I'm a bitch, I'm a lover

It was hard to pry Nick away from the clingy talons of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin after resolving the issues between the two of them and having a deep heart to heart with the surprisingly-**** killer.

But it seemed like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin could sense that Nick needed some space, or maybe she needed some space herself. So in spite of her playfully clinging to his arm and batting her eyelashes, she eventually let him go, and he headed on back to the Fashion Suite, where Amelia was waiting for him.

She noted his expression with a raised eyebrow. “Did you do it?” She asked.

“…Did I talk to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin about… that thing?” Nick clarified. He nodded. “Yeah. I did. And I think we’re on the path to something good.” A small smile touched his lips, and Amelia gave him the smallest of relieved smiles.

“Excellent. In that case, you have a standing appointment,” she indicated towards the door. “I might chastise you under other circumstances.”

Nick nodded. Amelia had forgotten to say it, but he still got the implication. While she would have ordinarily scolded him for leaving Rose hanging, it had been unavoidable given the situation and he’d had to make a choice, especially given that the situation had only transpired as a result of his big fat mouth. (Even though his conversation- if it could be called that- with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had been a beneficial one.)

He just hoped Rose would be as understanding.

Nick swallowed and knocked on the door. This was only the second most nervous he’d been knocking on a door to one of the suites today, but that didn’t make him feel any better.

The door cracked open, and a frowning Sylvia appeared.

“Yes, Daddy?” She asked, her tone oozing judgmental sarcasm. “Did you want something?”

“…Sorry I’m late,” Nick apologized. “Something came up.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes and puffed up her cheeks, letting a long sigh escape her lips. “Well… you’re not that late, so maybe you can be forgiven…” She turned her head to look back deeper into the room. “What do you say, my girls? Can Daddy come in and make amends?”

Nick heard some rustling from deeper in the room, just past where he could see.

“…Okay!” Vivian called, laughing mirthfully from inside. “She’s ready now!”

Nick walked into the room, and what he saw made him freeze in place. Rose was standing in front of him, but it took a second for him to realize that it was Rose. Not only because of her massive breasts, which had grown in size to rival Carly’s or Gina’s, but because of her style of dress as well. Apparently not content with just having breasts as large as Gina’s, Rose had opted to mimic her style as well, wearing stylish punk attire and a cool leather jacket. Her short hair was styled playfully, giving her an edgy vibe, and her lips were curled up into a mischievous smile.

“Rose, you look… whoa,” Nick stammered, shaking his head as he scanned her body over. She looked gorgeously intimidating, dressed up like that, and she seemed to carry herself like she was made to wear it, strutting towards him.

“Just because the upgrade wore off,” she said breathily, “that doesn’t mean the original application of my All Work and Role Play transformation doesn’t still have its… uses.”

She narrowed her eyes and her lips curled up into an intimidating sneer. She really did look dangerous… momentarily.

Then she looked sweet as could be again.

“I still don’t get the wardrobe change,” Nick said. “It’s definitely not your usual style.” He wondered if Vivian had talked her into it.

“Well, it’s the Fashion Suite,” Carly pointed out. She and her sister were on the bed, watching things with amusement. “Seems boring to just wear the same thing all the time, you know.”

Rose nodded. “That was part of it,” she said, closing the distance between herself and Nick with a few quick strides. She leaned against him, and her expanded breasts pushed against his chest in a whole new way after their upgrades. “But also… I have some other motivations. My bounty sheet, for instance.”

Nick blinked. “Oh, you mean…”

“It’s one of my easier bounties,” Rose said, pulling back and letting the lingering touch of her body tease him. “Copying a style from another contestant.”

She showed him the specific criteria, while covering up the others. No sense in spoiling him just yet.

Spend One Full Day (24 consecutive hours) Wearing the Style of another Contestant (chosen at random) – 500 BP

“Chosen… at random?” Nick blinked.

