Ronnie

Ronnie walked around the paddock as the hotel’s horses frolicked around her. Sarah had been brave enough to climb inside as well, but Danica stood on the surrounding fence, looking nervous. The paddock and its adjacent stables and pasture were resting on a carpet of glorious green grass that stood out dramatically against the bare open sands surrounding the hotel. In the world, this would have taken tremendous effort and water to maintain, but here at the hotel, it could be had for the price of asking.

“You guys are goddamn nuts!” She yelled. “I wouldn’t go anywhere near a horse with snake ropes wrapped around my body!”

Sarah didn’t want to back down from a challenge, so she casually walked up to a large quarterhorse and ran the hotel’s proved brush through its mane. Despite the ropes slithering all around her and between the horse’s legs, it seemed completely unperturbed.

“I’m not even sure it’s a ‘real’ horse,” Ronnie found one with lovely brown and white spots and began brushing it out as well. “They wouldn’t want it to kick us or buck us off.”

“I hadn’t even thought of that.” Sarah said, leaning in close to stare directly into the horse’s eye. “Looks real enough to me.”

Danica found her nerve and climbed into the paddock herself, moving up alongside Ronnie to pet the same horse. Ronnie noticed how Danica moved in closer to her than was strictly necessary to reach the horse. She needs the proximity to someone right now, I think. Danica accidentally brushed against Ronnie’s arm as she moved, and leapt from the sudden sensation, amplified as it was returned to her. She’s still got to work that part out though.

“How long have you known about this place?” Sarah asked, “I coulda used the stress relief.”

“It wasn’t here, I just asked for it this morning.” Ronnie shrugged. “Luciana got a freakin’ mountain, so I figured this was a cakewalk. You grew up around horses, right?”

“Yeah, my family had some. I liked them well enough but they weren’t my first love. They only have one horsepower, by definition.” Sarah continued brushing the horse’s flank in silence for a few long moments, lost in a memory of some kind. “I didn’t mind grooming them though, when I needed to get away from things. I could be out here as long as I wanted, and because it was a ‘chore’ so I wouldn’t catch hell for being lazy.”

Out ‘here’? Does she think she’s home? Ronnie had noticed how her own memories seemed a little confused this morning, maybe Sarah was feeling the same way. Did they fuck with my memories again? How could I possibly know?

Celeste approached the trio, this time dressed as a stablehand with a tight checkered shirt unbuttoned too far to let her boobs spill from the top, along with a painted-on pair of jeans, and leather boots. When she talked, Ronnie could tell she was sporting a brand new accent. Ronnie felt guilty around the girl, wondering how they felt about her getting a second chance. Having to constantly slip in and out of these roles like changing snakeskins. Her own transformations seemed mild and at the moment, though between Danica’s huge assets, Ronnie’s tight cutoff shorts, and Sarah in evening lingerie, the Staff girl seemed comparatively modest.

Whatever Celeste’s deeply-held feelings were, her exterior was as bubbly as any staff member’s.

“Howdy, ya’ll gonna take one of our beauties out?”

Ronnie had really just wanted to pet the horses, but suddenly wanted to be far away under the open sky.

“Yes, I am. You girls in?” Ronnie asked. Danica and Sarah were both captivated by the beasts, and nodded along quickly.

“Well that’s great! All ya’ll look like you could use a good ride to clear the mind. Just pick the horses that you like and we’ll talk saddle options.”

“What do you mean?” Danica asked.

“The horses are free to ride. They’re all perfectly trained, and they’ll understand any language you babble at ‘em, but the saddles…” Celeste smiled, wide enough that Ronnie could see the warning buried underneath.

“How are you doing back there?” Ronnie asked Danica several miles up the trail.

“I’m… ooooh… glad I took the enlarging pill this morning.” Danica said. She was sitting behind Ronnie with her arms around Ronnie’s middle. Danica squeezed Ronnie tight, pressing those magic-enhanced breasts into her back. This made Ronnie feel good, which made Danica feel twice as good, which was not helping matters. But they were on a horse ride, so the day was still going pretty well.

“Oh yeah? Why?” Ronnie poked Danica with her elbow, needling her. “You done with me already?”

Danica laughed and pinched Ronnie’s tit in response. “At least I can enjoy the horse ride on these. Those horny pills stack up on me, the effects don’t wear off all the way and then the next day makes it stronger. At least with these massive boobs I can at least think.”

