I gotta kill the part of me that saw that I needed you more

“What are you doing?” Rose was thoroughly confused by blonde fox girl who had her arms wrapped tightly around her waist, hugging her close.

Jess sighed warmly, a smile on her lips. “Emotional support hugs,” she answered. To Jess, this was the best way she could think to support the other woman.

Then she gasped. “Oh! Unless… you don’t want that!?” She pulled away from Rose like the other girl was on fire. “I’m so sorry! I was just trying to be supportive, but I was too intrusive, wasn’t I? I’m so sorry, oh, I should just disappear…!”

“No, hey, look, it’s fine,” Rose said, holding up her hands. “It’s just… I’m kind of… not doing so well right now.”

Jess blinked, looking at the blonde with a confused expression for a couple of seconds, before her panic returned. “It… it isn’t my fault, right?” She asked hesitantly.

Rose looked at her. “Huh? No, of course not,” she shook her head swiftly. Then a shadow crossed her face. “It’s that stupid siren! She tossed these scales on me, and now I’m… aroused! But I can’t even take the edge off!” She muttered under her breath.

Jess blushed, understanding the euphemism. Yes, perhaps touching was not the best thing to do for the other woman! “I… I’m sorry you are going through that,” she sincerely apologized. “It must be very difficult for you…”

Rose sighed. “It’s really a pain in the ass,” she grumbled.

“Well… it sounds like she had to do it because that’s what the audience voted for…” Jess fidgeted with her fingers cutely. She didn’t want to argue with Rose, but her kind heart wouldn’t allow her to stand by while another person was being badmouthed. “That’s… how it works… we were brought here by Dakota… the host of your season… to help or hinder depending on how the audience voted…”

Her eyes widened and her ears flared up as she realized how that sounded. “Oh! But don’t worry, I wouldn’t hinder anyone!” She assured the other woman. “I’m here to help, that’s the only reason, promise!”

Rose almost smiled. It was very clear that this goodhearted, naïve little fox girl was too sweet to do something like that even if she was told to.

But just because Serenity was acting on orders from the audience, that still didn’t make Rose feel any better.

“I want to give her a punch in the face,” Rose growled, making a fist. It was an unusual act of direct aggression from her part, which showed just how untethered she’d become as a result of her heightened arousal.

Jess shivered a little. “Um… you… you can’t do that,” she mumbled.

“Why not!? She deserves it!” Rose exclaimed, even though she knew in her heart that, no, Serenity didn’t deserve it, the audience did.

“Because… we can’t be hurt,” Jess explained quietly. “It’s part of the rules… helpers like mistress and I… and I’m guessing the siren too… you can’t actually hurt us. It’s in the rules, so…”

Rose sighed in exasperation. So much for that short-lived dream. “Fine, whatever,” she said, shaking her head. “Anyway, I’m leaving. I have to find my way out of this place, it’s really creeping me out.”

She paused and looked back at the fox girl before she left. Jess looked really awkward standing there in the middle of the hall, fidgeting with her fingers.

“…You want to come with me?” Rose offered.

Jess’s face lit up like a spotlight. “Really!?” She gasped, her blue eyes shining with delight. “Do you mean it?!”

Rose shrugged. “Sure thing. I mean, you said you wanted to help, right? Hugs aren’t doing it for me, but maybe there’s some other way you can be useful…”

“Excuse me!” Jess puffed up her cheeks in irritation. “That is NOT what I agreed to! Only my mistress may ‘use’ me! I am HELPING you!”

Her anger lasted all of two seconds before she resumed fidgeting again. “B-but I’ll try to be useful if you really need my help…”

Geez, pick a lane, Rose thought, rolling her eyes once she turned to look away from the flustered fox bimbo.

“I don’t suppose you know the way out of here, then?” Rose looked around the empty, pastel pink hallway. “Since I can’t have an orgasm, I can’t check the map…”

“Oh! Um, no, but I do have one idea!” Jess said excitedly. “My mistress has all sorts of wonderful things in her shop! If you can find her, then I’m sure she’ll be happy to give you a potion or medicine that can erase what the siren did to you!”

Rose perked up when she heard that. “Well, why didn’t you say so?!” She cheered. “Lead the way! Let’s pay a visit to that mistress of yours… …Uh, Jess?”

