And we'll watch Christmas TV

Carly tossed and turned in bed, struggling to get comfortable. Finally, she decided it was futile at this point and climbed out of bed, trudging over to the bathroom.

Showers always help me calm down. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.

But even as she tried to tell herself that, it was obvious to anyone watching that everything was certainly not fine.

While the shower ran, Carly splashed some water on her face. She checked out her appearance in the mirror. While she’d long-since changed out of her cosplay for the day (an outfit only Dani had gotten to see, because Carly had refused to leave her room) the naked girl staring back at her didn’t look like Carly.

She looked tired and sad.

I’m a mess.

Her hands were shaking and she turned away from the mirror. She resisted the urge to smash it into pieces. Before coming to this island, Carly had been the kind of girl to spend hours checking her appearance in the mirror to make sure everything looked right.

Now that someone else was wearing her face, she couldn’t stand the sight of it.

Carly got into the shower and began to wash herself off. She tried to let her memories of the last few days wash away with the water, along with the much older memories that seeing Mimi had unearthed.

“It’s fine,” she told herself, slapping the glass wall. “You’re just really tired right now. It’s not a big deal.”

By the time she got out of the shower, she felt refreshed and ready to get a good night’s sleep. When she finished drying off, she was practically ready to collapse. She flopped down into bed, and expected to immediately head for dreamland.

Two hours later and she was still trying to get comfortable.

“Damn it!” She exclaimed, sitting up and flinging her pillow at the wall. “This is the worst!”

No matter how hard she tried to relax, the moment she closed her eyes, her heartbeat started to rise, and she felt herself getting anxious.

Am I having a panic attack? Is this what a panic attack is like?

She hadn’t had a panic attack since the hospital. Not even when she first started showing her body off online to strangers.

“Trouble sleeping?”

Carly gasped and fell out of bed.

“Sylvia?! What the fuck?!” She exclaimed, pulling her blanket over her chest. “I’m trying to get some sleep here!”

“Yes, ‘try’ being the operative word,” Sylvia noted, rolling her eyes. “I just came to check up on you, since you’ve been holed up in your room for the last few nights.”

“So what?” Carly spat. “Don’t I have the right to do whatever the fuck I want? I’ll still go to Nick’s room when it’s my night, and to all the required participation events, but otherwise, this is my time.”

Sylvia scowled.

“I believe I’ve given you too much latitude, my girl. I was fine with letting you go your own way unimpeded when you were having fun and getting together with Nick. But let me make this clear: you do not have the right to do whatever you like on this island. If I find that your actions are proving a hindrance, then I will request you correct them. Or I’ll kick you off.”

“What?!” Carly jumped to her feet, her face filled with panic. “No! Not that!”

“That’s right, you don’t want that, do you?” Sylvia asked, narrowing her eyes. “You’re in first place right now, my girl, and something tells me you don’t want to give up your chance at victory. You chance at that wish. Your chance at… her.”

Carly blanched. “You… you know about her?” She asked, her voice going tiny.

“Of course I know about her,” Sylvia said quietly. “I know everything.”

“Then… then you can do it, right?” Carly asked, her voice filling up with hope. “Like with Dakota. If I win… you can bring her back?”

Sylvia smiled and crouched down next to Carly. She smiled.

“First you have to win,” she whispered. “And you can’t do that while locked up in your room.”

“Ugh.” Gina rolled her eyes and took a sip from her bottle. It was a meaningless gesture; she’d already drained it dry an hour ago. “Who knew a movie full of Nazis would be that boring?”

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Nick said, trying to take Mary’s side. He hadn’t fallen in love with the movie, but he didn’t lie when he said it wasn’t bad. Mainly though, he wanted to keep Mary from bursting into tears.

Instead, the redhead got mad.

“That was a great movie!” She exclaimed, hopping off the couch and glaring down at Gina. “It was beautiful! Much better than that Pulp Fiction nonsense with all those bad words!”

Gina flashed a grin. “R rating, baby.”

“Come on, Mary, that’s not really being fair,” Kim said, trying to be gentle about this. “They’re different genres of film. Pulp Fiction was an action flick, and this was a romance. People like different things, and that’s okay.”

