Well, that's just my way of sayin' I love you, I'm always walkin'

“Woooooo!” Carly’s heard surfaced from the water and she let out a loud whistle, kicking slightly. She cracked a grin, staring up at Marley and Morgana as she treaded water. “Marley! Morgana! You two just gonna stay on the shore all day?! Come on in, the water’s fine!”

Morgana swallowed and glanced at the lake. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go swimming… it was just that she didn’t want to go swimming.

Even if the water was, as Carly put it, “fine”.

“I’m, um…” Morgana bit her lip. “I’m fine… really! I don’t need to go!”

Carly blinked and stared up at the goth girl, surprised. “You sure? Everything okay?” She asked, paddling back to the shore. Morgana noticed as she drew closer that Carly’s large boobs were floating on the surface partially. It was a rather surreal sight.

She quickly averted her eyes.

“It’s just… well…” She swallowed, biting her lip.

Carly’s eyes widened and she cracked a grin. “Oh, I see how it is!” She laughed. “You don’t want to get in the water because you don’t want to take your clothes off, is that it?”

Morgana’s pale cheeks flushed scarlet. “That’s-! I mean…”

Carly was right on the money.

In spite of her raunchy fantasies, Morgana was, in her heart, a very composed and innocent person. The idea of stripping naked, even in front of other girls, just to go skinny-dipping… it was a little embarrassing. And by a little embarrassing, she meant a lot embarrassing.

“Come on!” Carly splashed her. “You’ve been to the hot spring before!”

That was also true. And Morgana had been fine with that…

“What if… what if Nick comes, though?” She asked lamely, peaking over her shoulder. “What if he sees me like this?”

She knew she was grasping for straws at this point. But Carly cracked a grin anyway and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Well, in that case,” she purred, licking her lips, “even better!”

Morgana blanched. She didn’t like the sound of that.

“You can’t be serious!” She exclaimed, and Carly just laughed.

Marley sighed and shook her head. “She’s serious alright,” she said tersely. “You’re talking to the woman who had sex with him in the shower. She’d show off even more if he was right here, and you know it’s true.”

Morgana winced. That did sound a lot like Carly.

“Well, I just don’t see what the big deal is,” Carly scoffed. “Wouldn’t it be nice, to spend a little time with him? Show off my best sides?”

She kicked up, bobbing on the water and making her chest shake. Morgana blushed and politely looked away, while Marley impolitely rolled her eyes.

That caught Carly’s attention. “What about you, sis? I know it’s not just goingt to be a modesty thing with you, right? You know as well as I do that Nick’s probably not going to come anywhere near here after all.”

Morgana winced. But she also knew that Carly was right. Nick probably wouldn’t come anywhere near her or the lake- that would involve actually leaving the hotel and going off to do something adventurous, and he was far too lazy for that.

But that wasn’t why Marley had decided to refrain.

“I’m thinking that water and I don’t mix very well,” she said, leaning over and kicking her foot against the surface of the lake. “Since I don’t trust you not to misjudge the distance and end up getting more than ten feet away from me… and if that happens, I don’t want to find out when I go full slime while swimming in the lake.”

That sounded really gross, and possibly even dangerous. No, no way Marley was trusting her sister with going in the water, not after what had happened yesterday.

“Come on,” Carly groaned. “You’re going to be fine! I won’t get too far away, trust me!”

Marley glared at her.

“You ran away and turned me into an oil slick,” she pointed out. “On purpose! You can’t really think I’d trust you after that, right?!”

Carly blinked and laughed sheepishly. “Oh… ah, haha…” She bit her lip and blushed a little. “I already apologized for that!” She reminded her sister. “It was the best way we had to get away from Morgana, and you know it!”

She glanced over at Morgana. “Sorry… no offense.”

“No, I mean… you’re not wrong,” Morgana said, turning red. She wished that things hadn’t gone the way they had, but that was just the situation they’d been in yesterday. Her eyes quickly leapt to Marley. She could still remember what it felt like, being covered in her. It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant sensation, that was for sure.

Carly frowned, looking a little miffed. “You guys seriously aren’t going to come in?” She asked, paddling over to the shore. “But it’s fun!”

She’d arranged this little expedition so they could all laugh together while splashing around in the water. If her traveling companions didn’t want to do that, though, then what was even the point of coming here?

Sure, there were the sights, but still.

Marley let out a long, tired sigh. She wanted to stick to her guns, she really did. But her sister was giving her those big puppydog eyes, and she couldn’t resist for very long, not when Carly really, really wanted to do something.

So not seeing any other option, she begrudgingly started to strip her sweater off, making her chest bounce as it rose over her head.

“I guess it’s easier to stay within ten feet of you if we’re both in the water,” Marley acknowledged bitterly.

“Really!? Awesome!” Carly crowed. “I promise, I SO promise, I won’t go anywhere!” It wasn’t like Carly enjoyed turning her sister back into slime or anything like that. She was going to try her best to make sure that didn’t happen.

As for Morgana, that put some added pressure onto her. She and Marley had been (sort of) in solidarity, but now it was down to just her.

And frankly? She was still feeling really exhausted and hot.

