Girl, let me invest in you

Vivian’s group had returned to the hotel, with Vivian leading the way, as usual. Carly and Marley followed diligently behind her, with Carly still trying to figure out the uses of this particular bunny girl morph, while Sylvia took up the rear, thinking things through herself.

She was wondering if she could throw in a free temporary upgrade to “sweeten the pot” for any girls interested in donating some BP, and whether or not that was the right thing to do; after all, Sylvia very much would like for the other girls to accept an upgrade for nothing.

It just felt strange offering it as incentive. Like she was doing something wrong.

But there would be time to think about that later, because right now, two contestants were heading their way!

Vivian tried very hard not to look concerned.

“Yo, Teach! How’s it going with your new student?” She asked, waving at Amelia as the bespectacled blonde walked into the lounge with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin in tow.

The irritated looks on both women’s faces was enough of an answer, but Vivian insisted on being a little shit about it.

Amelia’s eye twitched. “If you think I am the sort of woman to talk about the learning of another, then you are sorely mistaken,” she calmly replied, shaking her head.

Vivian whistled. “That bad, huh?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t have a great relationship with the heiress herself, mostly due to Kim’s antagonism towards Vivian.

Normally, that would have made Vivian feel compelled to try and endear herself to the assassin and win her over. She was rather averse to people thinking badly of her, after all. But she refrained from doing so; after all, that wasn’t why they were here.

“Well, at least your lesson is finished now, right?” Sylvia asked, skipping forward and casting a hopeful look at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. It just felt weird to her to not see the mute girl smiling.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had a sour expression on her face, and slowly looked over at Amelia. She narrowed her eyes and the older woman.

Amelia showed no concern, even when being eyed down by a professional trained killer. She merely huffed and adjusted her glasses.

“I assigned that homework for a reason,” she said simply. “If you refuse to do it, that will simply mean our lesson tomorrow will be extended. It’s your choice.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin balled up her hands into fists. For a moment it looked like she was going to attack the other woman! Carly and Marley both tensed with concern, but Sylvia wasn’t afraid. Neither was Vivian. They could both tell that there was no danger here.

Even if it looked like they were about five seconds away from a **** scene.

Amelia stood her ground, still refusing to be intimidated. Eventually, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin backed down, letting out a long, silent sigh, and rolled her eyes. She turned and stomped off towards her room.

“I think… maybe we shouldn’t ask her,” Marley said.

“Agreed,” Carly nodded.

“Don’t worry about it.” Vivian waved her hand. “Trust me, if she was really that upset, she’d just stop the lessons altogether, right, teach?”

Amelia raised her eyebrow. “…Very perceptive of you,” she said with the faintest hint of respect in her voice. “Indeed. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin is willing to apply herself to learn, which is the important thing, even if she remains frustrated. That is more than can be said for some of my students,” she noted, turning and giving Vivian a frosty look.

Vivian responded with an amused smirk.

“Sorry Teach!” She said, waving her hand. “Not much use for your lessons here, I’m afraid. But hey, if you want to help out someone who needs it, that’s always on the table!”

“What’s this now?” Amelia looked at Vivian in confusion, wondering what the reason for her sudden change of subject was.

Vivian was happy to shove Carly front and center. For a moment Amelia was confused by what she was seeing, but she recovered quite nicely.

“…Explain,” she said, looking at the four women in front of her with an even expression on her face.

Carly sighed. “Look, um… Amelia, it’s no big deal, really,” she said, shaking her head. “Remember the transformation I got this round?”

“You mean the one where you took those prurient photographs and sent them to all of our rooms?” Amelia asked. She didn’t sound very impressed. “Yes, I remember.”

“…Right, uh, sorry about that,” Carly said, laughing. She was used to letting most things just slide right by, but it was hard for her to be passive when faced with an overbearing woman like Amelia Campbell, who intimidated her.

“Do not apologize. I am not upset,” Amelia said sharply. “…But your consideration for my feelings is appreciated,” she added, concerned that she may have come across too harshly.

Well, Carly was confused more than anything.

