It burns under my skin the things you said

“So let me get this straight,” Marley sighed, rolling her eyes as she lay back in bed. “You could have been hanging out with the other girls at Mary’s cooking class, learning how to bake crumpets, or scones, or whatever. Having fun with your friends. But instead, you decided to come up here and play video games, is that right? I guess Dani really did rub off on you.”

“Crumpets and scones?” Carly looked up from the arcade machine with an amused smirk. “That’s what you focus on?”

Marley scowled at her. “Well… Vivian’s going, so I just thought… whatever, that’s not my point! Carly, you could have hung out with the others, but you came up to play? You even excused yourself early, why I can’t imagine…”

Carly shrugged and stepped back from her game machine. “Hey, well… Dani and Kim left early, too. And everybody else was talking about their plans, so…”

“You could have joined the cooking class,” Marley pointed out.

“So could you,” Carly replied. “If you’d wanted to go, I would have gone. So why didn’t you?”

Marley blushed.

“You… you know why,” she stammered, averting her eyes. “Being around all that food…”

“Aww, you little glutton you!” Carly giggled, covering her mouth. “Not good for your diet, is that it? No wonder you only had a yogurt and some fruit for breakfast this morning! And here I just thought you were nostalgic for the good old days of the cooking competition.

Marley seethed at her sister and chucked a pillow at her. Carly ducked out of the way just in time and it bounced off the screen.

“Mary’s food tastes too good!” Marley wailed. “If I went to her cooking class, I’d just want to eat everything in sight!”

“Sounds to me like someone’s in a toxic relationship with the bathroom scale,” Carly taunted. She leaned against the machine in a sleek pose that highlighted her slender belly.

Marley didn’t appreciate the comparison.

“It’s not that bad,” she said, blushing. “I just… I put on a little more weight than I thought, that’s all. So what?!”

“So nothing,” Carly shrugged. “I’m just surprised. You’ve always been good at keeping physically fit before now, after all.”

Marley sighed and swung her legs off the side of the bed. She rested her elbows on her knees and cradled her chin in her hands. “…No, I really haven’t,” she muttered, shaking her head. “That was just the past version of me, remember? When Sylvia rewrote time. In reality, I’ve only been around for a couple of weeks… and before that, I was a slime girl. Who didn’t need to care at all about what I ate.”

“I remember,” Carly nodded. “I was one of those things you ate.”

Marley gave her an odd look that she shrugged off.

“Look, it’s a difficult situation, no argument there,” Carly continued. “You like eating. No problem with that. But since you’ve got a human metabolism now, it’s gonna be tricky. And unlike me, you don’t have any love of hiking.”

“Walking up and down a mountain for hours? Yeah, I’ll pass,” Marley said, waving her hand.

“I thought you liked the great outdoors?” Carly raised her eyebrow. “Flower girl.”

“I like gardens,” Marley replied. “That’s different from climbing a mountain.”

“We could always go for a walk through the Botanical Garden then,” Carly suggested with a shrug. “That could be good.”

“Would it really help, you think?” Marley asked, her voice brimming with hope.

So much hope Carly couldn’t bring herself to lie to the poor girl.

“…No. Probably not,” she admitted. “Don’t get me wrong, walks are a good way to stay in shape, but if you actually want to burn off some calories, you’re going to need something a little more strenuous than that.”

“I-I don’t need to lose that much!” Marley replied, her face reddening. “I just… well…”

“You slept with Nick again a couple nights ago, and realized you were a little thicker in the middle than you used to be, right?” Carly hit the nail on the head judging by how Marley flinched. “Don’t think I missed that you’ve been a little more focused on your figure ever since you got out of that escape room!”

Marley’s face was as red as an apple. “Well… we… in the escape room, there were a few squeezes I had to fit through… and it was a little trickier than I expected. Not to mention, I had to do the whole thing practically topless!”

Not to mention Nick’s comments about liking her butt. As big of a compliment as that may have been, even Marley could feel self-conscious about her appearance!

