You ripped out all my parts

Dakota fell to her knees, and dug her nails into the wood of the stage. She clenched her teeth tightly and started to tremble. Lynette’s words had overwhelmed her, and she had no retort in her own defense. How could she?

It was maybe the most **** Nick had ever seen her, since she regained her powers as host.

“Dakota…” He didn’t know what else to say. He just murmured her name slowly, looking at her trembling form.

“Do you pity her?” Mr. S asked. His voice was mirthful yet cold, discussing the woman in front of him like someone would talk about their favorite movie character.

“It’s not about pity…” Nick growled, making a fist. He didn’t know what he would do with it though, so his hand flopped open. “Dakota… she’s hurting right now. Why would you do this to her? Lynette… she was just a doll! And, what, you gave her life, is that it? Filled her up with a bunch of horrible memories about life with Dakota?”

Mary clasped her hand over her mouth. “How cruel…”

Mr. S swung his head around to look at her. “Cruel? All I did was show that child what her own mother put her through, that’s it. If you want to talk cruelty, then look at how Dakota abused her so-called daughter. Or ask Sylvia. Whether human or host… some things never change.”

Mary winced.

“Shut up!”

Nick and Mary both flinched, their eyes jumping to Dakota, who had managed to stand again. She continued shaking like a leaf in a storm, but… she was standing.

She looked at Mr. S with a defeated gaze, but one filled with fury.

“Lynette… was just a doll,” she said through clenched teeth. “Just a stupid doll! You want me to feel bad… about how I treated a doll!? Should I apologize to all the LEGO figures I disassembled too, while I’m at it?!”

Mr. S sniffed derisively at her. “You completely fail to understand the point,” he said contemptuously, shaking his head. “Whatever she was or was not, the fact remains that you saw her as your daughter. Your child. A parent is supposed to protect their children, aren’t they? But you used her as a scapegoat, trying to pin the blame on your ‘daughter’ whenever you thought you were going to get in trouble. And when that didn’t work, you took it out on her. A poor little child who hadn’t done anything wrong.”

“Well neither did I!” Dakota exclaimed. “I… I didn’t ask to be put in that position, in that house! I… I just… I just wanted…”

Her voice cracked with a sob and she looked at Nick. The pain in her eyes reminded him of a wounded animal.

“She was just a doll…” Dakota whispered to herself. “Just a doll…”

Nick knew that wasn’t exactly the case. Yes, Lynette had not been some supernatural entity back then. Mr. S hadn’t brought her to life until recently, he guessed. She had just been a doll… but Nick knew, there was more to it than that. Whatever she physically was, that didn’t change that she had been precious to Dakota. He remembered how much Dakota doted on her. Cared for her so deeply.

Dakota, who had so little love and affection given to her and was **** for any love she could get, had given so much of it to Lynette that he was overwhelmed by it.

It’s so tragic. Even though she loved that doll so much… she still couldn’t control herself. And now all Lynette can remember is the painful times she subjected her to. Nick grimaced. Sylvia’s sad face flashed through his mind.

Mr. S wasn’t wrong about that, at least. Dakota… she kept making the same mistakes.

No matter how much you loved something, you could still damage it if you weren’t careful. And Dakota was so damaged herself that such care… it was beyond her abilities to muster.

It was tragic that things had turned out this way.

“So that’s what this is?” Dakota spat furiously, shaking her head. Her eyes blazed with contempt. “All of this… just to mock me and deride me, then? Putting me in this position… putting Nick’s harem through this… all to cut me down?!”

“You’re really making a far bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, Dakota,” Mr. S said, sounding like he was scolding an unruly child. “Those girls will be perfectly fine, I assure you. But as for you… well… that may be another story.”

He leaned forward in his seat, his eyes glinting with something malevolent.

“…You, my dear girl, are at an important crossroads. Do you see that? The pain you’ve inflicted has come home to roost. And from there, you must choose the kind of host you are going to be. Will you be the kind who succeeds at making this show something that captivates the eyes of the audience once again? …Or will you be the kind of host… I no longer have need of?”

