Hold up, pose (yeah, pose, pose (yeah), pose (I am, I am), pose, photoshoot

“Oh, Morgana! Look at you! You’re gorgeous!” Carly gushed as Morgana posed again for the camera.

“I mean it, seriously, you look phenomenal!” She continued. “The camera just adores you, and so do I! You’re so… amazing!”

With nothing really to do since it was Morgana’s turn to pose for photos, Carly had more or less taken over the role of camerawoman from Nick, even if she wasn’t actually holding the camera, and guiding Morgana with praise and advice in equal parts.

“Are-are you really sure I’m doing this right?” Morgana asked, unconvinced. All the kind words and compliments Carly was laying on her actually had the opposite effect, and were making her more embarrassed instead of comfortable.

It wasn’t her fault, she just felt that Carly was saying so much stuff to her that it couldn’t possibly all be true, could it?

“Carly, have you ever heard the term ‘Laying it on too thick’?” Nick asked her sarcastically, looking at his friend.

Carly winked back at him and flashed a shameless smile. “Not a saying I’ve ever believed in myself, Nick!” She chirped.

He sighed in exasperation and shook his head. “You know, you’re lucky you were born a woman, if you were a man and you were coming on this strong, I think you might have gotten in trouble for harassment by now.”

Carly threw back her had and laughed. “Right, you WISH!” She crowed. “And besides- I can hit on women just fine.”

She winked at him again. “Ask my girlfriend.”

Nick just rolled his eyes. To an extent, he understood why Carly was behaving the way she was. She was trying to help Morgana, and he agreed, she needed to get more comfortable.

But the excess, lavish praise wasn’t actually doing much in that regard.

“Could you maybe try with a little subtlety?” He suggested.

“I can do subtle,” she replied. “Morgana, how about you hold up your hands in front of you like a cat, and give us a big ol’ smile? …Oh, maybe they even have some cat ears you can try on!”

“Eh? Cat ears? Really?” Morgana’s eyes bulged out in surprise. She wasn’t sure if she could pull the look off, to be honest. Carly clearly seemed to think she could. And she was too embarrassed to ask Nick his opinion…

She glanced over at him and realized that she couldn’t keep using that as an excuse.

Too embarrassed?

Why?

“What… what do you think, Nick?” She asked tentatively. It took Nick a second to realize that she was looking at him.

“Huh? Uh… think about what?” He’d been so focused on adjusting the camera properly that he hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation.

“Cat ears, obviously!” Carly said.

Morgana nodded and pointed at her. “Carly said that maybe I could get cat ears, and do a little… cat pose. What do you think?” She looked at him with an expression that was equal parts reticence and expectation. “Would that… look good on me?”

Honestly, Nick wasn’t sure.

“I think it would,” he said honestly. “But it might look like you’re trying too hard. If the theme is just ‘maid’ then why not do the cat pose, but just in your outfit?”

In his opinion, the cat ears were an unnecessary embellishment.

“That’s the spirit!” Carly smacked him on the back. “This is why it’s good to have the input of the guy in question! And Morgana, you’re okay with that too, right?”

She looked over at the goth girl and Nick followed her eyes. He saw Morgana playing with her painted nails, cheeks flushed and the faintest of smiles dusting her face.

It was clear at a glance- Morgana was absolutely more comfortable with that, than going the full cat girl routine. Maybe if Dawn had been there, but right now?

“Maid it is,” Carly said. “Now, raise those hands, like little kitty-cat paws… there we go! …Yeah, that’s the perfect shot, go for it, Nick!”

Nick took the photo.

Carly wasn’t wrong.

“Now, let’s get a few more poses,” Carly said. “It’s about time we change up outfits, too… not just on the bed. We’ve used that one enough. Let’s go over here, by the curtains, and get those clothes off of you now…”

“Um!” Morgana’s eyes bulged as Carly approached the bed. She snapped her head around and looked anxiously at Nick.