She paused when she saw the fox girl slump over like a puppet with its strings cut.

“It’s not that simple…” Jess bemoaned. “I wish I could be at mistress’s side right now, but… I don’t know how to find her… only the audience can lead us to her, I’m afraid…”

“Uh… sorry, then?” Rose scratched her cheek. The only reason Jess was even here was because she was helping lend Rose a hand.

“…But it’s alright! I’m sure we can find her!” Jess perked up, her eyes shining. She placed her hand over her chest. “My heart will surely lead me right into my love’s arms!”

Rose had to admit, she was cute. Cute enough to make her laugh.

“Wh-what’s so funny!?” Jess’s face turned bright red.

Rose wiped a tear from her eye. “Nothing, it’s nothing,” she said, shaking her head. She was still giggling. “Just… I’m glad I finally get to make friends with another girl who doesn’t have any interest in Nick. Dani’s the only other one at this point!”

Jess looked mortified. “Eeww, don’t even joke about that!” She said with a shiver. “I’m happy to help the girls of your… group, your polycule, but, um… …I’d rather not think about men, if I could help it? Please?”

Rose decided it was better to just not talk about personal stuff in general. She nodded.

Relieved, Jess perked right back up. “Anyway! We need to get out of here as soon as possible!” She said adamantly. “That’s my first bit of advice for you, Rose!”

“Huh?” Rose raised her eyebrow. “I mean, I agree, this place is creepy, but I thought you would like the décor,” she replied, glancing at Jess’s hot pink outfit.

The fox girl shook her head firmly. “No, it’s not that! This place… it isn’t just the vibe, um…” She bit her lip and looked around, her tail swishing behind her. She wondered if it was alright for her to say this part.

“…There’s… someone here, and we need to get out of here before they find you!” She pleaded. “They’re dangerous… and they’ve already captured several of your friends!”

Her good heart couldn’t let her keep it a secret. She braced herself, fully expecting some form of retribution to come.

…Nothing. She cracked an eye open to take a peek, and when she saw that the world wasn’t crumbling around her, she finally let herself relax with a sigh of relief.

Rose was anything but relieved, though. “So the others are captured, then?” She said with a scowl. That explained the nagging feeling she’d had ever since she heard the whistle. A brave and heroic person like her must have sensed that her comrades were in danger, and her conscience was telling her to go rescue them! That explained why she kept feeling draw in that direction! And as for that part of her telling her she needed to complete the maze, well, clearly that must have been some kind of trap or artifact or something from the maze warping her mind, compelling her to take actions that absolutely weren’t in keeping with her personality!

Even now, part of Rose was screaming at her to run away and ditch her friends to get ahead. Yes, that certainly couldn’t have been how she really felt, it must have been the dark influence of the maze playing tricks on her mind and fooling her naturally heroic self!

Rose would NEVER do something so self-interested, allegedly!

She looked at the clueless Jess, and the wheels in her head began to turn…

“There… it’s done!” Lynette looked down triumphantly at her victim, a twisted smile stretching her face into a long gash. “That’s what you get…!”

“Amelia…” Sylvia winced, biting her lip.

“Oh man…” Gina shook her head, stunned.

Vivian looked away, too horrified to bear witness to what had just transpired.

Lynette… had ripped Amelia’s clothes to shreds with her scissors!

Vivian had never seen something so cruel. That blouse was genuine silk! What a monster!

“Shishishishi!” Lynette laughed, her wild eyes blazing with triumph as she waved her scissors above her head. “That’s how it feels! How do you like it, huh!?”

“Why did you do that?!” Holly cried. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “If you’re going to tear apart anyone’s clothes, then it should be me!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded adamantly, trying to indicate to herself with her hands. Hard to do in chains, but she was flexible.

Kim rolled her eyes. “Come on, it’s not a big deal,” she grunted. “It’s just stripping your clothes off. Some of us have to work for a living.”

“Kim, not everyone is an exhibitionist like you,” Sylvia chastised her sternly.

The tomboy’s mouth fell open and her face turned red. “I’m not a-!”

But Sylvia was already ignoring her. “Amelia, are you alright?” She asked anxiously as Amelia picked herself up off the floor. She held the tattered remains of her clothes as close to her body as she could to preserve her modesty, but anyone could see she was a little flustered.

