Don't wanna worry 'bout the storm

Carly felt a little tense as she stepped into the Banquet Hall. Luckily, Dakota was nowhere to be seen.

But Dani was.

The blue-haired girl glanced up, and saw Carly in her cosplay, and froze.

Carly could see the gears turning in her head, and in spite of the tense emotional state she was in after her meeting with Dakota, the look on Dani’s face amused her. She could tell how much the tomboy was trying to keep from getting excited.

“C-Carly, wow,” Dani stammered, blushing like a fool as her girlfriend approached her table. “You look… wow.”

“I know,” Carly giggled, batting her eyelashes. She arched her back to show off her belly, which showed through her semi-transparent leotard. The redness in Dani’s tan cheeks intensified, and she quickly averted her eyes.

“Excuse me, some of us are eating here.”

Carly turned to see Kim for the first time. She normally overlooked the other woman, especially when Dani was in the room, but the look on her face spoke volumes. A look of embarrassment and amusement, but also one that contained a bit of irritation as well.

“Just saying, seeing you two flirting like that… yeah.” Kim giggled and shook her head. “It’s cute, but come on.”

“Kim’s in a grouchy mood today,” Dani said, making a teasing face of her own. “I think because I told her that we still have to work out today, and she’s got work on top of that.”

“I had a stressful day yesterday, okay?” Kim scowled. The bad dream she’d had last night didn’t help matters, either. She’d dreamt of the man who called himself her father- but who had never really been a father towards her. He had been on the verge of tears and pleading with her, asking her how she could have done such a horrid thing to him.

It sent a shiver down her spine, because she honestly didn’t know how to answer. As much as she despised the man, looking back at what she’d done, it seemed indefensible.

But what was done was done. Feeling bad about it now wouldn’t change the past. And besides- the prick had it coming.

“I understand what you mean,” Carly said sympathetically, sitting down with them and offering Kim a compassionate look. “Yesterday… the challenge was really hard.”

Dani nodded in agreement. All three of them had made some tough choices, but Kim and Dani both felt that Carly’s situation had been the roughest.

“Hell, part of me wishes I could just take today off,” Kim muttered. “Using my Sick Day transformation? But I don’t know… I’m wary of what the penalty could be.”

“I think that’s definitely valid,” Dani nodded. “Trust me- punishment transformations can be really detrimental.”

She didn’t need to say anything more than that. Carly and Kim had both seen the effects of Dani’s punishment transformation, and how difficult it had been for her to adapt to it.

**** to change the subject, Kim touched on something that had been giving her pause. She turned to Carly with a curious look on her face. “So where’s Marley? Did she and Nick not make it back from their date yet?”

“No, they’re back,” Carly replied. She shook her head. “Thing is though, my sister came back to the Master’s Suite with Nick. So… yeah. She turned into a slime puddle. Which was a problem, but thankfully Rose stepped in while I was in the shower and became my sister again.”

“Yikes, that’s… so wait, you have a ton of memories of Rose being your little sister? Wow,” Dani said, surprised.

“Yep,” Carly nodded. “And before you get any bright ideas, no, I don’t have any memories of walking in on her in the shower, you perv.”

Dani’s jaw dropped and her cheeks turned crimson. “What!? That… I didn’t think… Carly!” She wailed, and Carly just giggled at her girlfriend’s predicament.

“I’m just wondering where is everybody else?” Kim asked, looking around. “I mean, we had four new girls join the show yesterday, and they haven’t been down all morning. And I haven’t seen anybody else, either. Dawn, Gina, Morgana, even Sylvia. What, you think they’re just hanging around upstairs or something?”

Dani shook her head. “Knowing Morgana… she probably feels a little anxious about showing her face around us. You know… after her own challenge decisions.”

Dani remembered how guilty Morgana had seemed about her actions in the last challenge. “Dawn’s probably being a good friend and keeping her company.”

