For me from God with a darling face and papa’s eyes

“So do you want to get something to eat?” Nick asked as they walked down the street, not heading anyplace in particular, but just walking because that was the thing to do.

“Yeah, I actually haven’t gotten breakfast yet, since I was too busy- err, no! I’m not hungry at all!” Sylvia said, turning up her nose with a loud “Humph!”

She cradled her belly and winced.

“…Yeah, let’s get you some food,” Nick decided unilaterally. They stopped off by one of the coffee shops, the one they usually frequented.

Lo and behold, in spite of Sylvia’s claims, she didn’t hesitate to devour two scones and a danish. All while asserting that she wasn’t hungry at all.

“So… how does this work?” Nick questioned. “The hair I get, let me guess, you went to the salon and got a coloring?”

“Mhmmf,” Sylvia nodded through bites of pastry. “Cheap, too. Only cost me 100 BP for the red coloring.”

Sylvia: 3000 BP – 100 BP = 2900 BP

“Right, so I get that, and I even kind of get why you did it,” Nick continued, studying Sylvia closely. It was obvious that Sylvia was going for a completely different style. “Still, couldn’t you have used your copy transformation to just copy Carly’s Anime Black transformation, rather than spending BP for a dye job? That seems better.”

Sylvia shook her head and scoffed. “Oh, Daddy…” She rolled her eyes. “You’re such an idiot! My Method Acting transformation won’t recharge for hours! And even if I did copy it, it would only be temporary. But you know, I think I like the red! It suits me!”

Nick nodded, getting where she was going with that. He also was smart enough to not mention that with her hair dyed that color, she looked very much like Mary’s daughter, which was rather ironic given he current act of “rebellion” towards him.

There was something else he was more curious about, though. “Okay, I get the hair then. But I’m not quite sure how you did the clothes.”

“Hm?” Sylvia tilted her head to the side in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, doesn’t your Slip into Something Less Comfortable transformation require you to only wear skimpy clothing?” Nick pointed out. “What you’re wearing right now doesn’t exactly seem very… skimpy.”

Sylvia frowned. “Daddy, I can dress how I want to dress, you know!” She snapped, speaking in an exaggerated bitchy voice for added effect. “I can’t believe you’re judging a woman for the kind of clothing she wears!”

“No!” Nick’s face flushed in embarrassment for a moment, before remembering who he was talking to. “And that’s rich, coming from you! You’re the one who made Kim wear those skimpy schoolgirl uniform, and put Mary in that farmgirl outfit! And not to mention Holly’s maid costume and Carly’s cosplay! You **** women to wear stuff like that all the time!”

Sylvia responded with a bland shrug. Not exactly a rock-solid defense.

Nick groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. But there was no point in pushing that particular topic, since he was trying to put the past behind them and spend time with Sylvia as she was today.

All that had happened a long time ago. She was a new woman now, and trying to turn over a new leaf. And he’d promised to help her, along with his promise to focus only on her today, and try to make this a good date. He wanted to prove to her that this could work, and he wanted to prove that to himself a little, as well.

Even if Sylvia seemed determined to ruin this date, for whatever bizarre reason. He couldn’t fathom the things that went through her brain sometimes.

She was still all smiles though, and her eyes were shining bright. Even when she was trying to look like a guarded punk rebel.

“Well, to answer your question…” Sylvia tapped her chin thoughtfully. The rebellious thing to do would obviously be to refuse to elaborate, taunting her “Daddy” the whole time. But that thought never occurred to her for whatever reason.

…Probably because explaining transformations and the intricacies involved in them was one of her favorite pastimes.

“I get what you’re thinking, ‘how could I wear this when my transformation prevents it’ right?” Sylvia giggled.

“Yeah, that’s what I asked,” Nick replied, smiling in amusement.

“Well, before you ask, no, I didn’t nullify my transformation,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t even be able to! Not enough money, remember? That would cost me 3000 BP!”

Nick didn’t really pay attention to the prices of anything so he just assumed that she was accurate with her estimate.

“Okay, so then-”

“The answer is my newest transformation, the one I took from Vivian!” Sylvia said proudly. “I used New Style! You see, today Carly’s cosplay outfit was this punk girl, from this show, Nana I think it’s called? And she was wearing these punk clothes, right? So, I used New Style to copy her cosplay for today, and there you go!”

“Oh!” Nick relaxed a little, though he was still surprised. “And you can just do that? Even if it conflicts with your previous transformation?”

“Mhm!” Sylvia nodded. “Think about it! What if Vivian were to get a clothing transformation of her own? New Style wouldn’t be very useful if she couldn’t ever copy someone else’s outfit, because it clashed with her existing transformation! So the way New Style has to work is if, just like how it overwrites another contestant’s clothing transformation to give them a new style designed by Vivian, it can also overwrite the user’s clothing transformation for whichever new clothing transformation they copy, you see?”

“Yeah, I think I get it!” Nick nodded. “Wow, Sylvia, you’re really smart, figuring things out like that with a transformation you’ve had for less than a day!”