Celeste had taken them to a stall with her saddle options, which were predictably demeaning as per Hotel custom. The was a “free” saddle sat prominently in the middle to attract the eye - A large dildo protruded straight out of it, and Celeste was quite clear the horse wouldn’t move unless it was inside and the ride was often rather bouncy. Unenchanted saddles were well out of their price range, to the point that Sarah complained they were basically a tease. But Celeste did have an option…

“This one here’ll make your ride quite excitin’!” She said, pulling down a large leather one from the rack. Ronnie could tell immediately once she saw the ridge down the center.

“It’s a damned Sybian, isn’t it?”

“Yup! Faster you ride, faster it goes.” Celeste chirped. “Don’t ride too far now, y’all need to be back by sundown or there’s a penalty.”

“Yeah, if we get stuck too far away we’ll have to gallop all the way back to avoid it.” Danica said. “Insidious, aren’t they?”

“Very! Thank you for saying so!” Celeste nodded vigorously.

Even with their money pooled, the girls could only afford two of those saddles. And that left them miles down the trail, moving at a slow clip and trying very hard not to be driven mad from the low sensations. At least the hotel can be seen from damn near anywhere. Imagine getting lost…

Reverse Cowgirls: Sarah -415 chips, Ronnie -543, Danica -542.

Ronnie felt Danica shifting behind her, trying to deal with the stimulation. “You ever try to get the other bottle back from Vivian?”

“...No. I’m still kinda embarrassed that I let myself get so defeated that she was able to leverage me for them. She’d probably want something in return and I’m not ready to give her the satisfaction.”

“She was playing the game to win.” Ronnie paused. “I can respect that.”

“Hasn’t really worked out for her.” Danica said. “Or me, being honest.”

“Honesty seems to be the name of the game lately.”

“It’s what Michael wants from us.” Danica said.

“Give some thought to what we want.” Ronnie said back. But before Danica could answer, Sarah trotted up alongside them on her own horse, seemingly handling all of this better than the pair were. The poor girl’s probably used to it by now.

“You guys ok? We can trade off sharing the horse, you know.” Sarah offered. “After all, you guys had to pay more than me.” Sarah looked eager for the chance. Is it because of the saddle, or is she just realizing there were more options than she’d assumed. “I promise I don’t bite.”

“It’s not you, girl. It’s those companions of yours.” Ronnie gestured to the ropes, which were wrapped around Sarah’s arms, allowing themselves to be used as reins for the moment. “They’re allowing you that underwear, and those chaps, but I’m not getting close enough to find out what they’ll let me wear.” Ronnie laughed. “Figure out how to lose them and maybe I’ll get closer.” Ronnie winked and Sarah popped her eyebrows in response.

“Do you have a place you wanna ride to?” Sarah asked, changing the subject before she got in trouble.

“You’re so impatient for the destination,” Ronnie pushed her shoulder playfully. “Enjoy the ride.”

“That’s what she-”

“None of that.” Ronnie wagged her finger at Sarah.

“You’re no fun.”

“That’s not what Danica said.” Ronnie smirked and Danica smacked her shoulder.

“Hold on, how is it fair that you get to make bad jokes? …Wait, is this the bad comedy personality again?”

“Nope, all me.” Ronnie tapped her chest with her thumb. “And it’s fair because I’m older than you.”

“You look ten years younger than her.” Danica said.

“Black don’t crack.”

“That’s two! Two you owe me!” Sarah groaned.

“You made that awful horsepower joke back at the stable. Besides, you’re the expert on debt.”

“That’s THREE!” Ronnie descended into cackling, but Sarah rolled their eyes and shook her head. “You’re worse than Michael ever was.”

“That’s because he’s the student, while I am the master.”

“He’s the ‘Boss’ now.” Sarah said. “...How are you guys feeling about that by the way? You were gone all night.”

Danica’s arms hugged even tighter into Ronnie’s ribs and buried her face in Ronnie’s back, pushing out her air for a second. Sarah watched with obvious interest. She wants to be squished between us.

“Can you give us a moment, Sarah?” Danica asked.

“Uh yeah, sure thing.” Sarah shook herself out of her libido haze, giving her horse a “Giddyup!” to get her moving quickly down the path. “Ohhh! Ohhhh! Ohhhhh!” Sarah moaned as she rode out to a respectable distance.

“Did we… do something wrong last night? When we snuck out and fooled around?” Danica asked.

“Why would you say that?”

“I don’t really know… but it feels like a betrayal somehow.” Danica rested her forehead against the back of Ronnie’s shoulders. “Even here in this crazy game. Michael and I were separated, I know. But I’m still his wife.”

“I’m still his wife.” Ronnie said, a little louder and more defensively than she intended. “We both are.”

