Intermission 7

Nola wore a big, beaming smile on her face as she skipped down the hallway. She hummed a jaunty irish tune as she went, her face glowing like the sun. It was no surprise to see the perky leprechaun looking so happy.

But wonder of wonders, Dakota, who was passing by, actually picked up on it.

And even more surprising, she made a point to comment.

“You’re in a good mood today,” she noted with a raised eyebrow.

Nola nodded cheerfully and waved. “Why yes, I am! Thank you so ever much for noticing, Dakota!” She chirped. If Nola’s boss were more attentive she would notice that Nola was almost always in a good mood- but Dakota couldn’t concern herself with trivialties like that.

Instead, she just looked perplexed.

“Did something happen?” The host wondered what would bring on this sudden flurry of positive emotions from the leprechaun.

Nola’s eyes shimmered with excitement and she nodded her head rapidly.

“Why yes! Something just terrific happened!” She exclaimed. “It’s St. Patrick’s Day!”

Dakota gave her a blank look.

“…No, it isn’t.”

“Yes it is!” Nola insisted.

Dakota shook her head slowly. “No, it isn’t. This season began at the beginning of summer. It isn’t St. Patrick’s Day.”

Nola blanched. “No, but… it… it is!” She put her foot down in a huff, refusing to let Dakota spoil her good mood. “It’s St. Patrick’s Day, my cultural heritage! And I want to celebrate it!”

Dakota realized that she very much did not care.

“…Well, have fun with that, then,” she muttered, and turned to walk away.

Nola hastily chased after her.

“Wait wait wait wait wait!”

“What is it?” Dakota turned to the leprechaun and narrowed her eyes in a warning look. “If you’re going to try and pinch me…”

“No, oh, no, never!” Nola frantically shook her head back and forth. “I wouldn’t do that, swearsies! …Even though you’re not wearing green, so…”

Dakota tightened her grip on her cane.

Nola gulped. “Right, yes, no pinching. Not a problem, boss!” She hastily saluted, nodding frantically. “Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure to keep my hands to myself! …With you, anyway.”

A scheming expressing crossed her face and she began to giggle. “Mwahaha…”

Dakota could see the conspiratorial expression on the other girl’s face. Clearly she was planning to play a prank on the contestants.

She could support that.

But she was still curious about the details. Dakota narrowed her eyes and studied the other girl. “Nola, what are you thinking about?” She demanded. “Are you planning something?”

Nola stiffened. She turned pale. “W-well, I mean… maybe… Okay, so, I wanted to, um… maybe, do a St. Patrick’s Day party? For everyone? Maybe? Please? If you’re okay with it, I mean!” She clasped her hands together and gazed up into Dakota’s eyes, giving her a big, pleading puppy-dog expression.

Dakota didn’t really know what to say.

“…Do as you like,” Dakota said, waving her hand dismissively. “I don’t care about it. But make it fast. We’re pressed for time here.”

“Yes! Absolutely!” Nola nodded her head frantically. “I’ll get it done! Just you watch, ma’am, you won’t even know I’m doing it!”

She rushed off, leaving an exasperated Dakota behind.

“…I’m going to have to keep an eye on her, aren’t I?” She muttered, shaking her head. She had a bad feeling about this situation.

Nola made her way to the hotel’s storeroom, and began gathering things together for her party. Lots of green! Green banners, green decorations, all manner of things! But one problem- she couldn’t find any gold!

“Oh, phooey!” She pouted, sitting in the middle of the green mess she’d made. “I’ve found everything I need for the party, even the green food coloring! But where’s the pot of gold!?”

You couldn’t throw a St. Patrick’s Day party without a pot of gold. And Nola certainly wasn’t going to use hers!

Nope, no way! Dakota had to have one of her own stashed away somewhere- didn’t everyone?

Certainly she wouldn’t mind if I borrowed hers. After all, she said she didn’t care, right? Nola told herself, justifying her thievery with tenuous logic.

Unfortunately, no matter where she dug around in the storeroom, she couldn’t find it!

Dakota must have hid it somewhere very secret!

“Hmm… If I was Dakota, where would I hide my pot of gold?” Nola wondered, pacing back and forth. She had to find it, she just had to! Or the party would be ruined!

“Oh? You’re looking to uncover Dakota’s secret hiding place, is that right?”

Nola nearly jumped out of her skin. She whirled around, and what she saw made her freeze in place. Her jaw dropped and she began to shake.

“M-M-M-M-Mr. S-!” She stammered out, landing on her butt. “What are you doing here?!”

A visit from a producer?! Could it… could it be…?

