We can pack up tomorrow, tonight let's flip a coin

“So, Rose, what exactly is your game plan?” Marley asked, a smile filled with subdued amusement lightly dusting her lips. The blonde had said a lot of big things about inviting someone up to the Master’s Suite with her, but all she’d done since she copied Carly’s transformation was eat some yogurt for breakfast. Not exactly someone who gave the impression that they had their eye on the ball.

“I’m thinking, alright?” Rose groaned. “This isn’t as easy as it might seem, you know!”

Marley rolled her eyes. That was sure the truth.

“My plan was to go with Dawn, since this didn’t end up working out,” the blonde said with a sigh. “But, well… I can’t seem to find her. I thought she’d be down here, but…”

Rose looked around. The banquet hall was surprisingly sparse. They were the only people there, in fact.

“I saw Dawn earlier actually,” Marley noted, leaning back in her seat and yawning. Rose’s jaw hit the floor.

“And you’re just now telling me!?” She sputtered. “When was this?! What happened?!”

Marley looked offended by her outburst. “What did you expect me to say?” She asked in a huff. “You never told me you were looking for her!”

She kind of had a point. Rose sighed and calmed down. “Sorry for losing my cool like that,” she apologized. “I got a little heated. Anyway, you said you saw Dawn this morning? When? What was she doing?”

“…Eating breakfast,” Marley dryly replied. “Down here. You know, in the banquet hall. Where breakfast is supposed to be eaten.”

Rose squinted at the girl in white. “You’re a lot snarkier than your sister, you know that?”

Marley shrugged. “We’re twins. We’re not copies of each other.”

She decided not to mention the odd bond shared between the siblings. That was none of Rose’s business anyway.

Rose sighed. “Okay, so what’s up then?” She asked. “She was just… eating breakfast?”

“Well, if you’d let me finish my story without any interruptions I’ll tell you!” Marley replied. “When Carly and I got down here, she was eating breakfast, and Gina was bugging her about something.”

“Gina?” Rose asked, surprised. “I didn’t know those two were still on speaking terms.”

Gina and Dawn had a very complicated relationship. While Dawn wasn’t outwardly antagonistic to her most of the time, she tended to treat the other woman like a disapproving mother. And Gina hated her mother.

“Forget speaking terms, they were almost civil,” Marley said, shaking her head. She was just as surprised as Rose. “Apparently, Gina was asking her for something, at least that’s how I saw it. Dawn seemed kind of put off and annoyed, but when isn’t she around Gina?”

“So what, they headed off together or something?” Rose asked.

Marley nodded. “About a minute before you arrived.”

Rose groaned. That time she spent with Dani could have been serving a better purpose with Dawn! Oh well.

She took a few deep breaths and returned to calm. “No sense getting worked up over it,” she decided. “Whatever Gina wanted with Dawn, I doubt the other girl is going to have the patience to put up with her for very long. I’ll just track her down later.”

“So in the meantime, what do you want to do?” Marley asked.

Rose flashed a conspiratorial smile. “We’ll work on our backup plan, of course.”

Marley raised her eyebrow.

“The only other girls I’m considering asking me to join me are Kim, Morgana, and Mary,” Rose explained. “They’re the ones who haven’t slept with Nick yet, after all.”

“…Including you,” Marley pointed out.

Rose shot her a dirty look. “…Yes. Including me. Thanks for that.”

Marley shrugged. “Kind of why I’m here.”

“To cut me down?!”

“It’s fun. We’re good though. Just some ribbing between sisters!” She flashed Rose a smile she’d copied from Kim in another life, and Rose began to tear up.

“Oh, Marley… you really are starting to think of me as a sister…” Rose sniffled, wiping her eyes.

Wow, this girl is easy. Marley suppressed her smirk and just nodded like an idiot.

“My main backup target now is Kim,” Rose explained. “I think I can win her over! Plus, I know where she’s going to be, she’s got her job after all.”

The fact that Kim had to work every day meant that any contestant who wanted a conversation with her didn’t need to look very far; she was going to be in a specific place for an extended period of time.

