Surprisingly sweet? I don't want to do analysis here in the comments, since it'd be impossible to avoid spoilers / major plot beats, but scanning over the other comments I get the impression that Nichole's, ah, motivations and mindset are ... purer?... than others have interpreted them. Good job injecting nuance!
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You're welcome! Again, great story.
You of all people would know, of course, but I had a very different analysis of Nicole's nature, looking back. (Spoilers after the break!)
Nicole is at least a little manipulative, faking a reason for being there and everything, but she's finding excuses to spend time with an older woman and goes along with everything Ann suggests until the confession is well under way. If Nicole was as submissive as Ann, or even more so, but had accepted it and embraced it and decided to move forward on that path with confidence, how would she have behaved differently? Once Ann reveals her predilections, wouldn't Submissive!Nichole say to herself :
'Well, then I need to change myself to become the kind of person who will dominate her in exactly the way she has implied in order for her to be happy. Since my happiness is predicated on my partner getting what they want and my sacrifices in making that happen, I should sacrifice all notions of how I thought our relationship might play out in order to make her fantasy a reality.'
The visual language of games tells us that her character is designed to be a slightly unhinged, corrupting temptress by way of the red accents, Catherine style hair, aggressive hourglass figure, etc etc... but aside from being a little pushy with the wine, she doesn't do or say anything domineering until Ann reveals that that is what she wants. At which point she becomes that thing.
Nicole is undoubtedly in the Dom role by the end, but she might be there either because that's what she's into OR because she's submitting herself entirely to what Nicole wants. I think the way the beats are staggered and how Nicole acts given what she knows at any given moment that the latter of the two options seems more likely. I know one doesn't usually associate "Assertive" and "Confident" with being a Submissive type, but they're not mutually exclusive, and if one was all of those things they would have acted exactly like Nicole did. Right?