Now, I know my ABC's

Kim tapped her finger on the counter and sighed. It’s too bad I can’t catch up on my sleep right now. That’d be real convenient. Thanks to the upgrade to her transformation, she wasn’t stuck behind the counter all day or anything; if she wanted she could head out for a bit and try to market some of her wares.

But she didn’t even feel the need to do THAT.

Frankly, she was tired. But that was nothing new. So she put her boredom aside, and **** a smile to her lips, even though she knew that the odds of anyone coming in to buy clothes this morning after that slumber party were slim to none.

Which was why she was surprised when about a half-hour before her otherwise lifeless shift ended, the bell over the door rang, signaling the presence of a new customer.

No, it didn’t wake Kim up. She was just resting her eyes!

As Kim rubbed away the crusty gunk between her eyelids, she took a second look to see who had come by, and responded with surprise.

“Eh?” A pair that she rarely saw together had just stepped into the store- and they just so happened to be the two women who had skipped out on the slumber party last night.

“Amelia and… Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?” Kim’s confusion lasted only a couple seconds before she straightened up and put on her best customer service smile. “Welcome! How may I help you today?”

She directed her question to Amelia initially; not only because the older woman could actually answer her, but because Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had little use for her services now that she had a fully-stocked wardrobe in her bedroom thanks to her most recent transformation. (Not that she tended to use Kim’s services in the past very much to begin with.)

As an example of this, the silent girl skipped up to the counter wearing something bright, pink, and frilly, looking like it came right off the cover of “Bimbos Monthly”. But she seemed to like it, so Kim wouldn’t judge. She noted that the assassin’s breasts were growing larger, as expected, which definitely accentuated the outfit nicely. It wasn’t designed for a more slender figure like Kim’s.

…Kim was actually getting pretty good at judging clothes and body types. Maybe she had a knack for this sort of thing after all.

Amelia slowly surveyed the merchandise for sale, and from the cold expression on her face, Kim judged that she probably wasn’t here to make a purchase. So was this just a social call? Or…

She redirected her attention to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, whose bright blue eyes seemed radiant with pride.

“Good morning,” Amelia greeted Kim. The suddenness of her statement and the slight catch in her voice made Kim wonder if she had only just now realized that she should have extended a greeting. “Was the party enjoyable?”

“Why yes, it was,” Kim responded pleasantly. “We had a wonderful time. It’s a pity you both weren’t able to make it.”

Secretly though, Kim was kind of glad. She didn’t want to think about the damage Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin could have done with those pillows.

“It was unavoidable, I’m afraid,” Amelia tersely replied, pushing her glasses up her nose. “But there was some benefit to come from our absence.”

Kim wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but the sour scowl on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face seemed to be a clue of some sort.

“…This morning, Nicholas was nowhere to be found,” Amelia informed Kim. “Was he taken somewhere?”

“Eh, ah, yeah, exactly,” Kim said, scratching her head. “See, really early this morning we all got boons for our performance at the slumber party, right, and the audience gave Vivian a free pass to Dream Alley. And of course, she used it immediately.”

Kim rolled her eyes. She remembered last round when she’d been considering her Dream Alley date, and how Vivian had consulted with her about some of her own ideas. She really hoped the heiress had come up with something a little more tangible instead of just trying to wow Nick with a solid gold skyscraper or something.

She noted that Amelia seemed to share her concerns. The older woman’s lips were pinched together in a tight expression and she looked at Kim with thinly-veiled disdain, which anyone else in Kim’s position might have thought was directed at them. But Kim had worked enough jobs serving irritated customers to tell when she was the actual problem and when she just happened to be present for someone’s very bad day.

“…It would appear Miss Carrington is as reckless as always, then,” Amelia said, doing a remarkable job of keeping the bitterness out of her voice in Kim’s opinion. “However, with Nicholas’s absence this morning, we were able to continue our lesson without distraction.”

Ah. So that explained Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s sour expression. The mute girl’s frown deepened and she puffed up her cheeks, signaling just how pleased she was to wake up to homework instead of to the man she adored.

Kim could sympathize with the plight of going right from bed to doing thankless labor. She’d heard through the grapevine that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was finally learning how to read, and she couldn’t be happier for the other girl. Even if the girl in question didn’t look very happy about it herself at the moment.

“Enough of that now,” Amelia chided, noting the assassin’s scowl. “You should take more pride in your accomplishments.”

Kim had dealt with enough double-talking managers to interpret that was a poorly-worded attempt on Amelia’s part to tell Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin that she did a good job.

“So you did a good job on your studies today?” Kim asked with a smile. “That’s great!”

“She did an acceptable job,” Amelia said. She was trying to agree with Kim using more precise language, but the sharpness in her voice made it sound more like a correction. “…Which is good.”

Her hasty addendum only made things more awkward. She really needed to work on that herself.

Amelia glanced at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, and gave the other girl the slightest of encouraging nods. The frown on the assassin’s face withered away, and she lit up with glee as she fished into her purse.

