Singing like a siren

Dani paced back and forth as the sun set. The group had spent all day talking through options, and they still weren’t anywhere close to coming to a consensus of whether or not to let Dani formally take responsibility over the siren- they weren’t even sure what that would entail!

“That’s the crux of the issue,” Dawn had said. “For all we know, Dani taking responsibility for the siren could end up turning her into a siren herself!”

“On the other hand, would it really be so bad if we just let Dakota take her back?” Rose had asked. She’d returned to the Banquet Hall wearing a new outfit, and had a concerned expression on her face. “I mean, Dakota clearly cares about the sirens. I’m sure if we ask, maybe we could get her to be lenient and let her stay in the hotel with us anyway.”

And that was how it went. Nobody trusted that Dakota would do something so altruistic; certainly Dani didn’t.

They just kept arguing, until the time came for Kim to go to work. Once that happened, any chance of a conversation kind of died off- after all, what else could be said without them all present?

Nick made his position clear. They’d all discussed the issues, many times. They’d said everything they wanted to say, but it was, ultimately, Dani’s choice.

“Dani, you’re one of my closest friends. I don’t usually say this… but I trust your judgment.” He’d placed his hand on her shoulder. She could still feel the residual sensation of his touch there. “If you want to do this, I’ll support you.”

And that was the end of the group discussion on the matter. The ball was in Dani’s court now; and she had to figure out what to do. She’d spent the rest of the day mulling it over, and it was getting closer and closer to the deadline.

Dani had wanted some time to clear her head. So she brought the siren out to the watering hole Carly had told her about, and let her loose. The siren wore a soft smile on her face as she slipped into the water, and her skin glowed in the sunlight.

And thanks to a visit to Kim’s workplace, she was finally covered in something. She might not have wanted to wear any of her clothes, but she would wear this, at least. And it may have been a very skimpy bikini that set Dani back 500 BP, but it was something.

Dani: 4100 BP – 500 BP = 3600 BP

Some people might have said it was stupid to spend even a small amount of BP on something like that, but Dani cared about the siren girl.

Although, the siren girl was one of those people.

“You didn’t have to buy this for me,” she said, slipping through the water and arriving at the bank. She slowly rose out of the water until she was standing on the surface, which was a very bizarre sight; and yet another one of her abilities.

“I know,” Dani said, shaking her head. “But… I wanted to. It wasn’t right for you to go around naked like that. You deserve to be wearing something, at least.”

The girl’s shimmering lips turned up in a soft smile, and her eyes took on a glassy look. “But… it was your BP…”

Dani rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about that,” she scoffed. “I hardly ever use that stuff to begin with. What, am I going to buy sexy clothes for Nick’s sake? Come on. We’re friends. I’m not attracted to him like that.”

She noticed a twinge go through the siren, and she reached out to her, taking the other girl’s hand. Her skin felt wet and clammy, but also completely smooth; almost like a wetsuit. Dani’s cheeks flushed. She knew she was close enough to be getting pumped with the other girl’s pheromones, but right now, she didn’t care.

The siren clearly did, though. She pulled her hand away and dropped down into the water, submerging herself up to her neck while kicking away from shore. She gazed up sadly into Dani’s eyes.

“I… changed my mind,” she murmured. “I’ll go back. Back with Dakota.”

Dani’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you sure?!” She cried.

The siren’s head bobbed up and down.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to make that sacrifice for me,” she said softly. “It wasn’t fair to you. You shouldn’t be neglecting your master. I thought that if I could convince him, then… but if it’s just you…”

“Whoa, hold on one second,” Dani said, holding up her hand. “Nick isn’t my master, he’s my friend! I know I’m in his harem or whatever, but we’ve both made it clear that’s never going to happen!”

A shadow crossed the siren’s face. Which was quite something, given the fact that her skin was like a lightbulb, reflecting the sun like water.

“That… isn’t good,” she said, shaking her head. “No, no. You need to. You… never mind.”

“No, what is it?” Dani kicked off her shoes and waded into the water, ignoring that her skirt was getting wet. “This is important! Tell me!”

The siren bit her lip. Worry filled her face.

