I don't either.

I said no, it's not just a little different, at this point I hope I don't wife up or have any children

Marley waited in the Banquet Hall with bated breath for her sister to come.

She had no idea how last night had gone. What could she expect? Did she and Dani have a great night together with Nick? Or had things gone poorly, and a breakup was on the horizon?

Marley didn’t know. And the not knowing was killing her. This was the first romantic relationship her sister had ever been in- the first romantic relationship either sister had ever been in!

Being wary about possible issues just seemed reasonable from where Marley was sitting.

“Hey…”

Marley turned to Sylvia, who was sitting next to her. In spite of how young she looked, her blue eyes reflected the tender care of a loving mother. Sylvia reached out a hand and placed it over Marley’s, and gave her a sweet smile.

“It’s going to be fine, my girl,” she assured her daughter. “You don’t need to worry. Carly and Dani are great together.”

Marley smiled, but it was a shaky smile. She tried to be as confident as Sylvia, she really did. But considering how many difficulties the relationship between Dani and her sister had already faced, and their semi-incompatibility… she just couldn’t be certain.

Ultimately, though, she knew Sylvia was right that there was no sense in worrying.

Whether Marley worried or not, the outcome was going to happen regardless. All she could do is prepare herself for the inevitable, whatever that ended up being.

“Man, I hope they didn’t mess this up,” Kim sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. But even as she said that, there was a very good chance that the two girls did, in fact, mess things up.

“Good morning, everyone!”

A cheerful chirp at odds with the doom and gloom around the room caught everyone’s attention, and the three women looked up to see Rose approaching with a beaming smile on her face. She waved to the girls.

It was clear that something was different about her. Besides the shining smile on her face, she wore a gorgeous blue dress, the kind one might wear to a fancy restaurant. But where Rose’s usual dresses were of the more sexually provocative variety (with copious amounts of cleavage) this one was as modest as her usual outfits. It seemed tailor-made to show off her body, while not looking too slutty.

Apparently, someone was compensating for something.

“Hey, Rose,” Kim said, cracking a smile. She remembered that dress from among the several Rose had needled Nick into buying for her weeks ago. “Nice dress. It’s not the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely better than nothing.”

The double meaning was clear. Rose responded by sticking out her tongue.

Rose: 6200 BP + 1000 BP = 7200 BP

“Just for that little remark, I’ll make sure to spend all my new BP on clothes when you’re not working a shift,” Rose teased. Kim just chuckled at that.

Rose pulled up a seat and joined the women. “So what’s up?” She asked. “Why so down? You girls aren’t nervous about tonight’s party, are you?”

“The party? Oh!” Marley’s eyes widened. “No, I never thought about that,” she replied, shaking her head. “It completely slipped my mind.”

“Don’t let Gina hear you say that,” Sylvia warned. “She’s been looking forward to the party all week. And… I think she really needs it.”

Marley looked curiously at Sylvia, and the other girls were intrigued as well. But Sylvia’s mouth was a tight line.

Rose vaguely remembered Gina seeming a little tense yesterday during cooking class. But that day had been a bit of a blur; she’d been so focused on not inadvertently showing the goods that she couldn’t pay attention to anything else, and had left early to boot.

“Putting Gina aside,” Marley sighed, “I’m worried about my sister.”

Rose nodded. “Yeah… I can imagine why. Carly and Dani may go great together, but throw Nick in the mix, and… well, Sylvia, here’s hoping that idea of yours works out.”

The Banquet Hall doors opened, and four anxious heads turned to see who it was.

“…Well, don’t all look so happy to see me,” Gina sneered as she sidled into the room. Mary trudged reluctantly behind her.

It was clear that Gina was in a bad mood, but nobody wanted to guess why. Sylvia had her own suspicions, though, and when their eyes met, she winced.

“Gina, come on,” Mary urged her. “It’s not a big deal!”