“We had some time,” Sylvia said. “So Rose decided to experiment. Get used to wearing other possible random styles, to see if she liked them. This was the one she felt most uncertain about, so…”

“She wanted to go right in and do it,” Carly volunteered. “But we talked her out of it.”

“Talked her out of it?” Nick questioned. Maybe it was the fact he was still remembering the feeling of Rose’s breasts touching against him, but he was still having trouble following the conversation.

“Because of the slumber party,” Marley pointed out. “It’s got a bit of a dress code.”

“It’ll be fine,” Rose assured her. “Dakota said so, remember? As long as I don’t officially use it, I can experiment as much as I wish!”

She turned to the mirror and checked herself out. “See, I’m not exactly feeling this… I know I look great in it, but if you ask me, I’m a little bit more for sexual intimidation, not intimidation intimidation.”

Nick rolled his eyes. Rose couldn’t even pull off sexual intimidation that well.

“Thanks for the upgrades though, Vivian,” Rose said, nodding to the heiress. “You really gave me a good boost.”

“It wasn’t much,” Vivian chirped. “Just a thousand BP as some seed money.”

Vivian: 4200 BP – 1000 BP = 3200 BP

“Make sure you put it to good use,” the fashionista urged Rose, giving her a wink. “Although, I should really be telling you that, Nick…”

“Huh?” Nick was still checking Rose out in the mirror. He turned to Vivian, confused. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

Vivian snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on now, sometimes you can be such a clueless bloke” she said, shaking her head. “You should know better than that! Are you telling me you don’t remember how my transformation works? Not only do I just invest BP to make their breasts grow, but any time you touch them, I get a small return on my investment. Gotta make that line go up, after all.”

“You probably touched Dawn’s breasts a lot on your night with her, right?” Rose’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Well, I’m not going to let her outshine me.” She leaned forward, giving her boosted chest a shake. “Especially when I’ve got so much more to work with!”

“…Oh. Okay, I think I get it now,” Nick said, nodding in understanding. He couldn’t help but look at Vivian’s beaming smile out of the corner of his eye. Of course Vivian would push Rose into this. After all, if anyone in the harem is going to be competitive about this kind of thing, it’s going to be Rose. She’ll go after me with everything I’ve got, which means when I touch her, Vivian will get some interest on her investment. Pretty clever.

Nick could respect the hustle. And while he wasn’t exactly fond of being played like this, it was part of who Vivian was. Aiming to win, and profit on her victory in the process. That was what he liked about her. And Rose wasn’t complaining either.

Plus, she was appealing to his fetishes like this. Nick didn’t have a problem if Vivian wanted to earn a little bit on the side in the process.

“Still, maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss this outfit for the slumber party,” Rose continued, checking out her look in the mirror again. She smiled. “Mm… …But no, gotta stay with the traditional pajamas, if I want to make some progress there.”

Rose had no intention of losing out on going to a slumber party. She’d never attended one before, and she wanted to make sure that she had fun!

And she did have a whole closet full of pajamas (or more likely, skimpy negligees) to choose from.

Rose wasn’t the only one thinking about her wardrobe for the upcoming party. A few other girls were thinking about what they would wear as well.

Morgana and Dawn had followed Kim to the boutique in order to buy pajamas themselves.

“I’m surprised you actually need to buy some pajamas,” Morgana said, surprised. “Don’t you have a bunch of pairs?” Morgana definitely remembered seeing Dawn go to bed and wake up with a set of pajamas on every night, back when they were roommates.

In fact, last round, Dawn had spent more time in her pajamas than not, much to her embarrassment.

Dawn sighed and adjusted her glasses as she looked over the selection Kim had on display. “Well… I do still have my old pairs. But…”

One thing she’d noticed yesterday, while Nick had been on his date with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and she’d had the Arcade Suite to herself, was that her current wardrobe was a little… cumbersome.

