I love it when the sun shines down, warms me all around, oh, oh

“So you’re a shark girl?” Kim’s eyes widened in amazement. “Wow, that’s kinda…”

“After I used my watch, I turned into this,” Carly laughed, running her fingers through her wet hair. “Luckily I can still breathe, or I don’t think we woulda got here in time!”

“That tail looks cumbersome,” Nick noted. “Are you able to swim with it?”

Carly flashed a sharp smile and turned up her thumb.

“I think it’s really cool that you can breathe underwater,” Dani said wistfully. “Meanwhile, I probably won’t get much swimming done with these.” She brushed the feathers on her arms slightly. Nick thought she was downplaying it though. They didn’t look bothersome enough to hinder her swimming ability. “Too bad I got the wrong kind of Siren path,” the tomboy joked.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m keeping my clothes on,” Carly said, gnashing her teeth playfully at her girlfriend.

Emmy tugged on Marley’s sleeve. “What’s mom talking about?” She asked. This wasn’t the first time the two women had joked about sirens, and Emmy was completely in the dark.

Marley smiled generously. “See, Emmy, Dani over there has this friend, Serenity? Well, she’s kinda all of our friend, but we don’t hang out with her as much as Dani does, since she’s a pretty private person and all. …Oh, and she’s a siren. She’s got blue skin that glows. She used to be human, though,” Marley added as an afterthought.

Emmy’s eyes bulged in surprise. She turned and looked at Dani, her heart pounding with curiosity. “Whoa, that’s… cool, I guess,” she murmured, nodding thoughtfully. “Yeah, cool…”

“Hey, I just realized something!” Sylvia gasped, her eyes widening. “Emmy… do you even know how to swim?”

Emmy snapped her attention over to Sylvia, stunned momentarily by the question. But as she searched the fog of her complicated not-memories she realized that the answer to that question may have been an emphatic “NO” in fact.

“Uh… I’m not sure?” She said, scratching her head.

“Don’t worry about that,” Nick said gingerly. “I was a lot older than you when I learned how to swim. It’s not a big deal.”

“Does that mean I can teach you?” Carly pressed her fingers together, her eyes shining. “Oh, Emmy, you’re going to have so much fun! Swimming around underwater… there’s nothing that can compare to that, really.”

“Eh, uh… I-I guess,” Emmy nodded. She was excited by the prospect, but at the same time, looking at Carly, she wondered if she could really learn that much from a shark woman. It’s not like she had fins or a tail!

Kim loudly cleared her throat. “Well. You all can have fun with that, but Nick and I, we still have a date we need to get to,” she reminded the girls. “Lucky for us, there’s plenty of beach to go around,” she pointed out. “…You know, because it’s an island?”

“Hah!” Carly laughed in spite of how dumb she knew the joke was. Didn’t stop it from being funny. Even Dani cracked a smile.

“Kim’s right,” Sylvia said, nodding in agreement. “She and Daddy need to have some time to themselves. It is her date night, after all!”

She winked at Kim, nodding encouragingly.

Kim appreciated the support, she really did. But getting support from Sylvia… it made her breast ache. Because she kept remembering what had happened with Dakota earlier. And Sylvia… Sylvia didn’t even know about it.

Her eyes flickered over to Nick for a second. What should she do here? Should she make up some excuse to pull Sylvia aside and talk with her about everything?

…

That’s what she was going to do, wasn’t it? Kim knew that if she kept sitting on this, the anxiety and uncertainty would eat away at her, and she wouldn’t be able to enjoy her date. She also knew that this was the best time to broach the subject with Nick; after all, tonight was her night with him. If there was ever a time when she’d have his full, undivided attention this round, it was right now.

She just had to find some way to invite Sylvia away from the others that would seem natural.

“A-actually, um, Sylvia, can I ask you something in private real quick?” Kim stammered out, trying to make her invitation sound casual and not a big deal. Even as the words left her lips she knew she failed massively.

It wasn’t exactly her fault. Kim’s inexperience with socialization was showing here, like it so often did with Morgana. She had never been the popular, friendly girl in school. She didn’t make friends, she was too busy trying to make ends meet. So while she could disguise her lack of social prowess with her customer service skills, this was one of the few times her mind was drawing a blank.

