She's a bit of a fixer-upper

Dani was just exiting the spa when she ran into Nick. Her face brightened when she saw him. “Oh! Nick! How was your date?” She asked, her lip curling up into a sly smile. She didn’t like imagining her and Nick doing things together, but when it came to him with other girls, she was nothing but supportive.

She pulled up next to him, and he joined her, heading back to the elevator, even though that was the opposite direction he’d been going. Like he had been waiting for her, or looking for her. But that was fine with her.

“It went fine,” Nick said awkwardly, trying to smile. “But of course, now she’s been spirited away by Mary to work on her ‘wife skills’ whatever that means…”

Dani snorted and held her sides. “Oh, man, I can’t even imagine that!” She cackled. “Sorry Nick, but your wife can be kind of a **** driver sometimes, you should try to learn how to cook from her!”

Nick’s smile relaxed as he heard Dani laugh. It was good, seeing her smile like that. It made him feel a lot better about the situation, to see that she could be enjoying herself right now.

“Hey, Dani…”

“Hmm?” Dani noticed Nick glance down at the ground. He seemed to have a troubled expression on his face. “Hey, what’s up? You can tell me anything, you know. I’m not gonna get mad, promise.”

She cracked another smile, trying to cheer him up, and punched him lightly in the arm. “I’ve been relying on you a lot, you know. It’s not too much to ask for me to help you right back, yeah?”

The troubled look on Nick’s face slowly slid away as he processed Dani’s words. He was smiling again.

“I’ve missed this, you know. You being in a good mood.”

“Oh! Uh… yeah.” Dani scratched her head sheepishly and averted her eyes. Nick was staring at her pretty suspiciously.

He raised his hand up to her forehead to check her temperature. She just gave him a blank, unamused stare in response.

“…I don’t have a fever.”

“Just checking. Open your mouth and say ‘aaah’?”

“Very funny,” Dani scoffed, rolling her eyes. “No, I’m serious, Nick. I can be in a good mood sometimes too, you know! And believe it or not… this wasn’t that bad of a day.”

She sighed and slumped over. “Compared to yesterday, anyway… you wouldn’t believe how crazy everything was…”

“The others told me,” Nick replied. “That must have been pretty rough for you. I’m really sorry you had to go through that. And then that dream…”

Even though the girls had said that Dani was doing alright, Nick still wanted to go check up on her after he finished up with Rose and Mary. He needed to make sure that she was okay, after all, in spite of Gina’s assurances.

After all, Dani was a very stubborn and adamant person, while Gina and Sylvia weren’t the most perceptive girls on the block. He would absolutely believe that they could have been left in the dark about Dani’s inner emotional trauma. But it looked like he really was doing better.

“Don’t worry about the dream,” Dani said, shaking her head. “Yeah, it sucked. But I’ve been dealing with frustrating dreams for weeks at this point…” She let out a long, tired sigh that to Nick’s ears sounded a little exaggerated, which was good.

If she could joke about it, that meant she wasn’t bothered by it, he hoped.

“Honestly, the worst thing about this whole mess… well, you must have heard, right? About me and Dawn?”

“I heard that there was some weird stuff that happened between you two,” Nick said. “But I didn’t get all the specifics. What happened?”

Dani blushed and her eyes quickly glanced away before landing back on Nick. They watered with shame. “We, uh… we kinda… sort of had sex.”

Nick’s jaw dropped.

“Dani-!”

“SORT OF!” Dani exclaimed. “It wasn’t, like, real real! Dawn was transformed into a cat girl, and she used her pheromones on me, and, well… it wasn’t the first time I’ve had sex with someone while under the influence of something, so don’t worry! I’m fine!” She asserted. “…At least there wasn’t a cock involved this time,” she muttered under her breath.

“Huh?”

“Nothing, never mind,” Dani said dully, shaking her head. “Just threw up in my mouth a little…”

She perked back up immediately. “…Anyway, this whole mess is something that Dawn and I already talked about. And we both agreed that it’s in the best interest of everyone if we just move past it like it never happened, alright? Since no one was really at fault.”

“And you’re sure you’re good with that?” Nick asked, worried that Dani was just repressing her feelings again.

