Imitation Avocado

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Welcome! Be aware that this story contains adult content. If you're under 18 or that's not your cup of tea, please close the game now. Choices marked with ''(❤︎)'' lead to erotic content involving the player. There is always an option to decline, and you will never be penalized for taking it. The player is presumed to be potentially interested in people of all genders -- this may or may not change in future versions. This is currently a very rough draft and many parts are unfinished, but I hope you enjoy it! <<link 'To start, select your pronouns.'>> <<pronouns>> <</link>> //By default, the pronouns are she/her.// Then choose a first name: <<textbox "$name" $name>> \ <<button "Confirm">> <<set $name to $name.trim()>> <<if $name is "">> <<replace "#name-error">>Please enter a name!<</replace>> <<else>> <<goto "Intro 1">> <</if>> <</button>>    \ <span id="name-error"></span>

/* Any variables that must be set up in advance go here! */ <<set $bar to "L'Accord">> <<set $name to "Kayes">> /* All-purpose "need a bit of extra text" variable */ <<set $extraText to "none">> /* List of extra text phrases: "Leaf 2", "fast", "slow", "Leaf 3 Kiss", "Leaf 3 Loyal"*/ <<set $test to 0>> /* Sex-related variables; most true by default, in order */ /* Did player have sex with Leaf? */ <<set $fuckLeaf to true>> /* Did player agree to let the bodyguards fuck Diana? */ <<set $fuckDiana to true>> /* Did they take their chance to kiss the body guards? */ <<set $smoochGuards to true>> /* Mercury's fight to sex route */ <<set $fuckMerc to true>> /* Did player help test things on Cyrill? */ <<set $testCyrill to true>> /* Optix seduction variables */ <<set $oEyes to "bright pink">> <<set $oHair to "white">> <<set $oClothes to "charcoal suit">> /* And did they actually go for Optix? */ <<set $fuckOptix to true>> /* Did player have sex with Elia? */ <<set $fuckElia to true>> /* Did the player choose to team up and punish brat Lucifer? */ <<set $fuckLucifer to false>> /* This is the one place I think it makes more sense to default to no (not that it matters). He and Merc have a WEIRD dynamic. */

From any of the tallest buildings in the City, you could follow the line of sunset down the streets of the poorer districts in the east and watch the place come alive, one flickering sign and mismatched streetlight at a time. To the west, the wealthier districts' mansions and towers stood tall, long since lit up almost bright as day with a steady, clean white glow. By the time the few visible stars came out overhead, they were outnumbered six to one by the darting firefly glows of low-orbit crafts in every color man could make. Surrounded by a scattering of public parks was the City's beating heart, the commerce district that ran north to south and joined the two disparate halves together. A steady flow of people pumped through at all hours, shifting as some markets closed down and others came alive with the night. It was a view most residents would never have the opportunity to see. You remembered the few times you'd had the chance fondly, now and then, when you finished your prep for the dinner rush early and managed to catch a little slice of sunset as you stepped out to flick on your sign. The letters lit up with no delay -- you paid good money for the place and thus far, you've been able to keep it well-maintained. You stood in the warm orange glow for a moment, sizing up the evening crowd. It was busy tonight. You would probably be packed full within the next hour, which was great for your restaurant and even better for your secondary job. Everyone needed food, but they'd pay a lot more for useful information, and you were happy to be able serve up both. With a smile and a welcoming nod to the few faces glancing your way, you ducked back inside and took up your place behind counter. Five black-upholstered seats spanned the other side, and half a dozen tables took up the rest of the space. You kept the place minimalist but classy. The walls were paneled with a nice synthetic wood, and until you served up food, the only bright colors were from a few paintings of the city lights. A tiny apartment took up the second floor, making for the shortest commute of your life. The best part of the building was the private room, its entrance near invisible on a blank stretch of wall across from the door. You'd soundproofed it, and then you'd wired it floor to ceiling with cameras and mics so you never missed a single snippet of useful conversation. The door slid open, letting in your first customers of the night. You greeted them and tied on your apron, the dark fabric neatly lettered the same as the sign outside: <<textbox "$bar" $bar>> \ <<button "Confirm">> <<set $bar to $bar.trim()>> <<if $bar is "">> <<replace "#name-error">>Please enter a name!<</replace>> <<else>> <<goto "Confirmation Page">> <</if>> <</button>>    \ <span id="name-error"></span>

$bar quickly moves from empty to bustling. Halfway through the night was the sweet spot, when you'd fallen into the rhythm of your work but weren't starting to flag yet. It was a steady two-step of orders in and orders out, as you fluidly swapped from prep to cooking to serving, all while keeping an ear out for any valuable chatter. Your hands were always sure on your knives, but kitchen work made a great excuse for some interesting scars that saw the light when you cuffed up your sleeves. Most people either didn't notice or didn't care, but every now and then a customer was bold enough to ask questions. Usually it was someone by themselves, sitting at the counter so they could watch you work and chat a little. If they were your type, that question was the first step to taking them to bed. You could just hold out a hand close enough for them to touch; if they reached out to trail fingertips next to one of the more dramatic marks, they were all but a sure thing. A steady stream of interested, attractive people was the part of the job that was the least profitable, but often the most personally satisfying. Giving customers a night to remember wasn't bad for either part of your business. Whether or not you'd indulge them a second time, many would return for the pleasure of trying, and you'd gotten some fascinating tidbits from pillow talk. Sometimes their name and what they'd done with you alone was more than enough to turn a profit. Sometimes the night itself was worth more than any information you could garner from it. Those were the ones that kept you going even as you got tired, helped you maintain your smile and your easy banter as you dished out endless meals. It had been a while, but that usually meant something amazing was right around the corner. The anticipation sizzled in your gut every time the door opened and your charm was running so strong practically half your customers were following your every move. You could have your pick of so many tempting options, but some gut feeling encouraged you to hold on a little longer even as the night wore on and the crowd started to thin out. That stubborn certainty told you someone special was coming, and you hadn't gotten this far by ignoring your instincts. [[So you kept working.|Leaf 1-1]] /* [[Test Passage]] */ /* Uncomment this if you want, I'm not the boss of you :) */

The door chime was faint over the sound of three different pans on the stove, but you never missed it. You couldn't take your eyes off your work, but you spared a second to raise a hand and call out a welcome to whoever had stepped inside. Whoever it was had settled in at the bar, but if they were watching you, they weren't doing it intently enough to set your hair on end. With three meals plated up, you spared a quick glance and found your new customer was a man in a slightly rumpled suit. Looked like the guy had been through a long day: he had both arms resting on the counter and was slumped forward with a wave of brown hair falling down to hide most of his face. As you served the food and looped back toward the kitchen, you took in the view from the other side. He was in good shape, broad-shouldered with what looked like a surprisingly lush ass peeking out from under his suit jacket. He was probably far too tired, but he had definitely caught your interest[ If doing a player is/isn't interested, the split would be here]. You propped yourself up on the other side of the counter and turned your smile up a notch before getting his attention. "Good evening there, sir, and thanks for your patience. What can I do for you tonight?" He startled a bit, then brushed his hair back with one large hand and looked up at you with some of the nicest modded green eyes you'd ever seen. They were luminous even with the bright lights from the kitchen behind you shining on his face, and they were scanning over your body in a way that was very, very promising. Still, flattering as it was, you were trying to run a business. "A drink to start with, maybe?" The verbal nudge seemed to be enough to snap him back to awareness of where he was and what he was doing, at least enough to shift his pretty eyes from you to the menu. "I could certainly use one," he said, shooting you a lopsided smile. Unfortunately, the cocktail list alone seems to be too much for him to handle. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to pick something for me? Sweet, not too strong?" He knew how to use his eyes for maximum effect, looking up at you through dark lashes with the perfect hint of a sheepish smile. You might have minded, with someone else, but he was so damn charming despite barely looking half-awake that you only nodded and turned to fix him a drink. It wasn't normally served with a tiny skewer of candied fruit chunks draped across the top, but seemed to have somehow acquired one. The tiny deception got you exactly what you wanted to see as he delicately tugged a piece free with his teeth and licked the sugar off his lips after. He picked the second chunk free with his hand as he studied the menu. You debated whether or not he was actively trying to seduce you, but the casual way he sucked the tip of his index finger into his mouth was kicking the process off to a nice start regardless of his intent. Seconds later, you caught the smallest flicker of a glance up to check if you were looking and a completely unrepentant smile when he realized he'd been caught. "I shouldn't drink too much on an empty stomach if I don't want to get myself in trouble, huh?" He went for the final bit of fruit with lips and tongue and some heated eye contact. It was excessive enough to tip you from interested to suspicious, but you did your best to let only the former shine through. Still, better to cool the situation down a bit, until you could figure out what, if anything, he was up to. You shifted back half a step and said, "Let me know when you're ready to order. No rush." There was always something to be cleaned in a restaurant as popular as yours, so it was never hard to look busy. Bussing tables also gave you a chance to scan the room and make sure that he hadn't been a distraction for someone else. As far as you could tell, nothing was amiss. By the time he caught your eye to place his order, he seemed to have realized he'd come on too strong and fell back on being plain old charming. Over the next hour, he kept a stream of undemanding chatter through his meal and on long past the point where an uneaten bite or two was a plausible reason for him to be sticking around. [[You couldn't really bring yourself to mind the eye candy.|Leaf 1-2]]

?He <<verb 'looks' 'look'>> like ?they<<verb "'s" "'re">> a formidible ?person. Whatever you want, ?Sir. (?madam, ?ser) If you would please follow me, ?sir. Hey there, boss?man. Hey there, boss-?man. Player's name is ?Mx. $name. Restaurant's name is $bar. --- ?They<<verb "'s" "'re">> more alert than I would expect from your average restaurant worker -- ?they kept the door in ?their line of sight even while serving our meals." Variable test is: $test. [[How do in-passage variable-increasing links work?|Test Passage][$test += 1]] Extra text is: $extraText [[Extra text to Leaf 2|Test Passage][$extraText = "Leaf 2"]] [[Extra text to Testaroo|Test Passage][$extraText = "Testaroo"]] ----❤---- <hr>

