Today I don't feel like doing anything, I just wanna lay in my bed

With Nick gone on his date with Kim for the next 24 hours, the girls didn’t have a lot to do on the island. Like Sylvia before her, Dakota tended to set things up to revolve around the master. But the girls had branched out quite a lot in the days since Sylvia was in charge of things, and for the most part, they were fine being left to their own devices.

Dani was still concerned, though.

“I still don’t think it was a good idea,” she muttered, pacing around the lounge. “I mean, Sylvia could have taken over Kim’s shift! She didn’t need to use that Sick Day transformation if she didn’t want to, but she did anyway!”

“I think it’s a good thing that Kim decided to embrace the idea of more transformations!” Sylvia volunteered from the couch.

She still wasn’t that great at reading the room- if she was, then she would have realized that Dani didn’t want to hear it right now.

Dani turned to Sylvia with a scowl on her face. “You’re just saying that because you like the idea of transformations!” She pointed out. “You always have! You were the host, damn it!”

Sylvia shrugged. “I just think that not every transformation is a negative,” she replied. “Sometimes, good things can happen if you just… give in a little. Like with your super strength, you know?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but in case you forgot, that came at the cost of my whole frigging body changing, remember?”

“Exactly!” Sylvia replied. “I threw in the strength as a bonus! A freebie! So you would see just how beneficial transformations can be!”

“Even punishment transformations?” Dani crossed her arms over her chest. “Because the one you gave me…”

Sylvia shifted awkwardly on the couch. “That was a punishment to keep anybody else from breaking the rules,” she mumbled. “…But I might have gone a little too far. I wasn’t thinking of the long-term consequences… or your fidelity to your body in your dreams… I’m sorry.”

She really meant it, too, that’s what pissed Dani off the most. Like a naïve child, Sylvia had done something horrible without being fully aware of the impact, and if Dani got too mad at her, then she felt like the one in the wrong.

But she wasn’t. She could be civil with Sylvia, and even grow to like her. Maybe they could even be friends. But she definitely wasn’t going to forgive the newly-christened redhead for what she’d done.

“Keep in mind though, if Kim hadn’t used her Sick Day transformation, then she would have still had the effects of her other transformations in play,” Marley reminded the two of them. “She would have had to go through the whole date dressed as a schoolgirl.”

“Oh! Good point!” Sylvia nodded. “You’re so smart, Marley!”

“Okay, but is that really so bad? There’s nothing wrong with dressing like a schoolgirl,” Carly pointed out from her spot on the couch next to her sister.

Marley turned to look at her twin. Carly had grown out her hair to be about as long as Marley’s was, and even colored it the same, their original brown.

Oh, and she was wearing a bright blue sailor fuku uniform with a red armband, and a yellow hairband above her forehead, that part was important too.

“…Gee, I wonder why you would think that,” Marley said dryly, and Carly stuck out her tongue.

The four of them had just been hanging around in the lounge, letting the day pass by. Sylvia was also watching the Bounty Board, curious to see if anything new would pop up.

“I doubt Dakota would put up a new bounty while Daddy is on his date,” Sylvia mused, stroking her chin as she looked at the empty board. “The bounties are for his benefit, after all. But I bet tomorrow morning when he’s back, there’ll be a whole wave of ‘em!”

“She could still post one like the one Kim got,” Marley pointed out. “The photo shoot one.”

“If she does, then I call dibs!” Carly sat up immediately. “That one looked so fun!”

“Ah! There, see? The photo shoot!” Dani proclaimed triumphantly. “She won some outfits from that, I know, because they’re in our closet! So she wouldn’t have had to wear a schoolgirl uniform on her date if she didn’t want to!”

Even Dani knew that she was basically just saying that to prove she was right. She knew that the spirit of what Sylvia was saying was correct- Kim had chosen to use the transformation to take a risk, because she wanted to experiment more with transformations. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Dani, I know you’re sensitive about transformations, but they’re not all bad,” Carly urged her girlfriend. “I’ve gotten a lot of good ones. Maybe if you were willing to indulge in some of yours a little more, just the good ones, of course, you’d be able to see things from Sylvia’s perspective!”

“Yeah, that would be so fun!” Sylvia nodded eagerly. “We can ask Mary to do another cooking class! You really like your I’ll Have What She’s Having transformation, right?”

Dani shifted awkwardly and played with a strand of hair. “…You guys are right,” she begrudgingly admitted. “I’m being a little too critical. If people want to play around and experiment with their transformations, it’s not my place to say anything about it. I’m just worried about Kim, you know? We’ve gotten really close these last few weeks, and I’m worried that if she indulges in these punishment transformations too much, it could backfire.”

