Waking up in a puddle

A yawn escaped Nick’s lips as he woke up. He couldn’t remember going to bed last night. He remembered a lot of things from last night, but falling asleep wasn’t one of them.

Marley hadn’t really given him an opportunity for that.

It took a second to realize that he was back in bed, and back in the Master’s Suite. After all, he’d spent most of last night in that snowy log cabin, after he and Marley had finished the escape room. And after they’d done… a lot of other stuff.

Nick blushed as he remembered how the night went. The escape room was fine, but what came after that… was something else entirely. Marley had been a lot hungrier than he’d expected at the beginning. But he didn’t regret what had happened for a minute.

The first course of action, he figured, was to see how she was doing. Last night had been pretty intense for both of them.

Knowing Marley, I’d bet she backtracked on a lot of what she said, Nick thought, remembering how conflicted she’d been about expressing her true feelings to him. But I don’t want that… I want her to be comfortable with who she is, and what we’ve done together.

He might not be able to convince her that they could be together, but given how much she clearly wanted that, he was at least willing to give it a try.

“Hey, Marley…” Nick turned over in bed to talk to the girl he expected to be lying next to him.

Instead, he was staring at a puddle of slime resting on the mattress.

“Holy shit!” Nick sprang back, and fell out of bed. “Marley!? Shit, damn it, Dakota! What the hell? You couldn’t give her a reprieve for like, five minutes in the morning!?”

“…Nick?”

Nick jumped to his feet and covered his crotch with a pillow at the sound of the new voice. He was just starting to realize how naked he was, and his face burned with embarrassment. He turned around and froze.

There was a second bed in the room, one that he’d missed before. And two people were lying in it. The voice in question had belonged to the bigger of the two occupants.

Mary rubbed her eyes and looked blankly up at Nick, still half-asleep.

“You’re back…?” She asked numbly, as if she couldn’t be sure what she was seeing was the truth. She rubbed her eyes again just to make sure.

“Yeah,” Nick confirmed with a nod. “I’m back.”

Holly was also in the bed, much to Nick’s surprise. But she was still wide awake. She squirmed a little, her cheeks flushed.

“Um… this is alright… isn’t it, master?” Holly asked hopefully. “I know I usually sleep in my cage, but Mary really needed some comfort, so I thought, maybe it was okay to cuddle with her? Just for a little bit, you know?”

Her eyes pleaded with Nick as he tried to make sense of everything. So Mary had her own bed, and she’d invited Holly to sleep in it? And this was something that Holly assumed that he would be upset about, for some reason?

“I don’t care,” Nick said, shaking his head. “Of course you can sleep in a bed. Why wouldn’t you be allowed to?”

“Really!?” Holly’s face lit up. “Oh, master, thank you! You’re so generous!” She leapt up from under the covers and rushed to Nick’s side, throwing her arms around his waist in a hug that reminded him just how naked he still was.

Clearly, the devoted maid didn’t have any qualms about touching her master without permission, at least.

“H-Holly…” Nick stammered, his face lighting up. “You can let go now.” He looked past the short girl and at Mary, whose cheeks turned a light pink. She glanced aside, definitely conscious of his nakedness, and doing the polite thing.

He appreciated that.

“Shall I cook you breakfast, master?” Holly asked excitedly. “For you and for you… oh, maybe not, actually…”

She glanced past Nick and saw the state Marley was in, and quickly started backtracking on her offer. “Breakfast for two, then? You and mistress?”

“Please don’t start calling me that,” Mary pleaded, burying her face in her hands. Nick just kept blushing at the stuff the little pixie girl was saying.

“Actually, Holly, forget breakfast for now,” Nick said, shaking his head. “I need you to do something for me, actually.”

“Of course, master! Name it! Anything you want!” Holly asked eagerly.

“Can you go down to Carly’s room and go get her?” Nick requested. He glanced back at the puddle of slime on the bed. “We really kind of need her right now.”

“Absolutely!” Holly nodded. Her ponytail rapidly bounced up and down. “Whatever you desire, master! I’ll be back in a flash!”

