Gonna dress you up in my love

“There we go!” Vivian took a step back and admired her handiwork with a big smile on her face. “What do you think? I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself!”

Morgana’s face burned scarlet. She tugged at the hem of the mustard yellow sweater that clung to her curvaceous figure, feeling incredibly exposed in the bright clothes. It felt so uncomfortable wearing a top and bottom with different colors, making it easy to see where one ended and the other began. It almost felt like she was naked!

“Does… does it really look good on me?” She asked, too bashful to even look at her reflection.

“Yes, it does,” Vivian assured her. “Come on, take a look.”

She held up a mirror and the goth girl recoiled like a vampire afraid of being exposed.

“N-no!” Morgana wailed. “I’m not… I… …Oh…”

Once she took a look, she realized that it wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. Sure, it wasn’t the kind of clothing that she was used to, but… it almost looked… normal?

She twirled her fingers through her tangled hair anxiously and bit her lip. “Well, I… I didn’t think, um…”

“What, that it would look this good?” Vivian smirked triumphantly. “What can I say? I know what I’m doing, Morgana. You just gotta trust me!”

Morgana bit her lip. She found that difficult to do, trusting other people with her appearance. She still felt uncomfortable getting haircuts!

Speaking of which, the fact that she hadn’t brushed her hair today was making itself readily apparent.

“Can… can I have my hat back now, please?” She asked, shooting a glance at the accessory Vivian had confiscated, which the heiress was currently spinning around her finger.

“Sorry, no can do,” Vivian replied, pulling it away from the other girl’s grabby paws. “It clashes with what you’ve got going on, so you’re gonna have to go without.”

Morgana puffed up her cheeks. “But it’s my hat!” She protested. “I can’t be a witch without a hat! Then I’m just… like some delusional co-ed who claims she’s a wiccan because she eats granola and fills her dorm room with crystals!”

“You look like a co-ed,” Vivian pointed out, fairly confident that Morgana’s description was more accurate than the pale girl would like to admit.

Morgana seethed at her in response.

“…Fine, if you want to have a fashion disaster, be my guest,” Vivian relented, handing Morgana her hat back. I gotta remember, I’m trying to change. I can’t just go around acting like I know what’s best and making other people uncomfortable. If she wants the hat, give her the hat.

Morgana sighed in relief, already feeling much better now that she had her hat back. She adjusted it on her head and took another look in the mirror once she had it comfortably on.

Then she frowned.

“…It doesn’t look good,” she mumbled. It hurt to admit it, but Vivian was right about the color clash; a vibrant yellow-orange sweater and beige capris didn’t mesh with a big black witch’s hat at all, it stood out like a sore thumb.

And that was the last thing Morgana wanted, to stand out.

Reluctantly, she removed her hat and put it with her other clothes.

Vivian smiled, glad that the goth girl had taken her advice.

“Now then!” She pressed her fingers together cheerfully. “Shall we get going?”

Morgana jumped.

“G-going?!” She whirled around and stared at the heiress with wide eyes. “Going where!? No one told me we were going somewhere!”

Vivian laughed. “Going to walk around the hotel, silly! Don’t you want everyone to see how nice you look, all dressed up in casual clothes? It’s a special occasion! And we might even run into Nick if we’re lucky, and he could give you a compliment!” Vivian just added that last part to get Morgana in support of the idea. She didn’t want to see Nick at all right now if she was being honest.

Morgana looked like she had died standing up. Her eyes glazed over and she swayed slightly. Before she collapsed to the floor she managed to catch herself, snapping out of her daze.

She frantically shook her head.

“B-but what if people laugh!?” She asked.

Vivian gave the flustered girl an “Are you kidding me right now?” incredulous look.

“Morgana… you really think that’s going to happen?” She asked.

Blushing, Morgana looked down. She shook her head sheepishly. “…No,” she admitted, scratching her cheek.

Of course it wouldn’t. The people here were her friends. They cared about her and wanted to support her! No one in the hotel would laugh at her for trying something new with her clothes.

