And you're singing lead soprano in a junkman's choir, you got to come on up to the house

While there was plenty of drama to be had involving Sylvia and Dakota, there were other girls in Nick’s harem who had their own problems to deal with.

“Can you believe what Cinder did to me?” Rose shook her head, and cradled her cheek with her hand. “She kicked me out of bed! What if I got a bruise?!”

The look on Dawn’s face was as bland as the cornflakes she was eating for breakfast. “I seriously do not care,” she bluntly informed the actress, earning her a stunned look from the blonde.

“B-but-!” Rose set down her fork, losing her appetite for the sliced fruit she’d chosen. “It was so mean, can you believe it?”

“Rose, stop trying to stir up drama,” Dawn chastised her. “I know what you’re doing, so just stop it. There’s no reason to tell me all this when Cinder is sitting right there.”

Rose turned her head to Cinder, who was sitting right next to her with a sour expression on her face. The messy-haired girl pulled back her lips in an exasperated growl.

Blinking, Rose turned back to Dawn and shrugged.

“Well-”

“Can you stop talking about me when I’m right fucking here!?” Cinder snapped at her, slamming her fork down on her plate. The half-eaten omelet was forgotten as she turned to her obnoxious, baiting roommate with **** in her eyes.

Rose looked over at her and blinked innocently.

“Cinder, if we’re going to make this friendship work, then we really need to talk with an objective person about your anger problems. Personally, I think-”

“We’re not friends!” Cinder interrupted her. “We’re roommates! If we didn’t have to share a bed, I wouldn’t even want to TALK to you! Okay!?”

Rose placed her hand over her heart and sniffled. “Wow, that… that really stings,” she said, shaking her head. “Ow.”

Dawn’s eye twitched. “…Can I just go now?” She sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

“No!” Rose gave her a frantic look. “You’ve gotta stay, Dawn! You’re the only person Cinder and I both get along with! So you’re the perfect consultant for our problem! Not to mention we never get to hang out together anymore, I miss you!”

Dawn was pretty sure Rose was just trying to emotionally manipulate her, but if she was… it was working. That actually resonated pretty hard with her, she had to admit. Hearing Rose say she missed her. It was hard to fake that look of sincerity she saw in the other woman’s eyes.

Sighing, Dawn nodded begrudgingly and sat back down. “Alright,” she relented. “Fine. I’ll help. Cinder, don’t kick Rose out of bed.”

Cinder rolled her eyes.

Rose nodded in agreement. “Also, tell her that she should be super nice to me, and that we should totally hang out more and watch movies!”

“No, I’m not doing that,” Dawn said, taking off her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please stop using me as a tool to say what you want to say to other people.”

“Right, sorry,” Rose relented, holding up her hands in surrender. A wry grin touched her lips. She turned and looked at Cinder for real this time. “Cinder, I’ve really enjoyed being your friend, thanks a bunch! You feel the same way, right?”

Cinder glared at her. She could see the lack of sincerity in Rose’s eyes. Whether the other woman really did appreciate her “friendship” or not, it was obvious she was only saying so because she knew it got on Cinder’s nerves. Which got on Cinder’s nerves all over again.

“I told you before, we’re not friends,” Cinder groused.

“Sure we are!” Rose chirped. “You gave me that stuffed animal after your date with Nick! Don’t tell me that’s not something a friend would do!”

Cinder’s face began to burn. “Th-that-! That was Ella! SHE’S the one who bought that for you, not me!” She snapped.

Rose shrugged. “Ella and I barely talk,” she replied. “We’ve been over this already. There’s no reason for her to be nice to me, so the reason she is, gotta be because you like me, right?”

“NO!” Cinder’s face was getting redder and redder, and she clenched her teeth together. Why did Rose have to be so-!?

“It’s like with Dawn, you get along with her because Ella likes her so much, right?” Rose changed the subject, hoping to deflect some of Cinder’s anger towards the only other person in the Banquet Hall at the moment.

“Leave me out of this,” Dawn scowled, seeing exactly what Rose was trying to do. “And Cinder, it’s alright to hate Rose a little bit. I’d almost call it normal.”

“Hey!” Rose whined.