“Okay, um… I’ll come in, too,” she relented, and Carly could squeal with joy if she was the kind of person to do something like that.

Instead, she punched the air.

“Okay, that’s what I’m talking about!” She crowed, nodding her head excitedly. “Just three friends handing out in the lake, splashing around and having a good time!”

Morgana and Marley finished undressing. Both were a little more cautious about showing off their bodies than Carly was, doing their best to hold their arms over their large chests and hide their nipples from any wandering eyes. Even if Carly was the only other person here, there were millions of people watching in the audience. And it would be really uncomfortable to show off their bodies to them without a good reason.

…Which made little sense whatsoever, as far as Carly was concerned. After all, the audience had no-doubt seen them all naked dozens of times when they took showers. So unless Morgana had never taken a shower on this show before…

…

Actually, it was Morgana. Carly could have bought that, if not for the fact that she knew the shy little goth had been in the hot springs.

For now, though, Morgana was quick to slip into the water. She winced a little at first, due to the cold, but once she was in she felt herself be soothed by the lake, helping her relax.

“Ah… you were right, Carly,” she said, turning to her friend and smiling. “This really does feel pretty good.”

“I know,” Carly grinned, splashing her playfully. “It makes all your fatigue and soreness just wash away, doesn’t it?”

The hot springs were a good place to relax and let the day’s woes escape you. But this lake was no slouch in that department, either. Morgana was glad she’d changed her mind; feeling the water wash over her was quite an experience, and it really made all that hard work she’d spent climbing up the side of the mountain worth it.

That just left Marley.

“Well, sis?” Carly called. “Even Morgana’s got bigger balls than you!”

Marley glared at her sister, then cracked a wicked smile. She had a fun idea. Carly wanted her to come play in the water? Well, Marley could play in the water.

“Okay!” She shouted at her sister. “Watch out, then!”

And without any hesitation she leapt into the air, aiming right for her sister. She tucked her knees under her chest and held her body tight, forming a cannonball. One that was headed right for Carly’s stunned face.

“Whoa! Hey!” Carly barely had time for those words to escape her lips as she tried desperately to paddle away, to no avail. Marley hit the water hard, just barely missing her sister (she hadn’t actually been aiming to hit her, of course) with the waves shooting up and splashing over the startled and flustered cosplayer.

A few seconds later, Marley surfaced, laughing her head off.

“Hah” She crowed. “You should have seen the look on your face, sis! You’re the one who wanted me to play, right?”

“You jerk!” Carly shouted, grinning brightly. She splashed her sister playfully, and Marley splashed her back. Then splashes turned into shoves. Then wrestling.

Then within the course of about a minute, it became a contest of “who could hold the other’s breath the longest?”

“Uh…” Morgana stared weakly at Marley as she held her thrashing sister’s head under the water. “Is that safe?”

“It’s fine, the show won’t let her die,” Marley assured her with a shrug. “And what are they going to do to me? I already have an elimination transformation, after all.”

Morgana blinked. That raised a valid point.

“Besides, I think that’s enough fun,” Marley said, relenting and letting her sister come up for air. Carly surfaced immediately, gasping for breath, and glared at her sister.

“Okay, that’s a little much!” She loudly declared. Then she cracked a smile. “…But it’s okay. I’m glad we were able to have some fun.”

“So am I,” Marley said, smiling back.

Carly paddled over to Morgana, startling the goth.

“What about you, Morgana? Are you having fun?” She asked.

Morgana blushed and nodded.

“Yeah,” the goth admitted. “It’s been a lot of fun, playing with you guys.”

She was filled with happiness and relief. She genuinely hadn’t expected everything to be going this well when she woke up this morning.

“…I’m grateful,” Morgana added, smiling sheepishly. “After what I did yesterday, you guys would be totally in the right to never speak to me again, you know?” She’d absolutely believed that would happen. “I mean… I chased you, trying to turn you into sex slaves…”

Carly sighed and rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she scoffed. “Let’s not do that again.”

“Huh?” Morgana blinked.

“We already resolved this before, remember? This morning?” Marley reminded her. “We’re cool. We get it. That was just a twisted transformation. It had nothing to do with you.”

Morgana was grateful to hear that, she really was. But at the same time, that wasn’t quite the case, as much as she would like to admit it.

“I think though… it kind of… it really was me,” she admitted, confusing the twins.

“What, you mean you remember it?” Carly aked. ‘Because that doesn’t seem like such a weird thing if you ask me.”

“I still have all my memories from being Mimi, if that helps,” Marley offered. She didn’t know if that would make the situation better or worse. It wasn’t like the two incidents were completely connected to one another.

But Morgana shook her head.

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about,” she said. “What I mean is… that woman… she was what I always aspired to be. Confident. Sexy. Dominant. An amazing witch who could do anything, and didn’t take orders from anyone. The kind of woman who would be the perfect ruler of Nick’s harem, always right y his side and lording over the other women in his harem.

Carly blinked.

“…So, Dakota. You want to be Dakota.”

Morgana blushed. “It wasn’t-! Well, look. I just… I mean…”

It was hard to get the words out. She should have said all this to Dawn this morning. Dawn would have understood. She was always really perceptive about the stuff that frustrated Morgana, especially when it was something like this.

