Staring at the life of your own, coming up, up, up

Kim awoke to the pleasant calm of nature washing over her. The lovely scent of flowers… the artificial wind blowing through the grass… the fake sunlight streaming down onto her face…

The Garden Suite was lovely. She wished she never had to leave…

Then she opened her eyes and saw a not-so-lovely sight standing over her bed, looking down at her with sunken green eyes and a twisted smile.

“M-Mary!” Kim screeched, sitting up in bed. That was the first thought that came to her sleep-encumbered mind. Then her brain actually caught up with her eyes, and she realized who she was actually looking at. Once she did, her expression morphed into a scowl. “No… wait… Echo… what do you want?!” She snapped.

Echo leaned back and smirked. “Hehe… what’s wrong, Kim? And here I thought we were so close? Was that all just a lie?”

“The one I’m close with is Mary,” Kim said, kicking her legs off the bed and standing up. She shoved past Echo and headed to the closet to get changed for the day. “You’re not her anymore. You and me, we barely even knew each other for a couple of minutes, technically.”

Echo tapped her cane on the grass. “Well, you’re not wrong there,” she admitted with a shrug. “Still- it is lovely to see you again, Kim, up so bright and early in the morning… did you sleep well?”

She glanced over at Rose, who was snoring away under the covers without a care in the world.

“…It looks like your roommate sure did.”

Kim didn’t take her bait.

“…Oh, wait! I know why you’re in such a bad mood!” Echo tucked her cane under her arm and pressed her hands together. “Because I woke you up from such a pleasant dream! I’m sorry. I forgot all about that new transformation of yours. Heh, were you having a… saucy dream, about Nick having sex with you in your room?”

Kim shot the host a glare. She knew what Echo was talking about- her Roughing It transformation that she’d picked up from Dani with Just the Dregs. But again, she had nothing to say to the woman who had pretended to be one of her closest friends.

“You’re here to talk to me about my Sick Day, isn’t that right?” Kim asked with a sigh. “You want to check and see if I’m going to go in for work, or if I’m going to get a temporary transformation?”

“That’s right,” Echo said. “You had a lot of fun with that one before, didn’t you? But you barely used it at all last round… it was quite a shame. I was hoping that this round, we could start you headed on a more ‘transformation positive’ mindset! What do you say?”

Her innocent smile really did look a lot like Mary’s. It actually struck Kim as unnerving.

“…I stopped using Sick Day as much because I stopped trusting Dakota,” Kim replied, narrowing her eyes. “I couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t use it to completely screw me over. You? I trust you even less,” she scoffed, shaking her head.

Echo twisted her lips into a wide “O” and placed her hand over her breast. “How could this be?” She groaned. “You trust me less than Dakota, of all people? That wounds me, Kim, it really does. I know that I may not have my predecessor’s panache for twisted transformations, but I assure you- I only want to do a good job.”

She batted her eyelashes.

“As a service employee yourself, you should know what that’s like, right?”

Kim’s eye twitched.

“…With Dakota, I knew she wouldn’t go too far because she didn’t want to harm her relationship with Nick,” Kim replied. “I have no idea what you’re after. For all I know, your idea of a ‘minor punishment transformation’ is to turn me into a sentient fleshlight. No, thank you.”

“Well, actually, I can’t do that,” Echo replied immediately, summoning up Kim’s transformation screen to show her the text of her transformation for herself.

• Sick Day: Kim is usually a hard worker, but everybody needs a sick day every now and then. Kim may use this transformation to get out of any obligations to transformations she has for an entire day, but as a result, will obtain a minor punishment transformation that will last for the entirety of her sick leave. [NOTE: Physical transformations are excluded. Consecutive uses will cause the punishment transformations to stack.] (Slacker)

“You see? That would be a physical transformation, and it can’t do that,” Echo said triumphantly.

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes. “SO not the point I was trying to make,” she muttered.

