Morning thoughts then evolve as smiles

The date with Sylvia really seemed to fly by. Nick was honestly surprised by how easy it was to have fun with her, given how big of a hassle she was trying to be. After talking some sense to her about boundaries and making sure everybody was on the same page before trying to get them involved in a fetish, Sylvia really mellowed out, and seemed to focus less on the “Daddy-Daughter” stuff than she had been.

She was still being a rebellious brat, though, even after they made a stop off at the garden.

“It’s starting to get pretty late, Daddy,” Sylvia noted as they walked back to the Shopping District from the adjoining Botanical Garden. “I think we probably have time for one more activity before we have to move on to dinner, so what do you want to do?”

That came as a surprise to Nick. Given how rebellious Sylvia had been acting, he hadn’t expected that she’d extend a direct offer like this to him, to pick their last date activity.

But he wasn’t complaining. He had come up with a few ideas with Mary that they could try out, as a last resort.

“How about we go watch a movie?” He suggested. It may have sounded pretty basic, but he wasn’t making this suggestion out of nowhere. He remembered how much Sylvia had enjoyed reading with him in the bookstore, even though she didn’t like reading that much. Going to see a movie together would be a suitable replacement for that, and give her something to enjoy. It would also take her mind off the “date” part, and help them both relax.

Sylvia looked at him, surprised.

“A movie? But didn’t you go watch a movie with Ella?” She huffed. “This is why I didn’t want you to pick, Daddy! You’re just taking me to stuff you did with other girls!”

Nick saw the sparkle in Sylvia’s eye, and knew she was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. He didn’t let it get to him.

“Not at all,” he assured her, shaking his head. “I mean it. I think that a movie would be a good idea for the both of us. It’s been a pretty long day, and we’ve done a lot. Don’t you think it would be great to just take some time, sit back, relax, and watch a movie together?”

Sylvia scrutinized him carefully. The way he suggested that, it did sound like a good idea. But the part of her determined to be rebellious wouldn’t let her capitulate so easily.

“What movie would you want to watch, then?” She asked. “Because I am not in the mood for… um… whatever you want!”

Then why even ask?

Nick didn’t let that bother him.

“How about you pick the movie?” He suggested. “Is there anything that you’d like to watch with me? What’s your favorite genre?”

It was another question that caught Sylvia completely off-guard. She gave him a puzzled look again, like she wasn’t sure what to say.

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted, shaking her head. “I’ve been exposed to movies all my life, but actually picking one to watch, well that’s… I don’t know.”

Nick suspected that might be the case. Given Dakota’s relationship with film, he expected that Sylvia would have a surface-level exposure to all that stuff, something she’d proved handily when she acted as host.

But picking for yourself what movie to watch? How many opportunities had she gotten to do that?

While Dakota was the kind of woman who would sit all by herself and watch movies for hours and hours, Sylvia was obviously a social person at heart. She needed the movie to be a bonding moment between herself and someone else to fully enjoy it.

And Nick was happy to play that part.

Sylvia still looked tense, but her smile gradually returned.

“…You’ll watch anything I want to watch, then?” She asked quietly, giving him another expectant look. He had a sinking feeling that this was another test, but if it was, what could he really do about it?

All he could do was tell the truth.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Whatever you want to watch, I’m up for it. Don’t worry! …As long as it’s appropriate,” he added. “I know the kind of stuff you might be thinking of, and a smut film is out of bounds.”

Sylvia laughed. “Aww, daddy, you know me so well!” She shook her head. “Don’t worry, I’ll pick something clean for you. Ooh, this is so exciting! What should I do… it can’t be a faerie tale, you already watched one with Ella… hmm… so many choices…”

She wracked her brain for ideas all the way to the movie theater. Nick was glad to see her putting so much thought into this, but there was one issue that they might still need to address before they could really have a good time together at the movies.

He hoped it wouldn’t be a problem.

“…I’ve decided!” Sylvia said, looking at the available selection of movies on display. To Nick’s relief, Dakota hadn’t tried to sabotage the plan. It had been a very real possibility that she’d choose absolutely horrible movies, like last time, or make the entire viewing selection porn. Her grudge towards Sylvia and her disdain for her were strong enough that Nick would believe it if she attempted something along those lines.

But apparently, filmography was sacred.

“I want to watch that movie!” Sylvia declared, pointing to a poster of the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. “I hear it’s a classic.”

“Yeah,” Nick said, surprised to see it there. “It really is a classic… I’d love to watch that one with you, if you’re up for it!”

Sylvia blinked, then frowned. She quickly hid her hand behind her back. “Well, I mean, if you want to, that is,” she hastily added. “It’s not a big deal. Just some dumb movie…”

Nick could tell that she was trying to save face and pretend like she was a rebel, but she was doing a pretty poor job of it. He could see in her eyes just how excited she was.