It took him a second to realize why she seemed so apprehensive.

“Yeah, uh… I’ll… I’ll step outside,” he said quickly, scooting out of the door.

Carly rolled her eyes and smirked. “Come on, Morgana, it’s just your body,” she said when Nick was out of the room. “Are you really that nervous about him seeing you naked?”

“You’re not!?” Morgana squeaked.

Carly snorted. “No, of course not! In fact, I like when he looks at me. There’s a reason Exhibitionist is one of my transformation paths, you know.”

Of course, Carly wasn’t actually an exhibitionist. At least, that’s not the way SHE would categorize herself! She saw herself more as a woman who knew she looked gorgeous and didn’t care who saw it. It wasn’t the taboo nature of being caught in a compromising situation that got her going, it was the fact that people were looking at her, lusting after her, wanting to be with her.

She was desired, and she knew it, and if she so desired, she could rock the world of whoever she chose to be with!

“Exhibitionist” didn’t really cover all that. But she didn’t want to confuse the poor, flustered girl in front of her.

“How funny would it be, if we tell Nick to come in, and he walks in and we’re just standing here together, naked?” Carly tugged playfully at the ribbon on her collar.

The color drained from Morgana’s cheeks and she shook her head. She was pretty sure Carly was just messing with her, but still, she had never changed clothes quite this fast before.

Carly just watched her go with laughter on her lips, and shook her head. “Well, don’t say I didn’t try,” she teased Morgana playfully.

Morgana gave her a leery look.

“Carly? Can I ask you something?” She asked timidly as she slipped on her loaned maid costume for the photoshoot.

“Sure thing!” Carly could feel those Veteran Experience sensations tugging at her again. She flopped down on the couch and stretched out. “I’m an open book, ask me whatever you want!” She said cheerfully.

Morgana looked hesitantly at her and bit her lip.

“Then… can you tell me… did you really come with me on my date with Nick today because you want to get him to pay more attention to you?” Morgana asked. “That doesn’t seem… all that necessary, really… I mean…”

From where Morgana was standing, Nick was already giving Carly plenty of attention. She had caught his eyes glancing towards her lustfully on more than one occasion, even when she had been the one posing in front of him!

It had dealt more than a few blows to her self-esteem, but she wasn’t bitter or anything. Just uneasy and doubtful.

Carly looked at Morgana and saw the hesitance and doubt written all over the girl’s face. Morgana really was an expressive woman. No wonder everyone called her “cute” when her feelings oozed out of her like Dani’s sweat after a nice workout!

“Morgana, it’s not just about that,” she said, leaning forward. “I mean, am I happy that Nick’s paying attention to me? Sure thing I am! But… I’m not just doing it for me. I want to keep myself in his mind as much as I can, but I also want to help you out,” she explained.

Morgana breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good… I-I was afraid that I was getting in your way, you know? Kind of…”

While obviously she couldn’t distract Nick from paying attention to Carly, the way she saw it the two of them would probably be screwing right now if she wasn’t with them.

So to that end, she kind of felt like an obstacle.

Carly burst out laughing. “Wait, what!? Are you kidding me? Morgana! Getting in your way? Come on, girl, this is YOUR night with him! If anyone’s getting in the way, it’s me.”

She patted herself on the chest. “Not that I am, of course,” she added. “Because I’m here to help, after all!”

“R-right,” Morgana said with an awkward laugh. “Here to help…”

She knew it was true, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel really embarrassed and awkward about all of this stuff.

“Of course, it’s also good for me if I help you become sexier,” Carly continued. “So I can’t say I’m doing this for purely altruistic reasons…”

“W-wait, what!?” Morgana screeched. She looked at Carly with alarm. “How… how is it good for you?” She questioned.

Carly shrugged. “I mean, think about it, girl. If you two get on great, and you get more comfortable with your body, then the three of us can do plenty of fun stuff together!” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the other girl, and Morgana’s face turned red as a rose.

