To fill our bodies up like water 'til we know

After saying their goodbyes to Sylvia and Ella, the night could finally start winding down. Nick stepped away from the door and let out a sigh, before stumbling over to one of the golden armchairs and practically sinking down into it.

“Oh man…” he said, rubbing his temples. “What a day.”

Amelia nodded silently, not sure what else she could add. She sympathized quite well with his expression of “What a day” and she had not experienced half of what Nick had gone through today.

He honestly wasn’t sure where to start. First there was his date with Gina, which, while fun, had definitely taken a lot out of him. Gina was a great girl to be around and he really cared about her a lot, but sometimes she could be exhausting. Especially when she was having trouble with her self-worth, and he had to build her up again. It always hurt to see her down like that.

And that had just been the start. Then there was everything that transpired with Amelia, learning about Dakota’s hardships, and then hearing from Sylvia and Holly as well, about how Dakota had started unraveling. Then, as if all THAT wasn’t already enough, he ALSO had to deal with the revelations about his stepmother’s past, her relationship with his father, and how deeply she cared for him, and her doubts about her fitness as a mother. So that made two women he’d had to console today and convince that they were better than they thought they were, and then Ella had to come along and make three. That awkward tension between them had been the icing on the cake.

So yeah. Nick was wiped. But he had to keep going, because tonight wasn’t over yet. He raised his head and his eyes met Amelia’s, and even though her face was as indecipherable as always, Nick could see a flicker of understanding pass between them. They were both well aware of how much of a burden today had been.

“You think you had it bad?” Holly pouted, coming over and cuddling up to Nick on the armchair. “I had to walk all the way across the island! All because Dakota wanted some alone time with Mary! You know what that is? That’s an **** of power, I say! Who does she think she is!?”

“And- and I had a rough day as well!” Mary agreed. “Not only did I have to make breakfast for everybody, but I had to make lunch for you and Gina too! And then dinner as well! That’s a lot of cooking and dishes!”

Nick, Amelia, and Holly all turned to Mary. They stared at her in silence for a bit.

“…W-well… maybe it isn’t so tough,” Mary conceded, fidgeting a little with her fingers. She blushed sheepishly. “But… I’m still really exhausted too!”

Nick gazed at his wife and couldn’t help but smile. Mary was a sweetheart, but she could sometimes go a little overboard. That being said, he didn’t take for granted how much work she always put into cooking for them, even if it was something she enjoyed.

“Thank you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Mary,” he said sincerely, summoning the rest of his strength to stand up and give her a hug. “It really helped out. You have no idea how much! Seriously, thank you.”

Mary blushed, enjoying the feeling of her husband hugging her. “W-well, of course,” she said, playing with her pigtails. “I’m your wife, it’s only natural that I support you.” She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. As if her dream was to cook every meal for him for the rest of her life. Knowing her, it probably was.

But Nick could hear the strain in her voice, and see it on her face. Unlike his stepmother, Mary was not so good at hiding her feelings. It really isn’t fair. Even if she likes cooking, I really need to help her out as much as she’s helping me. I really need to make it up to her soon. Tomorrow, after the challenge, I’ll do something special for her.

Nick understood that since he was in a relationship with so many different women, things were going to be a little lopsided. He simply couldn’t devote the same amount of time and energy to each of them as they were to him. But he could still do better than he was doing right now. He didn’t think that cooking was the source of Mary’s burden, but since he had no idea what it was, he would help make things as easy for her as he could.

Mary could see that written all over his face. She could feel his intention to support her coming across loud and clear, and it made her smile. Unfortunately she couldn’t reveal what was actually weighing on her. She was still concerned about everything that happened with Dakota. Once she and Sylvia were alone together in the kitchen she’d confronted the other woman directly, determined to try and fix their relationship as best she could. (Without revealing what Dakota had confided in her privately, of course. That was over the line.)

But if Dakota wasn’t going to let Mary help her, then maybe Sylvia would.

“Huh? Dakota?” Sylvia blinked, surprised to hear Mary bring her up. Was this the reason she’d been brought into the kitchen to help out?