The actual limits of the transformation were immaterial. Kim didn’t have enough understanding of Echo’s motivations to trust her.

And somewhere deep down, she knew that the host must have understood that.

Echo leered at Kim. Immediately, Kim felt a chill go down her spine. She knew a difficult client when she saw one, and she knew that Echo wasn’t going to stop with just this.

“…Tell you what, how about I make an agreement with you?” Echo approached Kim with a smile on her lips that she didn’t even try to pretend was innocent and sweet. “There’s a lot of leeway for defining a ‘punishment’ transformation, you know.”

“Oh?” Kim raised her eyebrow, not sure where Echo was going with this. But she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like it. “What exactly is THAT supposed to mean?”

Echo shrugged. “It means what you think it means,” she replied. “Maybe you take me up on my offer and take a Sick Day, and in return, maybe I give you a ‘punishment’ transformation that you might actually be able to use to your advantage. It couldn’t hurt.”

Actually, it could hurt. That was kind of Kim’s whole point. Not to mention her utter lack of any faith in Echo’s sincerity in the slightest.

…And yet, she was intrigued.

“…I’ve made enough deals with hosts in the past,” Kim said. Even if she was tempted, she wasn’t just going to bend over and let Echo do whatever she wanted. “Why should I listen to you?”

Echo blinked. She looked at Kim for a very long time. Such a long time that Kim wasn’t sure what was going on.

When she finally spoke, it completely threw Kim for a loop. “…You used to have long hair, do you remember that?”

Kim’s hand immediately shot up to her nape. Her hair, which had slowly started to grow again, was still well within the pixie cut range. What was Echo getting at?

“That was-”

“An eternity ago,” Echo said, rolling her eyes. “Believe me, I know. But for me, it was yesterday. …Or two days ago, rather. But you get the point. It’s quite a drastic shift for you, I almost didn’t recognize you at first.”

“I’m living a better life than I was back then,” Kim said, scowling. Back when she looked the way Echo remembered, she had an unbalanced diet, a dumpy body, and the dead eyes of a woman who had lived a very tough life. Now she was toned and fit, and had a new, more vibrant future ahead of her.

“I know, and I’m happy for you, Kim. Really, I am.”

Her smile was unreadable. But given what Kim knew about her, she really doubted that Echo was telling her the truth.

She looked suspiciously at the redhead. “…Really?”

“I’m serious!” Echo widened her eyes and placed her hand over her heart. “If there’s one thing I appreciate it’s someone who is willing to completely remake themselves… find a brand-new path for their life. Like I did.”

“You didn’t remake yourself, though,” Kim pointed out. “You were changed by the producers. Without them, you would still be the old Mary.”

“Without the producers, I wouldn’t even exist,” Echo corrected her, a frown stretching across her face. “I was born from what Mary discarded.”

“…Yeah, you’re not wrong there,” Kim acknowledged, looking down. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh? What’s this? Actual empathy for little old me?” Echo was genuinely surprised to see that. “Why, Kim, am I blushing?”

Kim glared at her. “Don’t push your luck. I can acknowledge that your circumstances are pretty damn terrible, but you know what? That was true for Dakota, too. And I didn’t give her a pass, just like I’m not giving you one. You’ve done way too much shit for me to just be okay with it.”

“I’m only doing whatever I want to do,” Echo said, walking forward. “And that’s something I think you can appreciate, Kim. Given how you began your tenure on this show.”

“Huh!?” Kim was taken aback by the suggestion that she could have anything in common with the twisted woman in front of her. “Excuse me?!”

“It’s what I was getting to with your hair,” Echo said, reaching up to touch her own short hair. “Back then, you were just a regular girl. But you chose to find things you could be passionate about, right? You chose to stop being just a boring nobody, and became someone new. Someone special. And I honestly appreciate that change for you, Kim! I’m quite pleased!”

“Oh, stop trying to make it sound like we’re on the same page here, we’re completely different!” Kim shook her head in disgust. “I just changed my look a bit and changed my attitude a little to go with it, that’s all!”

