She will never know the beaten course, a cold soul that's seeking warmth

“A fund for buying Emmy some new clothes?” Rose asked, surprised. She wasn’t the only one surprised by the suggestion.

“New clothes, um… does she really need them?” Morgana questioned. “What she’s wearing looks pretty fine to me…”

“Thank you, Morgana, right?” Emmy said, giving the goth girl a smile. “…But these are my only clothes,” she pointed out.

Morgana blushed. “Oh yeah… I didn’t even think of that…”

She still had a hard time grappling with the fact that Emmy had not only been brought back to life, but she’d been brought back to life and aged-up into a full-grown adult woman. A woman with no real experiences with life, and, apparently, no changes of clothes.

That came as such a shock! But also, what an opportunity! Think of all the books and anime and games Morgana could show the other girl for the first time! It was so great, making another friend her own age! That was what the new, outgoing Morgana who tried to be upbeat and friendly was thinking, anyway.

The Morgana with a brain knew she’d probably have to run that by Carly first.

“Morgana isn’t that far off, though,” Rose said, tapping her chin. She gave Emmy a once-over. “Emmy’s proportions are pretty similar to yours, Carly. Couldn’t she just borrow some clothes from you until we get back?”

“We already thought of that,” Marley sniffed. “Carly’s closet is full of cosplay now, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Rose laughed.

Morgana didn’t get what the issue was with that.

Ella sat on the sidelines picking at her food, keeping her head down and just generally hoping nobody noticed that this was her third helping of eggs since she got here. She didn’t much care about Emmy or her new clothes, and anything she said would just draw attention to herself.

Unfortunately, Vivian couldn’t just leave her alone, though. Because of course she couldn’t.

“What about you, Ella?” She asked, her eyes shining. “Want to pitch in?”

Ella flinched, giving Vivian a wide-eyed stare. She almost felt like snapping in a Cinder way, but she wasn’t that kind of girl! Even though she couldn’t have made it more clear that she didn’t want to be a part of this.

…Well, she could have stayed back in her room instead of letting Rose talk her in to going to get breakfast together.

…And she could have sat at a different table.

…And she could have used her invisibility mask- Look, the point was that Ella didn’t want to make small talk right now! Why didn’t they get that!?

Instead of speaking her mind, though, like Cinder would have done, Ella meekly withdrew and shook her head. “I, uh… I don’t… have a lot of BP,” she mumbled. “I barely have 5000, and I was saving it, for, um… well…”

“Oh, are you going to go on a Dream Alley date with Daddy?!” Sylvia exclaimed, her face lighting up. She scooted right up next to Ella, practically knocking her over with excitement. “That would be so amazing! I think Daddy really wants to get to know you better, but he’s trying to give you a lot of space because he’s not sure how comfortable you would be with that yet. This is such great news!”

Ella’s eyes widened behind her tangled bangs and her face got hot. “He… he does? That- …Wait, no! It’s not for Dream Alley!”

Sylvia barely heard her after that first part. “Yep, he definitely does! See, I’m a little surprised because I would have expected Dakota to totally **** you two together a lot more, in order to drag you out of your comfort zone. She loved doing that on her previous seasons. I tried to do the same thing, but it’s hard, you know? Sending Daddy on dates with all the girls was super sweet, but I think I got the tone I was aiming for a little wrong. The season is all cuddly and romantic, which, yes, that’s great, but usually Dakota’s seasons are a lot more… …Wait, you don’t want to go to Dream Alley?”

With a rant that would have made Nola proud, Sylvia only finally started touching on the part that surprised her, leaving Ella stunned and confused by the massive overload of information just dumped in her lap.

Rose laughed, breaking the tension.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Sylvia,” she said, patting the redhead on the back. “I think you did a great job as host. I wouldn’t have liked a dark season myself, I think nice and romantic was the perfect tone!”

“I think some of us would disagree,” Dani said, giving the other girl a dark look. “You were easier on some contestants than others.”

