Call Bubblegum's bluff (costs 50 guts)

You can tell where Bubblegum is going with this: she's saying it's dangerous to swap cards too obviously. This is another of her lessons, intended to gently guide the leash of her cute pet clown assistant. That's definitely her modus operandi.

But... you feel emboldened, remembering what you learned from Donatello. Is it really that dangerous to take a clown girl's card? After all, he implied that it was practically unspoken law in this place that assistants got these cards from girls.

Could it be that Bubblegum is trying to exaggerate the danger here? Why would she do that?

A thought slowly occurs to you as you watch her forcefully circle the rag on the counter... she basically told you that she has her pick of new clown assistants, like they're coming in through a revolving door. She's trying to say she has options. Not only that, but she's telling you it's dangerous to exchange clown calling cards too obviously, as though she's trying to dissuade you from going after other ones. Could that also have to do with that ringing she **** you to ignore earlier? It all leads to one conclusion:

Bubblegum is the possessive type!

With a wry smile, you cross your arms at your chest, looking just as cocky as you feel. You tell her: what you want to do right now is ask her to stop playing around and give you her card already.

Her eyebrows raise and her mouth droops for a moment, like she can't believe what she just heard. "Excuse me?" she questions, suddenly wearing a glare.

You hope you haven't made a huge mistake! Trying to look just as self-assured as you felt a moment ago, you tell her that this is all for show: it's not that dangerous for her to give you a card and, moreover, she wants to give it to you. She's just trying to wring all the dramatic tension out of this possible to better keep you under her thumb.

Her smile remains on, but the corner of her mouth is twitching, as is her eyebrow. "Ooooh? So what would you do now if I told you that you weren't getting a card, hmmmm? You'd really be caught with your pants around your ankles, wouldn't you?"

You tell her: on the contrary, she'd be deprived of that particular pleasure! To clarify, you're pretty darn sure she's not letting you walk out of here without her card.

"Is that so? Wooow! Oooo, I'm so impressed, you're so smart!" she coos, her voice dripping with fake applause. You think you've somehow teased out a side of her that people don't see very often. "You're correct that I can't in good conscience allow you to leave while you're under such dreadful misconceptions about your role here. I can tell that you're going to need a little more discipline than I thought if you want to survive here at the Down. Why don't you..." she pauses, then pulls a card out. She had to lift her skirt to do that... was she holding it in her panties or something? "Take this card and keep it somewhere safe. You should call me at your earliest opportunity. Okay?"

You grin and place the card into your pocket.

The smile she's wearing now looks like it's designed to wipe yours off your face. "That's good, Bowie. Keep that smile of yours!" she chuckles, pressing a finger to each of her cheeks and correcting her expression to her usual pretty grin. "Keep it until the next time we meet."

There are proooobably some red flags here, but overall, you're excited for what's to come later down the road.

((Lost 50 guts))

((Obtained Bubblegum's card!))