Pretty girls are everywhere

Ella froze in place as she felt Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes burrowing into her. The pale girl had a sickly sweet smile on her face, like she was laughing privately at a joke nobody else had heard.

And given the fact that she was as silent as a grave, the image of her laughing sent a shiver down the other woman’s spine.

“Ella, it’s okay,” Morgana said quickly, trying to come to her aid. “We… we were just wondering, um… would you like…”

She found it difficult to get out any words, and kept looking warily at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. It seemed clear to Ella that the leather-clad woman had not been an intended part of this conversation, and now she was involved in it, things had been completely thrown off-kilter.

Unlike Morgana, though, Dawn wasn’t the kind of woman who would be thrown off by a random surprise.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin,” she said, clearing her throat to get the sharp-eared woman’s attention, “would you like to join us?”

Ella flinched, and Morgana paled. The assassin herself cocked her head to the side and looked questioningly at Dawn, obviously intrigued by what the cat girl was suggesting.

Ella didn’t even want to know what she was suggesting. She had to spend more time around the assassin than anybody else, and she didn’t feel safe around her. There was something off about the woman.

…And no, it wasn’t because of the whole “killer” thing. Ella would be quite hypocritical to condemn her for THAT.

No… Ella just couldn’t deal with someone who couldn’t talk.

But Dawn could.

Seeing the curious look on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face, Dawn became emboldened.

“Morgana and I were going to ask Ella if she wanted to make some sand art with us,” Dawn explained. “That’s when you work together with one another to draw pictures and patterns in the sand. I thought it would be a fun way to pass the time. Does that seem like something you would like to do?”

Ella thought that sounded just fine. But it was clear Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wasn’t that interested. She made an unpleasant face and her shoulders sagged, making it clear that she wasn’t exactly enthused by the idea.

“Is that a no?” Dawn asked, looking innocently at the other girl. She’d anticipated that response, in fact. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin didn’t seem like the kind of woman who held a great appreciation for art, nor did she seem like someone who would have a lot of patience for the control it would take to make something that looked nice.

Ella had no idea if Dawn really wanted to do this, or if this was some scare tactic to make Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin leave, but whatever the reason, she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin made another disappointed expression, and then looked over to Ella. For a moment, the shy girl actually felt bad. Had the other girl really just wanted to spend time with her?

Before she made up her mind whether or not she should say anything, though, the assassin’s smile had already returned, and she winked at Ella playfully. Then she flounced down the beach, over to where Nick was still talking with some of the other girls.

Like with Ella, she had no qualms about inserting herself right into the middle of the conversation, by wrapping herself around the arm that Rose wasn’t currently embracing.

It took a moment for everybody to process the sudden shift. Rose looked at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin with an expression of alarm, while Carly and Marley both tensed in surprise. But it was Marley who first extended an open hand.

“So, uh… hey, what’s up?” She asked awkwardly, trying not to look at her sister as she did so. Usually, Carly would be the one to open up to strangers, but the cosplayer was unusually silent for a change. She had a look on her face like a deer caught in the headlights, but with a quick shake of her head, she was back to her cheery self.

“…Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin! Getting your taste of Nick while you can, I see, huh?” She joked, winking at the pale girl.

The assassin winked right back at her, and threw in a silent giggle as well. Nick tried to have a good-natured laugh of his own, but he was still a bit thrown off.

“…Hello there,” Rose said, smiling as diplomatically as she could. She didn’t know the assassin girl very well, but the way she clung to Nick miffed the actress- that was her job! She was supposed to be the one hanging off his arm, and his every word! But no, the assassin girl just had to go and get physical with him just because she could!

Not that Rose was jealous or anything. At least, not of the assassin girl’s relationship with Nick. After all, he cared far more her.

But…

Doesn’t she feel any shame!? I get so burned up with embarrassment doing stuff like this sometimes! And she’s totally fine?!

Rose felt her cheeks flush. Stuff like this… it still took some getting used to, even if she was just that sort of woman. But Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin seemed to be bulletproof, as far as sexual advances went. (And maybe actual bullets, too…)

Still, she knew better than to escalate.