“…I’m not, really,” Dani admitted sheepishly. “But it’s not like I can be upset with Dawn, right? I’m mostly just beating myself up for not having more self-control.”

“Well, as long as you’re not beating Morgana up for giving you that dream, that’s fine!” Nick tried a very tasteless joke that was met with another unamused stare from Dani.

“…I would never hurt Morgana over something like that,” she said bluntly. “Morgana wasn’t in control of herself any more than Dawn was. She was being controlled by her transformation. And I know quite well how shitty that can be.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Nick sighed in relief. “I was really kind of worried, you know?”

“Well, I suppose I gave you good reason to,” Dani admitted. “I haven’t exactly been on my best behavior recently, you know?”

Nick nodded. “I guess you’ve got a good reason for that yourself, though,” he admitted. “I can’t imagine what I would do, if I ended up brought onto this show to be in the harem of some guy…”

“Hey, you never know! They might use one of those mirrors to turn you into a girl again!” Dani joked, socking him lightly in the shoulder.

Nick shivered at the thought of that. “Please, not even as a joke,” he pleaded, terrified of what that implied. He never wanted to be a woman again.

“Okay, okay, I’ll drop it,” Dani relented. “But still, you were pretty cute… for a boy.”

Now it was Nick’s turn to stare at her in horror.

“Dani-!”

“What? Come on, I’m allowed to joke about that!” Dani chortled. “What, afraid that a little teasing from your bud is going to lead you to start thinking about me sexually?”

Nick blushed and looked away. “That, uh… that’s kind of already sailed, you know?” He mumbled, mentally beating himself up for having those thoughts about his close friend.

Dani turned bright red herself. “Yeah, let’s… um, let’s move away from this conversation, sound good?”

Neither one of them wanted to explore the idea of Nick being attracted to Dani. Besides, Nick had a whole bevy of beauties to pick from; focusing in on this would just make things worse for all parties involved.

“So where is Morgana?” Nick asked, **** to change the subject. “I’m worried about her, too. Are you sure she’s doing alright?”

“She was a little tense this morning,” Dani answered. “For obvious reasons. I think she was expecting another reaction from all of us like what happened her first morning here.”

“You mean when you lost your temper and nearly punched through the wall?” Nick snidely remarked, earning him a glare from the tomboy.

“Let’s not be reminded of that, please,” she begged. “That wasn’t exactly my finest moment.”

“You’ve been having a lot of those recently,” Nick noted.

Dani sighed. “Yeah, well… I haven’t exactly been in a great environment recently, you know?”

Nick certainly couldn’t deny that.

“Well… I guess there’s not a lot we can do,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m trying to help you, Dani, I really am. But I don’t think Dakota can be reasoned with.”

“You’re telling me,” Dani grumbled, punching the palm of her hand. “That woman-! Did I tell you, the reason she put me and Sylvia together that first night? She was trying to goad me into beating her up, so I’d get a transformation! She wanted to **** me to like guys, using Sylvia’s pounding as an excuse! How twisted is that!?”

“What!?” Nick’s eyes widened in shock. “No, no way! Dakota wouldn’t do that!”

“Yes I would!” In a flash, Dakota popped in front of the two of them with an indignant look on her face. Nick and Dani both recoiled in shock.

“Da-Dakota!” Nick exclaimed.

“You fucking bitch!” Dani snarled, forcing herself not to jump the other girl. She couldn’t afford to lose her temper, not while Dakota was still twirling that cane and taunting her with her eyes.

“So it’s true, then?” Nick scowled, glaring at Dakota. “You were trying to get Dani to hurt Sylvia so you could turn her straight?”

“Hah!” Dakota sniffed, rolling her eyes. “What makes you think that?”

Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and he couldn’t believe that the woman in front of him was the same one he knew. “You just told me-!” He exclaimed.

“Because you were saying I wouldn’t do that,” Dakota countered, as if that made any bit of sense. “I did that plenty of times on previous seasons. But I wouldn’t do that this time. I promise!”

She offered Nick a sickeningly sweet smile that only brought to mind the notion of the boy of who cried wolf.

As much as he wanted to believe her, he couldn’t trust a word out of her slimy mouth at the moment.

“Then why’d you do it, then?” Dani demanded. “If you weren’t trying to turn me straight, why pair me and Sylvia up together?”