She remembered Kim rolled up in those blankets just a couple nights ago. If she got another one like that…

“That’s a valid point,” Marley admitted somberly. “If it wasn’t Dakota in charge… if Sylvia… if you were still the host, then maybe it would be good… but giving that power to Dakota…”

“Dakota wants to make a good harem for Daddy, just like I did,” Sylvia stated. “And she wants to make a good show for the producers! She’s just going about it in a really forced way.”

Dani wasn’t sure she agreed that Dakota was any more heavy-handed than Sylvia had been when she was the host of the show, but she didn’t say anything. From what she’d observed of Dakota’s behavior, the woman was definitely unhinged and dangerous.

“Um… excuse me…”

The conversation came to a halt, and the four of them looked up to see Morgana approach them. She looked a little shy and awkward.

“You didn’t tie your hair up,” Carly noted. “Too bad, you looked cute like that!”

Morgana’s red eyes widened and her pale cheeks flushed. “Oh! Um… th-thank you! It’s just, uh… I-I don’t want to go too far with it, you know? Wearing my hair like that, it’s nice, but…”

As much as Morgana liked the hairstyle, and as nice as it looked, she also liked wearing her hair down. She was still trying to find out what worked best for her, and-

“Wait, I’m getting off track!” She exclaimed. She shook her head frantically and cleared her throat. “Sorry, um, but this might be important.”

“What is it?” Dani asked, immediately tensing with concern.

Morgana looked anxiously back at her door, then to the other girls. She chewed on her lip.

“The last few nights… err, that is, practically every night this week… I’ve been using my transformation on Dawn. You know, the journal one? Dear Diary? She said I could…”

“Oh! Yeah, how is Dawn doing, anyway?” Marley asked. “It’s been forever since I’ve seen her it feels like.”

Morgana winced. “That’s… what I want to talk to you about. I know Dawn said I could keep using my diary on her to give her fantasies, but it feels like I’ve been taking advantage of her. Since she’s been so… permissive and passive recently. And since I’ve been kinda overwhelmed, I just thought… well…”

“Dawn?” Carly raised her eyebrow curiously. “Passive?” The bespectacled cat girl was one of the most diligent and proactive people on the island.

Then again, Marley was right, it had been some time since they’d seen her…

“She’s back in the room,” Morgana said quietly. “She hasn’t left it all morning. I-I don’t even know if she got out of bed yesterday… I’m really starting to get worried about her.”

“That’s not good!” Sylvia exclaimed. “If she just stays in bed all week, how is she ever going to appeal to Daddy!?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Also, you know, she needs to eat.”

Sylvia blinked. “…Ah, yes, well, of course, that too…”

“It-it might not be a big deal!” Morgana exclaimed, waving her hands frantically. “I-I just, I just wanted to, um… maybe…”

“You’re concerned for your friend,” Marley said, standing up. “It’s totally understandable. And you’re right to feel that way. Come on, let’s go check on her. See if she needs anything.”

Carly nodded in agreement. She didn’t know Dawn very well, but for the genius vet to spend all day lounging around in bed not doing anything?

Something definitely seemed wrong there.

The five women all headed back to the room for a caretaking call on the vet. Of course, it began with Dani knocking on the door.

“Yo, Dawn, you in there?” She called out.

The girls could hear some rustling on the other side, but other than that, nothing.

“We don’t need to knock,” Marley pointed out. “This is Morgana’s room, too. She’s entitled to enter her own room, isn’t she?”

A valid point. Morgana nodded and opened the door, and the girls headed inside. Just like she’d said, there was Dawn, curled up in a little ball on top of her bed.

It was a very familiar sight to Dani.

“Hey Dawn!” Carly chirped. “Good morning! Wanna hang out? We can go for a nature walk!”

“Mrgn.”

Dawn’s response wasn’t exactly the most favorable.

“Is everything okay?” Dani asked, walking over to the bed and crouching down beside it. “Morgana came to get us because she was worried about you. She said you’ve been lying around in bed for days and days.”

Dawn poked her head out from the covers and looked at Dani with bleary eyes. Her hair was a tangled mess, not even tied up in her trademark ponytail, and she wasn’t wearing her glasses. She rubbed at her eyes for a few minutes, and yawned.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled, flopping back down onto the mattress. “Just want to relax, that’s all… is that so bad?”

“Well… no, of course not,” Dani said, shaking her head.

“We’re just concerned, that’s all,” Marley explained. “But if everything’s fine, we’ll leave you alone.”

“Sorry for being so nosy…” Morgana just wanted to die of guilt. Here she was, getting all worked-up over nothing… she even got the other girls involved!

Dawn watched them all go, and they all looked like blurry shadows to her. She frowned, and fumbled for her glasses on the nightstand.

