You can wear your fur like a river on fire

“Hello, lovely ladies!” Dakota strolled into the lounge with a smile on her face. Immediately, everyone present tensed up.

It was no coincidence that Dakota was here; how could it have been?

She’d entered the room practically the same instant that the four women had. Carly, Marley, and Emmy had just met up with Dani to go get a late lunch together when Dakota made her presence known. Almost as though she’d been waiting for them.

“What’s up?” Carly asked, immediately suspicious but still open-minded. They hadn’t seen Dakota all morning, not since she’d promised to find Emmy a room in the hotel; she hoped that this was related to that promise.

Dakota smiled at the young mother and pressed her fingers together. “What’s up indeed?” She crooned, batting her eyelashes. “Hmm, I wonder…”

She tapped her cane on the floor.

“Dakota, enough with the theatrics,” Dani groaned. “We were getting ready to go get lunch. Vivian’s already waiting for us. Can you make this quick?”

She hadn’t actually been part of the “new room” conversation so she had no idea that this wasn’t the Grangers’ first encounter with the host today.

“I don’t know if I can make this ‘quick’, Dani,” Dakota replied calmly, “but regardless- it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Dani grimaced.

“No,” Dakota continued, turning to Emmy, “I’m here for this little lady.”

Emmy’s eyes widened. “Oh! Then you mean…?”

Dakota nodded. “That’s right! I’ve put the finishing touches on your bedroom, Emmy. Would you like to come take a look?”

“Wait, what’s this?” Dani was still catching up. She looked to Emmy first, then to Carly and Marley. “A new bedroom?”

“It’s a long story,” Marley said with a sigh, scratching her head.

“I want a room to myself,” Emmy explained. She gave Dani a sheepish smile. “You know, so I don’t have to keep storing my clothes with you guys?”

“Ah, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Dani admitted. “You sure about this, though? Don’t you like rooming with your mom?”

“And my aunt? And whoever their roommate is? In one bed?” Emmy prodded.

Well, when she put it like that, Dani could kind of see her point.

“Fair enough,” she conceded with a nod. “I guess that would be kind of difficult for you, huh?”

“…Yeah, just a little,” Emmy said, fighting back the urge to smirk. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom, and it’s a lot of fun getting to see her whenever I want, but it would also be nice to have a room that’s just mine, you know?”

“Somewhere she can go whenever you and Carly want to have some personal time,” Marley noted. “Wish I could be so lucky.”

Carly’s jaw dropped and Dani’s face turned red.

“Can… can you not think about it in that context, please?” Carly begged her sister. “This is a heartwarming moment! My little girl is moving out… gosh, it feels too soon! It seems like you came home just a week ago!”

“More or less,” Dakota said with an amused smirk. “Now then! Let’s not keep your lunch date waiting, let’s get a move on, shall we?” She tapped her cane. “Here we are! A wonderful place to start!”

The lounge began to spin around her, much to the shock of everyone. They didn’t think that Dakota would go this far and teleport them right to the room!

…And then, when the spinning stopped, they realized that she hadn’t.

“Huh? This is still the lounge,” Marley noticed, looking around in confusion.

“Nothing gets by you, does it?” Dakota asked with a sneer. “That’s right! Here’s your room, Emmy! Right over here!”

She walked over and patted a pup tent that had been set up in the middle of the floor incline. A cheesy smile flashed across her face.

Emmy stared blankly at Dakota, not sure what she was proposing for a second there.

“…Wait, are you saying THIS is where I’m going to be sleeping?” She asked, once she finally realized what was going on. “In a tent!?”

“That’s right,” Dakota said with an innocent nod. “It’s not just any tent! It comes with thermal insulation! That way you won’t get cold at night.”

“The floor of the lounge is heated though,” Dani pointed out.

Dakota ignored her. “Not only does the tent come with thermal insulation, it also has a double-zipper system, to ensure total privacy! Isn’t that just wonderful?” She cooed.

Emmy was not impressed.

“…Seriously?” She shook her head incredulously. “I mean… seriously? I said I wanted a room! Not a tent!”

“Space is at a premium,” Dakota snootily replied.

