Take a sip from my secret potion, one taste and you'll be mine

Gina stumbled out of her bedroom, her hair barely starting to dry. She at least had the presence of mind to take a shower this morning, and change her clothes. And she’d even put her old clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, soaked though they were!

Small steps. Small, tiny steps. She needed to take whatever steps she could to improve her lifestyle. That’s what being around Amelia had taught her, along with all the other lessons she’d taken in over the course of her time here.

Gina was going to go see Amelia, ask her for some more pointers. Responsibility was the name of the game! Maybe I should go talk to Octavia. She did say she’d be willing to give some pointers about behaving properly.

Normally, Gina didn’t go in for the whole “adult authority” thing. But she knew she needed to make some changes in her life. Maybe then, when I get back, my parents and I…?

She stopped halfway through the lounge when she heard the sound of footsteps. She turned her head, surprised by who she saw just coming out of her room.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, perky as always, strolled down the hall with a smile on her face, twirling her umbrella in her gloved hand.

“Oh!” Gina’s eyes widened as she looked at the tight leather jumpsuit the assassin was wearing. “You’re in leather again? Didn’t you get, like, a whole new wardrobe or something?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin turned to her and flashed an enigmatic smile, almost like she was asking the other girl “Do you really think you can understand my motivations?”

Gina didn’t really care that much, though. She shrugged. “Hey, if you ask me, that leather looks tight! You got one to spare?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her eyebrow. She looked down at her chest, which had grown slightly since the beginning of the round, and then turned her eyes to Gina’s breasts.

“…Okay, I get your point,” Gina said, cracking a lopsided smile. “I don’t think it would fit all that well on me.”

Still, it might be nice to give it a try.

“So, you going to get breakfast then?” Gina asked, walking over to the other woman. “I could have something to eat.” Already her one-track mind had forgotten about seeing Amelia and getting some advice on how to behave more maturely.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded, but her body language still looked a little guarded. Gina figured that must have been a natural thing for her, trained killer that she was.

…Gina was cool with that, though.

“You know, I feel like I owe you a thank you,” Gina said, curling her fingers through her messy hair.

That got a surprising response from the assassin. She tilted her head to the side and blinked in confusion.

Gina laughed. “For the last challenge, I mean. I wouldn’t have won it if it wasn’t for you! Picking off everybody like that, turning them all against you, that was wild! Thanks a ton.”

She had no illusions about the fact that she’d only gotten through the challenge as a result of pure luck. The other contestants, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin especially, could have eliminated her at any point.

But she hadn’t. She’d let Gina live- and Gina had managed to win because of that.

She was nothing if not grateful.

In contrast, the assassin just looked perplexed. She shrugged her shoulders, clearly not sure what to do with the easy gratitude shown by the punk girl.

“So anyway, I just remembered, I was gonna go have a chat with Amelia!” Finally, Gina remembered what she had set out to do this morning. “You want to come along? I’m gonna try and learn how to be more mature and shit.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stared blankly at her. She slowly shook her head and turned to leave.

“Wait, wait, hear me out!” Gina really wanted to repay the favor somehow. “You know Amelia is Nick’s stepmom, right? She’s known him ever since he was a little kid. And I’ve known him for a long time myself!” She boasted. “I’m one of his oldest friends!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s sharp ears twitched, and she narrowed her eyes. She looked like she was ready to go on the attack, but Gina didn’t mind. After all, the important thing was that she had the other woman’s attention!

“Maybe she could show you some ways to get Nick to like you better!” Gina was getting really excited now. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

The curious, expectant look on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face shifted into an expression of pure excitement. Fully persuaded, she nodded her head eagerly, and leaned forward to wait to hear more.

She gave Gina the distinct impression of a cute little puppy waiting for a treat. That thought brought a smile to her face.

“Well, if that’s the case, let’s go say hello!” Gina chirped, holding out her hand.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin didn’t take it. But she did follow the punk girl towards the Luxury Suite, where Amelia was saying.