Kim leaned over the counter curiously, wondering what unspoken agreement was being carried out right now.

Then the assassin withdrew her slender fingers from within the dark depths of the bag, and Kim saw a scrap of folded paper caught between them. She unfolded it and spread it flat on the counter, presenting it to the clerk to take a look.

Kim wasn’t sure what she was looking at for a second. Three distinct markings made in pencil, assembled from a series of jagged and misshapen lines.

Then she realized what the three markings were, and gasped. Letters!

The paper in front of her bore the letters “K”, “I”, and “M” in a shaky script that looked like it was made by a four-year-old. But it wasn’t, it was…

“You… did you write this?” Kim asked in amazement, looking at the assassin.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s smile practically tore her face in half. She held her head up high, proud of her accomplishment.

“It is a start,” Amelia said, adjusting her glasses. “We have reached the point where she can write all the letters when prompted, which is good for a single day’s work.”

“And she can already do names now,” Kim pointed out. “That’s really good!”

“Yes… your name,” Amelia said, nodding. “I thought that it would be the most efficient use of our limited time to start with words that she would encounter regularly. As she already knows all of our names, it was a logical decision to begin there.”

Amelia couldn’t speak for the woman’s handwriting, but at least she was making a genuine effort to learn.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin pointed at the first letter, the “K”. Then she slid her finger over to the “I” and finished on the “M”. She focused so intently on each letter Kim half-expected her to mouth them out to herself, but considering the assassin couldn’t speak in the first place perhaps that was a bit of a ridiculous assumption on her part.

“Yeah, so that’s ‘K’, ‘I’, and ‘M’,” Kim encouraged her. This felt just like when she’d helped her younger siblings with their homework! “Good job!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin puffed out her chest in pride.

“Now, can you do the rest of it?” Kim asked playfully, tapping her finger right after the “M”. “My full name is Kimiko, you know. Can you show me what letters come after that?”

The assassin deflated like an untied balloon and her shoulders sagged. She looked at Kim with a vacant expression on her face.

Amelia cleared her throat loudly to get Kim’s attention. “We have not yet reached that point in our lessons,” she informed the other girl. “We are still working on the visual replication aspect of letter inscription.”

Now it was Kim’s turn to have a vacant stare on her face as she looked at the teacher.

“…Copying from the blackboard,” Amelia dumbed down her explanation.

“Ah.”

Well… it was a good first step. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin could copy down her name, and probably write it on her own now, at least! She knew what K-I-M spelled, and that was the important thing.

But Kim didn’t envy Amelia in the slightest. The older woman had a long road ahead of her if she ever wanted the mute assassin to become even somewhat literate.

“I’m glad you showed me,” Kim said, folding up the paper and holding it out to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “You’re really coming a long way- huh?”

To Kim’s surprise, her friend didn’t take the paper back. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her hand and shook her head, wearing an adamant expression on her face.

“…You… you want me to keep it?” Kim guessed. As far as presents went, this was certainly an odd one, to say the least.

“She seemed quite adamant this morning,” Amelia confirmed. Her encouraging tone and the look in her eye told Kim all she needed to know about where the older woman came down on this. Clearly she thought that it would be a good tool for motivating the other girl.

“Well, thanks,” Kim said, taking the paper back. “I’ll hold onto it! Thank you!”

It was such a simple thing, and yet it made the assassin so happy.

“Just keep practicing, and you’ll be able to get everybody’s names down before you know it!” Kim continued. “And then, maybe you’ll even be ready to pick out a name for your-”

“Ah, it’s lively in here, isn’t it? That’s quite a surprise! I would have expected a slow morning!” Dakota popped into existence in the center of the store, cutting Kim off with her loud voice.

“D-Dakota?!” Startled, Kim forgot what she was going to say, and turned to the host in confusion. “What is it now? I’m working here, you know!”

“Really? Because it looks like you’re busy chatting with your friends,” Dakota said, raising her eyebrow. She glanced at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “Well… mostly chatting, of course.”

Kim rolled her eyes.

“Did you want something?” She sighed.

“You’re not the only one who has a job to do,” Dakota sniffed. “You would not believe how inconvenient it is with Nola helping Mary now. I almost have to do everything myself! This is why I create the faeries to begin with.”

“Right, your non-unionized **** labor,” Kim said, nodding.

Dakota scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t you start with me. If they wanted a union they would form one, that’s not my fault.”

“You created them to not want to do that though,” Kim bluntly pointed out.

Dakota glowered at the other girl and crinkled her lips into a pursed scowl, but she didn’t say anything back.

“…I’m here because I have something for you, Kim. It isn’t as heartfelt as a scribble name, of course, but it is written on paper!”

With a flick of her wrist, Dakota brandished two fliers, holding them up to the surprised cashier. She set them down for Kim’s perusal, and stepped aside.

Kim’s eyes widened. “Hey is this…?”

“What exactly is going on here, Dakota?” Amelia asked, frowning.

