I check my look in the mirror, I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face

Dani wasn’t so confident about what she was about to do. But out of all her options for completing her bounty, this one was probably the safest. In some ways if not others.

“Of course, Carly just had to send me here all on my own,” she muttered under her breath. It wasn’t like she could blame her girlfriend for not wanting to join her, though. Carly may have been turned on by the idea of watching Dani have sex with other women, but her sister definitely wasn’t. And if Marley was going to watch, Sylvia would want to watch too.

In fairness, Carly had suggested that she could pay Sylvia to take Marley down for breakfast, so she could tag along with Dani by herself. And while that had been a tempting offer, Dani had gotten cold feet when she remembered who exactly it was that she was propositioning.

She didn’t want to drag Carly into something she might not be able to handle.

Right, that was why. Dani chastised herself for having second thoughts right now. Just because Carly had been the one to suggest this, that didn’t mean she couldn’t see it through.

So she did the only thing she could and knocked on the door, and waited to see if someone would answer.

Maybe she would get lucky, and they would both be at breakfast already!

…But no, Dani would never be that lucky. Although she may have been about to get lucky in a different way, because the door opened.

“Dani?” Dawn looked surprised to see the feathered tomboy. “What are you doing here?” She asked curiously, her tail wagging behind her.

It took Dani a second to formulate an answer, because she was taken aback by Dawn’s appearance. The cat girl was dressed up nicer than usual, and had even put on makeup. That was rare. She looked like she was going out on a date. But today was Nick’s day with Rose, right?

…There weren’t any answers to that question that Dani wanted to hear, so she didn’t ask it. She focused on the matter at hand, instead, and cleared her throat.

“I’m looking for your roommate,” she informed the other woman, giving Dawn the courtesy of not trying to sneak a peek over her shoulder. “Is she up yet? Is she still in the room?”

Dawn blinked, surprised. She squinted past her glasses at the adamant girl, wondering what business Dani could have with her roommate of all people.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?” She questioned. “What do you want with her?”

Dani fought back the blush she could feel starting to spread over her cheeks. “It-it’s nothing,” she stammered, shaking her head. “I just have a bounty that… that I wanted her help completing, that’s all…”

Dawn blinked. She was about to let that go without saying anything, before she remembered her conversation with Kim and Rose the day before.

Her eyes widened behind her glasses and Dani’s heart sank in her chest. She realized immediately that Dawn knew, and that… that was not good. Not at all.

“So you… you know, then,” she mumbled awkwardly. “About the bounty.”

Dawn’s face lit up and her ears flared. Her tail started flicking even faster behind her back. “You mean, um, your bounty to… bring five other contestants to orgasm?” She tried to make it sound like an everyday thing, not a big deal. “Uh… yeah. That one, right?”

Dani couldn’t even say it out loud. A sheepish nod confirmed it.

“…And you chose her.” Dawn cleared her throat. “Dani, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea…” she warned the other woman.

Dani tended to agree with Dawn. But out of all the options on the table, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had a pretty good chance of saying yes.

…Well, not saying yes, but… …You get the point!

“It wouldn’t be the first time we-we… um… were… involved…” Dani stammered, looking down. “Before, uh… Carly and I, we helped her, um…”

Dawn really didn’t want to hear this, because if she did, she’d never forget it. She held up her hand to stop Dani right there. “I don’t need the details,” she interrupted her. “Look, she’s not here right now, so it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Dani’s shoulders sagged. She’d been hoping earlier that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin would be gone and she wouldn’t have to go through with it, but now that her hopes had come to pass, she felt differently.

“…Sorry,” Dawn offered awkwardly, shrugging. “If it helps, I don’t think she’s at breakfast, either. Amelia came by about half an hour ago, and took her off. I think they’re going to be doing another English lesson.”

“Haah… well, I guess that’s what I get for being so slow,” Dani grumbled, ruffling her feathery hair. “Oh well. I’ll track her down later.”