“Haah… fine, whatever,” Gina muttered, scratching her hair. “Look, girls, you mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Rose offered, shrugging. “What is it?”

Gina glanced at Mary for a moment, and the redhead looked expectantly at her.

“…Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” Gina took the offer back with little fanfare, and Mary’s shoulders slumped over.

Kim frowned. Yeah, something was definitely up.

Before the conversation could shift in topic, though, Gina abruptly changed her mind a second time.

“Okay, so Mary and I were fighting last night,” she scowled, pulling up a chair and plopping down next to Rose. She kicked her leather boots up onto the table and leaned back in her seat. “She said that I’m unhappy! Can you believe that? Me! Unhappy!”

She threw back her head and laughed.

“I’m living the good life! I’ve got a man who treats me just how I want to be treated, I’m living in a high-class luxury hotel, I get great food whenever I want, so tell me, what’s there to be unhappy about?” She chortled.

None of the girls felt comfortable saying anything.

Except Rose.

“I can agree with that,” Rose nodded. “If you’re happy, then you’re happy!” She turned to Mary. “Honestly, Mary, you should mind your business.”

Mary frowned. “I didn’t mean anything by it!” She replied. “I was just… concerned.”

“Yeah, well, there’s nothing to be concerned about,” Gina scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Like I told you, I’m happy! So just drop it.”

Mary seemed content to drop it. It was Gina who kept bringing it up, something that hadn’t gone unnoticed by the others.

“And that’s fine,” Rose nodded. “So anyway, we were talking about Carly and Dani’s relationship, and-”

“If I wasn’t happy,” Gina cut her off, taking down her legs and sitting up straight in her chair, “then why would I be throwing a kickass party tonight and inviting everyone?”

She turned and looked pointedly at Mary. “Even Nosy Nellies?”

Mary sighed. “Gina…”

“No, seriously, explain it to me!” Gina slapped her chest. “Tell me, why do you think I’m unhappy? What do you possibly think I could be missing from my life?”

Mary backed off. She could tell that this wasn’t a good topic to discuss, especially this close to the next challenge.

“Really,” Gina continued, turning and looking pointedly at Sylvia, of all people. “I want to know. What do you guys think I have to be unhappy about, huh?”

Kim shook her head. “Gina, it’s not that we think you’re unhappy…”

“Well, good!” Gina loudly interrupted her. “Because I’m not.”

Marley squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. The oppressive atmosphere in the air was obvious to everyone, but she didn’t want to say anything.

Nobody did.

“You know, Gina, you don’t have to have a party if you don’t want to,” Sylvia said seriously. “If you just want to spend tonight with Daddy, just the two of you, then you can. The party is invite-only. You don’t HAVE to invite anybody.”

Gina nearly fell out of her chair. Her mouth fell open, and her jaw dropped. It seemed that she didn’t expect THAT, at least.

Her shock lasted for a brief few seconds.

“Pfft, like that matters,” Gina scoffed. “What? I don’t need to spend time with just Nick. We get plenty of time together! After all, I suck him off practically every day, you know!” She threw back her head and laughed. “That’s more intimacy than you get, anyway, daddy’s girl.”

The bitterness in her voice made it clear that Sylvia had hit a nerve. The other girls all shared worried looks.

“What? What’s everyone being all quiet for?” Gina demanded. “We’re going to be having a party tonight! It’s gonna be a blast!”

“Is that… really what you want?” Mary asked weakly.

“Sure, why the fuck not?” Gina scowled. “I mean… come on, Mary, you’ve gotta feel where I’m at, right? After all, Sylvia and I crashed your night with Nick. What’s it matter if you girls come in and join mine? Seriously, you’re making too big a deal out of this!”

“Gina, if you don’t want us to come, then-”

“COME.”

It sounded a lot like an order, coming from the punk girl.

No one seemed enthusiastic to follow it, though. They could all tell that Gina was worked up about something.

Marley pushed out her chair and stood up, and circled the table to approach the irritated punk girl.