“Has my time finally come?!” Nola squealed, hopping to her feet. Her joy and excitement overwhelmed her fear for a brief moment. “Am I going to get another season? Am I? Oh please tell me I am, I’ve been working so hard on my rambling! Sure I still talk quite a lot but that’s natural, it’s not rambling at all! Everybody does it how I hear it, so that’s just a natural thing. Thank you so much, I won’t forget this second chance, thank you-”

The producer silence her with a look from his decipherable face.

“Nola, you getting another season is certainly something the producers are taking under consideration,” he said diplomatically. “But not right now.”

Nola slumped. “Oh… well, then how can I help you?” She rebounded fast, perky little bundle of joy that she was.

The producer laughed. “I thought I could help you, actually,” he replied. “You were looking for Dakota’s secret, is that right?”

Nola nodded rapidly. “Her secret pot of gold! Every host has one! So where’s hers? I want to use it as a prop! She said I could!”

The producer laughed again. “Well, you know the old saying, don’t you?” He purred, waving his hand. Trails of layered color in the form of a rainbow sprung from his fingers, winding out of the storeroom and down the hallway. “What you seek is at the end of the rainbow.”

And with that, he was gone.

Nola didn’t hesitate for a second. Once she moved all her decorations out of storage, she followed the trail of color down the hall, eager to find Dakota’s pot of gold.

It was a long way off, though. She wandered through winding hallways and corridors, and got turned around several times. Dakota had hidden her gold very well! If not for the colored trail, she would have gotten lost a dozen times over!

“I’ve never been to this part of the hotel before…” Nola said with a shiver. Something about this hall just rubbed her the wrong way.

Then she turned one last corner, and she saw it! A big, black door in the middle of the hall. The colored lights passed right through it like it wasn’t even there. But it definitely was. Nola could sense something heavy behind it. As if the door itself was telling her to stay away.

Nola wasn’t very good about listening to warnings.

“What are you doing here?”

Nola’s fingers froze an inch from the doorknob. The rest of her froze too.

Dakota’s tone was unlike anything she had ever heard before. She’d heard Dakota when she was angry. Not irritated, no, but angry angry. The kind of angry that made Nola want to turn and run for the hills out of fear.

The tone of her voice right now made those times seem like little playful spats between friends. Nola was petrified with fear- she couldn’t move if she wanted to, and she was grateful for that. If she turned around right now, she was certain that the expression on the other woman’s face would turn her to ash.

“I asked you a question, Nola.” Dakota was right behind her now, cold voice hissing in her ear. Nola could feel the woman’s golden eyes burning holes into the back of her skull. “What are you doing here?”

“I… I… I…!” Nola wanted to tell Dakota that it wasn’t her fault, that she didn’t mean to come here, that the producer had led her hear. But she couldn’t say it. It was as though Mr. S had done something to her, prevented her from telling the host about him no matter how hard she tried. And the rainbow road had disappeared as well.

Nola was trapped.

So she swallowed and told as much of the truth as she could.

“I was looking for a pot of gold…” she stammered out. “For… for the party.”

A silence more crushing than anything Nola had ever withstood hung in the air for what felt like an agonizing eternity.

“…Well you won’t find anything like that here.”

And just like that, the immense pressure that had Nola moments away from peeing herself dissipated into nothing. She fell to her knees, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, and she shakily raised her head to turn and look back at her boss.

Dakota’s face was devoid of emotion. As though she were staring at something that didn’t even exist.

That’s how Nola felt right now. Small. Insignificant. Worthless. And she wanted more than anything to be all of those things, to be so far beneath Dakota’s purview that she wouldn’t have even noticed her to begin with.

“If you wanted gold you should have asked,” Dakota said, waving her cane and conjuring a pot of gold in front of the leprechaun. “Rather than poke around in places you shouldn’t.”

Nola gulped back her panties-wetting terror and nodded rapidly. “Yes, yes, you’re so right, yes,” she babbled, scooping up the pot of gold and clutching it to her chest. “THANKYOUDAKOTABYEPLEASEENJOYTHEPARTY!”

She fled the scene of the crime as fast as she could, before Dakota could change her mind.

“HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!” Nola declared, spinning around the Banquet Hall with a big smile on her face. Nick and all of his haremettes had been dragged here for Nola’s impromptu “party” whether they liked it or not. And to enforce a festive atmosphere, Nola had used her limited powers (with Dakota’s permission) to turn their clothes green.

It was just a little bit of festivity! To liven things up a little! And everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

As Nola made the rounds and greeted everyone, thanking them for coming to her party, she was determined to make sure everybody had a great time, including herself.

Anything to bury that horrible door and Dakota’s terrifying response to her presence there as deep at the bottom of her mind as she could.