Carly just stared at her sister incredulously. “…So, you had trouble slipping through some tight spaces… and you think that’s because of your waist?”

Marley’s arms quickly shot up over her chest. “W-well… my bras are getting a little tighter, too… And I’ve just been borrowing yours! So they should be a perfect fit!”

Carly couldn’t help but smirk. “You know, sis, I don’t think Nick’s gonna have any complaints if it turns out you’re a little bigger up top than I am. But wanna double-check, just to be sure?”

Marley glanced at her sister and blushed.

“Well… No, wait, what are you talking about?!” She hissed, shaking her head frantically. “Stop thinking weird stuff like that! I just need to exercise a bit more, that’s all! And I’ll be trim again just like I was before!”

Carly shrugged. She was nothing but supportive about the idea of her sister losing weight. But she also realized that Marley might have been making a bigger deal of this than she thought.

…Then again, Carly wasn’t really one to talk, was she? After all, the cosplayer ritualistically worked out to the point of near-**** in the ongoing effort to keep her body looking perfect as could be, and even she had to admit that all the delicious food here was starting to cause her to let herself go.

But that hadn’t been the reason why she’d backed out of the cooking class. The reason was a simple one: Carly hated doing things she sucked at, and cooking was definitely one of those things.

Not that Marley needed to know that.

“Well, I could always talk to Dani,” Carly suggested. “You’ve seen the awesome work she’s done with Kim, right? Don’t you want that for yourself? With a little hard work, you could be a trim tomboy just like Nick loves!”

That earned her another pillow, and this one hit her in the face.

“I… sh-shut up!” Marley stammered, looking away quickly from her sister. “Stop making it sound so weird! It’s not for Nick at all, it just… well…”

“Yeah, sure,” Carly smirked, and shook her head.

“Well… what about you, then?! You only brought up Dani because you want to do some ‘working out’ with her, right? It’s not about me at all!”

Marley turned things around on her sister and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring indignantly at the other girl. After all, if Dani was going to help Marley work out, then Carly would necessarily have to be there.

And Marley had a pretty good idea what would happen if those two were getting sweaty together, even if Carly maintained a lack of physical attraction to the sexy tomboy.

Carly opened her mouth to respond, but a knock on the door cut her off.

“Huh? You expecting a guest?” Marley questioned. It’s not like the person would be for her. Carly was the social butterfly, after all.

But her sister looked just as confused. “Come in?” She asked, turning to the door.

Walking cautiously into her room, as if she’d been conjured by Marley’s accusations, was Dani herself. The blue-haired girl had an exasperated expression on her tanned face, and another girl in tow.

But while Carly and Marley had seen Dani leave the Banquet Hall with Kim that morning, that wasn’t who she’d brought with her.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin!?” Marley screeched. She nearly fell out of bed in shock. “What’s she doing here?!”

“Dani, what’s up?” Carly asked, her brow furrowing with concern as she walked over to her girlfriend. “Why’d you bring her over, huh?”

“And why does she look like she wants to **** someone?” Marley tensed as she looked at the flustered and frustrated expression on the usually-pale assassin’s face. She glanced at Dani, and winced. “…And for the record, why do you?”

“Because I do want to **** someone,” Dani growled, narrowing her eyes into a furious scowl as she remembered the exchange from a few minutes ago when she and Kim were planning out how to explain sexual desire and self-gratification to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

“Come on, Kim, you gotta help me with this,” Dani had said. “You know all about how it feels to be completely pent up and frustrated and overworked!”

“Okay, like you’re one to talk,” Kim had scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re a lesbian who only just recently managed to get her rocks off with an actual partner!”

“Right. I’m actually getting regular sex. How far have you gotten with Nick again? A blowjob? Has he even eaten you out yet?”

“You know, I miss when all this sex stuff used to bother you,” Kim had responded with a sigh, shaking her head.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had just stared impatiently at the two of them.