“You shouldn’t let bad memories affect your actions,” Vivian said, patting Morgana on the shoulder. “You don’t see me doing that, right? No, you just gotta hold your head up high and push forward, and let everyone see that you’re the only boss of you! That’s what I do, anyway!”

“I’m the boss of me…” Morgana repeated. “Right… right!” She was quickly regaining steam as her confidence flooded back into her. “Yeah!”

“Exactly, it doesn’t matter if people don’t like the way you look, not as long as you like the way you look,” Vivian encouraged. “That’s the most important thing, being confident in your own skin!”

“Right, that’s the most- …Wait, but I don’t like the way I look,” Morgana pointed out, confused. “You were the one who picked this out, I liked my old style, and you said-”

“Let’s not quibble about who said what,” Vivian hastily shushed her. “Let’s just focus on wowing everybody by showing them the new, chic and casual Morgana!”

Before the goth girl could fully vocalize her thoughts, Vivian was already ushering her out of the room and down the hall.

“I look like a hot dog slathered in mustard,” Morgana mumbled as she trudged after Vivian, fidgeting with her fingers as her eyes darted around the hallway. Even though she knew intellectually that none of the other girls would mock her or tease her for her new clothes, she still couldn’t fight the anxiety welling up in her chest. That doubt that maybe, just maybe…

“Don’t be so nervous!” Vivian slapped her on the back and sent her stumbling forward. “Just go on with your head held high, and- Oh, whoops, sorry ‘bout that.”

Morgana had face-planted on the floor of the hallway. Her ass was high in the air as her hair formed a tangled pool of black around her, an unfortunate casualty of Vivian’s overzealousness and her own lack of coordination.

She mumbled something unintelligible into the carpet. But before she could pick herself up off the ground, a chorus of voices came from down the hall, sending a freezing shock down her spine.

Her head snapped up, but her legs refused to work. So when Carly, Marley, and Sylvia turned the corner and ran into the two of them, she knew she must have looked like a rather pathetic sight.

“Oh, hey, Vivian,” Carly said, greeting the brunette with a wave. Her eyes dropped to the puddle of person on the floor. “And… Morgana!?”

“Whoa, hey!” Sylvia’s eyes widened. “What’s with those clothes?”

Morgana’s blush deepened. “Um… I just, uh…”

“More importantly, why are you on the floor?” Marley wondered. But her question went unanswered as her sister had far more important concerns.

“Oh my gosh!” Carly gushed. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you wearing something not out of a Hot Topic! Wow!”

“Err, um…” Morgana tugged at the stuffy collar of her sweater. In spite of the clothes being much brighter than her usual black ensemble, right now it felt like she was wearing something a whole lot hotter.

“Don’t you think she looks good, sis?” Carly coaxed her sister, who nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, those colors really suit you,” Marley agreed.

Morgana’s ears perked up at the compliment, and a shaky smile slowly touched her lips.

“So why the sudden change?” Sylvia asked curiously. As someone who was taking measures to vary her style of dress, she was curious what had brought on Morgana’s decision to make such a drastic shift in her wardrobe, especially given the other girl’s very outspoken preferences.

“Oh, uh, you know,” Morgana mumbled, finally standing back up. She felt a lot lighter now, and puffed up her chest with pride. “I just thought I might go with something different today… you know, vary things a little bit. You can’t always wear the same things all the time, you know? Gotta, um, change it up a little.”

Vivian smirked in amusement and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, is that right?”

Morgana twitched. She shot the heiress an apologetic look, but Vivian just waved her hand, dismissing the other girl’s concerns.

It was her moment, after all, Vivian could let her have it.

“So you really like it?” Morgana asked. Her attention was mainly focused on Carly, the most fashion-oriented person on the island besides Vivian herself.

“Well, it’s definitely different,” Carly said, giving her honest opinion. “I’m so used to seeing you all in black, I didn’t even recognize you at first! But I think you look pretty cute if I’m being honest. Like you’ve got your hair down.”

Morgana smiled sheepishly. “I, um… I didn’t want to go to the trouble of tying twintails this morning, so…”

Carly shook her head and laughed. “No, not what I mean,” she said, patting the other girl on the shoulder. “I meant that you don’t look like you’re dressed up. You look really casual and normal, even though you never dress like this. Does that make sense?”

