Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never seen

Nobody else saw the flyer on the Bounty Board, because Vivian snagged it before anyone could get the chance. She only shared her plans with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who took a moment to understand, but when she did, she flashed a conspiratorial smirk and nodded in agreement.

So that was one gal on board.

As for the rest of the situation that morning…

People were actually getting pretty excited.

Of course, you wouldn’t be able to tell how excited Morgana was just by looking at her. In fact, if you did, you might start to think she was feeling a completely different emotion.

“This… this is going to be fine… it’s going to be fine, right?” Morgana paced around her bedroom, trying not to break into a cold sweat.

Dawn sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. It was quite a feat, lifting even part of her body off that “soft as a feather” mattress. She didn’t want to do it, but she was concerned for her friend. She grabbed her glasses off the nightstand and slid them on to get a better look at the other girl.

“Everything alright?” She asked with a yawn, feeling a **** urge to go back to sleep.

Morgana flinched.

“Err… yeah, I just… well…” The goth’s pale complexion turned a strawberry red and she averted her eyes shyly. She mumbled something under her breath that Dawn couldn’t hear.

“Morgana?” Dawn pressed. Normally, she would have gotten out of bed and gone over to her friend so comfort her, but her body didn’t feel like that was a very good idea at the moment. Her legs refused to leave the warmth of the comforter.

Without that physical contact, there wasn’t much to stop Morgana from slipping back out of shyness.

“W-well, it’s just… I mean…” She was starting to stammer out her indecisions, and that was never a good sign.

Dawn sighed, and **** her legs to get over it. She hopped out of bed and walked over to her frazzled roommate, and set a hand on her arm.

“You’re worried about your swimsuit, aren’t you?” Dawn had seen this coming. From the moment Morgana picked out her swimsuit, she’d suspected that the goth girl would greatly regret doing so in the morning. “There could still be enough time for you to go and pick up something modest, you know,” she pointed out

Dawn didn’t actually know when the shops in the shopping plaza would open up. Maybe they just never closed, given the nature of the show. In that case, they could go right now!

Morgana’s red eyes opened wide and she quickly shook her head. “N-NO!” She cried loudly. “That… we can’t, I just… I mean…”

Dawn frowned. “Look, if it’s about money…”

Morgana shook her head even harder. “It… it’s not about the money,” she meekly replied.

It took Dawn a second to process that. But when she did, she flashed a sly smirk as she realized what Morgana was saying.

“Oh… so that’s how it is… okay, I get it,” she giggled, shaking her head. “You little minx!”

“M-minx?” Morgana stammered, scratching her head.

“You’re a little anxious about wearing it, but you really want to, don’t you?” Dawn continued. “You WANT to wear that swimsuit! You’re just nervous!”

“Well… yeah, of course…” Morgana looked down, feeling humiliated just confirming what Dawn had suspected. “I bought it for a reason, you know.”

Dawn’s suggestion had actually been very helpful. Because it had confirmed for Morgana in that moment that for all her doubts and indecisions… she didn’t really feel that indecisive or doubtful at all, actually.

When her roommate raised the possibility of NOT wearing the swimsuit, that had crystallized in Morgana’s mind that, actually, she really, really DID want to wear the swimsuit.

And with that in mind…

Maybe Morgana shouldn’t be freaking out like this, if wearing that thing was something she actually did want to do.

Morgana took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh to calm her nerves down. When she was done, she turned to Dawn and flashed a shy smile.

“Thanks, Dawn,” she said softly. “You helped me calm down. I really appreciate your friendship.”

Dawn blinked and her ears twitched on her head. Her tail flipped behind her back with joy. “Uh, yeah, sure, no problem,” she agreed, playing with a lock of her hair. “Happy to do it.”

With a nod, Morgana swallowed her anxiety and turned towards the bathroom. “Well, uh… I’m going to go take a shower,” she said. “You know, to get prepared for this afternoon. And I need to do up my hair, too.”

Getting her twintails looking right was actually a fairly difficult process. Morgana never wore her hair up before now, so she hadn’t ever realized how hard it was to make sure that both sides received a proportional amount of hair.

It wasn’t like someone had ever written an instruction manual about stuff like that.