Mary crossed her arms over her chest. “Just because that movie was filled with **** doesn’t mean it had to be so foul and indecent. Swearing?! You can have a good action movie without any swearing! That film was just being crass.”

“Oh please,” Dakota snorted, rolling her eyes. “All the best action films have a ton of swearing in them, it’s part of the genre!”

“You said it,” Dani nodded in agreement.

Mary clenched her jaw and shook her head. “No, no, no, that’s not how it goes!” She insisted. “There are tons of great action movies without swearing!”

“Okay, Mary, you’re right, I’m sure there are,” Rose said, standing up and holding her arms between the two women. “So let’s watch one.”

Mary perked up. “Really?”

“Hey, that’s no fair!” Gina groused. “Why does she get two picks in a row? That’s fucking lame! When do I get a pick? I wanted to watch The Big Lebowski!”

“Forget it, Gina, you’re out of your element,” Dakota snapped. She turned to Mary. “Fine. So what’s this great action movie of yours with a G rating, huh? No swearing or cursing? I’m sure it’ll be just lovely.”

Mary smiled proudly. “Die Hard!”

Everyone stared at her for a second. Mary’s smile faltered.

“D-Die Hard,” she stammered, losing confidence. “Everyone says that’s the best action movie around!”

“…Yeah, but you’re telling us that you like it?” Rose asked incredulously.

“Of course!” Mary nodded. “It’s a really exciting action movie without any swearing!”

“Is she for real right now?” Dawn murmured, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Mary, are you sure you’re not thinking of something else?” Nick asked.

“No, I’m not,” Mary insisted. “Die Hard! With Bruce Willis!”

“Yeah, we know, and you’re saying that’s a clean, curse-free action movie?” Gina asked for clarification, holding her hand over her mouth to suppress her giggling.

Mary nodded. “It doesn’t have any!”

“Oh boy…” Rose rubbed her temples. “Die Hard doesn’t have any cursing, huh?”

“Mary, finish this line,” Dakota called, smiling widely. Her golden eyes glimmered with amusement. “Yippee ki yay…”

“…Mr. Falcon,” Mary finished.

Dakota and Rose both slapped their faces and sighed.

“That’s not the line,” Dani said, shaking her head.

“What?! Of course it is!” Mary said. “It’s what Bruce Willis says right before he lights the bad guys’ plane on fire!”

“Lights the bag guys’ plane-? Mary,” Dakota said, sitting up straight, “what do you think the plot of ‘Die Hard’ is?”

“It’s about a police officer who uncovers a terrorist threat at an airport, where a foreign general is being extradited. The mercenaries try to free him and get away on an airplane, but the cop takes them all out,” Mary said with exceptional confidence. “I caught it once on television. It was a really amazing movie!”

Nick sighed and shook his head. Dakota and Rose both stared slack jawed at the redhead.

“So wait, so… you don’t know about Nakatomi Plaza, or who Hans Gruber is?” Rose asked, unable to believe her ears. She’d grown up in France and yet even she knew this kind of stuff.

Mary blinked and shook her head. “…No?”

Dakota slapped her face again. “Okay, no. I do not accept this, nope. Rose?”

“Yeah, I’m already calling for a copy to be delivered,” Rose said, making a mad dash for the phone.

“What? What did I say?” Mary asked, looking around, confused. Everyone was staring at her with expressions filled with various levels of shame and pity.

<“If this is your idea of Christmas, I gotta be here for New Years.”>

<“Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we’ve no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”>

“So, what do you think?” Dakota asked, smirking at Mary. “Was that cool or what?”

“It-It…” Mary didn’t know what to say. She wanted to state unequivocally that the movie was bad, but even with all the swearing, she couldn’t deny that it was a great movie that she’d really enjoyed. She just stared at her knees.

“I liked it!” Kim said. “What was it called again? Die Hard?”

“Wait, that was your first time watching it?” Nick asked, shocked. Now it was Kim’s turn to go red.

“W-Well… we didn’t exactly have a lot of movies or TV in my house,” she mumbled. “I had more important things to do with my time.”