“What is it?” Gina spat, glaring at her.

Marley hugged her tightly.

“H-hey! Let me go!” Gina tried to break free, but she couldn’t. It was pretty hard to escape the grip of a former slime girl obsessed with hugs.

“Marley has the right idea,” Mary said quietly. She moved to hug Gina as well, causing the punk to flush red with shame and frustration.

“I mean it, guys! Leave me alone!” Gina wailed. “I’m fine! You don’t have to hug me, back off!”

“Then why are you crying?”

Sylvia’s question cut into Gina like a knife. Her eyes widened and her hand shot to her face. They came back with runny mascara.

“I-I…”

Knowing she was trapped, Gina tried to run. It was her instinctive move. But Mary and Marley had her pinned down.

“Tell us what’s wrong,” Kim urged the punk girl. “Why are you so upset right now, Gina? You were doing just fine a few days ago, but now…”

Gina glared at her, but she didn’t answer her question.

“Was she really?” Rose asked quietly, surprising the other girls.

“Huh?” Kim turned to her, confused.

“Gina… you’ve been feeling pretty rough for a while now, haven’t you?” Rose pressed. “I don’t know why, but…”

“No! Fuck off!” Gina snapped. “I’m fine! I don’t need any of your fucking pity!”

Even as she denied anything was wrong, her tears continued to flow. She let out a whimper, and hung her head.

And then, finally, she gave up.

“What am I supposed to do?” She asked quietly. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore…”

“Supposed to do about what?” Kim asked, frowning.

Gina raised her head, and she looked the most human that any of the girls had ever seen her.

“I want to be a good girl,” she mumbled. “But I don’t.”

“It’s her transformation,” Sylvia realized immediately. “Leave the Clothes, Take the Cannoli.”

“Which one was that one?” Marley asked, confused.

“It was the one she got in the second challenge,” Mary remembered. “The one that makes her feel compelled to be a good person.”

Leave the Clothes, Take the Cannoli: Gina doesn’t want to wear pretty dresses or wash out her hair dye? Fine, she can dress however she likes. But that won’t help the overwhelming urge she’ll have from this point on to become more responsible and behave like a “Good Girl”, especially as far as others are concerned! (Good Girl)

“I have to be good,” Gina spat, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, smearing her dark makeup all over her face. “That’s the rule, right? Become a ‘Good Girl’ or whatever the fuck that means. I can feel it, eating away at me! Making me… making me into someone I’m not. And I WANT it! That’s the most insidious part, too!”

She turned to Sylvia and scowled.

“And it’s because of your stupid rules.”

Sylvia was calm, in spite of the other girl’s piercing accusation.

“You were the one who made that choice,” she said evenly. “It wasn’t my decision for you to use those cards. YOU did that. YOU decided to trade in one transformation for another.”

“WELL I DIDN’T KNOW IT WOULD FUCKING END UP LIKE THIS!” Gina roared. “I thought… I thought-!”

Gina didn’t even know what she’d thought at this point.

“What’s happening to you?” Kim asked, **** to understand where the other girl was coming from. “I know what it’s like to have a transformation compel you to do something. Maybe I can help.”

“It… it’s fucking digging into me, alright!?” Gina exclaimed. “Telling me that I need to be obedient, and loyal, that I need to fucking eat properly! Stop drinking and smoking!? Follow the rules?! It’s trying to strip everything about me that makes me, ‘me’ and you think I can just deal with that?!”

“It shouldn’t be that serious,” Sylvia said, frowning. “The transformation simply compels you to act the way a good girl would act.”

“According to who, though?” Rose pressed. “Because my standards for a ‘good girl’ would be completely different from, say, Mary’s standards.”

“Rose is right,” Mary agreed. “Who’s the one enforcing that rule? You? Or Dakota, now?”