“I guess that’s the only thing that’s keeping me from really regretting it.” Danica hugged Ronnie again. “My first husband cheated on me. He was a fucking prick about it too, all but rubbing my nose in it. So I told myself I’d never do that to someone. But-”

“This is a fucked up place, Danica. You can’t judge yourself for things you do here.” Ronnie gripped the reins a little tighter as she said so. “You’re doing what you have to.” Ronnie wasn’t sure if she should continue, but she risked it. “Michael asked us up there because he wanted permission to bang Mallory, and we gave it to him.”

“We didn’t ask permission for ourselves though.”

“You’re thinking like a ****, Danica. We’re still his wives.”

“I don’t know…” Danica paused. “Maybe that’s how I need to play the game.” Danica practically whispered. If she’s hoping the camera won’t catch that, she’d be wrong. Ronnie didn’t stop her though. “I know the cheating didn’t start here, Michael was cheating on me too. With Janet.” Danica paused to rub tears from her eyes. “It’s so weird, we were friends for years and we always treated each other so well. Then I woke up this morning and it was like I’d always known that she was two-timing and only just allowed myself to admit it.”

“Wait…” Was he? Ronnie barely knew Janet, but tried to think over all the times she’d talked to her or seen her interact with Michael. Nothing jumped out as suspicious, but it all seemed rather hazy now. Like an old cassette. “But that’s why you left him, right?” Wasn’t it?

“No… at least not all the reasons.”

“...but he was cheating on you?” On us! “You didn’t kick him out for that?”

“It was like Michael said… last night at dinner. That day that Mallory started tearing into him in our kitchen, I did decide to leave him then. But… not just because of the gambling, and the cheating… because I’d been thinking those terrible thoughts about him and Mallory.”

“Those aren’t yours, Danica.” Ronnie grabbed Danica’s hand on her midsection and held it. “And those thoughts couldn’t have made that decision, you only just got them **** on you.”

“I know! My mind knows that it started a few days ago with that Yuki thing, but… I can still feel those impulses in my memories. Like they dropped a giant rock and ripples are making their way backwards… I remember thinking then that I kept Michael as long as I did, despite his cheating… because I wanted him to be with Mallory. And I dumped him because I knew he wouldn’t.”

“That’s not what the transformation said, Danica. It’s not real.”

“It feels real though.”

“We can figure this all out when we get back, ok?” Ronnie said. “I know it's hard to put that kinda stuff out of your mind, but let’s try to enjoy the day. Neither of us did anything wrong. Think that until you believe it.”

“I’m trying…”

“Try harder, damn it!” Ronnie said, reaching back to slap Danica on the thigh. This poor girl’s head has been mixed up harder than Janet’s. “You’re the first woman I’ve been with in a hell of a long time, and I’m not having you mope around acting all guilty on me. You wanna play the **** girl, then I’ll have you eat me out later. We’ll make Michael watch. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Sarah was still riding out well ahead of them, and disappeared from view as the trail dipped into an arroyo. Got to distract her a little, even if it's not ideal…

“Hold on Danica, we gotta catch up to Sarah.”

“Wait wait! Woahhhh! Woahhh!” Danica tried to order the horse to stop, but as Ronnie held the reins it was only listening to her. Danica moaned when Ronnie ordered the horse forward, as the horse gained speed the saddle began buzzing all the harder. Ronnie felt the juices slide from her short shorts and run down the leather of the saddle, but she fought to keep focused as she drove the horse towards the slope. Ronnie saw a separate path down which she guessed would cut Sarah off and put them out in front, and they could meet up when she caught them. She led the horse over the crest and down the hillside.

As soon as did, she saw a woman’s shape on the trail and Ronnie yanked the reins hard. “Woah! Stop!” she yelled as the woman dove to the side and went tumbling down the hill, knocking something over as she went.

The horse skidded to a stop, pressing Danica’s body even tighter into Ronnie’s back from the momentum. Danica led out an exasperated sigh, then smacked Ronnie on the thigh.

“Don’t DO that!” She said. “Why did we stop anyway?”

Luciana rose from the base of the arroyo where she’d crashed into a large flower bush and dusted herself off as much as she could.

“You idiots need to watch where you’re riding!” She called up the hill as she trudged against the incline. “At least Sarah was smart enough to ride around.”

“Are you alright?” Danica asked, swinging her leg over to dismount the horse and help Luciana up the last part of the incline. “That looked like a hell of a fall.”

“The bush down there broke it.” Luciana stretched out her muscles. “My luck’s been all over the place since I fell to 4th place. Like, good shit happens, bad shit happens, I guess they figure it evens out in the end. Like, I tumbled ass over teakettle down this hill, so I’m covered in dirt and mud. But I landed in that lavender bush so now I’m filthy but somehow smell like I swam in body wash.”

