I wish I could be as carefree and wild, but I got cat class and I got cat style

“Hey, everyone!” Dawn swung the doors to the Banquet Hall and charged inside. Every head in the room turned to her in surprise. She seemed so much taller than she actually was for a moment.

With her head held high, Dawn approached the others.

“I have an idea for what we can do today!” Dawn declared. “Everyone, we’re going to the Amusement Park!”

“The Amusement Park?” Dani asked, confused. “You aren’t planning to go to those mirrors again, are you?”

“What?! No!” Dawn exclaimed. “I just thought that we could all have fun together at the Amusement Park with Sylvia! You know, to help her have some fun and enjoy things!”

Her tail was swishing around her back with excitement.

“Fun? Even though you’re too short to go on any of the rides?” Rose tittered, politely hiding her amused smile with her hand.

Dawn glared at her and her eye twitched. “That isn’t what I-”

“I have work this afternoon,” Kim pointed out, raising her hand. “And I need to work out with Dani before that, too.”

Dawn sighed, already seeing the problems starting to form with her plan. “Who cares about that?!” She demanded. “Those are just details! The important thing is that we all get to have fun together!”

The tears she’d wiped away before had started to return to the corners of her eyes. The other girls could tell that there was something going on with her, something they didn’t quite know about, but no one wanted to pry considering how private Dawn was normally.

“I’m in!” Carly was the first one to speak up in agreement of the idea, which came as a surprise to absolutely no one. If someone suggested something, then she would generally be interested in trying it out, at least.

“And if Carly’s going, then I’m going,” Marley said, smiling a little, though certainly not as brightly as her sister. “Nothing wrong with an Amusement Park I suppose.”

“Yeah, what the hell?” Gina shrugged. “Could be fun. I haven’t gone on a roller coaster in years.”

“As… as long as we don’t go to the Hall of Mirrors, I’m okay with it,” Morgana mumbled. A shaky smile spread across her lips. Her previous attempt to have fun at the Amusement Park with her friends had fallen through, but this time she was looking forward to it.

“Can Nick come with us?” Mary asked, her eyes sparkling. “To be honest, I haven’t really gone to anywhere like this either, but if Nick could come along…”

“Ahem, excuse me!” Kim cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. She had a troubled expression on her face.

“Look, more than anybody, I know how fun the Amusement Park is,” Kim said, smiling a little in spite of her mixed feelings. “But you’re forgetting that I still have work. So as much fun as that’ll be for the rest of you, I’m kind of stuck, don’t you think?”

“I think we could do something about that.”

Everyone gasped in surprise as Dakota suddenly popped into the center of the room with an amused smile on her face.

“Dakota! What are you doing here?” Dani demanded.

“I’m the host,” Dakota sniffed, scowling at the tomboy. “I’m allowed to be here if I want to be, aren’t I? It is my hotel.”

“H-hi,” Sylvia said shakily, waving awkwardly at Dakota. She had been a little overwhelmed by this talk of the Amusement Park and all the girls wanting to hang out with her that she didn’t really have a chance to join in the flow of the conversation. But now that Dakota was here, she couldn’t help but wonder what her creator, her mother, thought about all this.

Dakota looked past her like she wasn’t even there, and addressed the group.

“I think it’s a marvelous idea,” she said, her eyes twinkling with a gleam that almost appeared sadistic. “You girls, working together, making a day of things at the Amusement Park, just the exact kind of harem antics I would love to endorse.”

She turned to Kim, frowning. “Let’s not be a buzzkill about it, shall we?”

Kim scowled back. “It’s not my fault,” she pointed out, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. “It’s this dumb transformation. I’d go if I could.”

“…Well, maybe we’ll be able to fix that for you,” Dakota said, smiling mysteriously. Kim didn’t like that look in her eye.

“What does THAT mean?” She demanded.

“It means, don’t worry about your job, I can always move some stuff around,” Dakota said, winking at the tomboy. “It’s more important that you and the other girls in Nick’s harem have fun together with him, don’t you think?”

