You know you can hide in my arms all night now

Carly and Rose were practically in a sprint from the central elevator to their room.

“Why do we have to run?” Rose whined. “I don’t like running!”

“We need to get back before the 12-hour time limit is up,” Carly replied. “I’m not interested in giving Sylvia an extra 500 BP if I don’t have to!”

Fittingly, Carly’s costume today was something that seemed right out of a steampunk story. She didn’t know the series so she didn’t change her hair, but she was wearing a rusty red-brown corset with a frilly black skirt, tall leather boots over silky brown tights, a strange red hat on her head that looked like it was from another century, and there were gratuitous gears all over the place. It looked like the kind of clothing someone focused on time would be wearing.

The two girls burst into the room just as the counter was reached.

To Carly’s relief, she saw that Marley and Sylvia were laughing and getting a long, just as she’d hoped. It warmed her heart to see them both smiling like that.

Carly: 8100 BP – 500 BP = 7600 BP

Sylvia: 4200 BP + 500 BP = 4700 BP

“Oh! Sis!” Marley brightened as she saw Carly come in. She hopped to her feet and rushed over to her, since they were right on the cusp of the ten foot limit. “Hey!”

“So how did it go?” Sylvia asked, double-checking her BP total. “You manage to work everything out, about… you know?”

Carly glanced at Rose, who was wearing an awkward expression. The other girl just shrugged.

“…Yeah,” Carly said, putting on a shy smile. Her cheeks dusted pink. “I think… I think I know what I’m feeling now.”

With that, she knew she needed to have another conversation with Dani. And she wanted this one to be private.

“Hey, Rose, can I ask you a big favor?” She turned to the blonde.

Rose scratched her head, uncertain. “I-I guess,” she mumbled. “Bigger than joining you in a threesome, though?”

Carly rolled her eyes. “You loved that and you know it. That was for your sake as much as mine!”

Well… Rose couldn’t deny that.

“Okay, what’s the favor?” She asked.

“I need you to take care of my sister for the day,” Carly said. “You know, with your transformation, to make yourself into our sister.”

“Carly?” Marley was curious about that. They’d just reunited, after all. But when she saw the resolute expression on her sister’s face, she knew there had to be more to it.

Rose frowned. “Why? Couldn’t you just assign me as her babysitter?”

“Well, I could,” Carly admitted. “But that would cost me BP.”

Rose frowned. “Oh, I see, so it’s okay to pay Sylvia 500 BP, but you’re gonna bilk me out of free babysitting, is that it?”

“…Basically that was the plan,” Carly nodded bluntly.

Rose sighed. “Some favor!”

“Come on, Rose, you made a ton of BP off me already!” Carly pointed out. “You got 800 BP for free, just from being part of that threesome!”

“Yeah, that was my bounty sheet, this is a favor,” Rose pointed out. “I’m not a charity here!”

“Come on, please?” Carly begged. “It’s really important!”

Apparently, it wasn’t important enough to pay 500 BP for. Rose wasn’t exactly impressed.

“I’ll owe you big time!” Carly added.

“Okay, I’ll collect now, 500 BP.”

Carly scowled. But she knew Rose wasn’t wrong here.

“…Fine, fine…” She groaned, nodding in resignation and holding out her hand. “This stupid upgraded transformation is going to bankrupt me, I swear…”

“Okay, I’m just joking. I’ll do it,” Rose cut her off before she could accept the shake. “You don’t have to pay me.”

“Really?” Carly brightened. “Then why the whole song and dance?”

Rose cracked a grin. “Just wanted to see you sweat a little,” she said, batting her eyelashes. “So you remember not to take advantage of me in the future like this. You’re still owing me that favor, you know!” She reminded her. “Especially after what happened last night!”

Carly nodded. “Anything, name it. …Well, almost anything. I can’t promise I’m going to pick you as my buddy next round, but-”

Rose raised her hand. “Nah, I don’t care about that. I’ve got it covered. Just gotta win again, right?” She cracked a smile.

