, in a pat on the shoulder, or even a massage. Even before the transformation I’ve never had an issue with that. But I’ve always drawn the line at explicit sexual contact. I would have never been okay with him touching my breasts, for example! But now…”

She shrugged. Even though she didn’t like it, she didn’t really care.

“It’s not the same thing,” Dawn said sullenly, shaking her head. “This isn’t a transformation.”

“No, it’s not, but it’s kind of like one,” the tomboy pointed out. “Even though I know I wouldn’t normally be comfortable with being touched, I still am. Maybe it’s the same thing with you! Even though you know you’re not a lazy person, the room is still making you lazy! So… it’s not your fault!”

It was good logic, especially from Dani, Dawn could see that the other woman was really trying her best. But still…

“Dakota said that wasn’t the case,” Dawn replied.

“And when did we take Dakota’s word as bond?” Dani huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dawn blinked, and rubbed her sweat-drenched ears with a towel. “…Fair point.”

Maybe this wasn’t her fault after all! Maybe the room… the room…

Dawn was grasping at straws. The logical and rational side of her was coming into conflict with the stubborn side of her. For most of her life those two aspects of her personality worked in perfect tandem to make her the stunning competitive gymnast and genius that she was, but now they were struggling against each other, and she was caught in the middle.

A long sigh escaped her lips and her tail dropped behind her.

“Dani…”

“Yeah?” Dani tensed, not use to Dawn looking so small and fragile. Sure, Dawn was smaller than most adults she knew, even smaller than Holly, but the confidence and surety the petite woman carried herself with usually offset that.

Now she looked like she just needed someone to hug her.

Then the sharpness returned to her eyes.

“I’ve always been the best at everything I’ve set my mind to,” she said. “Just like how you were always amazing when you ran track and field, I’ve always tried my hardest. You more than anyone should know what it’s like to dedicate yourself to something so completely.”

“Of course I know that,” Dani replied. But it wasn’t track and field she dedicated herself to these days. “Everybody in school knew how amazing you were, Dawn. How hard you worked? Being the smartest kid in school AND winning all those gymnastics trophies?”

Dani barely even knew Dawn back then, and she still had heard the stories.

Dawn looked a little surprised. But pleased, too- her tail flicked behind her back.

“Really?”

“Yup, you were this genius kid who everybody knew,” Dani confirmed. “Sure, a bunch of kids thought you were stuck-up, but not me. I was impressed! I mean, when I first saw you, I thought you were some middle schooler taking high school level classes, you were such a tiny brainiac!”

Dawn blinked. “…Actually when I was in middle school, I was taking college level classes-”

“Yeah, see, right here? This is the stuck-up part,” Dani cut her off. She shook her head. “We’re getting off track, anyway, don’t think I don’t know how hard you’ve always worked! We might not have been friends, but Nick used to talk about you all the time, he was such a big fan…”

Dani’s voice trailed off and Dawn winced. Neither one of them really felt like revisiting their relationship with Nick back in high school.

Too many regrets there.

“…Maybe we better not,” Dani decided, clearing her throat.

Dawn couldn’t agree more. She nodded.

“So you see?” Dawn continued. “I can’t be a lazy person at heart! And I don’t want to be, either! I like being the best! I like trying hard at stuff, I like being in shape, and I like winning! The way Dakota made it sound… it’s like I just wanted to stop trying or something!”

Whenever she thought about it, she felt like throwing up.

Dani bit her lip. She wasn’t sure what to say. What could she say, to help Dawn get over this? “Look, just because you want to take a break every now and then, that doesn’t mean you’re lazy,” Dani pointed out. “Even when I was hard at work, I still made the time for games and anime.”

“I know all about burn out, believe me,” Dawn said. “That isn’t this. I take breaks. I’m taking one right now. In fact, I should probably get back to stretching… mind if we talk while working out?”

“Uh… sure, I guess we can do that,” Dani nodded. She was actually done with her workout for today. One of the perks of her transformation, she didn’t have to do much to stay in shape. At this point, the only reason she kept at it was because she liked it.

But Dawn? Dawn was amazing to watch. The hotel’s workout area had a whole gymnasium on the side of it, and any time the cat girl wanted, she could go through a whole routine. For now, though, she just focused on stretches, so she could keep chatting with Dani.

Then she did a routine, and came back, and resumed the conversation like nothing had ever happened. She wasn’t even winded.

Dani was in awe.

“That… whoa. And you feel fine after that?” Dani asked.

“That was just a warm-up,” Dawn said, going through her cool-down routine to ease her muscles. “Just to loosen up a little, you know?”

Dawn’s “warm-up” was more strenuous than most workout routines Dani had gone through back in her prime.

“I guess what they say about gymnastics being a full-time activity really is something,” Dani said, shaking her head. “I mean, keeping in good form for races took a lot of hours on the track, but how much of your day did you spend training?”