Her sadistic smile never left her lips, though.

“Well… but we still need to work out…” Kim glanced at Dani, not sure what Dakota was insinuating and not sure where the day would go from here.

“How about this?” Dawn spoke up. “Let’s all meet back here in about an hour, and then we can go to the Amusement Park.” She turned to Dani and Kim. “That should give you two enough time to work out and get ready, right?”

Dani nodded. “Should be more than enough. But are you sure about this?”

“What?” Dawn asked. “You don’t think it’ll be fun?”

“Come on, Dani!” Carly wrapped her arm around Dani’s shoulders and hugged her close. “You don’t want to go to the Amusement Park? It’ll be great!”

Dani blushed and ducked away from Carly’s arm. The two girls averted their eyes away from each other, resulting in an eye roll from Marley.

“Excellent,” Dakota smirked. “Sounds like a plan then. I’ll arrange things, don’t worry!” She tapped her cane and disappeared with that ominous statement hanging in the air.

“That was… nice of her,” Gina said, sounding halfway between pleased and suspicious. “Maybe she’s not all bad?”

“She wants to get good ratings for the show,” Sylvia explained, sounding a little disappointed herself. “I’m betting she sees this as an excellent opportunity for exactly that purpose.”

“Isn’t that a good thing, then? If the ratings can go up with just us hanging around and having fun, that can only be a good thing,” Rose pointed out. “I’m betting the ratings went through the roof when Nick and I went for our date in Paris!”

Rose wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that, but she ignored the fact that the time she spent with Nick in Paris overlapped with the time the women of Nick’s harem spent dealing with the mirror alternates, which had been pretty gripping in their own right.

So maybe the bump couldn’t be attributed one way or the other, not that her ego would let her acknowledge that.

“Someone should probably go tell Nick, too,” Mary pointed out, glancing at the door. “And as his wife, it’s only fitting that I-”

But Dawn was already gone.

“Nick!” She bounced down the hall and practically threw herself into his arms before realizing that she should still try to maintain some dignity. “You’ll never believe what just happened!”

“…What?” Nick asked. He’d been waiting awkwardly in the hallway since he didn’t know what to do with himself after Dawn ran out.

“We’re going to the Amusement Park!” Dawn gushed. “I invited everyone to spend the day together, hanging out with Sylvia and getting her excited about stuff, and guess what? They all agreed! They thought it was a great idea! So we’re going out for the day! Even Dakota said it was okay, and that Kim could come!”

“Really? That’s great!” Nick was relieved that his advice had turned out for the best. Dawn had been so focused on doubting whether or not anyone would want to hang out with her that she never asked. But now everyone had said yes, which was clearly having a positive result on her self-esteem. Granted, it was easier to ask if everyone wanted to do a group thing than to ask one person in particular if they wanted to hang out by themselves, but baby steps were good.

He had a few doubts about Dawn’s idea in particular though.

“…One thing, are you sure this is the best choice?” Nick asked. “You remember our fifth grade field trip, right?” Nick loved Amusement Parks. He had ever since he was a kid. And even if Dakota had kept it to herself, he knew why she had agreed, and even went out of her way to help Kim.

But he still had doubts.

Dawn’s face immediately soured. “You know, I was actually a lot shorter back then, believe it or not!” She exclaimed indignantly. “And I didn’t even cry that much, either!”

“Ah, so you did cry. I always thought…” Nick fondly remembered Dawn as a headstrong girl who always knew just what she wanted. But even then, the fact that she couldn’t go on any of the rides the other kids in class could go on when they went to the amusement park for their field trip had definitely shaken her.

Now Nick was the one being shaken as Dawn grabbed his arms and thrashed him back and forth.

“It’ll be different this time, I promise!”

“Sorry, you’re too short to use the adult turnstile. Please go through the kiddy entrance.”