Sylvia gulped and sank into her seat a little. “W-well…”

“But Dakota would have probably been way worse,” Marley said, coming to Sylvia’s defense. “You saw the way she’s acting towards everyone. When she gets mad… we’re lucky Nick is the master and not someone else, because she’s easier on him at least.”

“That’s a good point,” Carly agreed. She found it difficult to get too angry at Dakota after bringing back Emmy to her, but at the same time she was under no illusion that the vindictive host was in any way a good person. Certainly not after how she’d treated Sylvia so callously. “And if you think about it, maybe the reason Dakota is going so easy now is because you were able to show everyone, including those producer guys, that a soft and cuddly season could work!”

“Huh… I never thought of that,” Sylvia stated sincerely.

...The reason she never thought of that was because Carly’s words were ridiculous on their face. If the cosplayer actually believed that the producers wanted sweetness and syrup from this season, then she was an idiot. Sylvia had dealt with them enough times to know that was the last thing on their minds.

Dealing with the producers was one of many things Sylvia didn’t miss at all from her tenure as the season’s host.

“Maybe it’s not the producers, maybe it’s just Nick?” Morgana hypothesized. “I mean… she… she loves him, right? So maybe she’s trying to show him that she can change… that she can do the right thing and turn over a new leaf… wouldn’t that be just wonderful? So romantic…”

She looked around, hoping that she wasn’t alone in thinking optimistically like that.

The looks on the other women’s faces were like a bucket of ice water poured over her hopes.

“…Or not,” she mumbled, looking down.

“Look, guys, I can’t really say anything myself,” Vivian said, interjecting herself into the conversation. “I didn’t come onto this show until Dakota was already the host, so forgive me, Sylvia, but I don’t really know how things went with you.”

“Ah, that’s okay,” Sylvia said, waving her hand.

“Right, well. Thing is, there’s nothing we can do about it, yeah?” Vivian stretched her arms over her head. “This sorta thing happens all the time in the business world. Company changes hands, new boss comes in, makes some changes. Just a part of life. No good or bad about it, you just gotta adapt, and you’ll stay afloat.”

“This is a little more complicated than a hostile takeover, Vivian,” Marley dryly noted. “It’s our lives we’re dealing with here.”

“Fair enough,” the heiress admitted. “Point is though, Dakota’s the one calling the shots. So she’s the one we’ve gotta work with if we want to get through this. Which gives me an idea. Instead of asking around for all of us to pool our money, why not ask Dakota and see if she’d do something about it? Not very fair of Emmy to only had one pair of duds, and no offense, missy, but I do mean ‘duds’.”

Emmy twisted her expression into a frown. “I like it,” she mumbled about her plain clothes. But her statement went unnoticed over the clamor that arose from Vivian’s suggestion.

“You gotta be kidding,” Dani said, shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re not seriously thinking about asking Dakota for help?”

“Why not?” Vivian shrugged. “It was her oversight, after all. We could even point out how Nick would really like it for Emmy to have some new clothes! It’s all about motivating people. If Dakota’s really trying to bend over backwards trying to please Nick, we can bend her over for our sake, you see?” She chuckled.

Everyone stared at Vivian like she was crazy.

“…Don’t… don’t do that,” Sylvia said slowly, shaking her head.

“If Emmy doesn’t have clothes, that wasn’t an oversight,” Rose assured the heiress.

Sylvia nodded in agreement. “Yup. Yup. Trust me. You ask Dakota for clothes, and she’ll throw the skimpiest, most fetishistic clothes she can find at her and that’ll be that. Sorta like these!”

She gestured at what she was wearing currently, short-shorts so small they were practically a bikini bottom, along with a cropped blouse made of gossamer red fabric that revealed her dark bra.

“Isn’t that the sort of fare they sell at the boutique anyway?” Vivian pointed out.

Dani grumbled a nonverbal admission of that fact. It had been absurdly difficult and expensive just to get a cheap pair of pants.

“Still, we shouldn’t ask Dakota for anything,” Sylvia said, putting her foot down. “She’s trying to run a good show. Not help us. She’s the host, remember!”