“This is a massive hotel!” Emmy exclaimed. She struggled to calm herself down. She wasn’t going to get anywhere like this, and if she lost her cool, that could be very bad for everybody. The last thing she wanted was to mess things up for her mother. She wasn’t the kind of girl who lost her temper, but… she couldn’t help herself sometimes.

After all, Dakota had gotten her hopes up. And it just wasn’t fair! She’d been trying her hardest to keep her cool, but all morning she’d been waiting anxiously to finally get her own room.

Now it looked like she might never get the chance. Because Dakota was too busy playing her manipulative little games to honestly give her what she wanted.

Emmy could just scream. Really, she could.

But she didn’t.

Because she knew that it ultimately wouldn’t change anything even if she did.

So she took a deep breath and exhaled. “…I don’t want to sleep in a tent in the middle of the lounge,” she said firmly.

Dakota placed her hand over her heart like Emmy’s rejection had wounded her. “Oh my… you don’t? What a shame. But out here, your mother could come visit you whenever you want! Isn’t that worth something?” She cooed. “Wouldn’t you just love to go on a camping trip? Come on now.”

Emmy just stared at her. She sighed, and let her hope drain away. “…I guess I’m going to be staying with mom, then,” she mumbled.

Carly winced. “Emmy…”

“…Fine, fine,” Dakota said, rolling her eyes. “That was just the first option.”

“Wait, what!?” Emmy perked right up, her eyes widening in surprise. “You mean-?!”

“I was just showing you the starting offer,” Dakota explained. “We have other units to show you, of course. If you’d like to see them.”

So this really was just a game to her. But honestly? Emmy didn’t even care!

Having the opportunity to get her own room again, after she’d just given up hope, was worth whatever games Dakota was trying to play!

“Alright, let’s get to the next room,” Dakota said, holding up her cane. “And hopefully you make your choice quick. Vivian is waiting for you girls to have lunch, after all,” she reminded them as the lounge began to spin. “We don’t want to keep her waiting too long.”

Vivian drummed her fingers on the empty table and hummed to herself. “Doo-doo-doo… …Doo…”

She checked the clock.

“…Yeah, they’ll be here soon. ‘Course they will. They wouldn’t just ditch me, no way. Doo-doo-doo… doo-doo… dap-dap…”

“Here you are! The perfect room for a girl such as yourself!” Dakota declared. She had brought the four women to a random floor on the hotel, which was a bit of a surprise. Carly had been banking on Emmy’s room being relatively close by. But no, apparently Dakota had decided to have a little fun with them, and placed her quite a ways away.

“You don’t think you’ll be lonely on some random floor?” Carly asked anxiously.

Emmy shook her head. “No, mom, it’s fine,” she said. Honestly she was a little worried that she might get lonely. But she was too focused on the perks of getting her own room to really be concerned with that.

“Here you go,” Dakota purred, swinging the door open for her. “Come on in and check it out! I think this is the one for you!”

Emmy stepped inside and immediately had to shield her eyes. The room was so pink it was blinding. Pink carpet, pink wallpaper, pink blankets and pillows on the bed, even the chairs and couches were pink. Emmy was quite certain that if she checked in the bathroom, a bright pink toilet would be staring back at her.

“Well this is… a room, alright,” Marley said, looking around and cringing a little, not sure what else to say. Compared to Dani and her sister she was the more feminine one, and even SHE thought this room was a little overboard.

“I call it the Princess Suite!” Dakota chortled gleefully. “The perfect room for a princess like yourself, Emmy! Isn’t it every little girl’s dream, to have a room that’s so perfectly pink?”

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Nobody bought her little excuse for a second, and Dakota didn’t expect them to.

She was too busy enjoying herself at their discomfort.

“It’s WAY too much,” Emmy said, shaking her head. “I mean, look, I don’t have anything AGAINST the color pink, but come on. Seriously?”

Dakota blinked. “Is there a problem with it?” She asked innocently.

Emmy just stared at her. “…Yeah?!” She sputtered, shaking her head. “This room makes me look like I’m five years old!”

Dakota shrugged. “Do you want the room or not?”

