I guess I wanted to believe

Dani’s body had really been put through the wringer so far today.

And she meant that in the most amazing way possible.

It was hard to describe how rejuvenated she felt- Dani wasn’t exactly the most eloquent person in the world to begin with, for starters. And at the moment, her brain was completely checked out after the wonderful massage she’d just gotten. And now, she found herself sinking into what she could swear was a bottomless pit of mud, feeling like she was getting a warm hug on every inch of her body at once as it pressed against her.

So yeah, rational thought wasn’t exactly something she could handle at the moment. The best way she could describe what her body was going through was that she felt like she was channeling Marley right now, when her sister inadvertently broke the 10-foot boundary.

Her body felt like it had lost its structural integrity and turned into a big jiggling mound of slime. And no, it wasn’t the mud bath.

It was EVERYTHING.

“This is the life,” Vivian sighed from the mud bath beside hers. Dani would have turned to look at the heiress, but her neck wasn’t interested in moving right now any more than the rest of her was. And besides, it wasn’t like she’d be able to see anything, what, with the cucumbers over her eyes. A first for her.

“It really is…” Dani echoed, too entranced to say anything else. It was a strange feeling. Dani was usually quite prepared to share her thoughts with anyone who cared to listen, but for once, it felt like she had nothing to say.

…Also, with the mud mask caked to her face, everything just felt heavy. A relaxing, wonderful kind of heaviness.

Between the baths and the face masks, hardly an inch of skin remained uncovered by mud. Dani didn’t even care about it getting all over her feathers- one of the elective treatments she’d gotten right before this was a plucking.

“How are your arms feeling?” Vivian asked. They were so united in bliss that it was almost like they could read each other’s minds. “Your feathers, are they…”

Vivian had gotten a full body wax, like Dani. But waxing off her arm hairs before a nice exfoliation session probably couldn’t compare to the feeling of having feathers literally pulled out of your skin, so she was a little concerned about how her friend was feeling.

As for Dani, well, she was feeling amazing actually.

“It doesn’t hurt at all,” she said, and that was about as true a statement as you could make. After all, she couldn’t really feel anything below the neck. It was just warm and soft and numb in the most tingly, blissful way…

“That’s good…” Vivian said dreamily. “I was kinda worried… you know… that it would hurt when they suggested it… that woulda sucked…”

“It hurts when I pull them myself,” Dani said. That was an understatement. Dani had tried to pluck her feathers a few times after she got the transformation. Pulling hair was a pretty apt comparison, only imagine that the hair was, well, the size of a feather.

The little divots left in her skin had stung too.

But whatever the faeries had done to her arms, it had fixed the problem. They’d rubbed some kind of strange oil all over them (Dani guessed it was some kind of local anesthetic, only it felt really pleasurable) and the next thing Dani knew, her arms were completely smooth again.

It was kind of strange. Honestly, Dani had grown to like her feathery arms a lot as she’d gotten used to them. Sure, there were inconveniences, like cleaning the sweat off of them after a good workout, or how Carly would giggle because they’d tickle her whenever the two of them got intimate, but they were a part of her, and they just felt natural now.

“They’ll grow back by tomorrow morning,” Dani assured Vivian, but mainly reassuring herself. “It’s better than getting them all caked in mud!”

Vivian laughed. “You can say that again! But man… I should really take more mud baths in the future, this is so refreshing.”

Somewhere in the back of Dani’s hazy mind, alarm bells started going off. She barely noticed at first. Lazily, she yawned, and said to the heiress, “Be careful… knowing this place, next time you come here for a mud bath, you might be groped by like… mud monsters or something…”

It was easy to forget with how wonderful and relaxing today had been (minus the conversations) that this facility wasn’t always about health and wellness. If it wasn’t for Dani’s prize, she could easily imagine them getting pumped full of aphrodisiacs in the sauna, lathered up with them during their massage, heck, there probably would have been stuff in the sushi, too!