Carly frowned. The insinuation was that Rose thought she could beat her. And given their track records… she was kind of right.

Carly was practically the only person here with a worse win/loss ratio on challenges than Rose.

“Okay, with that settled, time to join the family!” Rose nodded to Marley and activated her transformation. “Have fun with Dani, sis!”

Carly nodded and headed out, feeling her memories reshuffle. But she didn’t care about that right now; even with the retroactive grossness of having done all those things with her sister last night making her feel nauseous, she put those thoughts out of her mind.

She needed to talk to Dani. She needed to let the other girl know her feelings.

Dani sat on the edge of the pool, kicking her feet lazily in the water. She watched Serenity swim laps, wearing a small smile on her face.

It was clear that the siren was really enjoying her newfound freedom. And especially enjoying the opportunity to be in a pool again. She could have used her siren abilities to glide through the water like it wasn’t even there, but she clearly wanted to swim. But there were some issues with their current arrangement, issues that Dani needed to rectify. For one, the siren apparently didn’t ever dry out. And it wasn’t fun sleeping on what amounted to a leaky waterbed, especially not one with three people that was meant to hold only two. Kim had not exactly been thrilled by that, either. And she couldn’t exactly **** Serenity to sleep in the bathtub!

But thoughts about what to do with Serenity were the last thing on Dani’s mind at the moment. She was too focused on Carly… and what she’d been up to last night.

Carly and Rose… in a threesome. I’m jealous… It’s not like I wanted to join in, obviously, but the fact that she slept with Rose and not with me…

She was a little selfish. She’d wanted to be the first contestant to sleep with Carly. But she knew that was unreasonable. And she should stop being so spoiled! Carly had done that for her sake, after all, even though she wasn’t attracted to women.

The only thing Dani could do was hope that Carly had a revelation. Dani wanted to be with her, she really did. But if sex with her would just make the cosplayer bored and miserable, Dani wanted no part in it. It would be just like expecting Dani to be with a boy!

It wasn’t fair. Not to either of them.

So she prayed that Carly could somehow like girls.

“Dani!”

Dani’s head jerked up and she whirled around to see Carly rush into the pool. She was panting for breath, probably because she’d had to lug around an outfit that was mostly made out of metal. But in spite of that, she’d run straight here, even though it was early in the morning.

She must have found her answer. Dani swallowed and rose to her feet. The siren swam over to watch the two of them.

“H-hey,” Dani said, waving at her crush.

Carly just blushed in response. Her eyes drifted over to Serenity before returning to Dani.

Dani gasped, and looked down at the dark-haired girl. “Um… Serenity… could you…”

“Right,” Serenity nodded, kicking back and flapping her arms to carry her back to the other side of the pool.

With the third wheel gone, Dani turned back to Carly, and tried not to look too expectant.

“So… how was it?” She asked, her heart swelling in equal parts hope and dread.

Carly swallowed. “I… I just…” She looked down, and in an instant, Dani’s heart was crushed.

“…I just don’t know,” she admitted, glancing back up at the blue-haired girl.

“Don’t… know?”

Carly started pacing back and forth. “Being with Rose… oh, Dani, it was so strange! I had all these weird feelings, and I was overwhelmed with pleasure, and in the moment, I was certain that I wanted this with you! But that… when I woke up this morning, with a clear head… I got afraid that it was because of her transformation boosting my pleasure… or because it was also with Nick… I just don’t know, okay? You said you wanted an answer… and my answer is ‘I don’t know’ I’m sorry!”

Dani could see the desperation in Carly’s eyes.

“But what I do know, is that I don’t care!” The cosplayer stated adamantly, grabbing Dani’s hands. “Whatever we have to do, I don’t care! Because all that pleasure last night, none of it means anything if I can’t be with you!”

Dani shook her head. “No, no, Carly, that’s not good enough!” She cried. “I don’t want to be with you if it means having to **** you into a situation where you’re not feeling good about it! If you’re just going through the motions to make me feel good, but you’re not being satisfied… it’s just not fair!”