With that, she turned and rushed out the door, leaving Nick alone with Mary. And they barely had enough clothes for one outfit between the two of them.

“…Well, it looks like you two had a nice evening…” Mary said, trying to keep the jealousy out of her voice. She was happy for both of them, she really was. But whenever she thought of Nick with another woman, she couldn’t help but feel those same murky feelings rise up in her stomach.

Nick blushed and glanced away. “Yeah, uh… yeah,” he muttered, and nodded. “Marley and I, we had a big talk, and, um…”

“Let me guess, you’re dating now?” Mary tossed out.

“No!” Nick sputtered. “I mean… not… it’s just…”

“She’s part of the harem, right?” The corners of Mary’s lips tugged up in a small smile.

“Well… not officially, anyway,” Nick said, basically confirming it. The fact that Mary didn’t seem to be upset made him a lot more comfortable with telling her the truth. “It’s just… we really needed to work through our feelings together. And even though we were both uncertain about everything… I decided that I wanted to be with her. She’s not bound to me the way you, or any of the contestants are… but she’s still important to me.”

Mary sighed in exasperation and shook her head. “You just couldn’t let her go, could you?” She scoffed. “You corrupting man, you.”

She playfully tossed a pillow at him, and Nick fended it off with one hand while the other still shielded his genitals. He knew it wasn’t anything Mary hadn’t already seen, but he wanted to preserve at least some amount of his modesty.

“…I should probably go put some clothes on,” he decided.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Mary agreed. “Especially since Carly’s coming up here too. You wouldn’t want her to jump you the second the door opens, she probably thinks Holly’s coming to get her for a booty call or something like that.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. “Mary!” He gasped, scandalized. “Where did you learn a term like that?!”

A booty call? He couldn’t imagine the old Mary ever using that term.

“Well… I mean…” Mary quickly averted her eyes. “You try rooming with Gina for two rounds and see what you pick up.”

“No thanks,” Nick replied, walking over to the closet on his side of the room. “I like having a pelvis that works.”

Mary waited until Nick’s back was turned to roll her eyes. As much as she loved Nick, he really just didn’t get it.

“Good luck with that now that I’m here,” she teased.

Okay this was really starting to get weird. He knew Mary to be a sweet woman, but she wasn’t the teasing sort like this. Just like with Marley. It was as if all the women in his life had decided that they would start teasing and playing games with him or something.

Mary definitely doesn’t seem like herself. No way… did Rose upgrade one of her transformations and steal her body or something!? He definitely wouldn’t put it past the French vixen to do something unscrupulous like that.

“Ah! I just realized! I should be making breakfast!” Mary squeaked, and hopped out of bed. She fretted over to the kitchen to get started. “I’m sorry, it slipped my mind!”

Whelp, false alarm. Rose would never volunteer to make breakfast out of nowhere, she would have rather been pampered with breakfast in bed herself. Apparently Mary had just been a little playful today.

While Mary got started cooking, Nick started looking for his pants.

Holly hummed a little tune as she skipped down the hall, and stopped in front of the door. She knocked on it a few times, but it wasn’t Carly who greeted her, it was Rose.

“Oh! Good morning,” Holly said, finding it difficult to hide her surprise. “You’re certainly up early!”

Rose scoffed. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m gonna be getting served breakfast in bed or something,” she replied. She looked a little irritated.

Holly bit her lip. “Everything okay?”

“Of course, everything is just lovely!” Rose replied with a pleasant smile that definitely didn’t look in any way ****. “I’m just coming off of a very pleasant sleep the way I do every morning! And I definitely haven’t been up since before the sun rose, trying to get the high score on one of those stupid video games or anything like that!”

Holly could feel the sarcasm dripping from every word out of the blonde’s mouth, but she didn’t have time to care about that. It had nothing to do with her, after all.

“…Well, uh… I’m just here to pick up Carly. Is she up yet?” Holly tried to look inside, but with all the flashing lights from the video games it was hard to see the bed. She couldn’t believe anybody could actually get some sleep here!

Rose blinked. “Carly? Uh, yeah, she’s up, but she’s in the shower now, why?” She stepped aside to let Holly inside.