“…Okay,” she relented, rising up until she was eye to eye with Dani. “I’ll tell you.” She returned to the shore and sat on the lakebed with her feet swirling in the water. Dani joined her, finding it a lot harder to move in the water.

Dani looked expectantly at the siren, who took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

“My name… is Serenity,” she confessed, turning to the tomboy. “And I used to be human.”

Dani nearly fell into the lake.

“What?!” She gasped, her jaw dropping. “Human-?! How-?!”

The siren, who had named herself Serenity, looked haunted by the words that escaped her lips.

“I wasn’t always like this, you know. I didn’t always look like this.” She waved her hand across her body. “Once, back on earth… before I ever came to this place… I was a star athlete. I used to swim professionally in college. I didn’t make it into any newspapers, but… people knew of me around. Lots of boys were crushing on me… but I didn’t care. You see, my tastes trended in a… different direction.”

She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Dani got the message. She blushed.

“You mean you…?” It felt so stupid to ask, but the words just kind of slipped out.

“I’m guessing you’re the same?” Serenity almost smiled.

Dani swallowed, and nodded.

“Back then, I was content just swimming,” Serenity continued, turning to look out over the lake. “I always felt at home in the water. It was so relaxing. And it didn’t matter that I was so popular; I didn’t even care about winning back then. Just the water…”

“So what happened?” Dani forced herself to ask. “How did you… become this?”

Serenity turned to look at her, and the pained expression on her face said it all.

“I think you know how,” she replied.

Dani’s eyes widened. “…No!”

“I was brought onto another season,” the siren confirmed bitterly, nodding her head. “On this very same island… For another host. Not Dakota, the one who came before. I don’t even remember, it feels like a lifetime ago… tell me, what year is it? Back in your time?”

“It’s… it’s 2023,” Dani said.

“2023…” The siren tried that out on her tongue. “Not as long as I thought… It was 2006 when I was taken, you know. I was training for the 2008 Olympics.”

Dani whistled. She remembered watching those as a girl. “That… that is a long time. You’ve missed so much! You missed iphones, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Trump presidency…”

“Wait, a minute, Donald Trump? The businessman? He was president?” She laughed out loud. “Who was the vice president?! Bruce Jenner?! Hah!”

Dani turned red. “Just… forget about it. I don’t like this conversation topic anyway,” she mumbled. “I just… you really were a person?”

“Ouch. I still am a person,” Serenity winced. Then she smiled sadly. “I was… I was a person. Now, I’m a siren. This was my punishment.”

Dani’s skin pinpricked when she heard that word. Punishment.

“Serenity…”

“Tell me, Dani… you said that Nick was your friend. Was he your friend… before you were brought here?” Serenity asked.

“Yeah, he was,” Dani nodded. “Well, I mean… kind of. We were friends, but… then it all kind of fell apart. I was feeling really vulnerable, and I was dealing with some stuff… I’d just found out I was a lesbian, you see, and I’d gotten out of this toxic… well, it was kind of a relationship? But it really wasn’t… ugh, it was all a mess. But I realized he had feelings for me, and I… I didn’t take it as well as I should have. Our relationship barely recovered…”

Serenity nodded sympathetically. “I see…” she murmured. “That must have been very hard.”

The siren had no idea. Or maybe she did.

“At least you knew who he was, though,” she noted. “At least you two were friends. For me… I didn’t even know the guy who would become my ‘master’. He was just some guy from my school. He’d fantasized about me from afar, and when he was selected to be the next master… I was chosen. Because of his crush. Even though I didn’t know him. Even though, I didn’t like boys. But that didn’t matter to the host.”

Dani shivered. She really didn’t like where this was going.

Nick had never made her do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. He was understanding and caring. But the guy Serenity was describing, and the bitterness in her voice when she talked about him, they made Dani’s face furrow with concern.

“Serenity…”

“Nothing I could do about it,” she muttered, shaking her head. “It’s just the way things worked, that’s all. I was forced into things. I had to… I had to…” Her voice quivered, and she couldn’t go on.

Dani thought she saw tears roll down the siren’s cheeks, but she couldn’t tell.

“…These pheromones, my pheromones… they were one of my transformations,” she said, looking down into the water. “That’s why I didn’t want to talk about them before. I didn’t want to tell your master and his harem about… about what happened to me. But you’re different, Dani. You… I want you to know.”