Mary nodded. She’d tried to make it sound like a casual “Hey, have you talked to Dakota lately?” but Sylvia read her like an open book.

Not the best start.

“I-I just… well… it seems like things have been… kind of weird with her lately…” Mary said awkwardly, trying not to reveal anything too private.

Sylvia snorted a cute little laugh. “Oh, yeah, I heard about Holly’s little trip halfway across the island! That was a riot!”

Mary sighed. Well, at least one of them could find it funny, because Holly definitely didn’t. And as for Mary herself, it was yet another thing for her to feel guilty over.

“Sylvia…”

“Yeah, Mary, what is it?” Sylvia asked, leaning forward intently. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

…Mary just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t ask Sylvia about the state of her relationship with Dakota. It was too personal. Too private. There was too much of a chance of it backfiring on her, and that was the last thing she wanted.

“…Never mind,” Mary said, making a tight smile.

Sylvia blinked, confused. Well, if Mary wasn’t going to ask her pressing question, then Sylvia had one she was just dying to know!

“Well, can I ask, what did you and my mom talk about while you were alone together, my girl?” She asked excitedly.

Mary jumped in surprise. “Wh-what!?” She screeched, her eyes widening like saucers.

“Dakota was so determined to get you alone that she sent Holly all the way across the island, right?” Sylvia pointed out. “She had to have a reason for that, so spill! What happened? Was it super-important or something? I wanna know!”

She was so curious- especially after what happened with Dakota this afternoon. Sylvia had no idea what had spurred on the change in her creator- in her mother- but it was absolutely something significant, she was sure of it.

As for Mary… she looked overwhelmed with anxiety. The redhead bit her lip nervously and looked down, not sure what to say.

“It… it’s complicated,” she finally managed to spit out, shaking her head. “I don’t really know how to put this… but… …I can’t tell you.”

She hoped that Sylvia wouldn’t press. She wasn’t sure she could hold out if the other woman was insistent. But what was Mary supposed to do?! It wasn’t right for her, to share something this personal and private. It just wasn’t! This was something big and important on her hands, and she needed to tell somebody! But… she couldn’t violate Dakota’s confidence like that.

So many people had let Dakota down already. As wicked a woman as she may have been… Mary wasn’t about to let her down too.

“Eh. Okay, then,” Sylvia said, shrugging.

Mary was stunned. “R-really?” She asked hesitantly. “You don’t need to know?”

Sylvia shrugged. “I mean, I’d like you to tell me, obviously,” she replied. “But if you’re not up for it, hey- there’s nothing I can do about that. It was something private, right? Between you and my mom?”

Mary tensed, and then nodded slowly.

Sylvia smiled. “Then that’s that!” She said. “I’m not gonna make you tell me. That wouldn’t be right to either of you! Besides… things between Dakota and I… I think they’re going to turn around!”

That smile of hers. That smile left Mary stunned. It was different from Sylvia’s previous smiles when she talked about her relationship with her mother. It wasn’t a naïve, clueless smile, or the **** smile of a girl trying to delude herself.

Sylvia was smiling with absolute faith and confidence, and it swept Mary up. She didn’t know what to say, but… she was happy that Sylvia was happy.

And she hoped that happiness would carry through.

“…I think we’re all glad that today is finally done,” Mary said, sadly ending the hug with her husband. “I think after the night we’ve had, we all deserve a nice, long rest. Tomorrow is going to be very stressful for you after all, Amelia! It’s the next challenge!”

“Indeed,” Amelia agreed, adjusting her glasses.

“What? You’re sleeping already!?” Holly couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. “You guys aren’t going to have sex!?”

Nick cringed. His eyes met Amelia’s, and her face was as unreadable as always, a stark contrast to his flustered expression of embarrassment.

“…That was never going to happen tonight,” Amelia said icily, walking past Holly and heading towards the bed.

Holly groaned in disappointment while Mary just smiled and chuckled to herself. She was glad they were ending such a stressful day on such a simple, low-stakes note.

