Will I just keep on running away from what's true?

Dani felt a little embarrassed after what happened with Dawn, but not too embarrassed. As she left the Arcade Suite, most of her embarrassment was actually out of sympathy for the flush-faced cat girl she’d left behind, who’d practically pushed her out the door saying she needed a shower and being unable to meet Dani in the eyes.

Now, Dani wasn’t so egotistical as to assume that she’d made some sort of major impact on the other girl and completely altered Dawn’s sexuality permanently or some other crazy claim like that, but she was a little intrigued by the sudden flash of shame from such a rational person. Dawn had always seemed so detached and calm, even when overwhelmed; this was a side of the other woman that she tended to reserve for her private time with Nick.

I guess she felt a little sheepish because of how loud she was, Dani thought, looking back at the door and wondering what was going on behind it. It wasn’t like Dawn had anything to be ashamed of! They hadn’t had some steamy, passionate lesbian moment or anything like that, Dani had just pulled her tail a few times and brought her to a couple of orgasms. She’d been in and out in like twenty minutes, max.

But maybe that was enough for Dawn…

Regardless, Dani decided to give her some space for a little while, at least until the next challenge. If Dawn wanted to talk to her about what happened, Dani would be waiting, until then, she knew to respect the other woman’s boundaries.

Besides, she had something else to focus on- the heiress she’d left on the couch! Dani snapped back around and started walking faster, hoping Vivian would still be right where she’d left her, or at least had gone back to their room.

If the heiress had started wandering the halls…

A grim image of Vivian making problems for people and driving an even bigger wedge between herself and the other contestants flashed through Dani’s mind, and she scowled. Not being much one for drinking or **** herself (she preferred keeping her mind and body sharp when possible) the idea of looking out for people who were intoxicated was an uncomfortable one. Although since getting into a relationship with Carly, she’d let herself loosen up a little more.

Vivian, though? That was another story. If she’d gotten herself into trouble and **** Dani to get her out of it, well, she and the tomboy would be having a nice, long chat about how much **** was too much.

And no, Dani didn’t feel bad about using the insinuation that she might stop hanging out with Vivian as much as leverage to alter the heiress’s behavior, not if it made both of their lives easier. That was just an intervention without all the extra steps.

Thankfully though, when Dani stepped out into the lounge, the worries she’d been worrying over evaporated at what she saw. Not only had Vivian not left the safety of the couch, but she was alert and enjoying herself, and she wasn’t alone, either.

“Oh, hey! Dani!” Vivian swung her head around to greet the tomboy and hopped to her feet, rushing over with grace that belied her **** state. It seemed in their brief separation, Vivian had actually sobered up quite a lot. “Look who dropped by!”

Dani was looking, alright. In fact, she hardly noticed Vivian’s burgeoning sobriety because her eyes were practically glued to the woman who’d been sitting across from her, dressed absolutely gorgeously.

Carly’s cosplay outfit for today was an utterly captivating dress of deep violet silk, with a plunging neckline that revealed a copious amount of cleavage and long opera gloves that traveled the length of her arms, sparing only the tips of her fingers from their midnight caress. She looked like a vision of gothic loveliness, like someone had plucked a succubus or a black witch from the pages of a tawdry fantasy novel and brought her to life for Dani’s pleasure. The golden headdress that framed her face, holding back the long waves of inky black hair that cascaded down over the back of the ornate chair, only finalized what was already a perfect costume in Dani’s eyes.

…Oh, and Marley was there, too. Dani hardly noticed her. She was too busy remembering not to drool openly.

On that note, Dani’s mouth WAS wide open, and she stared in muted shock at her girlfriend, having been brazenly reminded just how utterly beautiful she really was. She could have been spending today with someone who looked like this!? For a moment, the worst impulses in Dani’s heart resented Vivian just a little bit, but they were quickly snuffed out as Carly’s playful laugh brought her back to the realm of the cognitively unimpaired.

“Well, was Dawn really that good? Or are you just happy to see me?”