“Ratings,” Dakota immediately replied, slamming into Dani with a single blunt statement.

Dani’s jaw dropped.

“…Ratings?”

Dakota shrugged. “Dani, you realize that you’re dead last in the popularity contest, right? And you’ve been circling the bottom for some time, now?”

“…Yeah, so what?” Dani scowled, trying to stand a little taller. “You think I care about that?”

“No, not at all,” Dakota said, shaking her head. “After all, you’ve made it abundantly clear that you have no interest in the show, your standing in it, earning BP, VP, the master, or, frankly, anything at all other than getting your rocks off.”

“Hey!” Dani’s cheeks flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and outrage.

“The only problem is, that doesn’t really work for me,” Dakota mused, tapping her chin. “It’s clear that while girls like Mary and Rose who play the game and aim to fulfill their roles keep shooting up in popularity, you’re the stubborn horse who won’t even leave the stall.”

“And you think I care about that?” Dani repeated her indignant question, crossing her arms over her chest. “This whole show of yours can go fuck itself. Like I said at the start, I’m not having sex with Nick. It’s not. Gonna. Happen. So unless you’re going to **** a transformation onto me that’ll make it happen, then-”

“Shut up for a moment.” Dakota raised her cane and Dani’s mouth suddenly snapped shut. The pale woman approached the buxom bluenette with a calm smile on her lips.

“Now, will you let me talk?” She asked rhetorically, knowing that Dani didn’t have any other options.

“Dakota, let her go,” Nick demanded.

Dakota rolled her eyes and tapped her cane on the pavement, and Dani’s mouth snapped open.

“You fucking bi-!” Dani cut herself off as Dakota raised her eyebrow. Even though she was loathe to do it, she needed to behave herself right now. So she obediently closed her mouth while Dakota addressed her.

“Now, as I was saying before, I have no intention of making you do anything,” Dakota assured her. “If you don’t want to have sex with Nick? Fine, you don’t have to. That is a decision you can make. While I’ve never been averse to changing the sexuality of my contestants before… you’re a special case, Dani.”

Dakota turned to Nick, and for a second he thought he saw a flash of compassion in her eyes before they froze over like frost on a window.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Nick, or the people you care about,” she said, her voice turning tender and gentle. “All this, this is to make you happy. And it’s clear to me that even if I made Dani attracted to you, in love with you, or just plain open to sleeping with you, that wouldn’t make you happy. So I won’t do that.”

“Then you’ll send me home?” Dani asked desperately. “If I’m not going to be part of Nick’s harem, then I don’t have to be here, right?!”

Dakota blinked. She seemed almost stunned.

“What? Oh, my, no, where did you get that idea?” She laughed. “No, no, there are other roles in the harem you can play, even if being in his bed isn’t one of them. Why, just look at Holly!”

Suddenly, Nick realized that he hadn’t seen Holly all morning.

“Dakota, what did you do?” He demanded, narrowing his eyes.

“Hmm? Oh, to your little cuckpet? Not a thing, my love, not a thing,” Dakota assured him. “She’s merely helping me out with something… special. I’ll return her to your care by curfew.”

Nick didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t think Dakota would actually hurt Holly, but then, his former love had already been eliminated from the harem. Technically, Dakota didn’t have any obligation to keep her safe (not that she had any obligation to any of them, really, except probably him) which was not a good thing.

“Dakota…” He tried desperately to see the woman he knew under the mask of the cold, ruthless host, but it was like he didn’t recognize the woman standing in front of him.

“Don’t worry,” Dakota assured him, her expression softening. “She was the one who came to me with this offer.”

…Well, THAT was certainly something. Not something that made him relax any, but… something.

Dani, meanwhile, was still upset.

“So you’re saying that even though you’re not going to **** me to have sex with Nick, you’re still going to keep me here?” Dani exclaimed. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Would you rather be eliminated?” Dakota asked, raising her eyebrow. “Because that might just be the best option for you, you know.”

Dani blanched. “Wh-what?”

Dakota raised her cane and spun it in her hand. “If I eliminate you, you’ll receive a severe transformation. Nothing untenable of course, but it will still be much harsher than the ones you already have. Well?”