As Mary had observed earlier, Sylvia was, in fact, quite happy. And she continued to remain happy as she skipped down the hall, heading to her room. When she stepped inside, she was greeted by the familiar scent of flowers and freshly-cut grass. (Who did the cutting she had no idea, of course. It was a mystery…)

“Sylvia! You’re back, hey!” Carly waved to her roommate.

“Where have you been all day?” Marley asked curiously. “We haven’t seen you around at all.”

Sylvia grinned. “Oh, everywhere, and nowhere,” she said, coming over to join them. Both girls were getting ready for bed. For Marley that meant changing into her pajamas, for Carly that meant getting naked.

Nobody even noticed at this point.

“I’m guessing… you were experimenting with your transformations today, weren’t you?” Carly guessed, channeling her inner Mary to do some detective work.

“Hah?” Marley looked incredulously at her sister.

“It’s simple deduction!” Carly declared. “Don’t forget, Sylvia may have used her Sneak Peek transformation on everybody already, but she has another transformation with limited uses that she’d want to make the most out of, right? Her Fuck the Voters transformation!”

“What, the veto one?” Marley scratched her head. “Yeah, I guess… don’t see what the point of that would be, though,” she mumbled.

“Well, she sure doesn’t want to forget about it!” Carly pointed out. “That’s a really useful transformation, right, Sylvia?”

Sylvia laughed and nodded. “It’s very useful, you’re right,” she agreed. “But that’s not what I was doing today.”

“So you’ve already got a transformation planned that you’re going to copy?” Marley asked, raising her eyebrow curiously. She was as intrigued as her sister- she was just better about being tactful with her curiosity.

Sylvia shook her head again. “Haven’t decided,” she replied. “There are a few good ones… but I have all of the challenge tomorrow to figure it out. If there’s something I need, then I can grab it! And if I pick wrong… well, no problem! I’ve still got my boon, remember?” She said, winking at her daughter.

Marley gasped. “Oh, yeah! That’s right!” She picked up her comfort pillow and gave it a squeeze. “I’ve gotten so used to this thing that I forgot where it came from.”

Sylvia laughed again. “It’s a really useful one,” she said, pulling up the text of her boon. “I’ve gotta be careful with it.”

Whoops, That Didn’t Count!: This round, if the contestant has a transformation that can only be used a specific amount of times (once per day, once per round, once per contestant, etc.) they will be granted a “do-over”, allowing them to use the transformation an additional time, overwriting the effect of the first.

“I think Dawn had the same idea as me,” she continued. “She hasn’t used any of the three free transformations she got. I’m betting she’s planning to save them for the challenge tomorrow, in case she needs a miracle.”

It was a reasonable hypothesis. Marley would have assumed someone as smart as Dawn would want to use them beforehand so she could formulate a plan around them and not be blindsided, but maybe she was hesitating because of the possibility that they could make things harder for her.

“Anyway, what about you, Carly?” Sylvia turned to Carly curiously. “You’ve got that anitrix thing, right?”

Carly held up her watch, the only thing left on her curvaceous figure that could still be considered clothing, and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been experimenting with it a lot. I’ve seen all ten animal transformations in it now. And trust me… there are some nasty surprises in here,” she said with an evil smile.

Marley nodded in somber agreement.

Sylvia laughed. “Well… that’s good to hear,” she said. “Hey, uh… quick question.”

She looked around the room. “…Where’s Emmy?”

Carly’s face fell immediately, signaling to Sylvia the depth of her mistake.

Marley sighed.

Sylvia immediately sensed something was wrong, and instinctively guessed what it was. “Oh no!” She gasped. “Did Emmy move out already? And I missed it!? Oh… I wanted to wish her my best in her new room…”

“That’s alright,” Marley said, coming up and patting Sylvia on the shoulder. “She’s just a floor below us. She’s probably enjoying having her space all to herself for once!”

“Yeah…” Carly wiped away her tears before they could fully form in her eyes. She **** herself to smile. “It’s sad, not having her sleeping here with us… but she’s a growing girl. She needs her space.”