“No, uh, yeah, it-it’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about it, seriously, we’re good. If you’re good, I mean?”

Amelia looked quizzically at her.

Marley cleared her throat. “Let’s all just move past it, okay?” She could see that this wasn’t getting anywhere. “Carly? The important part?”

Carly jumped slightly. “O-oh! Right, yes!” She nodded swiftly. “The important part. So, uh, yeah, the thing is, um, I have this sort of, uh… well, the other part of my transformation says that people can give me BP, donate it, really, for the, um, photographs, so…”

“So you want me to give you money for those illicit photographs?” Amelia bluntly cut to the heart of the matter.

When she put it like that, it sounded kind of skeevy.

“Forget about the photographs,” Vivian said quickly. “Just think of it as a donation to help out Carly a bit!”

“Forget about the photographs!?” Sylvia looked scandalized. “Well… okay, I see what you mean, but still, the photos are important too!”

Marley looked at her. Now really wasn’t the time, and this was definitely not the person they wanted to be making this argument to.

Amelia had an unreadable expression on her face while the girls bickered. It was Carly who had to step forward and plead her case.

“Look, um, it’s not a big deal, really,” she said, brushing her longer hair out of her eyes. Her bunny ears twitched nervously on top of her head. “We’re just trying to experiment, see, and figure out what 10000 BP will get me, you know? That’s really all there is to it. You don’t have to consider it, like, endorsing my behavior or anything. Not that I’m ashamed of it or anything!” She quickly shook her head. “No, I’m proud of my body. I just, um…”

Normally Carly was quick to open fire on anyone who thought about looking down on her for being an online cosplayer making money off of her body. Plenty of people had called her a whore and a prostitute and much, much worse.

She didn’t care about those accusations; she practically wore them like a badge of honor.

But it was a little different when talking to such a respectable and classy woman like Amelia, and even worse when they were asking her for money.

“…It appears you have misunderstood me,” Amelia said finally, pushing her glasses up her nose. “I do not think poorly of your choice of career, Carly.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Carly perked up. She was glad to hear that.

“Certainly not. While I certainly would not endorse such behavior personally, I acknowledge the effort you put into your line of work. It is not something I would ever look down on you for doing,” she assured the younger woman.

Carly smiled a wide, crooked smile. “Well, hey, thanks! That really means a lot, coming from-”

“With that being said, I have no intention of giving you money in support, either,” Amelia added, deflating Carly’s spirits.

“Oh, uh… okay I guess,” she said, scratching her bunny ears.

“What? Come on, Teach, don’t be such a hard ass!” Vivian groaned.

“Language,” Amelia chastised the heiress, shooting her a warning look.

“Come on, why not?” Sylvia protested. “I’m sure Daddy would want to support Carly with some BP,” she added, trying to use Amelia’s affection for Nick to coax some money out of her.

“That may be the case,” Amelia replied, not at all thrilled by the fact that she could genuinely see a world where Nick paid money for naked pictures of women, and sincerely hoped that he no longer needed to do that in his present life. “But that has nothing to do with me.”

“…She raises a good point,” Marley couldn’t help but admit.

Amelia crossed her arms over her chest. “Miss Carrington.”

Vivian stiffened. “Uh… yeah?”

“Coming to me was your idea, I assume?” She asked, looking at Vivian. “You thought that, seeing as how I would have no use for BP myself, it would be an easy task getting me to donate?”

Marley and Carly both looked at each other. In fact, they had been the ones to suggest going to Amelia and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin; Vivian had made it very clear from the start that was a bad idea.

“Aw, you know me so well, Teach!” Vivian scratched her cheek and smiled sheepishly. “I can’t pull the wool over your eyes, huh?”

Carly and Marley both gave her shocked looks. She didn’t even glance their way, staring brazenly at Amelia while Sylvia remained silent herself.

Amelia’s expression barely changed. But there was a slight shift. Her eyes landed on the twins momentarily before returning to Vivian, and she pinched her lips into the faintest of smiles. “Interesting.”

“Oh? What is?” Vivian asked, batting her eyelashes.