Maybe even the body wax. You really couldn’t tell with a place like this. Maybe these were secret aphrodisiac cucumbers on her eyes or something, or they’d make it so her eyes were temporarily enchanted with a seduction gaze or something crazy like that.

Dani didn’t trust these mischievous little faeries or their twisted mistress as far as she could throw them. And with their tiny little bodies, Dani could throw them quite a long ways.

…

Wait, was that how the saying was supposed to go? …Whatever. Dani was too busy relaxing to worry about any of that stuff.

“This is pretty nice, eh?” Vivian seemed determined to keep the conversation going, whereas Dani would have been perfectly content with peace and quiet. Although she realized she probably shouldn’t blame the heiress for feeling that way; after all, Vivian was a talker at heart.

Dani could indulge her a little, even though her mouth was having a hard time forming words, and not just because of the mud drying on her face.

“…You already said that,” Dani giggled.

“…Oh.” Vivian paused for a second, then giggled a little back. “I guess I did.”

Man. Talk about relaxing.

Dani floated out of the shower like she was on a cloud. After washing the mud off of her body, everything just felt so light and fluffy and smooth. She was still in a bit of a daze, hardly able to remember her shower or anything that preceded it at all.

Somehow she’d found herself back in the lounge, vibrating with the soft whir of the massage chair. That was the first concrete memory the tomboy could really form.

The rest of the world didn’t really matter.

“You look like you’re having a good time.” Vivian sauntered over to her with a beer in hand, her cheeks flushed with a dewy smile on her face. “Want a drink?”

“Ehhmm…” Dani was still slurring her words a little, as if she were the drunk one. “Isn’t it… a little early?” She mumbled out. And she didn’t think Vivian was much of a drinker.

Vivian blinked, a hazy expression in her eyes. She looked down at the beer, and laughed. “Oh, uh, whoops, guess so,” she said, tossing the half-empty can and sitting down next to Dani. It was hard to say whether her clumsiness was due to intoxication, or if she was caught up in the same blissful haze that engulfed her blue-haired friend.

“Hehe.” Dani sniggered a little at the mental image of Vivian getting plastered. She was the absolute last person Dani would have expected to crack open a beer like nobody’s business.

Well, one of the last people. Mary absolutely wouldn’t. Probably not Holly, either. Or Dawn. Or Kim. Or Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, or Marley, or Morgana, or Ella…

…

…

…

…Whatever, Dani wasn’t supposed to be doing that “thinking” thing she was supposed to be relaxing, who even cared?

“Just grabbed it out of the cooler by mistake, I guess,” Vivian said, still trying to justify herself even though Dani could barely process her words. She could hear the laughter in the heiress’s voice, at least, which was enough to let her know that Vivian wasn’t worried or upset, anyway.

“Hey, Vivian?” Dani abruptly interrupted the heiress, turning her lazy eyes towards the surprised brunette.

“Huh? Yeah, what is it?” Vivian asked.

Dani paused. She rubbed her eyes to get a better look at the woman sitting beside her, realizing that maybe she’d misjudged Vivian’s mental state. The heiress was trembling something fierce, which was worrying.

…Or, wait, no, it was because Dani was still using the massage function. She flicked off the massage chair and Vivian came back into focus like an old TV, and a relieved sigh escaped Dani’s lips.

Wait, what did she want to talk to Vivian about again?

“Dani?” Vivian coaxed her curiously.

Dani replied with an awkward giggle. “…Sor-ry!” She tittered, sounding unusually bimbo-ish all of a sudden as she broke into peals of laughter. “I just had a brainfart. Just… just gimme a second here… um…”

If Dani was in any state to think critically, she might have started to question just why she wasn’t in any state to think critically. She might have started to wonder if Dakota had gone back on what her boon had promised her, and pumped a bunch of bimbo chemicals into the mud or something.

But by the time she regained enough higher-order thinking to be concerned about that, she realized that her attitude wasn’t due to anything so nefarious. She’d just been so focused on relaxing that she’d put her brain on pause for a little bit!

