Now that the spring is in the air

Without any incentive in Victory Points, or any interest on Nick’s part in continuing the charade, the hole digging project was ended soon enough, and Dakota used her cane to make sure everybody else could get out of the pit in the beach.

She didn’t fill it in, though, even if it looked like a safety hazard. She said she didn’t want to waste everybody’s hard work.

There was still the issue of what to do next, though. Digging that hole had taken a lot of energy, and frankly, some of the girls in the harem were starting to get tired of the beach.

“Vivian. How are you handling yourself?” Octavia asked Vivian seriously as she approached the heiress, studying the brunette with a scrutinizing gaze.

“Eh? What do you mean by that?” Vivian laughed. “You know me, Octavia. I’m always feeling the love! …And it’s ‘Miss Carrington’ to you, you know that! …Or ‘Lady Carrington’ maybe? Ooh! Or how about, ‘Madame Carrington’! That would be something, wouldn’t it?”

Octavia looked at her charge with an expressionless face, clearly not amused by Vivian’s cheeky response.

“…As you wish, Miss Carrington,” she said with a stiff nod. “If you need anything, you just let me know, understood?”

She turned away, and Vivian grabbed her by the wrist. It was a sudden gesture, and one that even the heiress herself looked surprised by. But soon enough the moment passed, and she was all smiles again anyway.

“Come on, you can’t think you’re getting out of this that easily!” Vivian laughed. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, you know! Today’s just getting started!”

Octavia stared at her, and then softly nodded. “As you wish, Miss Carrington,” she said again. She didn’t leave this time.

Vivian was right, several of the others were just getting started.

“What should we do next?” Carly asked, her tone almost insistent. She seemed a lot more forceful than usual about doing things, much to Nick’s curiosity.

“I’m surprised to see you this animated,” he said. “Did you always like the beach this much?”

Carly looked at him in surprise, like she hadn’t been expecting that particular question.

“Well… I mean, I don’t really go to the beach that often?” She said, scratching her head. “It’s not really my think. I prefer the mountains to the sand.”

Yeah, Carly was definitely more of a mountain climbing girl, Nick could picture that. In spite of the fact that she had a body definitely built for bikinis (like the one she was wearing, that Nick found it difficult to look away from) her own personal preferences trended towards long hikes.

Hey! That was an idea!

“Ella, what about hiking?” Nick asked, turning to the shy latina. “Would you be interested in going on a hike or something like that?”

Carly winced, and Ella turned pale.

“Err… no, no, I don’t… I don’t want to do that,” she said quickly, shaking her head. While she might have enjoyed the walk with Nick just fine, going on some big hike? Yeah, no, she had way better things to do with her time.

Absolutely not!

Nick could definitely get that read from her. “Well, if that’s what you want, I understand,” he said with a nod. “Sorry, I didn’t want to put any pressure on you, or anything.”

“Oh! It’s no pressure at all, really!” Ella shook her head quickly. “It’s just that hiking really isn’t for me, you know?”

Again, Nick totally understood.

“Well that’s okay!” Carly chirped, giving the maid a pat on the shoulder that made her flinch. “Don’t feel pressured to do something you don’t enjoy!”

Ella awkwardly chuckled. “Y-yeah… uh-huh… right…” She wasn’t good at dealing with people who oozed excitement and positivity the way Carly did. It was way too overwhelming for her, but she tried to keep a good mood going.

Nick was a little surprised himself. “Carly, you’re in a pretty good mood, for someone who had to dig a giant hole in the ground.” Even though the cosplayer could be perky and upbeat, she seemed to really be laying it on today. “Something good happen?”

“Eh? I mean… not particularly?” Carly shook her head, and for a second, Nick thought he saw something in her eyes, but she was all smiles. He must have mistaken it. “I’m just ready to get to something even more fun!”

“Believe me, I don’t get how she can be this way, either,” Marley groused, coming up to join them. Unlike her sister, she looked completely wiped out. “My shoulders are killing me…”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s solely because of shoveling,” Rose pointed out, glancing at Marley’s large chest. Although Carly should have had the same problem, she was clearly handling it better. “What a shame… I get to join the family, but I’m not nearly as endowed as you two…”

Just because Rose had taken up the mantle as a sister to the Granger twins, that didn’t mean she actually became their physical family or that her body would change.

Although Nick thought it would look pretty good if she did.

He kept those thoughts to himself, though.

While they were all discussing, some of the other girls were still trying to think about what they would do now that they were done with all the hard work of digging, and what they should do next.

“Ugh, I hate menial labor,” Kim groaned. She plopped herself down on the rim of the hole and kicked her legs out lazily in front of her, staring off into the distance. “I can’t believe I actually believed it would be worth it.”

She used to do this professionally, if anyone would have known, it was her. But she had been caught up in the hope of getting some Victory Points.

And she definitely hadn’t expected to be dropping her shovel all the time.

“You good, Kim?” Mary asked, sitting down beside her and looking hopefully at her friend.

