Where they deal one another from the bottom of a deck of promises

Nick didn’t know what to say. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was looking at him with a look that he’d seldom seen from her before- at least, not aimed at him. Whenever the mute assassin looked at him, it was usually a playful and adoring look, with a smile loaded with sweetness or mischief (or usually both) and not… this sort of expression.

A frown.

It immediately made him feel like he had done something wrong. That was his kneejerk response in most situations. But once he had time to process and breathe, and separate his concerns from what was in front of him, he realized how foolish that appeared to be.

Nick took a deep breath and calmed himself down, and then smiled. Today had gone well so far. He didn’t see and reason why that had to stop now. And Carly, who was just as concerned as he was, felt the same way, and decided better than to push things. She glanced over at Nick, and decided to follow his lead, smiling along with him.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s serious eyes slid from Nick, then to Carly, then back to Nick again, then back to Carly. If it were anyone else, Nick would have gotten the impression that she was trying to come up with something to say, but, well, it was Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin he was dealing with.

She couldn’t talk.

Which put him in a bit of an awkward position.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted her politely. “How are you doing?”

The assassin’s eyes jumped to him, and she stared at him for a while in silence. Then, slowly, she nodded her head, and the faintest flicker of a smile ghosted across her lips.

That was a good sign… right?

Honestly, Nick didn’t know. But he knew better than to push his luck, at least, and reflected the smile back at her.

“I love your outfit,” Carly tried. Nick wondered if it was better to rely on her support. He knew how personable Carly could be. “It’s really cute!”

Carly wasn’t just paying her an empty compliment, either. Even Nick could see that the frilly black skirt the assassin was wearing went well with her hot pink top and dark tights. It was a mix of her fondness for dangerous, threatening black with her recent embracing of bimbo pinks. It suited her perfectly, although it might have looked better if she was wearing a bright smile along with it.

The assassin nodded slowly, swinging her head around and taking in Carly this time. Her expression was impossible to read. As she kept staring at the other girl, Nick realized the flaw in his plan. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had a bad habit of giving into her jealousy where other women were involved.

This was a perfect example of that. If they weren’t careful, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin might end up doing something that they would all regret.

Especially because Carly was radiating sex right now. Not having had a chance to clean herself up, her skirt was still stained in her juices and while neither of them cared that much about the smell (or even really noticed it) anyone on the outside would immediately be able to tell.

And given how Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin felt about him having sex, that wasn’t the best thing.

I just hope she doesn’t get upset. I’m trying to make everybody happy, you know! Nick fought as hard as he could to keep the worry off of his face. He knew that the assassin could be possessive, if there was only some way he could help them all get along…

When she reached into her purse, Nick tensed. His eyes flickered over to Carly for a second, and he heard her breath hitch. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin definitely couldn’t have missed that response, either.

Then, she drew her hand out of the purse, and they both saw… she was holding a card. A tiny little white slip of cardstock, a little bigger than a business card. Like a flashcard, maybe, for studying. That was the first thought Nick had when he saw it.

She showed it to the both of them, and Nick realized there was something written on it, in handwriting way too neat to belong to the all but illiterate assassin.

HELLO. WOULD YOU PLEASE BE MY FRIEND?

Nick took a second to read the card over again. He read it two more times, just to be sure, before turning and looking incredulously at Carly. She seemed just as stunned as he felt.

They shared a look, and then Carly turned to the assassin. She bit down tightly on her lip and shifted uncomfortably in her skirt. For the first time since Nick had met her, she averted her eyes, almost like she was shy or embarrassed.

Wait… so she’s… asking if Carly can be her friend? Nick wondered. Carly was the one who she’d given the card to, after all. And she was the one who Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes kept returning to, before she shot furtive looks in his direction.

This whole thing was way too complicated for him. He looked to Carly to see if she could make any sense of this, but Carly was just staring at the card questioningly.

Finally, she raised her head and looked at the other girl. When their eyes met, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin braced herself, like she was preparing for a fight.

Well, maybe that was how she treated her friends…

“…You want to be my friend?” Carly asked her seriously.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes flashed, and she swiftly nodded her head. Then her gaze flickered over to Nick for a second, which was enough for Carly to figure out what she was suggesting to them.

“And Nick, too, you want to be his friend? Well, well, that’s a surprise.” Carly cracked a smile and glanced at Nick as well. “I’d have thought you’d want a little bit more than friendship from him,” she laughed, shaking her head.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s expression turned from neutral to irritated as her lips cast down into a scowl.

“Carly, don’t instigate,” Nick begged. He knew that she was just being playful as always, but that didn’t go over well with everybody.