Lynette was fine with letting her be free. What was she going to do, run away?

She wouldn’t get five steps.

Knowing that, Amelia grimly took her seat, still covering her modest chest as best she could.

“Do not be alarmed,” she said, her cold tone not as reassuring as she may have hoped.

Sylvia bit her lip. “B-but-”

“They are merely clothes,” Amelia pointed out. “Tattered garments are nothing to worry over.”

“Thank you!” Kim rolled her eyes in exasperation. That was what she’d been trying to say, that Amelia had actually gotten off pretty lightly considering the twisted doll girl’s personality.

“Why did you single Teach out, anyway?” Vivian demanded. “What did she ever do to you? If you’re going to punish someone, punish me!”

Everyone looked at Vivian, surprised. Even Vivian seemed a little stunned that she’d made the offer.

“Err, I mean… pl-please don’t tear up my clothes,” Vivian whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes.

Lynette scoffed, shaking her head. “I don’t care about any of you,” she spat. “You’re just my friends!”

That didn’t really click together well in Vivian’s brain. She just stared blankly at the stringy-haired blonde.

“Uh…”

“Amelia deserved it!” Lynette screamed, stabbing her scissors into the table. “She was trying to take away Mommy’s love for me like you were, Sylvia! Saying all that stuff before about how she cares about Mommy like a daughter! But she CAN’T have Mommy, because Mommy belongs to ME!”

Amelia looked evenly at the flailing girl, not intimidated by her show of ****. Lynette had made a big show out of tearing up her clothes, but Kim was right- they were just clothes. She did not feel threatened by the animated doll in the slightest.

“There is room in anyone’s heart to love multiple people,” Amelia informed her.

Lynette glared at her. “I know that!” She snapped. “What, do you think I’m stupid or something!? I have dress-up clothes as a doctor AND a lawyer AND an astral-nut!”

“Astronaut,” Kim couldn’t help but correct her.

“Whatever!” Lynette snapped at her. “The point is, I’m the smartest doll in the whole universe! The whole galaxy, even!”

No one could really argue with that if they were being honest. But that wasn’t a high bar to clear, either.

“Lynette-”

“STOP IT!” Lynette screamed, yanking her scissors out of the table and pointing them at Gina next. Once the punk girl shut up, she turned them back on Sylvia.

“Mommy… loves… me… MOST!” She insisted. “And that’s why… I have to show her… how much I love her… she has to pay… for how she treated me… and then… she’ll learn her lesson, right?” She dragged her scissors across the table, scraping across the plastic and making a sound more painful than fingers on a chalkboard.

“Mommy will be nice after that… and we’ll be a family again…” Lynette’s eyes were hollow, and the smile on her face failed to reach them.

Everyone felt a stir of remorse for the poor thing. Even Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, as shocking as it was.

“So that’s the plan, then?” Gina asked with a sigh and hung her head. “You’re gonna **** us until Dakota steps in and stops you?”

“That’s right!” Lynette chirped. “We’re going to have so much fun at my tea party! I just need to get all the guests together! And then we’ll have a blast!”

Before anyone could stick their foot in their mouth by telling Lynette how crazy of an idea that was, the door to the basement swung open.

“Oh? A party you say? And you thought you could start without the guest of honor?”

Everyone looked in shock as Rose descended the staircase into the basement, a confident smirk on her cocky face.

No one was more shocked than Lynette.

“What… what are you doing here!?” She sputtered in disbelief. “I never called for you!”

Rose shook her head. “No, I don’t even know who you are,” she agreed, giving the little girl a dismissive glance. “I was brought here… by the sound of friendship!” Rose placed her hand over her heart and swooned, her chest swelling with pride.

“It was the whistle, right?” Holly checked, rolling her eyes. “Vivian and Sylvia and I, we all heard a whistle and we all felt the pull to come find out where it came from.”

“Yeah, that was us,” Gina confirmed. She nodded to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “Well, our mute friend over here deserves the real credit.”

The assassin nodded proudly.

As anyone could have told you, information that was inconvenient for Rose went in one ear and out the other. “I came here to save you girls!” Rose declared without hesitation, placing her hands on her hips. “So don’t worry about a thing!”

“Oh yeah?” Lynette clutched her scissors tightly, a wicked smile on her face. “Fine by me! We have plenty of seats at the table.”

