I'm going insane, life's not the same

Sylvia was getting bored.

“Where is everybody?” She grumbled. “This isn’t any fun at all!”

She swept her flashlight across the walls of the maze, even though the corridor was lit well enough for that to be unnecessary. It was more the principle of the matter.

Lynette snickered. “Shishishishi! What, are you lonely? Silly girl. That’s why I’m better than you! I don’t need anyone but Mommy!”

Sylvia rolled her eyes. The doll in her hand was starting to get pretty obnoxious.

“Whatever, Lynette. Sure, you can love Dakota more than me. But right now, you’re a doll. So I wouldn’t go around bragging about how much ‘better’ you are than me, when you can’t even raise your arms, okay?”

It wasn’t like Sylvia to get this snippy. But she couldn’t help it.

Lynette’s presence was causing a strange and uncomfortable feeling of apprehension in her chest that she wasn’t used to.

Was this… jealousy?

Lynette is my sister… in a way.

The doll in Sylvia’s hand looked identical to the human avatar Lynette previously possessed. Long, blonde hair. Bright blue eyes.

Lynette had looked exactly like Sylvia used to look.

Was that why she created me to look like that? So I would look more like Lynette? More like the daughter she actually wanted?

Those thoughts caused unpleasant feelings to take root in her breast, and she trembled, clenching her jaw tightly.

Sylvia quickly shook her head. No! That’s not it at all, you know that! Dakota made me look the way I did because I would be a better fit for Daddy that way! It would be easier to seduce him if I was blonde and buxom! That’s all! It has nothing to do with Lynette!

She could look at the situation rationally and understand that.

But that didn’t mean she could believe it completely.

“Shishishishi!”

And then there was the laughter. That stupid laughter surging in her ear. Sylvia wanted to just throw Lynette across the hall and storm off in the other direction. Stupid doll! She’d be happier if she never saw the dumb thing again!

But her arm didn’t move.

No… I can’t do that.

Sylvia knew better. Lynette… Lynette wasn’t to blame for what happened to her. She wasn’t responsible for creating her, or discarding her. Lynette was a victim. A twisted victim who turned other people into victims, but a victim in her own way, even if her blaming of Dakota wasn’t entirely warranted.

If Sylvia tossed Lynette away because she was annoyed by her, then how was she any better than Dakota?

Clenching her teeth, Sylvia exhaled.

“…I’m sorry, Lynette,” she apologized.

“Huh?” Lynette would have looked shocked if her doll face could change its expression. “Why’re you apologizing for, huh!? Ya stoopid?!”

Sylvia didn’t even think about correcting her garbled grammar. She just looked sadly down at the doll she held, and relaxed her grip slightly, nestling her gently.

“I know it must have been hard, being all alone like that, without anyone,” Sylvia said. “Only pining after your mother from afar. It must have been lonely.”

“Sh-shut up!” Lynette snapped. “I’m not lonely, you dumb dummyhead! You’re just sayin’ that because YOU’RE the lonely one! Because Mommy loves me more than she loves you!”

“Maybe she does,” Sylvia conceded. That hurt to acknowledge, but it was pointless to try and deny it. “But… it doesn’t matter. Because… I’m still going to try to love her anyway. Just like you are, isn’t that right?”

Even though Dakota had caused Lynette pain, Lynette still cared for her. She had a twisted way of showing those feelings, but they were there.

As for Sylvia… perhaps her feelings towards Dakota were just as complex. It was honestly hard to say. But right now, all she could do was try her best to be her own person, and accept that Dakota was who SHE was. And maybe, someday, they could have a proper relationship.

It seemed unlikely. But it was a nice dream all the same.

Dawn let out a moan as pleasure shot through her body. She really couldn’t help it. The feeling of Serenity’s fingers gliding over her skin, soaking her clothes and rubbing all over her body, it was too much to take. She didn’t know if it was a result of one of the siren’s transformations, some aspect of the water she was rubbing into her, or the simple fact that Serenity was very good at pleasuring women, or some combination of the three- What she did know was that the other woman nearly brought her to orgasm before letting her go, and now the whole chamber was spinning.