Sylvia shook her head. “That’s not how it works at all,” she assured the others. “Gina will behave in any way she thinks that a good girl should behave. If she believes that a good girl is supposed to stay sober and not drink, then she’ll feel compelled not to do that. If she thinks that a good girl is supposed to be kind to others, or be obedient, or use nice language, then she’ll feel the urge to do those things. The only one in control is Gina herself.”

“Well, what a fucking crock,” Gina muttered. “But yeah, that’s about fucking right. I could resist it for a long time, but… you don’t fucking understand. I’m trying to do the right thing, okay!? I’m trying to be nice to you guys! I even… I even tried cooking!”

Her cries started out hostile, but they slowly turned sad and dejected as time went on. She looked down at the floor, and a **** whimper escaped her lips.

“I just want… I just want to be good… but I don’t WANT to do all these ‘good’ things!”

She raised her head and looked desperately up at Sylvia. “But wait… you, you can help, right?” She pleaded. “You can use your veto! On my transformation, right?”

Sylvia tensed. “I… I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, leaning back in her seat.

“Why not?!” Gina exclaimed. “You were willing to do it for Dani! So why the fuck won’t you do it for me, huh!?”

Sylvia held her ground. “It was different with Dani,” she replied calmly. “Dani needed a temporary reprieve. Do you really think it’ll help, if you just get rid of your transformation for a couple of days? You’re not thinking, Gina. You’re just going off your feelings.”

Gina glared venomously at her.

“And there’s another factor to consider…” A shadow crossed Sylvia’s face. “Your transformation in particular… is probably the worst one for me to have.”

“Gina’s? Why?” Kim frowned. She wasn’t sure what Sylvia was trying to say. Neither were any of the other women. Even Gina’s rage abated momentarily for a confused expression.

“Because Gina’s transformation would compel me to be a ‘good girl’,” Sylvia reminded them. “But for me… what even is that? If I start thinking that a ‘good girl’ is someone who does what Dakota wants me to do… someone who tries to compel other people to give into their transformations… then that’s what will happen.”

A shiver rolled down her spine.

“I would doom myself,” she said sadly. “And maybe drag a lot of you down, with me.”

“So that’s it, then?” Mary frowned. “There’s nothing we can do to help her?”

“I didn’t say that,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “There’s a lot we can do to help her!”

She turned to Gina. “I just don’t know how to do it.”

Sylvia got out of her chair and walked around the table to confront Gina directly.

“Gina… the problem you have right now… it’s something you have to solve for yourself. If you just stop fighting the transformation, and embrace it, then… maybe it won’t be so hard on you. Maybe it doesn’t have to be as **** as you’re making it out to be. You can be a good girl… and you can also be yourself.”

She looked down at the floor. “That’s what I’m trying to do, anyway.”

Gina’s expression softened. For the first time since she’d come down today, it seemed like she was actually listening to what someone else had to say.

“I want to help,” Sylvia said, taking Gina’s hands. “Like you tried to help me, remember? You told me that I could do ‘whatever the fuck I want’ but that was a cry for help, wasn’t it? Because you were feeling like you couldn’t have that freedom.”

Gina was too proud to acknowledge that, but she was also too broken to deny it. All she could do was whimper.

Then, she turned to Mary.

“Mary… can I ask you a favor?”

“Uh… I guess…” Mary let Gina go and took a few steps back. She wasn’t sure what the favor was, but something about it worried her. “What favor?”

“I want… to drink your milk.”

The redhead’s eyes bulged.

“Wh-what?”

Gina held her hand over her chest and squeezed. She winced and looked down. “Do you remember when I was affected by that mirror?”

“Not really,” Rose replied, while the other girls all nodded.

Mary wore a haunted expression. “…Yes,” she said softly, giving her buddy the faintest of nods. “I remember.”

It was hard to forget something like that.

A shaky smile crossed Gina’s disheartened face. “Well… I don’t,” she replied, shaking her head. “I don’t remember at all. But you fed me your milk, didn’t you? And I drank it… and I changed, didn’t I? A second time.”

Mary was sure she didn’t like where this was going now.

