What winning's really like at all

While Dawn was going to wash off the slime, Nick and the rest of the girls went to go rent a locker and put their stuff away. They made it back to the courtyard with the carnival games just as Dawn was walking out of the nearest bathroom.

Dawn returned to the group with a dreary expression on her face and her arms over her bra. She didn’t have much to shield though.

“…So, I may have overreacted,” she mumbled under her breath. Nick glanced at the rumpled state of her outfit and saw that her clothes were mostly dried of the slime, but her hair still looked matted together and greasy.

“Yeah, Sylvia told us that the slime wasn’t an aphrodisiac after you left,” Nick said. “It was just a little prank.”

Sylvia only offered a sheepish, apologetic smile. “…I’m really sorry, Dawn,” she said, and it actually sounded like she meant it. “It was just a little payback for getting Rose to go along with making me sick earlier… I thought that’s what friends are supposed to do for each other.”

Her face shifted with guilt.

“Are you mad at me?” She asked, surprising Nick by the look in her eye. “I wouldn’t blame you if you’re mad at me. But I really appreciate you winning all that Mimi Merch for me. Thank you, Dawn,” she said quietly, walking up and throwing her arms around the other woman.

Dawn stood there frozen like a statue, not sure what she should say. But after a few seconds she raised her arms and hugged Sylvia back.

“Hey, no, it’s fine,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about it, Sylvia. We’re good. I guess it’s just what I deserve.”

The two parted, and Sylvia was still smiling. She turned to Nick with stars in her eyes.

“Daddy! Look! I said I was sorry, and someone forgave me!”

“That’s great, Sylvia!” Nick smiled, genuinely thrilled for her. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Aw, what a touching moment!” Rose wiped her eyes. “A story of friendship and bonding! Aren’t you touched, Morgana?”

Morgana smiled a little. “It… it is nice,” she admitted, nodding her head. “Seeing them get along like that…”

“So what’s the plan now?” Rose asked, now that the moment had passed. “We already put the prizes away in a locker when you were gone, Dawn. You guys want to play any more of these games? Because I could take them or leave them, to be honest.”

“The plan now,” Dawn said, taking back her blouse, the only dry article of clothing she had left, and slipping it on, “is frankly up in the air. But it’s getting into the afternoon…”

She turned to the counter of the nearest game, where Kim was diligently waiting for someone to come play.

“Hey, Kim, are you still on the clock?” She called over to the other girl.

Kim didn’t know how to answer that with anything other than a shrug.

“Dunno!” She called back. “I guess so? I don’t know if they’d tell me or anything. I guess I’m off the clock when my transformation turns me back into a schoolgirl!”

“That’s a reasonable expectation to have,” Rose nodded. “So in the meantime, you guys want to go around and see some extra rides, or-”

“Oh! Hey! You guys are here!”

Nick turned to see Holly bounding up to him.

“Hello, master!” She greeted him with a chipper smile, hopping up and throwing her arms around his neck. She hung off him for a second before dropping back down to the ground. “Tell me, did you miss me?”

“Yeah, of course I did,” Nick smiled, but he soon glanced past her at the others who were catching up. Mary, eager as always, was at the front, with the twins walking up as well. Nick noticed there was an awkward amount of distance between the two of them and Dani, and he suspected that something had happened. And in the back was Gina, unfazed by all of this, and lazily strolling after them.

“These are some really interesting games,” she smirked, glancing at the sexual component of most of them. She focused specifically on the Cockring Toss.

“Hey,” Dani said, approaching Nick and the others. “Do they have, like, a Strength Tester game?”

“Of course they do!” Sylvia answered for Nick immediately. “Right this way!”

“Sylvia…” Nick sighed. “Don’t forget to tell her the important part.”

“What important part?” Dani asked, looking suspiciously between the two of them. “Speak, Nick.”

“The games here aren’t quite like the kind you’re used to,” Sylvia said, waving her arms around the courtyard.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Dani said, crossing her arms over her chest. “They’re all pretty sexual. I’m assuming this one is no different?”