“Eh!? Uh… wh-what?” Dani shook her head dumbly, not sure what her girlfriend was getting at. “Carly? Huh? Dawn?”

Carly blinked, surprised. “…Wow, you really are out of it, huh. Glad to know I still can have that effect on you,” she laughed, stretching her arms over her head and making her boobs shake as a result.

Predictably, Dani’s eyes immediately snapped to a certain spot. Her face heated up and she quickly shook her head again, refusing to get distracted and fall for Carly’s little game.

“S-sorry!” She said quickly. “I didn’t mean-! I just…” Swallowing her drool, she stiffened up straight and managed to look her girlfriend in the eyes again. “Sorry. It’s been… a day.”

“You spent all day chilling out in a spa,” Marley pointedly reminded the tomboy, earning her an elbow in the side from her sister. Carly leaned forward expectantly and rested her chin in her gloved hands, her eyes sparkling as she waited for Dani to explain herself.

Dani’s face was red. She knew it was a lame excuse and Carly knew it, too. It just sounded better than admitting “Yes, I’m really embarrassed and you’re really fucking hot.”

But that was clearly what Carly wanted to hear. “Yes, I’m really embarrassed and you’re really fucking hot,” Dani admitted, her face heating up even more.

Carly flopped back into her seat and grinned. “Well, good. As long as we’ve got that covered, then!”

Marley just rolled her eyes.

Laughing, Vivian skipped back over to the couch and hopped back down, facing the gothically-dressed Carly once more. It was only then that Dani realized she was still standing dumbly in the entranceway, and she quickly rushed down into the depression in the floor, joining the other girls.

“I know I look hot,” Carly said, continuing to preen herself. “I should. This is Liliana Vess I’m dressed as, after all, and she’s… well, she’s quite something.”

Carly wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

“Looks like Nick’s not the only one getting lucky from a smoking hot goth tonight!” Vivian joked, earning her a scandalized look from Dani and another roll of the eyes from Marley.

She’d been doing that a lot tonight, since the twins had encountered the frazzled heiress on the couch a few minutes ago.

“Vivian was just telling me how much fun you guys had in the spa today,” Carly said as Dani was mentally agreeing with Vivian that, yes, it really was amazing to be dating someone who looked so hot dressed as a goth witch. “And how you were just putting the finishing touches on that bounty of yours, with Dawn!”

Dani turned to Vivian, who gave her an apologetic look.

“Sorry… I didn’t think anything of it, but… maybe it was the wrong thing to say?” Vivian apologized, scratching her head. Chalk it up to another mistake she’d made with her mouth tonight, just the latest in a long list…

“No, it’s not… wrong,” Dani said, shaking her head. She was more embarrassed than anything. Carly was like the one person Dani knew who would be totally fine to learn that her girlfriend was off getting lucky with a cat girl.

In fact, she might have even cheered Dani on. Man, Dani really was lucky…

“Hope you got a good squeeze of her breasts at least,” Vivian said, once it was clear that Dani wasn’t offended by her slip-up. “I did invest a decent chunk in there, so…”

“I didn’t,” Dani said quickly. Not because she was trying to defend herself to her girlfriend (again, if anything, Carly might have been disappointed she hadn’t) but because she would really rather not touch on how awkwardly things had gone in the end there.

“Besides, it’s not like you’d get anything out of it, right?” Marley pointed out. “Your transformation only counts when Nick touches the boobs you enhance.”

Vivian blinked. She pulled up the wording of her transformation to check for clarification.

• Investment Banking: Vivian knows full well the value of diversifying your assets. Now she will be able to invest BP into the breast size of other contestants. The breast size of any contestant will increase in size proportional to the amount of BP Vivian chooses to invest over the course of the round. At the end of the round, all breasts affected this way will return to their normal size, and Vivian will receive her initial investment back, with interest proportional to the amount of time the master touched that contestant’s breasts. (Heiress)

“…Oh, huh. Yeah, you’re right.” Of course, Vivian already knew that. It wasn’t why she’d made the suggestion or anything. She was just trying to match the flow of the conversation. And since Carly was a pretty sex-positive person, well… it was only natural she’d bring it up, right?

