I would run away yeah yeah I would run away I would run away with you

Mary began to sweat. Her entire body started to heat up as her stomach did flip-flops. She couldn’t believe it! In just three days, she’d be getting married…

“Is… is that really enough time to plan out a wedding, though?” Dawn asked, adjusting her glasses. She didn’t think it would be possible.

“Well, certainly!” Syvlia cackled. She twirled her cane between her fingers. “Are you girls forgetting about all the powers of the host? This entire hotel is under my control, setting up a wedding is mere child’s play!”

Nick didn’t like that idea at all. “I don’t think I want you planning out my wedding,” he said with a scowl. “And Mary certainly doesn’t want-”

“Can you really do that?!” Mary asked, her eyes wide with expectation.

“Mary?!” Nick couldn’t believe that Mary was fine with a wedding that Sylvia would plan. He knew it would be a perversion in every meaning of the word.

“I-I’m sorry…” Mary shrunk back a little, but her green eyes still glistened with desire. “It’s just… when I think about what’s coming… a wedding…”

She squeezed her legs together and started to shake. Her breasts jumped in her dress in a way that drew all eyes to her bloated cleavage.

“The sooner we get married… the sooner we can do other stuff… right?”

Nick gulped. That… was certainly a way to think about things, she wasn’t wrong.

“Mary…”

“I want to get married as soon as possible!” Mary exclaimed, grabbing Nick’s hands and holding them closely to her heart. “If Sylvia planning the wedding gets me that, then I don’t mind! I’ll… I’ll put up with anything…”

She started to shake. It was clear that she wasn’t certain about that, though, much to Nick’s concern.

“Well… if that’s what you want,” he said, glancing warily at Sylvia.

“Oh, come on now!” Sylvia giggled. “There’s nothing to be concerned about!” She skipped over and hugged Mary from the side, nuzzling her chin up against hers. “I would never do anything that our blushing bride would disapprove of.”

Oh yeah. That was reassuring.

Mary clearly didn’t have a lot of faith in Sylvia, and neither did Nick. But then Sylvia said something that caught both their attention.

“In fact, I’m going to be giving Mary full control over this wedding,” she informed the room. “It will be exactly the kind of wedding that she wants it to be.”

“Really?” Mary’s eyes widened and her face lit up with glee. “You mean it?!”

“Of course!” Sylvia purred. “I just want your special day to be special, my girl. And then once it’s done… well, you’ll have your honeymoon night with your groom to look forward to. You see why I set that date?”

“Mary…” Nick was pretty sure that Sylvia was goading her into something that she’d regret. But that didn’t make a difference to the redhead. She had stars in her eyes as she pictured her wedding with Nick, and all the things that would follow it.

“Shall we discuss that in detail?” Sylvia asked, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Us ladies can plan out your wedding, wouldn’t that be just swell, my girl?”

Then she paused.

“Although… there is one issue that comes to mind, with an approach like that…”

Mary tensed. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s nothing serious. Just… before we go, we need to check the time.”

Nick had no idea what she was talking about. The time?

“Ah.” Dakota’s eyes widened slightly as she realized what Sylvia was talking about. “That’s right.”

“What do you mean?” Mary asked, confused. “What are you guys talking about?”

Dakota smirked. She pointed at Mary’s dress, which disappeared. In its place, a pair of daisy dukes clung to her lips and waist, while a long-sleeved flannel shirt tied itself around her chest, pushing out her breasts. A pair of cowboy boots on her feet completed the look.

“AH!” Mary gasped, tugging at her shirt to try and make it cover more. “My dress! What happened to it?!”

“Don’t worry,” Sylvia assured her. “It’s fine. I wasn’t going to take that away from you- you paid for it, after all! …Well, you posed for it. It’s hanging up nice and safe in your closet as we speak.”

Mary frowned. Not that it mattered. She’d probably never wear it again, thanks to this transformation of hers.