“I’m not,” Carly said, holding up her hands. “Hey, look, as far as I’m concerned, you and I are already friends, you know?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face softened into a surprised look. Like she didn’t expect Carly to say something that blunt.

Carly shrugged. “I mean… you and Dani are close, right? Plus, there’s all that stuff we did together, when she and I were teaching you, right?”

Nick swung his head around and looked at Carly for a moment, stunned. “Wait, what exactly are you talking about, here?” He asked.

Carly wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” She teased him.

Yeah, of course he would, that’s why he asked. But he didn’t push the matter. Instead, he returned their focus to the actual issue at hand.

“Well, there you have it,” he said to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “It sounds to me like Carly’s perfectly fine with being your friend.”

“More than fine!” Carly chirped. “I’m excited! I think you and I will be great friends!”

Nick was a little concerned, though. He didn’t anticipate a woman like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin to make such a direct, blunt plea for friendship. Especially going to the length of getting someone else to write it out on a card.

“So, what brought this on, anyway? Why the sudden wish for friendship?” Carly bluntly asked the question that Nick had been bouncing around in his head.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s reaction could only be interpreted by Nick as feline. Like a startled cat, her body jerked back and her spine pushed out, and she tensed. She looked swiftly from Nick to Carly, and then shook her head firmly.

The pinched scowl her lips made was a firm declaration that she had no intention of talking about this stuff.

…Not that she could actually talk, of course. But that wasn’t the issue.

“Well, hey, if it’s private, no need to worry,” Carly said. She draped her arm around Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s shoulders and pulled her in for a sideways hug, making sure not to actually touch the assassin’s skin with her own, just to be completely safe. “I’m always happy to make new friends, you know!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin recoiled, jerking away from her. She quickly brushed down her skirt, which had gotten a bit of Carly’s fluids on it. Nick couldn’t really blame her for having a reaction like that, if he was being honest. Even Carly seemed to realize that maybe she’d gone a little too far, and she laughed shyly.

“Sorry,” the other girl apologized. “I’ll make sure to be a little less, uh… handsy with you, sound like a plan?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin gave her a wary look, and then slowly nodded her head. Nick figured that was probably the best that he could hope for.

But he still was curious- just who had helped Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin by making her those cards?

“EH!?”

A surprised gasp from behind them reminded Nick of whose date this was actually supposed to be. He turned around and saw the confused face of Morgana, dressed in fresh clothes and looking like she’d just stepped out of the shower. Her hair was barely dry, and her clothes were sticking to her a little, but the most notable thing he saw was the look of surprise on her face, and her wide, red eyes.

Nick couldn’t blame her for looking so startled, if he was being honest.

“Oh, hey Morgana!” Carly greeted her smoothly, far less shaken than Nick. She was used to dealing with surprises on a regular basis, so she didn’t have to worry. “Nice outfit, by the way!”

Morgana was back in her usual goth clothing. Her hair was down and she had her witch hat back on, along with a nice black blouse and black jeans to go along with her Gothicc transformation.

“Um, th-thank you…” Morgana bit her lip timidly, not even looking at Carly as she responded to the other girl’s statement. Her focus was on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who was looking firmly at her.

Morgana gulped.

Nick thought quick about a way to salvage this situation, but he couldn’t come up with anything. “This, uh… Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was just-”

Before he could say the wrong thing and stick his foot in his mouth, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stepped forward and looked the other girl firmly in the eye.

Morgana went completely stiff.

Then the assassin took out an identical card to the one she’d given Carly, and handed it to Morgana before she could reject it.

“Eh… what?” Morgana looked down at the card slipped into her fingers, stupefied. She raised her head and looked questioningly at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who stared firmly back at her in response.

“You… you want to be… friends?” Morgana squeaked, not sure what to make of the request written on the card. She looked questioningly over to Nick, but he couldn’t really save her from the other girl. Then she turned to Carly next.

Carly just gave her an encouraging nod. She was always interested in everybody getting along, after all, and thought that Morgana and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin would make great friends after they set aside their differences!

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin grabbed Morgana by the hands and squeezed, hard. Morgana stiffened and looked at her in surprise. The pleading expression on the other girl’s face… it was clear she was taking this seriously.

Morgana wasn’t good with pressure. Usually, she folded to pressure immediately. But in certain circumstances, she was so intimidated by the person pressuring her that she would have an even stronger reaction, and reject them entirely.

Either way, the response building up from her wasn’t a good one, and Nick didn’t know if he liked what he was seeing. He bit his lip nervously and looked at the two girls, one as still as a statue and the other a shivering mess.

Why is she looking so seriously at me? That’s what Morgana didn’t understand. It’s practically like she’s begging!