If anything… Vivian wasn’t exactly that focused on sex to begin with, if she was being honest with herself.

“I think you’ll be getting a pretty good return on investment regardless,” Carly assured the heiress with a charming smile. “So I wouldn’t be too worried.”

Vivian laughed. This was nice. This was fun. They were having a good time. Now that Vivian was a little more sober, she could really appreciate how much she was enjoying talking to everybody.

And she could take her mind off of the disastrous interaction she’d had with Cinder, right before Carly and Marley came by.

“Just be glad Emmy’s not here,” Marley pointed out. “Or else Carly would be breathing down your neck about all these jokes.”

Carly shot her sister a look, her lips pinching into a scowl. She didn’t like Marley insinuating that she was more overbearing and prudish when her daughter was present, like she was somehow doing something wrong as a parent, after only being with Emmy for less than a week.

Sure, Marley may have been correct in her accusations of prudishness, but Carly didn’t have to like it, now did she?

“Where is Emmy?” Dani had only just now realized that Carly’s daughter, who had always been joined with her mother at the hip until now, was nowhere to be found. (Again, that costume of Carly’s really had a way of drawing Dani’s attention away from just about anything else she might be looking at, that’s how hot she was.)

Marley chuckled, and Carly looked uncomfortable.

“Well… it’s not a big deal,” she mumbled, scratching her cheek. “It’s just, uh… important that she has other interactions with other people, you know? I can’t keep her tied to me forever like some helicopter parent, I’ve got to learn to cut the cord, right?”

Marley clasped her hand over her mouth to hide her obvious grin.

Dani wasn’t so amused. The way Carly was talking, it sounded like she wasn’t totally convinced by what she was saying. But Dani could get the gist. “So… she’s off hanging out with other people?” Dani asked cautiously. “That’s… nice? I’m glad she’s making friends…”

Discussing Emmy was a delicate balance for Dani. Because it wasn’t wrong to say that the sudden revival of Carly’s daughter had resulted in a great deal of uncertainty in their relationship. When Dani and Carly had first gotten together, Emmy had obviously been a sensitive subject- how could she not have been, right?

Indeed, Dani had spent many nights consoling Carly in the midst of a sudden fit of depression and grief, that had frequently begun to bubble up ever since Carly first confronted her real feelings about the loss of her daughter, feelings that had been brought to the surface by Mimi, and later again by Marley.

But now Emmy was a part of her life again, in a miraculous way that defied all understanding. Just as Carly had begun to come to terms with her loss and start to heal, her daughter had been resurrected. It wasn’t the same as it would have been if she’d never died (she was a young adult now, after all) but Carly did seem happier with her now. More complete.

And Dani was beyond happy for the both of them, she really was.

But again… it was an awkward note for their relationship. Dani had never given any thought to dating a single mother before, because, well, Carly hadn’t really BEEN one when their relationship had first started. And while Nick may have had a breeding fetish, Dani had still been reasonably confident that her girlfriend wouldn’t be a mother again for a very long time.

Only… now she was. This was a brand new relationship, and now it had just had a major disruption chucked in the center of it. And it hadn’t exactly been free of complications before that, either, what, with the presence of Marley and Nick added on.

Most people probably would have cut and run by this point, no matter how seriously they felt about Carly. But the thought hadn’t even occurred to her.

What had occurred to her? The need for balance.

If only there was a gymnast in the harem she could go to for advice! But no, Dani was respecting boundaries.

An awkward silence hung over the lounge. Carly was stewing while trying to pretend like everything was fine, Marley was fluctuating between amused at her sister and slightly irritated, and Dani was just trying not to rock the boat, not sure how far she should pry into her girlfriend’s relationship with her newly-reborn daughter.

You know who really, really didn’t like awkward silences, though?

Vivian Carrington.

“So who’s she hanging out with, anyway?” The heiress asked loudly enough to not be ignored. “There aren’t a lot of people her age to hang out with on the island, right?”

Carly jumped in her seat slightly and Marley glanced at her.