Dani’s eyes shot to Nick, and it looked like she was asking him what she should do. But he didn’t fucking know. He had renewed the deal he’d made with Sylvia with Dakota now, that if he did what she asked and played along with the girls’ requests, she would make sure the elimination transformations weren’t too harsh on them. And given Dakota’s animosity for Sylvia, he would make that deal again in a heartbeat.

But the question was, what would a “debilitating” transformation be, for Dani? Holly’s transformation was a nightmare, objectively speaking. Not being able to cum without permission, or even get aroused except when thinking about him having sex with other women? Holly was thrilled because that fit her fetishes, but if someone like Dani had been struck with that…

He shook his head quickly. The risk was too great right now, without knowing what Dakota was planning.

“There, see? Offer off the table,” Dakota said, lowering her cane. She cast a smirk in Nick’s direction. “The master doesn’t want you leaving his harem just yet.”

“What?” Dani’s eyes widened.

“Hey! That’s not what I meant! Don’t twist it around!” Nick sputtered, incensed.

“Come now, it’s a joke! I’m teasing!” Dakota chortled, but the icy tenor in her voice made that statement sound rather questionable and hollow. “No, no, Dani, I’m not going to eliminate you. That would remove the whole point of pairing you up with Sylvia that night! I told you, right now, you’re ratings poison. And while every good show needs girls on the top and girls on the bottom, your numbers, well…”

She conjured a screen, looking over it with a grim face like a doctor going over someone’s test results. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice aching with strained sympathy. “But according to our tests… it’s terminal. You just aren’t that popular…”

Dani’s eye twitched. Dakota was really giving Sylvia’s trolling a run for its money. She wanted to break the dark-haired bitch’s jaw!

Dakota cleared her throat and dismissed the screen. “…Anyway, in a situation like this, we would usually warn the girls in question that they need to fly right. Maybe light a fire under them. But as for you, Dani…”

Her fingers danced wickedly across her chin.

“…I have plans for you. You could definitely go with some renovations, but I think we can salvage things, oh yes… and without even making you have to sleep with Nick!”

Dani wasn’t sure she wanted to know what that entailed.

And she definitely didn’t care about her popularity, it didn’t matter WHAT Dakota had to say about it!

“Take your polls and shove them up your ass,” she snarled. “I’m not going to play along with you.”

“But my dear… you already are,” Dakota smirked. “That’s why I put you and Sylvia together. Seeing two people, one who hates the other, **** to share a room? It’s rather amusing, I’d say. And the mirrors? Seeing how you reacted to a female Nick… my, my, that certainly saw a spike.”

“I’m not just your puppet,” Dani snapped. “I’m a person. We all are!”

“I know that full well,” Dakota replied. “But even so, Dani, we must produce a good show! For the sake of the master, of course.”

She turned to Nick and made an exaggerated curtsy, holding the hem of her skirt. “Whatever we can do to please him.”

Nick just felt very tired.

“Dakota…” He approached her, and she actually let him. She let him get as close as touching her cheek before she put her hand over his.

“What is it?” She asked softly, and for a moment, he saw his friend again. The woman he loved. Not the twisted thing the show had morphed her into.

“You don’t have to do this,” he begged. “You can just send us all home.”

“…People always say the same thing.” And just like that, she turned into ice once again. “They say, ‘you don’t have to do this’. But I do, Nick. Do you think I can end this game whenever I want? That I could snap my fingers, and with a twirl of my cane send you all back to where you came from? No. It doesn’t work that way. ‘The show must go on.’ That’s not some quote from the theater. The producers came up with that one. Long before plays were even a glimpse in a caveman’s eye, Harem Hotel has always been running. And it will, long after your season has ended.”

Nick felt an unearthly chill run down his spine. He pulled away from Dakota, her cheek like ice, and stumbled back in shock. She advanced on him, and it felt like the air was rumbling around her.

“There’s no stopping this, Nick. There’s no ‘let’s go home’. There’s only the show. The game. And the ending. If you want this to stop? Someone has to win. Then it stops. Not before.”

Nick didn’t realize it, but he had fallen over. And Dakota stood over him, her golden eyes burning holes into him.

“The producers won’t be satisfied by anything less.”

And that was the moment Nick realized something that maybe even Dakota herself didn’t fully understand:

She was as much a prisoner of this show as the rest of them.