The brave knight Roland kicks through the door to the central room of the tower. He sheathes his sword as he looks upon the love of his life. “My princess, I have come to save you!”

“Sir Roland!” The princess turns away from her window and sees the gallant knight. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. “I thought you were dead.”

“Haha, no beast can keep me slain. Not while my heart still burns with my love for you.” Roland kneels before the princess. He takes her hand and gently kisses the back of her palm.

“Stand, Sir Roland.”

At the princess’ command, Roland dutifully stands and salutes her. The princess laughs gently at the sight, her voice reminiscent of a bubbling river.

“At ease, dear Roland. There is no need for the formalities. Afterall, we are promised to each other now. You are my love, as I am yours. We are princess and knight no longer. We are simply a man and woman in love.”

Roland stands in awe of the princess’ words. “Princess… no… M-Marian… I love you.”

“And I love you, my dearest Roland.”

The two star-crossed lovers meet in a tender kiss. As they enjoy each other’s touch, the door to the room slams open as a nameless soldier in service to the knight saunters confidently into the room. He approaches the two with a spring in his step, nearly dancing as he moves. As this soldier nears the two lovers, he strikes a dramatic pose and shouts at the top of his lungs.

“SIR ROLAND! YOUR LOVE MUST BE CUT SHORT, FOR THE PRINCE’S ARMY LIES IN WAIT AT…”

A grizzled man in a plaid vest puts his head in his palm with a long sigh, before standing up. “Cut, cut, cut! Take ten everyone, then we’re starting again.”

Roland sighs with an annoyed glare. “Seriously, again!?”

The cast all clears off the stage to take their breaks, but before the nameless soldier can leave, he is stopped by the grizzled man. “Stanly, hold up a second.”

Stanly takes off his helmet, as his brown spiky hair springs to life. He looks at the man, his director, with a confident grin. “What do you think, Professor? I was quite impressed with that delivery if I do say so myself.”

The man sighs again. “Stanly, what is the name of your role?”

“That would be Soldier #3, Professor!”

“Right, Soldier #3. And how many lines do you have?”

“Just the one, sir. That’s why I’m willing to put all of my energy into making it perfect!”

“Look, Stanly.” The professor rests a hand on Stanly’s shoulder. “I get that you’re excited to be cast in our main production. But you’re just a side role this time. You can’t be taking up so much attention from the main cast. Just try to downplay it, alright?”

“With all due respect, Professor, I believe that it’s the other actors who need more passion! I’m only using about 60% of the flare that I could be using. I believe it’s the fault of the main roles if they can’t match that energy.”

The professor lets out another long sigh. He’s held this job of theater professor for forty years, and he had encountered many overconfident actors in his long tenure. However, none of them compared to the sophomore student, Stanly Stevens.

“Stanly, you can’t just make decisions like that on your own. I appreciate your fire, but you’ve got to try and work with the others a bit here. I understand the whole ‘no small roles’ saying and all of that, but a good actor can’t just be bold all the time. They need to share the spotlight with everyone else.”

Stanly energetically nods in agreement. “Yes, yes, I believe I understand what you’re saying, and I completely agree.”

“… do you?” The professor raised an eyebrow.

“I do! I think getting larger spotlights so they can illuminate more people at once is a brilliant idea!” Stanly’s smile shined with complete obliviousness.

The professor, on the other hand, couldn’t look more exhausted. “Why don’t you head home for the day Stanly. We’ll uh… work on some other scenes.”

“Ah, well then, I’ll stay and take notes on the other actors! I’m sure I can come up with many more ideas to improve the production!”

“That… won’t be necessary. Here…” The professor scribbles some notes on a sheet of paper. “Take this to the library and take home a few of the videos on our older productions. Watch over them a bit at home and take notes on that. Pay special attention to the side roles.”

“Ah, professor! Thank you very much for this gift!” Stanly’s eyes sparkled like stars as he took the hastily written permission slip, allowing him to check out the theater recordings. “I’ll be sure to write a thorough report on each and every one of them!”

“Yup, yup, that’s the spirit. Hop to it, Stanly.”

“Of course! I’ll head straight there!” The energetic student quickly grabbed his backpack and made a mad dash for the door of the theater, waving and smiling at the professor the entire time.

As soon as Stanly shut the theater door behind him, the professor let out another long sigh.

“That boy’s got a long way to go if he wants to make it as an actor.”

***

“I think I’ve finally made it as an actor!” Stanly thought to himself as he stood at the top of the steps leading to the university’s theater.

Stanly Stevens had always dreamed of being an actor. His aspirations even led him to leave his tiny home of Redwood to study theater in one of the nation’s largest entertainment capitols, Brite City. To him, this was a city of dreams where even someone like him could become a star.