Then, an orb of fire shot through the solid door, flying right towards them. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened and she lashed out, grabbing Gina by the collar and throwing her to the ground. Her superior reflexes pulled them both out of the way as the fireball soared over their heads, flying down the hall and into the lounge.

“What the fuck was that shit!?” Gina screeched, scrambling to her feet in shock. She looked after the fireball, confused. “A fucking fireball!?”

While she was still reeling from that little surprise, the door to the Luxury Suite swung open and smacked her in the face, knocking her back to the ground.

“Ow!”

“Uwaah! Sorry!” Morgana wailed, barely sparing a passing glance for Gina as she dashed down the hall, face flushed with horror. She clutched her spellbook to her chest as she ran after the fireball, leaving a stunned Gina on the floor, very confused about what was happening.

“…I think it’s feeling like a floor day today,” Gina decided with a sigh. “Getting up seems like way more trouble than it’s worth.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin silently scoffed and rolled her eyes, a look of amusement stretching across her face. She turned and strolled through the open door.

Sighing, Gina followed after her. If Amelia was inside, maybe she would know what was going on here.

“Yo, Amelia, you around?” Gina called as she surveyed the room. “We need to have a little talk about those pyrotechnics.”

“Gina.”

Amelia poked her head up from behind the bed. She looked oddly disheveled, which was unusual for her. Her bun was out of place and her hair hung down in fringes, and her clothes were a little rumpled. It looked like she’d been interrupted in the middle of getting changed.

She adjusted her glasses and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest to regain her air of control over the situation.

“What do you want?” She asked. She was so flustered, she meant to be a little more polite, but as usual it had slipped her mind.

“Oh, uh… just wanted to check. That whole fireball thing, that was Morgana, right?”

“…Right,” Amelia said bluntly, her face darkening. “I barely avoided it.”

She shook her head, frustrated. “I warned that girl not to play with forces beyond her control. Not while I was present, at least.”

“Oh, but the rest of us are fair game?” Gina asked cheekily.

Amelia glared at her and crossed her arms over her chest. “That was not what I intended.”

“I know, sorry. I was just messing with you a little,” Gina apologized, scratching her head sheepishly. “Anyway, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and I wanted to talk with you about something. …Well, I mean, I wanted to talk to you about something, anyway. As for her, well…”

Gina glanced over at the mute woman, who responded with a look of shock. Gina snickered and shook her head. “Just messing around. Sorry about that. But actually, we were hoping you could give us some pointers? You know, help us out to become mature, elegant ladies.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin tapped the tip of her umbrella loudly on the floor and stomped her heeled boot.

“…Oh! And any embarrassing or cute stories you have about Nick when he was a kid, that too,” Gina added with a grin.

Amelia looked in confusion at both girls, and adjusted her glasses.

“…I see.”

Morgana was in a blind panic as she ran after her fireball. It wasn’t moving that fast- anybody could dodge if it got too close. But Morgana had the athletic ability of a beanbag chair, so she couldn’t exactly catch up to it.

The orb of flames flew in circles around the lounge, like it was waiting for something. Looking for something.

Then it stopped. Hovering in the air, it floated and turned towards Morgana, almost like it was looking at her.

Morgana blanched.

“W-wait-”

Before she let out a cry, the fireball turned and flew away, as if it had made a whole new decision instead.

Then Morgana heard the sound of voices across the room.

“Hey!” She cried. “Watch out!”

“Yeeeek!” A girl wailed, and Morgana rushed over just in time to see the fireball hit a stunned Ella right in the chest.

“Ella!” Rose looked in horror as the flames struck the poor girl, her eyes wide. If only she hadn’t been distracting her, Ella never would have been-!

But the flames didn’t burn her. They didn’t seem to do anything, really. As soon as they struck Ella, it was like they were absorbed into her body. Ella had cried out in shock, but she didn’t seem to be experiencing any pain.

She just looked confused.

“Um… wh-what… what just happened?” She stammered, looking around. “That… did I just get hit by a…?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Morgana babbled, tripping over chairs and tables to get to the other women. “That was all my fault, I’m so sorry!”