“Ah, right, you’ve totally changed your attitude,” Echo sarcastically replied. “Nothing about you is cutting or abrasive or cynical in the slightest.”

Kim scowled, but any response she could have made would only prove Echo’s point, so she kept her mouth shut.

“…What do you want from me, Echo?” She finally asked, glaring at the twisted woman.

“I told you, to take a Sick Day,” Echo reminded her. That was how this whole conversation started in the first place. “Don’t you see? You’ve fallen into another rut, Kim. You used to be boring and bland, but then you spiced things up. You even chose to become a tomboy to suit Nick’s tastes! That was quite clever of you, I must say.”

She reached up and played with her bangs with a smirk. “However could you have guessed that Nick had a thing for short-haired girls?”

Echo doubled over with laughter while Kim just scowled at her again.

“Are you done?”

“Not quite,” Echo said, standing up straight. “You see, Kim, it’s not about what I want from you. I just want to help you.”

Now why was it that Kim didn’t believe that?

…Right, because she wasn’t an idiot.

“Help me, huh?”

“I’m serious!” Echo placed her hand over her chest. “Look at me, Kim. I’m not the girl I used to be. I changed myself. I lost my doubts, my reservations, my chains. I threw away the old Mary that I used to be, and embraced a new vision for myself! And I’d like to help you do the same thing!”

“But I like myself how I am now,” Kim countered. “And not only do I like it, but my friends like it, too. And that’s what matters to me.”

“Do your friends like you?” Echo narrowed her eyes. “All of them?”

Kim frowned. What was she trying to say?

“Even Vivian?”

Kim froze.

“…What does she have to do with any of this?” Kim demanded. Vivian was the last person she wanted to be thinking about right now.

“You’re quite hostile towards her,” Echo noted. “In fact, just by me mentioning her name your whole body language shifted. You got all tense and agitated. I’m really quite surprised!”

She tapped her cheek thoughtfully. “I get it, really, after all, you and she come from quite different backgrounds and have completely different perspectives on the world. Not to mention the casual insensitivity on her part…”

“Whatever is going on between Vivian and I has nothing to do with you,” Kim snapped. That was her own personal, private vendetta- err, relationship, and it wasn’t any of Echo’s business!

“Oh, I think it has quite a lot to do with me, actually,” Echo replied, shaking her head. “After all, I’m the host, or have you forgotten?”

She held up her cane, and the head began to throb with power.

Kim tensed.

“As the host, I’ve got to warn you, Kim, that your grudge against Vivian is starting to become a bit of a problem, I’m afraid… people are worried that you’re being unreasonably hostile towards her, when she’s just trying to be your friend!” Echo pointed out.

Kim didn’t know what to say to that. But even if Echo was telling her the truth, it wasn’t for altruistic reasons.

“You’re just trying to manipulate me into doing what you want,” Kim snapped at her.

Echo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, duh?” She scoffed. “But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong, either.”

Kim scowled.

“…Vivian got near the bottom of the Popularity Poll, so it’s not like you’re in danger yet,” Echo assured the tomboy, walking over to her. “But you know? I really think it might benefit you if you two buried the hatchet. Just my two cents.”

“Really?” Again, Kim didn’t believe that Echo had her best wishes in mind. “Knowing you, I’d expect you to fan the flames a little and get us fighting with each other. That seems like the sort of shit you would pull.”

Echo twisted her lips into a smirk and started to giggle. “Oh my… how cold of you, Kim… saying such harsh things… …You really do know me so well! It must be that deep friendship you have with Mary, helping you see things that way.”

“Yeah, must be,” Kim sarcastically replied, shaking her head. She could hardly stand the sight of the woman in front of her right now. “Listen, I don’t know what you think you’re planning, but if you’re actually serious-”

“Maybe the punishment transformation you get is something that could help you and Vivian get closer,” Echo interrupted her, laying it all on the table.