“Well, you have fun then,” Dawn said, fighting back a yawn as she waved off her roommate. When Morgana went to go get ready, the cat girl found herself with not a lot to do to occupy her time.

That’s when she glanced back at the bed, and felt a surge of temptation in her gut.

Well… there’s not a problem if I… right? I mean, I did just help Morgana, and it’s still pretty early in the morning.

Dawn quickly shook her head to clear those obstructive thoughts away. She was starting to wonder if she had a problem, if the first thing she thought of every morning was staying in that soft as sin bed for as long as possible.

Calm down! You’re not actually a spoiled kitten, that’s just these transformations playing mind games on you! She reminded herself.

…Conveniently forgetting that she didn’t actually have any transformations that would impact her tastes or preferences in that manner.

So much for that perfect memory of hers.

Feeling the pull of that mattress luring her back to bed with its siren song, Dawn shuddered and rushed over to the closet to throw on a change of clothes. She wasn’t taking a shower this morning, but she’d have to make it work.

Better than staying around that bed, she thought as she headed out the door.

As Dawn entered the lounge, she bumped into the last person she thought she’d see at this hour of the day.

“Oh, Gina, hey,” she said, waving awkwardly to the punk girl.

Ever since the first week where she and Gina had been partners, the two of them hadn’t really ever managed to set aside their differences and become friends. Oh, sure, she didn’t have any problems with the punk, but she didn’t have a lot in common with her, either.

They’d settled into an awkward, non-antagonistic relationship after that, and things seemed to work out okay.

Save for the fact that Gina was… kind of doing Gina things sometimes.

But this wasn’t one of those times.

The dark-haired woman looked a little distracted and uncomfortable, actually, and Dawn was curious why that was.

“Everything okay?” She asked, approaching her friend.

Gina winced. “Err… yeah, why wouldn’t things be okay?” She asked, getting so defensive that Dawn knew something was wrong.

And while her first instinct was to press the issue and try to see if she could help, she also understood that maybe that wasn’t the right call.

After all, Gina and she had their own unique issues to deal with.

“Well, okay then,” she said lamely, scratching her head. “Why are you hanging around here, by the way? Shouldn’t you be heading down to breakfast?”

Gina shook her head quickly. “Not hungry,” she replied. “…Gotta keep my beach bod ready. You know, for all the swimming I’m gonna do this afternoon!”

Dawn raised her eyebrow, now exactly following the logic in that sentiment. “…Right. Well. That’s… really something, I guess?”

She had no idea where to start with the absurdity of that. One meal wasn’t going to do anything to the punk girl’s trim figure. Gina had a body that she couldn’t help but envy. She had a very slim stomach thanks to her poor nutrition habits, and yet, her breasts were massive, and thanks to a transformation, her butt was pretty large, too.

Speaking of which…

Dawn felt a compulsion that she knew was wrong, but she also knew that Gina wouldn’t mind if she acted on it.

So she acted on it.

Her hand snapped forward and smacked the other girl on the ass when Gina turned away. Gina jumped in surprise.

“Yow! …Whoa, Dawn, didn’t expect that from you!” She turned back to her former roommate with a cheeky grin on her lips. “Pretty bold, if I do say so myself!”

Dawn’s little slap had actually scared away some of her tension, bringing her into a playful mood, much to the other girl’s relief.

“Well… what do you want me to do?” Dawn asked with a rueful shrug of her shoulders. “With that transformation of yours, it’s just the way things are, you know?”

Gina nodded thoughtfully. “Right, I almost forgot about that… well, no harm, no foul, you know how it goes, right?”

“Sure thing,” Dawn said neutrally. She felt an urge of shame inside of her, and decided the best thing to do would be to divert the conversation back to the previous topic. “So you were talking about swimming… does that mean you got Vivian’s message, then?”

“Yep,” Gina nodded, stroking her chin. “And honestly? I was a little surprised to get it,” she admitted. “I mean… a beach party? That’s not the sort of thing I ever expected we’d do, you know? I kinda expected all of us to just tool around here hanging out, as opposed to some shindig like this.”

Dawn’s ears twitched. She smelled a rat. “…Wait… Gina, you’re jealous, aren’t you?”