“YEEEEK!” Another scream echoed across the banquet hall, which caught everybody’s attention. All heads turned to see Rose, who was crouched on the floor and shielding her near-naked body with her hands. All she had left were her panties; her breasts she barely had covered, and her face was red as could be.

“Rose?!” Nick sputtered, blushing up a storm as he saw her scandalous appearance. “What’s going on here?! Rose?!”

Rose just wailed. Everybody else figured it out pretty quickly though.

“Well, sweet little Rose here was nice and willing to take on Mary’s transformation,” Sylvia explained, gesturing her cane at the blonde. “Thanks to Dakota here, of course. But the 24 hours since she used her Cut/Paste transformation have elapsed; so of course, those clothes will be disappearing as well. What a tragedy…”

“Aargh, you bitch!” Rose cursed, leaping to her feet and charging out of the banquet hall to go find something to change into.

Nick watched her go with a sympathetic pang in his heart. Rose had really done a lot for him and Mary these past few days, and seeing her in that state made him feel bad.

I should probably go talk to her or something, he thought. But right now, he couldn’t leave Mary’s side, especially not when Sylvia was luring her down a dark path like someone offering candy from a white van.

“What do you think, Mary? Shall we go plan?”

“I’m coming too,” Dawn said, stepping forward. She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t trust you with this whole wedding nonsense.”

“Oh, of course!” Sylvia cooed. “The more the merrier!”

The fact that she was willing to go along with that suggestion raised the idea that maybe she could be trusted on this in fact. But Nick still didn’t buy it. He stared suspiciously at the blonde, and waited to see if anyone else would have Mary’s side in this.

“I’ll help out with the planning, too!” A surprising source spoke up in Mary’s favor. Marley stepped forward, and then turned to her sister. “…Assuming that’s okay with you, sis,” she said, blushing slightly. “After all, we have to do this together…”

Having spent a day away from Carly’s side, Marley was starting to get a little too big for her britches. She wanted to spend time away from her sister, but she couldn’t. She’d have to ask permission to go, which could be… tricky.

After all, Carly didn’t like weddings. It wouldn’t be a surprise to Marley at all if her sister wanted nothing to do with this.

But Marley wanted to make sure that her mom wouldn’t go overboard. And after seeing how genuine Mary’s feelings were with her own eyes, she wanted to support the other girl’s romance.

“Well, I can’t say I’m all that engaged with planning a wedding,” Carly admitted, apparently confirming Marley’s worst fears. “…But at the same time, I’m not against it, either, and if my sister wants to do something, well…”

She shrugged. It’s not like there was anything wrong with her going along with this, right? She could do it just fine.

Marley sighed in relief and her face lit up. That was exactly what she was hoping for!

“Great!” She cheered. “This is perfect! We can come too, right?” She turned to Sylvia, knowing that her mother figure wouldn’t be able to turn her down.

“Of course!” Sylvia giggled. “I’m so happy that you’re taking an interest, Marley! As your… m-m-m-mother… hehe… that’s the best I could ever hope for!” Sylvia’s face turned bright red and she squirmed with glee.

Marley rolled her eyes and gave her an exasperated smile. Sylvia could be a little out-there, but Marley still loved her anyway. It was rather endearing.

“Anyone else?” Sylvia looked around the room. “We can always do with some more people helping us out!”

“I’d be happy to help,” Kim said, raising her hand. “Mary’s my friend, why wouldn’t I want to help her out?”

“Oh, no you don’t.”

Dani placed her hand on Kim’s shoulder and the schoolgirl froze. She turned pale and looked over her shoulder.

“D-Dani? What…?”

“You can’t help Mary out,” Dani said adamantly. Then she cracked a smile. “As much as I’d like to help her myself, we’ve got some working out to do, remember?”

Kim gulped. Crap. She’d almost forgotten.

“S-Surely I can take one day off, right?” She stammered. But even as she said that, she could feel her heart shifting its position and encouraging her to keep working her hardest. She felt simply miserable, but she didn’t have a choice.