“Sure, Kim!” Sylvia said. “Gonna ask me some tricks about how to make Daddy fall head over heels for ya, eh? I getcha.” She gave Kim a saucy wink, which was rather cheeky of her seeing as how Sylvia had not even made it to first base with her “Daddy” yet; one could argue she wasn’t even up at bat at the moment.

But Kim would accept any excuse, even the most absurd, and quickly nodded her head. “Err, something like that, maybe?”

“Everything okay, Kim?” Nick asked, concerned. He didn’t accept Sylvia’s premise for a second, and was concerned for Kim. She’d been acting relatively normal since they’d hooked up, but he’d noticed a few times during their date that she’d looked nervous or absentminded, like her thoughts kept drifting off somewhere.

If he could help, he’d like to. But the smile Kim gave him… it was flawless.

Just looking at him like that, it was as if Kim was trying to say “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

So if that was what she wanted from him, he would give it to her. “Alright then, you two… have fun, I guess. But hurry back quick, okay?” He smiled at her and gave her a wink of his own. “We already had a late start on our date; I don’t want to squander any more time with you than I have to!”

“Ooooh!” Carly loudly whistled.

Dani snickered, “Why Nick, how charming!”

Nick felt his face heat up. He’d gotten so used to his usual flow with Kim that it had momentarily slipped his mind that he was very much not alone right now. Burning with shame he refused to face the other girls, making things even more awkward as Kim had to duck out of his line of sight and scurry away with Sylvia into the dunes.

Luckily, a distraction occurred a second later, and Carly flashed bright pink. She returned to her normal self, still wearing her Supergirl costume, only she was still dripping wet.

THAT caught Nick’s attention. He swung his head around and froze, staring at her in shock. Even Carly seemed stunned, clearly not expecting that to happen. For once, Carly actually looked embarrassed- something so uncommon it caused everyone to pause.

She quickly lightened up when she saw Nick staring at her, and batted her eyelashes. “Get a good peek, now didja?” She teased. She knew she was wearing underwear so her embarrassment was at a minimum. And for Carly, that was practically nothing at all.

But then she saw Emmy’s stunned expression and she hastily covered her dripping chest. Cheeks still a little pink she cleared her throat and straightened her back, and nodded over to Dani.

“So hey, Dani… since I’m back, let’s settle up. I’ll take Marley back now,” she pointed out, nodding to her sister.

“Take me back… what am I, a communal pillow?” Marley grumbled, rolling her eyes. The light jab at her sister was due to the fact that she’d gotten used to sleeping with her comfortable pillow the last few nights, but due to Emmy’s presence she’d had to leave it out of the bed.

There just wasn’t the room.

Carly barely paid her sister any mind. She was already working on getting back custody. Due to the nature of her upgrade, she had to give Dani the bare minimum of 500 BP- even if she only left her sister for a couple minutes!

That was fine with her, though. Dani had helped her out with Emmy, after all, it was the least she could do to repay her girlfriend. Plus, money was hardly an issue between the two of them anyway, Carly was happy to give.

Carly: 9700 BP – 500 BP = 9200 BP

Dani: 4800 BP + 500 BP = 5300 BP

It was a quick and easy exchange. And with that, a weight was lifted off Carly’s shoulders for sure.

“Okay, then!” She stretched her arms over her head, inadvertently revealing her breasts again, much to Emmy’s embarrassment. In spite of Carly’s efforts to clean up her act for her daughter’s sake, she oozed too much natural sexuality with her free-spirited personality to fully meet her own expectations, not that Nick was complaining. “With that settled, we can get back to having some fun! Got any ideas, sis? You should get a say since I just had my fill.”

It would be a while before the watch would recharge. Until then, they might as well go and hang out somewhere else, give the lovebirds some company.

“We should wait for Sylvia first,” Marley judged, looking in the direction where her mother had gone. “Dani, wasn’t she talking to you about testing out some upgrades?”

Dani blinked. “Uh, yeah, she was,” the tomboy nodded. “Wasn’t really thinking about it, though. Why do you ask?”

“You should do it, Dani,” Nick encouraged her. “I know you’re hesitant, but temporary upgrades might be a safe way for you to explore more. And it might help you out with the audience, too.”

Dani really appreciated how much Nick was looking out for her. It was nice to finally have a best friend again.