Sobering up from her blissful spa sensation, Dani felt a sudden blush of shame flare up across her face. She smiled sheepishly at Vivian and scratched her head. “…Can we just forget about, um, the last twenty minutes or something?” Dani pleaded with the heiress, whose expression had morphed from a look of concern to amusement in the interim.

“…Sure thing,” Vivian laughed, leaning back into her chair. “Looks like you got your money’s worth, then?”

“Nope, it was free,” Dani replied. Well, 500 BP, technically, for the entrance fee, but whatever. It sure felt free.

“So what were you going to ask me?” Vivian asked, resting her elbow on the armrest of her chair and leaning closer, a curious expression on her face. “You know, before the whole ‘dazed’ thing, I mean.”

Dani blinked. What had she been planning to ask? Now that she was thinking clearly again, trying to recall the last half-hour was like trying to remember a dream; she just couldn’t get herself back into that mindset.

It didn’t help either that Vivian was so distracting. After the exfoliation treatment and the mud bath, her skin was practically glowing. It was actually a little distracting if she was being honest- and unfair! Did Vivian ever NOT look pretty? Even when she’d been covered head to toe in mud she looked just stunning!

Not that Dani’s heart was swayed. Of course not. Carly was still her number one.

But man… Vivian was quite a distraction.

“…You’re really pretty,” she blurted out, her inner thoughts leaking in part thanks to returning to her relaxed mindset.

Vivian gave her a confused, crooked smile. “…Thank you? You’re pretty easy on the eyes yourself there, Blue.”

Dani felt like she was about to melt again, but not the fun kind of melting like in the mud bath. This was more the embarrassing kind of melting.

“D-don’t laugh,” she said, her face reddening. “I just meant… look, um…”

She braced herself, waiting for her mischievous friend to really lay into her with all manner of teasing jostles and vicious jokes at Dani’s expense.

To her surprise, it didn’t happen. As if trying to show the tomboy that she really was working on herself and taking her advice to heart, Vivian refrained from picking the low-hanging fruit, and looked deeply into Dani’s eyes instead.

“It’s alright,” she said gently. “I’m feeling a little frazzled myself. Though maybe that’s just the booze. I’m not exactly a beer drinker. Or an anything-drinker, really. Just the occasional flute of champagne, or wine, a nice scotch maybe…”

“That’s cool,” Dani said. “You’re really cool, Vivian, you know that?” Dani didn’t drink much herself, she lived too healthy a lifestyle for that.

“Thank you,” Vivian said, blushing a little at the compliment. “You’re pretty cool yourself, Dani.”

“Eh? No, I-I’m not, really,” Dani stammered, shaking her head and smiling bashfully. She began to play with her feathery hair. As she did, she couldn’t help but notice her smooth arms again, even the holes left from the plucked feathers seemed to have closed.

Before Dani could be distracted by her arms, Vivian spoke up again.

“No, you really are,” she said firmly. “Anyone who would invite me to something like this… they’ve gotta be a cool person.”

Vivian winked. “You’re cool in my books, Blue!”

Dani blushed and her heart fluttered. Seeing that smile of Vivian’s suddenly brought it back, what she’d been about to ask the heiress in her daze earlier. But there was no way she could ask that! Not now, not when she was in full control of her mental faculties again!

…Right?

“V-Vivian,” Dani croaked out.

“Mm? Yeah, what’s up?” Vivian asked curiously.

Dani felt her heart pounding in her chest even harder, and she hoped the heiress wouldn’t hear. “I… I need your help,” she said finally.

Vivian blinked a few times, letting the other girl’s words sink in. “…Sure thing!” She said without a moment’s hesitation. “What do you need?” She slapped her chest. “After everything you’ve done for me today, Dani? Listening to me, helping me out, just say the word, and I’ll do it! Even if it’s a money thing! I don’t have access to my accounts right now, obviously, but when we get back-”

“No, it’s not that,” Dani interrupted her, burning up even more. “I-I told you, the money stuff, that’s a little…”

“Oh, uh, right, sorry, forgot,” Vivian said sheepishly, sinking back into her chair. “Coming on too strong, right. So, uh… what do you need, then?”

