One foot at a time, smear those lines

“I’m surprised Sylvia said that you could pick out the plant today yourself,” Carly said as she walked back towards the elevator with her sister and her daughter at her side. The three women had made a day of it, heading to the Shopping District to eat lunch and check out the flower shop for any plants Marley might want to buy, having been given the green light by her roommate, Sylvia.

“Sylvia really does like the plants back at the room,” Emmy noted with a quiet nod. “I would have thought she’d want to come pick this one out…” Carly noticed that immediately. Her daughter had been very withdrawn recently, almost like she was lost in thought; contemplating something serious.

It was worrying behavior. Carly was quite concerned. But she kept those concerns to herself, not wanting to push her daughter into a conversation that she wasn’t ready for yet.

“Well, it’s fine,” Marley said, cradling the potted plant in her arms. “This one is a fine fit. I think she’d be happy with what we chose. And besides, she really wanted to spend today focused on her date with Nick, so it only makes sense.”

Emmy nodded, accepting that answer. She glanced over at her mother. “Um… I was also thinking… isn’t that outfit you’re wearing, mom, uh… a little on the nose?”

“Oh?” Carly looked down at the clothes she was wearing. She could see where her daughter was coming from, because the costume she’d been given this morning was not only scandalously revealing, but it was also made out of leaves and plant matter. Leaves covered her breasts and pussy, but only just barely; underwear would have been more conservative! And as if Dakota was trying to play some fetishistic joke, the rest of Carly’s body was actually very well covered. Long green boots like roots reached up her thighs, and a leafy corset covered her sides and reached up to form a cradle under her breasts, cutting out a window for them to reach up to her throat in a choker. Along with the root-like gloves covering most of her arms, it was as if someone had taken a perfectly normal outfit, cut out the naughty parts, and then taped leaves over them and said “That’ll be enough!”

It could not have been made with function in mind. It was purely for fanservice. Marley was quite certain it must have come from a hentai of some sort, certainly not any wholesome anime. Not that she would be knowledgeable about those.

As a plant girl herself, Marley was quite offended on behalf of the plant girl community, of which membership was tragically small.

“This, uh… it’s a little too much, even for me,” Carly said, her face turning a little red.

Normally, Carly didn’t pay that much attention to her modesty. She wasn’t a flasher or anything, certainly not! She had the proper amount of respect for her body as any woman should, and endeavored to make sure that while she looked good in anything she was wearing, the truly obscene outfits were solely for social media.

She never would have gone out in something like this normally, even being as open about sex as she was!

But… she didn’t really have a choice, did she? So she sucked up her pride, put on the outfit, and hoped very, very hard that her daughter wouldn’t take it as an endorsement.

Carly wasn’t sure what she would do if Emmy started dressing like this.

Marley couldn’t help look at her sister as Carly’s breasts, unimpeded by a bra, flopped about as she walked. Sighing, she shook her head, and clutched the plant she’d bought tighter to her chest.

“It’s a good thing you aren’t going to touch that cactus again,” Marley griped. “That would be pushing it.”

Carly just giggled, and Emmy looked confused. All she knew about this “cactus” was that both her mother and her aunt told her to stay far, far away from it. They wouldn’t say why, just that it was dangerous.

When she tried asking Sylvia about it, even the normally-open Sylvia gave her a shifty expression and said that she didn’t want to make Carly mad.

Emmy sighed. Her mother could be so overprotective!

But… I guess it makes sense, given how things went, Emmy acknowledged. It was still hard to think about. Emmy had been dead… and now she was alive. And living a very strange life, to say the least. Not exactly the sort of thing she was used to.

And it’s still better than what Sylvia had to deal with. Emmy still felt shaken from the night before. The way Amelia had enraged Dakota, and the way Dakota had just… broken down like that… it left her feeling unsettled. Dakota had been nothing but nice to her, after all. Heck- she was the reason Emmy was alive again!

But…

The way she’d cursed out Sylvia…

Emmy didn’t see the woman who had saved her. That night, all she’d seen was a twisted monster, screaming and howling and ranting and raving and…

It terrified her.

A shiver ran down Emmy’s spine.

She’s the one running things? How? She’s completely unstable. This… this isn’t good.

Emmy could tell, there was nothing to be hopeful about coming from that woman.

It made sense to her now, why Sylvia doted so much on Marley, and why she seemed to cling to Carly as well.

Carly was a wonderful, loving mother. She wasn’t perfect, but she was really trying her best, and Emmy could feel how much she loved her every time they were together.

It made her want to cry tears of sympathy for the other girl, who had a mother who treated her like that. And it made Emmy want to never take her mother for granted, ever.

Her heart skipped a beat and Emmy scooted closer to Carly, and threw her arms around her in a sudden hug. Just a spur-of-the-moment thing… an urge to show Carly just how grateful Emmy was for her, and how happy she was to be together with her again.

Momentarily stunned, Carly looked at her daughter for a second and then a big smile stretched across her face. “Um, hey, sweetie, thank you,” she cooed, hugging Emmy back. “Why the sudden affection, huh?”

Emmy shook her head against her mom’s shoulder. “It’s nothing, I just… I just wanted to hug you, that’s all.”