“You don’t need to say ‘win her over’,” Marley pointed out. “That sounds kind of manipulative, like you’re not genuinely interested in being her friend.”

Rose sighed. “It’s complicated, okay?”

“Really? Why?” Marley raised her eyebrow curiously. Rose just sighed and shook her head.

“You weren’t here for this… well, maybe you were?” Her memories were a bit of a blur. Things involving Mimi and Marley had messed the whole first few weeks of the game up. “Whatever. My night with Nick… when I finally came clean about who I was and why I was doing this… he said I should take an effort to get to know Kim better, because we have a lot in common.”

Rose had not been making the greatest progress on that front, given she’d essentially dragged the other girl out of the hot spring yesterday.

“So that’s why I thought I could extend to her an olive branch, and the two of us could be friends!” Rose explained. “We just go up to the Master’s Suite together, you see?”

“I think that could work,” Marley nodded. “Assuming she says yes, of course.”

Rose stared at the other woman in confusion. “Why wouldn’t she say yes?”

Marley just shrugged. “Maybe she’s had enough time with Nick for one week?”

“Non, non, not at all,” Rose assured her, shaking her head and wagging her finger from side to side. “Kim isn’t easy to win over, certainly, but she does like Nick quite a lot. I’m sure she’ll say yes!”

Marley nodded. “Well, alright then. And if she says no, who’s your backup?”

“Morgana. She might detract from things a little bit, but she’s definitely easy to mold,” Rose explained. Marley noted that she was once again slipping into more manipulative ways of thinking, but didn’t say anything.

“Frankly,” Rose continued, “Mary’s the only potential option that I don’t want to invite up. Who knows how things went on their date? It’s probably going to be a tinderbox of intense emotions that will definitely detract from the focus on me.”

Marley’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat. She nodded her head past Rose’s shoulder.

Rose sighed. “…She’s standing right behind me, isn’t she?”

Resigned to making an enemy out of the Christian, Rose turned around, but to her surprise, Mary hadn’t heard what she had said. The redhead trudged past her with her head hung and her face flushed with sorrow. She hadn’t even picked up food to eat- she just sort of listlessly wandered through the banquet hall staring at the floor.

Rose turned back to Marley, who shrugged. Neither woman had any idea what that was about. But Rose felt an ache in her chest that made her want to find out. Even though things were awkward between the two of them due to the “milking” incident, she’d really bonded with Mary the other day, and wanted to see how she was doing.

It looked like her date hadn’t gone very well.

“Hey, Mary, are you alright?” Rose asked. The redhead turned to look at her, and Rose immediately regretted her decision. Mary’s eyes were red and puffy, and she looked like a strong wind might blow her over…

…On the surface, anyway.

Rose was a little more perceptive than most. She saw resolve flickering behind those emerald eyes, and that made her serious.

“Mary, what happened?” She asked, approaching her.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mary scowled. “You can’t help me anyway.”

Oh. So she was feeling sassy. That was fine. After putting up with Marley for five minutes, Rose could definitely do sassy.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Rose smirked. “I’m actually very helpful if given the chance!”

Mary’s eyes tightened into a glare and she approached Rose. Meanwhile on the sidelines, Marley stood tense with fear, having absolutely no idea what Rose was thinking.

Couldn’t she tell the condition Mary was in?! Why was she goading her like this?

“Your date went pretty bad, huh?” Rose tittered. “I’m not surprised. You were so bold to ask Nick out, I was actually rooting for you for a second. Your pure feelings actually warmed my heart! But alas… it seems like you choked at the last minute!”

“What do you know?!” Mary spat, venom on her voice. Her tears burned hot in the corners of her eyes.

“Nothing, actually,” Rose admitted. “Fact of the matter is, I have no idea what the issue was or why your date didn’t work out. But knowing you, I can hazard a guess. What, were you not able to muster up the courage to ask him about marriage? …No, that wouldn’t make you this sad… let me guess, Nick turned you down, didn’t he?”

Mary flinched, and she started to cry. Then she remembered who she was dealing with, and **** herself to stop. She couldn’t show any weakness in front of Rose!

She was very caught off-guard, then, when Rose stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.