“Fine. You know? You’re right, I should help out,” Kim had finally relented, agreeing to Dani’s request. “…Oh! Wait, no, look at the time, aww, rats, I gotta go to work… oh, that sucks so much…”

“Huh!? I thought you got spirited away when you had to go to work!” Dani had exclaimed. “You’re just trying to get out of helping!”

“Sorry! Gotta go, bye!” And with that, Kim had raced out of the gym. She’d never been that eager to go to work before in her life.

“…And so, now it’s fallen to me,” Dani said, finishing her explanation of how she had wound up tasked with teaching Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin how to pleasure herself. “And believe me, if it was up to me, I wouldn’t have anything to do with it! But…”

She glanced at the frustrated girl, who’d clearly only gotten more worked up since they came here. She squeezed her legs together so hard, it looked like she was going to pee herself.

Carly stared sympathetically at the two of them, and sighed.

“…So that’s why you came here, huh?” She said, smiling a little. “You’re looking for my help, eh?”

“I thought about going to Dawn,” Dani admitted. “I figured she’d be better at helping Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin learn about her body than either of us. But Dawn’s busy right now, helping out Ella. And I think Ella needs her a little more. And I know you’re always willing to help out with something like this, right?”

Carly beamed up at her girlfriend. “Thanks, Dani. It really means a lot, that you’re coming to me with this.”

“Oh god… am I really stuck with this now, too?” Marley groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I should have just taken the cooking class…”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin smiled cheerfully at the girls, as Carly got to work figuring out how they’d take care of the little killer’s sexual frustration.

While that was happening, it was almost time for the cooking class that Marley had regretfully avoided to start. But before the girls could go to the kitchen, a few things needed to happen.

For one, they had to send Nick off.

“Good luck, Nicky,” Vivian teased, casting a playful look over to Amelia. “I hope you enjoy your date with Teach!”

“It’s not a date, Carrington,” Amelia chastised the heiress. “You should be more precise with your language.”

Vivian responded with a smirk and shrug.

“Sure thing. Just a boy, his stepmom, and his pseudo-daughter. Nothing weird about that,” she teased.

“Before I head out, I just want to say that’s a very valid point,” Gina mentioned. “But I’ve gotta head out, too! Good luck with the cooking class, all you guys!”

She turned and headed for the door… only to pause as it swung open and someone new entered.

It took a second for everyone to realize who they were looking at, because of how different the dark-haired girl looked from normal.

Only Mary and Nick could recognize her, and that was only because they’d gotten a preview last night that stood out vividly.

“Um… h-hello, good morning…” Morgana said, greeting everyone with an awkward wave.

She was wearing her regular clothes, a tight black blouse with a lacy collar and red ribbon, and a pair of black jeans. She looked like a nice clash between goth and punk like usual, only this time she carried herself with a slightly different vibe.

Because she’d taken a little more care in her appearance than usual.

Morgana had tied her hair up! She’d taken her long midnight tresses that normally cascaded down her back (when they weren’t twisted in a knot of tangles because she was too emotionally overwhelmed to bother brushing her hair some mornings) and tied them up into two long twintails like she’d worn them when under the influence of Mary’s milk. But that was as far as she went. The version of her from last night had parted her hair to the sides to reveal her sunny smile and bright forehead, but Morgana was still a little too shy to go that far. Instead, she let her bangs fall over her face, just barely reaching her eyes, giving her the look of someone who was still very shy, but eager to change her style nevertheless.

It was a very nice look, and Nick definitely appreciated the transformation.

He wasn’t the only one.

“Whoa! Morgana! Look at you!” Gina whistled. “Talk about a change!”

“You… you like it?” Morgana asked bashfully, playing with one of her pigtails.

“Do I? Yeah, you look great!” Gina nodded in approval.

“For once, Gina’s correct,” Dawn agreed, walking over and nodding. As soon as the look of shock wore off, a sunny smile reached her face. “I’ve gotta say, you look great!”

