Aw, it's a bad day for love, but a good day for flower shops

A thousand thoughts flashed through Carly’s head as she saw Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin hanging off of Nick’s arm. She pushed past whatever initial awkwardness she felt, and snickered. “Well well well. It looks like you were having some fun times early in the morning, huh? Couldn’t keep it contained, Nick?”

“It’s not like that,” Nick said, knowing where Carly was going with this and not being willing to take the bait. “She came over this morning to eat breakfast.”

Among other things. Carly didn’t need to know about how the assassin had threw him to the ground and mounted him. She’d never let him live that down.

Right now, Nick’s main concern was defusing the bomb digging her nails into his arm. “What’s up, Carly? Haven’t seen you come up here this early.” He glanced at her costume. “You come to fix the plumbing or something?”

Carly laughed. “Well, it’s our night tonight,” she reminded him. “And since I’m going to be inviting someone up with me thanks to my transformation, I thought we could have some fun on our own today, if you wanted.”

Nick brightened. “Oh! That… okay!” When was the last time he and Carly had really gotten some one-on-one time together? Usually she was hanging around with her sister, or with Dani.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes flickered over to Carly and she tightened her grip on Nick’s arm. Clearly she didn’t enjoy having to share him with someone else.

Nick could sympathize, but at the same time…

He turned to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, glad that he hadn’t made a commitment to her yet. “Listen… Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… today I want to spend the day with Carly. Is that alright with you?”

The assassin’s eyes widened and her ears twitched. A scowl crossed her face.

Carly frowned. She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Part of her wanted to say that it was alright if the mute girl tag along, especially when she saw her disappointed expression. But she really did want to have Nick to herself today.

“I appreciate you coming to play this morning,” Nick said gently, trying to pick the other girl up. “But today is for Carly. I can’t let you monopolize my time.”

The silent girl blinked and tilted her head to the side. She looked confused.

“…Sorry, monopolize means spending all my time with you,” Nick clarified. “You know I like you. After all the stuff we did together on our date night? I’m not sure what else I could do to convince you of that,” he said. “But I need to spend time with other people.”

He looked over at Carly, who was trying not to smirk as she imagined all the “stuff” they did together.

“Today is my day with Carly,” he said firmly. “We had our day together last round. And if you want to spend another day with just the two of us this round, we’ll get the chance! But… right now, I need to put her first.”

It felt awful of him to say that. But at the same time, he couldn’t take Carly for granted. This was her time set aside for him. If he wanted to not feel like the biggest douchebag in the world, he couldn’t put another girl’s feelings over hers. Even if that girl was someone who really needed people in her life.

That was the sticking point in his mind. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was, in many ways, like a lonely, lost puppy. One with razor-sharp fangs who would maul you if you came close. Because of what she’d gone through in her past and the handicaps she had, it was reasonable to think that she needed more time devoted to her than the average person.

But right now, he needed to prioritize someone else.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked disappointed. Of course she did. And for a moment, he was afraid that she would throw a fit, and refuse.

But she slipped her hand off his arm and stepped back, fury and frustration burning on her face momentarily.

Nick felt awful. But at the moment he didn’t know what to do. How to make things better.

Her ears twitched. She turned to Carly and narrowed her eyes. Then she smirked.

Nick didn’t like that look on her face.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin leaned forward and tapped her finger on Carly’s breast, causing the other woman to gasp in surprise. Her eyes widened in shock.

“H-hey, uh…” Carly had no idea if the assassin was declaring war, or coming onto her.

Maybe both.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin flicked her umbrella and spread it open. Then she stepped back, and skipped towards the elevator, casting a sly look over her shoulder before slipping into the elevator.

Nick and Carly remained in the entryway in muted silence.

Carly coughed.

“Well, that was… something.” She turned and looked back at him. “Sorry for ruining your date,” she apologized. “I didn’t intend to…”

Nick cut her off with a shake of his head. “No, it’s fine,” he assured her. “You didn’t ‘ruin’ anything. I needed to assert my boundaries with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, if we want to have a positive relationship together.”

Carly nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she said. “Still. Coulda had a good time, all three of us, you know.”

Nick looked surprised. “I thought you wouldn’t have…”

Carly blushed a little. “W-well, you know me! Always down to party, the more people the better!” She laughed, elbowing him in the side.

Nick continued to stare at her. Carly was acting really weird today, it was like she was trying to **** herself to act like herself. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought Marley was pretending to be her sister.

“Carly…”

“…Okay, yeah. Sorry.” Carly scratched her head sheepishly. “I want to spend time with you. Just the two of us. Hence why Marley isn’t… you know.”

Nick nodded. “That’s what I want too.”

Her lips turned up into a smile and she beamed at him. “So… what do you want to do?”

“You’re the one who came to me,” Nick pointed out. “I thought that you would already have something planned.”

“Weeeelll… what about this?” Carly smiled. She leaned forward and began to creep her fingers up his shirt. “How about you and I… get together… and…”

She tilted her lips close to his ear, her hot breath kissing against his skin.