Assuming she didn’t find four other girls willing to take part. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wasn’t her only option, after all.

Sensing what Dani was thinking, Dawn decided to share her two cents. “You know, if you’re looking for another partner, you might want to consider asking Gina,” she said with a shrug. “Knowing her, she’d be down for just about anything.”

Dani nodded. “Already planning on it,” she replied. Although the spat they’d had yesterday would probably result in the punk girl tormenting her a little bit as punishment. That part she wasn’t looking forward to.

Dawn squinted at the troubled expression on the tomboy’s face, and her tail stood on end. “…For the record, I have plans today,” she informed the other woman. “So I won’t be able to help you out. Sorry about that.”

“What? No, uh, it’s totally fine!” Dani assured her, shaking her head. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning to ask you, anyway! Wait, no, I didn’t mean-”

“Ouch!” Dawn held her hand over her chest and mimed an arrow piercing her heart. “I have feelings, you know!”

“I-I just meant-!” Dani’s face burned with shame. “Look, it would be awkward, you and I, don’t you think?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Dawn said, recovering immediately. “I mean, we’ve known each other a lot longer than most of the other girls have known each other,” she pointed out.

Dani nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Dawn may have still looked like a middle-schooler (less so now, though, thanks to Vivian’s assistance) but Dani remembered when she actually was a minor.

The fact that she hadn’t changed all that much since then definitely made the older woman hesitant to think of the petite genius like that.

“It’s no picnic for me, either, you know.” Dawn suspected she knew what Dani was thinking, and she wasn’t happy about it. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I remember high school perfectly, just like how remember you got a fungal infection in your junior year. I’d rather not catch anything, if I’m being perfectly honest.”

“What!?” Dani’s face turned crimson. Junior year of high school?! What was Dawn even talking ab- “…Wait, I DID NOT!” She screeched as she realized what the cat girl was referring to. “That… that was athlete’s foot! Not a-!”

Dawn smirked in amusement and shrugged. “I mean, you say that, but which one of us is the doctor again…?”

“I cured that-! …And it’s not even transmissible, anyway… …Ugh, forget it.” Dani shook her head, unable to argue with the cat girl.

“Actually, it’s very contagious in fact-”

“DAWN!”

“Okay, okay, too far,” Dawn said, holding up her hands in surrender. She was suddenly acutely aware that Dani towered a whole foot above her, and that wasn’t a fight she wanted to pick. “Just trying to calm your nerves down a little.”

Dani crossed her feathered arms over her chest and scowled. “Because I feel so calm right now,” she replied, her face still burning with shame.

…Of course, now that Dawn brought it up, those nerves that had been eating away at her all morning were completely gone. So maybe a little light ribbing was just what she needed.

And maybe Dawn needed a broken rib or two. But Dani wasn’t going to do that.

“Thanks,” she said as begrudgingly as possible, scratching her cheek. “Anyway, enjoy your threesome with Nick and Rose, I’ll go talk to Gina.”

She left the short cat girl standing gobsmacked in the doorway, jaw on the floor and tail flat behind her back.

Dani wasn’t sure if she was ready for Gina quite yet, but if Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was busy, the grungy girl was the only person she could think of who was still on the table.

…Or so she thought, until she passed through the lounge and someone whistled at her.

“Hey there, pretty lady. Where are you going all in a hurry like that?”

Dani turned in surprise, not expecting to see Vivian of all people up and out of bed, leaning against the wall with a smile on her face.

And she definitely didn’t expect to find her roommate dressed up like a cowboy.

“Vivian?” Dani stared incredulously at her. “What are you doing, dressed like that?”

“There a problem?” Vivian fluffed her vest and stood up straight, sauntering over to Dani. She adjusted the shiny star-shaped badge on her chest. “I’m the new sheriff in town… here to enforce a little law and order,” she teased, wiggling her eyebrows.

Dani stared at her.