“Calm down Morgana, what happened?” Rose asked, the only one here capable of keeping a calm head, which was a scary thought all on its own.

“I-I was practicing my magic, and, well, I couldn’t read my book, but there were these pictures, and so I touched one, and then this fireball came flying out, and I chased after it, and then it-! Oh, I’m so sorry!” She wailed, making absolutely zero sense. The panicking goth seemed to just be making things worse.

“So wait, you used one of your spells on Ella?” Rose’s eyes widened with concern. “That’s not good. What spell? What does it to?”

“I’m spelled!?” Ella wailed, grabbing her rubber-band frantically.

“Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!” She snapped it over and over, feeling Cinder pounding at the back of her mind trying to get free. But as freaked out as Ella was, letting Cinder out would only make things a million times worse. Absolutely not!

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, I don’t know!” Morgana groaned. “I have no idea what the spell is supposed to do! This thing doesn’t come with instructions, you know!”

Rose sighed and rubbed her temples. “Great, just great. Ella… how are you feeling right now? Can you feel anything weird happening?”

What a worthless question. How was Ella feeling?! She felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest, that’s how she was feeling! She felt like she was going to scream and cry and babble and wail and Cinder was going to come out!

…So yes, weird things were happening.

Ella couldn’t verbalize any of that, though. Her eyes spun in her head, and she chewed on her lip nervously as she fumbled with her rubber-band again.

“Thwap!”

“…Okay, I’m going to take that as a yes,” Rose decided, sighing. “It’s fine! Not a big deal. We just need to think of a way to fix this, that’s all! …Whatever ‘this’ is.”

Morgana slumped over, dejected. Leave it to her to mess everything up. She’d had access to magic for less than a day, and already she’d gone out of control and done something awful with it! Wasn’t that just the way with her and transformations?

Seeing Morgana’s look of regret, Rose felt even worse. She looked warily over at Ella, but she couldn’t see anything wrong with the other girl on the surface, at least.

“Maybe it’s not a big deal!” She said. “Maybe it’s a nice, friendly spell!”

…Yeah, not even she bought THAT one.

Still, if it helped Morgana feel better, and helped keep Ella from turning into Cinder, that was the important part.

Unfortunately…

“I’m not that gullible,” Ella said with a scowl. She had no idea what Morgana’s spell had done, but judging by the tone of this show up until now, she hardly thought it would be something easy and peaceful. “Look… we… we just have to figure it out, that’s all, and figure out how to reverse it… sooner, rather than later.”

She snapped her rubber-band again. “Thwap!”

Morgana nodded rapidly. “Yes, exactly!” She agreed. “We need to figure out how to undo it! There must be something in here…”

She began flipping through the book, which immediately sent warning lights flashing through Rose and Ella’s minds.

“Let- let’s not get carried away!” Rose said quickly, moving to grab the book but stopping herself before she could. She had no idea what would happen if she tried.

“I-I think I can handle it!” Ella said, starting to sweat. The last thing she wanted was for Morgana to fire off another spell and double her problems!

Morgana looked sadly at the both of them, understanding why they were panicking but still feeling bad about it.

“Okay…” she said with a sigh, regretfully closing the book. She looked down at the floor. “I just wanted to help… to undo my mistake, that’s all.”

“Yes, and Ella and I both appreciate that,” Rose said. “But how about we get some breakfast, first, before you turn us into frogs or something?”

Ella winced. She rubbed her stomach, feeling hungry. Agreeing with Rose, she nodded, and Morgana could tell that whatever this spell had done, it wouldn’t be fixed right now.

“Okay…” she reluctantly agreed.

“Besides!” Rose chirped as she escorted Morgana towards the elevator. “Maybe a little breakfast will help us find out just what that spell of yours did!”

When the trio got to the Banquet Hall, they were surprised to find it almost empty. Only Kim and Dani were there, sharing a meal and catching up.

“It sure was nice having that whole room to myself last night,” Dani said, stretching her arms over her head. Her feathers flared out. “Still, I miss the Fashion Suite. A change of clothes would really go well, I can hardly wear any of my usual outfits with these feathers!”