Her transformation compelled her to do her best and complete her routine as she’d done every other day this round.

“…Sorry, Mary,” she apologized as Dani dragged her off to the gym. “Maybe I can help later, after I finish working…”

Mary didn’t really know what to say, she just waved awkwardly to her friend as Kim was pulled towards the door. “Good luck?” She managed to get out.

That awkward moment led to a lull in the conversation, and that gave a certain someone exactly the opportunity she needed to speak up for herself.

“Can… can I come too?”

Mary turned to Morgana, surprised that the goth would volunteer to help plan a wedding. She knew that Morgana was obsessed with Mary getting married, but she thought it ended at the level of a fantasy. Not that she would actually want to lend a hand in planning it.

“Yeah, of course you can,” Mary nodded. “But… I’m the one who gets the final say, don’t forget!” She really didn’t want to know what Morgana would come up with if left to her own devices. At the moment she just wanted a nice wedding between her and Nick.

“I will!” Morgana nodded rapidly. “Don’t worry! I won’t go against any of your wishes or anything like that!”

She really just wanted to be included in something the others were doing. She hadn’t had a chance to make a lot of friends off of activities like this, and this was a good chance for her.

“That’s great, Morgana!” Carly smiled, glad that the goth was making progress in getting to interact with people and build friendships.

Morgana smiled back at her and nodded. Things were looking great.

“Well… I suppose then, that I’ll help with the planning too…”

And just like that, Morgana’s smile disappeared. She stiffened up and swallowed.

“…Dakota? Really?” Mary looked cautiously at the brunette. “You… want to help me with my wedding?” She still didn’t know if she should trust the other woman. But if Dakota was offering to help…

Morgana’s gulp echoed through the hall. Dakota turned to her with a smile on her face, her eyes narrowed into golden slits.

“You… don’t have a problem with that… right?” She asked quietly, and Morgana quickly shook her head. Whatever issues she might have had with Dakota, there was no way she was going to say them to the other girl’s face!

“Then it’s settled!” Sylvia clapped her hands cheerfully. “Let’s go, everyone! To plan Mary’s wedding, and her first night as a bride!”

“Wait, what was that last part?” Mary turned red, and barely had enough time to voice her concerns before Sylvia tapped her cane, and all the women who were helping Mary out with her wedding plans were teleported away.

Once the hall cleared out, Nick finally felt like he could breathe again. He let out a sigh of relief, and then he realized that he wasn’t alone right now.

“Oh… Gina, you’re still here…” He turned to the punk girl, who gave him a shaky smile in return. She tucked a tangled strand of hair behind her ear and approached him cautiously before stopping at a safe distance away.

“Yeah, I… I’m still here,” she mumbled, nodding. “See… I’m not the right person for planning a wedding, I think we both know that.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Nick nodded. He felt an odd sort of tension in the air between the two of them, and he didn’t know what to do about it, or even where the source had come from. “Hey, Gina… can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what?” Gina looked like she was all smiles on the surface, still wearing that detached, distant expression on her face, but inside she was in turmoil. “I mean, I can’t promise I’ll give you good advice, but you can always ask…”

Nick nodded. “What do you think of my relationship with Mary?” He asked.

Gina blinked. “What… what do I think?”

“Yeah,” Nick nodded. “Can you tell me? It’s really important. I care about her, but… I don’t know, this all seems to be happening so fast. What would you do, if you were in my situation?”

“Um… okay, like I said, I’m really not the person you want to ask this kind of stuff,” Gina clarified, shaking her head. “When it comes to being responsible and mature, I’m, like, the last person in the world who should be listened to!”

Nick sighed. “I know you think that, Gina, but this is really important. And I know you’re reckless, and irresponsible, but… knowing you, you’re cynical enough to see things for what they really are. And that’s what I need right now.”

Now that caught Gina off-guard. “Huh? You’re really serious right now?”