“We were just talking about how much fun this whole beach party was,” Rose informed the assassin, making an effort to be the bigger person and include her in the conversation. “Did you have a good time?”

“I’d say she did,” Marley laughed. “You should have seen this girl, going up against Dani like that. She’s got some moves!”

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t see the end of that game,” Nick said, recalling how he’d had to judge the sandcastle competition instead. “How did it go? Who won?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin smirked.

“Dani got beat bad,” Carly said somberly. “I actually can’t believe it. I never would have imagined we’d have someone who could do better than her when it came to sports stuff.”

Nick was actually surprised to hear that. Dani was a phenomenal athlete, and that had been before she’d gotten a massive boost to her physical strength from the transformation. And Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had still beaten her?

…He could actually kind of feel why. A glance at the slender girl’s chest revealed that her breasts had shrunk substantially. They were still a good deal larger than when she’d begun the round, but looking at them there was an obvious difference between now and this morning. Even all scrunched up against his arm like they were.

So she used her nanomachines to give herself a strength boost, all for a game of beach volleyball? How competitive is this girl? Nick didn’t want to think about the sort of environment Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin must have been raised in, to develop a competitive spirit that intense. Especially since she was “Unit 27” which meant there must have been at least 26 other trained assassins just like her.

Of course, not thinking about it meant he was now paying closer attention to something else, namely the fact that he was staring right at the woman’s breasts, and had been for a while now.

Once he realized that little fact he quickly jerked his head up to meet her eyes, and the knowing gleam he saw in them informed him that he’d been busted.

Nick’s face reddened and he quickly tried to pull away from the assassin out of reflex, but Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wasn’t about to let him get away from her that easily. She held him tight, practically digging her nails into his skin to do so, and her face burned with excitement.

“Careful, better watch your thoughts, Nick,” Carly teased, giving a laugh that sounded just a little bit ****. “Just because her emotions are written all over her face, doesn’t mean yours have to be!”

Nick blushed and pulled his gaze away to give Carly a furious stare, but the cosplayer didn’t seem bothered by it in the least. She just giggled while Marley rolled her eyes.

“Better watch what you’re saying, too,” the more responsible of the twins warned him. “Last time you got her so heated, I ended up losing my room for a couple of hours.”

Nick stared blankly at Marley, trying to make sense of what she meant. “…Huh?”

Marley gave Nick a scathing look that condemned him as the idiot he was without so many words. Then she scoffed and rolled her eyes, leaving him even more confused.

Thankfully, Rose was there to bail him out.

“Remember her transformation?” The actress offered. “The one involving her ears?”

Nick blinked. Her… ears?

He turned to look at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin again, and she batted her eyelashes innocently at him while her pointy ears wiggled up and down.

Then he gasped.

“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot!” He groaned. He would have slapped himself in the forehead if his hands weren’t currently being claimed by two very possessive women.

In light of everything that had been happening so far, it had slipped his mind that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s ears weren’t just a physical transformation. …Well, they were, but not in just a cosmetic sense.

• All the Better to Hear You With: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s ears will change to resemble the more graceful, pointed features of an elf. Along with this, her hearing will improve, so that she can take orders better; hearing Nick’s voice will cause her arousal to slowly increase during the day. [NOTE: Resets back to base with an orgasm.] (Body Modification)

That’s right, every time I talk, she gets a little more horny. And I’ve been talking a lot today. That means she’s gotta be pretty worked-up now, right?

He spared another look at her, this time intentionally avoiding her eyes. He saw that her lips were slightly parted, and that her cheeks, while normally pale, had the slightest bit of flush to them. And her chest, even reduced in size and pressed against his arm, was heaving with her faint breaths. And then there was the sweat. Her skin glistened in the sun with a brilliant sheen that definitely wasn’t the result of a punishment transformation like Kim’s.

Every sign he could make out pointed to the curly-haired woman drowning in sexual pheromones, and pumping them out like crazy in turn.

