Little sister, don't you do what your big sister done

When Rose came downstairs and entered the banquet hall, the room was mostly empty. Only the twins were present. She had to do a double-take. It was like she was looking at a blast from the past; specifically, when she saw Carly. Today, Carly’s cosplay was of a red ballgown not unlike the type of dress she’d been **** to wear during her stint as a plant by the producers. She’d turned her hair blonde and pinned it up in the back, with a fringe over the right side of her face. Rose wasn’t one for anime or children’s games so she didn’t recognize the character, but clearly she was someone with a significant amount of class.

Here’s hoping Dani is in the mood for a classy date today, Rose thought, resisting the urge to lick her lips. She approached the twins with a charming smile on her face.

“Bonjour, Carly, Marley,” she greeted them with a wave. “Good morning!”

“Hey,” Carly said, waving back. Marley regarded Rose with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion, which Rose figured was warranted.

“Come here to trick us again?” Marley asked curtly.

“Be nice, sis,” Carly said, puffing up her cheeks. “It worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

Marley sighed and shook her head. “You’re too nice, Carly. She still manipulated us into that hot spring.”

“Water under the bridge!” Rose tittered, waving her hand. “Or, in the spring, as it were.”

“Yeah, Marley,” Carly nodded. “Water under the bridge.”

Marley’s eye twitched. She was the one who was born last week, so why did Carly have to be the trusting idiot all the time?

“…But my sister’s right.” Carly’s expression turned serious. “What is it you want, Rose?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Rose mused, keeping up her whimsical attitude. “I was just wondering what your plans were for today.”

The twins glanced at each other.

“…Not sure,” Carly replied. “I was thinking about maybe spending some time with Morgana, though.”

That was an intriguing thought. Rose was actually surprised. “Morgana? I had no idea you all became so close.”

“Something like that,” Carly nodded. “We’ve watched some anime together. But really it’s because she doesn’t seem to have very many friends here, and we were hoping to change that.”

“Wow, isn’t that sweet?” Rose was actually rather touched. She almost felt guilty about what she was about to ask. “Although… do you think you could ask Dani to tag along with you, too?”

Carly immediately broke out into a smile. “Dani? What do you mean?”

“Well… she’s been feeling a little awkward, since… you know, yesterday.”

“When you basically **** the two of them to bathe together and resolve their issues?” Marley snidely interjected.

Rose gave her a blank look.

“…Yes. That. Honestly, she wants to go back to being friends with you, but-”

“But we are friends,” Carly bluntly stated. “Why would she need to go ‘back’ to anything?”

Rose sighed and shook her head. Oh, what a pure girl… it’s almost adorable!

“Yes, but I’m saying, the kind of friends who spend time together,” she clarified. “Since Kim isn’t scheduled to work out with her today, she was hoping to maybe go on a hike with you this afternoon.”

Carly blinked. “Well, sure, I’m game. Though I don’t think Morgana would be that interested in hiking.”

“No need to worry!” Rose chirped. “Marley and I will hang out with Morgana in your place!”

Marley blinked and stared at her incredulously. “…We will? …Wait, how does that work?!”

“Yeah, Marley and I have to stick together,” Carly pointed out. “Not that I wouldn’t like to go on a hike with just me and Dani so we can reconnect, but it doesn’t really work that way anymore.”

Rose was surprised. Carly was reacting quite well to the fact that she’d never be able to be more than ten feet apart from Marley for the rest of her life. And I thought I was a clingy older sister… this girl takes it to the next level!

She offered a smile in reply when she noticed the tense look on Marley’s face. Clearly the former slime girl was a little less okay with the restriction her presence placed on Carly. “Yes, I was just thinking of that. But I had something else in mind,” Rose stated, her eyes sliding over to Marley. The brunette shivered.

“…Why do I think I’m not going to like this?” Marley asked warily.

“Instinct,” Carly bluntly replied.

“Ah, you two, have you forgotten my transformations?” Rose tittered, wagging her finger from side to side. “Non, that is no good at all!”

She narrowed her eyes and turned her head towards the younger twin, wearing a sly smile on her face. “Thanks to my Method Acting… I’ve copied Carly’s transformation that turns her into your sister!”

It took a second for the twins to process that. History was rewritten as suddenly, Rose was always a member of the Granger family. Their cute, French-speaking sister, who dreamed of being an actress. Going on picnics together, comforting one another, playing games…

Carly and Marley made faces of revulsion and rejected those memories outright.