Emmy was about to tell Dakota she could take this room and shove it but she stopped herself. After all… there was a very good chance that this was the best she was going to get. Yes, the room looked like ground zero for the world’s biggest bubblegum explosion, but the more she looked past the color and at the actual décor of the room itself…

…The worse it looked. Little pink ponies, a rocking chair, and a mountain of stuffed animals (well, those were nice) along with a bookshelf filled with coloring books. Already filled-in coloring books, Dani noted when she opened one.

What color had been used to fill them in? Three guesses, and the first two guesses don’t count.

“…Are there any better rooms?” Emmy pleaded, looking hopefully at Dakota.

The host answered with just a smirk and a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Emmy’s heart sank.

“Let me show you my favorite room,” the host declared, and whisked the group off with a wave of her cane.

“Huh?!” Mary fell over in shock when Dakota popped into the Master’s Suite with a gaggle of girls accompanying her. Dani, Marley, Carly, and Emmy. “What- what are you guys doing here?!” She sputtered in confusion.

“Dakota? What’s going on?” Nola looked up in surprise. She had been busy doing some chores for Mary, and didn’t expect her boss to pop in.

“Hello there ladies,” Dakota cooed, strolling forward and leaving the four confused girls lagging behind her. “We just stopped by because Emmy here is looking for a new room situation. Apparently things aren’t working out between her and her mother… you know how it is. Teenage rebellion and all that stuff.”

“No, that’s not what’s going on here,” Emmy protested.

Dakota ignored her, focusing on Mary instead. “You’ll find out yourself, once this one grows up, I’m sure,” she said, placing her hand over Mary’s belly.

Mary blushed and stepped back, covering her stomach. “Don’t… don’t do that, please,” she requested. She looked anxiously at Dakota, not sure what to say. This was the first time the two women had been face to face since the incident in the chapel, and she had no idea how to interact with the host after taking her confession.

Right now, Dakota was impossible to read. It almost felt like that whole nonsense in the confession booth was just a bad memory now. But no.

Mary could tell by the chilling look in her piercing gold eyes that it was far from a memory.

“Why are we even here, Dakota?” Dani demanded. “Come on, you’re not seriously suggesting that Emmy move into the Master’s Suite with Nick and- …Oh my god, that’s what you’re suggesting, isn’t it?” She gasped in horror as she saw the gleeful expression on Dakota’s face.

The host slowly nodded, her eyes twinkling.

“Dani, don’t take the lord’s name in vain,” Mary couldn’t help but chastise the tomboy. She immediately felt bad about it.

“I think the tent in the lounge was better than this,” Marley said, shaking her head.

“I’m with Marley on this one,” Carly agreed. “Emmy, you don’t want to live up here. You’ll be around Nick all the time!”

“Actually, Nick doesn’t spend that much time in the Master’s Suite,” Nola helpfully pointed out. “Mary and Holly do, though! You’d get roommates! Only you wouldn’t have to share the bed with them or anything!”

“That’s right,” Dakota nodded. “We have our own living arrangements prepared, just in case you choose to take this room! Right over there.”

She pointed to Holly’s cage. With a wave of her cane, a second one appeared right next to it.

Holly’s face lit up. “Oh my gosh, Emmy! We’d get to be cage buddies!”

Emmy had to agree with her aunt. The tent was better.

“I’m not going to sleep in a cage!” She exclaimed.

Dakota rolled her eyes. “That was just a joke,” she said. “Don’t worry, we can do some renovations here and there,” she assured Emmy, holding up her cane. “We’ll just make a side room for you to sleep in! That way you won’t find yourself stuck listening to Nick having sex with different women every night! Assuming I can get the soundproofing right…”

“It’s not happening,” Carly asserted. She knew that she couldn’t shield Emmy from everything that was going on in Harem Hotel, that was a fool’s errand. But she wasn’t about to have her daughter front row and center for something like THIS!

She had standards.

Emmy was in perfect agreement.

“Please,” she begged Dakota. “Any other room, please. Even that princess pink room would be an improvement over this one!”