Which really wasn’t helping his current predicament, given that he was wearing a swimsuit himself, which didn’t do the best job of concealing that he had an erection. Today had been mostly nonsexual given the fun beach activities, once he’d gotten used to all the beautiful women in scanty swimsuits. But it had been some time since he’d gotten any form of relief in that regard- having to sleep in the same bed as his stepmother last night had not helped in the slightest.

And now, here he was. Sandwiched between two girls who wanted him, with a throbbing erection, while a pair of smoking hot twins were standing in front of him clad in very revealing bikinis.

This should have been any man’s dream, but given the fact that his stepmother was also here, and looking at him with those same judging eyes she always had when she checked his homework for mistakes, his enthusiasm was significantly blunted.

…And besides, what was he gonna do? Start an orgy on the beach? He’d only had sex with half the women here!

…

That didn’t even sound good in his head, now that he was thinking about it. But it’s not like his brain was fully in control of his body right now.

“Hey, I’m curious about her transformation,” Marley said suddenly, startling everybody. Nick was jostled out of his thoughts and looked at her with alarm for a moment, only to catch a quick wink from the sly woman.

Yes! She’s bailing me out! Thanks a million, Marley! I owe you!

A change in topics was exactly what the doctor ordered.

“What were you thinking?” Rose asked, catching on and trying to move things forward herself. It was hard to resist giving surreptitious glances towards Nick’s throbbing manhood, but she didn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was.

“Does Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s transformation only work when Nick is talking directly to her? Or would it work for any conversation she happened to pick up, even just eavesdropping?” Marley wondered. “And for that matter, would it work with a recording of his voice?”

Nick paled. While Marley had definitely helped by taking the focus off of his erection, he wasn’t sure he liked the direction this change in topics was going, either.

“Why… why would you ask that,” he asked seriously.

“Because it’s important to know these things,” Rose exclaimed, lightly swatting him on the chest. “Come on, aren’t you curious? It’s just like when Vivian and I experimented with how my hair growing long works. If you know the limits of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s transformation, then you’ll be aware of what will and won’t affect her. That way, you can make a more informed decision about how much you should talk around her, you get it?”

Nick looked at her in surprise. Carly and Marley looked at her in surprise.

Even Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin dropped the smug, aroused grin she’d had plastered all over her face to look at Rose in surprise.

None of them expected HER of all people to make such a suggestion.

“What?” Rose sniffed, a little ticked off. “Why are you guys looking at me like that? I’m more than just some dumb blonde, you know!”

That’s true, she was. Nick needed to give her more credit than he did sometimes.

“Sorry, Rose, you’re right,” he said, clearing his throat. “That was a little weird of me, sorry. Anyway, Marley, you’re right, we really should get a better idea of what the scope of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s transformation entails. Don’t you think?”

He looked to the woman in question, who cheerfully nodded her silent approval before removing one hand from his arm to tap her chin quizzically.

“My mom- err, Sylvia might know,” Marley suggested, quickly pushing past her little slip of the tongue. “She’s pretty smart about all these transformations and things.”

“Might be a bit of a problem with that, though,” Carly pointed out. She nodded her head down the beach, to where Dani had set up a four-square box to play. Sylvia and Nola, two people who would be in the know about transformations, were both playing, while Gina was the odd one out. And it was doubtful she’d be much help at all.

“Well, so much for that idea,” Marley sighed in exasperation.

“I’m sure there’s someone else who might be able to help us logic this out,” Rose suggested, considering asking Dawn for her input.

“Ahem.”

Nick turned to his stepmom to see Amelia, having just cleared her throat. She adjusted her glasses and looked at him pointedly with an expression that seemed to demand “just what do you think you’re doing?” as politely as possible.

It took him a second to realize what she was frustrated with, but then he got it.

“Shouldn’t we just ask Dakota?” He pointed out, surprising the other girls.

Marley frowned. “…Dakota? Would she even tell us? She’s the host, after all.”

For obvious reasons, her opinion of the woman wasn’t exactly the highest.

“I’m also not so sure…” Carly bit her lip. She didn’t hold grudges the way her sister did, but even she could tell that Dakota might not be the best person to ask about this sort of thing.