Kim froze, not sure how to respond.

“…Huh?”

Echo shrugged. “Just think about it. I give you a transformation that helps you get along better with Vivian. Then you’re free to spend the whole day with her. You two become friends, maybe, and get closer, and who knows what could happen then? All I’m saying, Kim, is that you really don’t have anything to lose.”

Kim could see the perspective Echo was coming from. And she could understand how compelling her offer might be, under different circumstances.

Right now, though?

“…So you’re telling me that not only are you going to give me a punishment transformation, but I also have to spend the whole day with Vivian?” Kim shook her head. “Where’s the part where this is supposed to be good for me, exactly?”

Echo rolled her eyes. “Still so cynical. I’m telling you, it’s all for the best! If you remake yourself and change your image, you could get even more popular. You can show off to Nick how you’re willing to take the initiative and befriend someone you used to despise! You think he won’t be proud of you for doing that?”

Kim glared at her. “Even if he would be, that’s not a reason to do it,” she spat. “And it’s definitely not a reason for trusting you!”

“…Then what about for Vivian’s sake?”

“Excuse me?”

Kim had to have heard that wrong.

Was Echo seriously suggesting that she take on a transformation for Vivian’s sake, of all things?

“If you want to keep being a bitch to her, that’s your choice,” Echo said, shrugging. “But you know as well as I do that she’s desperate for friendship, Kim. Come on. You KNOW that. As much as you might try to deny it.”

Kim bit her lip. Echo wasn’t wrong, that was the worst part. Vivian had made no secret about how desperate she was to make friends with the other girls in Nick’s harem.

Something that Kim had ignored.

“I know you’re a good person, Kim,” Echo said, approaching the other girl. She reached up and rubbed a gloved hand down Kim’s cheek. “You’re the sort of girl who does the right thing and helps others because you know you should, right?”

Kim pulled away from her. “Even if it is, that’s still not-”

“You know, intellectually, that Vivian isn’t as bad of a person as you’ve made her out to be,” Echo cut her off. “But even though you understand that, your heart just can’t accept it, right? You’re too focused on the negatives to understand just what you and Vivian could offer each other… and if you ask me? That’s a very sad thing…”

Well, nobody DID ask Echo.

But Kim still found herself hesitating.

“Maybe all you need it a little push to really break down those walls and become her friend,” Echo encouraged her. “And you know… this way, everything works out perfectly for us! Vivian gets a new friend, you get to ease your conscience, and I get to benefit from the glorious boon that is your newly-budding friendship! Don’t you see how great that choice is for everybody!?” She asked, cackling with glee.

Kim scowled.

Anyone who laughed like that was absolutely not to be trusted.

At the same time, though, Echo raised a compelling point.

“…You know if you screw me over on this, that there’s no chance of me ever trusting you again, right?” Kim asked, narrowing her eyes. “I’ll never accept another Sick Day again if this is just some twisted prank designed to fuck with me.”

“I would never do that,” Echo lied through her teeth.

Kim didn’t even bother to dignify the lie with a response. She just grunted and rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” she sighed, slumping her shoulders. “Just give me the transformation, then, and let’s get this over with, alright?”

Echo smiled from ear to ear and raised her cane. “Gladly!” She chirped, and a dark light emerged from the head of her cane, swallowing Kim whole.

When the light faded, she was gone.

“Now then, that’s that settled,” Echo said, turning to the bed. “You can get up now.”

Rose opened her eyes on cue and sat up, glaring at the host. “What did you do with Kim?” She snapped. She had feigned being asleep so the two of them could talk in private, but now she was starting to regret that choice.

“Don’t worry,” Echo said, waving her hand dismissively like she didn’t give a damn about Kim in the slightest. “I just had her go off somewhere for a bit, that’s all. So she could test out her new transformation. I really, really hope she likes it…”

The twisted host held her sides and burst out laughing, much to Rose’s concern.