Cinder’s eye twitched, and she almost smiled. Dawn’s little comment came so out of nowhere that she actually found it kind of hilarious.

Rose didn’t.

“Well… thank you for the gift, anyway,” Rose said, deciding to drop the issue. “Even if it was from Ella. I guess she must like me more than I thought, huh? Because she’s so sweet and nice.”

Cinder scowled. She didn’t like Rose thinking the gift was from her, but Rose thinking it was a gift from Ella appealed to her even less.

Maybe that didn’t make sense, but so what?!

“Whatever, just forget it. This morning sucked, that’s all,” Cinder growled out, returning to her omelet. She wasn’t going to apologize for kicking Rose off of the bed if it was the last thing she did.

Even if she maybe felt a little bad about it. Which she didn’t. Clearly those were just Ella’s feelings for Rose leaking through, even though Ella and Rose didn’t get along!

She wanted to leave so fucking badly right now. Even if Dawn and Rose were both somehow tolerable, that didn’t mean Cinder had to enjoy being here! Because she absolutely fucking didn’t! If she wasn’t still so hungry she would have stormed out of the place already!

Unfortunately she still needed to eat. So right now, she wished more than anything for someone to come by and distract from this stupid, pointless conversation.

A few seconds later, Cinder got her wish, and immediately she regretted it.

“Hey there, ladies! How is it going?”

Cinder flinched as a familiar voice reached her ears. Rose and Dawn both looked up in time to see Vivian slide into the seat beside Dawn’s, wearing a bright grin on her face.

“Oh, Vivian,” Dawn said, nodding politely to the heiress. “Good morning.”

“Hey Vivian!” Rose greeted her with a wave.

As for Cinder, her only reaction to the woman across from her was a stare filled with contempt.

Vivian didn’t seem bothered by it, though.

“What are you guys doing? Enjoying breakfast? Mind if I join?” Vivian’s eyes were shining with delight as she looked hopefully at the three girls.

“You’re already sitting here,” Cinder grunted at her. She was on edge after what happened last night, and would like nothing more than to tell the heiress where to shove it, but having just come off a hostile outburst a couple minutes ago, she was wary of how another one would go over.

Wait… why do I even care what they think of me? Cinder questioned her behavior for the first time, pausing to consider that maybe she wasn’t thinking properly.

“Great! Thank you sooooo much!” Vivian clapped her hands together and flashed a gorgeous smile that had Cinder seething.

Dawn could tell that something was definitely up between the two of them, but wasn’t sure how to address it.

Rose, in the meantime, was happy to pretend like nothing was wrong.

“So Vivian, we were just talking about how we’re all friends and getting along so great now!” Rose said, completely twisting the prior topic of conversation, much to Cinder’s irritation.

“We were?” The latina growled at her.

Rose ignored her. “I had a pretty active morning… how about you, Vivian? How are things going with you?”

“Oh, I had SO much fun the other day!” Vivian gushed her face shining as she recalled how her day went. “Dani and I, we spent the whole day together at the spa, and we had soooooo much fun together, it was amazing!”

“Yeah, I heard about that from Morgana,” Dawn said, nodding. “Sounds like you guys had fun together. Well, that’s good.”

“We did,” Vivian confirmed. “Of course, then I got a little drunk, so I don’t remember most of what happened last night.”

Cinder flinched when she heard that, and searched Vivian’s face for some sign that the heiress was lying. If what she was saying was the truth, then that was a bit of a relief.

Not that Cinder was the kind of woman who felt relief. She was too on edge all the damn time for something like that.

“Anyway,” Rose continued, “it’s good to hear that you and your roommate are getting along so well, Vivian! Dawn, how are things going with your roommate?”

Dawn shot her an icy look that answered Rose’s question better than any words could have.

Of course, that just encouraged the actress even more.

“Aww, you’re giving me the silent treatment just like she would!” Rose tittered. “I guess you two are really rubbing off on one another!”

Dawn took a sip from her tea and adjusted her glasses. “…Cinder, push her out of the bed again tomorrow as well, would you?”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Cinder snapped automatically.