It was only due to Dawn’s natural catlike grace that she was able to keep from falling flat on her face into the pool of colored water she was standing in.

“What… what… what did you dooooo?” The cat girl wheezed. She could barely make out the other woman through the steam on her glasses. It felt like her body was a thousand degrees, and all that heat was converted from raw pleasure!

Serenity stared at her unblinking for a few seconds, her face completely unreadable. Then she made a gun with her finger and pointed it right at Dawn. “Ptew.”

Dawn wasn’t impressed.

“Had to,” Serenity brusquely answered her a second later. She shrugged. “****. Voted. Sexy option. Could be worse. Rose got worse.”

Somehow, Dawn wasn’t surprised by that. The audience tended to be rather mercurial where the Frenchwoman was concerned.

…Not that Dawn usually had it much better herself.

“So what’s up then?” She groused, shaking her head. “That’s the ‘sexy’ vote that I got? Some heavy petting?”

Serenity shook her head. “Aphrodisiacs, in the water,” she explained, gesturing to Dawn’s soaked shirt. “…Not below you, though. Not permanent. Nope.”

She shook her head again.

Dawn really wished someone taught this girl the value of complete sentences. But given that she knew Serenity had once been a perfectly ordinary human woman, she couldn’t help but thing that the other girl was just messing with her somehow.

“So you covered me with aphrodisiacs, great…” Dawn groaned, trying to dry herself off. But her clothes were sticking to her body so it was hard to remove them so she could wring them out. Not exactly fun. “Like this puzzle wasn’t hard enough already…”

Serenity shrugged. “Job,” she replied. She plopped down in the water, sitting on the surface like nobody’s business. “Gotta wait. Until you’re done.”

Dawn’s brain may have been fried with pleasure, but she had enough sense to process what the other woman was telling her. “So let me get this straight,” she said, rubbing her temple and letting out a tense sigh. “Right now… I’m covered with aphrodisiacs, and you’re just sitting there, is that right?”

Serenity nodded.

Yeah, there had to be a reason for that. The siren didn’t seem like the kind of person who took pleasure in agitating other people. Not to mention in Dawn’s present state, there were a lot of other factors to consider, like…

Wait a second… Serenity just being here, this close to me, it’s gonna affect me, isn’t it? Dawn remembered that Serenity had a passive transformation. Dakota had supposedly given her something to nullify it, but how reliable that was, was anybody’s guess.

Dawn bit her lip.

“…You’re dosing me with aphrodisiacs yourself right now, aren’t you?” She accused the other woman. “With your presence as a siren. That’s why you’re sticking so close to me, isn’t it?”

Serenity raised an eyebrow. “…Clever,” she replied, rising to her feet. She drew closer to Dawn, her piercing blue eyes never leaving the cat girl’s. “…And you would be correct,” she confirmed with a nod. “Right now. Aphrodisiac. Arousal. Inside you. Running through you. Myself. Facilitating. For a while now. Until you solve it.”

The words that passed the siren’s lips were fragmented and twisted but Dawn understood them. She understood all too well what Serenity was saying.

Until Dawn figured out the puzzle of this room and got out, the siren would remain here, dosing her with her very presence. On purpose.

Because of an audience vote.

Just lovely.

“…So what do I do?” Dawn muttered, more to herself than to the siren. She doubted Serenity was in an hurry to help her out, after all.

Serenity blinked. “…Solve,” she bluntly replied, earning her a roll of the eyes from the cat girl.

“…Brilliant, thank you,” Dawn said, turning away and continuing to do the only thing she could think of doing.

What she’d been doing before, getting to the other shore.

It barely took a minute to reach the other side, but when Dawn got there, she froze in her tracks. Because there wasn’t a tunnel leading out, or a corridor, or even a door in the wall- there were a lot of doors.

All of them in different colors.

Just like how the water kept changing color whenever she touched it.

That can’t be a coincidence.

Dawn bit her lip and looked back at Serenity, who was hovering behind her like a specter. Obviously the siren wouldn’t be any help, not that Dawn expected her to be. Sighing, she turned and looked back at the wall of colored doors in front of her.