And he was right… even if she was hesitant to admit it.

“I’ll consider it,” she relented, shrugging. “And hey, if I get a bad one, at least it’s temporary, right?” She pointed out.

That was the best way to think about it, in her opinion. The others couldn’t agree more.

Of course, first they had to wait for Sylvia to get back. And who knows how long Kim would take?

Nick found himself wondering just what the two of them were up to. Whatever it was, he had to trust that Kim knew what she was doing. After all, she had a pretty good head on her shoulders.

“So what’s up, Kim?” Sylvia asked, her eyes shining with excitement. “Gonna try out an upgrade? Last time you upgraded Model Employee, and that ended up working out pretty well for you, didn’t it? Maybe you’re looking for something to help you get a little sexier for Daddy? I’m actually really curious what an upgrade to Wet T-Shirt Contest would do, I wonder if it can make you turn more than just our clothes wet!” She giggled to herself as her mind flashed through the implications.

But seeing Sylvia so happy just made what Kim was about to do even harder.

“Sylvia, not right now,” the tomboy said, shaking her head. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something kinda serious.”

Sylvia blinked for a moment. “I mean… so was I,” she replied, shrugging. “I’m very serious when it comes to upgrading transformations!”

Kim shook her head swiftly. “No, not that,” she said. Kim realized quickly that she just had to come out and say it, or Sylvia would keep taking the conversation in different directions.

Might as well get it over with.

“I wanted to talk to you about Dakota.”

Kim wasn’t sure what she expected. A flinch? A wince? A grimace? A change in the atmosphere as Sylvia’s smile fell away, revealing the **** girl within? Or a bolt from the blue from the host herself, as punishment?

None of that happened, though, and Sylvia’s reaction left the tomboy stunned and confused instead.

“Eh, Dakota? What about her?” Sylvia shrugged, looking nonplussed by the mention of the host.

It threw Kim for a second.

“…Uh…” Kim struggled to get back on track as she searched for the right words. “Well, I think… um… okay, so earlier today, Dakota and I, we kinda… had a falling-out.”

“A falling-out? How does that work?” Sylvia asked, raising her eyebrow.

Kim swallowed. “Well, I-”

“I mean, to have a falling-out, don’t you guys, like, have to be friends first, or something?” Sylvia interrupted her with a giggle and a shake of the head. “Dakota doesn’t ‘fall-out’ with people, nobody likes her in general!”

Well… Sylvia wasn’t wrong there. But Kim wasn’t the best with terminology.

She sighed and cut to the chase. “What I mean is… I talked with her about how she’s been treating you. I made it clear that I don’t approve of her treatment of you, and she got really, really mad at me for it,” Kim explained, her shoulders slumping.

Sylvia just looked more confused. “She got mad? Why would she even care?” To Sylvia, the idea that Dakota would give a damn about what Kim (or any of the contestants, really) thought about her seemed completely absurd.

Kim winced. Time for the other part. “Well… I kind of threatened to tell Nick about it… and turn him against her? You know, mention how Dakota’s trying to stay on his good side, and he could leverage that to get her to take it easy… and not be such a bitch all the time? Maybe even send us home…”

Well, the smile finally left Sylvia’s face. But not in the way Kim had expected. Instead of looking worried, or upset, she just looked…

…Exasperated.

“…Haaaaaaaahhhh…” Sylvia let out a long, tired sigh and slumped her shoulders. “Come on, Kim…” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know you’re only in community college, but I thought you were smarter than this.”

Kim flushed. She expected Sylvia to have a negative reaction, but not one that was so… condescending. That wasn’t what she’d planned to respond to. “I-I just thought…”

“You thought you could ****… or, no, extort the host? Seriously? Hah… I knew I’d regret making that deal with you to cut your work hours in half. Now you think the rules just don’t apply to you, huh? Great…”

“H-hey! I was trying to stand up for you, you know!” Kim exclaimed, going from worried to indignant in a flash. “You don’t have to be so-!”

She realized that she was about to start lecturing Sylvia on the “proper” way to go about handling her abuser, and quickly shut her mouth.