“You mean back when I was competing?” Dawn wiped the sweat off her glasses lenses and put them back on. “Well, the average recommendation for a professional gymnast was about an average of 20 hours a week. During the season, though, it could be as much as twice that.”

Dani’s jaw dropped. “20 hours a week? That’s, like… 3 hours a day!”

“I’m surprised you could do division that fast,” Dawn smirked, earning her a raspberry blown from the tomboy. “But it’s not as hard as it sounds. Two sessions per day, one in the morning, and one in the evening, averaging anywhere from 1-3 hours, and then taking a day off in the middle of the week to recover and recharge.”

Even as Dawn tied to downplay it, Dani was still impressed. “Yeah, but with school and stuff-”

“Oh, but I didn’t do that,” Dawn quickly clarified. “I would push for 2 hours every time. On the dot. So at 4 hours a day, that was a total of 24 hours a week.”

“24-?!” Dani’s jaw practically hit the floor this time. “That means you spent a full day out of every week just doing gymnastics?! While you were in school?!”

Dawn shrugged. “You spend on average 2 and a half days out of the week asleep, if you’re thinking about it in those terms,” she pointed out.

Well, when Dawn put it like that… it was still insane to Dani.

“Still, 24 hours…”

“Professional track and field athletes will train up to twice that much,” Dawn pointed out as well.

Dani winced. “…Yeah, you’re right,” she admitted. “My mom had a schedule like that, too…” Dani had never even got close to that herself, but she’d never tried to go pro. She’d always been satisfied being a little fish in a big pond as far as running was concerned.

But now that she was thinking about it…

A shiver ran down her spine. How many hours DID I spend each week just working out?

Thinking about it in those terms was sobering.

She shook her head to clear away those ugly thoughts and desperately tried to change the subject back to Dawn. “I’m surprised you only worked 2 hours every session,” she said. “Given how competitive you are, I would have expected you’d aim for a full 3.”

“That would have been reckless,” Dawn replied. “If I pushed myself too hard, I might have damaged my body. I calculated that the perfect amount of practice time for my body type would be to work out for a maximum of 2 hours at a time, with a minimum of 6 hours in between for recovery. I may be a hard worker, but I’m not going to damage my body any more than necessary.”

“Well, I guess that-Wait, what?” Dani tensed in alarm and swung her head around to look at the stretching cat girl. “What do you mean, ‘any more than necessary’?!” She demanded.

Dawn lowered her arm and looked innocently up at the tomboy.

“Dani, you’re not a doctor, but you know quite a lot about physical anatomy,” she said bluntly.

Dani raised her eyebrow. “Is this some crack about me being a lesbian?” She asked with a tired sigh.

“No, because you’re an athlete.”

“Oh. Well… then yes.”

“So you know how certain body types are more suited to certain sports than others, right?” Dawn continued.

Dani shrugged. “Obviously, yeah. And the best athletes are those who have natural qualities that lend themselves to more exceptional performances. Like how Michael Phelps has that breathing thing.”

Dawn’s eyebrow twitched. “You mean his abnormal lung capacity?”

“Right, the breathing thing.”

“…Sure. Well, gymnastics lends itself to a certain body type too,” Dawn continued. “Mine. There’s a common myth that gymnastics stunts your growth, but in fact, it’s just that people with a lower center of mass are more proficient at gymnastics.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Dani nodded.

“Excelling at gymnastics stunts your growth.”

It took a moment for that to sink in.

“…Huh?” Dani stared at Dawn in shock.

A cloud passed over Dawn’s face.

“To be the best, I had to train like the best,” she said. “That meant I had to carefully monitor my body mass and my caloric intake, to make sure I could maintain proper weight. Because of how hard I worked, I had nutrition deficiencies while I was growing up. It helped me excel, but it also had deleterious effects on my health and physique.”

“What!?” Dani exclaimed in alarm. “Dawn, are you okay!?”

“I’m perfectly healthy,” Dawn replied, shaking her head. “But… Tell me, Dani, do you know what amenorrhea is?”

The blank look that crossed the tomboy’s alarmed face answered that quite easily.

Dawn sighed. “…Amenorrhea is the delay or absence of menstrual periods in children going through puberty. It can occur naturally, but it can also be a result of inadequate energy from a dietary deficiency,” she explained. “I viewed it as a necessary sacrifice at the time to meet my targeted weight goals, in order to win.”

“Wait, wait, I’m not getting this,” Dani said, shaking her head. “Are you saying that you knew this ameno-whatever existed, and you let yourself get it anyway?”

Dawn shook her head. “It’s not that simple,” she sighed. “Like I said, it was a calculated risk. Amenorrhea on its own isn’t a concern. I never developed fragile bones or low energy or anything like that- it just severely messed with my puberty. My body didn’t produce the necessary hormones to grow properly, and because of that, I kind of just kept staying like this.”