“No,” Marley bluntly answered before anyone else could.

“Marley you wear sweaters every day, your fashion sense hasn’t earned you speaking privileges yet,” Carly replied.

Her sister shot her a dirty look.

“Anyway, it appears my work here is done!” Vivian said, beaming with pride. “Congratulations, Morgana! It looks like you’ve got a chance to really branch out from here!”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Morgana’s eyes widened. “But I need to get my clothes back!”

“Yeah, later. I’ll drop ‘em off by your door,” Vivian assured her, turning to go. “You have fun now with those new threads!”

“Hey, where are you going?” Carly called after her. “Don’t you want to hang?”

Vivian stopped, surprised, and turned to look back at the cosplayer. She raised her eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Carly shrugged. “You don’t look busy,” she pointed out. “You got some appointment with somebody or something?”

“Uh… not really, no,” Vivian said, scratching her cheek. “I was just helping out Morgana with some stuff, that’s all. And since that’s done, I was gonna go see if anyone else needed my help with anything.”

“Then why not hang out with us?” Carly offered. “From what I heard, your date yesterday was a disaster, so it sounds like you could use a friend right now.”

Marley elbowed her sister in the ribs. “Aren’t you supposed to be the one with good social skills?” She hissed.

Carly blushed. “…Whoops. Sorry, that… just kind of slipped out,” she apologized.

“…It’s fine,” Vivian said, hiding her discomfort behind a cheery smile. “No harm no foul. But it wasn’t as bad as you’re making it sound. Who told you that?”

“Dani, this morning,” Carly said, bluntly throwing the tomboy under the bus.

Vivian sighed and rolled her eyes. She figured it would be something like that.

“You want to talk about it?” Marley offered. “I’m not good at stuff like that, but one of my sister’s transformations makes her give advice on how to help people get along with Nick better.”

Now that Marley mentioned it, Vivian did feel a slight tug towards the cosplayer, almost like an urge to ask her how she could better appeal to Nick’s tastes. Maybe a day ago she would have acted on those urges, but right now things were way too complicated for that.

She shook her head.

“Maybe some other time,” she replied. “I feel like any advice you gave me would wind up backfiring, frankly.”

Carly opened her mouth to protest. “Hey, that’s…! …Not entirely inaccurate,” she admitted, recalling a few instances of giving advice that had made the situation more awkward than not.

On the topic of awkwardness, Morgana felt a little miffed that she was no longer the center of attention, and was now looking for a way to escape the conversation herself. Something Sylvia picked up on right away.

“I have an idea!” Sylvia clapped her hands together, getting everyone’s attention. “Vivian, Morgana, you two could hang out with us, and we could have some fun experimenting!” She suggested.

Morgana’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “Ex-experimenting!?” She sputtered. “That’s-!”

“Not that kind of experimenting,” Marley hastily clarified. She looked suspiciously over at Sylvia all the same. “…I hope.”

“Come on,” Sylvia said, waving her hand. “What do you take me for? …Never mind, don’t answer that. I was talking about experimenting with transformations, obviously!”

“Uhum, uh…” Morgana bit her lip, recalling previous times she’d experimented with her transformations this week, specifically her spells. “Maybe… a little would be okay?” She relented.

“I think I know what you’re saying,” Vivian murmured, nodding thoughtfully. “You’re talking about using your upgrade transformation to experiment, right? See what upgrades people have on the table? Well… don’t think that’ll be much help for me, I’m afraid,” she chuckled. “We already went through that song and dance, remember?”

“That’s just one thing though,” Sylvia said. “There are other ways we can experiment with transformations!”

“Plus, I got this nice shiny watch,” Carly said, holding up her wrist to show off her boon. “And I haven’t done nearly enough with it yet!”

Sylvia nodded in agreement. “Plus, I’m just dying to know about one of your transformations, Vivian,” she continued. “Like right now, you’re dressed as a cowboy, right?”

“Cowgirl, but sure,” Vivian confirmed.

Sylvia frowned. “Really? Don’t you need, like, horns and a bell to be a cowgirl?”