“I need some help,” Holly explained. “We have a slight spillage up in the Master’s Suite. And Carly needs to come pick up her sister.”

Rose blinked. “A spillage? Aren’t you the maid, though? How can Carly help with- ah!” She realized what Holly was insinuating, and nearly burst into a fit of laughter.

“It’s not funny!” Holly shook her head. “Marley’s a big puddle now! This is serious, Rose!”

“I know, I know, I just can’t believe that we didn’t think of it,” Rose said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Look, like I said, Carly’s in the shower right now, and she’ll probably be in there for a while. But I could always come help!”

Holly blinked. “You? What good are you?”

Rose scowled.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that!” The short girl frantically clarified. “I mean, it’s not like you’re not a helpful person or anything! I just… well, we need Carly, because of her transformation, so…”

“And I can copy her transformation, or did you forget already?” Rose proudly proclaimed, holding her hand over her chest and tilting back her chin like she was posing for acclaim from the paparazzi. “Consider it an act of generosity on my part!”

Holly stared suspiciously at Rose, not buying that for a second.

“…Are you just trying to weasel your way into the Master’s Suite because Nick and Mary are alone in there right now?” She guessed, narrowing her eyes.

Rose twitched.

“Of-of course not! This is purely for Marley’s sake! Purely!”

“Rose…”

For someone who was supposed to be an excellent actress, Rose sure broke down at the first hint of pressure. “It’s not fair, okay!? How am I supposed to make inroads as Nick’s favorite when Mary gets to spend every night with him, and I’m only allowed one night out of the week!? And my night is last, too! Rigged, it’s rigged I tell you!” Rose pouted, stomping her foot.

“Mary’s his wife,” Holly pointed out. “Of course she’s going to spend every night with him. Isn’t that kind of the whole point of her elimination?”

“That doesn’t make it right!” Rose bit the nail of her thumb in frustration. “Anyway, do we have a deal or not?”

Holly glanced at the door to the bathroom. The shower was still running, and she could hear Carly humming just over it.

“…Yeah, okay, you make a good point,” she relented with a nod. “Okay, you can come help out instead, whatever.”

“Yes!” Rose punched the air in joy. Frankly, she was just relieved to not have to play those video games anymore. She really wasn’t good at them.

“I don’t get why you spent so long playing video games if you don’t like them,” Holly said, waiting for Rose to finish touching up her makeup to ensure she looked her best for Nick. “I mean, shouldn’t you focus on stuff you like?”

Rose snorted and rolled her eyes. “It’s for the reward, silly. If you get the high score at one of those video games, then you get a prize. Carly got some BP when she did it! And I need some of that, really badly.”

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and bit her lip in frustration. “The more BP I get, the closer I’ll get to growing my hair back out.”

Holly blinked.

“Why don’t you just use your bounty list?” She pointed out. “I mean, that’s got all sorts of stuff on it you can use to earn BP, right?”

Rose paused.

She turned to Holly.

Then she slapped herself on the forehead.

“Are you kidding me!?” She groaned. “How the heck did I forget that?!”

She’d been claiming bounties left and right these last few rounds, but it had completely slipped her mind this time.

“I’m thinking it’s because you were so focused on making a good impression on Amelia,” Holly said, trying not to laugh. “And here I thought I was the sycophant.”

“You wouldn’t understand, because you like people thinking less of you,” Rose sniffed, fishing out her list. “As Amelia’s future favorite stepdaughter-in-law-”

“Yeah, no, that’s not happening.” Holly cut her off with shake of the head. “If it’s anyone, it’s gonna be Mary.”

“As Amelia’s future favorite stepdaughter-in-law,” Rose repeated with a growl, ignoring those pesky little details like “facts” coming from the other girl’s mouth, “I need to show her just why I’m such a good fit for Nick!”

She winked at Holly. “Can you imagine? I can already see her tearfully giving her support, standing up at the wedding to talk about how perfect of a couple we are…”

Rose had stars in her eyes as she envisioned that, giving Morgana a run for her money in terms of unrealistic delusions.

Holly rolled her eyes and grunted in disgust.