“Hey… wait. Hold up a sec…”

The group paused in the doorway, and they all turned back to see Dawn sitting up in bed again, fitting her glasses back on. Her eyes still had that glassy, vacant look to them, like she was having difficulty concentrating.

“…Maybe… maybe I can talk a little,” she mumbled. “Just let me get more presentable…”

Dawn tried to climb up off the bed, but she got tangled up in the blankets since she was still a little tired. She let out a tiny yelp and flopped over on the ground.

“And here I thought cats were always supposed to land on their feet?” Sylvia giggled.

“Very funny,” Dawn fumed, picking herself up off the floor. “I’m an award-winning gymnast, I can’t believe I just… Okay. Maybe something is going on,” she admitted. “But… I don’t really get it.”

She looked back at the bed. Now that she wasn’t lying in it anymore, whatever elusive hold that soft mattress had on her was lost.

Dawn’s tail flicked behind her back and she shook her head quickly and rushed over to the closet. Ducking into the bathroom, she reappeared seconds later looking perfect, with her hair neatly combed and tied up and a fresh change of clothes.

It was like the lazy mess of human lethargy from moments before had never existed.

“I feel rested and recharged,” she said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. “And that’s how I know there’s definitely something going on here. And it’s that bed that’s the culprit! I don’t know what it is, but it’s doing something that makes me want to sleep in it longer and longer! I know it is! That isn’t me! I’m always up at the crack of dawn!”

Sylvia snickered at the pun. The other girls all shared a look.

“…The bed?” Marley asked.

That sounded a little…

Dawn was blaming the bed for her laziness?

“Dawn, I’ve been sleeping in that bed with you,” Morgana pointed out. “It’s comfortable, yes, but I don’t have any problem getting up in the morning…”

“…Ung.” Dawn flinched and shrank back a little. She looked down, not sure what to say in response to that.

Morgana raised a valid point.

“…W-well… it’s gotta be something!” Dawn protested, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. She refused to accept that she was just some lazy person! She wasn’t, she…

As she looked back on her prior behavior, she tried to understand just why she hadn’t wanted to get out of bed. What about it had kept her there?

Yes, it had been comfortable. VERY comfortable!

And when she was there, it was like…

“Why do I even have to get up? It’s not like it makes a difference anyway, right? I’m not doing anything today.”

Dawn shivered and made a disgusted face. She shook her head quickly and her ears flattened.

“I don’t know, maybe it could be the bed,” Carly said suddenly. “After all, my room has a special characteristic. Play games, get BP if you get a high score. Maybe this room has a special rule about it too.”

“Yes! Yes. I like that. That’s the direction we should be going with this!” Dawn nodded.

But the more she thought about it, the more she was becoming aware of how stupid and childish this idea really was.

Marley was there as the voice of reason.

“Come on, Dawn, you’re a rational person. Do you really believe that the bed is enchanted?” She asked, shaking her head.

“It’s because I’m a rational person!” Dawn replied. “Maybe when I first got here I’d think that was crazy, but after all the stuff we’ve seen? Marley, you started as a sentient slime mold who grew out of a big flower, and then you turned into Carly’s sister! Is a magic bed that makes you lazier really out of the realm of possibility?”

Marley stared blankly at the other girl as she processed that.

“…Okay yeah maybe you have a point,” she reconsidered, stroking her chin.

“But what would be Dakota’s motive here?” Sylvia asked. “I mean, it’s not like she magically enchanted you to Daddy’s bed. If she wanted to make you into his soft-minded bedwarmer, there are easier ways to do it!”

“Exactly!” Dakota nodded. “This isn’t my fault!”

Dani stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Okay, so if it isn’t your fault, then…”

…

Everybody did a double-take as they realized Dakota had snuck in without any of them noticing. The host sat on the bed in question with a smirk on her face and one leg crossed over the other. She raised her hand and waved her fingers hello.

“Good morning, ladies,” she greeted them. “I believe you were mentioning something about a bed?”

“Yes,” Dawn said, recovering first. When she wasn’t feeling lazy and unmotivated, she was quite sharp and to the point. “What did you do to me? Why have I been waking up so late every morning? Last time I remembered, I went to bed before curfew! And yesterday, I was practically asleep the whole time! And yet, whenever I’m in that bed recently, I never want to get out of it!”

Dakota shrugged. “And you think that’s my fault?”

“Yes!”

“No. It’s yours.”

Dawn’s jaw dropped.

“It’s just a bed. Just an ordinary, everyday bet.” Dakota hopped back onto the bed and started to bounce on it like a child. She wore a big smile on her face as she did so. “Whee! Fun!”