You'd learned next to nothing about him beyond a name that was almost certainly an alias -- //Leaf//, of all things -- that he was a generous tipper, and the very obvious fact he was tired. The company wasn't unwelcome, and you knew yourself well enough to admit you liked the ongoing game of guessing what he actually wanted out of you. Outright violence had been crossed off the list, not that you couldn't handle yourself if it came to that. Here, in the heart of your own space, you had //many// options at your disposal. Leaf leaned heavier on the counter, plate pushed aside, dragging one hand through the condensation on his second, mostly empty, drink. "I'm not bothering you by sticking around, am I?" He stretched, too slow and not far enough to be natural but with the perfect amount of twist to let him take a glance around the rest of the room. It was empty, and had been for at least ten minutes. Whatever he saw, or rather //didn't// see, was enough that he relaxed properly. The smile he shot at you felt natural for the first time, sleepy rather than seductive. It sent the last bit of suspicious resolve you'd been hanging on to crumbling away to nothing and all you could do was smile back. "I don't mind, as long as you're not trying to stay much past closing time." "No, I wouldn't." Leaf checked his comm, managing to keep it tilted so you couldn't see with a casual ease that suggested a great deal of practice. "My ride should be here before too long, with any luck." He was getting tired enough that he was slipping up a little and a flicker of annoyance crossed his face. "Unreliable friend?" you asked, mild as you could, keeping your hands busy wiping down the other end of the counter. Something about the question cracked Leaf up, but when you raised an eyebrow, he waved you off. He tossed back the last of his drink. Because he wasn't the only one getting tired, you stopped in place to follow the line of his throat as he swallowed and stayed stopped long enough that he got to catch you watching this time. He didn't seem to mind, given the bedroom eyes and the way he tipped his head to bare more of his neck for you to see. The chime of his comm was an unwelcome interruption, but Leaf seemed pleased at whatever message he'd gotten. "Ride should be here in a few minutes -- and I should be clear, //he// is both a friend and completely reliable." There were some fascinating implications in the emphasis and the very sour twist of his mouth as he said it. You walked over and braced one hand on the counter. Leaf had a few inches on you, but the soft look in his eyes and the sideways lean made you feel pleasantly like you were looming over him. "If you come in here to avoid someone again, let me know. There's a private room." You gave into the urge to lean in, far too close for plausible deniability, though you kept yourself from actually touching him. "Near invisible when it's closed and completely soundproofed, though I can listen in." "Not sure I could afford the going rates for something that nice," Leaf said, with a hint of breathlessness that made you want to do all kinds of terrible things to him to hear him actually out of breath. "Unless you're up for some kind of trade?" Tempting, but the days where you would have accepted that kind of offer were behind you. "As long as it's not rented out, and you pay for food, you can use it. No strings attached." You gave him a slow once-over, lingering on the bare skin where he'd undone a few shirt buttons earlier. "If you're interested in something beyond the room or the food, we'll talk when you're sober and have had some sleep." You were so close you heard his breath catch, which would have been answer enough for you even without his enthusiastic nod. "Very interested, but I can save that for another time," Leaf said, voice sweet and a bit deferential in way that you hoped to hear more of in the future. His comm buzzed again and he shot it a downright murderous glare. "That'll be my ride." He tipped his head to one side and locked his eyes on your lips in the most obvious display of angling for a kiss you'd ever seen. Or the most obvious that didn't involve actual begging, anyway. You took a step back and shook your head. "Get home safe," you said, calm as could be. Leaf had a very nice pout, though it was nowhere near enough to change your mind. "I hope to see you again." It only took him a few seconds to rally the charm again. "Have a good night," Leaf said. He tucked his tie into a jacket pocket, slung the jacket over one shoulder, and strolled toward the door. You allowed yourself the chance to lean on the counter and indulge in watching him go, only to spot the reflection of his vivid green eyes in the glass of the door. Leaf winked at you, but left without another word. You'd have to figure out who he was trying to avoid at some point. The last thing you wanted was to get involved in some kind of lovers' spat, no matter how pretty the face involved. [[For now, it was time to close up shop.|No Soap 1-1]]

There was nothing unusual about corporates wanting to rent your private room, whether it was by the dozen for a business dinner or one lone corporate and a very attractive and well-paid companion. They weren't your favorite customers, but the pay was generally good. When a reservation for two came in with a corporate account attached, you simply sent the version of the agreement that had the cleaning fees and recording notification arranged prominently near the top. Neither one had yet stopped anyone from fucking in the private room if they were so inclined, but it had made the arguments over the resulting bill shorter. The two people that turned up on the night of the reservation were a bit more interesting than what you expected. A shorter, heavyset woman with purple-tipped black hair in a messy bun, who you would have marked down as the corporate half of the pair if not for the way she was fidgeting with the cuffs of her very nice suit. The tall, impeccably groomed, blond man with her was the near weapons-grade level of attractive that you would have called professional, except that the reservation was in his name: Cyrill. They made an odd pair, but they both seemed in a good mood and were polite enough as you got them seated and took their drink orders. Still, something about them felt off, and that was more than enough reason for you to keep a closer than usual eye on what they were doing. A few quick taps on your comm sent the live feed from the private room's mics directly to the tiny implant behind your right ear. "--all of this," the woman was saying. She sounded even more uncomfortable than she had looked, which was quite the feat. "I wish they would have joined us, though." By contrast, Cyrill sounded more at ease than you felt in your own home half the time. "I know, darling, but it doesn't do to push with stray animals. They'll come back around in their own time." The woman made a huffy noise. "You're going to be in so much trouble if Elia ever hears you talking about them like that." You dragged your heels mixing their drinks as your curiosity got the better of you. Cyrill had a captivating laugh, ringing out warm and enticing even through your staticky connection. "Dorran, please, I'm half-tempted to tell them myself. You know all of us would love whatever they decided to do in the name of making me very, very sorry for saying it." Dorran's thoughtful hum was a near-perfect match for your own at the idea. Whatever else tonight was going to throw at you, at least it wouldn't be boring. You served drinks, took orders, and set to cooking with a good chunk of your attention devoted to eavesdropping. The food deserved the remainder; old habits and curiosity were one thing, but you took far too much pride in your current occupation to half-ass anyone's meal. To your disappointment, their talk turned from the mysterious and maybe feral Elia to business practicalities. No doubt their future marketing plans would have value to someone, but they were a small and recently-formed company. Turned out you had a few morals still rattling around in you somewhere. [[You tuned them out for a while and focused on cooking.|No Soap 1-2]]

You set down their entrées with the usual polite chit-chat, left, and shut the door behind you. Not two steps from the door, Cyrill let out a breathy laugh. "Have you noticed how very attractive our server is? ?She <<verb 'looks' 'look'>> rather more dangerous than I would expect for someone running a restaurant, which I can't deny is part of the appeal." "I know you're better at people than me, but //how// do you get dangerous from ?them? ?They<<verb "'s" "'ve">> been nothing but polite since we arrived." Dorran took a bite and made the sort of pleased noise you had heard from someone during sex before you opened $bar. "Unless you mean ?they<<verb "'s" "'re">> dangerously good at cooking, because seriously, wow. You have to try a bite of this." "Oh, that is lovely, isn't it? Here, try mine as well." Cyrill's glass tapped down on the tabletop, silverware clinked, and Dorran made another very nice noise. "As to the danger, it's a few small things together. ?They<<verb "'s" "'re">> more alert than I would expect from your average restaurant worker -- for example, ?they kept the door in ?their line of sight even while serving our meals." There was a long pause as they ate that was almost as flattering as Cyrill's very accurate read on you. "Also, I happened to notice that ?they <<verb "has" "have">> a knife on ?them. I'd put money on at least two total, but I haven't spotted the second yet." It was three, but one of them folded up so small that even you forgot it was there some days. Dorran sputtered out a laugh. "This is the real reason we're here, isn't it? So you can get all hot and bothered over spotting concealed weapons?" "Oh dear, I suddenly remember I've signed an NDA on the subject. I'll have to decline to comment." You could hear the smile in Cyrill's tone. "But really, I hadn't had the pleasure before and I'd heard the food was excellent." "Which it is! If dessert is even half as good as this, you're going to have a hard time convincing me to go anywhere else again." Dorran's dreamy sigh made you beam with pride down at dishes you were scraping clean. "Maybe next time we should give ?them a chance to notice //you// concealing something." You couldn't wait to look at some of the video footage later and find out what Cyrill's face was doing. It had to be something good, because the silence was broken by Dorran giggling in a way that spelled nothing but pure trouble. "Why don't you tell me what you had in mind?" Cyrill said, low and enthusiastic. Dorran needed no further prompting to launch into the merits of several different wearable sex toys she was in the midst of developing. You particularly appreciated the metric of which ones would be more or less likely to bring him to orgasm mid-meal. Cyrill's only contributions to the conversation were a few brief comments to get her talking again when she got distracted by technical ideas mid-sentence, and a wide range of appreciative noises. It made cleaning up for the night a far more enjoyable experience than usual, even as Dorran slid away from teasing Cyrill and into what sounded like a breakthrough from the furious way she was tapping at her tablet. [[You were putting the last few chairs up onto the tables when Cyrill stepped out of the private room.|No Soap 1-3]]

Cyrill's eyebrows shot up as he took in the empty room, but by the time he wound his way over to you, he was flawlessly composed again. "I hope we haven't badly overstayed our welcome," he said. "I'd realized it was getting late, but I do hate to interrupt Dorran once she sinks her teeth into a problem." "As long as the fee for staying past close isn't an issue, you can have the room until one-thirty." Cyrill was good-looking, but you'd had more than a few attractive guests who lost all their appeal by whining about the agreement they'd signed. Thankfully, he didn't seem to fall into that category. "Not an issue in the slightest. I appreciate the opportunity to let her work uninterrupted. If I'm not mistaken, that time is even more generous than what was listed in your contract." He gave you a moment to consider the implications before shifting to a coaxing tone to add, "I read the whole thing quite thoroughly." "I'm always happy to have guests with a good eye for detail." You kept your voice bland and polite, but trailed one hand over the most obvious of your knives. Cyrill's eyes slid down to follow the motion and his smile only got wider. "Would it be too much for me to ask for a favor? You've already been so very kind, but I had one small request I hoped you might be amenable to." He rested one elbow up the upturned crossbeam of a chair, the picture of nonchalance. You took a moment to hoist the last chair up, more because you felt like making Cyrill wait than out of any need to think about your reply. "You're more than welcome to //ask// for whatever you like." From the little hitch in his breath, you would guess that he'd mentally substituted 'beg', as you'd hoped he might. "Dorran and I have a mutual acquaintance, Elia. They're generally quite able to handle themself, but I was hoping you might be willing to be something of a safe harbor for them. Obviously, we would pay for their use of the space and any expenses they incurred while here, plus a bit more for any time or trouble on your part. Would that be something you might be interested in?" If you hadn't already realized he was the marketing department from overheard conversation earlier, his pretty little speech there would have made it obvious. You'd never been much of a big fan of corporate faces, and that kind of sugar-coating the actual issue was a big part of the reason why. "A safe harbor from what, exactly?" Cyrill inclined his head as if ceding a point to you. "I suspected you were a very practical ?person, and I'm pleased to see I haven't missed the mark. Elia has something of a sharp tongue and, shall we say, a very proactive manner of acquiring goods. Either one of these can present problems, generally in a form that necessitates a great deal of running. I simply want them to have a more pleasant option than hiding in some stinking alleyway for hours." Having done the same yourself more than once, you have some fellow feeling for Cyrill's mouthy thief. "Going rates and rules for the private room, plus ten percent. If anybody comes in here with a gun, your friend is on their own. Acceptable?" Cyrill's posture had already relaxed when you started listening conditions instead of objections. "Only guns? You're willing to have someone threaten you with a knife?" You slipped your most subtly concealed knife into your hand with one smooth motion. It only took a quick flick of your wrist to bring the blade out so you could do a showy little toss and catch right in front of Cyrill's face. "Not too worried about knives, no." "So I see." He tracked the knife as you closed it and hid it away again. You let yourself enjoy the shameless way his eyes lingered on the route back up to your face. "I would be happy to accept those terms. I'll let Elia know, though if I can be frank, I have no idea if //they// will take us up on the offer." "Doesn't hurt to give them the option regardless. Got a picture of them I can see?" You circled around behind Cyrill as he pulled out his comm and started flipping through his photos. He tensed for a moment as you left his line of sight, but managed to keep scrolling. "You feeling a bit worried about knives?" Cyrill's soft laugh was even more enticing from right next to him. "Mm, I'm not sure I would describe it as //worried// per se. Ah, here we are. Our darling stray." The picture wasn't quite candid -- it looked like Elia had managed to catch Cyrill in the act and was midway through rolling their eyes at him. They were attractive, in a rough-around-the-edges way: shaggy hair, a bit on the bony side, and wearing an oversized brown duster that was clearly more function than form, given the number of pockets and patches on the thing. Cyrill swiped to the next picture, which was Elia with a sharp grin, flipping off the camera. Elia's smile made their brown eyes all but glow; you could see how Dorran and Cyrill might be a bit besotted. You said, "I'll keep an eye out for them," and the words came out gentler than you'd intended. "For that, you have my sincerest thanks." Cyrill tucked his comm away and turned to face you, but whatever moment you'd been having was gone as he smiled over your shoulder. Dorran was standing in the doorway of the private room, gesturing with her comm in one hand and staring at the tablet in the other. "I think I finally worked it out," she said brightly. "Going to need some custom materials made so I can do a test mold without having to redo any of the components, but--" She finally glanced up and took in the darkened room. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, you closed already and we didn't even notice!" "I was just checking to see if we were causing any problems for our delightful host," Cyrill said. He eased past you calmly, close enough to give you a faint whiff of his cologne but without brushing so much as his sleeve against you. You told yourself you weren't disappointed, but you'd never been a great liar. "I've been assured it's fine, but if you're eager to get back to the lab...." The look on Dorran's face was somewhere between "mad scientist" and "dog about to go on a walk," with the latter having a slight advantage. "As long as you don't mind, yeah. Rain check on dessert?" Cyrill nodded, and Dorran turned her sunbeam smile toward you. "Everything was wonderful, and thank you so much for letting us stay late!" [[You thanked them both for coming and saw them out, locking the door behind them so you could wrap everything up.|Mercury 1-1]]