“Oh! Mary? Uh…” Kim actually recoiled in surprise. She didn’t expect Mary to come up to talk to her, given how much they’d drifted apart recently. But she was definitely happy about it. “Um… yeah, I’m good. You know me though! Always complaining…”

Mary pouted in response. “I don’t think that’s true!” She chastised the other girl. “You’re too hard on yourself, Kim! You’ve actually got a very positive outlook!”

Most of the time that was true. Mary did have a few constructive criticisms about Kim’s behavior recently, especially as it applied to Vivian. But that wasn’t any of her business, she didn’t want to be a nag or tell Kim how to handle her relationships.

As Kim’s friend, the most she wanted to do was be there for her friend.

Kim could definitely feel that support coming off of her. She smiled at Mary and nodded. “Thanks for saying that, Mary. It really means a lot to me. I guess it’s just been a bit of a tough day for me today, that’s all.”

Mary was surprised to hear that. “Today’s been tough for you?” She asked.

Kim nodded and looked down at the sandy pit in front of her. “…Not just the digging,” she clarified. “I’m talking about this.”

She held up her hand, which was covered in sand. Mary looked at her in confusion, not sure what the other girl was trying to say.

“…Kim?”

“The sweat, I mean,” Kim clarified. She turned back to glare at Dakota. “The punishment transformation I got from Dakota, that’s making me sweat like crazy.”

“Oh, that, I understand,” Mary nodded. “Is it really that bad?”

Kim shook her head. “The sweat itself isn’t a problem,” she clarified. “The only problem is that all this sand keeps sticking to my skin!”

It was definitely an imposition. Especially wearing such a skimpy swimsuit like the one Kim was. She tugged on her bottoms, trying to set some of the sand out from near her lower lips. That was definitely not something she was looking forward to.

Mary winced. She was still a little wet from her dip in the water, so she could sympathize with how the sand was sticking to her friend, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as what Kim was having to deal with right now.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” She asked.

Kim just laughed and shook her head. “Aww, Mary… you’re so sweet, always trying to be so helpful and supportive. But it’s okay. Not every problem needs to be solved, you know? I’m happy enough just complaining about it.”

For someone who so many problems for were things that couldn’t be changed without a major upheaval of society, Kim was used to not making a big deal about things that couldn’t be fixed, and this was just another example of this.

She was happy enough just having a dear friend to talk to. That really meant a lot to her.

Mary could tell that’s where Kim was right now. She nodded thoughtfully. “Well… I’m not doing anything right now, so you want to keep chatting? It’s been too long since we last caught up, how are you doing?”

The farmgirl had been so busy enjoying her newlywed bliss that she hadn’t really gotten a chance to nurture her relationships with the other girls in Nick’s harem, especially since Kim never went to her cooking classes. So she was glad to finally be able to spend some time with her friend just chatting like equals.

From across the pit, Holly watched the two of them talking with a small smile on her face. She gave an approving nod.

“You’re not going to go and join them?”

The small girl jumped in surprise. She turned and looked at Dani, who was watching her with a curious expression on her face. That made Holly laugh.

“Ah… nah, no, no point in that,” she said, shaking her head. “Those two need some time to themselves, and I’m happy to give it to them.”

Dani nodded thoughtfully. “That’s pretty mature of you, I’ve gotta say. Anyway, me and some of the others were going to get a game of four-square going with the beach ball, you want in?”

Holly blinked. Four-square? That game from the school playground?

“I haven’t played that in years!” She said, surprised. “Who did you get?”

She couldn’t think of anyone who would want to go toe to toe in an athletic competition with Dani. Nobody except Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, that is.

But the slender silent girl wasn’t part of Dani’s little group.

Instead, surprisingly, Gina was. With a much less surprising Sylvia along with her.

“Come on, Holly! Come join!” Sylvia encouraged her. “It’ll be so much fun, I promise!”

“Eh,” Gina said, shrugging. “It’s better than swimming, anyway. But I think Dani’s going to completely thrash us.”

Holly nodded. A small smile touched her lips. Even if she knew there was no chance of winning, it still felt nice being included in the game. “Oh… okay, then!”

“Wait, I want to play, too!” Nola pleaded, running up to them. “Please Sylvia? Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplea-”

“Okay, okay, you can play,” Sylvia said, just **** to get the leprechaun to stop talking. “Do you know the rules?”

“Um… no, not at all, no,” Nola said, shaking her head. She’d never played the game before in her life- or whatever part of her supernatural existence counted as a life.

“Oh. Darn. I was hoping you’d explain them to me,” Sylvia said with a sigh. She was just as in the dark as her friend.

Gina just laughed, and Dani proceeded to explain to the girls how the game worked.

While this was going on, Dakota watched over the proceedings from the outside, her face an unreadable mask as she scanned over the women in Nick’s harem, trying to judge their qualities for herself in the interim.

It was an action that didn’t go unnoticed by one harem member in particular.

“Are you feeling like you want to be included?”

Dakota flinched as Amelia’s voice touched her ear. Forcing a sour smile to her lips, the pale girl turned back to the older woman, her golden eyes glinting dangerously at her.

“Why would I expect something like that?” She asked.