“Okay then,” he agreed. “Raiders it is. Come on, Sylvia, I’m sure you’re going to love it!”

“Only if they have popcorn!” Sylvia stubbornly persisted in her attempts to pretend like she wasn’t having a good time. “If they don’t have popcorn and soda, I’m going to walk out!”

In spite of that, she followed him into the theater. And Nick was happy to make sure she got the popcorn and soda she demanded, even though he rightly expected they would spoil her appetite for dinner later.

Seeing Sylvia happy in the moment was way more important, though. She squirmed in her seat as they sat back and waited for the movie to start, and she kept asking Nick questions before it could even begin.

“Sylvia, don’t you think some of your questions would be answered if we actually waited for the movie?” Nick asked.

“I know,” she admitted with a sheepish whisper-giggle. “But I’m so excited, getting to watch a movie with you, Daddy!”

“I’m glad too,” Nick nodded, remembering back when Sylvia was the host, and practically begged to be included in movie night. “Shh! It’s starting!”

Sylvia shut her mouth and swung her eyes forward, and they sat in silence as the movie began to play.

“That was so great!” Sylvia crowed. “The way those dudes’ faces melted off when they opened the ark?! It looked so cool!”

“Yeah, that part really is gross, in a great way,” Nick agreed. “I also really liked that scene at the beginning, with the ruins?”

“Oh, you mean where he swapped out the idol for that bag?” Sylvia grinned. “If I was still the host, that would give me a great idea for a challenge!”

Nick recalled the **** trap that was the temple in the opening of the movie, and shivered. He didn’t want to know what “great idea” Sylvia had.

She was going to tell him anyway, though.

“So you take one boob, and have to put it on the scale,” she explained, her eyes twinkling. “Then, you have to switch it to your other boob, without triggering the… okay, and this is the best part, without triggering the booby trap! …Get it? Booby trap!”

She clutched her stomach and doubled over with laughter as they walked towards the restaurant they were going to eat at, and all Nick could do was offer an amused smile and an exasperated roll of his eyes.

“Come on, Sylvia, that’s just ridiculous,” he snickered, shaking his head. “You really went with that? ‘Booby’ trap?”

“It’s a really great challenge,” Sylvia assured him with a shake of her head. “And if you’re good enough at making the switch, you’ll win, because guess what? Your boobs will weigh exactly the same, isn’t that brilliant?”

Nick knew that Dawn could probably explain to her that not everybody’s breasts weighed exactly the same, but he decided not to bother and just smiled politely and nodded.

“It’s definitely… unique,” he said, not sure how much time they should be focusing on the topic of “If Sylvia was still a host” today.

After all, it had a very good chance of leading things in a risky direction for the former host’s mental health.

Fortunately, he had a good way to pivot. “Actually, that scene really messed me up as a kid,” he admitted. “That cut to where the one guy who betrayed Indy and ended up getting impaled on the spikes freaked me out as a kid. I kept seeing his mangled face in my nightmares…”

Sylvia winced. “Oof. That must have been rough. But it doesn’t bother you now, right? You were having a lot of fun watching that movie, I saw you!”

Nick smiled and shook his head. “No, it doesn’t bother me anymore.”

So Sylvia had been watching him when he wasn’t looking? How convenient, because he had been doing exactly the same thing!

Sylvia giggled, and they continued discussing the movie as they entered the restaurant.

“Are you sure this is where you want to eat?” Nick asked, looking around the dimly-lit burger place. “It looks like the food here is all grease.”

“Yep, it is,” Sylvia nodded. “Just the perfect vibe for a rebellious teenage daughter, don’t you think so, Daddy?”

Nick opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Sylvia cut him off.

“Well, I don’t care what you think! So there!” She said, sticking out her tongue while batting her eyelashes at him.

Exasperated, Nick just smirked and rolled his eyes.

Some things never changed, and that included Sylvia behaving like a bit of a brat on their date, apparently.

Nick wasn’t wrong when he guessed that the food would be mostly grease. Sylvia might have liked the atmosphere (though he was pretty sure the only reason they were here was because Gina recommended it- this was exactly the kind of food she would love) but it wouldn’t be his first choice of restaurant.

Living with Mary cooking him whatever he wanted had really spoiled him, she and Holly were just that good of cooks.

Still, the conversation with Sylvia was great at taking his mind off the food he was eating, and she had a lot to talk about. Once discourse about the movie dried up, though, she began to take the conversation in a more serious direction.

“Daddy… I wanted to talk to you about my transformation,” she said firmly, looking Nick in the eye.