The lull after you closed down lunch service and started prepping for dinner was usually the perfect time for you to get your feet back under you, emotionally. No matter how busy it had been, no matter how obnoxious anyone had gotten about the fact your fries were made from actual potatoes with the peel on, prep time was just you and the peaceful thunk of your knife. Except today, when someone started knocking on your door. A few normal taps at first, followed by a complex pattern that had to involve both hands and possibly a foot as well. You set your chef's knife down -- no murder with the cooking knives was one of your firm house rules -- and went to see if your visitor would have any compelling reason for you not to punch them in the nose. You raised the blinds over the door to reveal a middle-aged man in a pirate costume, wearing a truly obnoxious blue hat with several large feathers drooping off of it. Tal, of course, because no one else would dare. He waved enthusiastically. You made eye contact, shook your head, and dropped the blinds again. The knocking started up again, even louder, and now accompanied by some kind of warbling lament about how you wouldn't let him in. By the time Tal started into the chorus, you decided to at least spare your neighbors the free show and unlocked the door. One hand on his ridiculous yellow satin cravat was enough leverage for you to haul him inside, because underneath all the flair was one very light-weight fop. "My dearest $name, I near thought you were going to make me keep singing out there!" Tal twirled away when you let him go, taking one counter seat for himself and a second one for his hat. "Is this not the quiet part of your day?" "Yeah, it's very quiet, most days." Tal only propped his chin on his hand and batted his eyelashes at you, leaving you no choice but to turn away to hide your smile. You poured him a glass of ginger soda, dropped in a slice of lime, and tapped a nail on the bottle of rum. Tal shook his head. "You here for business rather than pleasure, then?" Tal wobbled one hand as he took a sip of his drink. "I have a large tour group to see to later, so needs must keep my head about me. More relevant to you, I'd like to bring a friend in for dinner soon." "I have a reservation system and you have my personal comm address." You listened to the ice clink in Tal's glass, making a soft counterpoint to the rhythm of your chopping. "So what's the deal with your mystery friend?" "She //is// rather mysterious. By choice, which brings us to the crux of the issue." Tal drummed his fingers on the counter several times before you shot a glare back over your shoulder at him. "Quiet, right, my apologies. Anyhow, what sort of rates would you charge for the private room with the cameras disabled for a night?" You slid your neat pile of diced onion from the cutting board to a bowl, but didn't start on the next one. "Usual price is fine. You know, if you were anyone else, I'd assume you wanted to fuck back there." "Does the presence of cameras stop much of anyone, if they're so inclined?" Tal broke into a laugh as the slow roll of your eyes answered the question. "Thought not. But no, I'm no more inclined to the act in a restaurant than I am in any other setting, and Mercury is far more likely to make a pass at my wife, or even you, than myself." The onion you had picked up gets set back down again with a bit more force than it deserves. "Tal, if this is an elaborate scheme to set me up with her--" "I would never," Tal said, with a level of sincerity that he only employed when lying or giving tours. He had known you for too long; he didn't waver in the slightest under your glare. "But if I did know someone in the midst of a terrible dry streak, might I not try to put them in touch with a potential partner or two?" Not even gesturing at him with the knife provoked a reaction beyond a hand over his heart. "One, you have no room to talk about dry streaks given yours is near unbroken. Two, how did you even know that?" "You can hardly fault a desert for being dry, dear heart." Tal ran a hand through his hair, the bristles more salt than pepper from when you'd first met him. "As to the latter, I didn't know it was true for //you// until just now, but I'm pleased to see my matchmaking instincts remain strong." The exasperated sigh slipped through your teeth despite your best intentions. "Damn it, honest work's made me sloppy." You started in on the next onion at last, steadily demolishing it into even pieces. "Put in a reservation whenever you want and I'll take care of the rest." Even without looking, you could hear the triumph in Tal's voice. "Thank you ever so kindly. On that note, is your room booked tonight? I'm going to have a boatful of rich, hungry folks in a few hours that I could easily deliver to your doorstep." "It's free," you said. It was a welcome bribe and you weren't so proud that you wouldn't accept it. "Most of next week is too, if you're so eager to introduce me to your friend." The idea appealed more than you'd ever admit to Tal -- you'd had a bit of flirting mixed with a lot of work lately, and the chance for a change of pace was welcome. "Delightful! I'll see you again this evening then." Tal scooped up his hat with a flourish to give you a deep bow. "I do genuinely think you and Mercury will hit it off, but failing that, well... she's anything but dull, I can promise that much." [[With that dubious recommendation, Tal left, and you returned to setting up for the night.|Leaf 2-1]]

Several days of one minor disaster and unnecessary irritation after another had you about ready to try a knife-first solution to whatever the next problem was. Of course, because the universe was on a spiteful streak, the next problem was that you found a bug planted under one of the corner tables. If someone was listening in, you hoped the profanity and crunch of their equipment being destroyed came through loud and clear. Things had been busy enough that you'd skipped one of your usual sweeps, so you had almost two full weeks of footage to scan through. To your disbelief, there was a different person putting their hand under the table in the perfect spot to place the bug, or at least blocking the view enough to make that plausible, on almost every day. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to when they came in, and a few days even had more than one person. Whoever was behind the bug knew their stuff, if they had the sense to throw in that many false leads for you to try to chase down. You caught yourself starting to grin. Someone clever who was actively working to outsmart you was a welcome change from belligerent customers and supply chain mishaps. Since it was one of your half days off, you had a good chunk of time available to start digging in to your brand new puzzle. There are a few common themes to all the customers. They all paid with anonymous chits and tipped generously -- neither one //that// uncommon, but you kicked yourself for not spotting the sudden upswing. One person had actually caught your attention on the day he'd come in, because he'd failed to tip when he paid but had looped back later to do it and apologized for forgetting. If everyone who'd done something suspicious was hired by whoever planted the bug, you appreciated that they weren't trying to stiff you on tips when they were already causing trouble. You scanned backward from the first person you saw making an obviously suspicious gesture, a lunchtime customer who looked so uncomfortable you immediately ruled them out as a suspect. The night before had been Leaf's visit, which didn't bode well for him being interested in you. There was a small chance he was more of a damsel in distress than a pretty piece of distraction, but you'd have to keep your guard up if he came around again. No one who had come in after him that night had sat at the bugged table, but a few other customers had gotten close enough to it. You ruled out the person who'd borrowed a chair when a friend joined them, and a man who walked by but whose hands were visible the entire time. That left a round-faced woman who had taken an extra spoon from the table after she'd dropped hers. You checked the payment records for the night and found she'd also paid with an anonymous chit, which was //very// strange for someone dressed like your garden variety corporate. The fact that she'd been almost the last person to leave was another point on her suspicious ledger. You checked a few of the other camera angles and discovered that she'd positioned herself in a way that stopped you from getting any clear shots of her face. There was one amazing freeze frame of what looked like her //winking// at you over the top of a menu. [[It was impossible to be mad when you were so impressed with both her careful work and sheer style.|Leaf 2-2]]

When Leaf turned up not too many days after you'd smashed the bug, it felt like fate. Either time had dulled your memory, or he was even more attractive when fully awake and neatly put together in tight jeans and a green shirt that clung to his torso in all the right ways. The third option was that you loved the thrill of potential danger that hit you when he walked in the door. In any case, you met his eyes with a very warm smile. The one you received in return was more than a bit strained, and he made his way to the counter at a walk too fast to be casual. "Good to see you again, Leaf," you said, leaning forward so you could keep your voice down. "Interested in that private room today?" "That would be perfect, thank you." Unless he was a flawless actor, the way he relaxed at your offer suggested trouble was following him rather than working with him. Leaf's eyes flicked back to the door and you upgraded it to a near certainty. "If you'd follow me?" You ushered him into the private room, told him you'd be able to hear him if he needed anything or wanted to order, and made your way back to the front. Not five minutes later, a booking request for tonight popped up on your comm and you declined it with a savage grin. The game was on and you were more than ready to test your mettle against whatever clever bastard was so very interested in Leaf. A second request came in after a slight delay. You waited an equally long time before declining it as well, and no third attempt followed. Leaf ordered a drink -- non-alcoholic this time, to your delight -- and tacked on a polite, "No rush, of course. I assume this connection is one-way?" Whatever he was involved in currently, he clearly had //some// experience with espionage. He'd arrived during a lull, so there were only two other customers eating and both seemed completely absorbed in their comms. You closed the blinds on the door, casually locking it while you were there, and then took Leaf his drink. He didn't seem surprised when you closed the door after yourself and asked, "So, what does whoever's playing cat and mouse with you want?" "It's all something of a game to them, I think." Leaf's lips curved up behind the rim of his glass. "There are some very nice benefits if I win, but they're not going to harm you for getting involved, if that's what you're asking. Well... they might mess with you too, if you catch their interest." There was a certain distant, dreamy quality to his eyes that made you wonder what exactly those "benefits" were, but you could think of more pressing questions. "What counts as winning?" "I get back to my house without any of their bugs on me. Thought I'd managed, last time, but they turned up and played part of our conversation back." Leaf set his drink down, watching you with a expression that was at least as interested as the last time he'd been here. "There are penalties if I lose, of course." [[Now that he was sober and awake, you had no reason not to let your interest match his.|Leaf 2-3F][$fuckLeaf to true]] ''(❤)'' [[You decided that no matter how interested he seemed to be in you, you didn't return it.|Leaf 2-3N][$fuckLeaf to false]]