“I’d say that’s right on the money,” Carly agreed. “No clue about Sylvia, though. And Gina’s probably oversleeping again. As for the other girls… do they even know we have a Banquet Hall? Could be they’re just doing their own thing.”

As the words left her lips, the door to the Banquet Hall opened with a slight creak, and a lone figure slipped silently into the room.

The three girls at the table froze in place.

“H-hey, isn’t that…” Carly rose to her feet, looking warily at the approaching woman.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin,” Kim answered under her breath. She had suddenly become very occupied with the omelet in front of her, as if not looking at the silent girl approaching their table would somehow make her stop existing.

No such luck.

The dark-haired woman stopped in front of them, a placid smile glued to her lips. She leaned forward, her hand resting on her hip, and she tilted her head to the side.

“Um… hi there!” Carly chose to be as friendly as always, as if she was talking to any other girl and not a trained killer. “You’re Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, right?”

The girl’s smile widened and she nodded.

“Well, cool, um… I’m Carly, we met yesterday, and this is Kim, again, you met her yesterday, right? Oh, and that’s Dani, the cool one with the blue hair?” Carly gestured to the tomboy. “She’s my girlfriend, and, um, it’s nice to meet you!”

Normally, Carly was a lot better at making friends with new people. But those people didn’t tend to have body counts like the assassin in front of her.

Said assassin’s eyes widened, and her mouth twisted into an “O” of shock. She looked at Dani, then at Carly, then pointed at them. Her finger swished from side to side as if she was trying to connect an invisible line between the two women.

“…Yeah, you heard her right,” Dani said, getting an idea of what the mute girl was trying to inquire about. “Carly and I are dating.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin twisted her face into a confused expression and then tilted her head to the other side, while resting her finger on her cheek. She tapped it slightly and studied the two of them, and then dropped her hand and shrugged.

“I think she’s just a little surprised that you two are an item,” Kim guessed. “I don’t think she’s had a lot of experience with stuff like girls liking other girls.”

“Well, fair enough, I guess,” Carly admitted with an awkward laugh.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her eyebrow in a smirk. Then she slinked over to Kim, who looked up at her with a bit of confusion.

Then, the dark-haired woman draped an arm around Kim’s neck, paralyzing the tomboy in place. She leaned forward and slid her leg over Kim’s hips, planting herself in the other girl’s lap and staring her in the eyes.

“Um… uh… wh-what’s going on?” Kim stammered, a shaky smile creeping up her lips as she defaulted to her customer service persona.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin just smirked. She caressed the back of Kim’s neck while slowly tilting her chin up with her other hand, so the two of them were looking each other in the eye. Kim was entranced by the deep blue in the other girl’s irises.

Carly and Dani leaned forward in shock, jaws dropped. It looked like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was… was she about to start making out with the other girl!?

“Err, uh, look, I don’t, um… hey, I don’t really…” Kim fidgeted in place, getting some serious vibes from the girl; while she knew the assassin couldn’t hurt her, she was suddenly scared of her for a much different reason. “I’m not, I mean…”

Her face reddened as she considered what might be about to happen. Her heart pounded in anticipation, and she wondered why she wasn’t struggling harder. No way she wanted this, after all- she was straight! Completely, unquestionably straight! But with the assassin sitting in her lap, she found that her body couldn’t move, not even to resist.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin batted her eyelashes, and then leaned in close. Her grip on Kim’s neck tightened and Kim found her own head rising to meet the other girl’s. Her lips parted slightly before she **** them to close again, though she doubted that any resistance she tried to put up would last too long against the forceful attentions of a master assassin.

Then she felt a flick on her nose. It didn’t hurt, but it was just sensual enough to sting a little.

“Yow! …Wha…?” In the instant Kim recoiled from the sudden flick to her nose, the pressure in her lap was gone as the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin slipped away, gracefully gliding back around the table, looking at her with a knowing smirk on her face.