Amelia could tell, behind all the bluster and arrogance, that Dakota was feeling serious regret about the previous incident. And she wasn’t at all the kind of woman who masked her niceties behind flowery language.

“You made a mistake earlier,” she calmly pointed out. “It does not need to be the case that your mistake carries over even further to the point of depriving yourself.”

“I haven’t made any mistakes,” Dakota sneered, narrowing her eyes contemptuously at the instructor. “…No, perhaps I did make one, and it was bringing a woman to this island who had no intention of sleeping with the master in the slightest.”

Amelia cracked her eyebrow in a muted quizzical gesture. Then she turned to look at the group getting together a four-square game, focusing on Dani in particular.

“…That doesn’t count,” Dakota snapped. “I didn’t make that decision, the producers did. And Sylvia was the one who executed it.”

She said “executed” like it was a dirty word. Which was better than the tone of the emphasis she put on Sylvia’s name, at least.

Amelia was still nonplussed htough. She crossed her arms and stared at Dakota as the obvious insinuation hung in the air.

So it was a mistake to bring Dani… but bringing her was fine, even though neither one of them had any intention of sleeping with Nick.

Dakota actually laughed as the thought sank in.

“…Never mind,” she muttered, shaking her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“You have not given me the chance to understand,” Amelia pointed out in response. “You are far too guarded to allow anyone in.”

Dakota responded to that little point by glaring at the other woman.

“Maybe you don’t deserve it,” she sneered, clutching her cane. “But I’ll let you know anyway. Everything is going just fine, thank you very much.”

Amelia had no verbal response to that. She siply nodded her head, and then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Dakota, pulling her into a hug.

Dakota’s eyes widened at the incredulous nature of the gesture. She didn’t know how to process it, so she stared vacantly at the sky for a few moments letting it sink in.

But while hugs were supposed to feel reassuring, this one was anything but.

“Let… let me go!” She snarled, freeing herself from the other woman’s grasp. She took a step back and clutched her cane tightly to her chest. “What was that for!?”

She knew, of course. After all, she had written that transformation herself. She knew why Amelia had felt compelled to hug her like that.

But it didn’t mean she had to like or appreciate the gesture.

Amelia just continued to stare at her. “I wanted to comfort you,” she said plainly, surprised by how easily her true thoughts emerged.

“Well, save it,” Dakota spat. “I don’t need your pity. And you won’t win any points with the others, acting like that, either!”

Not that it mattered. No one was giving either of them a moment of their time. The two women stood together on a beach full of people, and were completely alone in the world.

If Dakota still thought of things like sadness she might call the situation ironic and painful. But right now, there was only frustration.

She did a remarkable job of not letting those emotions leak to the surface, though, and kept them tamped down.

With a deep breath she exhaled, and then shook her head.

“Just get back to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing,” she said with a sneer. “Because I don’t think it’s bothering me.”

Again, Amelia didn’t have anything to say to that. She simply nodded her head and turned away from the damaged girl.

Speaking of damaged girls, Ella was trying to find some excuse to exit out of the conversation. Nick was caught up right now trying to talk to all three of the Granger girls, and Rose was really fighting for her position to be included in the trio.

“…I actually liked digging,” she lied through her teeth. “Maybe we could dig some holes together sometime, Nick! What do you think! Would you like that?”

Nick just stared incredulously at her. In what universe would Rose ever think he’d believe she was serious?

Apparently this one, because she continued to double down.

“Or maybe go for a nice walk on the beach… or, do you want to see the sandcastle that Marley and I built with Dawn and Holly? I promise it’s really cool!”

“Oh, that could be fun!” Marley nodded in agreement. “Come on, check it out! You too, sis!”

She took her sister by the wrist as Rose did the same to Nick, only even more thorough. Like a boa constrictor wrapping around its prey she snatched up his arm and hugged it close to her chest, practically dragging him off towards the sandcastles.

Nick looked back at Ella and gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, um, it looks like I have to go… but you can come with, if you want?”

Ella considered that for all of four seconds before quickly shaking her head. The last thing she needed was to get even more involved in something like that.

As much fun as Carly seemed to be, she wasn’t able to compete with the same energy as her and Rose. Marley was much more her speed, from what she could tell, but since Marley came with one of the two, there weren’t exactly a lot of opportunities she had to spend time with the plant-lover all on her own, which was a shame.

Maybe she could have been a good friend for Ella. She’d done her fair share of gardening in the past (transition: yard work).

Ella was so lost in thought, trying to fend off Cinder, that she didn’t realize someone was coming up to her until she caught movement out of the corner of her eye.

When Dawn and Morgana entered her periphery, she jumped in surprise.

“O-oh! Um, hello… can I help you with something?” She asked hopefully. Whether the feeling of hope in her chest was about the idea of them talking to her, or because she hoped that the answer to her question was “no” she couldn’t really say. All she could do was stare at them like a wounded animal.

Before either girl could speak up, though, someone else jumped into the conversation.

Very impressive for someone who couldn’t talk. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin popped up between the three of them, her eyes shining with mischief as she beamed at her roommate.

Ella could already feel Cinder pushing on the bounds of her thoughts.