You were more than happy to play along with your part of the script. "And what kind of things constitute a penalty for your little game?" Leaf spread his legs wider as you stepped in and tipped his head back to watch you with his bright, mesmerizing eyes. "After the last time I was here, they shoved me onto my knees, fucked my mouth until they came, and then left." Leaf licked his lips, a quick little flick of his tongue that only served to cement some of your fellow feeling with whoever was after him. "They can make their come taste like candy, but they also tend to put some nasty surprises in there. It was a tracker, the first time I met them." The fond smile on Leaf's face suggested that he didn't mind the game, win or lose. "Two more questions, then. One, any ideas for how to deal with them, other than me closing up shop for the night?" You paused, mostly for dramatic effect, but Leaf only nodded for you to continue. "Two, do I get a prize of my own if we manage?" "Definitely yes to the second question. I'm very good with my mouth, if that's something that might interest you," Leaf offered. You held two fingers up in front of his face and let him move forward to close the gap. The eager way he took you in was proof enough of what you said, and the pleased hum you felt when you started to thrust your fingers told you just how much he enjoyed it, too. /* You briefly wished, not for the first time, that you could have a cock[ Future version: swap this to a choice to set player genitals] for an hour or two. */ Pulling away was an unfortunate necessity, but the way Leaf's eyes tracked your hand took most of the sting out of having to stop. "Let's not get too carried away before we've made it through the night. How do they usually manage to get you?" "For the most part, they've only planted bugs on me through direct contact and without me noticing. They're excellent at disguising themself and they have very clever hands." Leaf shook off a thought and took a long sip of his drink. "Even I don't recognize them most of the time, if they don't want me to." You thought of the woman you'd seen on your security footage and how her entire look had been a perfect, bland portrayal that you would have never given a second glance to under other circumstances. "So I'll need to be suspicious of literally anyone who comes in." "Probably could rule out anyone much taller than me, unless they're wearing very high heels." Leaf stood and gave you a slow turn that you took full advantage of. "Other than that... be more suspicious the less interesting someone looks, I guess?" He laughed sheepishly. "Like I said, my track record's not great." "You have a comm on you?" Leaf tugged it out of a pocket and held it in your direction. "I'm going to hook you in so you can watch the cameras up front and be a second set of eyes. I won't be able to say anything back, but we'll make it work." Before you took his comm, you jotted down a reminder to change the access codes tomorrow on your own. It didn't take long to get him set up. When you passed it back over, Leaf turned his hand so it would brush up against yours. "Kiss me for luck before you go?" he asked, low and hopeful in a way that made you want to pin him against a wall. Instead, you ran a hand up along his shoulder, hitting the bare skin above the edge of his shirt collar and moving back to tug lightly on a strand of his hair. "How do you feel about having your hair pulled?" "Very positively," Leaf said, eyes drifting closed as he pressed his head back into your hand. You got a handful and gave it an exploratory twist, tightening your grip slow and steady. Leaf let out a soft, pleased sound, which you promptly muffled by kissing him. His lips were broad, softer even than they'd looked, and sweetly yielding under yours in a way that left you wanting to devour him right then and there. The dazed look on his face when you finally convinced yourself to pull away was gratifying, even if the pulling away itself felt like one of the worst crime you'd ever committed. You kept your hand in his hair for a moment more, watching the easy way he let you bare his throat. Once you let him go, he took a quick moment to compose himself, and then flipped through the different cameras on his comm. "Not sure how well I'll be able to focus, but I'll do my best to keep an eye out. Thank you for helping me with this." [[You stole another quick kiss and nudged the menu toward him.|Leaf 2-4]]

You nodded, but didn't go with the obvious question. "I'm sure you'd like to avoid those. Any ideas for how we can best keep you out of trouble, short of me closing up the place entirely for the rest of the night?" The flicker of disappointment on Leaf's face was flattering, but you were even more pleased when that was the closest thing to an objection he had. "For the most part, they've only planted bugs on me through direct contact and without me noticing. They're excellent at disguising themself and they have quick hands." Leaf shook off a thought and took a long sip of his drink. "Even I don't recognize them most of the time, if they don't want me to." You thought of the woman you'd seen on your security footage and how her entire look had been a perfect, bland portrayal that you would have never given a second glance to under other circumstances. "So I'll need to be suspicious of literally anyone who comes in." "Probably could rule out anyone much taller than me, unless they're wearing very high heels." Leaf stood and squared his shoulders to give you an accurate view of his height. "Other than that... be more suspicious the less interesting someone looks, I guess?" He laughed sheepishly. "Like I said, my track record's not great." "You have a comm on you?" Leaf tugged it out of a pocket and held it in your direction. "I'm going to hook you in so you can watch the cameras up front and be a second set of eyes. I won't be able to say anything back, but we'll make it work." Before you took his comm, you jotted down a reminder to change the access codes tomorrow on your own. It didn't take long to get him set up. He accepted his back with a smile and took a quick moment to flip through the different cameras. "I'll do my best to keep an eye out. Thank you for helping me with this." [[You nodded and nudged the menu toward him.|Leaf 2-4]]

"Don't forget about dinner." You tucked your comm away with a sharp, eager smile. "I think joining your game will make for an exciting night. While I'm happy enough in this place, I do miss my old job sometimes." Before Leaf could even consider asking, you ducked away into the main room. It was more fun to keep a bit of your air of mystery intact. You'd half expected someone to be waiting at the door, but there was no one in sight when you unlocked it. That would be too obvious an approach for this evening's opponent, you supposed, and a steady drizzle seemed to be keeping away any honest customers. One of your two tables ordered dessert, which you put together in record time with your nerves keyed up for action. No sooner had you delivered the food than your comm chimed in your pocket. Another reservation request, but this one with a message attached that offered you two times the going rate for the room if it could be made available tonight. When you declined it, a second one arrived offering five times your usual price. This time, you sent a reply along when you turned it down: //Don't be boring.// Was it wise to taunt them? Probably not, but it was //deeply// satisfying. To your disappointment, the next people through the door were a local couple that had been visiting off and on since you opened. One of the women held up an ordinary-looking courier's package. "This was sitting outside -- do you want it brought in?" "Oh, thank you, but that's meant to be going out later today." You weren't expecting anything. It could have been something innocent, but it was almost certainly a trap. With the box safely back outside, you seated your customers and took their drink orders. Long practice kept you from reacting in any way as Leaf started talking in your ear. "Someone in a courier's uniform took the package, but I don't think it was Optix." The last word of the sentence gave you pause. When you retreated back to the front counter, you wrote //Panoptix?// on a napkin and tapped it casually with one finger. "Yeah, I... probably should have mentioned that sooner." Leaf's sheepish laugh was almost as worryingly casual as his name-dropping of one of the City's best hackers. [[Still, you were already involved now, so you might as well stay in the game.|Leaf-2-5]]

One of your earlier customers left; Leaf and the two women ordered their meals. You fell into the comforting rhythm of your work, though your eyes drifted over to the door more often than usual, especially after you were back to cleaning rather than cooking. When someone else finally arrived a good while later, you perked up, only to realize it was another couple. From the far-too-showy way the short, plain-looking guy held the door for the woman, you suspected they were on a first date and he was nervous. Sure enough, while the woman gave you a bright smile, the guy scrubbed his hands on his jeans before following her inside. You showed them to the corner table for a bit of extra privacy. By the time you brought their drinks, the guy was throwing out halting answers to some very basic questions from his date, who seemed surprisingly okay with that. While you served them drinks, you gave her a more careful second look. Her makeup was the sort of "natural" look that took twelve different products and a sizable chunk of time to achieve, and she had a large purse you hoped was a designer brand -- otherwise, it was just hopelessly ugly. It was entirely possible she was being paid to be on this "date." Back at the counter, you jotted down another note for Leaf: //I think that guy is them.// "You could be right," Leaf said, though he sounded less sure than you felt. "They did look right at one of the cameras a minute ago, but I wasn't sure if that was really out of the ordinary." Keeping your back to the room, you give Leaf a subtle thumbs up to show you've heard him. "So... what now?" A quick test was in order. You plated up a slice of cake that you knew the women loved, but headed to their table in a way that lead you next to the private room. Sure enough, the "nervous" guy instantly got up and made like he was going to go to the bathroom. You rerouted to the two women, offered the cake on the house, and thanked them for coming in. It was a small price to pay for confirming your guess. Your comm pinged to notify you of a new connection to the $bar network -- no name or identifying information, naturally. It was easy to oust them, thanks to a paranoid level of security, though you had to do it twice before you managed to get everything locked down to prevent new connections. When it popped up a third time, the username displayed as Nice Try and you couldn't remove them. The woman that you had suspected to be a professional checked her comm, gave it a little startled blink, and got to her feet. She dropped a chit on the table and nodded at you before heading out. Panoptix stayed in the bathroom long enough that your other customers finished and left as well. You were half-tempted to just lock them in and let Leaf make his escape. To your utter surprise, they vanished off your network and strolled back out in quick succession. All you got was a cordial nod and a wink where their open eye flicked from ordinary brown to vivid orange and back, and then they left. You locked the door behind them and did a sweep of the bathroom, but only found one fairly obvious bug. "They sent me a message saying if all I want to do is hide, they'll try again some other time." Leaf sounded unsure; you were running on a similar wave length. It felt too good to be true, but there wasn't anything else to be done now that Panoptix had left. <<if $fuckLeaf == true>> [[Well, there was one thing to look forward to, now that you and Leaf were alone.|Leaf 2-6F][$fuckLeaf to true]] ''(❤︎)'' [[Now that things had calmed down, you thought it might be better to keep the evening casual.|Leaf 2-6N][$fuckLeaf to false; $extraText to "Leaf 2"]] <<elseif $fuckLeaf == false>> [[Well, there was Leaf, who seemed like he might be willing to help you blow off some steam in a fun way.|Leaf 2-6F][$fuckLeaf to true; $extraText to "Leaf 2"]] ''(❤︎)'' [[Since the danger was seemingly over, you could let Leaf out and start closing up for the night.|Leaf 2-6N][$fuckLeaf to false]] <</if>>