When she saw the look of pity on Dani’s face, she quickly clarified, “Don’t think I’m sad about it or anything! I’m not complaining! I’m proud of what I accomplished! And while I may never know how I would have grown if I didn’t push myself that hard, it’s not as if I feel like a freak! I just had a very late puberty- I didn’t menstruate until I was 17!”

Dani still wasn’t sure how she should feel about that. “Well… I mean… I’m still sorry you went through that,” she replied. “But if you pushed yourself that hard…”

“So you see? I’m not lazy,” Dawn pointed out. “I’m incredibly hardworking, just like you!”

She was way more of a hard worker than Dani, that much was clear.

Dani had never damaged her body like that. And regardless of how Dawn justified it, Dani couldn’t see it as anything other than that- damage.

She didn’t say anything about it, though.

“So yeah, you’re not lazy,” Dani agreed. “I never said you were.”

Dawn sulked. “No, but Dakota did!”

“Why do you think that is?” That was what Dani didn’t understand about this theory of Dawn’s. “What would Dakota have to gain by making you think this was your fault, if it wasn’t?”

Dakota might be sadistic, but her sadism tended to have a purpose, rather than just being cruelty for cruelty’s sake.

Dawn shrugged. “I don’t know,” she replied. “But there’s gotta be some reason for it! There’s just gotta be!”

She was certainly convinced. And with someone that stubborn, Dani knew better than to try and convince her.

After all, Dani could be just as stubborn herself.

While Dani was grappling with that, Dawn went back to cooling off. She kept stretching, muttering to herself about how she’d show Dakota, and how she’d try even harder!

After about five minutes of that, Dani decided that she needed to step in.

“Dawn, I think you need to take a break,” she insisted.

“Well, alright,” Dawn said, stopping and looking curiously at Dani. “Why?”

“I think we’re going about this all wrong,” Dani said. “Maybe the Luxury Suite really is drawing on your inner self.”

Dawn’s curious expression turned sour really fast.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked suspiciously. “Are you trying to say that you think I’m some slacker or something?”

“No!” Dani shook her head. “I know you’re not, Dawn! After what you just told me? It’s clear you work harder than anybody, I’m even more sure of that now than I was before!”

“Then what are you saying?” Dawn’s voice cracked, and for the first time, Dani heard a note of desperation in her tone.

That’s right… Dawn’s transformations have pretty much all been physical ones up until now, she realized. This is the first time her mental state is really getting adjusted, and she’s having trouble coping with it!

Sure, Dawn’s Poser transformation made her excited by the prospect of Nick folding her into all sorts of positions. But that wasn’t even close to adjusting her actual thinking process.

For someone like Dawn, who valued her mental abilities, that could be a very rough transformation indeed.

Dani felt even more determined now to help the other girl.

“I think, as much as you like working out, there’s a part of you that wants to just stop and take a break,” Dani tried to explain. “I know that sounds like you’re being lazy, but it’s not! Everybody needs a break sometimes!”

“Right, I know, I take breaks,” Dawn said, rolling her eyes. “We just talked about this!”

“Yeah, but is it enough?” Dani didn’t think so. And if what Dakota was saying was the truth, then Dawn might not think so, either.

Dawn wanted to say something in opposition to Dani. But the words wouldn’t come out.

“I… I don’t know,” she finally admitted, and that weak, fragile woman from before made another appearance. “You’re right, Dani, no matter how hard I try to think about it, the only reason I can up with for Dakota lying would be to get me to become some lazy sex pet. But she would know that I’d do everything in my power to prove her wrong, so what would even be the point?”

She shook her head.

“Maybe… maybe the Luxury Suite is drawing something out of me,” she finally admitted. “Something that I’ve been holding back. But I don’t want to be a lazy person, Dani! I like being competitive, I like trying hard! So why… why would I want to stop?”

That was the question she most wanted an answer to.

And for all her genius, it was that question whose answer eluded her.

Dani wished she could help, she really did.

“I don’t know the answer, Dawn,” she sadly admitted, shaking her head. “But… I want to help, in any way I can. I know we’re not that close, but we’re still friends, right?”

Dawn’s ears perked up and she looked at Dani in amazement. “Um… I-I suppose we can be friends, yeah. I didn’t… I didn’t think… okay, yeah.”

It was awkward for her to be asked to blatantly to be friends like that.

“So… you don’t hold a grudge against me for that one challenge, when I pushed you down and stole your card?” Dani asked hopefully.

Immediately Dawn’s expression soured. “I didn’t forget that, you know,” she replied, placing her hands on her hips. “…But I already forgave you for it.”

Dani laughed, relieved, and Dawn smiled a little herself.

She was still stuck trying to figure out what was going on with this room, and why it was messing with her. And what that meant about her current mental state. But maybe, if her brains couldn’t figure it out, her heart could. And she was sure that Dani’s help would be paramount- she didn’t know very many people with a bigger heart than Dani.