While Dawn’s breasts were no longer the massive mountains of milk they had been under the influence of the cactus, they were no longer their original size, either. That was because Vivian had made another investment in her future, for which Dawn was very appreciative.

…With that in mind… her wardrobe certainly was not.

“All my tops are pinching now,” Dawn sighed, shaking her head. “At least, the ones that aren’t normally loose. So unless I want to be pushing against my pajama tops all night, I’ve got to buy something new, you know?”

Morgana nodded. She understood where Dawn was coming from all too well.

“What about you?” Dawn looked back at Morgana. “You’ve got pajamas. I’ve seen you in them before.”

Morgana blinked. “Oh! Yeah, I know,” she said, nodding. “I’m just window shopping right now. Plus, um… we haven’t gotten to hang out recently, so…”

“Aww!” Dawn giggled. “Morgana! You sweetheart you!”

Morgana turned red and fidgeted with her fingers. “Well, I mean… I’m making an effort, remember? To be a better friend… and a better, um… g-g-gir-girlf-f-friend to Nick, too,” she managed to stammer out. “Is-is that the right word for it? Girlfriend?”

She had never made things explicitly clear with the target of her affections just what they were. Morgana definitely had strong feelings for him- they were even stronger now than they had been back when she’d been completely obsessed with him, in fact! Now she had a much more grounded view of their relationship.

But not a specific one.

“I’ve learned it’s best to not use labels,” Dawn said with a sigh, shaking her head. “Same with you, right, Kim?”

“Hmm?” Kim perked up, and looked over from the counter. “What was that?”

“Your relationship with Nick. Would you call yourselves boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes. “That… is about as complicated a question as you could ask me, Dawn, you know that, right?”

Dawn blinked and her ears twitched. “No it’s not,” she said bluntly, shaking her head. “I could ask you how to navigate the ethical and moral issues that a doctor would be **** to navigate if a terminally-ill patient wished to end their life through assisted suicide. That was one of the most complicated questions for me to answer back in medical school, and one of many reasons I decided not to go into becoming a fully-practicing doctor.”

Euthanizing sick animals was still hard for her, but not nearly as ethically muddy or contended in court.

Kim gave Dawn a sour look. “That wasn’t what I meant and you know it,” she griped, shaking her head. “But fine, yes, you’re technically correct.”

Morgana snickered.

“Compared to that, talking about the definition of your relationship isn’t such a big deal, don’t you think?” Dawn pointed out cheekily.

“Fair enough,” Kim sighed, shaking her head. “And honestly, you’re right. It’s definitely complicated. But Nick and I… we haven’t really defined the relationship. Not seriously, anyway.”

Kim knew that Nick had strong feelings for her, and she had strong feelings for him, as well. They meant a lot to each other, and yes, a part of her wished that she had a stronger sense of the specifics of their relationship.

“…But I’m not going to make a big deal about that,” she added, shaking her head.

“Oh?” Morgana perked up, curious. She peeked out from under her witch hat and looked curiously at the underwear-clad attendant, walking over to the counter while Dawn continued to browse the shelves. She wasn’t buying anything, so she could have a conversation with Kim while her friend checked something out.

“I want… well…” Kim sighed and scratched her head. “It’s Nick, and if you have to ask me if I love him or not, well… probably yes. Something close to that. What about you?”

She didn’t even have to ask. Morgana’s eyes opened wide like saucers and she nodded her head so rapidly she nearly shook her hat off.

“I love him!” She gushed. “Absolutely, totally I love him! He’s just so… ah, so dreamy… and amazing… so sweet and kind…”

Morgana practically swooned. And Kim could see what looked like the flashing of hearts in the other girl’s eyes.

Kim sighed and shook her head, her lips curling up into an amused smirk. “Yeah, that sounds like you, Morgana.”

She remembered how overwhelmingly passionate Morgana had been when she first arrived on the island. And while the goth had mellowed out considerably since she got to know the others and make friends, her overwhelming gasps of feeling were still rather… passionate.