Keyed up with adrenaline for a fight that seemingly wasn't going to happen, you tossed your apron on the counter and strode back to the private room. Leaf stayed put as you approached, relaxed and doe-eyed with an eager smile, managing to make himself look deliciously soft and welcoming despite how broad-shouldered and muscular he was. "You look a bit tense," Leaf said, warm and encouraging. "If you need to get some of that out of your system, I'm //more// than happy to help however you like." He tipped his head to one side and oh-so-casually put his hands behind him, gripping the back of the chair. <<nobr>> <<if $extraText == "Leaf 2">> /* Player didn't go for Leaf earlier */ "I'm very good with my mouth, and I like a bit of rough handling, if you're into that." <<else>> "Come on, $name. Don't be shy." <</if>> <</nobr>> With his encouragement, you didn't bother being too gentle. A hand fisted in Leaf's hair made the perfect anchor point to tip his head back for you to kiss him, fast and rough, with a bit of bite. By the time you pulled back, he was breathing hard. "So, about that talented mouth of yours," you said, rubbing one thumb over his bottom lip. "Happy to put it wherever you'd like," Leaf said, leaning forward to take your thumb into the wet heat of his mouth. From his lingering glance downward, you suspected he had //some// opinions on the matter, but thankfully those seemed to align with yours. You stepped back and let your thumb catch on the button of your pants. "Then strip, and get on your knees for me, Leaf," you ordered him calmly. His pretty green eyes went wide, but he got to his feet with gratifying speed. He paused with his hands on the hem of his shirt. "Want me to get this off as fast as possible, or give you a bit of a show?" [["I'd like you naked //now//," you said, itching with the urge to tear his clothes off yourself.|2-7][$extraText = "fast"]] [["Take it off nice and slow for me," you said, pulling up a chair to enjoy the show.|2-7][$extraText = "slow"]] <<set $extraText to "none">>

You opened the private room, giving Leaf a gentle smile when he jumped. "I guess we're in the clear for tonight," you said. Leaf's slow answering nod looked as uncertain as you felt. "Don't know about you, but I could use a drink and a quiet rest of my night." <<nobr>> <<if $extraText == "Leaf 2">> /* Player DID go for Leaf earlier but changed their mind */ Leaf nodded again, though you caught a brief flicker of disappointment. You were relieved when he followed you out of the private room and took a seat at the counter without any actual complaint. <<else>> "Sounds like a plan," Leaf said. He looked a little shaky, but he had a faint smile on his face as he followed you out of the private room and took a seat at the counter. <</if>> <</nobr>> You mixed up a pair of truly lavish cocktails for the two of you — no fruit skewers this time — and slid one over to Leaf. When nothing continued to happen, you and Leaf started to relax. The atmosphere shifted toward celebratory as you poured another round of drinks for both of you and pulled out one of every remaining dessert you had that night to share. You took the chance to kick back at the customers' side of the counter for a change, getting a weird thrill out of the novelty. Leaf told you a little bit more about his interactions with Optix, though you got the feeling he was glossing over a //lot// of the racier details, given how many times he had to stop to find the right words. Still, you got the impression that the interest between them was mutual, no matter how oddly that seemed to play out. As the two of you polished off the sweets and started listing against the counter, you decided to call it a night. "All right, I'm about to fall asleep right here. You want to call someone to get you, or a ride service?" Leaf checked the time and let out a quiet laugh. "Yeah, no, I'd never hear the end of it if I called at this hour." He tapped away for his comm for a moment and then gave you an unsteady thumbs up. "Thanks for all your help tonight," he said, slowly getting up to help you round up the dishes. "I hope I haven't been too much trouble." "Honestly, it's been pretty fun," you admitted. You had some concerns, ranging from the cleaning you'd have to do tomorrow morning to the fact you'd caught the attention of a master hacker, but even the vague victory against Optix was impossible not to enjoy. "Come be trouble anytime." Leaf laughed at you. [[You checked the front cameras before escorting Leaf out to his cab and heading to bed.|Diana 1-1]] <<set $extraText to "none">>

As far as common questions went, "How private is your private room?" was hardly an uncommon one. The tone and surrounding details usually made it clear that the asker wanted to have sex in there, so your answer often included a not-so-subtle reference to cleaning fees. Today's message was signed by someone who identified themself as a member of security for the Darton Corporation and had no indication of why they were concerned at all. You sent back a careful response that made clear the room was monitored for the safety of your property, but provided it didn't require repairs or cleaning, the recordings could be wiped. Not long after, a booking for three people arrived and you accepted it with only mild apprehension. It was entirely possible one of the Dartons, or one of their higher-ups, only wanted to have dinner somewhere secure, but your restaurant would be a lot closer to slumming in than you would expect from them. Whatever expectations you'd built up were shattered when the night of the booking arrived and three figures in suits filed through the door. The tall man leading the pack had long, dark hair slicked back into a ponytail and a calm, blank expression on his narrow face. Behind him was a stocky woman with short, white-blonde hair and a steely expression, and a slim man with long, vividly turquoise hair who was gesturing enthusiastically with both hands as he spoke. Gut instinct told you all three were at least as armed as you were, if not more. "Good evening, ?ser. I have a reservation for Li." Li's voice was quiet, but had a commanding weight to it that made you want to straighten up. You resisted the urge, keeping your posture relaxed as you showed them back to the private room and took their drink orders. After the recent spate of interesting customers, you'd been ready this time and already had your comm implant set to the private room's mics. "So why here, boss? We aren't scoping out the place for her majesty, are we?" That had to be the blue-haired man, based on volume alone. The woman scoffed and set her drink down with more force than you would prefer applied to your glassware. "After the stunt she pulled yesterday, she'd be lucky if we even stopped someone from shooting her stupid ass." "She doesn't seem to mind someone shooting //on// her ass, anyway." He broke into a cackling laugh, but it cut off so suddenly that you had to assume it was something his boss had done. "Fero." Li's tone was no less calm than before, but it was clearly a reprimand all the same. "Right, boss, sorry," Fero said, sounding subdued for the first time. That lasted all of two seconds before he added, "But c'mon, it's true, though. I've seen it like a dozen times in the past few months and not all of them were via security cam, either." Li's chuckle was as tightly controlled as the rest of him seemed to be. "That's no reason for such an incorrect observation. We all know Miss Darton prefers it on her face." The other two howled with laughter, so loud it almost drowned out the clink of their glasses. "As to your question," Li said, once they settled down, "I simply thought we could use some stress relief." "Wouldn't mind working out some of my stress right on the princess' damn mouth," the woman muttered. "Though ideally I'd get a turn //before// she lets some rando jizz all over it." Fero let out a low whistle. "Damn, Ailene, half a drink in and already losing your cool? We gonna have to cut you off this early in the night?" "I think it might be wise to discuss something other than our charge," Li said, "but regardless, let's order first so we won't have any interruptions." [[He buzzed you back moments later, and you took their orders with your bland, cheerful customer service facade firmly in place.|Diana 1-2]]

They ordered a second round of drinks, which you held back until their food was ready. Last thing you needed was a group of drunk, angry folks in your restaurant, no matter how amusing their grievances were. Despite Li's suggestion, all three of them slipped up and mentioned Ms. Darton more than once over the course of the evening, especially as they got more drinks in them. "And I swear," Ailene said, breaking what had been a companionable silence, "I //swear// I just want to tell her she's an idiot every time she wears one of those bits of gauzy nothing in front of me. Like, I've seen tits. I have tits! Hers are pretty and all, but I can get my hands on ones almost as nice that aren't attached to //her//." Fero laughed and slapped the table, making everyone's empty plates rattle. "I bet she hasn't even noticed you're a woman. She sure as shit hasn't realized I don't have the kind of dick she's expecting. Idiot keeps checking to see if I've popped a boner from whatever she's up to, and the disappointed look on her face is just--" He makes a loud kissing noise. "I had hoped she might settle down, after her initial attempts to provoke me failed." Li's voice was so sour you were half tempted to check the cameras and see if you'd given him enough alcohol to make him have an actual facial expression. You refrained, because you were already feeling a bit tense around your customers without doing anything //else// they might consider invading their privacy. "Instead, she's done nothing but escalate. I fear I may have to speak with Mr. Darton about her at this rate." One of the other two sucked in a sharp breath through their teeth. "You... sure you want to do that, boss?" Ailene asked, voice barely breaking a whisper. "From what I heard, it didn't exactly go swimmingly when the guy before you tried to get him to rein her in." "That was like, the first thing the rest of the staff told me on day one. Don't talk to Mr. Darton about anything she does, assuming you wanna keep your job." Fero snorted softly. "I thought they were exaggerating, but then I got pretty much the same thing straight from Darton himself." Li sighed, a tiny sound that nonetheless made you feel sorry for him. "I suppose it might do to consider other solutions first. In the meantime -- dessert?" You took that as your cue to wander back in, gathering up their dishes and asking if they wanted anything else. The fact that Li ordered a slice of the most extravagant layer cake you had put a smile on your face the second you were out of the private room. The three of them stayed almost until closing, but when they came out into the main room, Li waved his companions out before crossing to the counter. He paid and tipped //very// generously -- the salary was clearly one of the perks of working for a major corp. "As we have caused no damage to your business, I assume it would be no trouble to ask you to delete any recordings of tonight?" His expression didn't give you any clue if that had been a polite request or a veiled threat, but you were going to comply regardless. You pulled up your comm, highlighted the time from when they arrived to the present, and cleared it all. His tells for relaxing were subtle, but you managed to catch a slight easing of tension in his jaw. "I'm not in the business of getting anyone fired for having a difficult boss," you said. Li gave you a very courteous nod. "We appreciate your discretion in the matter," he said. Something about the almost mechanical recitation suggested he'd had to say it way too many times before. "Happy to be of service, and hope to see you again soon." It was a route phrase, but you meant it whole-heartedly. Lively conversation, no trouble, and a good tip? The three of them were welcome to come in, get drunk, and complain about shitty corporates as often as they wanted. [[You saw Li out with a genuine smile and closed up shop behind him.|No Soap 2-1]]