Morgana burst into laughter. “No! Well… actually, yes, that’s definitely a kind of cowgirl!” She snorted, much to Vivian’s confusion and Marley’s exasperation.

Carly’s response was one of amusement. “But a cowboy doesn’t have horns and a bell?” She chirped. “That seems unfair.”

Sylvia shook her head. “No, that’s a minotaur.”

Vivian smiled an exasperated smile and adjusted her hat. “Fine, we’ll go with cowboy then,” she relented. “What do you want to know?”

Sylvia snapped to attention and turned to the heiress with a twinkle in her eye. “I was thinking about one of the transformations you got last round,” she said. “You got four, so maybe you don’t remember it? That’s a lot of transformations, after all.”

“I got five transformations when I first joined the cast,” Morgana mumbled under her breath. “Just saying…”

“Right, so did I, but not the point!” Sylvia replied without even looking at the other girl. Her glittering blue eyes were focused on Vivian. “The one I’m thinking of is Dressed for the Part! I’m really curious if you’re feeling any of the effects yet.”

Vivian blinked. That one had been in the back of her mind, but she hadn’t actively tried to make use of it yet.

• Dressed for the Part: Vivian has a lot of experience, but no boss knows how to do everything. Well, until now, that is. Whenever Vivian dresses up in the stereotypical style of a specific career or fashion subculture, she will instinctively know all relevant skills and details corresponding to that outfit, and feel compelled to behave accordingly. (Fashionista)

“Oh yeah, that one,” Carly nodded. “I forgot about that.”

“What relevant skills and details go with being a cowboy, anyway?” Marley wondered. “…And is that even a career or fashion subculture at this point? It’s more of a Halloween costume than anything if you ask me.”

Carly nodded. Marley raised a very good point.

“That’s the whole point of experimenting,” Sylvia pointed out. “So what do you think, Vivian? Notice any different bits of knowledge or interests now that you’re wearing that?”

“Hmm…” Vivian stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Now that you mention it, I DO know a lot about horseback riding and taking care of horses… …Wait, I already knew how to do that! …I guess there’s some knowledge in here too about how to handle a gun… Yep, already knew how to do that, too. So other than a sudden urge to spit with pinpoint accuracy and throw someone through a saloon window, no, can’t think of anything,” she said with a smirk.

Sylvia could smirk with the best of them, though, and she punctuated hers with a roll of her eyes.

“Very funny,” she said. “No need to be sarcastic.”

“What can I say?” Vivian laughed. “I guess I’m already pretty much a cowboy as it is!” She stretched her arms over her head. “Or cowgirl, if you like.”

“No, you need to be lactating for that,” Morgana pointed out. She turned to Sylvia like a dog asking for a treat. “Right?”

“In that case, maybe we could experiment with some other clothing styles then,” Sylvia said. “Is there anything you don’t already know how to do, Vivian?”

Get Nick to like me.

“Plenty of stuff,” Vivian answered. “Anything I haven’t done before, for instance.”

Well, that was helpful.

“Maybe we could experiment with one of your transformations,” Marley cut in, shifting the focus of the conversation to Sylvia. “I don’t think it’s fair to put all this pressure on other people.”

She gave Vivian a look out of the corner of her eye, and the heiress returned it with a grateful expression. While Vivian quite enjoyed being the center of attention, this wasn’t one of those times.

Sylvia was happy to take the heat on though.

“I think that would be just swell!” Sylvia nodded in agreement. “I still haven’t used my Sneak Peek transformation on everyone yet. Carly, Vivian, I already gave you guys a look at some potential upgrades, so… Morgana! That just leaves you!”

Morgana had been kind of zoning out a little bit. But Sylvia had dragged her right back in, and suddenly she was VERY attentive.

“Wait, what!?” She screeched, going pale. “Me!? Why ME?!”

Sylvia shrugged. “No one else left here, that’s why,” she pointed out.

Morgana didn’t appreciate that statement very much. Why was she the one who kept getting experimented on today!?

Vivian recalled that Sylvia had in fact upgraded one of her transformations. But this was too amusing to correct now, with how flustered the goth girl was getting.