Nick nodded again. “I was going to count on Dawn for this at first,” he admitted. “But she seems to be into this whole marriage thing, too. So that’s why you’re my best bet, since you don’t want that kind of thing from a relationship. You can tell me if getting married is the right thing to do or not.”

Gina winced, feeling a stab of pain from Nick’s statement. Who was he to say that she didn’t want something like marriage to stem from a relationship?

…Of course, upon thinking that way, she quickly reframed her perspective. She didn’t want that, after all! And even if she did, it would be a pipe dream anyway.

Nick would never marry her.

“I guess… if I’m being honest…”

Nick tensed. He really hoped that Gina would come out in support of his actions. She was one of his oldest friends, after all, and he knew he could count on her to look objectively at the situation. But even if she didn’t want him to get married, it’s not like that would change anything.

This was happening. Nick just wanted Gina’s cynicism to prepare for any potential roadblocks that might be coming.

Gina took a deep breath, and exhaled. “To tell you the truth…” She looked around to make sure that there was nobody else around, and approached him. “…I don’t think this is a good idea.”

Nick winced. He’d expected that, but it still hurt to hear.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

Gina nodded. “I know that you two like each other… and yeah, in a perfect world, that would be enough. But you aren’t compatible, Nick! There’s someone better than you out there. Mary… she… okay, she’s a nice person, yeah, and she genuinely cares about others… but… I mean… you’re not that religious of a guy, right? And besides, she’s going to be against your other wives! I mean, if you get any, and yeah, she SAID she was okay with it, but can you really believe that? I mean… I mean…”

She was fumbling for words, and Nick stared at her, not sure what to make of her position. Gina had thoroughly confused him.

“Are… are you okay?” He asked, taking a cautious step forward.

“And besides!” Gina snapped. “If you’re going to get married, it should be to someone perfect! Mary, she… she isn’t perfect!”

“I know that,” Nick said, feeling even more confused. “Of course she’s not perfect. Nobody’s perfect, Gina, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t marry her. I love her. And just because there’s going to be tough times, that doesn’t mean-”

“But she should be!” Gina exclaimed, stomping her foot. “If you’re going to get married, it needs to be to someone perfect! What if… what if you come home and she’s drunk, huh?!”

Nick blinked. “But… Mary doesn’t drink.”

“Well, you know what I mean!” Gina frantically pivoted. “She might be doing **** and getting high!”

“Mary doesn’t do that stuff either, though…” Nick pointed out.

“Well… well-!” Gina shook her head. “Well, what if she did? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to marry her then, right?!”

Nick didn’t really see what any of this had to do with anything. But it was clearly something important to Gina, that much was obvious.

“Gina, is everything okay?” He asked. “I mean… thinking about that sort of thing… yeah, those are worries, but I was concerned about more practical stuff than just blind worrying.”

Gina bit her lip and started to shake. The truth was…

“Okay, fine!” She exclaimed. “Mary’s just perfect! It’s almost sickening how great of a girl she is, okay?! I know, because she’s my buddy!”

To Nick’s eyes, it looked like she was about to burst into tears.

“So… that’s just… you two should just get married and be happy!” Gina asserted. “A good girl like that is perfect for you, and not… some shitty loser with terrible attitude.”

Okay, that was so out of nowhere it actually helped Nick come to terms with what was happening. He approached her, and pulled her into a hug.

“Lemme go,” Gina demanded.

Nick shook his head. “No, I’m not going to do that,” he said. “I care about you, too, Gina.”

“…Really?” Gina glared suspiciously up at him. “But you want to marry Mary… not me…”

“Well… I mean… I just thought… knowing you…”

“You thought I wouldn’t want to get married, right?” Gina tried to break away, but he held her close. “Well… you’re right! I don’t! So just… leave me alone, okay?”

She finally managed to shake herself free. She turned on her heel and stormed away, leaving Nick to chase after her. He realized now that Gina’s feelings were a lot more complicated than he’d thought at first.

“Gina, wait!” He shouted after her.