Now it was Carly’s turn to be heartbroken.

But she wasn’t going to give up that easily.

She had one card she could still play… but it was a risky one. It was a chance they could all come out of this winners… or losers.

“What about this?” Carly asked. “I can still feel pleasure from women, even if I’m not attracted to them. So what if… what if we had sex anyway?”

Dani bit her lip. She was expecting Carly to pitch that, given how **** the other girl clearly was to be with her.

“But Carly… if you’re not getting the same pleasure, is that really fair?” She asked. “I don’t deserve that much consideration. It’s practically the same thing as what happened with Joan, having you suppress who you really are for my sake!”

Carly shook her head. Her eyes were adamant, but the rest of her looked uncertain. She swallowed her doubts, and let the words she’d been afraid of all morning escape her lips.

“Not if… not if we opened the relationship.”

Dani’s eyes widened as wide as saucers.

“What!?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Think about it!” Carly urged. “I love you, and I want to be with you. Attraction or no attraction. But if you’re worried about me not… ‘enjoying’ myself, then… what if I used Nick for that? What if he and I kept sleeping together? I could use him for my… my physical needs, while still giving you what you need! I’m capable of it, really, I am!”

Dani… hadn’t actually considered that. Because she never really expected she and Carly would ever get together, the notion that they could be dating while Carly was still sleeping with Nick had never crossed her mind.

But now Carly had put it out there.

She wasn’t asking to cheat on Dani… not in the way cheating would normally be considered. She was asking Dani for permission first.

Was that what Dani wanted? It certainly wasn’t a conventional relationship, that was for sure.

But Dani could see as clearly as Carly that it would take care of all their doubts about each other. It would just depend on whether or not Dani could withstand having the woman she loved sleeping with a boy.

“I-I know, it’s not fair, is it?” Carly winced, looking down. “I get to be with another person, while you’re committed to me… it’s hypocritical, isn’t it? Here I was, getting all jealous over Serenity, and now I’m coming to you asking to cheat…”

“W-well, it’s not exactly cheating,” Dani mumbled. “I just… I’m not sure if that would really work out, that’s all.”

She wanted it to work out. She really did.

“Then I guess that’s that, then?” Carly sighed. “If you don’t want to be with me, then-”

“But I do want to be with you!” Dani blurted out. “I just… I don’t want to take your happiness away from you!”

Carly sniffled. “I don’t want to take your happiness away from you, either…”

Both girls were uncertain of where to go from here.

“…Do you think we should try it?” Dani finally asked.

Carly’s eyes widened. “…Seriously?”

“Just- just a trial run!” The tomboy clarified. “I get to be with you, and you and Nick, you two… you can, well… without me.”

“And you’d really be okay with that?” Carly felt like she was asking for something incredibly unfair from her prospective partner. “Even though I’d be sleeping with another man?”

“Well… it’s Nick, after all… and he is my best friend…” Dani sighed. “And really, do we really have a choice? In any of this, I mean? After all, like it or not, you’re still in his harem. There’s a good chance that Dakota’s going to do something that’s going to put you into a compromising situation with him, whether you wanted to be or not. And same with me, for that matter!”

Dani didn’t like it, but that was the reality of the situation she saw in front of her. So she might as well embrace the inevitability of it all, right?

Carly nodded, even though she wasn’t fully convinced. “Dani, if this is what you really want, if you’re okay with it, then yeah, I’d say we try it. But if you’re just doing this for my sake… if you’re only putting up with this for me…”

“You’re putting up with a lot for me, too,” Dani pointed out. “I think we can both try to be a little selfish if it means getting together.”

Carly thought she was absolutely getting the better end of this deal. But if Dani was really okay with it… was it really so bad?

“…Okay,” she relented. “Then let’s try it out.”

The two stood in silence for a second.

“…So wait, are we dating now?” Dani realized. “Just like that?”