“Get all hot… and sweaty…”

Nick swallowed, knowing that she was probably teasing him, but at the same time…

“…On a hike!” Carly finished, snapping back to where she was standing at the start, giggling her heart out.

Nick felt his heart skip a beat, and his face lit up crimson. He knew that she was teasing him. But at the same time, she’d gotten his hopes up, even when he knew that he shouldn’t.

That was Carly. It had been a while since she played around with him like this.

It made him smile.

“I think a hike would be fine,” he agreed, nodding. “I think we’ll have some fun!”

Carly laughed. “Well, great!” She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “It’ll be just like our first date!” With lidded eyes, she licked her lips, and Nick felt her gaze run up his body. “Only… it might not end so chastely.”

He remembered what had happened between the two of them on their day together. Thinking back to their night together, and what they had- and hadn’t- done together, made him start to swell with anticipation.

Which was exactly what Carly was hoping for.

While Nick and Carly set out on their date to get reacquainted, the woman that Nick had slighted in favor of her (not that he had intended to do so, of course!) was skipping through the halls with a smile on her face.

She wasn’t as wounded as she might have seemed.

After all, if Nick and Carly were going to spend time together, it only stood to reason that she should have some fun on her own, right?

“Oh!” Sylvia’s eyes widened when she saw the assassin approach her. “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin! Good morning!”

The dark-haired girl smiled and nodded to the former host, and her eyes slid from the redhead to her brunette companion.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes darkened with intent as she eyed Marley like a succulent piece of meat, or an ice cream sundae.

She licked her lips.

“We were going to go pick out some plant species to cultivate in the Garden Suite,” Sylvia informed the mute girl. “Would you like to come join us?”

“Yeah!” Marley nodded. She didn’t know Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin well, but she would like the chance to get to know her better. “It could be fun!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded eagerly. Yes, it would be very fun indeed.

“Welcome!” A bright green faerie hovered above the counter of a shop that was brimming floor to ceiling with plants. She looked at the three women with sparkling eyes, and beamed at them. “How may I help you today?”

“This place is amazing!” Marley looked around, breathless. “How did I never know about this!?”

“I haven’t been here before either,” Sylvia admitted. “Apparently, Dakota put this shop up when she took back over, after doing all the room swapping.”

It was one of the decisions that Dakota had made that Sylvia agreed with.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked around, scanning the plants growing all around them with a curious eye.

Her thoughts were a mystery to her companions. And maybe that was a good thing.

“Dakota said you would be coming by soon,” the green faerie declared, stroking her chin. She fluttered over to the girls. “You’re here to purchase some plant seeds for your room, is that right?”

Marley nodded. “Are we going to have to spend BP or something? Because I don’t have any actually… Sylvia?”

She looked over at the actual contestant staying in the Garden Suite.

Sylvia shook her head. “I don’t think so. …Do we?”

“Not at all!” The faerie chirped. “Here, we don’t accept BP. We only have one condition. You may only purchase one of our plants a day to cultivate, and you can purchase a maximum of five per round. And you must cultivate the seeds until they are fully-grown. If you back out halfway, there will be… consequence.”

A shadow crossed the little creature’s face, and Sylvia immediately leapt in, shaking her head.

“Oh! We would never!” She declared, finding the thought of disappointing this cute little faerie completely unthinkable. “Believe me! We want… um… we both love plants, Marley and I! I ran a whole garden back when I was host, you know!”

“Well, okay then,” the faerie nodded. She decided that, in light of Sylvia’s prior position as host, that she could trust the girl. “Allow me to show you through our selection! What were you hoping for? We’ve got plants with an aphrodisiac aroma, a tree that grows fruits that make whoever eats them fall in love… ooh, the extract from this one can turn clothes invisible temporarily! Then there’s this one, which promotes beauty and health, an organic steroid, a sexual stamina enhancer… if you want to have kids soon, then this one can…”

As the faerie rattled off a list of plants, Marley’s head began to spin. She was feeling a little overwhelmed here. No wonder the rules said that you were only allowed to take one plant from the shop at a time to cultivate in the Garden Suite! She could just imagine how easily she’d get swept up and purchase everything they had to offer.

“What do you want, Marley?” Sylvia asked, turning to her roommate. “I want you to pick the one we’ll raise first!”

“Um…” Marley bit her lip. She looked over at her mother-turned-sister. “…You should pick!” She said. “After all, you’re the contestant here! Maybe you could get something that would actually work for your advantage, maybe!”

Sylvia frowned. “I don’t think that’s so good,” she replied, shaking her head. “After all, if I alter the way Daddy thinks about me using one of these plants… that’s a bad thing, right?”

Marley stared blankly at her mother.

“…Yes,” she said bluntly, shocked that Sylvia would even have to ask that. “That’s a very bad thing. Don’t do that.”