“I… th-that…”

Morgana knew that Carly was probably the sexiest woman on the island. She had known that even BEFORE Carly had given her a crash course in how to appeal to a guy like Nick.

So when she was presented with the other woman’s sexuality in such a blatant way, it became a little tricky for her to keep a straight face.

As for Carly, she wasn’t usually this lecherous. In the back of her mind, she knew that the lustful feelings she was having were because of Morgana’s Sotto Voce transformation.

But that was fine with her.

She got to help out a friend, and feel nice and horny in the process. What was there to be bothered by, when you really thought about it?

But she kept her mouth shut because she suspected Morgana probably wouldn’t be too appreciative of her saying anything about that.

“So… I’m done changing,” Morgana said, turning and looking towards the door as she finished tying the last ribbons on her costume. “Should we go get Nick…?”

“Actually, before that, I had something I wanted to ask you,” Carly said, standing up and walking over to Morgana. The goth gasped and stiffened up.

“Y-yes?” She asked timidly.

Carly’s gaze was intense, and focused, and devoted. Morgana wasn’t sure how to properly respond to it, if she was being honest.

“It’s about that dream of yours last night,” Carly said.

Morgana went pale. After such a hectic morning and all the focus on looking sexy and appealing for the photoshoot, those thoughts had completely left her mind. But now that Carly had brought it up, it was all she could think about!

“That-! I… I don’t, um…” Morgana chewed anxiously on her lip and looked at Carly, not sure what to say to the other girl. Carly may have been smiling, but unlike Morgana, she was actually quite guarded with her emotions when she wanted to be.

For someone as socially-inept as Morgana, it was impossible to tell if the other girl was being truly sincere, or if she was just playing around with her again.

“I think I can help you fulfill that fantasy for Nick,” Carly said honestly. “No, I… I want to be the one to help you, Morgana.”

Morgana regarded her with suspicion. She didn’t like doing that at all, but she just couldn’t believe Carly was really being honest with her.

“R-really?” She asked hesitantly. “But… why?”

“Because you’re a sweet girl, and I want to help you,” Carly explained. She reached towards Morgana for a moment then pulled back, not wanting to risk touching her.

Not yet, anyway.

“You’re having enough trouble with a simple photoshoot, right?” She pointed out. “Are you sure you’ll have the confidence to go full BDSM on somebody?”

Morgana bit her lip. “I… I can try,” she said. “Remember my transformation I just got? I can turn into Nick’s perfect fantasy if I want to!”

It was why she’d been so confident and direct earlier that morning with Rose. But now that was WELL in the distance.

But she was bluffing, and she knew Carly knew it. After all, Morgana hadn’t practiced nearly enough with her transformation to put herself in a situation like that and hope for the best. She could turn into some psychotic dominatrix for all she knew!

Morgana waited for Carly to say something, for the other girl to push the issue. She squirmed, ready to give into peer pressure any second now.

But… Carly didn’t do anything like that.

She just smiled.

“Well… if that’s how you feel, I’m not going to force you,” she said, holding up her hands. “I just thought it might be better if you were with someone you felt more comfortable around, you know? But if I’m going to stress you out, we can just focus on taking photos.”

“No!” Morgana blurted out. Her eyes were wide. “I… I mean…”

Why had she objected? She wasn’t even totally sure herself. But seeing Carly’s expression like that had left her feeling…

Murky.

“…I think… I think you’re right,” she admitted, catching Carly by surprise.

“Eh? Really?” Carly raised her eyebrows.

Morgana bit her lip and nodded. “This morning, when Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin volunteered to play out that scenario with me, I should have been flattered. Or maybe, um, terrified? But… I wasn’t.”

Carly resisted the urge to laugh and gave Morgana an encouraging nod.