The pace of your restaurant slowed once the dinner rush was over. Any stragglers that came in for drinks, dessert, or a very late meal tended to be casual and relaxed. The person that marched in your door one muggy evening was anything but, crossing to the counter in a few strides with every inch of them tense under their long, patched-up duster. When you got a good look at their wide brown eyes, your brain finally made the connections needed to hand over a name: Elia, Dorran and Cyrill's feral friend. "Cyrill said I could hide in here?" Elia was breathing heavy, shifting their weight from one leg to the other like they were about to take off running again. "I've got maybe three minutes before they catch up." Any other night this week and you would have happily tucked them away in the private room, but it was occupied. The low-level corporate in there who had been delicately threading the needle between business pitch and seduction for several hours wouldn't be thrilled if you tossed Elia inside. Since Cyrill had all but bluntly described Elia as a thief, you also weren't willing to let them loose in any of the back rooms. "Did they get a good look at you?" Elia shook their head, so you rounded the counter and stuck out a hand. "Give me your coat, and go sit over there." You pointed at one of the counter seats that had been vacated mere minutes before and hadn't yet been cleared up. Elia shrugged out of their coat and warned you, "It's heavier than you think," as they handed it over. It wasn't quite enough to stagger you, but you did have to use both hands to wrestle the thing into a hiding spot under the counter. Your next step was to throw a few things that would pass as a cocktail into a glass, dunked it in the sink to give it fake condensation, and set it next to the mostly empty dishes. "Don't drink that if you can avoid it," you told them, resting one forearm on the counter. "Here's the scene. You've eaten and ordered another drink to stay and flirt. If we both seem wrapped up in each other and it's obvious you've been here a while, anybody who comes in won't give us a second glance." You got an up-close look at how warm Elia's smile could be as they leaned in and looked you over. "Not the first time you've had to do something like this, huh?" Their eyes caught on one of your concealed knives and, much like Cyrill before them, they looked more rather than less interested. "Always nice to find someone ready for trouble." "Don't mind a little bit now and then," you said, mirroring their posture. "Between that and the interesting conversations I get to overhear, it keeps the settled life from being too boring." Elia's friendly laugh was perfectly timed to a couple of angry-looking folks in corporate clothes bursting in the door. You turned to look at them, making sure they had a chance to spot the irritation on your face. "Welcome," you said, projecting uninterested with every fiber of your being. "Can I get the two of you a table?" Both of them scanned the restaurant, empty except for you and Elia. The man in the back scowled, but the taller woman in front managed to sound almost civilized when she said, "No, we're looking for someone. Anybody come in here in the last five, ten minutes?" "Nah, it's been quiet today." You waited all of two seconds before adding, "So, if neither of you is looking for a meal...?" The question plus a pointed look at the door behind them got your meaning across clearly enough."Now, where were we?" you said to Elia, raising your voice to make sure the duo would catch it as they turned and headed out the door. They traced a line in the condensation on their fake drink with one long finger. "How about you tell me how you met Cyrill?" Elia's voice was down in the sort of husky murmur that would pass as flirting on the off chance any of it carried to the two people leaving. [[You nodded and stayed in close, keeping your voice quiet as you explained the night you met Cyrill and his request.|No Soap 2-2]]

When you stopped, Elia made a little looping gesture with one hand. "Go on, you can talk about the rest, if you want -- or did you turn him down for some reason?" Your eyebrows went up at the implication, but you shook your head. "The only offer I got was a business transaction, and then he and Dorran left." Elia rolled their eyes, somewhere between fond and exasperated. "Let me guess, she was deep into working on something and needed to go back to the lab? Cyrill will drop anything for her -- pretty sure he'd do his best to move mountains if Dorran asked." There's a hint of sourness there, and possibly a piece of the puzzle as to why Elia was out on their own instead of living the corporate life. "He certainly seemed eager enough at the thought of testing things for her." "Oh, he is. //Very// eager, in fact." Elia's smile had gone downright wicked. "If they ever offer to let you watch, I recommend it. And if Cyrill offers more than watching, definitely take him up on it. I'm shocked he didn't lead with that as his part of the bargain, honestly." "What I'm hearing is that I got ripped off by only accepting credits?" you asked. Elia reached over and gave you a consoling pat on the shoulder along with a solemn nod. "At least I know for next time. Though on that note, Cyrill did say he'd pay for anything you had while you were here." The look of sheer trouble that crossed Elia's face endeared them to you instantly. "That corporate bastard," they said, grin getting meaner by the second. "Well, I could use a really nice dinner, and I'd say we've both earned a few drinks. And dessert, can't forget dessert." You passed Elia a menu and wandered over to lock the door and draw the blinds. "So, can I ask how you met Cyrill and Dorran?" "So it all started when I stole one of Dorran's prototypes," Elia began. They told you the whole story over dinner, clearly glossing over some personal details but not skimping on any of the racy ones. [[Between the conversation and the astronomical bill which you charge to Cyrill, it makes for a delightful end to your day.|Mercury 2-1]]

By the time Tal got around to booking the private room for an evening, you'd all but forgotten your previous conversation. The note section that read, "Bringing my friend for dinner. No cameras!" jogged your memory about his mysterious Mercury quite effectively. You mulled it over through the lunch rush and prep for dinner, but there were too many possibilities to even make a vague guess at what she might be like. Tal turned up a mere fifteen minutes before you officially opened for dinner -- restrained, for him -- with a hooded figure in a nondescript gray jumpsuit standing behind him. You'd seen similar hoods before, mostly on some of the finest folks the red light district had to offer when they didn't want to draw any attention. With the door closed behind them, you expected Mercury to remove her hood. She didn't. "I trust we're not so early as to be a bother to you, $name darling? Thought it best to get us tucked away before your other customers turned up, to avoid any fuss." Tal was dressed normally, which for him only meant 'not in a pirate costume.' His pants were patterned with tiny parrots, and his sky-blue shirt had ruffled cuffs. You nudged him with your shoulder. "Would you let it stop you even if it was a bother?" The extravagant shrug you got in return was answer enough. "Yeah, I figured. Come on, then, let's get you two settled." "Tal said you'd be willing not to record us tonight. Can I have some assurance of that?" Mercury's voice was a bit muffled, more than what you would expect from the hood alone. "Of course." You pulled out your comm and let her watch as you disabled all the cameras in the private room, then set the mics to live transmit only. "Provided you grab a seat on the right side of the door, you won't be visible on any of the cameras out here when I'm bringing anything in, either." Mercury's head tipped to one side, in what you assumed was consideration. "Reasonable enough. Would you be willing knock before you come in, and leave your comm with Tal while we're here? I assume you've already patched the audio through to yourself." She gestured toward the side of her head, and your estimation of her shot up. Comm implants were subtle, and yours was designed to be even more so than most. You couldn't really stare down someone whose face you couldn't see, but you gave her a long look anyway before you locked your comm and handed it over to Tal. "Shouldn't be anything important coming in, but if the screen flashes red, bring it out to me straight away." "Aye, captain," Tal said, doing some fancy gesture near his forehead that was unlike any salute you'd ever seen. "Now, my lady Mercury, let's let my friend here sit us down so you can take off that ridiculous bit of headwear." You caught a bitten-off chuckle from Mercury. "Tal, you don't have the slightest room to talk about silly hats." While Tal put on a great show of puffing up in offense, you went over and hinged open the private room. "Oh, that //is// cleverly hidden, isn't it?" "Designed to my specifications to be particularly unobtrusive." You were proud of your restaurant, and couldn't help talking it up a little. "Soundproof, can be locked from the inside, and will hold up to almost anything short of stronger explosives or about an hour of sustained fire." "Not a bad thing to have around, that. Seems you're a ?person after my own heart," Mercury said. Despite the interference, the warmth in her voice was obvious. Tal, for all his many flaws, did seem to be a good judge of character, not that you'd ever admit that to him. [[You closed the door as they took their seats and didn't bother hiding your curiosity as Mercury took off her hood.|Mercury 2-2]]

The reason for Mercury's alias became immediately apparent: her entire head, clear to the high collar of her jumpsuit, was covered in what looked like a silvery metal. More accurately, it looked like her skin was made of metal — you could see glints of whatever the substance was under the short wave of her black hair. You watched her metallic lips curve up in a smile as you stared. "You didn't tell ?them anything about me at all, did you?" Mercury asked, tipping her head toward Tal. You couldn't tell where she was looking from her eyes as easily as you would with someone else, but the small movements of her facial features were visible enough to give you a hint that she was still focused on you. Tal put a hand over his heart, tossing his head back so dramatically his chair wobbled. "As if I would deny you the element of surprise when I'm trying to do something nice for you! She does love making a bit of a scene scene, no matter what she claims to the contrary," Tal stage-whispered to you. From the tip of Mercury's head, she was clearly rolling her eyes. The light gleaming off of her metal face was more than a little distracting, not in the least because you wanted to reach out and see what it felt like. You retreat into professionalism, taking their drink orders and leaving to put the last touches on opening the place up for dinner. Mercury doesn't say much while you're out, letting Tal cheerfully take over the conversation with tales of recent clients and updates on what his wife has been doing. It's the same kind of conversation you'd had with him many times before, whenever he felt like you needed cheering up or you weren't up to being too social. At least a few of those had involved you in a hospital bed. Despite the specter of dark times past, it was nice to get an update on Tal's life — you'd both been busy lately and hadn't had a chance to catch up. You served their drinks, took their orders, and seated a few people in for an earlier dinner. It had all the makings of a relaxing evening right up until Tal's comm goes off. The obnoxious children's song he has as a ring is not improved by being transmitted straight into your ear, and you have to hide a wince as you hand a couple their menus. Most of his side of the conversation was simply agreeable noises, but it ends with, "Of course, my darling, whatever you need. I'll be there shortly." You decided to spare him the trouble of trying to explain in front of other customers, knocking and ducking back into the private room before he could come out. "Anything you need a hand with?" you asked. The offer was mostly polite, but if he had said yes, you would have dropped everything to help him out. Thankfully for the rest of your clientèle, he waved you off. "No, certainly not, though I do appreciate the offer. My wife's simply gotten into a spot of trouble and needs a bit of that daring rescue business that won her over in the first place." Tal clapped you on the shoulder. "Please take care of Mercury for me, won't you? Charge anything she has to me." Tal nodded to Mercury and strode out with few of his usual flourishes, leaving the two of you alone in the room. [[After a brief pause, you asked, "What do you figure the odds are his wife actually called?"|Mercury 2-3]]

"I think there would have been more eyebrow waggling about leaving us alone if it was a setup." Mercury nodded to your comm, resting face down on the table. "You don't want to leave that in here with me, I assume?" "And you don't want me to take it with me, I'm sure." There was something comforting about the polite level of mutual distrust, a sort of professional courtesy. "Give me just a moment." You grabbed a chair and dragged it under one of the lights. There was a single ceiling tile that could be lifted and twisted to access one of the many hidden caches built into your restaurant. You tucked your comm inside, closed it up, and hopped down. "Will that do?" Mercury nodded, a pleased smile on her face. "I could get to it, but you're banking on the fact I couldn't do it without making a sound. Or at least, not fast enough to stop you from catching me." "Feel free to prove me wrong, if you think you can." The words came out somewhere between challenging and flirtatious, and Mercury's grin got sharper. Tal would never let either of you live it down if he'd been right, but it might be worth it anyway. "I'll be back with your food soon, though." You got Mercury's meal to her, and then two large groups came in back to back. With all your tables occupied, you had to pick up your pace and shift most of your focus to cooking. It was hard to hear over the bustle of the restaurant, but you caught enough sounds of silverware on plates to reassure that she was eating back there. Once both large parties had their food, things quieted down fast and you realized you hadn't heard a thing from the back room in at least fifteen minutes. You knock, wait, and knock again. No response. When you finally gave up and opened the door, you weren't too surprised to see the room was empty. The chairs were pushed in and the empty dishes were neatly stacked on the table with your comm sitting next to them. When you clicked it on, you found a message from an unknown address: //Everything was wonderful. Hope to see you again sometime.// You took your time considering a reply, idly composing as you worked, straight through to closing. The message you sent was simple, and a bit of a challenge: //Come again any time, but be careful if you feel like surprising me.// [[Tal had certainly been right about one thing: Mercury was anything but boring.|Diana 2-1]]