“Gina, no,” she said, backing up and holding up her hands. “I’m not going to let you drink my milk again!”

“Why not?!” Gina demanded. “It’s the best thing, right? How does it work again? My body and mind change, to suit Nick’s tastes? And Nick wants a good, domestic little wifey like you, right!? So I should just fucking get it over with!”

Her eyes had a crazed gleam in them.

“This transformation, it keeps wearing me down. But if I drink your milk, then I’ll change completely, won’t I? I’ll become a new person, someone… someone who will be good for him. And I won’t feel like anything’s wrong…”

“Gina, that’s just running away,” Kim said, shaking her head. “You won’t affect anything like that! You’re just forcing the issue!”

“Exactly!” Gina exclaimed. “If it’s going to happen anyway, then I want it on my terms! If I’m going to be Nick’s obedient and sweet little girl, then that’s who I’m gonna be anyway!”

For someone like Gina, who ran from every serious problem she’d ever faced, Mary’s milk was a tempting offer.

She wanted to change. She wanted to be that person.

Anyone but who she was turning into. A girl who struggled pointlessly as she slowly lost the parts of herself that made her who she was.

Anyone but Gina.

“Gina… I-I don’t think this is a good idea…” Mary whimpered. But even as she said that, she could feel herself disagreeing. Her own transformation was kicking in now, telling her that she should go through with it. That she SHOULD turn Gina into Nick’s ideal wife. After all, she was Nick’s wife herself, wasn’t she? And part of that duty came with making sure that the other women in his life fit his ideal. If she gave them her milk, if they transformed, then they would be happy, wouldn’t they?

Gina certainly seemed to think so. And Mary was finding it hard to argue.

Then a loud clap distracted everyone.

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Rose said, lazily rising to her feet.

“This is serious!” Gina spat.

“I know it is,” Rose nodded. “Which is why I think we need to approach this seriously. And that means keeping you and Mary as far apart from each other as we can, until we understand what’s at stake here.”

“What do you mean?” Sylvia asked, confused.

“What I mean,” Rose explained, “is that we need to experiment with Mary’s milk, just a little bit.”

“What?!” Mary’s jaw dropped in surprise. She quickly covered her cleavage in shock. “Rose! What!?”

“It’s simple,” Rose said. “Gina, you think that Mary’s milk will fix all your problems? Well, I can tell you right now that it won’t. But I can also see that there’s no way you’d buy that. So here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to take a sip of Mary’s milk, and we’ll see how it changes me. And from there, we can make an educated decision about whether or not we can let YOU have a taste.”

“I don’t want ANYONE to have a taste!” Mary lied. Right now, the idea of Rose sucking on her tits and transforming from the sultry seductress to someone with a little more class and modesty was just about the only thing she could focus on.

Rose sighed. “Mary… please stop being difficult,” she begged. “This is what’s best for Gina… probably.”

Rose honestly thought that some therapy would be better, but that wasn’t really in the cards right now. So this was the next best option.

Mary couldn’t deny that Rose seemed to be making some good points. She hesitated to admit it, but… she couldn’t really say the other girl was wrong.

With her hands shaking, she slowly reached up to her shirt, and started to undo the knot that was tying up her breasts.

“O-okay,” she stammered, relenting. “But just a little, okay!? A few sips!”

“That might not be enough to make any real difference,” Sylvia warned.

“Well, it’ll have to do,” Rose replied. “I’m not sure I want to change for too long, after all.”

That was a reasonable point.

Rose felt a little awkward, drinking Mary’s milk with four pairs of eyes watching her. She leaned in slightly, and then pulled back.

“…Okay, no, no thanks,” she said, shaking her head quickly. She grabbed an empty cup. “Can we milk your milk into here?”

Mary stared at her.

“…That seems weirder, somehow,” Marley said.

“Will it even work if it’s not straight from the source?” Kim asked, turning to Sylvia.