It sounded so surreal to say. A round ago, and just thinking about her daughter brought Carly immense pain. But now, through a miracle, Emmy had been brought back to life, as a grown woman. Carly had missed so much, so of course she wanted to cling to her daughter tightly and never ever let her go… but she couldn’t do that.

Emmy needed her space.

Carly would have to be okay with that.

Marley looked at her sister and saw how hard Carly was trying. It really hurt to watch. She sighed and walked over to her sister and patted her on the shoulder.

“Hey, Carly… it’s fine, really, it’s fine,” she said gently. “It’s going to be fine, you know it will be.”

“Yeah,” Carly sniffled, wiping her eyes. “I know…”

Sylvia’s heart went out to her.

This is what a mom’s supposed to be, huh, mom? She thought sadly, biting her lip. Her eyes slid over to Marley and her chest filled with love for her own daughter. Carly is really trying her best. Things weren’t normal between the two of them… but she’s trying. Is that too much for you, then? To try that hard… for me?

She remembered the sight of Dakota’s back as she walked away that afternoon, and it stung. Sylvia knew that her relationship with her mother would never be as close and loving as she would like it to be. Too much had happened between them for that ever to be a reasonable expectation.

But… couldn’t she wish for better than this, at least?

Was that too much to ask?

Not letting herself dwell on those feelings, Sylvia smiled instead.

“Let’s head to bed!” She said cheerily. “The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner we’ll wake up, and the sooner you can see Emmy again!”

Carly smiled. She appreciated that logic. “Yeah,” she agreed, nodding.

“Hey, why don’t you borrow my pillow for tonight?” Marley suggested, offering her hard-earned body pillow to her sister. “You need it more than I do right now. Take it, and hopefully, you’ll have some good dreams tonight. Okay?”

Carly nodded. Yeah. That sounded lovely. “Okay,” she agreed, taking the pillow. Sylvia smiled as she watched them climb into bed together, and went to join them.

Dakota watched her daughter with a somber expression on her face. The round was coming to a close, and things felt… tense.

She checked the chat to see how things were going there. It had been quite some time since she last had- she’d been hiding from the audience for a while now, scared of what their reactions would be.

“Whoa, this round over?”

“Finally”

“Felt like it went 4ever!”

“Wonder what the next challenge will be”

“#ChurchOfMary”

“So Rose isn’t gonna get pregnant!? LAME WASTED BOON! #RoseGarden #GetRosePreggers”

“Guess not.”

“Amelia isn’t either”

“Whoa”

“too soon”

“Too soon”

“Cold bro”

“Poor Amelia… it feels weird to ship her with Nick now.”

“Nah”

“I’m still gonna #AmeliaClass”

“Some of you are sick in the head”

“What? Stepmothers are hot. Don’t hate.”

“If Nick and Amelia get together, I’m gonna channel my inner Cinder #EllaGang #CinderGang”

“Speaking of mothers, yikes with Dakota huh”

“That was wild. Peak Dakota #CultOfDakota”

“I just feel so bad for Sylvia! She’s doing her best! #SylviaSquad”

“What do you think? Do you think they’ll be able to bury the hatchet?”

“#KimClique”

“Wouldn’t that be host favoritism? No thank you! #DawnPosse”

“it doesnt have to”

“Yeah not if Dakota does it well”

“How is nobody talking about Emmy? EMMY! SHE’S SO SWEET!”

“Hehe lewd Emmy”

“Sick”

“Gross.”

“Mods, plz ban”

“…”

“Thank you.”

“Phew.”

“Leave Emmy alone! Just let her and Carly and Marley and Dani all be happy together! #GamerGirls #DaniCrew #CarlyFans”

“Dakota, if you’re reading this, just know that it’s not too late. You can still have a relationship with Sylvia. Don’t run away from it. You both want to be happy together, right?”

Dakota closed the chat with a swift wave of her cane and sat back in her chair, fuming.

This… this wasn’t what she wanted. It wasn’t the path she wanted to go down at all.

But it was too late to change anything.

“The next challenge is coming,” she said with a tired sigh, summoning a screen. “But before that… it’s time for the popularity poll. And then… we’ll see, after that…”

https://strawpoll.com/2ayLQLmvbn4