“Well, but you just said-”

“Obviously I meant a plant that could accomplish that without having to-! Oh, never mind,” Marley sighed, scratching her head. “Look, I trust you, Sylvia. So pick whatever plant you want to grow, okay?” She assured the other woman with a smile.

Sylvia smiled gratefully back.

“Thanks, Marley,” she said. “In that case, I think I’ll get a Mimic Jelly-”

“Not that one,” Marley sharply interrupted her.

Sylvia’s mouth dropped open. “But-”

Marley crossed her arms over her chest. “No!” She whined like a petulant child. She wrapped her arms around Sylvia and smothered her with a hug. “Not sharing.”

Sylvia giggled and her face lit up scarlet. “Aww…” Marley had practically reverted back to Mimi for a moment there, and it was the most adorable thing in the world. “…Okay. No Mimic Jelly then. You win,” she acquiesced. As cute as it would be to have another precious little slime to take care of, she wouldn’t want to neglect her own daughter.

“We don’t sell those here anyway,” the faerie stated. “One of the conditions of this place. Dakota said that it’s not allowed for us to offer any plants that are sentient.”

“Really?” Marley blinked, surprised. “Why not? I thought that she’d be all up for the shenanigans that would ensue from something like that.”

The faerie shrugged. “Don’t ask me,” she replied. “It’s the boss’s rules. She said the last time that happened, it didn’t turn out well.”

A shadow crossed Marley’s face. “Oh, it didn’t, huh?” She glowered at the faerie. “I see how it is.”

So Marley’s mere existence was an inconvenience for the host, huh?

The faerie, not recognizing the discomfort on the other girl’s face, nodded.

“Whatever plants are growing in the Garden Suite, they will continue to grow there, even after the room changes,” she explained. “So the boss stated that it would be distasteful if someone were to grow a plant like that. That’s all she said.”

Marley still felt frustrated. But Sylvia’s eyes widened.

“Oh, Dakota…” She held her hands over her heart.

“What?” Marley looked at Sylvia, confused by the swooning expression on her face. “What were you thinking?”

“Don’t you get it?” Sylvia turned and looked back at her daughter. “When you turned into a human, it crushed me. Dakota didn’t want to see that again, so she made it so that we couldn’t plant any plants that would be sentient, or else we might get them ripped away from us! Don’t you see how thoughtful that is of her?!”

Marley really doubted that Dakota’s motives should be looked at so charitably. It was way more likely that the host just didn’t want to deal with the potential headaches that would ensue.

But… she didn’t say that, because she didn’t want to crush Sylvia’s dreams.

Dakota did that enough as it was.

“Well, okay,” she said, shrugging. “Still, we need to think about what plant we are going to get, and… Wait, where did Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin go?”

She looked around the shop, and saw that the assassin was gone.

“Hey, you here?” Sylvia called out. Not that she was expecting an answer.

Meanwhile, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was strolling down the aisles, keeping an eye out. She couldn’t read any of the labels, but she had a knack for mischief, and she was motivated.

She spotted one plant that looked like it could be a lot of fun. It was small and shaped like a woman, only with tiny little needles sticking out of its green surface.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin snatched it up immediately and skipped back to the counter with her prize, presenting it to the two women.

“What… you want us to get this one?” Marley asked, looking curiously at the strange plant. “Is it a cactus of some kind?”

“It looks familiar…” Sylvia stroked her chin, wondering where she’d seen it before. “Can I get a closer look?” She reached out for the cactus, but Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin snatched it away and turned to Marley.

She smirked, and poked the other girl in the arm with it.

“Ow! Hey! What was that for!?” Marley demanded angrily. She scooted back and rubbed her arm in confusion. “That- HEY!”

She looked down at her breasts, and saw they were beginning to grow.

Which was a problem. Her breast size was already positively massive, and they were growing larger and larger.

“What the heck!?” Marley covered her chest with her hands, and her face turned scarlet.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at Marley with wondrous eyes, and her lips curled up into a smirk. She’d only meant to prank the other girl a little, give her a playful poke. But this was even better!

“Marley!” Sylvia covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh.

“Don’t laugh!” Marley wailed. “Look at me!” Her boobs had ballooned to absolutely cartoonish proportions. Her sweater was bulging at the seams, and she struggled to tug it off before it was completely ruined. This was a gift from Mary back when she was Mimi, after all!

“Sorry, sorry,” Sylvia apologized, though she didn’t sound that apologetic. “It’s not a big deal, Marley, don’t worry. Your breasts are going to be fine. I recognize the plant now. It’s used for breast rejuvenation therapy.”

“Breast rejuvenation therapy!?” No way that was a thing.

“Right. When you get poked, the cactus delivers nutrients into your body that make your breasts swell up and get sensitive. But don’t worry! It should wear off by the end of the day. …Probably.”

“PROBABLY?!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin covered her mouth with her hand and snickered silently. This was the best petty **** she could get. Of course, if she knew Nick, then she would know that he would absolutely not be okay with this. But she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.

In the meantime, he might enjoy the breast growth. Who could say?