Carly burst out laughing. “Yeah, I guess so!” She said, finding it a little hard to believe herself, after all the drama and dancing around each other. “Just like that!”

The two smiled.

They could have kissed. Maybe the moment was right, maybe it wasn’t.

Either way, they didn’t. They just smiled awkwardly at each other, still holding each other’s hands.

“You’re dating?!” Mary’s eyes were giant eggs in the middle of her blushing face. The girls had announced the change in their relationship status at breakfast, and had arrived late enough where everybody else was there.

“Well, if you ask me, it’s about damn time,” Gina snorted, rolling her eyes.

“I’m so happy for you!” Kim exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. “You’re really together?”

“W-wow…” Morgana stammered, her face red.

“So wait, does this mean you aren’t going to be sleeping with Nick anymore?” Rose asked, sounding a little bit too eager for that to be the case.

“No, it doesn’t mean that,” Carly clarified.

That earned another whistle from Gina, while Mary’s jaw hit the floor.

“W-wait, so… you’re going to be sleeping with Nick, AND be in a relationship with Dani!?” Mary stammered. “At… at the same time?”

“Yeah, they are,” Rose tittered, leaning over Mary with a sly smirk on her face. “What’s the matter? That doesn’t damage your delicate Midwestern sensibilities, does it?”

“…Tennessee isn’t in the Midwest,” Mary replied with a scowl. “Learn some American geography.”

“Hah!” Dawn laughed, amused at Mary’s takedown of the blonde seductress.

“…Please! As if you could name three cities in France!” Rose sniffed, turning up her nose.

“Okay, guys, I think we’re getting a little off track here,” Nick said, stepping between the two of them. He turned to Carly and Dani, and he was smiling.

Dani shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, and was unable to meet his eyes.

“So, um…” She stammered, looking down.

“I’m happy for you two,” he said, his tone serious. “Really, I am. You two deserve each other.” He certainly wasn’t going to complain about two of his closest friends finding happiness in a circumstance like this, that was practically nightmarish.

But he was still a little uncertain.

“Still, about including me in all this…”

“It’s just a trial,” Carly hastily clarified. “We’re going to figure out whether or not the three of us can work together like this. If feelings or jealousy get in the way. And if there are problems…” She took a deep breath and exhaled in a sigh. “…I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

Nick nodded. He could understand that perspective. But it still worried him.

“Well… if that’s what you guys want,” he relented. “I’m still not sure about it. But I’m hardly going to get possessive over Carly, of all people.”

“What, so I’m not worth being possessive over?” Carly asked, cracking an amused smile as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Nick wasn’t going to be baited that easily. “That’s not what I’m saying at all,” he replied, looking seriously at her. “I just know that you’re too much of a free spirit to be bound to one guy.”

“One girl, though, that’s a different story,” Sylvia piped up. Of course, inserting herself in the worst possible way.

Carly sighed. Then she turned to the one other person whose opinion mattered most to her.

Marley.

Her sister hadn’t said anything. Her face was an expressionless mask that brought back memories of her time as a slime girl.

Seeing Carly was looking at her, she approached.

“So… what do you think?” Carly asked tensely, holding out her arms in an awkward shrug. “I tried to resolve the problem, I did… do you think this can work?”

Marley still wasn’t saying anything. And then, once the silence between them had reached the peak level of awkwardness… she threw her arms around her sister and hugged her tight.

“I’m so happy for you,” Marley sobbed, cuddling her sister to her breast. “I know it’s going to be tricky to work out… but I’m always going to be here for you, if you need support.”

Dani smiled and wiped a tear from her eye, overjoyed at the scene of sibling bonding in front of her.

“In the meantime,” Dawn cleared her throat, “there’s something else we need to resolve, don’t you guys agree?”

Nick nodded. “That’s right, I almost forgot.”

The couple didn’t enter alone. There was someone else, who came with them.

Serenity.

The siren girl waited patiently in the corner, not joining the group. Thanks to her transformation, she needed to keep a five-foot distance away from the rest of them.