She advanced towards Rose, snapping her scissors open and shut.

“I told you!” Jess wailed, clinging to Rose with all her might. “I said she was dangerous! Why did you have to come here!?”

But Rose didn’t back down. She ignored Jess’s frantic pleas to run, and faced down the crazed doll with a confidence that only sheer ignorance of the situation could birth.

“I don’t know who you are,” Rose said, not taking her eyes off of Lynette’s, “but I have an idea of what you want. You’re trying to make Dakota suffer, isn’t that right? Even though she’s your ‘Mommy’ or whatever?”

Lynette blinked. “Eavesdropping? Naughty, naughty, naughty!”

Rose shrugged. “Well, I’m a bad girl sometimes,” she said with a smirk. “But I’ll tell you one thing, abducting these guys, playing these little games? It won’t get you anywhere with Dakota. She doesn’t care one bit. Not even about Sylvia and Amelia, can you believe that?”

Sylvia looked dejected. Amelia was completely unreadable, but she certainly wasn’t pleased.

Not like how Lynette was pleased. “I know!” She giggled. “Shishishishi! Mommy loves me the MOST! More than ANYBODY!”

Rose smiled evenly. “…Weeeelll…”

Lynette immediately responded, nearly stabbing Rose then and there. “What!?”

“Look, all I’m saying is that maybe Dakota does love you most, but if that’s the case, then why isn’t she here?” Rose pointed out.

Lynette clicked her tongue and glared. “That…”

“There’s one person that Dakota cares about even more than you, um… …Wait, sorry, what was your name again?” Rose never actually caught that part.

“Lynette!” Lynette screamed. “Lynette, Lynette, Lynette!”

“…Right, Lynette. …Anyway, you can try and pretend all you like, but we both know that the person Dakota cares about most is Nick. You can do whatever you want with all them, but as long as she has Nick, it won’t move her an inch.”

No one liked how accurate that sounded. Least of all, Lynette herself.

“No! That’s not FAIR! She has to come, she HAS to!” Lynette wailed. “I can’t show her my devotion and make her HURT if she doesn’t come to my tea party!”

“Sorry,” Rose said with a shrug. “Them’s the breaks I guess! Those girls are all useless to you. If you want to get at Dakota, then forget about them, go after Nick instead.”

“What are you talking about, are you nuts!?” Kim exclaimed.

“Don’t tell her that!” Holly cried.

“It’s fine,” Rose snapped, leering at the two of them.

Lynette’s seething rage was clue enough that she was on the right track. Rose recognized impotence when she saw it.

“It’s not… …Fair!” Lynette spat, clutching her scissors tightly. “I can’t TARGET the master! It doesn’t WORK like that! I can’t go get him! It’s against the rules!”

The table of bound girls let out a collective sigh of relief.

“But I’m not telling you to do that,” Rose clarified, shaking her head. “There are other ways to get at her, you know.”

Lynette perked up when she heard that. “Eh? What do you mean?”

“If you want to upset Dakota and make her hurt, then you’ve gotta use Nick,” Rose pointed out. “But you can’t get to him. So the only way to make Nick hurt? You’ve got to go after the woman he loves more than anyone else! Forget these sidepieces over there, and take his one true love hostage! If that happens, then Nick will HAVE to do something, and Dakota will have to intervene and try to stop you! You see? The perfect plan!”

Indeed, Rose’s proposal actually had a certain degree of logic to it.

Save one major problem.

“Rose, that’s not going to work!” Holly exclaimed. “If she can’t get to Nick, she can’t get to Mary, either!”

“Yeah, I get the idea, but it’s a bad one,” Kim agreed, shaking her head.

Rose scowled. “Who said anything about Mary!?” She snapped. “I’m talking about me, here! You know, the woman Nick loves best? Hello?”

She turned to Lynette with a defiant expression on her face. “Let them go, and take ME prisoner, missy! Nick won’t be able to handle it if I’m taken prisoner!”

Lynette’s mouth dropped open. The other women all stared at Rose with various expressions of disbelief on their faces.

Does Lynette buy into this tenuous logic?

https://strawpoll.com/3RnYX0AGxye

Is Rose the woman Nick loves most?

https://strawpoll.com/kogjRYKAPg6