“…Which one do I go through?” Dawn asked, only half-serious. Her sudden spike of arousal had given her a bit of a humorous streak, whether she liked it or not.

Serenity looked at her.

She blinked. Twice.

“…Whichever door you like, of course,” she said, gesturing to the spectrum of doors in front of her. “Please. Take your pick.”

Dawn reached out and grabbed the door closest to her. It was pure white. She turned the knob and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.

“…It’s locked.”

“Yes.”

Dawn’s ears flattened on her skull in irritation. Serenity was playing games with her, and she didn’t like it! Not one bit!

Puffing up her cheeks she sighed and shook her head, and turned back to look at the siren.

“There’s a trick to opening them, then, isn’t there?” Dawn asked. “That’s the puzzle. I have to figure out which door is the right one, and then…”

Dawn’s voice trailed off as realization struck her.

“…Or, they’re all the right door…”

Serenity shrugged. “Every door leads somewhere,” she said half-heartedly.

That was all Dawn needed to hear. Shoving past the siren she stormed back towards the water and crouched down, placing her hand in the pool. It changed colors again, turning to a deep burnt umber. The same exact shade as one of the other doors behind her.

“…That’s the trick, huh?” Dawn reasoned, looking back at the dark door. “The water changes color whenever I touch it. And whatever color it changes to, that’s the door that unlocks.”

Serenity didn’t reply. She wasn’t a particularly verbose person under normal circumstances, but her silence at this moment spoke volumes. Dawn smiled, certain that she was on the right track, and rose to her feet.

“I knew it, I knew I was right,” she said, stroking her chin. “Whichever color I choose, that’s going to make all the difference. But…”

Just because Dawn figured out the trick, that didn’t mean she’d actually solved the puzzle. Sure, she knew which colors opened which doors, but a pre-schooler could figure that out. Dakota might as well have been asking her to put different blocks in the proper shape holes.

No, the only way to really solve this puzzle was by figuring out what each of the colors actually meant for their corresponding door. Then, once she knew where each door led, she would know which one to go through!

And Serenity had given her the perfect tool for that.

“…Thanks for the aphrodisiac,” Dawn said, her tail flicking behind her. She reached down between her legs and took a deep breath, ready to put the pleasure surging through her to good use. “Should make this really easy.”

She began to touch herself. Even if it was embarrassing to do it in front of the siren, a quick glimpse at the map should be more than enough to help her find the right door.

…Only her fingers weren’t quite enough to get her there.

Frustrated, Dawn began working faster. The longer she spent soaking up Serenity’s presence along with the aphrodisiacs that were drenching her clothes, the more pleasure she felt surging through her body. But it wasn’t having the intended effect!

“What’s going on!?” She grumbled in frustration, frantically trying to get herself over the edge. “It’s not… damn it!”

Seeing no other choice, she reached behind her and grabbed her frantic tail, giving it a squeeze. That sent a surge of pleasure through her body that made her see stars… but right before she could go all the way over the edge, it was like a door slamming shut in her face.

That was enough of an answer for Dawn.

She couldn’t orgasm.

And there was only one person she could think of who was responsible for that.

“Serenity!” She turned around and glared at the siren, who gave her a look utterly lacking in innocence.

“Yes?” The siren asked.

“You… you did something, didn’t you!?” Dawn exclaimed, stomping her foot. She inadvertently splashed it into the pool, turning it a shade of lime green.

Serenity just shrugged.

“Well-!” Dawn was about to shout something at her, but she held back. Losing her temper wouldn’t get her anywhere, after all.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she reasoned it out. Yeah. Serenity definitely did something. Whatever she smeared me with, it’s causing me significant pleasure, but it’s keeping me from getting all the way there. So I can’t orgasm, is that it? Diabolical.

Dawn let out a sigh and shook her head. “Really dirty of you,” she muttered, shooting the other woman an excoriating look.

Serenity shrugged again.

“Temporary,” she assured Dawn. A smirk touched her lips. “Rose’s was permanent.”