She reached over and placed her hand over Dani’s. She clenched it tightly, digging tracks in the sand beneath their palms.

“I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

Dani’s eyes widened. “…Mistakes?”

The siren nodded solemnly. “When I was told about the rules of the show, I fought it however I could. I resisted, and kept resisting… until I realized that I was risking my own future doing so. I risked losing myself. The host was cruel, and the master… well, he wasn’t kind and understanding like your Nick. He was spiteful and vindictive, and the things he made me do, because I didn’t want to sleep with him… eventually, I just had to go along with it. I let him break me down and use me, thinking that it was the only way to survive.”

She turned her eyes back to her reflection in the water. Dani remembered the desperation in Serenity’s eyes when she offered to service Nick. She couldn’t believe someone could do something like that, be forced into a situation like that… except she could. It had almost happened to her, so many times.

“…It didn’t help, in the end. Because I was slow to play along… because I was compliant, but not eager, because I was so put-off by him… the audience didn’t think kindly of me. They enjoyed watching me suffer, but they were bored of my existence. And finally… I was eliminated.”

“And they turned you into a siren…” Dani gasped. “That was your punishment.”

Serenity nodded sadly. “It was supposed to be fitting. Because I loved swimming, and because I was, as the host said, ‘a massive cocktease’ who hated men, I would spend the rest of my existence as a siren made to lure them in and seduce them. Apparently, he’d found a lost species somewhere, and had used them for his own ends. And that was my life. Until, eventually, he retired, and myself and the rest of my kin were left to rot in some forgotten pocket dimension. Until Dakota found us, and adopted us.”

A sad smile crossed her lips. “Our savior…”

Dani wasn’t sure how to respond to that. The woman who had once saved Serenity was now Dani’s chief tormentor.

“…I can see why you’re so appreciative of Dakota,” Dani said.

Serenity nodded. “She gave us a place we could belong. It was nice, and the others were content with it… much like this lake would be… but I wanted more. Even when I followed her orders, and seduced those girls on the other show… it was missing something. Free… I just wanted to be free again. I wanted a chance to live a life…”

She turned to Dani, and her smile took on a brighter gleam.

“Then you came my way. You nearly fell on top of me, and I could tell from just one look that you were like me. Trapped. A girl who liked other girls, but stuck with a master who could never make you happy that way.”

“…I am trapped,” Dani admitted. “But I’m not like you. …Not that that’s a bad thing, or anything!” She quickly clarified when she saw the flash of sadness on the other girl’s face. “What I mean is that Nick would never do the things your master did! He’s my friend!”

Serenity tried to smile, but she just looked sad. She shook her head.

“I wish that mattered,” she said somberly. “But the truth is… it doesn’t. The master isn’t the one with the real power in a show like this. Neither is the host. Or even the producers. It’s the audience. They’re the ones who want things, they’re the ones who insist. The host is just a tool to facilitate the satisfaction of their desires.”

Dani winced. That sounded right on the money.

“The audience isn’t going to want you to just be your master’s ‘buddy’,” Serenity promised. “They want you to go further with him. To… satisfy him.”

Dani felt sick to her stomach. “That’s-”

“Never gonna happen?” Serenity shook her head. “Believe me, I said the same thing. More than once… but guess what? It happened. I had no choice in the end. But you do. Listen, you don’t have to take me in. But at least… take my advice? Just… just go with it. I know you don’t want it. And it might make you sick. But at least… at least you should try. Otherwise, things are going to get even worse for you, and that other girl.”

Dani didn’t want to think about the outcome Serenity was pushing on her. But that wasn’t what caught her attention.

“Wait… other girl?”

“The one whose clothes keep changing, the twin. With the big boobs,” the siren clarified. “She’s like you, right?”

“Who, Carly?” Dani burst out laughing in incredulity. “No way! She… she’s not gay. She sleeps with Nick all the time!”

The siren looked surprised to hear that. “But I thought…”

Dani cut her off. “I mean… yeah, she said… she said…” Dani couldn’t even bring herself to repeat the words. They were so personal and so private, and they resounded strangely on her tongue.

Finally, she sighed.