Carly could be satisfied with that answer.

“Don’t forget to hug your Auntie Marley, too,” she added, glancing at her sister. “Aunt Marley just loves being hugged!”

Marley gave her sister a look. Carly wasn’t wrong- Marley did indeed enjoy a good hug. But- now really wasn’t the best time.

“Maybe later,” she said, holding up the potted plant. The bulbous flower bounced ever so slightly on its thick stalk. “You don’t want to get this gunk all over you, do you?”

The flower Marley had picked out was one that reminded her very much of the flower that had given her life. It had several large, round bulbs the color of milk, and a sheen to it like it was sticky or dripping wet.

Carly had cracked a joke about Marley finding their “little sister” on a shelf in the back, but Marley calmly informed her that, no, this wasn’t a mimic jelly.

It was a completely different kind of plant.

“So what’s this stuff do again?” Carly asked, reaching out a gloved hand and rubbing it along the surface of one of the shiny bulbs. She pulled her hand away, and saw the sticky white gloop left over on the glove. She rubbed it between her fingers. It reminded her of lotion, or lube. Which seemed to make sense, given where they were.

Marley sighed in exasperation. “Weren’t you paying attention to the faerie?” She asked her sister, knowing that the answer was probably a “no”.

“Sure I was!” Carly said, even though she’d been more focused on showing the flowers to her daughter and both women knew it.

“The bulb secretes a special chemical,” Marley explained. “Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous or anything. But if you apply it to your skin, it can ease any soreness you’re feeling. I thought it would be a pretty helpful flower to get, I mean…”

She glanced at Carly’s unsupported breasts, hanging perkily on her chest. Neither Granger needed to wear a bra to support their large chests, which was definitely a miracle given the sheer volume of breast meat they were working with, but Marley knew how sore her back could get when she didn’t wear one- and Carly’s boobs were at least the same size as hers, if not bigger!

Yeah, no, a salve to soothe any back pain the twins might have would definitely be useful. And Emmy’s breasts weren’t that small either!

“I guess that’s worth it,” Carly said, putting the stuff to work right away, rubbing under her breasts and on her back to soothe the soreness that was starting to build up there. “But I mean… you could just ask Dani to give you a massage. I’m sure she’d oblige!”

Marley ignored her sister’s saucy wink. She had a few things she could say in response to Carly’s playful comment, but she refrained given Emmy’s presence there with them.

“I think I’ll be fine without that,” Marley replied. “Don’t want you wandering too far off and Dani ends up splattered with me.”

Carly grimaced at that mental image and decided to change the subject. “Too bad Dani couldn’t come. I guess after her spa day with Vivian she wanted some time to herself.”

“You’re not mad that she didn’t invite you?” Emmy questioned. She wasn’t very experienced with matters of the heart, but she knew that her mother was in a relationship with Dani. And from what she knew, being in a relationship with someone meant you invited them to stuff like spa days and the like, right? As dates?

But Carly didn’t seem that bothered by Dani taking another girl.

Carly shook her head. “Emmy, you’ll get it when you get older,” she said, patting her daughter gently on the shoulder. “Love isn’t something you monopolize and keep all to yourself. There’s no reason for me to be jealous of Dani spending time with another girl. Not as long as she’s happy. If someone I like is happy, then I’m happy.”

“Really?” Emmy was impressed by her mother’s explanation. It sounded so grown up and mature. “I guess it’s because I’m not very experienced… I just kind of thought that jealousy was normal, from all the stuff I’ve learned…”

“Your mom is the exception,” Marley said, not wanting Emmy to get the wrong idea. “She’s far more understanding and accepting of that kind of thing than the average woman. Most people do, in fact, feel jealousy when the person they love is seeing multiple people.”

“Oh.” Emmy thought that made more sense than what her mother said.

“Well maybe, but Dani and Vivian weren’t on a date,” Carly pointed out, getting defensive without meaning to. “They were just hanging out as friends. Why would I be jealous of that?”

Marley was surprised. “Wait, so if Dani was dating her, like, romantically, then you would have been jealous?” She questioned, addressing the admission Carly had inadvertently implied.

Carly shook her head immediately. “No, because I’m not the kind of girl who gets jealous,” she replied, immediately shooting down her sister’s attempt to sound clever.

Marley nodded slowly and shrugged. “Well… okay then,” she said, not seeing a point in pushing this any further now. She turned and looked at Emmy, and shrugged again. “Your mom has a really big heart,” she explained. “And she’s right, someday you’re going to figure out for yourself what love really means for you. Maybe you’ll be open to sharing your love with other people, or maybe it’ll be something that you want to keep all to yourself. There are no wrong answers with love, Emmy. It means something unique to each person.”

Emmy stared at her aunt with an awestruck look on her face, her mouth hanging open. “Wow… that… wow.”

“…But that’s a long way off,” Carly quickly stated, stepping forward. “I mean, you’re not ready to date yet, obviously!”

Her heart was in a very weird place right now, because Emmy was still a child in her eyes, even if she really wasn’t.

Just another way Dakota had made things very awkward between them all.