Sylvia’s eyes sparkled as she looked at how much fun Dakota was having as the other girls all stared at her in confusion. Then Dakota stopped bouncing and jumped onto the ground, brushing herself off as she did.

“See? No harm at all,” she pointed out, flicking her cane in the direction of the bed. “It’s just a bed. That’s it. It’s nice, yes, and very soft. Better than any other bed in the hotel- and our beds are better than any on earth.”

Sylvia nodded up and down in confirmation.

“It’s even better than mine,” Dakota continued.

Dawn looked shaken to the core. Her face twisted in horror as she struggled to process that the only reason she was behaving so lazily and so unmotivated was because of her own failings.

Dakota let her squirm for a few seconds before extending some mercy.

“…Now the room on the other hand…”

Dawn’s head snapped up and her eyes widened in shock as her ears stood on end. Her tail flicked up into the air.

“What?!”

“Dawn, you remember what this room is called, do you not?” Dakota waved her hand across the ornately-decorated room, the fanciest and most expensive-looking of any of the suites. “Of course you do, you have a perfect memory.”

“…Yeah,” Dawn said, nodding slowly. “It’s the Luxury Suite.”

“Wait, is that why?” Dani guessed. “Does the room make you really lazy, like a rich person? Because it’s so luxurious?”

“No, um, it can’t be that,” Morgana said, shaking her head. “I haven’t felt lazy at all… if anything, I’ve been trying really really hard recently!”

Dakota’s golden eyes twinkled. “Exactly,” she purred, leaning forward and getting right up into Morgana’s personal space. Normally the goth would have shrunk back, but instead she puffed herself up and stood her ground.

“…Because that’s what you wanted.”

Dakota’s cryptic words caused a wave of confusion to wash over the girls’ faces.

“What she wanted?” Carly questioned. “What do you mean by that?”

“I was right!” Dawn exclaimed. “There is something about the room!”

“Of course there is,” Dakota scoffed, as if the idea that there wasn’t was laughable. “Remember at the beginning of the round, when I explained we’d be switching up the suites each time? Well, the reason for that is because every suite has its own special rule to it. If you stay in the Fashion Suite, you can wear any of the clothes on display. If you’re in the Arcade Suite, you can win BP from the high scores. And as for the Luxury Suite, well… living in luxury is all about two things! Getting exactly what you want, and getting it in excess.”

“…What does that mean though?” Dani asked suspiciously. “What’s happening to Dawn?!”

“Yeah, and Morgana too,” Marley added.

Morgana herself looked terrified by the implication that she had been getting affected by the presence of something she hadn’t noticed.

“It’s very simple,” Dakota said. “For the two people sleeping in the Luxury Suite, the suite takes a look at you, it reads your souls. And from there, it takes the thing you most want to improve about yourself. Say you’ve always wanted to be a comedian deep down in your heart. Well, every night you stay in the Luxury Suite, you get a little bit funnier. You get better at telling jokes and making people laugh stuff like that.”

“S-so, wait, then… what about me?” Morgana stammered, pointing at herself in confusion.

Dakota turned to her, and looked confused at the goth girl’s confusion. “Well… isn’t it obvious?” She asked. “Morgana, deep down inside, haven’t you always wanted to be bolder? More courageous and willing to put yourself out there more? Reaching out to Ella, trying out new hairstyles, all that is because the Luxury Suite is helping you become the person you want to be!”

“Wait, it’s not permanent, is it?!” Dani demanded. Even if the effects on Morgana were a positive, that was still an unfair transformation.

Dakota shook her head. “No, of course it isn’t,” she assured them. “The Luxury Suite isn’t transforming you. It’s just giving you a push to embrace a side of yourself that was always there to begin with. So of course, if you want to stop, all you have to do is want something else. From the bottom of your heart.”

“No! That… that doesn’t make any sense!” Dawn exclaimed. She shook her head and stomped her foot. “Are you trying to tell me that… I’ve always wanted to be like- like that?! Some lazy slacker who can’t even get herself out of bed?! No! I refuse to believe that, you’re lying!”

Dakota sighed and turned to the cantankerous cat girl.

“Maybe not always,” she said coldly. “But right now? I’m afraid the only person who can answer that question, Dawn, is you,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

Then her cold look morphed into an amused smirk. “You’ve got the rest of the round to figure it out for yourself,” she purred like a cat herself. “But the suite won’t force you to do anything. If you’re not getting out of bed, it’s because you don’t want to. Simple as that.”

And with a tap of her cane she disappeared, leaving Dawn to grapple with the possibility that maybe, just maybe, part of her wanted to spend her days lazing away in bed. She raised her head and looked at the bed once again, unable to believe it.

And yet, those sheets never looked more comfortable than they did right now.