“Well, it’s not just that, though,” Nick said, shaking his head. “The bigger problem is the fact that, well… if you actually want to win anything, then you have to bet your clothing, and if you lose it, well… then you lose it.”

“…Oh.”

Nick was surprised. Dani didn’t look as bothered by that as he thought she would be.

“But the prizes are really great!” Sylvia said, trying to get the tomboy on board.

“What prizes are there?” Marley asked curiously, entering the conversation.

“I can answer that!” Kim called from one of the stands. Everyone turned to her, and she reached down below the counter to pull out the familiar glass display.

“Whoa, no way!” Carly dashed over to the counter. Her eyes were shining. “Look, it’s us! But we’re, like, miniature and stuff! They turned us into anime figurines!”

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Gina snorted, rolling her eyes. “What a ridiculous idea. But I gotta say, that’s pretty smart.”

“Thank you!” Sylvia grinned. “I try.”

“I think that’s really… wait, that’s me!” Dani’s face started to burn. “You guys made figurines of me?! What about commercial rights, huh?!”

Sylvia stared blankly at her.

“…Here at Harem Hotel, we respect an individual’s right to profit off of their own image. However, as discussed in your contract, Harem Hotel reserves the right to-”

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Dani said, cutting her off right there. “I guess you’re still enjoying the taste of that boot, huh?”

Sylvia blinked, and stared at her in confusion. “What do you mean by that, my girl?”

“I think she’s making a dig at you for being so loyal to Dakota even after everything she’s done,” Mary said quietly. It wasn’t a topic anyone wanted to bring up easily, but they couldn’t exactly avoid discussing it, either.

Sylvia blinked, and her lips pinched together in a thin smile.

“…Well, alright then,” she said, shrugging. “I guess I tried. But hey, look, if you girls don’t want to win the anime figures, well, we do have sex toys!”

“Oh, for real?” Holly’s eyes were sparkling. “That sounds just swell!”

“What are you going to do with a sex toy?” Rose asked, smirking. “It’s not like you can actually use one on your… well, you know.”

Holly shrugged.

Dani was still checking out her appearance in the figurine. As a connoisseur of anime figures, she had a very good eye for quality. And she didn’t like admitting this, but the figures were, in fact, of a very high quality.

With that being said, she wasn’t exactly thrilled to see herself modeled in PVC. But at least it could be worse, right?

“Even I have a figure…” Mary mumbled. Looking at her own smiling face, miniaturized and posed for anyone to admire, was a little…

“Oh, Mary, just so you know, I won one of these,” Rose said, rapping her fingertips against the glass and shooting her a playful expression.

Mary wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

“One of these, you mean… you bought your own figurine?” She asked, glancing at the Rose figure. It was rather beautiful and glamorous, even if it wasn’t wearing the clothes that Rose would normally be wearing.

When she looked back at the real thing, though, and saw the wicked grin on her face, a chill ran down Mary’s spine.

Rose slowly shook her head.

“I got one of you,” she informed the redhead.

Mary’s jaw dropped. “What!?” She exclaimed. “You got a figurine of me?!”

“That’s right,” Rose chortled. “A cute little Mary figure with removal top and everything! I’m putting it on my nightstand!

“That’s… don’t do that!” Mary wailed. The thought of someone owning a toy modeled after her was just weird.

Rose’s only reply was to stick out her tongue in a teasing manner.

“Anyway, this is all well and good, but now that we’ve all joined up together, do you guys want to go on some of the rides?” Gina asked, walking over to the others. She wasn’t exactly thrilled by the carnival games, she wanted her time at the Amusement Park to be more exciting and engaging.

“Judging by the time, Kim should only have a few more minutes on the clock,” Nick replied. “Do you think that maybe we can wait until then? That way, we can all go together.”

Kim blinked. “…Aw, Nick! That’s so sweet of you! For saying something like that, here’s a nice little peek, just for you!”