“So Team Virgin was a pair of Die Hard virgins too,” Gina snorted. “Next you’ll be telling me you’ve never had **** before!”

“Of course not!” Kim scowled. “That stuff is disgusting! And besides, I’m underage. It would be a crime.”

“I have!” Mary asserted.

“Yeah that shitty sip of wine you get at church doesn’t count sweetie,” Gina scoffed, shaking her head. Mary turned red and sank into her seat.

“In the meantime, what did you think, Mimi?” Nick asked, turning to the slime girl in his lap. She’d been rather quiet the whole night. And while that wasn’t unusual for her, he still wanted to see what she thought.

Mimi glanced back at him.

“Motherfucker,” she replied.

Dawn slapped her face and groaned. “Oh, no.”

Meanwhile, Gina collapsed on the carpet, rolling in laughter. “Oh that’s great! That’s so fucking great! Tonight couldn’t have ended on a better note!”

“Motherfucker,” Mimi repeated. She grinned. “I like it. Motherfucker!”

“Well, that’s something,” Dani said, trying not to laugh. “You certainly taught her some new things, that’s for sure.”

“Come on, you’ve gotta remember something besides cursing, right?” Kim asked, trying not to laugh herself.

Mimi scrunched up her face in thought. “…To do it wholeheartedly,” she answered. Mary perked up when she heard that.

“Do you remember the first part of that line?” Mary asked hopefully.

Mimi turned to her and blinked.

“…Sex?”

Mary practically fell off the couch.

“That right Mimi, yes, when having sex you should do it wholeheartedly, good girl,” Rose said, patting the slime girl on the head. She enjoyed the torment Mary was going through right now.

“Come on, Mary, stop being such a wet blanket,” Dakota groused. “You should just be happy we didn’t watch Chinatown.”

“Chinatown?” Nick raised his eyebrow curiously. “I’ve never watched that movie before. What’s it about?”

Dakota smiled. He didn’t like that wicked smirk on her face. He turned to Rose for clarification, but she shook her head.

“I haven’t watched every movie you know,” she reminded him.

“Don’t worry,” Dakota purred, standing up and sliding in the disk. “It’s sort of a film noir kind of deal, a police procedural type.”

Mary perked up. “A mystery, you mean?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Dakota nodded. “A mystery. Exactly that. You like those, right?”

Nick and Mary both enjoyed mysteries. But while Mary was blissfully open-minded about Dakota’s next movie pick, Nick was a little more cynical.

The evil gleam in Dakota’s eyes gave him a bad feeling.

<“As little as possible.”>

<“What’s that? What’s that?! …You wanna do your partner a big favor? Take him home. Take him home! Just get him the hell outta here!”>

<“Come on Jake.”>

<“Go home Jake. I’m doing you a favor.”>

<“Come on Jake.”>

<“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”>

The credits began to roll, and Dakota lounged back on the couch. One arm was wrapped around a haunted Nick’s shoulder, and the other over Mary’s stunned figure. The redhead stared numbly out into space.

“Dakota, what the hell was that?!” Nick exclaimed, jumping off the couch. He didn’t even realize Mimi was still sitting on him. The slime girl rolled onto the carpet and shot him a dirty look.

“What do you mean?” Dakota asked, batting her eyelashes innocently. “You didn’t like the movie?”

“That plot was disgusting!” Dawn exclaimed. “That twist at the end, with Evelyn’s father-! Ugh, I want to go wash my mouth out!”

“I want to go bleach my eyes,” Dani agreed, shivering.

“That was too much even for me,” Gina said, shaking her head. She looked like she was going to throw up, which was definitely something.

“No wonder,” Rose scowled, pointing at the credits. “Look who the director is, Roman Polanski.”

“Who’s that?” Kim asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Dakota said, shaking her head. “Trust me.”

Then she turned to Rose. “How the hell did you not know Roman Polanski directed Chinatown? It's one of his most famous works.”

“Because I don’t make it my business to know every pedophile in France,” Rose snarled. “I’ve been avoiding that prick’s work like the plague!”