“It’s- it’s not like she’s hanging out or anything,” Carly said quickly, shaking her head. “It’s more like, um… how should I put this…”

“Tutoring,” Marley volunteered, and Carly buried her face in her hands.

“Please don’t call it that!” She wailed.

“Why not?” Marley asked pointedly. “It’s what it is, right?”

“Yeah, but-!” Carly made a sulky face that Dani found adorable, but obviously she had to keep that to herself. More than anything, she was confused. What was Marley talking about, and why did it seem to frustrate Carly so much?

It was Vivian who figured it out.

“Wait, tutoring… do you mean… she’s with Amy right now?” Vivian’s jaw dropped in shock.

Marley and Carly both looked at her in confusion.

“Amy… who…?” Carly scrunched up her face questioningly as Dani looked at Vivian as well.

The heiress shrugged. “Amy. You know, Teach? I call her Amy behind her back. Because it’s cute. …Oh, and because I don’t respect her as an authority figure, either,” she added.

Dani burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. The brazen way Vivian had just said that, it was so-!

Vivian shrugged again. “You said tutoring, so I just figured…”

“Yup, right on the money actually,” Marley confirmed, and Carly just sulked.

“Seriously? She’s with Amelia right now?” Dani asked, her eyes immediately shooting down the hallway towards Amelia’s room. “That’s… a surprise.”

“I was pretty surprised too,” Carly grumbled. “We were just leaving the Banquet Hall after dinner when she approached us. Questioning my fitness as a mother, how dare she?!”

It was rare to see Carly get angry. But she looked positively furious! Dani thought it was kind of hot. Like, well, every other display of emotion from Carly.

“Okay, let’s not just make stuff up because you’re feeling grumpy,” Marley chastised her sister. “She didn’t say you were an unfit mother at all.”

“Well, she might as WELL have!” Carly pouted huffily. “Talking about how important it is for Emmy to get some formal education, as if I don’t know that?! Saying stuff like ‘Implanted knowledge isn’t good enough’ like I’m not aware?!”

“…I think she was just trying to help, Carly,” Dani said, still really cautious here, not knowing how far she could push this topic without upsetting her girlfriend even more.

“No, she was definitely being stuck-up and arrogant, she always says stuff like that,” Vivian disagreed, seizing on every opportunity she could get to badmouth Amelia. “Telling me I’m not going to make anything of myself if I don’t get my homework in on time, like I don’t have shit to do? I don’t even WANT to be at this school, Teach, my dad said I had to, and… wait, what were we talking about again?”

Vivian had gotten a little distracted.

“Amelia looking out for Emmy and taking her for some private lessons, with parental permission,” Marley said, making a point to let everyone know that Carly had in fact agreed to this, whether she liked it or not.

Carly pouted. “Well… of course I agreed,” she grumbled. “She’s my daughter, a tutor like Amelia would be amazing. Way beyond what I could afford…”

So why was she so grumpy? Even Dani knew that Amelia, tactless as she could be, would not go so far as to directly insult Carly’s parenting ability.

It seemed pretty obvious to Dani that there was some major projection going on here; Carly’s own insecurities about her ability as a parent were causing her to unfairly harangue Amelia, and now here she was caught in the middle of it.

“Apparently Sylvia’s getting some extra tutoring, too,” Marley added. “Like, Carly, you’re getting all steamy about your daughter being tutored, but do you have any idea how embarrassing it is for your mom to be getting tutored?”

Carly sighed. When her sister put it like that, it seemed kind of dumb now that she thought about it.

“Guess that explains what Sylvia’s up to,” Dani said thoughtfully. She imagined how Amelia must be doing right now, tutoring Emmy and Sylvia in the evening, after teaching Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin all morning.

Yeah. She felt pretty bad for the poor woman, no matter what Vivian’s opinion of her might have been.

“Well… at least she’s making friends?” Dani said awkwardly.

“I would have been her friend!” Vivian pouted. “Stupid Amy, stealing my friends away… the nerve of her!”

Yeah, Dani wasn’t even gonna TOUCH that one.