And Sylvia knew that Dakota would NOT react well to any attempt by anybody to try and weaponize Nick against her. She wished the other girls knew how easy Dakota was treating them already; if she actually got mad?

“Excellently stated, Sylvia. Bravo.”

Everyone jumped as Dakota strolled up to the table with a sneer on her lips, modestly applauding. “You’re right, as the host, I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to run a good show. And with that in mind… there is, of course, a way for you to get clothing for Emmy without having to spend a dime, or have you forgotten already?”

“…Oh!” Rose’s eyes widened. “That’s right! Duh. A fashion show! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“A fashion show?” Vivian cocked her head to the side, intrigued. “Why am I just now hearing about this?”

Everyone looked at her.

“We… didn’t mention it?” Dani was certain someone had to have said SOMETHING.

“I, uh… I don’t really buy many clothes since that first time, so, um…” Morgana stammered, adjusting her hat.

“Yeah, I guess we have been buying clothes directly in order to be considerate of Kim’s job, huh?” Rose noted. “Must have slipped our minds.”

“Emmy, sweet girl,” Dakota said, turning to the young lady with a saccharine smile on her pale lips, “if you would like new clothes, you need but ask! Simply holding a fashion show that we can use for marketing purposes would allow you to obtain as many outfits as you desire!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Vivian said, still catching up. She rose to her feet and slapped her hands on the table, her eyes wide in amazement. “So, I can just… go to the boutique, and dress up in any outfit I want, you guys take a few promotional pictures for, like, your interdimensional webpage or whatever it is, and then I just take the clothes? Without having to pay for them? And you’re only telling me about this NOW?”

Dakota made a huffy face. “…There were some concerns,” she said curtly, “that if you were made aware of that rule it would have a substantial impact on our sales stock.”

Vivian blinked, processing that for a second. “…Yeah, probably,” she heartily admitted, sitting back down.

She definitely wasn’t going to **** that rule later, no way.

“It’s a moot point anyway,” Carly said, crossing her arms over her chest and staring defiantly at Dakota. “I’m not letting my Emmy pose like some pinup model for all the lecherous eyes of your clientele! You can forget it!”

“Mom!” Emmy’s eyes widened in amazement as she looked gratefully at her mother, overjoyed Carly was standing up for her like that.

Dakota stared incredulously at Carly.

“…You dress up half-naked for money,” she reminded the cosplayer.

Carly opened her mouth to respond but Dakota cut her off before she could.

“You did it again at the start of this round,” she reminded her again.

Carly shut her mouth and sat back down.

“Well… yeah,” she admitted. Hearing it stated like that made her feel… strange. She wasn’t ashamed of what she did, but then… why did she have such a problem with Emmy doing the same?

“It should be up to Emmy what she wants to do,” Dakota continued, looking down at the confused woman in front of her. “Clearly, you have no problem with exposing yourself to strangers for money. Or doesn’t your daughter know what you do for a living?”

“Hey!” Dani snapped. “Carly already told Emmy exactly what she does on her page! And it’s nothing to be ashamed of, either! You think just anyone can take a few photos in a costume and make a living off it? No way! Only, like, 1% of 1% of those content creators make any money doing stuff like that, and Carly’s got tons of subscribers! So stop trying to make it sound like she’s doing something dirty, because the people who love her don’t care in the slightest!”

“Dani…” Carly looked touched, and wished she could thank her girlfriend for her staunch words of support. But Dani didn’t understand the conflict in Carly’s heart right now, even if Carly did agree with every word she just said.

“I’m on your side here!” Dakota said, holding her hand over her chest and giving Dani a scandalized look. “I couldn’t agree more! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Carly using her looks and her body to get money, if she’s capable of that! That wasn’t what I meant at all!”