“…Anyway, it’s not happening,” she muttered. “Carly isn’t in any danger. I’m the one who people don’t like. If the audience is going to punish anybody, it’s going to be me.”

Serenity’s heart ached to hear that, and she squeezed her hand tightly around Dani’s.

“Well… if you do get eliminated…” She murmured, leaning in closer, “then maybe… maybe Dakota will make you like me. Maybe… we could be together, then.”

That sounded wonderful, honestly. Dani had no illusion about winning this competition, and she didn’t even want to. She couldn’t win every challenge, as the last round had proven, and it wasn’t like she could be certain to always get picked. Especially not with Dakota and the audience gunning for her at every opportunity, while Nick’s relationships with the other girls improved. Eventually, he’d sleep with Kim and Morgana. And maybe even Sylvia. Dani would eventually become the only girl in his “harem” he wasn’t having sex with. She’d eventually find herself on the outside. And when that happened… could she even blame anyone, for not picking her.

“…Maybe this is what Dakota meant, when she said taking responsibility,” Dani said sadly, turning away from the siren. “Acknowledge that I’m going to be eliminated, and accept it.”

Serenity reached up and cupped Dani’s cheek, turning her back to face her.

“Would that be so bad?” She asked softly. “If you don’t want to be with him, then…”

She pressed her lips gently against Dani’s, and they kissed. Then she pulled her head back and whispered, “Ever since I saw you in the water, I felt like I wanted to be with you. I’m sorry… because of my pheromones, I don’t think anything I do could be consensual, but…”

“No, it… it’s fine…” Dani breathed, her face flushing. “I… I don’t…”

She was going to say “I don’t mind” but as Serenity moved in for another kiss, Carly’s face flashed through her mind. That pained look she wore when she saw them kissing in the Banquet Hall, the look that had broken Dani’s heart and sent Carly running.

It took considerable willpower, but she managed to push Serenity back.

“…We can’t,” she finally said, shaking her head.

The siren looked sadly at her. She already knew what Dani was going to say, before she even said it.

“Because of that girl,” she murmured. “Because of Carly?”

Dani nodded sadly.

“That’s right,” she admitted. “I still… I still have feelings for her.”

Just imagining Carly’s smile made Dani feel like every day was sunshine and rainbows. Seeing her sad face was like looking into a bottomless pit.

She wanted the woman she loved to always be smiling.

Just like her.

Footsteps in the clearing seized Dani’s attention and she hopped to her feet so fast she nearly fell into the water.

“Carly!” She gasped, staring in shock as her friend emerged from the trail, with her sister behind her. For a second, a surge of terror seized the tomboy. In Carly’s current state of dress, she looked like a scene right out of Higurashi, before Rena snapped and went crazy. “What are you…”

“I… I wanted to see you,” Carly said quietly. She glanced sadly at the siren, then back to Dani. “Morgana told me you asked about the lagoon, and she told you how to get here… I thought we could talk, but… it looks like I came at a bad time. I’m sorry…”

She turned to leave, in spite of Marley’s insistent glare.

“W-wait!” Dani rushed over to her, leaving Serenity forgotten momentarily. She grabbed Carly by the shoulder and spun her around, confirming what she’d suspected- the cosplayer’s face was stricken with tears.

“Wait?” Carly wiped her eyes and pulled away from Dani. “Wait for what? Dani, this was a mistake. All of this, it was all a big mistake. You’ll be happier with her.”

Serenity stood up. “Just hear her out,” she said, approaching the girls. She made sure to stay at least five feet away from them, though. “Her feelings are-”

“No, Serenity, it’s fine,” Dani said, cutting her off there. “This is something I need to do. Carly, about your confession… I…”

Carly’s eyes widened. Maybe she could see by the look on Dani’s face what she was going to say, or maybe it didn’t even matter what Dani was going to say. But she quickly shook her head.

“Wait!” She cried. “Before… before you say anything, I need to come clean. Dani… we can’t be together.”

Marley groaned and leaned against a tree, frustrated as hell.

Dani’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?” She stammered. “But… I thought you said before…”

“That… I messed up,” Carly muttered, looking down. “Look, how I feel… I DO love you, Dani! Believe me, I do.” She reached out and grabbed Dani’s hand, which just sent the tomboy more mixed signals. “But we can’t be together.”