“What?!” Marley gasped, not seeing that coming.

“…Huh?” Mary didn’t know what to think either. She just let herself sink into Rose’s embrace as the blonde held her close.

“It’s okay,” she said gently. “You’re okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

She hummed a soft song from her childhood and soothed Mary’s tears.

“I’m sorry for making you mad,” Rose whispered. “But I wanted you to bring those emotions to the surface first. That way we can work through them.”

Mary sniffled as Rose patted her on the back of her head.

“I just…”

“No. Stop talking.” Rose pulled back and her voice turned cold. Mary flinched.

“R-Rose?”

“It’s not enough to cry. Or whine about your feelings. Frankly, I don’t care about that. It won’t help you.”

Marley winced. Rose was being harsh and gentle at the same time, and it was kind of hard to watch.

“Now, stop whining. Tell me what happened.”

Mary just shook her head. She’d told enough people already. It wouldn’t help anything. Instead, she had a question to ask.

“Rose, can I ask you something?” She stepped out of the embrace and wiped her eyes. Her expression turned serious. “This is important.”

“Of course you can,” Rose nodded. “What is it?”

“Have you ever… have you ever wanted to do something, but knew that you couldn’t?”

“That’s… huh?” Rose wasn’t sure she’d heard right.

Mary fidgeted with her fingers. “Let’s say… that you had something you wanted more than anything. But everything you know tells you that it’s wrong. That you shouldn’t want it. Would that… would that discourage you? What would you do then?”

“…Ah. I see…” Rose sighed, rubbing her temple. That was a problem. “Mary… no, never mind, I can’t say that.”

“What?” Mary asked frantically. “What is it?” Could Rose have some secret hidden insight that might help her situation?!

“Okay… fine.” Rose had an insight, but it wasn’t something that she could say in polite company. “What are your feelings about porn?”

Mary’s jaw dropped. “WHAT!?”

Marley winced. Oh boy… this can’t go well.

“Porn. I’m sure you’ve heard the term before.” If not for the expression on Rose’s face, the girls might have thought that she was trolling Mary again. But no, she was completely genuine, and her expression was uniquely serious.

“I-I… that filth is disgusting!” Mary felt sick to her stomach. “Why would you say something like that?! It’s wrong, it’s just wrong!”

“I agree,” Rose nodded. “Porn is disgusting.”

Mary and Marley were both surprised. “Really?” Marley asked, interjecting herself into the conversation without meaning to. That’s how shocked she was. “You actually think that?”

Rose nodded.

“…Well, starring in it, anyway. As for watching porn, well…” She cleared her throat and her cheeks lightly blushed. “I prefer romance novels myself.”

“You read romances?” Mary’s eyes sparkled. She was finally cheering up, but it just made Rose feel guilty.

“…Believe me, it’s not the kind of stuff you think,” she said. Frankly Rose had no attachment to porn; after all, films from her homeland were lurid enough as it was.

But they were getting off-track.

“Listen, Mary, when I was working as an actress…”

“Trying to work as an actress,” Marley corrected her.

Rose shot her a dirty look. “…Whatever. Doesn’t matter. My point is, a few people… they offered me jobs, doing porn. And I’ve had a few directors who said that they wouldn’t cast me unless I showed them how desperately I wanted the job.”

Unfortunately her euphemisms went over Mary’s head. The redhead just stared blankly at her.

“…Whatever. My point is, I could have advanced my career and helped my older brother find work if I had gone through with those things and accepted those offers,” Rose said. “But I didn’t. Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I got a job that way.”

“That’s really impressive,” Marley said, nodding. She would never say it out loud, but part of her wished Carly had restraint like that. If her cosplaying sister didn’t dress in those costumes for everyone to see… no, that wasn’t her place.

“My point is, Mary, when I was put in a position where I had to do something I was morally opposed to in order to get something I desperately wanted, I rejected that possibility,” Rose explained. “I turned down the offers. I put aside a chance at my dreams because of my promise with my brother. I did it over and over again… because I valued myself that much. And I think that you’re the same way, Mary. I really do.”