Dawn’s eye twitched. She certainly didn’t remember that little detail from the LAST time she went to the Amusement Park. In fact, the whole “ticketing booth” that the elevator had opened up to was a brand new addition to the park.

Also a brand new addition? The short-haired tomboy standing at the counter wearing a pinstripe shirt, a sun visor, and a sour scowl.

“Kim, what are you doing here?” Nick asked, confused.

“Apparently,” Kim said, her voice just a notch away from seething, “this is the ‘compromise’ Dakota worked out. Instead of working in that fucking boutique, I’m gonna be shuffled around to all the different rides. I knew that witch was up to something…”

“That’s Dakota for you!” Sylvia giggled. “She always knows what to do!”

Kim let out a long sigh and hung her head.

“Apparently, since I already got to go on a date with you to the Amusement Park, Dakota thinks that it’s fine if I take a backseat role on this one,” Kim replied, her tone making it clear just what she felt about that little detail.

“At least you’ve got experience, though, right?” Dawn pointed out, trying to smooth over the cracks forming in her great plan (not the least of which being the kiddy entrance). “Let me guess, you spent a summer running the rides at another amusement park somewhere or something?”

Kim stared at her.

“…Actually, it was a water park,” she mumbled. She looked away, gazing longingly up at the roller coasters and the ferris wheel. “I always wanted to work at a place like this, though…”

Nick remembered the ache in Kim’s voice when she explained her desire to go to an amusement park someday. It had been on their very first date. That felt like a lifetime ago now.

Kim quickly sobered up and her serious expression came back. She turned to the girls again.

“Now then, like I said, there’s no fee. But you have to use the kiddy entrance. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.” Kim might not have made the rules, but it was clear she was getting plenty of amusement out of Dawn’s little predicament.

“…Fine,” Dawn muttered under her breath. She stepped out of line and walked over to the “kiddy entrance”, which was a small plastic turnstile underneath a big flashy banner designed with cartoon faeries.

“Heh,” Gina giggled, elbowing Rose in the side. “It’s the ‘kitty entrance’.”

“Hah!” Rose doubled over in laughter.

“I heard that!” Dawn snapped, whirling around and sending a seething glare at the pair of troublemakers.

“Why does this place even have a ‘kiddy entrance’ anyway?” Nick asked. “They don’t let children onto this show, I sure hope.”

“Well, give it time,” Sylvia said, staring pointedly at Mary. Or more specifically, her stomach.

Mary turned bright red and an eager smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

Nick also blushed as he thought about the implications of that.

“Thank you for inviting me, master,” Holly said, her face flushed. She was at the back of the line (where she loved being) and was the last one to reach the turnstile.

Surprisingly, she was let through without any trouble.

“Hey!” Dawn exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the scantily-dressed maid. “Why does she get to go through that way!? She’s practically as short as I am!”

Kim stared blankly at Dawn. She held her finger up to the earpiece in her ear.

“…Apparently because it’s funnier that way,” she answered.

Dawn’s tail stood on end and her ears flared, and she balled her hands up into fists. But she didn’t scream. Her cheeks inflated and her face turned so red it looked like she was going to pop, but she didn’t scream.

Instead, she let out the breath she’d been holding in a long sigh, and turned on her heel. “Whatever. Let’s just go already.”

The day wasn’t starting out great.

“Cotton candy!” A voice called from a few feet away. “We got cotton candy over here!”

Everyone turned to see Kim standing next to the cotton candy machine, still dressed in pinstripes and a white skirt. She seemed just as confused as the rest of them.

Nick glanced back in confirmation, seeing the empty ticketing booth.

“How did you…?” He asked the overworked girl, but she just shook her head and made a tired expression.

“Don’t ask, I have no idea,” she muttered. “Probably some dumb time-related stuff with Dakota’s cane, I’d bet.”

“Yep, basically,” Sylvia nodded. “Thanks to that cane, Dakota can control and bend the flow of time on this island at will. That includes places like this.”

“Were you able to do that?” Mary asked curiously.