Dakota stiffened, a chill rolling down her spine. She flexed her fists open and closed as she composed herself, overwhelmed by what she was facing but finding it hard to keep her head up.

“…I will not have this position taken away from me,” she finally answered with a snarl, her golden eyes flashing in defiance.

Mr. S smiled, pleased by this answer. “Then hopefully it won’t come to that,” he purred. “In the meantime… let’s wait, and see how your girls handle this obstacle.”

“So what exactly are you going to do with us?” Kim exclaimed. She couldn’t help herself. She’d been trying to hold back, but it was all too much. She didn’t want to be here! And she had no idea what this crazy girl was after. Whatever grudge Lynette had, Dakota was the target of it, and maybe Sylvia- not her, not the rest of them!

Lynette turned to her with a confused expression on her face.

“What do you mean?” She asked, cocking her head to the side.

Kim grimaced.

“What I mean is… you’re the one who brought us here!” She exclaimed. “We were in the middle of a challenge, and you just attacked us! Why?!”

“So you could come to the tea party,” Lynette replied, as if it was obvious. “Everybody likes a tea party! Right, Vivian?”

Kim looked incredulously at Vivian, and saw a crack in the heiress’s normally-unflappable façade. Vivian’s lips twitched, and she tried to **** a smile, but it came out looking crooked and lopsided.

“Vivian, what the fuck is she talking about?” Kim demanded.

“Err…” Vivian couldn’t even look her in the eye.

“Vivian had the brilliant idea of surrendering to the scissor girl and volunteering to go to the tea party ourselves,” Holly answered under her breath, shaking her head. “Doesn’t look like it’s working out the way she hoped, though.”

“Considering the alternative was likely capture regardless, it is not an unreasonable choice,” Amelia admitted. She wanted to adjust her glasses, but with her hands bound by chains, she couldn’t.

“Yeah, exactly!” Vivian nodded. Her smile took on a more natural hint of sweetness as she looked over at Lynette. “You see? I wanted to come!”

Lynette was all smiles. Scary, threatening, half-crazed smiles, but smiles.

Kim’s question adequately answered (in her mind, anyway) Lynette turned to Sylvia again.

Sylvia, the guest of honor.

“Don’t worry, Sylvia, I know what you must be feeling right now,” Lynette said, stroking the other girl’s cheek as she wheezed excited pants from her trembling lips. “Being hurt and abandoned by Mommy… I got it all wrong. I thought Mommy replaced me with you… but she didn’t want you, either.”

Sylvia didn’t know how much of that was true, and how much was just Lynette going off the deep end. Honestly, it was impossible to say. She knew from her prior confrontation with Dakota that her mother did love her, whatever that meant. It hadn’t resulted in any significant change in how Dakota treated her, which was the main issue.

But whether or not Sylvia could say she was unwanted…

“Dakota… obviously loved you,” Sylvia managed to croak out. “Like… like Amelia said, when her mom threw you away, it was like a part of her was torn out… m-maybe… maybe that’s why she wasn’t such a good mother to me?”

Sylvia knew there was a lot more to it than that, but she wondered just how much of what she was saying was the truth.

Lynette bobbed her head up and down. “Yeah! Yeah, maybe!”

Swallowing, Sylvia decided to see how far she could press her luck without going over the line. It was a risky prospect to say the least.

“And… maybe it’s not too late… maybe you and Dakota… could be happy together?” She tried.

Lynette blinked. She pulled back, furrowing her brow as she studied Sylvia carefully, looking her up and down from several directions.

Then she frowned.

“But… that’s why I’m holding my tea party,” she stated. “When Mommy sees how much fun it is, she’s going to love it! But she won’t be invited. Me and all my new friends will have fun without her, and Mommy will feel all sad, and then she’ll be a better Mommy and we’ll live happily ever after! …Only, without you,” she said, making a face.

Sylvia could live with that. Assuming Lynette was speaking metaphorically, anyway.