In this way, and practically no other, Rose and Mary were on the same page.

“…Oh… I see… yeah, that does make sense…” To Rose’s surprise, Mary almost seemed… deflated by that answer. Like she’d been hoping to hear something different, and Rose’s words had disappointed her. Which Rose found to be weird.

“Mary?” Rose asked, staring at her suspiciously. “What’s the matter?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Mary mumbled, shaking her head. “I just didn’t expect that, that’s all…”

Rose didn’t like the insinuation that Mary thought she’d be the kind of person who would do anything to get what she wanted. But at the same time, she couldn’t really blame the redhead for coming to that conclusion. After all… it had some basis in fact.

Pissed her off to hear, though.

Rose took a stab at guessing what was up. “So you want to get married to Nick. That’s your desire, right, Mary?”

Mary nodded glumly.

“And to get married to him, you’d have to give something up?” Yeah, this was all starting to make sense to her. Poor girl… Rose actually felt sorry for her.

“I would need to be fine with him marrying other people,” Mary said. “Including you. And that’s just not something I can do. After all… it’s against the teachings of the Bible.”

The Bible. That stupid book again. Rose hated books for exactly this reason!

…Except for her saucy romance novels. But those were different. Because they were.

“Okay, I think I’m getting the idea now,” Rose said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. Mary wanted me to say that it was okay to give up on her beliefs in order to get married to Nick. She’s so ****! She doesn’t even respect my opinion all that much, but she wants to marry him so badly it doesn’t even matter!

Then she had an idea. Something her mom taught her actually, not long before she died. It was kind of a trick… but if it worked…

Rose reached into her pocket and dug out a silver dollar. It was another memento from her mother, actually. Her lucky silver dollar.

Mary looked curiously at it.

“Is that… a quarter? It looks a little too big,” she said.

Rose shook her head. “It’s not a quarter. But it will be used similarly to one!” She tittered, unnerving Mary slightly.

“What… what do you mean?” She asked.

“Mary… do you believe in fate?” Rose asked cryptically. She passed the coin from one hand to the next as if she were trying to distract the redhead in a magic show.

“Of course I do!” Mary nodded. “Fate is just another form of describing the lord’s work in action!”

Rose smirked. “That’s what I like to hear. Then let’s say your fate is tied to this coin.” She held it up for Mary to see. She flipped it backwards and forwards to show it wasn’t a two-headed coin; there were no tricks at all.

“Now, I’m going to flip this coin,” Rose said. “And whatever side it lands on, I want you to abide by that, alright?”

“What do you mean?” Mary asked cautiously.

“Simple,” Rose shrugged. “If it’s heads, then you’ll get married to Nick and forget about all those things your religion tells you is wrong. If God wouldn’t want you to get married, then he wouldn’t make the result be heads, right?”

Mary nodded reluctantly. “I… I suppose that makes sense… and if it’s tails, then that means…”

“That means you give up on Nick for good,” Rose nodded. “It means the lord wants you to be faithful to your beliefs, and you’ll have to give up on marrying Nick forever.”

Mary winced. She didn’t like the sound of that.

Marley jammed her elbow into Rose’s side. “What do you think you’re doing?” She hissed. “You aren’t actually planning to solve this by tossing a coin, are you?!”

“Hush up you,” Rose hissed back. “I got this, trust me.”

Marley wished she could. But she had a really bad feeling about this.

“So? What’s it going to be, Mary? One coin. One flip. A 50/50 chance.” Rose winked. “But of course… God already knows the outcome. And you’ll abide by it, right?”

Mary swallowed and nodded. “Yes… I will,” she agreed. “If that’s what the lord intends, then I’ll follow his will.”

Her voice sounded a lot shakier than it had a moment ago. Almost as if her emotions were in turmoil. Putting this in the hand of God… that should have relieved her, right?

So why did she feel so uncertain? She’d never doubted her faith before now.

This is what God intends, she consoled herself. This is his will in action.

“Rose,” she said, her resolve renewed. “Flip the coin.”

Rose smirked and flipped the coin into the air. The glinting silver turned over and over in the air, falling back towards her hand.