“…Whatever, right, time to get back to the list,” Rose said, taking a look at her bounty sheet for this round.

This Round’s Bounties:

French Kiss another Contestant in Front of the Master – 100 BP

Wear a Pet Collar for One Full Day (24 consecutive hours) – 100 BP

Cook a Meal for the Master While Wearing a Naked Apron – 300 BP

Bring the Master to Orgasm with Your Breasts – 300 BP

Give the Master a Blowjob and Swallow his Semen – 500 BP

Have Sex with the Master in Public – 500 BP

Use a Sex Toy on another Contestant – 500 BP

Wear the Master’s Cum on Face for One Full Day (24 consecutive hours) – 1000 BP

Clean the Master’s Suite While Wearing a French Maid Outfit – x100 BP (Can obtain multiple times, 100 BP per night completed.)

Have Anal Sex with the Master – 2500 BP

Rose was astonished by the extensive list. Particularly that last category. She felt a little queasy just looking at it.

“What’s it say?” Holly asked, peaking over her shoulder. When she spotted the last one, she whistled. “Oh, wow. Anal sex?”

“Absolutely not!” Rose exclaimed, turning bright red and shaking her head. “That… that place is not meant for-!”

“Are you sure, though?” Holly tapped her chin. “It’s a LOT of BP.”

Holly wasn’t wrong there. That was the highest reward that had ever been posted on her bounty sheet before, a full 500 BP higher than the usual top reward.

But… even Rose had her limits!

“It… it’s going to hurt,” she said, shaking her head. “Something like that… no, it’s just not right. I’m not some painslut like you, Holly, I’m very delicate!”

“If you say so,” Holly shrugged. “But you know… I’m pretty sure that nobody’s had anal sex with Nick at all so far.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Rose scoffed. “No one would want to do something so painful and demented.”

Holly shook her head. “No, you’re not getting it. What I mean is, if you’re the first one to do it, then won’t you get a double bonus? You know, for doing it first? And anal sex is probably worth a lot of VP, I imagine.”

Rose twinged.

“…If you’re still trying to win, I mean… you’re in, what, third place? Right behind Morgana? This could skyrocket you up into first, just saying,” Holly said, shrugging. “Plus you’d get a lot of VP. It’s just a suggestion, though, you don’t have to actually do it. I mean, if you’re not comfortable with it, anyway. But not even Mary’s done that with him, yet.”

Rose reached over and grabbed Holly by the ponytail.

“Hey! Ow! Let me go! I only like that stuff while Nick’s around, ow!” Holly wailed, feeling the pull on her scalp.

“You think I don’t know when someone’s trying to goad me?” Rose scowled. “You just want to watch Nick do that stuff to me!”

“I thought that went without saying!” Holly snapped, not even trying to deny it.

Rose rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing right now. …Well, she could, because it was Holly.

Relenting, she let the little maid go.

“You don’t understand!” Rose crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side. “My relationship with Nick is pure and wholesome! I’m not some debauched deviant! The thought of doing something like… th-that…”

She swallowed and shook her head. “It’s just not happening!” And that was final.

“Then aren’t you just giving up the opportunity to someone else?” Holly pointed out.

Rose glared at her, her lips twisting into a bitter scowl. She hated the fact that she couldn’t deny that was definitely the case.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin is devoted to him,” Holly reminded her. “She’d absolutely do whatever Nick wanted. And since she’s an assassin who’s been genetically augmented, I’m betting it won’t even hurt.”

Rose’s eye twitched.

“Plus, doesn’t she come before you? So if you don’t act fast, her night will be before yours, and you’ll miss your chance.”

Rose’s eye twitched again.

“And that’s assuming, of course, that nobody else is willing to do it,” Holly added. “Morgana’s night is tomorrow, right? And she’s really been into ass stuff…”

Rose wanted to strangle the little gremlin. But she knew if she tried, she’d just get a penalty from Dakota. And Holly would enjoy herself regardless…

“Yeah, so if you’re really taking this as seriously as you say you are, I know what I would do if was you.”

…Well, Rose would just have to enjoy strangling Holly even more, then.