“Oh, it’s nothing Amelia, don’t worry about it,” Kim murmured, picking up one of the fliers and reading it over. She wasn’t even looking at the blonde. “I got a boon of my own from the party… it entitles me to a preview of any bounties before they go up on the Bounty Board, in case I want first crack.”

Dakota nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. She smirked. “Well after this morning, when you asked about bounties, I considered what you were saying, and I agreed that you’re right, it isn’t fair if I don’t give you the opportunity to make use of your boon, so… there you go. Enjoy!”

Even though her work was done, she didn’t leave. Probably because she liked watching Kim squirm.

Kim read over both the bounties, and then read them over again for good measure. There were only two, and they were a little outside the scope of what she’d expected if she was being honest.

ENGAGE IN A THREESOME WITH THE MASTER AND ANOTHER CONTESTANT

REWARD: FREE NIGHT IN THE PROXIMITY PALACE

GIVE AN ORGASM TO FIVE OTHER CONTESTANTS

REWARD: 3 VP

“What do you think?” Dakota looked quite proud of the selection. “I spent a good deal of time coming up with enjoyable bounties for you to pick from.”

“Well… one of them is pretty simple to figure out,” Kim said, putting down the “orgasm” one. 3 VP was tempting. It wasn’t much, but it was free VP, and that was obviously a benefit. “The other one though, I’m a little stuck on.”

“What? The threesome? That should be quite simple,” Dakota scoffed.

Kim wasn’t impressed. “Anybody I want, right? Me and whoever?”

“Among the contestants, yes,” Dakota said in calm confirmation. “Why, is there someone you had in mind?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened and she waved her hand at Kim excitedly. Kim spared her a brief smile before turning back to the host.

“I was actually talking about the reward,” she said, pointing to the line beneath that one. “What exactly is the Proximity Palace? Is that like Dream Alley or something?”

Until she knew what the reward was, any discussion about accepting the bounty was completely pointless as far as Kim was concerned.

Dakota smirked in amusement.

“Have you forgotten already?” She shook her head. “My, my. The Proximity Palace is where we’ve been holding Gina’s parties. At least, before the one last night, anyway. You’ve already been there several times.”

“Ah!” Kim’s eyes widened as it all came back to her. “Oh, right! That place!”

“Yes,” Dakota nodded. “That place.”

They’d held Mary’s bachelorette party there. It was nice!

“The Proximity Palace can look however you like,” Dakota calmly explained. “Unlike Dream Alley, the only restriction is your imagination. And if you complete the bounty, you will get to spend any night of your choosing there, and make full use of the amenities.”

She flashed a cheerful smile. “That sounds quite stellar, wouldn’t you say?”

Kim could see the appeal of that one, sure.

“But I have to have a threesome to get that…” Kim still wasn’t sure if that was something she was up for or not. And leaving aside the mechanics of it… “…And doesn’t that mean Nick would have to be here too? ‘Cause he’s not right now.”

“Oh, that’s true, he isn’t,” Dakota said, stroking her chin. “Well, I suppose this one won’t be getting completed today, then. Of course, the other bounty…” Her voice trailed off, leaving the insinuation hanging in the air.

Kim sighed. “…Ah. So that’s your game. I wait for this one to be doable, or I take the other one, which I can do right now.”

“Give five girls orgasms?” Dakota smirked. “With your work ethic, I bet you’re done with it by lunchtime! …Although be careful you don’t fill up, you know what they say about eating out for every meal.” She patted her stomach.

Kim actually cracked a smile at the twisted joke. But she wasn’t going to let herself get distracted by Dakota’s mindgames, no matter how playful they were.

“And let me guess, if I take the one with the delay, you’ll probably have a third, much better bounty waiting to go, and I won’t be able to accept it because I’ll be stuck waiting for Nick to come back.” Kim had a good sense of how Dakota did things by this point, and that seemed exactly like the kind of slimy move she would make.

Plus, Kim was pretty sure Dakota still hadn’t forgiven her for getting her eliminated.

Dakota scoffed, as if the idea of her doing anything underhanded like that was unthinkable. “Whatever your concerns about what my future actions might be, you have your choice. Which would be to your liking?”

“Do I have to choose now?” Kim asked with a sigh. Both sounded hard in their own ways. Kim had never slept with another woman before; would she even be able to bring one to orgasm? She liked to think it was something she was capable of, but she genuinely didn’t know. And then there came the VP; 3 VP wasn’t much, but she wanted it.

Then she realized something.

“…Wait. If I pick the ‘bring five contestants to orgasm’ bounty, then wouldn’t my 100% Completion transformation trigger, and compel me to bring EVERY contestant to orgasm?” Kim asked.

Dakota gave her a look that could only be described as the pure incarnation of innocence.

“…Weeeeellll…”

“Yeah, I’ll take this one,” Kim muttered, picking up the threesome bounty.

“You’re not fun at all,” Dakota scowled, taking back the other sheet. She popped away before Kim could say all the choice words she had for the host.