Gina bit her lip. “I don’t know if that’s going to work…”

“Shut up,” Lynette snapped at the punk girl, not taking her eyes off Sylvia for even a fraction of a second. She glowered at the white-haired girl, her little sister. “Mommy doesn’t GET to have fun at my tea party. Neither do you! Taking my place, thinking you could be Mommy’s new daughter…!”

“No, d-didn’t you hear Amelia?!” Sylvia protested. “No one could replace you, Lynette!”

“I know, obviously!” Lynette rolled her eyes and waved her scissors at Sylvia accusingly. “So stop trying, it’s rude!”

Sylvia clamped her mouth shut. She was afraid that anything she said would just set off the doll girl again. She wanted to talk Lynette down, but didn’t know how to do that.

And everyone else was too tense and anxious to speak up for her at this point. Lynette had gone completely off her rocker at this point.

“You… agh, it’s so confusing!” Lynette groaned, stabbing the table a couple of times with her scissors in frustration. “Mommy is being VERY mean, to BOTH of us! But I can’t feel bad for you, even though you feel bad for me… because you’re trying to take my place, but… you’re NOT trying to take my place, and you can’t, so why do I even… why are you all even here, anyway!?”

She looked around the room, shooting accusatory looks at all her other “guests”.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin rolled her eyes.

Kim’s jaw actually hit the floor. “…You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“…Wait, I remember now!” Lynette perked up. She smiled from ear to ear. “If I cause trouble for Mommy’s challenge, then Mommy will get upset and she’ll come play with me! Yeah, that’s it! And then I can show her how much fun I had with all my new friends!”

Holly opened her mouth, ready to tell Lynette that Dakota had no idea she was even here, thanks to her sensory powers as host being cut off. But she closed it a second later. The last thing she wanted to do right now was piss Lynette off. And she doubted that this crazy doll girl would have the nuance to discern between being mad about what Holly said and being mad at Holly herself.

Better to not risk it.

“But now… I need to think about what to do with YOU,” Lynette growled, turning back to Sylvia.

Sylvia flinched. “I-”

“I’m Mommy’s daughter,” Lynette cut her off before she could even start. “So that’s why I love her! But you, you HATE Mommy! That’s BAD. You don’t get to hate Mommy! Only I can hate Mommy, because I love her so much! But I’m not allowed to hurt you… aagh, why are there so many stupid rules?!”

Lynette held up her scissors and pointed them at Sylvia’s neck. For a few seconds, Sylvia was absolutely certain that if it weren’t for the hotel’s restrictions against ****, Lynette would have cut her throat open.

“Mommy was mean to you because you DESERVED it, for trying to replace me!” Lynette’s twisted brain **** that tenuous logic to make sense. “So I won’t let you hate her!”

“I don’t hate her!” Sylvia blurted out. “She-she’s my mother… even after everything that happened, I still love her!”

Lynette’s eyes bulged. She snapped her scissors open and shut. “But I love her more.”

Sylvia gulped. “R-right. You… you love her more… okay…”

And just like that, Lynette was all smiles again. “Yay! You’re so nice! Such a sweet little sister,” she cooed, planting a dusty kiss on Sylvia’s cheek that made the younger girl want to throw up. But with her hands bound she had to just sit there and take it.

Seeing their captor unraveling and switching frantically between emotional extremes, Amelia knew she needed to act fast in order to intercede here.

“Lynette, Dakota will not be coming to your tea party,” she warned the doll girl. “If she were capable of interceding in these events, she would have done so long before now. Certainly when I was taken captive.”

“Huuuuuuh?” Lynette turned to Amelia with a stunned expression on her face. “Excuse me!? What do you MEAN that Mommy isn’t coming!? Crazy, crazy, crazy lady!?”

Amelia’s eye twitched at the blatant hypocrisy.

“She-she’s right,” Holly blurted out. She finally found her courage, now that she could share some of the blame with somebody else. “Look, I-I’m not even a contestant! Dakota sent me here because she had no idea what was going on! I came to warn Vivian and Sylvia, that’s it!”