But Nick was adamant, and Rose could see that. So she begrudgingly let him go. That gave him the room to push against Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, just lightly enough to send her the message to give him some space.

She was even more **** to do it than Rose, but she let him go as well. With that settled, Nick led his entourage over to where Dakota was standing, awkwardly isolated from the rest of the girls in an exile of her own making.

Dakota looked a little surprised to see him.

“…What is it?” She asked, scrutinizing him with an almost suspicious gaze. But Nick wasn’t fazed by the slight hostility emanating from her.

For all of Dakota’s faults, he knew she wouldn’t do anything against him.

“Some of us were curious about one of the transformations,” he said, trying to test the waters to see what Dakota would allow. “I was wondering, could you tell me about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s ears, and how they work?”

Dakota looked shocked. For just a moment. Then she blinked and her expression returned to the unreadable mask he’d gotten used to.

“…I could,” she replied evenly. “But what is it you would like to know? And why ever should I tell you, when it would be so much more amusing to see you find out on your own?”

She punctuated her sentence with an amused smirk, but Nick was having none of it.

“I thought you wanted me to take on a more active participatory role?” He questioned, raising his eyebrow. “Wouldn’t it stand to reason, then, that the best thing to do would be to encourage me to get to know the transformations of the women in my harem?”

Carly whistled in approval and Marley nodded. That was a good little play on his part.

And it seemed to work, too. Dakota stroked her chin thoughtfully and nodded along with what Nick was saying, and it looked like she was actually giving it some serious thought.

“Well… I can see your point,” she acknowledged. “…I’m concerned, though, where would it end? Today, you’re trying to get to know the details of this transformation. Still, tomorrow, who knows what it could be? I’d like to help you, Nick, I really would, and I’m so happy you’re considering taking a more active role! Honestly, I am.”

He could believe that, at least. She seemed more excited than he’d seen her in quite some time. Even still, he could tell that a major “but” was coming.

“However…”

Well, that was basically a “but”.

“…If I give you the answer now, then I’d be obligated to give you the answer the next time you ask. About anyone. If not, then it would be playing favorites.”

“But you’ve already done that several times,” Marley pointed out sternly.

Dakota ignored her. Right now, no one else existed for the demented host other than the man she adored.

“…I want this game to advance fairly,” she continued. “And part of that is understanding some things are better left discovered on your own.”

Nick’s heart sunk. But it wasn’t so bad. He’d expected something like this.

Then she said something that surprised him.

“…On the other hand, the last time I let you girls experiment on your own, there were a few rules infractions that needed to be dealt with,” Dakota coldly added, sliding her piercing gaze over to Rose, who shrank back.

“Uh… yeah, sorry about that… he he…” she giggled awkwardly, scratching her longer hair.

Dakota scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I would like to avoid such events in the future. So, provisionally, I’ll answer your questions.”

Nick opened his mouth, but she placed her finger over his lips before he could get any words out.

“No need, I am already well aware,” she said with a smirk. Then she turned to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “Your transformation, my dear, is always active. It works when you hear Nick talk, even if it isn’t directly to you. However, it only applies to his voice in person. Any recording of his voice, or even hearing his voice over the phone, will not have any effect.”

She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest, tucking her cane into the crook of her shoulder. “Now, have I answered your question satisfactorily?” She asked sarcastically, in a parody of an obnoxiously unhelpful customer service agent.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded cheerfully.

“Yep, I guess you did,” Marley said.

“Okay, um, what about me?” Carly asked, suddenly looking uncertain. “About my transformation, do I have to-”

Before she could get her question out, Dakota flicked her cane through the air and loudly announced to everyone, “The results are in! Gather together, please!”

Everyone began to shake, and the beach itself began to stir. Even though the stage was but a few meters down the shore, Dakota still transported all of them there anyhow with her magic.

At least the trip wasn’t too big of a burden. But it did leave Nick a little dizzy. And Carly had never gotten a chance to ask her question.

It seemed pretty clear though that Dakota wouldn’t have answered it, whatever it was. This little gesture of embellishment and theatrics was an answer in and of itself.

Still… it was time to hear the results.