“I want to go to bed!” Mary rose from the couch, shaking like a leaf. She turned to the others. “I’m sorry, but… after that…”

“I think that’s a good call,” Dani nodded, getting up herself. “It’s way past midnight anyway. We should all get going.”

No one thought that the movie night ended on a good note, certainly not Rose.

Then when Mary got to the elevator door, everything changed.

“What’s going on?” Mary knocked on the elevator to try and get the doors to open, but they remained firmly locked shut. She turned back to the others. “The doors aren’t opening.”

Dani gasped. “Oh, crap! I totally forgot!” She groaned, slapping her forehead.

At about that moment, Sylvia popped into the room with a smile on her face.

“Good evening everyone!” She greeted them. “Or should I say, good morning?”

“Sylvia, look, about the rules-” Nick had remembered himself, too little, too late. But there was nothing to be done about it now.

“You mean how no one is allowed to leave the Master’s Suite after 9 PM? Yes, what about it?” Sylvia could barely restrain her gleeful laughter.

“You can’t seriously expect all of us to sleep on the same bed,” Dawn said, her ears flaring up in frustration. “There’s not enough room!”

“Oh please, how much room do you really take up, anyway?” Sylvia snorted, looking down at the short girl. Dawn scowled back at her.

“That’s not the point!” She snapped.

“Oh, I think it is,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “Now then, where was I… oh, right. Yes, as I said before, in the rules, at 9 PM, all occupants of the Master’s Suite must adjourn to the bed. Now, I gave you a pass because you were having a fun movie night, and the ratings really loved it. But since movie night is over, it’s time for bed.”

She pointed the head of her cane at the large king bed, which, in spite of its imposing size, did not seem well-equipped to holding everyone there.

“Come on, Sylvia, can’t you make an exception?” Nick asked. “All of us together like that, it wouldn’t even be sexy. It would just be uncomfortable and painful.”

“Hmm…” Sylvia tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Well… I suppose I could make an exception, just this once,” she admitted.

Everyone sighed in relief.

“…But then, I think enough exceptions have been made tonight, don’t you agree my boy?” She asked, and her smile turned cold. Nick flinched, taking a step back.

“What, uh, what do you mean?” He asked warily.

Sylvia narrowed her eyes, and glanced at Rose and Dakota, and then back to Nick. “What I mean is that, apparently, everyone was invited to movie night tonight. …With one exception. You get my drift?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled.

“Oh please, like we’d invite you,” Dakota said, rolling her eyes.

“I like movies!” Sylvia exclaimed, stomping her foot. “Why didn’t you invite me?! I would have loved to watch movies with everyone!”

“Because we don’t like you,” Dani replied. Sylvia held her hand over her heart. She turned to Nick and Dakota.

“Et tu?” She winced.

Nick averted his eyes while Dakota just stared coldly through her like she wasn’t even there.

Mimi peeked out from behind the couch, gazing at Sylvia with an unreadable expression. Sylvia immediately brightened up.

“Oh, Mimi!” She gushed, rushing over to the slime girl. “You like me at least, right?”

Mimi blinked.

“Motherfucker.”

Sylvia froze in her tracks. She clutched her chest and slumped over, groaning in exaggeration.

“My baby girl!” She wailed. “She’s turned into such a potty-mouth! She’s practically another Gina! Oh, what did I ever do to deserve this?”

“Hey!” Gina snapped.

Then Mimi walked over to Sylvia and held her arms out.

“H-Huh?” The blonde asked, confused.

“Hug?” Mimi asked hopefully.

“You… you want to hug me?” Sylvia looked too scared to be hopeful. “…Seriously?”

Mimi nodded.

“Just do it, Sylvia,” Nick urged her, remembering the conversation they’d had the night before. “She cares about you.”

Sylvia nodded, and cautiously accepted the hug Mimi offered. The slime girl was strong, but Sylvia didn’t baulk for a moment. Her smile turned loving.

“Warm,” Mimi murmured.

“You’re warm, too,” Sylvia replied, squeezing her tighter.

“…Nick hugs better though. Better cuddles.”

Sylvia felt so happy to be hugging Mimi she didn’t even care.