Lynette blinked. “Warn… …Sylvia?”

She snapped her head around to look at Sylvia, and Holly immediately realized her mistake.

“What do you MEAN ‘Warn Sylvia’?!” The doll girl roared, jamming her scissors into the table again. “I thought Mommy didn’t care about her?!”

“N-no, it’s not like that!” Vivian exclaimed. “It only happened because the audience voted that way! It had nothing to do with Dakota and Sylvia or anything like that!”

“The… audience?” Lynette looked around the room, as if suddenly aware that she was being watched by countless eyes.

She scowled. “Then let’s see what the audience says about this!”

Who has been a meanie and deserves to be punished?

https://strawpoll.com/e7ZJa0Q4Yg3

Tragically, Lynette’s insanity didn’t allow her to see the truth. That Holly being sent to Vivian and Sylvia to support them truly was a coincidence. If the votes had gone another way, it was just as likely that she could have been sent to aid Kim and Gina, or Dani, or anyone.

The audience favored Vivian and Sylvia, so they chose to help the duo out. But if the audience wasn’t a fan of yours, then you would find yourself doing worse instead of doing better. Case in point, Rose could use a lot of support right now.

“What’s with this creepy place?” The actress huffed as she walked down the crumbling hallway. “I mean, it’s better than the swamp… at least it doesn’t stink here. But I thought this was supposed to be a maze, not a dollhouse!”

Rose hadn’t really played with dolls as a child. It just wasn’t her thing. She preferred to watch old movies instead.

Judging by the state of the corridor and the fake-looking furniture, she wasn’t missing much.

Yeah, Rose was in a bad mood, and maybe taking it out on some very random targets. But could she really be blamed for that? Really? It felt like it had been hours since she’d been dosed by Serenity’s scales, and she was getting hornier every minute. And with no ability to relieve herself, she was trapped in this state of perpetual arousal that just would not go away.

So yeah. She was a little upset. It was a miracle she could keep her wits about her at all.

That whistle… I heard it coming from this direction, I think, she mused as she kept walking down the hall. She was trying to focus on anything that might take her mind off the burning feeling of desire between her legs. Rose had no idea who had been blowing that whistle or why, but after hearing it, something in her heart told her that she needed to help.

So why had she not valiantly charged in to rescue those in need of aid?

Simple- Rose was very much a proponent of the principle “Secure your own mask first before assisting a child.”

Rose couldn’t be expected to go help someone else when she needed help herself, could she? Certainly not! It was perfectly reasonable to prioritize her own wellbeing in a competition like this!

…The fact that she was walking in the direction that she heard the whistle coming from was a complete coincidence. This just happened to be the most efficient way out of the maze! …Or so she assumed, anyway.

…

Whatever.

“This stupid place… it’s all bright and pink and girly,” she mumbled. “Who even needs it?”

Frankly, Rose didn’t care about “pink” either way and had nothing against girly things. But Nick liked tomboys, and she knew he must be watching her right now.

Might as well put on a show, right? That was her job, after all.

Of course, Rose had no way of knowing that in a couple of seconds she was about to meet someone who very much enjoyed the color pink.

“Ha… haaaah…” It was getting worse. Rose staggered against a wall, trying to stay on her feet as arousal flooded every cell in her body. If not for her supreme willpower she might have given into the futility of masturbation already.

She was so distracted by her body’s heat that she almost missed the sound of footsteps, until they were right around the corner.

“Ah!?” Rose snapped her head up and sprang forward, alarmed.

She crashed right into someone coming from the other direction. But for once, Rose didn’t go tumbling to the ground. Even with her unsteady stance, it seemed that the interloper who’d collided with her was even clumsier, and with a wail she landed on her butt.

“I-I-I’m sorry!” The girl wailed, waving her hands frantically. “I didn’t see you there, please don’t get mad at me!”

Rose rubbed her bleary eyes, trying to make sense of what she was looking at.

The flustered girl was a little hard to miss.