Sylvia just shrugged. “Dakota came up with that transformation,” she said quietly. “I don’t know.”

Rose sighed. “…Fine. But again, this is just to experiment! Don’t think it means anything! I don’t actually want to do this, you know!”

She held her hands over her chest. “And… it better not affect my breasts, either! This figure is a masterpiece!”

Sylvia sighed and rubbed her temples. The other girls shared in her exasperation.

Finally, Rose worked up the courage. She leaned in, and latched her lips around Mary’s warm nipple, feeling the other girl’s pounding heart echo in her ears.

It’s okay, it’s just like drinking from one of those pull-top water bottles, she tried to convince herself. Then, Mary’s milk began to flood into her mouth, and her eyes snapped open.

It was sweet. Sweeter than sugar. And it had a strange fruity aftertaste to it, like chocolate strawberries.

It tasted delicious.

Rose had said just a few sips, but she couldn’t help herself. It just tasted so good! She drank more and more and more, and she kept drinking, thinking to herself “well, if Mary doesn’t want me to drink this much, she could stop me at any time!”

Mary was too busy moaning to think about that.

It was Marley who ultimately stepped in, and pried the two girls apart.

“So… how do we know if anything’s changed?” Kim asked, leaning in curiously.

“I mean, it should be her ideal, right? Rose’s?” Sylvia wondered, glancing at the uneasy Gina. “So what Rose has become… is what she thinks Nick’s ideal wife is like. Or, at least, a subdued version of that, depending on how much milk she’s had to drink.”

Every girl looked at Rose as she transformed. He clothes had turned even more modest!

“…What?” Rose frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why are you guys staring at me?”

Kim’s eyes widened, and she pointed at the blonde.

“Oh, my gosh! Your hair!”

Rose blanched. “My hair?! What happened to my hair?!” She frantically scrambled, looking for a mirror. She could only find a reflective tray.

And then, to everyone’s surprise, a floor-length mirror suddenly appeared in the center of the room. Dakota must have been listening in.

Rose gasped in amazement at what she saw.

Her hair was short. Incredibly short, like a boy! She had a pixie cut that framed her cheeks, her flouncy curly locks all severed.

“My hair!” Rose exclaimed. An incredulous smile broke across her face, and she laughed in spite of herself. “It-it’s so short! Why is it this short?! I hate my hair being this short!” She wailed. “I look all… mannish! That milk of yours is poisoned, Mary!”

In spite of her exclamations, she actually looked happy.

Sylvia shrugged. “If you have short hair, then it’s because you believe that Daddy’s ideal version of you would have short hair. That’s what you think his perfect wife would be like, I guess.”

“I mean… it makes sense,” Gina admitted. “Nick does have a thing for short hair.”

“True,” Marley nodded. “My sister always kept her hair short, and he was absolutely smitten with her when I first met him.”

“I used to have short hair, too,” Mary said, remembering fondly back to her days in college as she played with her pigtails.

“But I don’t look GOOD like this!” Rose wailed. “…Do I?”

She took another look in the mirror.

“Hmm… you know… from the right angle…” She stood parallel to the mirror, checking out her profile. Then she whistled. “Ooooh. Now I see it. Ooh, baby…”

“I think she likes it,” Sylvia smirked.

“…I just realized, her body didn’t change at all,” Kim noted. “I thought for sure she would have gotten, like, huge breasts or something.”

“Why?” Rose replied, turning to the asian girl. “My body’s already perfect. Nick can’t get enough of it. Why would he-”

“No, wait, her boobs are bigger than normal,” Marley noted.

Rose blanched. “N-no, they’re not! Are they?!” She turned and looked at herself in the mirror. Then she gasped. “They- they are! I’m at least a- never mind.”

Rose clamped her hand over her mouth, not wanting to share her cup size with the other girls. “They’re… they’re bigger…” She looked a little bothered by that. But she also seemed a little happy, too, judging by the small smile.