As Kim realized her face was still hot and her heart was still racing, she fumed in confusion, frustration, and embarrassment.

Carly and Dani looked at each other momentarily, before glancing at the smirking assassin. She wiggled her eyebrows at Kim and leaned over the table slightly, her pale face glowing with triumph.

“So this is just me, but I think what she was trying to say there is that she does, in fact, have a decent amount of experience with girls liking girls,” Carly volunteered, earning her a dirty look from Kim and a nod from Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

“Well, that’s great and all,” Kim said with a scowl, “but in the future could you maybe not do that kind of stuff with me? I don’t really appreciate physical contact like that if I’m being perfectly honest here!” She snapped.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her eyebrow and pinched her lips together into a tight smirk filled with disbelief.

“Yeah, it didn’t really look that way to me, either,” Carly nodded. Dang, she was really getting used to reading the hidden insinuations in the silent girl’s expressions. Probably because she had watched a lot of shows with characters who didn’t talk.

Kim glared at Carly. “You know, I don’t question your sexuality, so I would appreciate if you could afford me the same courtesy,” she snapped, earning an awkward but apologetic shrug from the other woman.

“Hey, sorry,” Carly apologized. “But it looked like you two were having a moment there.”

“We weren’t having a moment!” Kim hissed. “That was like a hamster getting stared down by a snake! I was terrified!”

“You didn’t look terrified,” Dani muttered, fanning herself a little. It had actually been kind of hot if she was being honest. She wasn’t used to seeing such an aggressive display so early in the morning.

But Carly had mercy on the poor, scandalized schoolgirl. There were bigger issues at hand than making fun of Kim, anyway. She turned to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, her eyes shining with curiosity.

The day before, the silent girl had confined herself to her room the second she got there. But now, she’d ventured out, and was actually downstairs with them, having breakfast.

While the other girls might have been scared of an assassin (and Carly was too, don’t get her wrong) Carly wanted to get to know her better.

She figured that there wasn’t anything so heinous about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin that the two of them couldn’t be friends. After all- she seemed like an okay girl, if one got over the whole “****” thing.

Friendship had to start somewhere, right?

“So, um… is there anything we should call you?” Carly asked. “Because ‘Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’ is kind of a mouthful to say, you know.”

The assassin raised her eyebrow and gave Carly a frosty look.

“Okay, well, maybe you wouldn’t know… err… sorry…” Carly stammered, trying to find a way to walk back the dumb line she’d just spoken. “Look, uh… If you want to go by Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, that’s fine! It’s just… I thought maybe you’d like something a little more… well, unique to you, you know?”

The girl tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow. She almost looked confused.

“Well, it’s like, a name, that’s something important, right?” Dani tried, coming to Carly’s aid. “When you have a name, it’s a symbol of who you are. Like, for me, my parents named me Danielle, but I never really liked that name. I always liked the name Dani, you know?”

“Same with me,” Kim nodded. “The name on my birth certificate is ‘Kimiko’ but, well… I’ve never been a big fan of that, either.”

“Really? Why not?” Carly asked, turning her attention to Kim out of curiosity. “I think that sounds really cute! It’s a good fit for you.”

Kim snorted and shook her head. “No, no, it’s not.”

Now Dani was intrigued as well. She’d barely heard Kim referred to that way, not since very early on in the show. “Why isn’t it a good fit?”

Kim sighed.

“Do you guys speak Japanese?”

“I speak subtitles,” Carly said automatically.

“I watch- well, never mind,” Dani said, turning red as she realized that particular hobby wasn’t something she should share.

Kim rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, me neither.”

“Huh?!” Carly gasped, her eyes widening in surprise.

“You don’t even speak Japanese? But isn’t your family, like, from Japan or something?” Dani sputtered in shock.

Then she paled.

“W-wait, I… have I just been assuming that you’re Japanese this whole time?” She stammered. “Oh man, that’s so racist… are you really Chinese or something?! Or Korean!?”