Sylvia was a big bundle of sunshine wrapped up in punk clothes. “Why thank you!” She chirped. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s transformations!”

…

“…Wait! I mean, humph! Of course I know that, only an idiot wouldn’t be able to figure it out!” She brooded, crossing her arms over her chest and turning up her nose.

Nick had to resist the urge to burst out laughing. Sylvia was just so bad at playing a bratty punk girl, it was honestly funny.

“Well, I guess that makes me an idiot, then,” he said with a sigh.

Sylvia’s eyes widened. “N-no, I didn’t mean… um…” Quickly realizing that maybe she was being too disparaging, Sylvia quickly tried to pivot, only to notice the gleam in Nick’s eye and realize that he was messing with her. “…Daddy! That’s not funny!” She whined, pouting and getting up out of her seat in a huff.

Nick followed after her, not sure what distance he should be keeping from her. It was obvious that she wasn’t really upset, and did genuinely want his company, so how should he approach this? What would she want from him?

It didn’t help that they still had no concrete plans of what to do today.

Nick decided to go for broke, and caught up with her. With those clunky leather boots it wasn’t that hard.

“So Sylvia, like I said, today is all about what makes you happy,” Nick reminded her. “What do you want to do?”

“Um…” Sylvia bit her lip and thought hard about Nick’s question. Fun was fun, and playing at being a rebel was certainly helping her end goal of getting Nick to see her as more than just his daughter. But it’s not like she wanted to spend their whole date just being difficult to the point where they didn’t actually do anything together, that would defeat the whole purpose of coming her in the first place after all!

No, she needed to come up with something fun for the both of them, that also wouldn’t look like she wanted to spend time with him.

Even though she did.

This wasn’t easy, okay!?

“I know! How about we play a game of pool?” Sylvia considered, stopping outside of a bar. “I played a few games yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! …I mean, whatever, boomer.”

“Right, sure, that works for me,” Nick nodded. He decided it was best not to mention Sylvia’s present age. As long as they weren’t drinking it shouldn’t matter anyway. “But I’m not interested in drinking right now, it’s too early in the morning.”

“That’s fine.” Sylvia made a face. “I don’t like the taste of **** anyway, I’d rather have juice. …Err, I mean, I’ll drink if I want to, Daddy! You aren’t the boss of me!”

Uh-oh. Nick hoped that was just bluster and she wouldn’t actually feel compelled to do it, because if she did…

A drunk Sylvia would not be fun. That would send the whole date in a very questionable direction very fast.

Fortunately, once they entered the dingy tavern, Sylvia didn’t even give the bar a second glance. She flounced right to the pool table, picking up a cue and giving it a twirl.

“I’m such an expert at this game,” she bragged. “I can sink the eight-ball without even trying! All my girls were applauding me.”

“Did you sink the other balls first?” Nick asked.

She looked at him in confusion. “Why would I want to do that? Sinking the eight means you win, doesn’t it? The other balls are just distractions.”

Nick fought back a sigh. He had flashbacks to his date with Gina and how she’d neatly hustled Sylvia out of some BP. That made even more sense now.

“Well, why don’t you break then?” He suggested.

“Of course, Daddy!” Sylvia chirped, racking up the balls. She removed the triangle and then lined up her shot, hitting the cue ball with all she had.

The triangle broke apart in a flash, and several balls got close to the holes. Two even rolled in, the seven and the one.

“Well, it looks like you’re solids,” Nick noted.

“No! I don’t wanna be solids!” Sylvia pouted petulantly, crossing her arms. “You be solids, Daddy!”

“…That’s not how the game works,” Nick pointed out. “You sunk two solids and no stripes, so it’s not a choice.”

“Nuh-uh!” Sylvia replied. “I’m a woman, Daddy, you can’t take away my right to choose!”

That time, Nick couldn’t hold back his groan. He slapped his face in frustration while Sylvia cackled with delight.

He decided not to fight it and just let Sylvia line up her shot behind the nine ball. After sinking that one, she aimed for the fourteen next, but missed it by a mile.

“Oh, darn it!” Sylvia huffed. “I should have been solids after all! …Whatever. It’s your shot, Daddy…”

Nick picked up his cue and scanned the table. Sylvia may not have sunk the ball she was aiming for, but she’d done a pretty good job of denying him any shots himself. The best he could do was aim for the three, which was kind of close to the center hole, and hope he could aim properly.

I really should have gotten some pointers from Gina last time, he thought, regretting his rusty pool shooting skills.

Just as he was about to strike the cue ball, Sylvia piped up, “So Daddy, how about we make things interesting?” With such a bratty voice his concentration snapped like a twig. Nick’s shot went wild, missing the three and bouncing off of all four sides before coming to a stop in the middle of another cluster of balls- all stripes.

“…Interesting how?” He asked with a sigh.

“Just a wager,” she chirped, spinning her cue like her old cane as she circled around the table. “To make things more interesting.”

He noted that she wasn’t even pretending to be a rebellious punk anymore, and was back to being her usual playful, mischievous self.