Yikes. That was a scary thought.

“So you shut me down from accessing the map until I go through one of the doors, huh?” Dawn adjusted her glasses, which had come askew from all the masturbation she’d been doing. “Should have figured you’d play dirty. But I guess it makes sense… that would remove the difficulty of the puzzle completely, huh…”

Unless there was a way to undo the effects.

“Transformation,” Serenity said, almost like she could read Dawn’s thoughts.

So Dakota wanted her to bypass the lock on her orgasms with a transformation?

Dawn stuck her tongue out at Serenity in response. Even if it would work, she was rejecting it on principle at this point.

“I can figure this out,” she muttered, rubbing her temples. Like that would stimulate her brain and help her overcome the pleasure surging through her body right now. If only, right? But nothing was ever that simple.

Taking a few deep breaths, Dawn tried to compose herself. It wasn’t easy. Right now, she was facing an overwhelming surge of pleasure that had her body at odds with her brain.

There were a couple of assumptions she had to contend with. The first assumption that she considered discarding was the assumption that there was a “right” choice in the first place. Serenity had said it herself, all the doors led somewhere, and Dawn could pick whichever one she wanted. But with ten doors to choose from, it wasn’t easy.

There aren’t enough doors to correspond to each of the other contestants, or else I would think THAT was the point of the puzzle, to send me to a contestant that matches the color, Dawn thought, dismissing that possibility. Besides, Dakota would never be that nice.

No, the colors probably corresponded with whatever was on the other side of the door. That was Dawn’s best guess, anyway.

So then what did the colors mean? It was easy to imagine what black, or white, or blue, or red might mean in the context of a maze like this one. But where the fuck was a yellow door supposed to lead, then?

For a moment, Dawn panicked, then she remembered what she’d read in the Harem Hotel rulebook about stuff like pee play being prohibited. Thank the lord.

As she mulled over what “lime green” or “burnt umber” could signify, she suddenly realized… it didn’t matter.

“…That’s right…” she muttered to herself, shaking her head. “Dakota made this puzzle. And she made the puzzle for me. So there’s an obvious answer to it.”

Dawn knew what color Dakota wanted her to pick. Whether that was the RIGHT color for her to choose or not was another matter, but it was ABSOLUTELY what the host wanted her to choose.

So was Dawn going to be stubborn and pick a different color just to be contrary? Or was she going to give Dakota what she wanted, in the hope of getting what she wanted in return- a path out of the maze?

“I know what the correct door is,” Dawn said, turning back to the water. She touched it repeatedly, watching it change colors until it became the color she needed it to be.

The answer was obvious, in hindsight. As someone who understood a bit of the spirit behind Harem Hotel, Dawn just needed to put herself in the mind of the host. Sylvia likely would have figured it out right away.

Harem Hotel was all about encouraging the contestants to perform for the sake of the audience. Do what would most appeal to the viewers, and in return, you would get rewarded. That was the principle the entire cursed show ran on.

So with that in mind, the correct answer became readily apparent.

Dawn looked at the pool of pink water in front of her and stood up straight.

“The pink door, that’s the correct answer, isn’t it?” She said, turning to Serenity for confirmation.

The siren gave her nothing but ambivalence.

Dawn smirked. “…You don’t have to reply,” she said, shaking her head. “I know I’m right.” She turned and headed for the door.

The idea of Dawn becoming a brainless bimbo was a taunt that the show had flexed on her multiple times before. Most recently by pairing her up with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and her garish wardrobe.

Now, Dawn wasn’t sure whether or not what awaited her behind the pink door would actually turn her into a bimbo, but that wasn’t really the point. Pink also signified pleasure, sexuality, stuff like that. Assuming that the doors’ colors were a signal as to what was behind them, then Dawn had zero doubt that whatever was behind the pink door would be the sexiest of the options.

And on Harem Hotel, the sexy path was usually the correct one, even if Dawn didn’t like it.

So she swallowed her apprehension and stepped forward, opening the pink door and heading through it.

Will the Pink Door be good for Dawn?

https://strawpoll.com/Qrgew8kGRyp