“…Right, well… you do that,” she said, moving to walk around the heiress, only for Vivian to grab her by the wrist.

“Come on!” The brunette laughed. “I’m just playing around, Dani, lighten up a little! I thought you were a fan of costumes?”

“Oh, so this is for my sake?” Dani raised her eyebrow and gave Vivian another look. Why the British girl was even dressed like an American cowboy in the first place, she had no idea.

“…Can be,” Vivian said with a noncommittal shrug, which was basically confirmation for Dani that it wasn’t.

She sighed and rolled her eyes.

“…Well, if you don’t like this, I can always go dress up as a sexy Indian!” Vivian suggested with a shrug. “I’m sure I can scrounge something up.”

“Sexy Native American,” Dani corrected her out of reflex. “Don’t refer to them as Indians, it’s offensive.”

“Huh? No, I meant I would go put on this rather revealing sari I received as a gift on one of my business trips to Kolkata,” Vivian clarified. “…Wait, did you think I meant…?”

She gasped and held her hand over her mouth. “…That’s dreadfully racist! I’m stunned, Dani, really, I am. I say ‘Indian’ and your first thought goes to-?” She clicked her tongue and shook her head.

Dani’s face turned red. “You’re dressed like a-!”

Vivian pinched her lips into a smile and batted her eyelashes. Dani didn’t even bother finishing her sentence. It was too early in the morning for the heiress’s games.

“…Glad to see you’re feeling better,” she mumbled, turning to walk away. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find someone…”

“Sorry, Dani, I was just playing around!” Vivian rushed after her to apologize. “I know you’re not racist! I just wanted to look cool!”

Dani stopped and turned to look back at the heiress. She hadn’t been expecting such a direct apology, she’d been anticipating more teasing.

Whatever happened on her date that made her all weird this morning, it’s clearly still affecting her. Dani wasn’t sure what to do with that information, though.

She sighed.

“Vivian, do you want something?” She asked, hoping she could deal with her roommate’s issues fast and then go scrounge up Gina for what would inevitably be some rather dirty sex.

Vivian looked surprisingly bashful for a second there.

“I, uh… I wanted to help,” she confessed.

Again, Dani felt thrown for a loop.

“You want to… help?” Dani asked, not sure if she heard that right. “You sure you didn’t mean to say you want ‘the’ help, like another butler or a maid or something?”

“No, you’d be an awful maid,” Vivian bluntly replied. “Whatever utility would come from your built-in feather dusters would be overshadowed by your disinterest in cleaning. You could pick up your clothes once in a while and give them a nice ironing, you know.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Okay, how exactly are you planning to help?”

Vivian smiled a conspiratorial smile, and tipped the brim of her cowboy hat to cast a shadow over her eyes.

“…I don’t know yet.”

Lovely.

Dani turned and started to leave. “Look, Vivian, if you want to help somebody, that’s great, but I’m a little busy right now,” she said honestly. “I have a bounty I’m trying to complete. I have to bring five other contestants to orgasm, and I’m only one down. So unless you’re interested in spreading ‘em right here on the couch, I really don’t think you can help me right now.”

“Oh, is that all?” Vivian bounded around Dani and flopped onto the couch. She propped her cheek up with her hand, shifting herself into a horizontal pinup pose. “Go ahead then! Ravish me! Draw me like one of your French girls!”

Dani rolled her eyes, hearing the sarcasm oozing out of her voice.

“Vivian, seriously, I’m not playing any more games with you right now,” Dani said honestly. “I don’t need your help. I don’t see why you even think you need to help me, in the first place! We’re cool, really! Don’t worry.”

Vivian pinched her lips together. She sat up straight, kicking her feet off the couch, and looked up at the tomboy.

“You don’t want my help?” She asked. Her scrutinizing tone reminded Dani of a cop on a police procedural grilling a suspect.

“It’s not that I don’t want your help, I just don’t need it,” Dani clarified. “Like I said before, there’s only one way you could help me, and I don’t think you swing that way.”