Emmy, sensing tension from her mother, decided that this conversation was probably best left abandoned. After all- it wasn’t like she even had anyone she could date on this island even if she wanted to.

So instead, she changed the subject. “What about you then, Marley?” She inquired, leaning forward curiously.

“H-huh?” Marley blinked, surprised. “Me? What… what about me?” It was a strange change of topic and one Marley wasn’t prepared for. Even though she really should have expected it.

Emmy frowned, confused by her mother’s confusion. “I mean… mom has feelings for Dani, but she’s also in a relationship with Nick, right?” If you could call what the two of them had a relationship, anyway. Carly had been very open with her daughter about their nature as sex friends, but Emmy wondered if that was really all it was. Maybe because she was still naïve and inexperienced with love.

She decided to ignore the fact that Nick was also in a relationship with a lot of other women; that would just complicate matters.

“So… what does love mean to you, Aunt Marley?” She gazed curiously up at her aunt, who seemed quite educated in the matters of love.

Marley was taken aback by that question.

“Um… w-well, when it comes to love, that’s a little… uh…”

What exactly was she supposed to say?

“That’s a difficult question for your auntie,” Carly giggled, covering her smiling mouth. “See, Aunt Marley here maybe has a liiiiittttllleeee bit of a crush on a certain married man… a certain guy your mom is very close with, you see…”

“Carly!” Marley hissed at her sister. Wasn’t Carly the one trying to keep the intimate details of their love lives a secret from her daughter?! “I-! I don’t, that’s-!”

“Wait, you really like that Nick guy?” Emmy looked at Marley in shock. “Seriously? But why?”

Marley winced. Nick didn’t deserve that. “No, I mean, I wouldn’t say I have feelings for him or anything, it’s, um…”

“Marley, remember what you said before?” Carly looked firmly at her sister and crossed her arms over her chest. “About how you weren’t going to hide your feelings anymore and how you were going to be honest about them?”

Damn it. Why did Carly have to be the reasonable sister for the first time in her life?

Marley shot her sister a glare, but she knew Carly was right. She wasn’t the type of person to hide her feelings from other people. Especially not her feelings towards Nick.

She had felt awkward about admitting it to Emmy, but…

“…It’s complicated,” she said, scratching her cheek. “I like Nick… we’re really close to one another. We have… or at least, um, I have… feelings… there are definitely feelings between us! From me, anyway, definitely, um…”

Emmy had never seen her aunt this flustered before. It was actually kind of cute.

Her curiosity got the better of her.

“Have you guys had sex?” She inquired.

Marley’s jaw dropped and Carly’s eyes widened.

“That-! That is none of your business!” Marley huffed, turning scarlet. She nearly dropped the plant out of shock!

“So… you guys have, then…” Emmy knew what that flustered look on her face meant. “So mom wasn’t joking when she said you were also part of his harem.”

“Carly!” Marley hissed at her.

“What?” Carly threw up her hands and took a step back. “It’s the truth! You are!”

“No, I’m not, that’s the whole point!” Marley groaned in exasperation. She shifted the plant to a one-armed grip and rubbed her temples. “Look, Emmy, I know we haven’t really talked about the rules of this show all that much, but remember how I told you I used to be a plant? Before I became your auntie?”

That was a bizarre but unquestionably correct statement.

“Right, you were made out of slime, yeah?” Emmy nodded, remembering. “You were called Mimi I think.”

Marley nodded back. “Right. I was a slime girl. Well, back then, when I was Mimi, I was part of Nick’s harem. But then I was booted off the show, and now I’m not anymore. I still have feelings for him, I still want to have a relationship with him, but unlike your mom and all the other girls, I’m not bound to him or anything.”

If Marley wanted to, she could live her own life when the season ended. Meet someone else, fall in love again, and put this show behind her like the awkward and bittersweet but lovely memory of first love that it was.

If Marley wanted to.

She didn’t, though.

“…I don’t really get it,” Emmy admitted, scratching her cheek. “So you like Nick… does he not like you anymore?” She frowned, wondering if he really was a jerk.

“Are you kidding?” Carly snorted. “Look at her! He’d drool if she took off her sweater, he definitely wants to be with her, too.”

Marley felt her face burn at her sister’s bawdy yet well-meaning compliment.

“W-well… that’s not… totally inaccurate,” she admitted, squeezing her plant even tighter.

That just left Emmy even more confused. “Then what’s the problem? I don’t get it,” she said, shaking her head. “If you two like each other, then who cares about the whole harem thing? Can’t you guys just be together, then?”

She really didn’t know anything about love, but it couldn’t be this difficult, right?

“Isn’t it that easy?” Emmy asked, hoping the answer was yes.

Marley’s face burned with shame. “…You’re a really bright kid, I’ll give you that,” she mumbled, feeling embarrassed that Emmy was absolutely right.

Carly giggled, her face glowing with pride. “Isn’t she just amazing? My little girl is so bright and special!” She pulled Emmy in for a hug and the ponytailed girl giggled, glad that her mom and her aunt were both smiling again.

She didn’t understand a lot about romance and love… at least not that kind of love. But she definitely knew what it felt like to be loved by people she cared deeply for, like them.