“Look, Kim, I really, really appreciate you standing up to Dakota for me,” Sylvia said, clasping her hands together. “It was very sweet. But come on. I used to be a host, remember? I know all about how contestants try to leverage the master in order to get preferential treatment from the show, and you know what happens? It doesn’t usually go the way they want.”

“I-I know… I wasn’t thinking,” Kim said, understanding where Sylvia was coming from. “But I just thought, if we gave it a shot-”

Sylvia shook her head. “When I was the host, Daddy used to fight me tooth and nail, remember?” She wasn’t sure how much attention Kim had been paying back then, but it was time for a crash course. “An uncooperative master is incredibly common on this show, so we use every trick in the book to encourage compliance, my girl. And frankly, I went easy on him! Giving incentives instead of making threats! Dakota… Dakota will make threats.”

“Yeah, I know, she threatened me,” Kim sighed.

Sylvia nodded matter-of-factly, expecting nothing less from her creator.

“You’re right, Dakota wants Daddy to like her. She really, really does! But… that’s not the leverage you think it is, my girl,” she said, shaking her head. “I wanted Daddy to like me, too. Thing is though, the show must always take precedence. Even if Dakota wants Daddy to like her, he can only do so much. If the producers think that she’s going too soft on him, if the integrity of the show is compromised…”

“I know, I know, Dakota will get replaced,” Kim sighed. “She made that very clear to me already.”

Sylvia bit her lip and shifted her feet. “Um, no, she won’t.”

“Hah?”

Sylvia shook her head firmly. “Dakota’s already lost everything, my girl,” she gently reminded Kim. “She had it all, she was in Daddy’s harem, after finally being reunited with him… and then she got eliminated.”

Through a plot Sylvia had orchestrated. And the elimination had come at Kim’s own hand. The two women here carried that burden more than anyone else.

“After that, Dakota took back her position from me, because it was all she had left,” Sylvia said sadly. “If she couldn’t be a part of Daddy’s harem, at least she could run the thing. But if that’s taken away from her as well… …Well, it just won’t happen.”

“I-I didn’t even think of that…” Kim went pale as she considered just how **** Dakota must be now, after having fallen so far.

“She’s nicer to Daddy than I’ve ever seen her be to a master, which is good!” Sylvia said, nodding encouragingly. “But she knows where the line is… and she’ll never, ever cross it. This is all she has now. In her mind… she’s already lost Daddy’s love. This is all about making him happy. At least, what she thinks will make him happy. If he won’t love her, if she can’t love him, then at least… at least she’ll give him the love she thinks he deserves.”

“And she can’t do that if she gets eliminated… fuck, that’s right…” Kim scratched her head and contemplated the situation from a new perspective. “So even if I told him that Dakota’s too obsessed with pleasing him to go harder on us…”

“What would it do?” Sylvia asked with a shrug. “Daddy can’t really resist. If he tried, then Dakota do more of what I did. She’d start playing hardball. I know how she thinks better than anyone. She wants her way. And she’ll do whatever she can to get it. Even if it means Daddy will hate her. As long as she can make him happy… her own feelings towards him come second, even to that.”

Sylvia looked like she was going to cry. It made Kim’s heart ache with sympathy.

“I’m sorry,” Kim apologized, hanging her head. “For dragging you into this… for trying to use your **** as a weapon against Dakota.”

Sylvia shook her head. “I’m so happy you cared enough about me to stand up to Dakota, my girl,” she said gently. “But I’ve already made my peace with it. Dakota will never care about me, beyond the happiness I can give to Daddy. And while I get it now that it’s because she is wrong, and it is not because of me…”

“You still can’t help but think it’s your fault sometimes, right?” Kim finished Sylvia’s thought. It was a feeling she knew all too well.

Sylvia looked at her with eyes wide for a second, then smiled sadly and nodded. “…Yes,” she admitted. “As much as that hurts… I cannot dwell on those feelings. I have to do my best to find happiness for myself, without Dakota… with Daddy.”

Kim’s heart wept for the poor girl. She made her decision. She wouldn’t push the issue with Dakota today. Or at all, maybe. But she had something else she’d be advocating for now. It was clear, hearing Sylvia talk about Nick, or “Daddy” as she called him, just how real her feelings were.

Nick may not want to accept it, but Kim wanted to get him to open his mind to the possibility. Maybe then, things could be better for both of them.

She hoped so, at least.