Amelia shook her head. But she did seem pleased by what she saw when she looked at the twins.

“…Back to the matter at hand. I have no intention of donating any BP, simply because I see no value in doing so,” Amelia said plainly. “The wording of the transformation states that the BP donated is to express one’s gratitude and appreciation for the pictures, correct?”

“Well, uh, yeah, I guess,” Carly said, nodding slightly.

“If you want to think of it that way, yeah, that’s kind of the point,” Marley agreed.

Sylvia was the only one to object. “Not necessarily!” She said. As a matter of principle, she wasn’t at all happy with transformations being misrepresented. “Just check the wording yourself, see?”

She summoned up the transformation for all of them to see.

• Stream Donations: Nothing shows you’ve made it as a content creator quite like receiving money and gifts from your simps- err, subscribers. Starting now, other contestants will receive spicy pictures of Carly each morning, and in exchange they may donate BP to a pot set aside to buy her a gift. At the end of the round, or if total donations for the round reach 10000 BP, whichever comes first, she will receive a gift commensurate to the amount of BP she managed to earn. [NOTE: Carly’s own BP cannot be used towards this end, but she can provide favors to other contestants in exchange for donations.] (Content Creator)

“There, see? Nowhere in the transformation does it say that the BP has to be donated in repayment for the pictures!” Sylvia pointed out.

“I don’t think Teach is quibbling over semantics here,” Vivian said with an amused smirk.

Amelia huffed. “Certainly not,” she agreed. “Simply put- BP is an expression of gratitude for the photographs. I am not grateful for them. I did not ask for them, I had no desire to see them, I care nothing for them.” Her words sounded harsh, but nothing she said was really incorrect.

“Therefore,” Amelia continued, “I have no intention of giving away BP for them. Any BP I donate for those photographs would be akin to charity or pity. And I do not believe Carly has any need for my charity, and certainly not my pity.”

It almost sounded like a compliment, if you strained your ears. Carly sure didn’t feel insulted, anyway.

“I guess that’s kinda valid,” Marley admitted. “We’re definitely not trying to pressure you into donating or anything.”

Carly nodded. It would have been a nice gesture on Amelia’s part, but Carly couldn’t exactly begrudge the other woman for not having any interest in just giving away her BP to be nice.

“Well, what about respect for her work ethic, then?” Vivian piped up.

Amelia swung her head around to look at the heiress. “Excuse me?”

Vivian’s eyes flashed boldly. “Carly’s working really hard, you know, taking those photographs. It couldn’t be easy! So don’t you think that effort is worth a bit of acknowledgment on your part, Teach? Even if you aren’t that interested in the final result, I mean. You’re always going on about women knowing their worth and working hard, ain’tcha gonna put your money where your mouth is? Come on now.”

“Hey, come on, Vivian, it’s okay,” Carly said, shaking her head. “If she doesn’t want to donate anything, that’s fine! No need to pressure her into it.”

“No… you raise a valid point.”

Both sisters reacted in surprise to Amelia’s response. Sylvia brightened and Vivian smirked triumphantly.

“Really, Teach?” She chirped. “You actually thought I made a good point for once?”

Amelia glowered at Vivian. The other woman was certainly pushing her luck. But Amelia ignored that and turned to look at Carly with an appraising gaze.

“I suppose it would be remiss for me to not acknowledge the effort you have put in, in some small way, even if I have no use for it,” Amelia admitted. “Very well, I suppose a small donation would be enough to acknowledge your hard work.”

Amelia: 3300 BP – 100 BP = 3200 BP

Carly’s Donations: 6000 BP + 100 BP = 6100 BP

Everyone looked at the result of Amelia’s donation.

“…It’s almost insultingly small,” Sylvia blurted out in spite of herself.

Amelia looked sharply at her.

“Whoa, hey, no, it’s fine!” Carly said, interceding before Sylvia made the teacher even more upset. She looked gratefully at Amelia. “Really, thanks. You didn’t have to give me anything, after all.”

Even if it was a mere 100 BP, the lowest amount possible to donate, Carly still appreciated it. More because of what it represented than the monetary value.