That was a risky topic to delve into, but Nick resolved himself to handle it as best he could. “What transformation are you talking about?” He asked.

“…Any of them, really,” she admitted. “But it’s more like… the nature of transformations in general, I suppose?”

Given how bratty and immature she’d been behaving all day, Nick was surprised that she had shifted her priorities and wanted to talk about something serious like this. He nodded and leaned in, waiting to hear what she had to say.

“Okay,” he said, letting her know with his focused gaze that she could tell him anything.

Sylvia sighed and looked down. “I’m… I’m really worried about my transformations, and what they mean for the state of the show,” she admitted.

That… wasn’t where Nick expected this conversation to go at all.

“What do you mean?” He asked curiously.

Sylvia bit her lip. “Well, last round, I was talking with Mary, and she helped me see why it wasn’t right to inflict transformations on people. And then, what you said earlier, about performing fetishes in front of others, you were right too, but… I don’t know…”

She was beating around the bush, and it was obvious to both of them. “Sylvia,” Nick said gently, “I won’t be able to give you any advice unless you come right out and say what you’re thinking.”

“I… I think… I think that this aversion people have to their transformations is going to be a bad move,” she said finally.

Nick frowned. “Sylvia… people don’t want to be transformed. It’s human nature to resist what this show is trying to do to us. And I know, a lot of transformations have had positive impacts, and some of the contestants have really made strides and grown a lot as a result of their transformations-”

“Right, Mary went from flat as a board to BWOING!” Sylvia held her hands in front of her own modest chest and slowly expended them outwards like she was inflating two invisible beach balls.

Nick gave her a frosty look. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Look, the point I’m trying to get to is that people need respect. You can’t just **** this stuff on them!”

“I know!” Sylvia said. “I know, and I totally agree with you, Daddy! It’s wrong! I see now what I did was wrong, but… you’re ignoring the reason I did it.”

“The… reason? It wasn’t just because you liked transformations?”

Sylvia stared blankly at him.

“…Okay, the other reason I did it!” She corrected herself. “Look… Daddy, the most important thing here is creating a good show. You get that, right?”

Nick nodded. He didn’t like it, but he understood.

“The thing is, everybody getting along, everybody trying to decide things together, as a group, that’s great! That’s what people want from a harem! Everybody’s been making really good progress in that area!” Sylvia assured him. “But the thing is… the audience doesn’t always like peace. And I think you get that.”

Nick frowned. It was a grim thought, but he couldn’t deny it.

“…You’re right,” he admitted, imagining the sick kind of person who would be interested in the twisted nature of this show.

“If the show isn’t doing well, then Dakota’s going to be getting flak from the producers, like I used to get,” Sylvia continued. “And that could mean she does something even more drastic. I don’t want that, do you?”

Nick shook his head. Dakota was hard enough to deal with when she was going on a power trip. But given how much of a sore loser he knew his childhood friend was, her getting **** and feeling like she was backed into a corner was about a thousand times worse.

“With my transformations, I can bring some more drama into the show,” Sylvia pointed out. “Maybe shake things up a little and get people riled up. I know you don’t like that, but… I think it’s still better than Dakota taking matters into her own hands.”

Nick needed a second to process this. “Sylvia, are you asking me to give you permission to start… what? Interfering with the other contestants, the way Rose did in her first week?”

“No, Daddy, nothing like that!” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “Just… well, pranking them. Like maybe one day, I make Kim have to go the whole day dressed up like a clown using New Style. Just a goof, you know? Or maybe I copy Dawn’s transformation, and prove I can play the better cat girl. Stuff like that. To get people engaged and excited, and maybe mess around a little. If I can show everyone that they don’t need to fear their transformations, maybe they’ll stop resisting some of them, and maybe we can draw in a bigger crowd!”

She looked hopefully up at him. “But… I don’t want to do it if you don’t want me to.”

Nick didn’t know what to say. Sylvia was really putting him on the spot here.

“…Can I think about it?” He asked. “You’re really making a big statement here, Sylvia.”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “It’s not like the decision needs to happen now.”

“Well, wait, I can say this much,” Nick quickly interceded before she got too dejected. “While I don’t know about pranking and trolling the others, I think you’re on the right track encouraging them to embrace their transformations. I don’t see any problem with that.”

Sylvia’s eyes widened, and a wide smile broke across her face. “Oh, Daddy! Thank you! You’re the best!” She hopped up from her seat and skipped around the table to throw her arms around his neck.

Nick was still surprised at how far he’d come. Going from someone opposed to transformations at the beginning of the show, to someone who agreed with Sylvia that sometimes they were necessary to make progress.

The rest of the dinner proceeded smoothly enough, and Nick tried out a lot more questions about Sylvia’s plans. By the time they wrapped things up and were ready to go, it was almost time for the date to come to an end.