“Okay, so Rose has shorter hair, and her boobs are a little bigger,” Marley noted. “But other than that, you don’t feel any different?”

“No personality changes, or anything?” Gina sounded a little disappointed. But Sylvia could hear relief in her voice as well.

“I guess not,” Rose shrugged. “I just feel normal. I guess that means, I’m comfortable with the fact that Nick loves me for me?”

She let out a wistful sigh and swooned, then turned to Mary. “…Thanks for helping me learn that, Mary,” she said, giving the other girl a smile. “I was afraid I would doubt myself… but thanks to your milk, I’m confident that I can make Nick happy as his wife.”

“Um… you’re welcome?” Mary was still a little weirded out.

“Can I ask a favor, though?” Rose inquired.

Mary blinked. “…A favor?”

“Oui,” the blonde nodded. “You wouldn’t happen to have any more of those pills, would you? The ones that make you ovulate?”

Mary’s jaw dropped. “You-you want my…?”

“Wait, Rose, you want to get pregnant?!” Kim exclaimed.

“Of course I do,” Rose said, staring at the other girl in confusion. “Just the idea of having Nick’s children fills my heart with joy… why, I’d just love to be his perfect wife, cooking him meals, satisfying him sexually, bearing him all the little filles he would like…”

Another yearning sigh escaped her lips.

“…Well, chock one up for a dynamic personality shift,” Kim whispered to Marley, who nodded in agreement.

“Gina!” Rose turned to the punk girl and seized her hands. Her eyes were shining. “I need to apologize to you. I stopped you from drinking Mary’s milk, because I didn’t want you to change yourself into something you weren’t comfortable with. But I had no idea it would be so modest a change! I think that you should give it a try. Even if it doesn’t turn you into a good girl, I promise, Mary and I will work tirelessly to help you become the kind of woman you want to be. Right, Mary?” She turned and looked expectantly at the redhead, who was too creeped out to say anything.

“Apparently, Rose thinks that Nick’s ideal wife is basically a carbon copy of herself, but with some of Mary’s qualities,” Sylvia observed. “Particularly, her overt niceness and desire to help others, without pretense.”

Rose was already relatively nice (if you squinted) and liked helping others (semi-conditionally) but the version of her who drank Mary’s milk had sanded away most of her ego and her standoffishness, leaving just a woman who loved helping people.

And getting pregnant.

“She’s like a French Mary,” Gina mumbled, stunned.

“So, um…”

Gina nearly jumped in the air when the real Mary approached her. She turned pale, and looked at the other girl. Mary’s face seemed ****.

“M-Mary… hey…” Gina stammered. “Um…”

“Did you… did you also want it?” Mary looked like she was torn between her own desires and doing what was best for Gina. “Rose seems… fine… so…”

Gina glanced over at Rose, who nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

Rose was encouraging. Mary was offering and the other girls, they seemed okay with letting it happen, and Gina…

Gina…

What did Gina want?

“I… never mind,” she said, looking down. “I don’t need your milk. I don’t want to change like that.”

“Really?” Mary’s face was a cross between relief and disappointment, with a healthy dose of confusion on top of it. “Are you sure?”

“I-I guess I just got really worked up,” Gina muttered. “From the pressure of it all… my transformation wearing down on me… I just thought that I should… that I should do something. But… you guys were right. I wasn’t thinking.”

She sighed and hung her head. “Sorry for being such a fucking screw-up.”

“Gina!” Mary exclaimed.

“You’re not a screw-up!” Rose chastised her. “You’re a great girl! And tonight’s party is going to be so great! Mary and I are going to help you!”

“That’s right!” Mary nodded. “We- wait, what?”

She turned and looked at Rose, an expression of horror breaking her face in half. “No, no we’re not!”

Rose turned to Mary, and gave her own version of the puppy-dog plead that Mary had perfected.

“…Okay,” Mary resigned herself, unable to argue with the woman she’d inadvertently transformed. “Okay, we’ll do it…”