You were pleased to see another reservation from Li pop up, because the last few groups that rented out the private room — and in one case the whole restaurant — had been //garbage//. Bad tips, no tips, and one drunken fight that you had only barely managed to coax outside before you had to call in some backup. Listening to three people complain about their job a bit was a treat by comparison, especially if they veered into the same off-color discussions as last time. At least that was what you thought, right up until the three of them blew in the door with matching expressions that would have been more fitting for someone heading to an execution rather than a nice dinner. Specifically, an execution where they were the ones //doing// the killing. The other diners looked away; one woman nervously scooted her chair closer to the table like those extra couple inches might save her somehow. You hurried them back to the private room and didn't bat an eyelash when Li ordered a round of shots on top of their other drinks. Seemed like it would be a good night to keep an eye on how much they were having, but you'd cross that bridge when you got to it. In hopes of nipping any trouble in the bud, you whipped up a tray of appetizers to take in with the booze. "On the house," you said. "Looks like you folks have had a long day." Ailene tossed back a shot with something near a growl. She had a bruise under her jaw, more red than purple in a way that told you it was new. Fero took a second to salute you with his shot but put it back with as much force as Ailene. Li seemed more controlled until he slammed his empty shot glass back on the table. "It has been somewhat trying," he said. Given how subtle his tells had been before, the fact you could tell he was angry at all boded poorly. "I wish we'd let them kidnap her," Ailene said, ice cold and sharper than your best knives. "Bet her fucking dad would develop some interest in what she was up to if he had to pay a couple million credits in ransom." "//Enough,//" Li snapped, rattling the table as he slapped a hand down on it. "No more work talk until we've had some food. Please," he added, softening his voice as he took in Fero and Ailene's wide eyes. You kept your posture as relaxed as you could manage and kept your hands away from your knives, no matter how you wanted one in your hand. They weren't angry with you. With any luck, the air of prickling danger would ease up once they ate and had a chance to vent. [[After you took their orders, including Li's surprise request for a slice of cake before his dinner, you escaped the room with no small amount of relief.|Diana 2-2]]

Li gave you a generous two full weeks of advance warning for the night he wanted to rent out the restaurant. He had a package delivered the day before, containing a checklist of sex acts for Diana to fill out, a silky black blindfold, and a set of fancy-looking gloves that could be strapped together to make a very elegant restraint. Fero and Ailene came in early on the night itself, both carrying bags large enough to hold all manner of fun toys. When Diana Darton herself walked in, you got your first taste of why everyone seemed to be wild over her. She was beautiful in the next-level way of rich people inclined to make themselves into a work of art, the kind of beautiful that required a team of specialists all for one person. Her black heels were high enough to make her casual stroll up to the counter impressive and her metallic gold dress was small enough to make the process eye-catching. Li followed behind her like a shadow, unobtrusive and impassive like all the best bodyguards. Diana brushed a strand of her long, brown hair back over one bare shoulder and smiled at you with vivid red lips. "So a friend of mine told me there was a special private party happening here tonight. You know anything about that?" She was tall enough that she almost had to bend ninety degrees to rest her elbows on the counter. The spectacular view down the front of her dress was probably intentional and the way she shifted her hips back toward Li //definitely// was. "I do — there's some very eager folks in the private room." You held up the list Li had sent you, now on a clip board for a bit of dramatic flair. "I'm going to need you to give me a yes or no on a few things first and then I can show you back." Diana let out a bright little giggle and tried to wave you off. "Oh, there's no need for that. Anything's fine, really. I'm not picky at //all//." She fluttered her eyelashes at you. Her eyes were a striking pale blue, probably modded. "My customers' requests were very specific, ma'am. You answer the questions, or the only place you'll be going is right back out the front door." The pout she was putting on was ridiculous enough to take some of the shine off of her. "I assume you don't mind your guard hearing any of this?" "I almost forget he's here half the time," Diana said, glancing back at Li. The way she arched her back a little more, making her skirt ride up, suggested she was even more focused on him than you. "Well, I guess I wouldn't want to get you in trouble, so if you're //sure// we have to go over all that...." "I'm sure," you said, picking up your pen. "First thing on the list is face slapping." Diana's vapid front slipped for a split second as her eyes went sharp with interest. She nodded and you checked it off with a bland smile. "Great. Next is verbal humiliation." [[You worked your way down the list, watching Diana get more riled up with every item you read off.|Diana 3-2F]]

''[Unfinished]'' [[Mercury 4-1]]

The trio settled into some halting conversation after you left — or more accurately, Fero and Ailene did, while Li made agreeable noises around his cake. Sports was a bust as a subject, because Ailene cared a //lot// and Fero knew nothing about it. Celebrity gossip stalled out when Fero realized Ailene had no idea who he was talking about. Their respective performance in the shooting range turned out to be the winner, devolving into some good-natured bickering and one-upmanship that seemed to be working wonders for cutting the tension. Thinking about attractive people in suits handling deadly weaponry wasn't exactly ruining your night, either. You'd had limited dealings with guns yourself, and never on either end of firing one. Still, it was impossible to ignore the cool factor, no matter how much you knew it came mostly from your love of action films. Dinner brought some peace to the back room, which in turn gave your ego a nice little stroke. Fero was the first one to break the silence as he asked, "We all calm enough to talk about the bitch queen now, or what?" Li let out the tiniest chuckle, immediately stifled by clearing his throat. "The urge to let her suffer the consequences of her actions has receded somewhat, at least." "The thing that gets me," Ailene said, somewhere closer to calm than murderous now, but only just, "is that she doesn't need to have //any// consequences. She could rent a team of the hottest people the City has to offer and close down a whole public park to have them fuck her in, if she wanted to." There were some sour murmurs of agreement, and a long silence. "I think she wants people who don't know who she is — or people who do and aren't going to be nice about it just because she's got credits to burn," Fero said. "She wants to get messed up. I mean, you guys heard her telling those bastards to fuck her on camera, right?" Ailene's answering laugh was low and a little unsteady. "Maybe that's why she keeps trying to bait us. She knows we'd rough her up however the fuck we felt like." She only paused for a split second before she added, "I'd do it, if I thought we could get away with it." "Perhaps if we had a neutral space that was sound-proofed, with a discreet owner — one who might even be interested in joining in?" Li's question seemed to stun everyone, including you. The dishes you were washing didn't come to any harm being left in the water longer, but you did manage to splash your apron. No one else was in the restaurant currently, so you hurried over to lock the door. This wasn't the first time someone had straight out asked if they could have sex back there — you'd signed off on a few porn shoots, even, and there had been several more without your blessing. Letting them use the room was no problem; sex up with powerful corporate heiresses was a bit higher risk. [[A very tempting kind of risk — you were going to have to agree.|Diana 2-3F][$fuckDiana to true]] ''(❤︎)'' [[Too much of a risk — you were going to have to turn them down.|Diana 2-3N][$fuckDiana to false; $smoochGuards to false]] ''[Unfinished]'' /* May not want to set this here if you give the player a chance to smooch them anyway in the next passage!! */

Fero startled when you opened the door, but Li and Ailene only gave you matching polite nods. "You guys knew ?they <<verb 'was' 'were'>> listening in this whole time?" Fero asked. You would have been happy to place a bet that he was going over what he'd said and trying to figure out how incriminating it was. "?They kindly agreed to delete any recordings once we left without causing damage, and I felt a bit of prurient eavesdropping was a reasonable exchange for that security." Li glanced you over, a cool appraisal that told you nothing about any conclusions he came to. You didn't see any reason to argue with his assessment. "And now I assume you'd like to negotiate some increased security for a future visit?" The hint of pleased smile you got for the question warmed your gut much like a shot of something potent. Ailene set her comm on the table and nudged it toward you. Filling the screen was a candid photo of a woman that had to be Miss Diana Darton, reaching out to rest one pink-nailed hand on a man's arm in a bar. She could have been a vid star, pornographic or otherwise: lean, fit, and immaculately dressed in something short, black, and skin tight. Despite her height, she had heels on that raised her even higher so that she had to look down at the man she was flirting with. With a quick swipe, Ailene flipped to a video. "—recording? Make sure you get my good side." Diana winked at the camera, a white streak of what had to be come splattered across her cheeks. She dragged a finger through it and sucked it clean, eyes falling half-shut with clear enjoyment. "So, boys, who wants to go next?" she asked, eyes shifting over to focus somewhere off-camera. "Oh, damn, Ailene." Fero let out a low whistle and leaned in closer to watch the action. "You've been saving the vids she has them take too?" Ailene looked smug as could be while on-screen, Diana started licking someone's cock, slow and showy. "Recorded this one myself, actually. I knew a few of the guys leading the crew and they weren't dumb enough to hurt or kidnap her, so I let them go for it." Fero glanced up from the comm to give Li a wicked smile. "Wouldn't mind seeing you put her majesty in her place like this, boss," he said, a little coaxing and a lot more interested than you would have guessed. "Wouldn't mind helping, either. I bet we could wreck her pretty good between the three of us." "Or is that the four of us?" Ailene asked. She'd had eyes on you this whole time, not that you'd been terribly subtle about watching Diana getting railed. "Pretty sure you at least want to watch." [[You admitted you were interested in watching, but decided getting involved would be a step too far.|Diana 2-4F]]

A reservation request for four came in a polite week in advance, with an anonymized civilian card attached and a lone name: Leaf. You accepted it immediately, brushing away the hint of disappointment that he wouldn't be coming in on his own. He was pleasant company, a decent customer, and so far had only brought the fun kind of trouble along with him. Presumably Panoptix wasn't one of his guests, though who knew? With no special requests, you didn't have to go out of your way to prepare for them, though you did make sure everything was well stocked-up enough that there was no chance you'd run out before they arrived. You also tightened up your security and rearranged a few of your cameras for better coverage, just in case. The first one of Leaf's group in the door was an absolutely //massive// man who managed to look nonthreatening from the way he curled in on and himself and the extremely casual combination of khaki slacks and a light blue polo shirt. He had a neatly kept beard and mustache, and a huge number of smile lines around his eyes and mouth. Leaf was close behind him, dressed down again in jeans, and he waved at you as soon as he cleared the door. You almost overlooked one of the last two members of the group, a short, chubby woman wearing black cargo pants and a baggy black hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up. She had thick glasses on, but they'd slid down her nose from the way she was peering at the comm in her hand. The reason you'd almost overlooked her was the man at her side, who was model levels of fit and attractive with a surprisingly warm and genuine smile over his neat beard. He was wearing sinfully tight jeans and a dark red shirt unbuttoned far enough to show off a hint of black chest hair. "Hi, $name," Leaf said, propping his elbows on the counter. "How are you doing tonight? Oh, let me introduce you to everyone!" You weren't surprised to get more aliases, though at least they were all amusing. The giant who seemed to be the leader — or at least the oldest of the group — was //Ladybug//. The woman was Beetle, which seemed reasonable from the way she looked like she'd be happy to scuttle off into a corner at the slightest provocation. Sunbeam was also aptly named, given how he dazzled at even a brief glance. All of them were in high spirits as you showed them to the private room and took their orders — food and drinks, because apparently they were all starving. Ladybug was the first one to speak after you slipped out the door. "You know if this place is secure or not, Leaf?" "There are mics for sure," Leaf said. "I haven't mentioned any of our business around $name, but ?they did help me out the last time I was in." You noted with some interest that he didn't mention Optix's involvement. <<nobr>> <<if $fuckLeaf == true>> Leaf also failed to mention what he'd offered you in return, though you caught a slight waver in his voice that suggested he remembered it at least as well as you did. You let yourself indulge in wondering if he might stay late after his friends left tonight while you mixed their drinks and carried them back. <<elseif $fuckLeaf == false>> <</if>> <</nobr>> "I can put up a jammer if you want," Beetle offered, right as you stepped in the room. Her eyes darted up to you and skittered away guiltily. "Or we can just keep the conversation clean," she added, too fast and too loud to be casual. "There's not much to discuss about earlier anyway," Sunbeam said. His voice was as attractive as the rest of him, somehow. He was almost the polar opposite of what you'd seen of Panoptix so far, so eye-catching that you couldn't imagine anyone forgetting him. "Why don't we just relax and have a good time for tonight, guys?" That got a general murmur of agreement as you set down everyone's drinks. Sunbeam's fingers brushed yours as you got to him, so casual you would have thought it was accidental if not for the little wink he gave you at the same time. He flinched away and you spotted Beetle's foot moving back from where she'd presumably kicked him in the shin. [[You hid your smile as you ducked back out to start preparing their meals.|Leaf 3-2]]