She took her arm away to reveal her nipples, before quickly covering her breasts back up. It was more than ample time for Nick to burn every detail into his mind, though.

While the other girls and Nick were discussing where they wanted to go, Carly walked over to Dawn with a curious look in her eye.

“What happened to you?” She asked, pointing at the cat girl’s hair. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you took half a dozen facials!”

Carly cracked a grin. She knew there was no way that could be possible, it was Dawn, after all! But the thought that it could be meant-

Wait, why is she blushing?

Carly sensed some blood in the water.

“Dawn, is everything okay?” She asked worriedly. Marley came over to see what was going on.

“Yeah, no, everything’s fine,” Dawn said quickly, shaking her head. “It’s just, well… I was playing this game, and I may have fallen into a pit of slime once or twice.”

She couldn’t stop her eyes from shifting to look at Marley momentarily.

“Slime?” Marley asked, frowning. “What do you mean by that?”

Dawn sighed. “It’s one of the games. Have you guys ever been to the carnival games at an amusement park before?”

“I was more of a roller coaster type girl,” Carly said, shaking her head. Marley shook her head as well, agreeing with her sister.

Dawn sighed. “Well, there’s this game where… you know, it would be better if I just showed you.” She turned and beckoned for the sisters to come after her, leading them towards the other end of the courtyard where the Slime Climb had been placed.

Seeing the three of them walk off, the others followed after them, all while keeping up with their conversation.

“…Well, there it is,” Dawn said, gesturing to the ladder game. “The Slime Climb. Not exactly a creative title, but…”

“Hey, I didn’t come up with it,” Kim pointed out, leaning forward over the counter. She glance pointedly at Sylvia.

“Hey, that is a very catchy name and you know it, my girl!” Sylvia replied with an indignant huff.

Kim rolled her eyes. Like she cared.

“So what, you just climb up that ladder, and then ring the bell?” Dani asked. “And if you fall, you land in the slime? Sounds simple enough.”

“I wouldn’t try it, if I were you,” Rose tittered. “It’s much more difficult than you might think it is!”

“Hey!” Marley crouched down next to the pool of slime. “This stuff… it’s like mine, but… it’s not. How weird.”

She jammed her finger into the quivering liquid.

“Marley!” Carly said worriedly. “Don’t just touch that stuff, are you crazy?!”

Marley rolled her eyes. “It’s fine, sis. What, do you think I’m going to fall in and melt with the stuff or something?”

A guilty expression crossed Carly’s face and she looked away. “Well, I mean… it could be possible,” she mumbled to herself.

“I’d be more concerned with aphrodisiacs,” Mary said, crossing her arms over her chest. “That stuff is probably going to make you super-horny or something! I wouldn’t put it past this show to do something like that!”

“And you should really listen to her, since she’s the horniest one here,” Gina pointed out. “She can’t even keep her shirt on!”

Mary’s face turned crimson. “That-! That was an accident!” She exclaimed, stomping her foot and glaring at the punk girl.

“It’s not an aphrodisiac or anything like that,” Sylvia assured the other girls. “It’s just regular, wholesome, family-friendly slime.”

A silence fell over the courtyard.

“…It looks like semen,” Morgana pointed out, a fact that made Dawn feel even more sick to her stomach. Her one saving grace was that she never put the stuff in her mouth when she fell into the pit twice.

Then again, if it’s Nick’s semen, then maybe that’s fine… maybe? She wondered. It wouldn’t be her first rodeo with Nick’s sperm.

“…Anyway, I get the message,” Dani said, shivering and making a face. “No trying the Slime Climb, loud and clear.”

“But you gotta!” Sylvia said. “This is the only game that offers Mimi Merch! Don’t you want some of that?”

“What!?” Marley jerked up, staring in wide-eyed shock at the blonde. “What do you mean ‘Mimi Merch’ huh?”

Sylvia looked strangely at her sort-of daughter. “I mean, exactly what I said,” she replied, blinking in confusion. “Mimi figures, Mimi stuffed animals, we’ve got ‘em both! Don’t you want to play the game and win the prize?”