Kim gave her a frosty look. If Dani could use her brain for just five seconds she would know how stupid that question sounded. Of course she had Japanese heritage! But Dani was too flustered to think straight right now.

“…I’m Japanese descent, don’t worry,” Kim said, rolling her eyes. “Doesn’t mean I speak the language. I’ve also never been to Japan, and I really don’t want to.”

From what she’d heard, the work culture in Japan was even more oppressive and predatory than in the states, and that was saying quite a bit.

Kim didn’t speak Japanese, and she hardly cared about her family’s heritage, either. It was one of the reasons why she was glad that Sylvia or Dakota hadn’t made one of her transformation paths into some asian “me love you long time” stereotype.

Kim’s cultural heritage didn’t matter nearly as much as making sure she had food on the table, that was for sure.

“Look,” Kim said, turning in her seat to face Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin directly, getting back to the point at hand. “I don’t speak Japanese, but I at least know what my own name means. ‘Kimiko’ means ‘valuable’ and ‘beautiful’.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “You can understand how that doesn’t exactly fit with me, right?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin blinked, and then shrugged and shook her head.

“I don’t think she knows any language,” Carly reminded Kim.

“…Oh, yeah,” Kim winced sympathetically. “Right. Sorry about that…”

It had slipped her mind that the assassin didn’t have any ability to read or right. Whoops.

“Kim, I think you’re being too hard on yourself with that whole name thing,” Dani said, shaking her head. “So what if your name means ‘valuable’ or ‘beautiful’ what’s the big deal?”

Kim turned to her and narrowed her eyes.

“…Right, uh, look, whatever you want, okay?” Dani raised her hands in surrender. She was the last person who should be telling someone what to do with their name. “Sorry. I just thought that Kimiko is kind of a cool name, that’s all.”

“No, it’s fine,” Kim said, shaking her head. “I get it. And look, it’s not just the meaning of my name, either. I changed it because I didn’t want to be too exotic.”

Carly blinked. “…Huh? Too exotic?”

“I wanted a more American name,” Kim explained. “You know, like Zoey or Julia or whatever. If I go around wearing a name tag that reads ‘Kimiko’ I’m going to get a bunch of attention from the absolute worst people to get attention from. And when you work jobs like mine, that right there is a big ‘no thanks’ if you ask me. I’d rather not come across like I’m fresh off the boat.”

Carly and Dani shared another awkward look. This conversation had really gotten derailed somehow, hadn’t it?

“…Well, so, that’s the whole thing about names,” Carly said, forcing an awkward smile onto her face as she turned back to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who had been watching the exchange with marked amusement. “They’re important. Usually, your parents give you a name. But wouldn’t it be better to choose your own name? Something that you like?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stared at Carly, and Dani elbowed her girlfriend in the stomach.

“Ow! Hey!” Carly looked at Dani, a little hurt. “What was that for?”

“Carly, she can’t talk, she can’t read, and she can’t write,” Dani reminded her. “What do you want her to do, google baby names for girls? How’s she supposed to pick a name for herself?”

The assassin nodded in confirmation and Carly felt like the biggest moron in the room. Which was saying quite a lot, considering the other people at the table were Kim, Dani, and a girl who was completely illiterate.

“…Sorry,” she said awkwardly. “I guess… if you want to go by something else, maybe Neopolitan? Could that work?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her eyebrow. She didn’t look amused.

“…Or, you know, something less… Well, just ‘less’,” Dani suggested, plastering an awkward smile onto her lips and stomping on Carly’s foot.

This was just becoming a bigger and bigger embarrassment, and Kim felt like she was going to die of shame and humiliation the longer she was engaged in this conversation topic. The three of them had been trying to help this girl, and all she could feel right now was that maybe it would have been better if the assassin had just continued with her teasing flirty seduction attempt.