Which meant he had to be careful. Whatever kind of wager this Sylvia might propose, he wasn’t sure it would be any good at all.

“What did you have in mind?” He asked as she lined up her next shot.

“How about… If I win, you have to do one thing for me on this date, no questions asked?” Sylvia proposed. “You can’t say no, no matter what it is!”

She lowered her cue and looked up at him, pausing the game until she got confirmation.

Nick had to consider that carefully. That’s quite an ask. Knowing Sylvia, it could be just about anything. But would she really go too far with this?

In spite of how flirty and sexually mischievous Sylvia could be, she’d seemed rather tame since she became a contestant. And there was kind of an understanding between them, even if it hadn’t been verbalized, that for all that this was a “date” it wasn’t really a date, and there would be no sexual activity of any kind. The bounty Sylvia had claimed made that point rather clear.

But then… could he really count on that? She might be having a change of heart, and try making a move anyway right in the middle of the day. So would the safe thing be to turn down her bet?

No… I did promise her I’d do whatever she wanted today, to make her happy. And I made her that promise because I trusted her to not take advantage of it. Am I really going to stop trusting her now?

Nick thought that seemed pretty shady. And if there was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was be the shady guy Sylvia couldn’t trust. If they were going to have any sort of mutual relationship, they both had to believe that the other wouldn’t deceive or manipulate them, and even though Sylvia had a spotty track record of doing that in the past, he had to believe that she wasn’t that person anymore. At least not completely.

“Okay, that works for me,” Nick agreed, hoping he didn’t sound too cautious as he said that. “But in that case, what am I going to get?” He asked. “You know, if I win?”

“Well, what do you want?” Sylvia asked. She seemed serious, which was a good sign. “I could do anything for you, Daddy… anything…”

Nick just gave her a blank stare. “Sylvia…”

“Oh, foo. You’re no fun!” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Then she giggled. “Well, what would you like me to give you in return, Daddy?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? What did Nick want? He was having plenty of fun right now as it was, and the idea of using the bet to control her behavior struck him as rather questionable, even if Sylvia was going to be doing exactly that herself.

Should they just cancel the wager altogether, then? Because it’s not like Nick would say no to any reasonable request Sylvia made anyway.

Or maybe…

“How about, if I win, you agree to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight?” He suggested. “Instead of staying up all night chatting with your friends.”

Sylvia looked taken aback by that suggestion, but then she realized what he was getting at and she smiled.

“Oh, really, Daddy?” She giggled, emphasizing the “Daddy” part. “That’s pretty big… I don’t know if I could stand your curfew!” She mock-pouted.

Nick still felt a little gross playing along with this Daddy-Daughter play Sylvia was trying to ****, but if her playing the rebellious brat was helping her have fun, then he could push down his squeamishness a little for her sake, as long as things remained chaste between the two of them.

And it seemed, thankfully, that was exactly what Sylvia was aiming for herself. She didn’t want to push it in a sexual direction, she really did just like playing the part of Nick’s bratty little daughter, which she was doing pretty well, all things considered.

It could get weirder if she wanted to continue to do this on future dates, but right now, Nick was fine playing along.

“So we’ve got a deal then?” Sylvia asked, her eyes glittering with a mischievous gleam in them that made Nick reconsider for a brief moment.

He had another flashback to that day with Gina, and wondered if Sylvia was planning to hustle him the same way Gina had way back when.

No way, right? She’s not really that skilled… right?

The “sure” had barely left Nick’s lips before Sylvia struck the cue ball, sending it flying into the cluster of striped balls and knocking them every which way. She only sunk the twelve, but in doing so she lined herself up for the next shot pretty nicely.

Nick could see the look of a predator in Sylvia’s gaze as she lined up the next shot, sinking the fourteen that she’d failed to hit last time.

It was looking more and more like that had been an intentional blunder on her part, especially when she sunk it without issue this time.

“You’re hustling me, aren’t you?” Nick said in exasperation as Sylvia moved on to the eleven ball next.

“I don’t know what you mean, Daddy,” Sylvia said, purposefully not looking him in the eye.

Nick just sighed and shook his head. “I should have known…”

“It’s all in good fun!” Sylvia cackled, lining up her shot. “Don’t worry, just because I happened to get a few pointers from Gina, that doesn’t mean you’re totally gonna lose or anything! Hiyah!”

She slammed her cue, and struck right underneath the ball. It jumped into the air like it had a mind of its own, bouncing over the eleven ball, over the hole, and onto the railing of the table before rolling off and clattering onto the floor with a thud.

Sylvia stared blankly at the ball as it rolled away, and then turned back to Nick, her lips pressed tightly together in a thin line.

“…Whelp.”

“Yeah, looks like it’s my shot,” Nick said, going to retrieve the ball. Gina might have taught Sylvia how to hustle, but apparently her skills with a cue still weren’t quite up to snuff.

As he put the ball back on the table in the perfect spot to make a shot, he appreciated the opportunity to make a comeback. Just because he didn’t care about the outcome of the wager didn’t mean he had to throw the game for his bratty self-proclaimed daughter.