Morgana looked down. “The truth is… I thought for a moment… that I wouldn’t be able to do it. The dream last night, it was confusing and intense, but when I woke up, I just felt so embarrassed, you know? …Well, maybe you don’t…”

Honestly, Morgana couldn’t imagine Carly getting embarrassed about anything.

“Sylvia… she helped me get more comfortable with the idea, but… then Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was right in front of me, and with the reality of the situation ready to go, I… I realized that I wasn’t ready,” Morgana admitted, looking sheepishly at the other woman. “I could barely handle a threesome with Mary, and I needed to drink her milk for that. Sharing Nick with another woman… especially someone who loves him so totally like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin does… it made me uneasy.”

Carly, on the other hand…

“But you… don’t.”

“Really?” Carly was surprised to hear that. “Because I’ve been told by a lot of women that they find me intimidating.”

It was the sad truth of living Carly’s life. All through high school girls had given her dirty looks and talked about her behind her back. Shockingly, even college hadn’t been that different. It wasn’t until she broke out into the cosplaying community that she really started to make genuine female friends, because the other women she was meeting were just as gorgeous and attractive as she was. So none of them had any reason to be insecure around her.

Morgana?

Morgana was definitely insecure. Carly could see it written all over the poor girl’s face!

But…

There was a different between Morgana and all the catty bitches that Carly had known throughout her school years.

They had all been content to talk dirty about her and give her contemptuous looks. Not one of them had tried to get close to her and see that underneath all that, she was just a normal human being like the rest of them.

Morgana wasn’t letting her insecurity get the better of her. She knew that Carly was prettier, sexier, and more experienced than her, but she was still offering to share this moment with Carly.

And one look into her eyes told Carly why.

Because Morgana was trying to change.

She didn’t want to sit at the kids table her whole life. She didn’t want to be only put in the “Cute” box. She didn’t want to be held back by her insecurity.

Morgana wanted to be cute, confident, and sexy, just like Carly.

And she wouldn’t be able to achieve that if she just ran away from her.

So even though it was incredibly embarrassing, Morgana pushed forward, and focused her efforts on being the best she could be.

“I think that if I, um… have your support and encouragement, then… maybe that will end up working out, after all!” Morgana said finally, looking deeply into Carly’s eyes. It was a long shot, but she was determined to make it work. “If I can, um… dominate someone as amazing as you… maybe that will help with my confidence, too!”

Carly couldn’t help but laugh at the idea.

“You know?” She giggled. “Maybe it will!”

It was worth a shot, anyway.

With that settled, Morgana went to go let Nick back inside. He didn’t know what had transpired between the two girls or why it had taken so long for Morgana to get changed, but they looked so much more relaxed around one another that he wasn’t going to question it.

He would just be happy for the both of them.

“Alright!” Carly cheered. “Now, let’s get this photoshoot started for real, right, Morgana?” She winked at her friend.

The next hour flew by in a bit of a blur for Nick. Carly and Morgana went through outfit after outfit, and posed in all different parts of the room.

The windowsill…

Leaning against the dresser…

Even looking up at him from the ground, which was quite a stimulating visual, to say the least.

Carly was incredibly prolific herself, posing for several photos even after Morgana stopped to take a break. She was invigorated, like she’d gotten her second wind from somewhere, and Nick was happy to indulge her.

And by the end, even Morgana chose an additional pic or two for herself as well, much to Nick’s appreciation.

He was proud of them both, but especially proud of Morgana for putting herself out there like this.

He knew, from experience, how shy she could be, and he was glad to see her branching out and trying her best to look sexy. And by the end, she really did end up looking a lot more confident in herself than she had when this all started. She practically seemed like a different person!

“Way to go, Morgana!” Carly gave her high fives with both hands. “These are amazing! You did such a good job!”

“Yeah!” Morgana beamed at her. “I really, uh…”

Her voice trailed off as she felt the warmness of her hands, and realized too late what had just happened. Carly realized it in the same moment, and their eyes met. The color drained from their faces and they both gasped.