“Come on, Dawn, don’t be like that!” Rose wailed. “I’m just teasing! That’s what I do with my friends, tease them! Totally harmless!”

Vivian flinched. She tried to maintain her smile, but Rose’s comment hit a little too closed to home.

“W-well,” she said, brushing back a lock of her brown hair, “it might be better, um, if you didn’t tease your friends too much. Just… just saying.”

Dawn, Rose, and even Cinder all turned to Vivian with their mouths hanging open in shock.

“Are… are you feeling okay?” Dawn asked hesitantly.

“You don’t have a fever, do you?” Rose bit her lip, wondering if that was even possible here.

“The fuck?” Cinder muttered more to herself than anyone else, and turned back to her food with a grumble in her throat.

Vivian felt trapped for a moment but pushed right past it with a broad smile. “…So anyway, it’s great to see you gals getting along so well! I just stopped by for a bite to eat, but since you’re all here, I was hoping that maybe we could all dish, maybe share some girl talk? Whattya say?”

Dawn and Rose slowly nodded while Cinder ignored her, raising her shields and focusing on her food.

“…If you’re looking for advice about patching things up with Nick, you can just say that,” Rose chirped. “No need to beat around the bush. We’re happy to lend you our expertise.”

Dawn cracked a smile. “Wow, and here I thought I was the smart one.”

Vivian’s mouth fell open. “No!” She said quickly, shaking her head. “I just… I… this has nothing to do with Nick!”

Rose had thrown her for a loop bringing Nick into this, but Vivian didn’t care about that! She really DID just want to get closer with the girls!

“Nick and I are going to be fine,” Vivian said, more hopeful wishing than outright lying. She waved her hand and let her smile naturally return to her face. “How are things going with you girls? Really. We don’t need to focus on me all the time!”

“Sure feels like it,” Cinder muttered under her breath as she finished the rest of her omelet. She went to go get more food, having half a mind to just leave. The other half of her mind was thinking that she should at least sit down at another table now that she had the chance.

She didn’t do either of those things, though. For her, that would feel like losing. And she wasn’t about to lose to Vivian Carrington, of all people. So filled her tray up with more food and sat back down just in time to cat the tail end of Rose’s gushing about how great it was sharing her room with her.

Awkward didn’t even begin to cover the emotions Cinder was feeling.

“…And then she gave me a lion stuffed animal, and it was just the cutest thing in the world!” Rose squealed, clutching her glowing cheeks. “Cinder really is a sweetheart, isn’t she?”

“I told you, that was ELLA!” Cinder snapped at her, infuriated by how Rose was making a fool out of her like this.

She didn’t do sweet things for people!

“I got a cute little kitty,” Dawn said, smiling a little. “That was really thoughtful, picking out a stuffed animal just for me.” She was more tactful than Rose, making sure not to use either name so as not to upset Cinder one way or the other.

“Gosh, that sounds just precious!” Vivian said, stricken with awe at the thoughtful gesture. She turned to Cinder with a hopeful look in her eyes. “Did you get a little horsey for me, then?”

Cinder blinked. “What? Fuck no, we’re not friends.” Her response was more out of reflex than anything, so she didn’t even consider the fact that she’d just admitted to the table that she considered Rose and Dawn friends.

Besides, the girls had more important things to worry about, like the verbal smack in the face Cinder had just given the heiress.

“O-oh… yeah, I… I guess that makes sense,” Vivian said, trying not to show how much what Cinder had just said hurt her.

She failed pretty miserably at that.

Rose and Dawn shared an awkward look of their own. The tension hanging in the air was cloying and both women could easily imagine **** on it.

Or Cinder **** Vivian.

Point was, a lot of ****.

“Well, uh… this… this has been really fun,” Dawn said, hastily finishing off her tea. “But I really should be going, um, I still need to check in with Morgana to see how her date went, so… yeah.”

“No, don’t go!” Vivian said hurriedly, looking at Dawn in alarm. “Actually, I have something I’ve been meaning to give you! You said you liked tea, right?”

“Oh?” Dawn’s cat ears twitched and her tail flicked behind her. Vivian’s attempt to distract her had worked, at least for a little while.