It was a rather lonely position to be in, in Nick’s opinion.

“Yeah… so… that means, Dani… you decided to take Dakota’s offer after all?” Morgana asked, not sure if that was the best idea or not. She shivered a little when the siren glanced her way.

“I did,” Dani nodded. “And I’m willing to accept the consequences of that decision.”

Nick frowned. “The consequences being what, exactly?” He asked, not sure what that entailed.

Dani swallowed, and looked uncertain. But she remained resolute.

“I… my Transformation Paths…” She stammered out. “My Lesbian Transformation Path was turned into a Siren Transformation Path.”

A few of the girls gasped, and Nick did, too.

“So wait!” Morgana’s eyes bulged out. “Then… then you’re going to turn into a siren just like her?”

“She has a name,” Dani said quietly, glancing at the siren. “Her name’s Serenity.”

The siren nodded softly. She had a pretty name. But when Dani met her eyes, she shook her head.

Dani sighed. “There’s some stuff she would like to keep private, at least for now,” Dani said. “But… yeah, there’s a chance that I could turn into a siren, depending on the transformations. But I still think it was the right thing to do.”

Nick could understand why she felt that way, but he still wasn’t sure he agreed with it.

“…Okay then,” he sighed. “That’s your choice, Dani. So I’m assuming she’s sleeping with you, then?”

Dani winced.

“Yeah, how about no?” Kim complained. “I woke up this morning, and my sheets were soaked, and so were my clothes! What, am I supposed to sleep buck naked or something? …Hey, wait…”

“I don’t think she has to sleep in the same bed as me, no,” Dani said, shaking her head. She glanced at Serenity. “We do have to find her somewhere to sleep, though.”

“There’s a lagoon,” Morgana offered timidly, having brought it up before. But it wasn’t a great substitute at the moment.

Serenity shook her head quickly.

“She doesn’t want to be alone,” Dani said softly. “She wants to be with us.”

“I’m sure there’s a hot tub of some sort in the Master’s Suite,” Rose suggested.

Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to offer the siren his own private quarters.

“I’ll help find her a place,” Dawn said, approaching Serenity cautiously. She was particularly wary about being within five feet of her.

“I’m happy to help, too!” Sylvia volunteered.

More than a few girls were eager to help out. It lightened the load on Dani’s heart. But she also felt a little jealous, too. Her connection with Serenity was something she found precious, and seeing the other girls start to warm up to her…

It made her laugh.

“Is this what you felt?” She asked Carly, squeezing her new girlfriend’s hand.

“Huh?” Carly looked at her with a confused expression on her face. “What do you mean by that?”

Dani shook her head. “No, nothing… it’s fine.”

They had more important things to think about. Like, the fact that right now, Rose would be partnered with Marley for the next day.

If they wanted a first date, a private date, one that they could spend together… now was the best chance they had for it.

“…Oh.”

Dani should have known better, she really should have. She’d been counting her chickens before they hatched, and, well… when that happened, you ended up in a situation like this.

The proposal on Carly’s part had been clear. She wanted to go with Dani to the watering hole, that special lagoon she’d invited her to earlier in the week, that Dani had turned down due to being unsure of her own feelings about Carly.

Now that they were officially together, even in a trial capacity, Dani was happy to accept the offer. They’d been there once already, but that had been with Serenity, and they hadn’t even come together! This time, they’d be going on a romantic hike, and get to spend the day together just sitting out by the water, or even swimming. Dani had packed her swimsuit and everything! (And secretly, she was hoping that Carly, unable to swim in her current bulky outfit, might choose to go in the buff.)

Of course, there was something that Dani hadn’t been counting on.

She and Carly were not the only ones who knew about the watering hole.

“I-I-I-I’m so sorry!” Morgana stammered, her face bright red with shame. “I had no idea that you would… when I came up with it, I thought… but then…”

She was at a loss for words, and seemed to burn with embarrassment.