“…Help,” Dani said, after far too long a pause.

Vivian stared blankly at her. “Yeah… you already said that,” she gently reminded her friend. “Help with what, exactly?”

If Dani could say that, she would feel this awkward, would she?

“…It’s… my… my bounty,” she finally managed to spit out. “You know, the… the one I’ve been working on…”

“For well over the deadline? Yeah, I know,” Vivian said. Dani could hear hesitation leaking into the heiress’s voice and she flinched. The last thing she wanted was to make Vivian feel uncomfortable, not after they’d gotten so comfortable together.

“Sorry, I know this is really awkward,” she sighed, scratching her head. “But… I really feel kinda stuck here. I mean, I… I did the best I could, right? I’ve gotten four people to orgasm now… Carly, Gina, Kim, Sylvia with my cooking transformation, but, like…”

“You don’t know who to get for the last one?” Vivian asked quietly.

Dani bit her lip and nodded.

An awkward silence hung in the air. After all, this topic had already been broached many times before now; specifically with Vivian! Dani had turned down Vivian’s hectic offer days before, back when things were still weird between the two of them. Then Dani had tried to use her temporarily upgraded transformation to bring the heiress to orgasm, but that hadn’t worked either.

And after everything that Dani had said earlier about Vivian’s teasing about them being on a date, well, bringing up something like this…

Vivian was usually pretty cool under pressure. But even she looked a little embarrassed by Dani’s request. She cleared her throat awkwardly as her cheeks turned pink.

“Look, um, Dani, about what we talked about before… I don’t think that you and I, that we should… well…”

Dani’s eyes widened. “Wait, Vivian-”

“It’s nothing personal!” Vivian’s eyes snapped wide and she quickly waved her hands, not wanting her friend to get the wrong idea. “Really! I like you, Dani, I really do! I just-”

“Vivian!” Dani cut her off before she could make things even more uncomfortable for the both of them. To her relief, Vivian shut her mouth tight and sank into her seat, looking warily at her friend.

“…Yes?” Vivian squeaked out.

After another uncomfortably long pause, Dani finally summed up the courage to say what she should have just said from the very beginning. “…I’m not asking you if I can bring you to orgasm for my fifth name,” the tomboy clarified. She felt like a complete idiot for not making that clear sooner. She blamed the spa.

Vivian stared at her for about seven seconds of hell.

“…Oh, seriously? Dude, why didn’t you say that before, then?” The heiress asked, rolling her eyes.

Dani was asking herself the very same thing.

“Sorry, I just-”

“So how can I help?” Now that she knew Dani wasn’t about to ask her to do something very awkward and uncomfortable, Vivian had switched into “problem solver” mode.

That was one of her better qualities, Dani always felt. If you needed help with something, Vivian was always ready to help.

“I just don’t know who I should approach about this,” Dani conceded. “I mean… I’ve managed to get to four people, but everyone else who’s on the show, well… it’s just not an easy thing to bring up. But I can’t stop now!”

“No, you can’t,” Vivian agreed with a shake of her head. “Not after you’ve come so far… hmm. You’re right though, it is tricky.”

So all Dani was looking for was a consultation? She wasn’t asking Vivian to bring her someone to sleep with, then?

Vivian could help with that, she hoped. Dani had been listening to her problems all day, after all.

“Well… as much as it pains me to admit it, you know the others a lot better than I do,” Vivian said with a sad sigh in her voice. She scratched her head. “You’ve been here from the start, yeah? Anyone you know who might be up for that kind of thing? Let’s start there.”

Vivian was realizing that maybe Dani should have invited the fifth person she was aiming for to this spa day; it would have made things a lot easier. Well, too late for that now. Now, they’d have to figure out who Dani could “service” for her last name on the list.

Finally, a problem Vivian could solve! It was about damn time she had something she could do to help someone she cared about and repay the countless favors she owed Dani!