“Here, what do you think?” Vivian reached into her bag and pulled out a tiny little wood box. She opened it up and showed Dawn the contents, and the cat girl’s eyes lit up.

“Is-is that what I think it is?” Dawn asked, starting to drool a little.

Vivian nodded proudly. “Da Hong Pao,” she stated. “You said you were a tea drinker, so I thought I might as well bring you some. You a fan?”

“Yeah!” Dawn nodded enthusiastically. She knew a bribe when she saw one, but she was also smart enough to accept the bribe.

“What’s ‘Da Hong Pao’?” Rose questioned, scrunching up her face.

“It’s tea, you idiot, she just SAID that,” Cinder muttered, rolling her eyes.

Rose shot her a dirty look.

“It’s not just any tea!” Dawn said, looking at the two women with a scandalized expression on her face. “It’s only one of the most famous teas in all of China!”

“And this is the real thing, too,” Vivian said, nodding. Her grin slowly began to relax. “Not one of those artificial blends or whatever. Folks say the taste is the same, but you can tell the difference.”

“That stuff looks like tree bark,” Rose said, looking suspiciously at the contents.

Vivian and Dawn both stared at her in shock while Cinder struggled not to laugh.

Sensing that she wasn’t going to win this, Rose backed off. “Brits and tea, what a shock,” she muttered under her breath.

“When it comes to quality, you can’t compromise,” Vivian said, shaking her head. “You can tell just from the black color that the charcoal roasting was effective!”

“Yeah, you can definitely tell,” Dawn agreed, nodding up and down. Her tail was flicking behind her back so fast it was hard to follow.

“Can’t the faeries just give you whatever you want, though?” Cinder didn’t see the point in any of this. “Why even care?”

“It’s the thought that counts,” Dawn said, cradling the box to her chest. “Da Hong Pao is very expensive due to the quality, and the method of preparing is quite extensive! But it’s absolutely worth it! The flavor alone…”

Rose mentally checked out. She’d heard Dawn gush about tea enough for one lifetime. But she was glad that the cat girl seemed to be so happy. And she was especially glad for Vivian. The heiress really seemed to be making an inroad with the other woman, which was a good sign.

It made Rose smile.

“I had no idea you were a fan of tea,” Dawn said, surprised to learn something new about tea. Then again… Vivian could just be lying, and trying to bribe her way into friendship through one of Dawn’s interests.

“I’m clearly not as big a fan as you,” Vivian noted with a wry grin, scratching the back of her head. “But what can I say? I’m a big appreciator of quality. So I get some on occasion. Tell me, Dawn, you ever drink Da Hong Pao on the Great Wall of China? Because it’s quite an experience.”

“Yes,” Dawn bluntly replied.

Vivian actually looked stunned for a minute. “Oh… really?”

Dawn shrugged. “I’ve traveled a lot, and tea is one of my big passions,” she replied. “I’m not rich, but I do pretty well for myself. I can afford the occasional indulgence.”

Vivian was surprised to hear that. She definitely assumed that all Americans who weren’t filthy rich like her were living in poverty like Kim. Well, you learn something new every day.

“For the record, I’ve never done that!” Rose said, holding up her hand like an interrupting student. “You know, if you’re making offers…”

Dawn may not have been susceptible to bribery (although she still accepted the bribe) but Rose definitely was.

“I brought enough for everyone to share,” Vivian said, looking hopefully around the table. “Maybe we could all drink tea and chat? My treat!”

“Again, the faeries got that for you,” Cinder muttered. A cup of tea sounded about as disgusting as you could get. Rose wasn’t wrong when she said that stuff looked like shredded tree bark. And it probably tasted like grass.

“Come on, Cinder, just indulge them!” Rose encouraged her. “It’s not so bad! Just sip it and pretend like it tastes good!”

“We can hear you,” Dawn said, glaring at the actress. “And if you don’t want it, that’s fine, don’t drink it then! Nobody’s making you! I’d rather not waste such a treasure on someone who won’t appreciate it, anyway!”

“Oh, phew,” Rose said, sighing in relief.

Dawn scowled. She was trying to get along with Rose as a friend, she really was, but she made it so hard sometimes!