“It’s alright, Morgana,” Kim said, noticing how embarrassed the other girl had gotten. They were both pretty young, they had to support each other. “Sometimes I feel that way, myself. But don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Morgana blushed and gave Kim a bashful smile. She nodded her head timidly. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ve been trying to, well… you know. Be a little more composed.”

Kim tried very hard to keep a straight face, and not roll her eyes.

Before the conversation could continue, the bell over the door rang.

“Hey there, Kim. Hope I’m not late,” Dani said as she walked into the boutique. She was wearing a sleeveless tank top and her tan skin glistened with sweat; she’d come right from a workout, apparently. “Still got some time on your shift?”

Kim nodded. “A couple hours, yeah,” she said. “You wanted to buy something?”

Dani ran her fingers along her feathered cheek, and twirled a knot of her hair. “So, uh… yeah, I mean, there’s a set of pajamas I need to buy, you know?”

She looked down at her current outfit. “I don’t think sweats are gonna cut it for Gina’s dress code, you know?”

“I’m surprised you would want to come,” Dawn said, walking up to join the girls. She’d made her choice, and was ready to pay. “You never seemed like a ‘slumber party’ kind of girl.”

Dani cracked a crooked grin. “Hanging around with a bunch of girls dressed in light clothes, sleeping next to each other, playing fun little games and wrestling around? You think that’s something I would have passed up?”

Dawn giggled, while Morgana turned red. Kim smiled ruefully and shook her head, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Kim noted. “So yeah, pajamas, well… what are you after?”

Dani looked down at her arms. She’d gotten used to having these feathers over the last few days, even if they were still a bitch to shower with, but…

“Something I can wear with these,” she said, raising her arms up to Kim. “It’s a little inconvenient getting long sleeves on, you know? It chafes pretty uncomfortably.”

Kim nodded, understanding what she meant.

“I’m just glad it’s so easy for me,” Dawn said, her tail twitching behind her. “Sure, wearing one-piece outfits can be a pain, but most of the time it’s not too inconvenient to find something that will work with it.”

Dani clicked her tongue. “I think long sleeves may be out of the question for the foreseeable future,” she said glumly. “And don’t get me wrong- these feathers are awesome! But when I think about what it’ll be like when we’re finally off this crummy island…”

Dawn cringed. “Ugh… don’t remind me,” she groaned, shaking her head. Her ears bounced along with it. “I’ve been trying to ignore that. I mean, can you imagine!?”

She could just picture the stares she’d get, running her veterinary clinic with a pair of cat ears on her head. Not exactly professional. She’d probably go viral, getting mocked by teens as some kind of weirdo, most likely.

“At least you can wear a hat,” Dani rightfully pointed out. “These kind of don’t come off.” Not only were her forearms feathered, but they were sprouting from her cheeks as well. And her feathery hair bounced a lot more than it used to.

“You can’t pluck them?” Morgana asked, eyes widening.

Dani stared at her. “…Do you have any idea how much that would hurt?!”

“On the plus side, you can cosplay with Carly whenever you want,” Dawn pointed out. At least Dani didn’t have a professional career she was putting in jeopardy.

“Huh, uh… well, maybe,” Dani said, considering that for the first time. A style like this might be just what the internet was after. It was certainly worth considering, anyway.

“If we’re talking about difficulties back in the real world, let’s remember who here is going to be wearing a schoolgirl uniform for the rest of her life, even when I age into a withered old granny.”

A chill went through the room. That was its own kind of bad, for sure.

“Um, well… I’m sorry?” Morgana wished she had something she could say to soothe the other girls, but she had come out pretty good with her transformations, all things considered. She looked a little awkward, as she glanced at the other girls.

“…Well, no sense bitching about it now,” Dani said, rolling her eyes. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, Kim, how about those pajamas? Got anything in sleeveless?”

“Sure!” Kim was happy to oblige, if for no other reason than to change the awkward subject.