Dani sighed in exasperation. She should have expected this, she really should have. After all, she knew that today was Morgana’s day with Nick.

And that was how what had been intended as a romantic first date, had turned into a big, massive pile of awkwardness in the form of a double date.

“Sorry,” Nick winced, feeling a little guilty himself. “I promised her this morning… that we’d spend the whole day together. Since we didn’t really get a lot of time to get to know each other over the round, you know?”

Of all the girls in Nick’s harem, he knew Morgana the least. Sylvia was complicated, but the rest were friends and acquaintances he’d gotten to know. Morgana was the newest addition to the group, and he had no direct connection to her in his past.

He’d been hoping that some one on one time would be the perfect way for them to get closer, and figure out if Morgana was really willing to lose her virginity with a guy who was basically a stranger. And things had started out nice enough. She’d suggested a hike, saying she knew about a very beautiful lake that she wanted to show him. And he’d been fine with it, for the most part.

But Carly and Dani had the same idea.

“So what do we do now?” Dani asked tensely. She gazed longingly down the path. “I mean… if you want… we… we can go do something else…”

It was clear from the expression on her face that that wasn’t something she wanted to do. After all, she wanted to spend time with her girlfriend, and this was one of the rare occasions where Marley wouldn’t be constantly around to third wheel. But she was too nice to ask Nick and Morgana to change their plans- after all, Morgana was finally getting some time with Nick for herself!

“N-n-n-no! It’s totally fine! It’s our mistake!” Morgana started babbling. She waved her hands all over the place in a fret. “I shouldn’t have… I mean… there’s a lot of other stuff we can do! You two, have fun!”

The truth was, Morgana wasn’t fully committed to letting the other girls have the lagoon, either. The hike was a bit of a pain, but the lake… it was gorgeous! Morgana’s heart had been doing flip-flops ever since she kissed Nick on the Ferris Wheel, and her feelings for him were all over the place. Did she like him? Was it a crush? Or was she head over heels? She really couldn’t say- and that was precisely the problem!

She was hoping that another kiss, in a romantic place like this, would be the perfect trigger for her own emotions, and get her to realize how she really felt. But there was no way she would deprive Dani and Carly of their date, not after they’d finally gotten together after so much hardship!

And so, in the end, the four of them were stuck. Nick wanted to do whatever Morgana wanted to do, and Carly was happy to go with the flow. And unfortunately, Morgana and Dani were both too humble and understanding of the others’ position to take the claim for themselves.

This was clearly going to go nowhere.

“…How about this?” Nick suggested, clearing his throat. “I know it’s not ideal for anybody, but… what if we share the lake?”

“Ooh!” Carly whistled. “That’s a good idea!”

Morgana and Dani both looked at him, surprised.

“Sh… share?”

“Seriously? You want to share it?”

The two girls looked at each other. Neither one of them were fully convinced by the proposal.

“Yeah,” Nick nodded. “Think about it! It’s a big lake, right? We can walk on opposite sides of the trail, and go our separate ways when we get there. It’s kind of like a double date, don’t you think?”

“It could work,” Dani nodded. While it wasn’t the ideal solution, it was a lot better than having to give up on the lake entirely.

“I’m all for it,” Carly agreed.

“Okay!” Morgana’s head bounced up and down rapidly. She was just glad to get rid of any tension between them, as they all agreed to go. It wasn’t the perfect solution, no way, but it was something. And it wasn’t like Morgana was brave enough to fight for the lake all on her own, either.

And honestly? Having some more people around would put the pressure off of her. If it was just her and Nick… well, even after that wonderful kiss on the Ferris Wheel, she was worried that she’d mess it all up again somehow.

At least this way, everything would… probably… be fine.

“Great!” Nick sighed in relief, glad that they could resolve that issue. “Then let’s head out, okay?”

He smiled at the others, and they all agreed to head out. The group of four, split into two pairs, walked down the trail towards the lagoon, and tried to maintain the romantic mood that had been building up between them.