“…I don’t know if that’s… who I want to be anymore,” she said quietly.

The twins looked at her in shock.

“Seriously?” Marley asked, swimming over to her. “Are you saying you’re done with all that witch stuff now, Morgana?”

“No, I mean… maybe?” Morgana wasn’t sure how to describe what she was feeling. “Look, it’s just… a situation like that, when I did the kind of stuff I did… it wasn’t a good thing! You know that, don’t you? How many people the other me hurt? And she was my ideal! The kind of woman I tried to emulate, who I crafted my entire persona around!”

Knowing that the other you, your ideal self, had gone around hurting your friends, that was a bitter pill to swallow. And Morgana wasn’t exactly thrilled by it.

Carly bit her lip and nodded sympathetically. “Hey, it’s okay,” she said, wrapping her arm over Morgana’s shoulder and pulling her into a sideways hug. “You’re still trying to find yourself, you know. You tried something, and it didn’t go the way you thought it would. In the future, you can work hard to avoid making that kind of mistake, right?”

Morgana sniffled and nodded.

“Yeah…” She agreed. “Yeah, I can…”

That did help make her feel better, even though the doubt in her heart wasn’t fully cleared away.

There was something else she wanted to ask, too, though.

“One other thing,” Morgana said quietly. “How, um… how do you think I should act around Nick, from now on?” She asked. “Now that he knows what I did?”

Just because the girls had forgiven her, that didn’t mean Nick would.

But Carly wasn’t worried.

“It’s Nick,” she laughed. “Knowing that guy, he’s probably already forgiven you!”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Marley chuckled, shaking her head. “That guy is a big old teddy bear. He’s not going to hold a grudge over something like this.”

Morgana felt that way too. But there was something else eating away at her thoughts at the moment.

“No, what I mean is… do you think… he wouldn’t want me to be that way, would he?” She asked cautiously. “All, like, dominant and stuff? He wouldn’t, right? He prefers his women like Gina and Mary, very submissive…”

Carly snorted, and that quickly turned into a fit of laughter. “Nick?! Oh, honey, no, knowing that guy, he’s liable to just lie back and take it. If you wanted to be that kind of dom, of course. Just because he’s got sex slaves, that doesn’t mean he won’t let you enjoy yourself exploring a new side to you, alright Morgana?”

Morgana wasn’t sure she wanted to do that. She opened her mouth to say something, but Carly stepped in to quiet her.

“Actually…” She began, feeling the first hints of her transformation starting up, “I have a few ideas of how you can better appeal to Nick’s tastes…”

At the moment, Nick was experiencing a bit of the joy that came from dominating already. Something the other Morgana definitely would have been appreciative of, especially the way he fed into Gina’s desire to be humiliated.

“You’re such a slut,” he hissed, catching his breath. He’d emptied himself into Gina’s mouth several times, even though he knew that they had more important things to do today. It felt like he’d been going at it for hours!

“I’m your slut, master,” Gina said, licking her lips. Her skin was practically glowing now that her addiction had been temporarily abated. “Your slutty little sex ****, who just loves showing you how much she enjoys sucking your manhood.”

Leave it to Gina to stroke his ego almost as nicely as she stroked his penis. It was nice hearing her say stuff like that about him; it could be even that’s why he kept succumbing to her advances.

But now that he could think with a clear head, there was something he wanted to ask her.

“Hey, Gina, you said you had a nightmare last night?” He asked cautiously, remembering how Gina had demanded he take charge of her “just like in her dream”.

But Gina shook her head and cracked a smile.

“Nightmare? I don’t remember saying anything about that,” Gina said coyly. “In fact, I’m filled with nothing but gratitude for the nice dream Morgana gave me!”

She rose to her feet and brushed herself off while Nick pulled his zipper back up. He studied her carefully out of the corner of his eye, and noticed that she was being a little neater than she normally was; she was actually making sure her clothes looked nice. As nice as grunge rock stuff with intentional rips, tears, and frayed edges could look, anyway.

He’d heard that Gina’s transformation had turned her into a pure little good girl. But she also had that other transformation too, the one that made her think in good girl terms and was slowly working on adjusting her moral compass.

He decided to file that away for later. If Gina noticed her increased diligence, she hadn’t made a scene about it.

“We should really get going,” Nick said, exiting the bathroom with Gina in tow. “I want to check up on the others. Just to make sure they’re doing okay.”

Dani in particular he was worried about, given her track record with this sort of thing. The last thing he needed was for her to go on a witch hunt, with Morgana playing the role of the witch.

But he had barely walked out of the Banquet Hall when someone caught him by surprise with a flying tackle and threw herself into his arms.

“Daddy!” Sylvia wailed, putting on the most cutesy voice she could as she nuzzled her cheek against his chest. “I had a very bad dream! Can you hug me and tell me that it’s going to be okay?”

She looked up at him, and he worried expression gave way to an amused smirk for a fraction of a second before returning to looking scared.

Nick sighed. And then there were people like this. What a pain in the ass Sylvia could be.