“Ooof, that sounds awful.” Ronnie said.

“It’s confusing, that’s for sure. …What?” Luciana said as Ronnie and Danica shared a quick look.

“Nothing, it’s been a crazy night.” Ronnie looked back at the hotel, which was visible but well into the distance. “What are you doing out here?”

“I’ve been painting.” Luciana looked mildly offended at the shock on Ronnie and Danica’s faces. “Come on. I’m not a complete goon.”

“Sorry, it’s just unexpected.” Danica said. “I didn’t know you painted.”

“I didn’t before, but I’ve got a lot of free time suddenly and I need a new hobby.” Luciana stood up the collapsed object and re-assembled it into an easel. Sarah appeared, having caught up to their shortcut. “I bought this down at the market.” Luciana said of the set.

“Hold on, I get commission, Luciana.” Sarah looked aghast. “Why wouldn’t you ask me?”

“Kind of a spur of the moment thing,” She shrugged. “Money burning a hole in my pocket. You shoulda seen the deal this guy gave me. Half-price-, only 1000 chips.”

“Those go for 750,” Sarah slapped her forehead.

“Ok, so we go back in there and I shake him upside down by the ankles until we get our money back. Easy.”

What a deal!: Luciana -1000 chips

“You are unflappable.” Ronnie said. “What’s it do? I warned Sarah about buying stuff from that market.”

“It helps me paint, look out at whatever and it kinda helps guide my hand. You know, instinct. All the great ones got it.” Luciana picked up her current canvas from the ground and displayed it to the trio: A half-finished landscape of the distant mountains. Ronnie was no expert, but the brushwork looked impeccable.

“What ELSE does it do, Luciana. Ain’t nothing free here.” Ronnie said.

“Alright, so the guy at the market said it grants ‘true insight’ or something.” Luciana’s eyes flitted to a small tube at her feet. Ronnie cocked her head.

“And?”

“It tends to have a mind of its own.” Ronnie opened the tube and unrolled the first painting. “Tried to have some of the staff pose, but it wouldn’t let me paint them as they were.”

“WOAH!” Sarah laughed, but stopped herself quickly when she saw Luciana’s glare. The painting depicted a redheaded staff member Ronnie had not yet met, nude, on all fours in the throes of passion as Damien clutched her curly hair in his fist and fucked her doggystyle.

“I swear they were just sitting there with a bowl of fruit.” Luciana weakly defended herself. “Dunno, maybe it was making me paint what they want.”

“Or what you want.” Sarah wisely stayed well outside of Luciana’s reach. “Paint me like one of your French girls!”

“You’re already naked, or nearly there. I’d probably end up seeing your internal organs.” There was enough pause in Luciana’s annoyed comeback that Ronnie knew Sarah was on to something. “Anyway,” Luciana flipped through the paintings, each of which were more erotically charged than the last. “I decided it wasn’t going to let me paint anything I could ever show my dad unless I came out here to try a landscape.”

“It’s lovely, Luciana.” Danica said, in full mom mode. Luciana beamed.

“You should check this one.” Luciana pulled another canvas out and unrolled it. “Check out this town.”

“Where did you come up with that?” Ronnie asked. It looked like a ghost town from a Western film, wood buildings arrayed along a single dusty street.

“Just kinda looked that way and the brush did the rest,” Luciana pointed. “You think there’s something out there?”

Ronnie followed the direction of her hand. As she looked straight at it, she saw nothing but open sands. But when she turned her head slightly, there looked to be a shimmering haze. It can’t be…

“We need to go there.” Ronnie said.

“Will we make it back with the horses?” Sarah asked. “Don’t wanna get on the hotel’s bad side again.”

“Ok, I need to go there. Take Danica and Luciana with you and head back.”

“I’m coming along, Ronnie. Don’t be ridiculous.” Danica grabbed Ronnie’s arm and used it to pull herself back into the saddle.

“Well fuck, there might be points there.” Sarah said. “Be nice to earn some that didn’t involve Michael’s dick. No offense.”

“None taken.” Ronnie turned to Luciana. “Thanks for telling me about the town, we’ll see you back at the hotel.”

“Well I can’t go back there now! If this is real, I wanna see!”

Before Sarah could make a joke, Luciana vaulted herself towards her horse. Grabbing the horn, Luciana hauled herself up onto the horse behind Sarah.

“Wait!” Sarah warned, but the ropes had already whipped themselves around Luciana and bound her to Sarah’s back.