Now Dani just looked confused. “It… it wasn’t?” She asked. She was so used to people slandering cosplayers like Carly online and calling them sluts and whores that she had maybe jumped the gun a little bit there. But the way Dakota was talking…

“I’m simply stating that if Carly wants to deny her daughter the same opportunity, that would make her quite the hypocrite, now wouldn’t it?” Dakota pointed out with a triumphant sneer.

Carly looked down, her face burning with shame. Emmy shrank slightly, knowing that she was responsible for this in a way. Sylvia winced. Rose sighed and shook her head in exasperation. Vivian frowned, Morgana went pale, and Ella sat back down at the table with her fifth helping of eggs and chewed quietly, trying to tune out the conversation.

Dani remained stuck.

“You’d know about that, wouldn’t you? Being a hypocrite, I mean.”

Dakota’s eye twitched and she turned to look at Marley. “…Excuse me?”

“What gives you the right to judge anyone about how to be a mother?” Marley demanded, standing up and staring Dakota down. “The way you treat your own daughter, it’s repugnant! Carly’s concerned for Emmy, because of course she is. Since becoming a mother again, she’s had to examine her life through the lens of her daughter, and seriously think about what that means for her going forward! But you, you’re trying to twist her into knots for your sick little games! When you’re the worst person on this island! And considering that includes an axe-murderer and a trained assassin, that’s really saying a whole fucking lot!”

“Don’t forget the billionaire,” Dakota replied with a petulant sneer.

Marley scrunched up her face into a snarl, ready to throttle Dakota. It was like she didn’t even care!

“Marley…” Carly’s voice cracked.

Sylvia didn’t say anything, even though Marley was standing up for her as much as she was standing up for her sister.

A tense silence hung in the air as Marley refused to back down.

“Marley… that’s enough.” Carly finally managed to find her voice. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the voice Marley was hoping from her.

She turned to look at her sister, shocked that Carly would back down about this. “Carly… she said you were”

“She’s right though,” Carly cut her sister off, shaking her head. She looked down, and then turned to Emmy. “I am being a hypocrite.”

“No you’re not!” Dani protested. “It’s natural to feel that way! Any mother would feel hesitant about letting their daughter… um…”

The profession Dani had just defended so staunchly minutes before was now something she’d nearly lambasted. Realizing her own hypocrisy, Dani’s voice trailed off and her heart sank.

“Any mother… like mine, right?” Carly pointed out. She shook her head. “I’ve never been that prudish girl who clutched my pearls and talked about chastity,” she admitted, as if anyone would think that about her. “I mean, come on.”

She gestured to herself. “All my life, I’ve been ignoring folks like that, doing my own thing. But now, with Emmy…”

Carly looked at her daughter, and for a moment, she wondered how her own mother felt, knowing what she did for a living. She did know. Carly had never kept that part of her life a secret. But she’d never talked with her about it, either.

Maybe she should.

Carly was a mother herself now, in a way she hadn’t been even after she gave birth to her daughter. She was no longer the mother of a stillborn child, but the mother of a precious life that she wanted to protect and keep safe from everything in the world that she could.

Most parents had their whole child’s childhood to come to terms with realities like the one she was grappling with now.

Carly had been mom for barely a day.

“…If Emmy wants to do stuff like… what I do… you’re right, Dakota, it would be hypocritical for me to have a problem with that,” Carly admitted, clutching her chest. The symbol of Supergirl over her breasts felt like it was mocking her; she didn’t feel very “super” right now, after all.

Dakota’s face showed no reaction to Carly’s admission. Was she happy? Relishing in her triumph? It was impossible to say what feels lay behind that icy mask.

The painful silence was broken once more, this time by Emmy’s voice.

“Um…” The ponytailed girl looked around the room, first at her mother, then the other women, and then finally Dakota.

“I don’t… want to do that sort of thing anyway, so… yeah,” Emmy said, frowning. No one had asked her opinion on the subject before they had engaged in this little discussion of morality.

But if Emmy thought that saying she had no interest would solve the problem just like that, she was woefully mistaken. The issues that had been raised by this conversation still hung unresolved in the air, whether they actually affected the mother and daughter or not.