Gina flinched. “Eh?! Jealous?!”

Why would Dawn think she was jealous!?

“You have that party transformation,” Dawn said, leaning in close and studying the other girl’s expression intently. “That’s what’s concerning you right now, isn’t it? Thanks to that transformation, you’ve gotta plan your own party later, during your night with Nick. But you’re upset because Vivian beat you to the punch with a party of her own!”

Gina was at a loss for words. She hadn’t ever thought of it like that before. Did Dawn have a point? Was that another reason for her apprehension towards this little party, besides her inability to swim? Or could it be…

“…No, I mean… it’s not that,” she stammered, shaking her head. The impetuous whine or protest in her voice surprised her, though, and she gasped. “…I didn’t mean for it to sound like that!” She groaned, and shook her head quickly. “That just came out wrong!”

If Dawn was like Rose or Vivian, or even Kim, she might have pressed the issue with a playful smile. But she knew how sensitive Gina could be behind that tough exterior of hers, so she just nodded sympathetically.

If that’s what the other woman wanted to go with, Dawn was more than willing to play into her delusions.

Gina, sensing that patronizing aura from the other girl, wasn’t exactly pleased with things herself.

“I mean it,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s not like I would even throw a beach party myself in the first place, either! That sort of thing is totally not my style!”

“Oh, I know that,” Dawn nodded. She was pretty sure she hadn’t seen Gina go near the water even once since they got here. “I’m just saying, it’s a pity, because a beach party is pretty low-hanging fruit. So if you wanted to take an idea for a party, you know, as a last resort, that would be an easy one to plan, that’s all.”

Gina scrunched up her nose. “You know I’m not the kind of person to do that!” She huffed. “I put a lot of effort into my party planning, you know! I don’t just throw something random together at the last minute, it’s not my style!”

Dawn was pretty sure that Gina was the queen of procrastination, but she kept those thoughts to herself. It wouldn’t help the situation in the slightest.

But it did raise an interesting point.

“So… you’re saying you’ve already got a plan for what you want to do for your party, then?” She pressed.

Gina blanched. “W-well… I have the concept of a plan…”

Dawn groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Gina, you’re not running for president, you’re throwing a party. You need something a little more concrete than that.”

“I know! Shut up!” Gina huffed. “How did we even get to talking about my party, anyway?!” She demanded.

Yup, that was Dawn’s fault. She wouldn’t even bother denying it.

With a sigh and a shrug, the cat girl shook her head. “Well, it’s not a big deal,” she replied. “All we gotta do is make sure people are enjoying themselves today, right? This doesn’t have to be a competition between you and Vivian. And if you need any help with your own party planning, feel free to ask me, okay?”

She offered to help because she was that kind of girl. But she doubted Gina would actually take her up on the offer.

Gina’s wild laugh confirmed that pretty handily.

“Wait, are you serious?” She cackled, shaking her head. “Me? Ask you for help throwing a party? Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?”

Dawn turned red. “H-hey! I can plan a party, you know!”

Gina doubled over laughing. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure! Definitely, you’ll be a ton of help! Hey, doc, how about this? Need an extra pair of hands in surgery? I’d be willing to help out with whatever you need!”

Dawn’s face burned, but she understood Gina’s point. “Okay, so maybe I’m not that experienced with parties, but…”

She didn’t actually have a good conclusion to that sentence, so she just shut her mouth and tried not to look like an idiot.

Gina was still laughing, and it took her a bit to sober up. But when she finally did, she actually looked happy, which for Dawn, was definitely an improvement.

“Thanks,” Gina said, wiping her eyes. “I really needed that laugh, Dawn!”

“…Happy to help,” Dawn replied, trying not to sound bitter. She was glad the other girl’s mood had improved, she just wished that it hadn’t been at her own expense.

Before the conversation could advance, someone else walked into the lounge area.

“Oh, good morning,” a cheerful voice called.

“Hey guys.”

Dawn and Gina turned to see Carly and Marley come walking up to them. It took a moment to get past Carly’s cosplay costume.