“That’s… distasteful,” Carly replied.

“I think I threw up a little,” Marley nodded.

“Ahaha! If you like Marley, you may call me ‘big sister’!” Rose declared, ignoring the girls’ objections.

“But I’m older than you!” Marley exclaimed.

Carly had to laugh. As much as she disliked the idea of being Rose’s sister (and those fake memories had crumbled away the second they appeared) she had to admit the idea was amusing.

There was no way it could work though… right?

“So what exactly does this mean?” She asked. “It’s not like you actually became our little sister or anything like that.”

“Well, when I copied Kim’s Model Employee transformation, the one that forces her to work in that boutique, it allowed me to take the place of her shift,” Rose pointed out. “Even though it shouldn’t have worked that way, right?”

“Hmm, that’s a good point,” Carly agreed. “Yeah, with the way her transformation works, you both should have been **** to work the job, not just you.”

Rose nodded. “So from that, I theorized that my Method Acting transformation doesn’t just copy someone else’s transformation, it also allows me to serve as an understudy for any obligations that transformation would impose.”

Carly and Marley both looked at her, stunned.

Rose was confused by their expressions. “…What? Did I say something weird?”

“She can think…” Marley said, amazed.

“I thought she was just a bimbo…” Carly’s jaw dropped.

“You two are really annoying, you know that?” Rose scowled.

“So anyway, what you’re saying is that now you’re Marley’s sister, too?” Carly still needed some clarification.

Rose nodded. “If I’m right, then that means only one of us needs to be within ten feet of Marley to keep her from melting into a puddle of slime. Want to test it out?”

“Sure,” Carly agreed.

“Uh, no, we don’t,” Marley scowled. “Sis, are you crazy?”

“Come on, it’s not like you haven’t turned into slime before,” Carly pointed out. “Heck, just last night-”

“That’s because you went to the bathroom without telling me!” Marley exclaimed.

“Well, you were asleep, and it looked like you were having a really nice dream, so…” Carly just shrugged.

“Yes. I was. And then I was a puddle.”

The twins exchanged heated stares while Rose watched with restrained amusement.

“Come on, let’s just test it out, okay?” She kept her tone upbeat to try and smooth things over. Marley gave a resigned sigh and nodded her head, knowing this probably wouldn’t go well.

“Great, nice idea, Rose!” Carly chirped, hopping out of her seat. She slowly got further and further away from the table, keeping her eyes open for any changes.

She hit the ten-foot mark. Still nothing. She took a few steps further. Eleven feet. Twelve feet.

Marley remained Marley.

“Oh my gosh!” Carly gasped. “I didn’t think it would actually work!”

“Yeah, me neither!” Rose agreed.

“WHAT?!” Marley exclaimed, whipping her head around to stare incredulously at the blonde.

Rose shrugged. “Well, there were a few holes in my theory, so…”

“You-!” Marley had to restrain herself from wringing Rose’s neck. “What’s the matter with you?!”

“Don’t talk to your older sister that way,” Rose chastised her with a stern wagging of her finger.

“Like I already said, I’m older than you!” Marley exclaimed.

Rose shrugged. “Eh…”

“This is so great!” Carly rejoined the two of them with a big smile on her face. “You know what this means, Marley? We don’t have to be stuck together anymore! You and Rose can have fun with each other now, you don’t need to be dragged along by me!”

Marley winced. “Is it… really that bad?” She asked quietly, shrinking down a little. “Hanging around me all the time?”

Carly immediately realized how insensitive that sounded.

“Hey, wait, I didn’t mean it like that,” she said quickly. “I just thought that you’d be happier if you didn’t have to worry about always being tied at the hip. Now you can have some time to yourself.”

Marley glanced at Rose with a bitter expression on her face. “Time with her, you mean,” she corrected her twin.

“Hey, I’m sitting right here.” Any more of these snide remarks and Rose might actually start taking them personally. “Words hurt, you know.”

“Look, Marley, just because we CAN be apart from each other now, doesn’t mean we HAVE to be,” Carly pointed out. “If you want to come with Dani and I, then you can.”

Marley could tell what her sister was doing. Clearly the other girl wanted to spend time with Dani; she wanted it enough that the thought of hanging out with Morgana had completely faded from her mind. But she was willing to give that up for her sake.