Amelia respected her and how hard she was working, and that… that really went a long way. She couldn’t help but smile.

Amelia nodded. “I would suggest not seeking out my patronage again, in future rounds,” she said firmly. “This was a one-time donation in acknowledgment of the hard work you’ve put in up until this point. …Good job.” She added that last bit with more than a hint of awkwardness. Nobody was surprised that Amelia found it uncomfortable to congratulate Carly like that.

“Well, hey, something’s better than nothing!” Vivian said, smiling. “Thanks, Teach!”

Amelia didn’t even acknowledge Vivian this time.

“If there is nothing else, I’ll be going now,” she said brusquely. After a long day of trying to teach the stubborn Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and having to deal with five minutes of Vivian (both actions were equally frustrating) she wanted to take the rest of the day to relax with a nice, long book.

She paused before she left, though, and turned back to Carly. Her expression turned uncomfortable again.

“…Good luck with your endeavors,” she said. It seemed even harder for her to say that, much to the surprise of the other girls.

Carly beamed at her. “Yeah, thanks,” she said, nodding. “I’ll do my best!”

With that, Amelia left, leaving just the four of them to try and seek out anyone else they could rely on for donations.

“So that was a bust,” Marley said, sighing in exasperation. “Maybe we should just call it a day here, you think? I mean, we’ve been busting our butts and we did manage to get 6100 BP… that’s not nothing, you know.”

“True,” Sylvia said. “We do have the rest of the round to get the remaining amount.

“It would be nice to get 2/3rds of the way there, though,” Carly admitted. “And we’re so close. Only 500 BP! …Or 600, depending on how you look at it.”

“What’s with this defeatist attitude I’m hearing?” Vivian placed her hands on her hips and stood up straight, her eyes burning with confidence. “Come on! It’s too early to throw in the towel now! We can get that 3900 BP!”

“…Come on, Vivian, we’ve only been at this a couple hours and we got this much already,” Marley said, looking at the heiress. Yes, most of the money had come from Vivian herself, but still. “We don’t need to push ourselves or anything.”

Carly nodded in agreement. “I appreciate the support, really, but what’s up? Why are you so focused on this, huh?”

She felt a strange needling feeling in her gut; it was a familiar sensation, one she’d had several times before.

It was the feeling of her Veteran Experience transformation working on her, telling her that she needed to help another contestant with getting Nick to like them.

In this case, that contestant was Vivian. But Carly tamped down on that feeling, not wanting to offer any advice that was unsolicited.

She was still concerned though. Concerned mainly about Vivian, but also how she could help the heiress, if the heiress was determined to help her.

Vivian’s proud smile seemed to waver slightly. “Can’t I… just want to help?” She asked quietly.

“Of course you can help!” Sylvia said, nodding in encouragement.

“Yeah, we’re just wondering why you’re making such a big deal out of this,” Marley said. It wasn’t like Vivian and Carly were particularly close; before today, they’d hardly even spoken to one another.

Vivian scratched her cheek and sighed. “Look… I don’t want to get into it, okay?” She said quietly. “I just want to help Carly out. That’s all, really. If you think I’ve got some ulterior motive or something-”

“No, it’s not like that at all,” Carly interjected, startling the other woman.

“Huh? Ah…”

“I know you don’t have an ulterior motive,” Carly said, approaching her. “I think you’re really trying to help. But I just want to know why.”

Vivian pinched her lips together. She wished she could give them a better answer. It wasn’t just about her curiosity or her experimenting. There was another reason, and it was on the tip of her tongue, but…

“…I don’t know,” she admitted, clasping her hands behind her back and sighing. “I really wish I could tell you, but… I just don’t know.”

Marley frowned. There was something going on that she wasn’t privy to. But just like Carly, she trusted the sincerity in Vivian’s eyes.

“…Okay, a little bit more,” she decided. “I can keep going, what about you girls?”

“Works for me!” Sylvia chirped.

Carly smiled, not taking her eyes off of Vivian. “Of course,” she said, nodding.

Vivian smiled back.