Vivian could have cracked a joke about being the only straight clothing designer in fashion week, but she figured Dani probably wouldn’t appreciate that so she kept her mouth shut.

“Okay then,” she said with a shrug. “Just thought I’d start with you, since, you know, you’re my roommate and all. But if you say we’re cool, then that’s great!”

She flashed a toothy grin. “Have fun with Gina.”

Dani blushed a little. “Yeah, uh… have fun with your… helping,” she mumbled, and turned to head towards Gina’s room.

Before she got there, though, she noticed Vivian heading right for Morgana’s room.

Alarm bells immediately went off in her mind. Whatever it was Vivian had planned for the goth witch, it probably wouldn’t be good. But then, Morgana could take care of herself.

Dani needed to take care of someone else right now.

She knocked on the door of the Candy Suite, and hoped that Gina was at least in some stage of consciousness.

“What is it?” Gina grumbled from inside. “Trying to sleep here.”

Well, at least she was awake.

“Gina, it’s Dani,” Dani informed her. “I wanted to talk!”

“…‘Bout what?” Gina asked hesitantly.

Dani had been afraid that question would come up before she went inside.

“…Sex.”

“I’m pretty sure you already know how to do that,” came Gina’s cheeky response from inside.

Dani rolled her eyes.

“I’m being serious here, Gina.”

She heard a sigh from behind the door.

“…Fine. You can come in.”

Dani tried. The door wouldn’t budge.

“…It’s locked,” she informed the other girl.

“Meh. Just eat through it, it’s probably edible too,” Gina grumbled. “It’s too comfortable in bed to get up…”

“Gina!”

“Fine, fine…”

Dani heard a rustle from inside the room, and the distinct clank of Gina’s handcuffs rattling. A few seconds later the door swung open, and the half-awake punk girl greeted her.

She also happened to be half-dressed; a long black shirt clung to her curvy figure, old and worn out and just barely leaving her decent. Dani blushed when she saw the state of Gina’s outfit, realizing she must sleep like that all the time, not really caring about her appearance. The tangle of her wild bedhead suggested as much too.

“So what’s up?” Gina asked, flashing a cheeky smile. “You said something about wanting to have sex? Wouldn’t happen to be with me, now would it?”

Dani blushed, but she stood her ground. Dating a playful girl like Carly had built up her resilience for teasing.

“And so what if it would?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Gina blinked and her mouth twisted into an “O” for a moment. But her sly grin quickly returned and she clicked her tongue.

“Well, well, well, now that IS a surprise,” she purred, wiggling her eyebrows. “Does Carly know about this?”

“It was her idea,” Dani bluntly replied.

“…Oh. Well, that’s far less sexy,” Gina said, pretending to be disappointed even though Dani could hear the playfulness in her voice.

“Look, I got this bounty,” Dani said, showing her the crumpled-up bounty sheet. “It says I have to bring five other contestants to orgasm. We don’t have to have sex, or do anything, really; you can be a dead fish if you want. I just have to get you off, that’s all.”

Gina considered the offer carefully. “Hmm… well, being tied down is definitely an intriguing prospect, I’ll admit…”

Dani had no idea where she got THAT from, but she wasn’t going to argue since it sounded like Gina was being swayed.

“Well?” Dani asked, hoping she didn’t sound too insistent.

“…But I’m not really into it,” Gina said, shaking her head. “Sorry, Dani. I know I have a bit of a reputation, but I’m not some slut who goes around screwing just anybody! No, if you want my help… you’ll need to do something for me.”

A sly grin crept up her face and Dani’s stomach sank. She’d been afraid Gina would make this difficult. But she knew that whatever the punk girl wanted, she could probably do. “…Fine,” she relented. “What do you want?”

Gina smirked.

“One plate of scrambled eggs, if you don’t mind!” She crowed. “That’s my price.”

Dani sighed. Of course it was.