Dani stared blankly at her, trying to make sense of that.

“…You love me… but you don’t want to date me? How does THAT work?” Dani was trying hard not to let her confusion turn into frustration and anger. Just when she thought that she and Carly might actually be making progress, the cosplayer went and did this?

She bit her lip. “Is it… because of Nick?” She asked, dreading the answer.

Carly’s eyes widened. “What?! Nick?! No fucking way!” She exclaimed, shaking her head. “No, this has nothing to do with him!”

Dani blinked. “…Oh. Then… what is it?” Knowing this wasn’t related to Nick made her a little more comfortable, but she still had no idea what Carly was talking about.

The cosplayer sighed.

“Dani… I have romantic feelings for you,” she said. “I don’t know when they started, but they’re serious. I love you. Or maybe like you? I don’t know! I’ve never felt this way before about…”

“About a girl?” Dani prodded.

Carly shook her head. “About anybody. I’ve always been the kind of girl who never did the whole ‘love’ thing, and maybe it sounds corny, but it could be that I just never found the right person.” She swallowed. “Or maybe… it’s because I only ever tried with boys.”

Dani’s eyes widened. That was certainly something. “Carly, you’re not gay, right?” She pressed. “I mean, you like sleeping with guys, so you’re at least bi, yeah?”

“I-I think… I thought so?” Carly was really struggling to get the right words out. “I thought that’s what this was… but it’s more complicated than that. I… I’m attracted to men. Male figures, cocks, I know… I know that doesn’t do it for you, but for me, sleeping with a guy is sensual, and liberating, and fills me with… okay, we’re getting off topic.”

Carly shook her head fiercely and tried to refocus. Dani glanced at Serenity, wondering if maybe they’d misjudged the distances.

“…But look, my point is that while I like sleeping with men… I’ve never felt this way about one of them before,” Carly tried to explain. “Not the way I feel about you. But even though I love you… when it comes to sex…”

She looked down, and Dani suddenly realized what she was trying to say.

“Carly… you don’t want to have sex with me?” She asked quietly.

Carly’s eyes widened. “It’s… I do!” She said. “But… but not for the right reasons, I don’t think. If I had sex with you… I’m scared it would just be for your sake. To make you happy. I-I’m not sexually attracted to women, Dani! Not you, or Rose, or anybody! I’m so twisted and messed up, don’t you get it?!” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I want to fuck guys, but… the person I’m in love with is a girl… and I don’t feel any urges at all when I’m with you! Just the desire to hold you close, and never leave you, but that… that isn’t enough to build a relationship around!”

Dani could see now, how hard Carly was tearing herself up over this. And it was a lot to take in. When Carly had confessed her feelings, it was as if all of Dani’s fantasies were coming true at once. But now, she felt like she was crashing back down to earth.

Carly turned to the siren with a sad expression on her face.

“She’s… Serenity, right?” Carly murmured. “Dani… you should be with her. She’s the one who can actually love you the right way. But me… I don’t know. If we got together, that would mean I’d have to give up having sex with men. And right now, I feel like I could do that, if it meant being with you. But what about a year from now? Five years? Twenty? Assuming we’re not stuck on this stupid show for the rest of our lives, at some point we’ll go back. And I’m afraid that if I commit to you… something’s going to happen. I’m scared, Dani… I’m scared I won’t be able to control myself. And if I can’t do that… then I’m going to hurt you. And you don’t deserve that.”

She wiped her eyes, looking completely distraught.

Dani wished she could help Carly feel better. She really did. But there was so much there to unpack, and she didn’t know where to start.

So she did what she always did, and started with the truth.

“Carly… I love you, too,” Dani confessed. “And all that stuff you said… I’m glad you told me, instead of keeping it bottled up. But I have something I want to tell you, too. You’re being serious with me right now. You told me all your darkest secrets… but I didn’t do the same. So I’m going to tell you a story, from back when I enrolled in art school, when my life fell apart because I made a stupid decision. And after that, well… everything will be out there. And we can decide what we want to be then, okay?”

She looked into Carly’s eyes, and both girls saw hope in the other’s gaze.

Dani began her story.