Sylvia shrugged. “I could have, if I wanted to. Just stuff like this, though. It’s not like I could just warp you all the way through a potential pregnancy until you were ready to give birth, that would require a direct transformation.”

Mary blushed. Her green eyes glazed over as she pictured the implications of what Sylvia was suggesting and she licked her lips, squirming her thighs together.

Dani cleared her throat. “Okay, this is all well and good, but I thought we came here to have some fun, guys?”

“We could always split up,” Gina suggested. “I’ve got my eye on the roller coasters. Seems like fun to ride until we barf.”

“No way!” Morgana and Dawn said at the same time. They both looked at each other, surprised.

“It, I mean… we just got here,” Morgana stammered. “It wouldn’t do to split up now! Wouldn’t it be more fun, if we were all together?”

“Yeah, I think so too,” Dawn nodded. “Remember, the whole point of today is to have fun with Sylvia and get to know her better! We can split up later, and maybe each of us takes her for like a half-hour or something.”

“What am I, a time share?” Sylvia frowned. “Don’t I get a vote?”

“Sure you get a vote,” Nick said, glad to see that she was getting interested in this. “Part of the reason we’re here is so that you can have fun. What do you want to do?”

Sylvia opened her mouth to reply, but as her eyes scanned the flashing lights and swirling shapes and her ears were filled with the sound of music, she found herself completely overwhelmed with options and possibilities.

She had no idea where to start.

“…I don’t know,” she admitted sheepishly, shaking her head. “It seems like there’s so much fun stuff here.”

“Yeah,” Nick echoed, nodding. “Dakota always did love amusement parks growing up.”

When they were kids, Dakota had never been able to go to an amusement park. They’d gone to different schools, and she’d gone to a much poorer one- she hadn’t be able to go on anything like a fifth grade field trip. Which meant the only time she got to go to places like this were the times that his family would invite her to join them. Which happened decently often, though certainly not often enough for a girl who had so little.

Remembering those days and how happy those trips had made his dear friend brought tears to his eyes.

“Oh, look!” Rose pointed at a large building a few feet away. “It’s a candy shop! That’s where I want to go!”

Dawn rolled her eyes.

“Candy isn’t good for you,” Mary chastised. It wasn’t a surprise that since they were going to the Amusement Park, she’d already turned into “overprotective mom” mode.

Of course, it was too little, too late, and Rose had already rushed off with Sylvia on her heels. Gina tagged along too, of course.

“Don’t worry, Rose is more responsible than you give her credit for,” Nick laughed, and headed after them.

“That’s not saying much,” Dawn replied.

They entered the candy shop, and needless to say, it was a sight to see.

With that being said, Nick had to put his foot down.

“Let’s not eat the candy, please,” he requested, to everyone’s confusion.

“But… candy,” Morgana said, pointing at the walls and walls of candy.

“Come on, please?” Marley licked her lips, unable to tear her eyes off the various sweets.

Nick shook his head, and Dawn agreed with him.

“Remember what happened the last time we decided to try something fun out at the Amusement Park?” Dawn reminded them. “For all we know, the candy is going to turn you into a bimbo or a candy person or something like that.”

That was a chilling thought.

Kim, who was leaning over the counter, suddenly recoiled away from the shelves out of fright. “Well, thanks for putting THAT image in my mind!” She chided the cat girl.

No one could say Dawn was wrong, though.

“Come on, I’m sure the stuff is fine… probably,” Sylvia said, eyeing the candy.

“You wouldn’t know for sure?” Dani asked, scowling.

Sylvia shrugged. “Just because I knew about the Hall of Mirrors, that doesn’t mean I know everything,” she replied. “Dakota could have added all kinds of crazy stuff to this place without telling me. But Dawn’s right, we should be careful.”

The good mood from earlier turned uneasy. Now, everyone was looking around wondering whether or not anything in this park would be safe.

Dawn sighed. This was absolutely not how she was hoping their little adventure today would go.