“Wow… it went by so fast,” Sylvia murmured, staring at the setting sun.

“Yeah, it did,” Nick agreed. “But it was definitely worth it. I had a lot of fun today. Didn’t you?”

Sylvia looked back at him and beamed. “I absolutely did,” she agreed.

Then she took his hand.

“Daddy… there’s one more thing we forgot about.”

“Huh? What was it?” Nick winced, worried for a moment. Had they missed an important part of their date that Sylvia regretted?

“Our wager,” she said, cracking a smile. “Remember? At the very beginning. We had a bet, and you promised you’d do any one thing I asked, no matter what!”

Oh, that’s right. Nick had almost forgotten. He swallowed, wondering what it was Sylvia would ask for. A kiss, maybe? Hopefully nothing more sexual than that.

She looked up into his eyes, her crystal blue pools sparkling with water.

“Anything, right?” She whispered.

“Yes,” Nick promised her. “Anything.”

She blinked away her tears, and tried to smile.

“Can you tell me… that I was a good girl today?” She asked. “That’s all I want. I know I was bratty and rude and rebellious the whole time, but please… tell me I was a good girl?”

Her voice cracked with desperation.

Nick was shocked at first, but he quickly saw what it was she wanted. Sylvia had been trying to be a major pill all day long. And in spite of all that, she still wanted him to say she had done a good job, and call her a good girl.

She doesn’t want to be rejected. I bet she’s thinking that if, after doing all that, if I’ll still say she was a good girl… then that’s poof that I really do care about her.

Even if her request was **** and Nick had to abide by it, he would have done so anyway, bet or no bet.

Sylvia’s happiness mattered most today, after all.

“You were a very good girl today,” he assured her, and she almost broke down crying then and there.

“Thank you, Daddy.”****

Bounty Complete! +5 VP

Dakota sat back on her couch and watched the entire scene play out from one of her screens, wearing a smirk on her face.

“So, Sylvia thinks she knows the ratings better than I do, is that right?” She could barely contain her frustration, because she knew, unfortunately enough, that Sylvia had a point. The numbers had been slipping in spite of her efforts.

“It’s clear we need more audience engagement,” she said, clapping her hands together. “So with that in mind… let’s see what we should do, shall we?”

With a tap of her cane, she summoned another screen, and then turned to the cameras.

“When Sylvia claimed that bounty, it came at the cost of her night with the master! Quite a silly decision to make, but that VP is juicy, isn’t it?” Dakota shook her head. “But it does provide an opportunity for another girl… and who will that be? Why, I’ll let you all choose, of course! That’s right! We’re going to hold a vote!”

With a wave of her cane, several names appeared on the screen.

“You all are going to vote on who you want to take Sylvia’s place in the Master’s Suite tonight,” she explained. “And just to be clear, this will be a one on one deal. No taking other people in with them, even if they have a transformation that would do so,” she clarified, mostly referring to Carly when she said that. “We’ll take care of that part. It’s all about giving the girls a fair shake, and chance with the master. So with that in mind… some adjustments are in order.”

Names began to be scratched off the list.

“Dani, Amelia, and Ella have all made it clear that they have no intention of sleeping with Nick anytime soon,” Dakota clarified, explaining why she erased the names she did. “Putting them back in that room won’t help anybody right now. No, we want a good chance of some sex happening! So that’s why, we’re leaving it open to the other eight contestants instead! That’s right, you can choose whoever you want!”

She tapped her cheek, pretending to be stuck on a very tricky thought. “You could vote for Morgana, for another bite at the apple? Or maybe Carly, to make up for what happened on her night with Nick… or maybe Gina, for the same reason! After all, her night might be coming up, but she hardly ever gets any time alone with Nick these days, thanks to all the partying. And maybe she deserves a reward, for all her help with Sylvia? On the other hand, one of the new girls might spice things up. Vivian and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin both want a piece of Nick, and haven’t had the chance yet. A preview of their upcoming night with him might be just what the doctor ordered! Of course, Kim’s night is tomorrow, and the same rationale applies… she’s so excited, it would be hilarious to have her plans thrown out of whack because of a sudden shift! Dawn’s also an option, if she can be dragged out of bed, but that’s a pretty big ask… and then there’s Rose. Who’s been trying soooo hard to get Nick to notice her all week… it would be nice to reward her hard work, wouldn’t you agree?”

Dakota shrugged, and turned back to the camera. “Pick whoever you’d like, and we’ll make it happen! Let’s prove to Sylvia that our interactions aren’t down, not by a long shot! It’s time to get you all excited for what’s to come! So take a look at the poll, and cast your vote!”

https://strawpoll.com/mpnb1qLpGy5