“Th-thanks!” Morgana blushed. “I… I just… I really wanted a bit of a change of image… And last night, well…”

She glanced over at Mary, but was still a little too shy to say exactly what had happened.

Rose was there to put the pieces together.

“I see, so that’s it!” She exclaimed, joining the others. “You must have had some of Mary’s milk, is that right? And your whole self changed! I should have known… getting that many points, it’s clear you went through a drastic transformation, and came out the other side a whole new person!”

Morgana flinched. She took a wary step back, still a little intimidated by Rose suddenly getting into her face like that.

“Y-yes, I did try some of her milk last night,” she admitted. “It was definitely strange… b-but… that’s not bad, right!? It’s okay if I try to change myself?”

Dawn was about to give the blonde a good talking to, but Rose surprised her.

“Of course it’s not bad!” She said, shaking her head. “Why would you think that?”

Morgana visibly relaxed, relieved that the other woman wasn’t judging her. “Oh, good… I thought… I thought…”

The fact of the matter was, Morgana wasn’t totally sold on this new change. She liked how her hair looked tied up, and truth be told, when Nick had played with her hair last night, and used it as reins… that had been so hot! She was too bashful to ask for that again, but if she kept wearing her hair like this, maybe he would get the hint. But the judgmental looks of the other girls in her mind, looking down on her for such a drastic change… that was hard to withstand.

I’m so glad that Rose isn’t going to insult it… I’m not sure if this is good or not, but at least she’s not being mean. Morgana sighed in relief. “…I thought you were gonna say it looked dumb,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Why would that matter?” Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Eh!?” Morgana’s jaw dropped and Dawn sighed.

“Look, if you like it, who gives a damn?” Rose said with a shrug. “It’s your hair. You should wear it however you like! And if other people laugh at you, ignore them. You think that someone as magnificent as myself could still be so wonderful, if I got bogged down every time someone mocked me or laughed at me? Hah!”

She held her head up high with her signature Rose confidence, and held her hand over her breast.

Of course, she was admitting to everyone that people laughed at her and mocked her quite a lot, but since she was Rose, that didn’t faze her at all.

“Thank you for saying that, Rose,” Nick said, coming over and giving the blonde a grateful look. “And she’s right, Morgana. If you like your hair that way, then you should keep it like that. Although I think you’re overreacting. I don’t think anyone’s going to laugh at you for wearing pigtails like that.”

“They shouldn’t,” Vivian agreed. “It’s totally a style that goes well with your whole dark getup. Though if you’re in the market for a new wardrobe, I have some good ideas in a gothic lolita style. Sort of a lateral move from your current outfit.”

“Oh, uh, m-maybe later,” Morgana stammered, still feeling a little overwhelmed by all the positive support she was getting from everyone. It really made her heart pound with excitement and disbelief that this was going so well.

But still…

She turned her focus to Nick, and looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “What about you, Nick?” She asked. “Do you like my hair like this?”

That was one opinion that mattered more to her than all the others.

Rose was quick to butt in before Nick could respond, though.

“I just said, forget him!” Rose scoffed. “Even his opinion shouldn’t matter to you! If I judged myself based on Nick’s standards for how my hair should look, I would just keep it short and not earn any BP at all! But your opinion should be the only one that matters.”

Morgana knew that Rose was correct. But her teenage insecurity still made her want to hear Nick’s opinion for herself.

Nick, in turn, felt nothing but gratitude to Rose for interrupting. Morgana’s question had thrown him off-guard, and he hadn’t been able to answer for a moment. Rose had bought him enough time to regain his composure and answer, and not leave the goth stewing with insecurity and second-guessing herself.

“Morgana, I think your hair looks just fine either way,” he assured her. “If this is the way you want to wear it from now on, I say give it a shot, and see if you want to keep it.”

“Really?!” Morgana’s face lit up with joy behind her bangs, and Nick knew that he’d given the right answer.