“I’m sorry, but that lot has already been sold,” Dakota lied through her teeth. “But since you insist so strenuously… I suppose I could find another room for you. If you’re really that ****.”

Nola perked right up. “Wait, Dakota, do you mean-”

She was silenced by a sharp look from the host. And that took some doing. Nola wasn’t easily silenced.

“No,” Dakota said coldly, the levity draining from her face. “That room is not for sale.”

“Huh?” Emmy frowned. “What room?”

“None of your business what room,” Dakota snapped at her. “I was looking at it this morning, and I decided you don’t deserve it. …No offense or anything.”

Emmy wasn’t sure how she could not be offended by that statement. “…Okay??”

Dakota sneered. “Well, good then,” she declared, clapping her hands together. “Now that we’re in agreement that room is off limits, let’s take you to see another room, shall we? And this really is the last one. If you don’t like it, well, sorry. I guess you’re gonna keep being a momma’s girl.”

With a wave of her cane Dakota and the others disappeared, and Mary finally felt like she could breathe again.

“What… what were you talking about before?” Mary asked, turning to Nola, unable to hold back her curiosity. “I mean, if you’re free to talk about it, of course!”

The last thing she wanted was to end up upsetting Dakota somehow by digging too deeply into something that the other woman obviously didn’t want to talk about.

Nola seemed hesitant to talk about it herself.

“W-well… it’s not anything TOO major… or anything…” Nola said hesitantly, biting her lip. Her eyes flickered left and right for a second. “But I thought… Dakota might offer her Sylvia’s room.”

“Isn’t she already staying in Sylvia’s room?” Holly asked. “The host room, I mean?”

Nola shook her head. “Not the room for the hosts,” she clarified. “No, I’m talking about the room Sylvia used to stay in back when she was first created by Dakota! Apparently Dakota still has the room intact, and she was cleaning it up this morning! Which is weird, don’t you think? Why would Dakota care about something like that? Hence why I thought that maybe she was getting the room prepared for Emmy, since Emmy really needs a new room. Just my thinking, anyway. What do you guys think? Does that make sense? I think it makes sense, but I’m not so sure…”

“Yeah, uh… I think it makes sense,” Mary said, overwhelmed slightly by Nola’s talkative nature. But she was even more overwhelmed by the revelation. So Nola was being serious right now, and Dakota had been cleaning up Sylvia’s room from when she was Dakota’s assistant on the previous seasons of the show?

Nola had no idea what would have compelled Dakota to do that, but Mary suspected.

Or maybe hoped.

She’s thinking like a mom, isn’t she? She’s really thinking about Sylvia! Our talk must have made her realize that it’s okay for her to love her daughter! Maybe? Hopefully? In her heart, Mary knew that was a stretch. This was Dakota she was talking about, after all.

But… wasn’t it alright for her to believe that it was possible? That Dakota could change?

…Even if she knew deep down that the chances of that happening were about as slim as the chances of Dakota giving Emmy a normal bedroom.

“Wait, so this is really it?” Emmy looked around the sparse bedroom in confusion. It wasn’t blindingly pink, and it wasn’t a tent, or a cage.

It was just a hotel room.

“We’re on the floor right below the other girls’ floor,” Dakota informed her, and she gestured towards the door. “The elevator is right outside, so you can go visit anyone you want, whenever you want. This is the best I can do.”

“This is great!” Carly gushed, looking around. “A little small, but it’s just fine for someone on their own!”

“Yeah, why couldn’t you have started with this?” Marley questioned.

“Because that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun,” Dakota bluntly replied, looking at the girl without a trace of shame on her face.

Marley’s eye twitched. But she held her tongue.

The important thing was that Emmy liked it.

“So what do you think?” Dani asked the ponytailed girl.

Emmy smiled. “I like it,” she said, nodding. “It’s pretty plain and boring, but it’s a bedroom. I’d rather this than a bedroom made out of candy or filled with creepy mannequins.”

Nobody could argue with that.

“Excellent, then it looks like we’re done here,” Dakota said, applauding. “Now, I believe you ladies had lunch plans?”

Everyone gasped. Dani groaned in frustration.

“Shit, I forgot,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Vivian!”