But why would anyone want to be friends with her this badly? That was the part that Morgana’s low self-esteem wasn’t allowing her to work out.

Then she remembered her last interaction with the mute assassin, and how serious she had been at the time. The interaction that had sent shivers down her spine, and made her terrified.

Morgana swallowed, then let out a deep, long exhale as she worked out her feelings properly. She had to remember that the issue she was facing right now, it wasn’t a problem for her. She could handle this, she just needed to be herself! She had Carly and Nick in her corner, after all.

“…Is this about… that thing I talked about before?” Morgana asked the assassin. “About that… dream, that I had?”

“Oh, really?” Carly blinked. “You talked with her about that?”

“Well, uh… she… she was there when I was talking about it, with, um, the others, and she overheard,” Morgana stammered out. “It seemed like… she really wanted me to let her take part. And, you know, be, um… disciplined, I guess.”

She looked uneasily at the assassin, and saw the look of determination in the other girl’s eyes. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded her head swiftly.

Apparently, her feelings hadn’t changed.

“Is that why you want to be my friend, then?” Morgana asked. “So I’ll… agree to do this with you? Is that it?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin immediately let go of her hands and stepped back.

“No, Morgana, I don’t think that’s it,” Carly interjected, reading the other girl’s body language quickly. She shook her head. “She gave one of those cards to me, too.”

“Oh, she… she did?” Morgana looked at the card in Carly’s hand, and then to Carly. Then her eyes moved to Nick.

“Yeah, I think Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin really does just want to be friends with everybody, Morgana,” Nick said. He looked at the mute assassin. “Is that right?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin swiftly nodded her head.

“I mean, she wouldn’t make all these cards otherwise, right?” Carly pointed out. “Who did make you these cards, anyway?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin glanced at Carly for a second.

“She can’t tell you, remember?” Nick reminded her. “But if I had to guess…”

Only one person on the island came to mind who would think up a clumsy idea like this one for making friends with people.

“Did Vivian help you with these?” He asked.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened slightly, and she jerked her head up and down in a quick nod.

“Well, I guess that makes sense,” Carly conceded with a shrug. “It does seem like the sort of thing that a girl like her would come up with.”

“I think that’s sweet!” Morgana gushed. “So Vivian’s helping you make friends? Oh my gosh!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s sharp ears twitched, and her cheeks turned slightly pink. She pouted at the other girl, and then her eyes flickered over to Nick with a sharp gleam in them, and she narrowed them as well.

It was almost like she was trying to tell him that she didn’t need anyone’s help when it came to making friends.

For obvious reasons, Nick didn’t exactly believe her. But he was just happy that she seemed to be working on getting along with other people.

“Well, like Carly said, she and I are happy to be your friends, if that’s what you want,” Nick said, giving her a comforting smile.

“I think she wants a little more than friendship with you, though, Nick,” Carly pointed out again. “Just saying.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s gaze turned smoldering as she kept staring at Nick, and Nick had the feeling that Carly was probably right.

“I also think we could be good friends!” Morgana suddenly blurted out, surprising everybody.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at her for a moment and raised her eyebrow. She stared suspiciously at the other girl, and cocked her head to the side.

Morgana didn’t back down.

“I mean it,” she said insistently. “I really think we could get along! I mean… I know we haven’t really talked at all… well, I mean, you can’t talk to anybody, so, uh… …But that doesn’t matter, we can definitely be friends!”

Nick smiled. He was glad that not only was Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin trying to make friends, but that Morgana was trying to come out of her shell and make friends with people, too, even people that she clearly wasn’t comfortable with.

It was growth for both of them, and he was in total support of it.

“But that still doesn’t solve the original question, though,” Carly pointed out, earning her looks from the others.

“What question?” Nick asked, not sure what she was talking about.

Carly shrugged and gestured to Morgana and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “Well, are we bringing those two into this thing, or not?” She asked. “I mean, it’s already going to be pretty crowded in the Master’s Suite. Is Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin going to be joining us up there tonight or not?”

Nick didn’t know what to say. But he did know that if he wanted to follow Echo’s expectations, and the expectations that the other girls had for him, then he had to be more open to spending time with multiple women at once.

So, if it was up to him, he’d say yes.

But… it wasn’t up to him.

Nick turned to Morgana. “What do you think?” He asked her. “If you want her to join in, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s up to you.”

“Um… th-that’s…”

Morgana looked uneasily at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. When it came to making friends with the other girl, she was totally in support of that.

But having sex with her?

Morgana wasn’t sure she was ready to go THAT far, yet. Especially the sort of sex that her dream was encouraging her to have.