“Yeah, I knew about that. Don’t worry, it’ll keep me from falling off.”

“That wasn’t the part I was going to warn you about…” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Oh well, hold on and enjoy.”

“Enjoy whaaaaaaaaa?— oooahhhhh!” Luciana howled as Sarah brought her horse up to an immediate gallop and tore off again towards the town, the saddle grinding away down below.

The town wasn’t far away, though bizarrely it wasn’t visible until they were nearly upon it. It shimmered into view like a mirage when they approached within a couple hundred yards, explaining why it could not be seen from the hotel even though the latter was still visible in the distance.

“Trail goes right down the main street,” Luciana said semi-lucidly, leaving a trail of drool on Sarah’s back.

“Back down to a trot, girl.” Ronnie called. “We don’t all have your tolerance.”

“I’m just bringing everyone down to my level.” Sarah laughed. “You like training hard, doncha?” She patted Luciana’s knee and the woman grunted in pleasure.

The main street was essentially the only street in the town, wide and unpaved. The buildings were all aligned along a single axis, terminating in a large cul-de-sac dominated by a single building several stories taller than the rest. Even from the end of the street, Ronnie could tell it was the older, version of the titular hotel. It’s seen better days, but then so has the casino. The horses stopped of their own accord and refused to proceed into the town itself no matter what commands the riders gave.

“Guess we’re on foot then.” Sarah said, shrugging off this ominous sign. She and the others dismounted, tying off the horses to a hitching post at the edge of the town proper. It took the three of them to get Luciana down and she walked a little bit funny afterwards, though with a broad, dumb-looking smile.

“Why is this out here?” Sarah’s ropes scanned the buildings with a degree of obvious reverence which none of the humans shared.

“It’s the old set, I think?” Ronnie said.

“Was this your season?” Luciana asked.

“Nah, we were in the casino, mostly the same as it is now. But things change even during the show. The suite up top is different though, just since we started.” Ronnie could tell that the town had been built for essentially the same purpose as the casino, and had the same basic locations, but each had adopted the Wild West theme that they were chasing out here. Instead of a large pool, there was a small pond off the main road with a “Skinny dipping strongly encouraged” sign nailed to a post. Instead of a bazaar with obnoxious sales staff cornering you, there was a shop completely decorated in lace, a “Purveyor of fine products to enhance the feminine wiles.” Not all of it was a repeat though, there was a small town jail, leaving Ronnie with uncomfortable questions about how one could be sent there or what would happen inside. Or what its equivalent in the casino might be. In one open plot was a broken down wagon advertising ‘miracle tonics,’ which Sarah peeled off to investigate.

“Don’t drink anything you find in there.”

“There might be something useful in there. Come on Ronnie, don’t treat me like a baby.” Sarah said. “

“Well you didn’t listen the first time I warned you!” Ronnie waved at the ropes.

Sarah scoffed. “At least leave the hectoring to the team Mom!”

“Don’t drink anything you find in there.” Danica repeated. “Just look at me.”

“Oh I do…” Sarah mumbled to herself, then scurried off to search.

Leaving Sarah to make her own mistakes, the trio continued further up the path to the hotel. While the entire town had an air of decay about it, the hotel looked demonstrably worse.

“Did this place get bombed or something?” Luciana asked.

“Kinda looks that way,” Danica added. Ronnie gave the wreckage a knowing look, and Danicd and Luciana made quick, worried eye contact.

The old hotel looked less imposing up close. The place wasn’t classy per se, but it was clearly the design of someone different than had established the casino. Or who was listening to different influences. The HAREM HOTEL sign was smaller and made of steel with what looked like great care. The building had once been painted rather intricately, but time and sand had dulled its shine. In its heyday it might have looked inviting.

But today? The windows were all blown inwards, and there was a large circular scorch mark in the dirt outside the front door, with the damage continuing onto the facade and up the first floor. The wood railing of the second-story balcony overhanging the front door was destroyed, with pieces hanging loose like stalagmites.

This must have been where it happened.

Luciana and Danica had seen enough and stopped short like the horses had, not eager to approach the place any further. But Ronnie saw a small speck of white in the blackened dirt, and continued for it, shrugging off Danica’s attempt to grab her shoulder and stop her. Ronnie knelt down to brush the burnt earth off, until she found a rounded edge. Digging her fingers under it, she yanked until the ground gave, leaving her holding a white ten-gallon hat.

Despite whatever had happened to the rest of the hotel and being buried in the dirt for all these years, it still looked perfectly clean and just as menacing as Ronnie remembered. She crushed the brim in her shaking hands.