She was just making small talk. But Kim smelled blood in the water.

“You know,” the salesgirl mused, leaning forward, “If you stop by the store later, I might be able to find some nice new outfits for you to wear. Something with wide sleeves, to suit your new feathers? I promise, it’ll be worth the price!”

Dani laughed. “You’re really becoming a shark, huh?” She said, shaking her head. “You know who you’re sounding like now? Vivian.”

Kim blanched. “Take that back!” She said, her eyes wide with alarm. “I’m nothing like her!”

“Well, maybe not in most ways, but I’m definitely getting a bit of a ‘sleazy sales representative’ vibe from you,” Dani teased. “Trying to get as much BP as you can.”

Kim, realizing Dani may have a point, sank back into her seat, blushing slightly. “Well, I mean… I’m just trying to help a little.”

Maybe she was getting a little too into it. But still, that was no reason for Dani to say something like that!

“It’s fine, I’m not bothered,” Dani assured her. “Thing is, I’m not exactly rolling in cash right now. I’m not so sure I can go for a whole new wardrobe change. So tanktops it is!”

A loose tanktop suited the tomboy well, and lack of sleeves made getting her feathered arms through pretty easy. Dani really had no complaints, other than the fact that it made her curves stand out a little too much. She still wasn’t used to showing off this much skin.

But she was much more comfortable with it these days.

“Oh, hey!” Kim perked up when she saw the other girls come in. “That’s an unusual trio.” She waved them over. “What’s up, guys? You look a little…”

“Shifty,” Dani finished, noticing the uncomfortable looks on Morgana and Ella’s faces. “Something happen?”

“Just a magical misfire,” Rose chirped, happy to air Morgana’s dirty laundry since it didn’t reflect poorly on her. “Morgana was playing with her spellbook, and the whole thing just ended up going off! And now Ella’s been the victim of a spell!”

“It’s not so bad!” Ella exclaimed.

“A spell?” Dani’s feathers bristled as a chill went down her spine. “What kind of spell?”

“We, uh, we don’t know,” Morgana sheepishly admitted, squeezing the book against her chest. “It just sort of… happened.”

“The thing doesn’t come with instructions?” Kim couldn’t help but find that amusing, even if she felt bad for Ella. “Dang. That sucks.”

“It was like this fireball,” Rose informed them. “Hit Ella right in the chest.”

“Yeah…” Ella nodded, shifting from one foot to another. She could still feel the warmth from it when it made contact with her skin. She tugged lightly at her collar, wondering when she’d begin to cool down. At least Cinder wasn’t pounding in the back of her skull trying to take over right now.

“I’m just glad I wasn’t hit,” Dani said. “I knew I made the right call coming down for an early morning jog.”

Not having a roommate had been pretty relaxing. She didn’t mind that Carly had brought Vivian up to the Master’s Suite with her last night. It had actually been pretty exciting, thinking about all the things her girlfriend would do to the stuck-up yet gorgeous model in an effort to arouse Nick.

Plus, it meant she didn’t have to worry about a horny heiress keeping her up all night with her suppressed moans.

“We’re going to experiment with the book later, to see if we can figure out how to get it under control, for Morgana’s sake,” Rose explained, taking a seat next to Dani. “If you two want to come join…?”

The more people she could throw in front of Morgana’s fireballs, the less likely a spell would backfire and get her caught up in it. But Dani and Kim had been around the block enough times to know where this was going, and after a shared look of agreement they both shook their heads.

“Yeah, no.”

“Not a chance.”

Rose pouted. “Oh, well, I tried,” she scoffed, crossing her arms with a “hmph” and shrugging. “Sorry, Morgana.”

“Yeah, uh… I-I didn’t even want that in the first place,” the goth girl mumbled. The less people she embarrassed herself in front of with her lack of control over her magic, the better.

Ella didn’t say anything. She was too busy focusing on the feeling of warmth blossoming in her chest, and how great it made her feel. It didn’t even occur to her that this could be the effect of Morgana’s spell acting on her body…