Knowing that, Marley felt like it would be incredibly selfish to insist on hanging out with the two of them.

This is what I wanted, right? She reminded herself. To be more than just “Carly’s twin sister”.

All her life (well, the fake life implanted in her by the woman who was sort-of her mother but also not really) she’d been joined at the hip to her big sister, and always seen as “Carly’s little sister”. The one time they had ever spent an extended period of time apart is when they went to different colleges, and even then that had only last a short time before Carly had to drop out when she got pregnant.

While Marley didn’t like how ready her sister was to say goodbye, she also appreciated the fact that things would be better this way; that the two of them could really, sincerely start living separate lives here… so long as Rose was around and willing to use her daily Method Acting transformation to shoulder some of the responsibility.

…And Marley was being kind of rude to her about it, too, wasn’t she?

“Thanks, sis,” she sighed, smiling appreciatively to her sister. “But I’d just be a third wheel. Why don’t you two go and have some fun together?”

“Really? Awesome, thanks! You’re the best sister a girl could ask for!” Carly cheered, jumping onto Marley and giving her a big bear hug.

“Wow, so this is what it’s like,” Marley laughed, getting to be on the receiving end of a glomp for a change. “How nice!”

“Now then!” Carly hopped to her feet, and made a salute. “I’m off!”

Without hesitation she turned and headed out the door, leaving Rose and Marley alone.

“…So is she really going to be hiking in those high heels?” Rose asked. That had been a wrench in her plan she hadn’t anticipated.

Marley sighed. Her sister never changed. “…Yeah,” she said, shaking her head. “Yeah, she probably is…”

She turned to Rose. “Also… thank you, Rose.”

“Hmm? Moi? Whatever did I do?” Rose asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.

Marley rolled her eyes. The blonde sure was enjoying herself. That almost made Marley not want to give her the satisfaction.

“Never mind.”

“Well, I won’t then,” Rose nodded. “Although… if you’re feeling particularly gracious, perhaps you could do me a small favor…”

“Hmm?” Marley tensed, shooting the other woman a suspicious look. She should have known. There was always a catch.

“It’s not that big of a favor, really!” Rose said, shaking her head quickly. “It’s just that… well… since you’re going to be accompanying me all day anyway… that extends to the Master’s Suite, doesn’t it?”

“I mean, I guess,” Marley agreed. She turned red a little as she thought about what that implied. “So then… wait, are you saying…”

The last time she’d entered the Master’s Suite had been with Carly, when she’d lost her virginity. If Rose was bringing her back up there, then…

She imagined having sex with Nick and her eyes turned a little glassy.

Rose scowled. “Um… hello?” She snapped her fingers in front of the girl’s face a few times. “I think you’re overthinking this just a little bit,” she stated.

“Huh?”

“We’re not going to have any sex,” Rose insisted. “That’s my condition. Remember, I’m doing this as a favor to you, it’s still MY night with Nick, got it?”

“Oh… I mean, okay, I guess…” Marley mumbled. It’s not like she HAD to have sex… but that was a little disappointing.

“Excellent!” Rose wore a look of triumph on her face. “Then it’s decided! We’ll give Carly and Dani the day together, and in the meantime, we’ll go up to the Master’s Suite together! I just love when a plan unfolds perfectly!”

Marley narrowed her eyes. “Plan?”

Rose turned to ice. “Errr… plan? Did someone say ‘plan’? I have no idea what you mean,” she stammered, shaking her head. “Who said anything about a plan? Certainly not me… hehe…”

“Rose, what’s really going on here?” Marley asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “Somehow, I’m starting to doubt now that this talk of helping Carly and I was out of the goodness of your heart!”

Rose winced. “Well… see… the thing is…”

She averted her eyes, tugging on a strand of her curly hair. “It’s not… totally self-interest…”

“I don’t believe this!” Marley groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, come on!” Rose protested. “I meant what I said! I really do want Dani and Carly to be happy together! And isn’t that what you want, too?”

Marley frowned. “What do you mean by that?” She asked suspiciously. “When you say ‘happy together’ what do you mean?”

Rose could only offer a shrug in response. Marley just stared at her.

The blonde sighed. So much for subtlety.

“I’m talking about love,” she clarified. “You know, romance? Attraction? Two people getting together in a romantic way?”