Marley couldn’t’ believe what she was hearing. “You made… merchandise out of me?” She asked, shaking her head slowly. “Not just me how I am now, but how I was back then?”

Sylvia nodded, not sure what else she needed to say at this point.

“And you… and you won them for me, right?” Marley wiped at her eye.

“Well, technically Dawn won them for you,” Sylvia admitted. “But I really, really wanted to have some mementos to remember the old you by, so-”

Marley didn’t give her a chance to finish that sentence. She wrapped her arms around Sylvia and hugged her tightly into her chest, squeezing her and not letting go.

“That’s so sweet,” she sobbed. “Thank you, mom. You’re the best.”

Just hearing those words from her made Sylvia’s face break out into a loopy, happy smile. “Yeah, uh… not a problem…”

Marley let her go after a few seconds, and wiped her eyes. She turned and looked longingly back at the ladder, and the bell hung above it.

“Don’t even think about it,” Carly warned her, shaking her head.

“But sis-”

“Don’t you ‘but sis’ me,” Carly said, shaking her head. “That ladder goes further than ten feet. If you tried, you’d end up melting by the time you reached the halfway point. And I’m not about to let that happen. Nor am I going to join you in climbing it, because that sounds awful.”

Her expression softened. “Sorry, sis.”

“Maybe Dawn will go again!” Rose suggested with a smile. “She seemed to have a lot of fun retrieving that stuff for Sylvia!”

Dawn pinched her lips into a tight scowl and shook her head. “Never again,” she snarled, having zero intention of ever allowing something like that.

Nobody could really blame her, honestly.

“It’s fine,” Marley smiled. “It’s enough to know that the stuff exists. That the old me… is still being remembered in some form.”

She looked wistfully at the plushies hanging from the rafters of the game. Sylvia could see the tears in her eyes.

Then Marley turned back to her with a smile on her face.

“And also… I’m glad that you have them, mom,’ she added. Looking at the two of them beaming at each other, they relaly did look like mother and daughter, even though Marley was slightly taller than the blonde.

“So if we’re not going to do this game, what are we going to do?” Gina complained. She was starting to get bored, and her throat was starting to feel dry. “I have an idea for a ride we can go on.”

“I already told you,” Dani sniffed. “We’re going to the Strength Tester. You know, so we can win a prize?”

Nick wasn’t sure what Dani wanted with any of the prizes here- maybe to keep them on display? But the girls followed her to another stand, this one set up to look like the gong on a gameshow. It was a ride Nick was very familiar with, but there were a few changes to the usual fare.

For one, there wasn’t any bell to go off when the ringer hit. Instead of a bell, there was a nice pair of naked buttocks sticking out at the top. And as for the ringer of the bell itself, well… that resembled an open hand.

Sylvia cleared her throat. “…The official name is ‘The Spank Tester’ actually,” she informed the other girls.

“Oh, that’s just great!” Gina chortled.

“I don’t know why we should have expected anything different,” Mary sighed, and shook her head. She rubbed her forehead in sympathetic frustration.

Dani shrugged, and walked over to the counter. She wasn’t exactly thrilled by the slightly-obscene game, but given what she’d gone through already today, “slightly-obscene” was a bit of an improvement if she was being honest.

“The rules are still the same, right?” She asked, picking up the comically oversized hammer. “If I make the bell ring, then I get a big prize?”

“Yeah, that’s the case,” Kim nodded. She glanced at Dani’s outfit. “But, uh…”

“Remember, Dani, you have to wager your clothing,” Nick warned. “It’s really not worth it. If you lose, then they get to keep your clothes.”

“Yes, Nick, I’m aware of that,” Dani replied.

Then, she kicked off her shoes, and placed them on the counter.

…

Dawn turned to Nick.

“Shoes,” she hissed, with just a hint of bitterness. “I was walking around with my shirt off, because none of us thought to wager shoes.”

Sylvia and Rose tried very hard not to laugh. Gina didn’t even bother, and just stated cackling.