The boy stared in wonder at the slip of paper handed to him by professor. “He really trusts me! I can’t believe the whole confidence thing is actually working! Well… I guess there is a chance that he was just trying to get rid of me……… nah, couldn’t be. I mean he’s basically taken me under his wing at this point, I’m like his personal protégé! I’d better not let him down; I need to get studying right away. Nothing is going to stop Stanly Stevens!”

Just as Stanly was about to start down the steps, he was struck in the head by a mysterious object and lost consciousness.

***

Through the silence of the night air, Stanly’s head emerged from the bushes bordering the theater. He glanced around trying to take stock of the situation. He appeared to have fallen off the side of the steps leading up to the building. To make matters worse, it was now the middle of night.

“…What just happened? Was I really so excited as I left that I fell off the steps? Well that would be incredibly silly, what would ever get me so…” Stanly’s eyes flashed with shock as he remembered what he had been doing, completely forgetting that he had just fallen several feet. “WAIT! The professor! He entrusted me with an important task, and I’ve failed him! Perhaps the library is still open.”

Stanly looked to a large, lit up clock tower nearby. Unfortunately it seemed that it was just past midnight, when the library closes. As Stanly was about to panic, he noticed something in a bright pink color hanging down from his head.

“Is that… hair? But my hair is brown…”

Before Stanly could figure out what was going on, a voice drew his attention away. “Mmm, who do we have here?”

Stanly looked up to see a woman sitting on the edge of the stairs leading up to the theater. He could’ve sworn she hadn’t been there when he looked around earlier.

It was hard to make her out in the darkness, but she certainly didn’t seem like a student. She had straight, black hair that sat on her shoulders with what looked to be purple streaks through it.

What clothes the woman had on were mostly black, but she was showing a lot of skin. She wore what looked like a tube top that didn’t quite meet between her breasts, leaving only a few very strained straps to hold her sizeable chest.

She also had very short shorts that didn’t seem to be zipped, with straps from what must have been her underwear showing out the top. Her feet were covered in black, stiletto heels that were connected to bright purple ribbons that wrapped around her legs, disappearing under her shorts.

The most eye catching thing about the woman however were the two bat-like wings protruding from her back, the spade-tipped tail swishing behind her, and the glowing pink tattoo just above her shorts.

It was safe to say that Stanly was taken a bit off guard by the experience. However, he was still a serious student at heart. “M-Ma’am, it’s dangerous to sit on the railing like that. I recommend getting down quickly before you, umm… fall.” Stanly blushed at the shame of having done just that.

The woman chuckled and leapt from the stairs, slowly gliding to the ground and landing right in front of Stanly. He realized that this girl was several inches taller than he was. It was a very impressive feat, even accounting for her heels.

The woman looked Stanly in the eyes with a coy smile. Her own eyes gleamed with a vibrant yellow. “How’s that, better?”

“I, uh… well…” Between the strange situation Stanly found himself in, and the very provocative woman in front of him, he was at a bit of a loss for words.

The girl took the initiative to lean in even closer. “My, you look so flustered. Am I doing that to you? It is always nice to find a girl with good taste.”

“A… what?” The woman’s words snapped Stanly out of his daze and brought his mind back to what he saw earlier. He looked down at himself and was greeted by a pair of breasts held in a what looked like a very flashy stage uniform. Along with that, his hair did indeed seem to be a bright pink color. It was tied in a ponytail, with straight bangs that were just visible at the top of Stanly’s field of vision.

Before Stanly could assess the situation further, the woman took a step forward, pressing her body against his. His mind was overwhelmed with the distinct sensation of his breasts squishing against hers. “How about I make you a deal cutie. You give me that cute little ribbon of yours, and I’ll give you a night to remember.”

Stanly was suddenly distinctly aware of a ribbon tied in a bow that was holding up his ponytail. Somehow, even though he couldn’t see it, he could picture it very clearly in his mind’s eye. It was almost as if he could feel it’s presence. Whatever it was, that same sense gave Stanly a flood of fear at the idea of giving it to this woman.

He stepped back to gain some distance from the pushy woman. “N-No thank you. I’m… really not looking for… that sort of thing right now.”

The girl didn’t seem at all put off by his remark. “I see. I suppose we’ll have to do this the hard way then.” She put her fingers to her lips and blew Stanly a kiss, releasing a cloud of pink gas from her mouth.

Before Stanly’s instincts could tell him to run, he inhaled the gas. In an instant his mind grew hazy. All he could see was the woman, with her beautiful body and entrancing eyes. Stanly found he couldn’t look away from those eyes. He slowly began to step towards her, reaching behind his head for the ribbon.

Just as Stanly’s fingers reached the ribbon, chains shot up from the ground beneath the temptress, wrapping around her and holding her in place. Stanly found himself free of the woman’s trance, as the rest of the world returned to view.

“Aah~ well if it isn’t my favorite dom.” Stanly followed the woman’s gaze as it shifted away from him and towards a new figure.