Marley suspected that would be the case, knowing what she did about Dani’s feelings for Carly, but she didn’t figure Rose for playing matchmaker.

“…Well, you’ve got your work cut out for you on that end,” she had to admit. “But I’m still suspicious. I don’t really think you’re doing this with the best of intentions.”

Rose felt insulted. She had nothing BUT the best intentions! At the same time, she was happy to admit that said intentions were definitely of the “mutually beneficial” variety, not that she considered anything wrong with that.

“Marley, is it so hard to believe that I would be working for the sake of someone else’s happiness?” Rose asked.

“Yes,” Marley replied with zero hesitation whatsoever.

“…Ouch. Well… okay, I can admit that I do have something to gain from it,” Rose admitted. “But that doesn’t change my feelings that the two of them-”

“You’re stalling.” Marley crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to tell me what you have to gain from this, or are you going to keep stalling?”

Rose let out a long sigh. “…Fine. You remember the transformation I got from the last challenge, right?”

Marley wasn’t sure. “Something about a bounty sheet? Or whatever? I don’t know, I was too busy dealing with all my new memories.”

“Ooh, so sassy! You weren’t like this as a slime!” Rose tittered. “I like it. But yes. My transformation gave me a bounty sheet. I have to meet certain goals, and whenever I do, I get some BP as a reward,” she explained. “Like yesterday, at the hot spring. I needed to be naked with at least three other contestants, so I got 500 BP.”

“Nice to know that you didn’t just manipulate my sister into an awkward situation but you profited from it, too,” Marley scowled, rolling her eyes.

Rose let that one roll off her. “Eh. It is what it is. You can’t say it didn’t work out for the best, right?”

The thing that upset Marley the most was the fact that the other girl was correct. Ultimately, the issue with Dani and Carly had worked out for everybody.

“Exactly!” Rose could see she was starting to win the other girl over. “It’s mutually beneficial! I make things better for everybody, and I get a nice payday for doing so! It’s sort of like the opposite of what I was doing before. Instead of taking money to screw up everyone’s relationships, I’m taking money to make everyone’s relationships stronger!”

“…Yeah but you could always just not take the money,” Marley pointed out.

Rose sighed. What a buzzkill.

“Anyway, the point is, I can get another 500 BP if I invite another contestant up to the Master’s Suite on my night with Nick,” Rose explained. “And that’s tonight. So wanna come? …Well, the sheet only says ‘invite’, but knowing Sylvia, I don’t think she’d count it if I invite someone and they say no.”

Marley sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right…” She loved Sylvia, in a twisted way, but she knew full well how the woman handled the rules of the game.

“So you’ll do it?” Rose’s eyes lit up. Yes! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

“Yeah,” Marley agreed. “I’ll do it.”

“Sorry, but that won’t work.”

Rose’s celebration was short-lived. She turned to see Sylvia sitting at the table with a frown on her face. The blonde shook her head.

“…Huh? Why not?” Rose demanded.

Sylvia looked up at the two of them and raised an eyebrow. “Are you really this dumb? You can figure out from the subtext that the invitation needs to be accepted, but you can’t actually read the relevant details?”

She tapped her cane on the floor and summoned a copy of the bounty sheet, before shoving it in Rose’s face. Her finger underlined the relevant portion.

Invite Another Contestant Up to the Master’s Suite on Your Night with the Master – 500 BP

“See that? Right there? It says ‘Contestant’,” Sylvia pointed out. “Marley isn’t a contestant anymore, remember? She got eliminated.”

Rose took a moment to process that. “Oh, come on! That’s just a technicality!”

Sylvia replied with a smirk. “If you want those Bonus Points, you need to ask a girl who’s actually a member of Nick’s harem. Not a slime girl you can shove into the corner and melt to get some alone time with him.”

“Excuse me?” Marley turned to Rose and gave her a dirty look.

“I wasn’t gonna do that!” Rose exclaimed.

“And before you go for another loophole, like I said before, yes, the girl you invite MUST actually come with you or it doesn’t count as inviting her up,” Sylvia clarified. A cheery smile spread across her lips. “Have fun!”

She disappeared, leaving Rose to fume and curse.

Marley draped her arm over her shoulder, trying not to laugh at the blonde’s misfortune. “It’s okay, big sis,” she taunted her. “I’ll be happy to help you find someone else to invite up to the Master’s Suite with us.”