“Whoa, uh… wow,” Dawn mumbled, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “Carly, you look…”

“What kind of costume is that?” Gina asked. “It reminds me of the one you wore on that beach challenge way back when, the first one!”

Carly wasn’t in a swimsuit this time, at least, not completely. She wore a bikini top, though, a seafoam green piece that hugged her large breasts, with horizontal white stripes and dots. If one could tear their eyes away from her massive boobs, they might bring themselves to look down her curvy midriff to the tight jeans practically spray-painted to her luscious thighs, showing off every inch of her shapely legs. A pair of strappy sandals with wedge heels helped emphasize her figure even more.

To finish off the look, Carly had used her Anime Black transformation to give herself some nice, curly orange hair that danced its way down to her back. She flicked it back over her shoulder, and let out a pleasant sigh.

“You like?” She giggled, winking at the girls. “It’s Nami. From One Piece.”

“Huh? But isn’t that a two-piece?” Gina questioned in confusion.

Marley rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed, while Carly doubled over in laughter.

“Oh, Gina, never change!” She clapped the dark-haired girl on the shoulder. “Anyway, are you guys excited for the party this afternoon? Because I know I sure am!”

Dawn and Gina shared a tense exchange. Apparently, Carly hadn’t overhead their conversation.

“Eh, it could be fun,” Gina said, showing no signs of her prior indecision and doubt, much to Dawn’s surprise.

“…Yeah, could be,” Dawn agreed with a mute nod. If Gina wanted to pretend like everything was cool, she didn’t have a problem with that.

It was the other girl’s business, anyway.

“Marley here was telling me that she wasn’t sure it would be worth it,” Carly said, elbowing her sister in the side. “And yet, she was so excited last night, looking at herself in her new swimsuit. You sly girl, you!”

“H-hey!” Marley turned red and shied away from her sister. “You don’t have to tell them!”

“Eh, what’s the big deal?” Carly laughed. “You’ll have to show ‘em all eventually this afternoon, right?” She pointed out.

“Yeah, but… so?” Marley replied like a petulant child who didn’t have any arguments. “…Oh, and you know, Dani’s going to be checking you out in your swimsuit, too.”

“Eh, well… that’s to be expected, obviously,” Carly sniffed, brushing her orange hair behind her ear in a preening manner, while standing up a little taller in a way that emphasized her chest. She actually seemed excited by the prospect, in spite of her anxious statement.

Marley just laughed and rolled her eyes.

At about that time, Morgana poked her head out of her bedroom, looking shy and anxious. She walked over to join the others in the lounge, but without making any noise.

She wanted to be part of the group, but she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself.

“Hey Morgana,” Dawn said, waving at her friend. That helped the other girl relax a little, being included gently like that. She came over and integrated herself, pulling on one of her pigtails shyly. She still wasn’t used to her new look yet.

“You excited for today?” Carly asked. “I know I am! A fun day out at the beach, and then up to the Master’s Suite for a night with Nick!”

“I’m still surprised you agreed to this whole thing,” Dawn said. “You know, nobody would fault you for wanting to spend the whole day with Nick. You didn’t have to go along with Vivian’s whims.”

Carly shrugged. “I mean, it would have been nice, having a day on the town with him. Maybe go for a hike. But there’s always next time, right? And I like parties! This way, everybody can have fun! And I’m sure we’ll get some time to ourselves at some point or another.”

Marley sighed. “I tried to tell her the same thing, Dawn,” she said, nodding sympathetically. “But you know my sister… Of course, if she was as proactive as Rose, there wouldn’t be a problem. I can’t really see her going up to the Master’s Suite on her own, though.”

“Hey! I totally would!” Carly sniffed. “Just because I’m in a relationship with Dani, that doesn’t mean I’m neglecting Nick or anything!”

Marley just shrugged and didn’t say anything. It wasn’t really her place. Even if she disagreed with her sister’s perspective. She thought it would do Carly some good to have some real one-on-one time with Nick.

In fact… it seemed kind of odd that she was conveniently avoiding that.

But it wasn’t like she was intentionally trying to duck him, right? She clearly enjoyed spending time with him, and they had a lot of fun together. The thought that she was avoiding Nick, when she was all smiles when they were together, made no sense.