"We'll need to rent out the entire restaurant for the evening, I believe." Li inclined his head to you with another faint smile. "I saw cleaning fees were something you had already determined, but please feel free to increase them in the event we get too... enthusiastic about the proceedings." The thought of all of them losing control enough to make that kind of mess was tantalizing. "That's all fine by me." You took a few minutes more to hammer out the finer details — you could keep the recordings if you signed a contract saying you'd agreed to what they were doing in the first place. It was a nice bit of mutual blackmail material, almost comforting in its familiarity. Ailene said she could convince Diana that a few of her rougher friends would be having dinner here — it wouldn't be difficult to get her to go somewhere if she thought she was going to get fucked. All you had to do was blindfold her and lead her back to the private room, then kick back and watch the show. Because you were now as much restauranteur as you were criminal, you added in a few trays of finger foods made in advance to your mental list. With plans laid out and drinks finished, the mood was cheerful but all four of you were clearly starting to fade. "Hey, since you're not gonna get a piece of her majesty, you want a little sugar from us before we go?" Fero made the offer sprawled casually back in a chair, gesturing broadly to include all three of them. "Maybe a few good kisses to get you through the last of your night?" [[You were more than happy to take them up on that offer.|Diana 2-5K][$smoochGuards = true]] ''(❤︎)'' [[You were flattered, but declined and saw them on their way with a polite goodbye.|Leaf 3][$smoochGuards = false]]

Fero straightened up in his chair, but didn't get up. He beckoned you over with a curl of his finger and pulled you down to his level as soon as you were within arm's reach. His lips tasted sweet from the fruity cocktails you'd given him. For all that he seemed to be the most foul-mouthed of them, he kissed you delicate and slow in a way that had you pressing in closer until you were pinning him in his seat. From the way his hands were gripping your shoulders, that was exactly what he wanted. A second set of hands grabbed you. Fero and Ailene worked together to turn you over so you wound up sitting in Fero's lap while Ailene leaned down to kiss you. She was meaner about it, not afraid to use some teeth, but she made a very good noise when you gave as good as you got. Your focus failed as Fero started trailing his lips along your neck, tongue flicking out to trace the shell of your ear. When Ailene pulled back, Li was standing in front of you. He helped you to your feet with care, seeming every bit a gentleman until Fero and Ailene closed in against your sides, penning you in at the center of the three of them. Li looked you over, this time with more heat in his eyes than you would have expected. One of his hands traced in the air between you, only pausing to touch you twice as he tapped one long finger against two of your hidden knives. "That's not all of them, is it?" he murmured. "You seem like the sort of ?person who has more than one backup plan." After a second, more careful pass, he found the third one as well. This time his hand lingered, stroking along the length of the concealed blade as he watched you with his calm, dark eyes. Li kissed the same way he seemed to approach everything, with a level of careful control and well-deserved confidence far exceeding an average person's. Had he been watching you so closely with Fero and Ailene that he'd already figured out what you liked best? From the way he was already making you breathless, you would have believed it. He broke off the kiss and you thought he was going to pull away, but instead he cupped your cheek with one hand and guided your arm around his side with the other. There was something hard against your wrist; given the location, it was probably a gun. You barely had a chance to consider that before Li stepped in closer, tipping your head back with one thumb under your jaw. Fero and Ailene each kept one hand on you to hold you steady, but they both took the chance to feel you up a little with their free hands. Li rolled his hips against you, just once, enough to let you feel how hard he was for a brief instant before he moved away. You were breathing hard when he stopped kissing you, but your reflexes were still sharp enough that you caught his wrist when he tried to go for one of your knives. "As I suspected," Li said, looking down at you with something like pride. "You haven't always been a chef, have you?" He eased his hand back, letting it fall loose at his side. "No wonder you're so damn hot," Fero whispered in your ear. "I've got a serious weakness for the dangerous types." On your other side, Ailene laughed at him softly. "So after we do the princess, should we gang up on you next? Bet ?they'd give us a discount if you got down on your knees for ?them." "A discussion for another time," Li cut in smoothly, somewhat to your disappointment. "For now, you two get the car and I'll settle the bill." The room felt chilly when they all stepped away from you. Fero and Ailene knew when to fall in line, walking off with no more than a smile and a nod to you as they went. You pulled up your recording app and highlighted everything until the point Fero offered you a kiss, raising one eyebrow to Li as a question. He reached over and tapped delete himself, then folded his hand over yours and clicked off your comm screen. "If you're going to look that over later, I would welcome the chance to be on a call with you while you did. Perhaps make some suggestions for the future?" He took one of your hands and bowed over it like some kind of noble from a fantasy vid, if they were armed and looked at people like they wanted to devour them. "I'll keep that in mind," you said, voice about as steady as you could reasonably expect it to be. Li gave you enough space to slip by him and out to the register, though he followed close after you the whole way. You didn't pay much attention to the numbers as he settled his bill, focused more on the motion of his hands and the thought of that voice in your ear saying filthy things. After you locked up behind him, you noticed the tip he'd left was an oddly specific number of credits, with more decimal places than anyone usually bothered using. It was exactly long enough to be a comm address. [[Something told you that it would be worth hurrying through your cleaning for the night, and you did it all with a smile.|Leaf 3]]

Their conversation stayed to standard topics while you cooked, but it gave you a chance to get a feel for everyone. Ladybug was clearly the dad of the group, though everyone else teased him mercilessly when he tried to use the few years he had on them to back up something he said. Beetle was chatty once she relaxed. She and Sunbeam had a ton of inside jokes, though almost all of them seemed to be designed to drive each other crazy. Leaf was as charming as ever, but he wasn't quite as settled in as the others. New to the group, or maybe he'd done something to put himself on their bad side at some point. You wondered if Panoptix had something to do with it, but the last thing you wanted was to bring the subject up and ruin their night. Or worse, somehow catch their interest by mentioning their name. With anyone else, you would have said that was needlessly paranoid, but Panoptix had already proved themself willing and able to mess with you or your restaurant. Part of you wanted to try to get their attention, because it had been the sort of rush you didn't get often these days. Most of you realized what an absolutely terrible idea that was, and for now, good sense was winning. The group ordered dessert and more drinks, though Beetle and Ladybug both got something non-alcoholic. Leaf's subtlety was failing him; he paused mid-sentence when you set his mousse down and his hand brushed over your arm. Beetle caught it instantly and did some very judgmental things with her eyebrows, but settled into an indulgent smile. Sunbeam was only seconds behind her in noticing, and he gave you and Leaf a warm, appraising once over that looked very inviting. [[You were interested and happy to flirt back a bit.|Leaf 3-3F]] ''(❤)'' [[You decided to gently discourage them, so they didn't get the wrong idea.|Leaf 3-3N]]

You mirrored Sunbeam's glance back at him, letting your eyes linger on the lovely triangle of bare chest he was showing off. Beetle let out an incredulous giggle at almost the exact same time as Ladybug heaved a sigh. "Oh, is that how this is gonna go? All right, you young'uns behave yourself until I can eat my damn cake and then I'll head on home to the missus and leave you all to it." Ladybug's comment was followed by a round of teasing about how old he was and how he had to get home before bedtime, but also some quieter thanks. Beetle offered to drive the guys home once Ladybug said he'd take a cab, and the two of them were discussing how to swap the car back. You weren't really listening to their discussion, because Leaf had dipped a finger in his mousse and Sunbeam was licking it clean with some downright obscene swipes of his tongue. Ladybug trailed off mid-sentence with a groan. "Come on, like ten, fifteen minutes is all I'm asking, guys. I'm too damn married for this," he said under his breath. Neither Leaf nor Sunbeam looked sorry in the slightest, but they did scoot their chairs further apart and keep their hands to themselves. It had gotten late, so it wasn't too hard to drop a bill on the last few diners in the main room as a subtle suggestion they wrap things up. You rushed through the dishes, promising yourself you'd clean and sweep up in the morning so you didn't feel bad about slacking off tonight. Leaf wandered out shortly after your last patron settled their bill, carrying a neat stack of everyone's dessert dishes. He looked about ready to step up and wash them himself too, hovering at the edge of the kitchen. It was a sweet gesture, but you took them out of his hands and got them into your dishwasher before he could even suggest it. "I wanted to talk to you for a sec." You glanced back, but Leaf's heated smile and casual lean on the counter suggested it wasn't the bad kind of talking to, so you nodded. "How would you feel about coming back to our place? Might be a bit more comfortable than your room back there, and Beetle's a lot more at ease on her own turf. She'll probably be hands-off either way, though — that's just what she prefers." ''[Unfinished]'' [[???|Leaf 4]]

You pulled your hand back and gave Leaf a subtle shake of your head. He managed to smile after only a tiny flicker of disappointment, and Sunbeam immediately drew him into conversation as you finished handing out desserts. Everyone stayed as polite and cheerful as they had been while you were in the room. Once you stepped out, Leaf got a round of sympathy and something that sounded like an offer from Sunbeam, but it was quiet enough that you didn't catch more than the tone. ''[Unfinished]'' [[You saw the group out the door with more friendly bantering and told them they were welcome back any time.|Leaf 4]]

Despite your pleasant evening with Leaf and his crew, you woke up the next day with a headache from sleeping wrong and a deep and certain feeling of paranoia. You didn't even bother to change out of your pajamas before you did a bug sweep of the restaurant. You found //three// and one of them was on your side of the counter. Either Panoptix had stopped by multiple times since you last checked, or they had been her last night and gone wild planting them while you were distracted. You left the last one intact long enough to use it to send a message: "If you make me sweep this place for bugs every day, I am going to start playing the worst sounds imaginable at high volumes into every single one of them." For better or worse, there was no immediate response. A few hours later, your reservation system pinged you, but there was no information in any of the fields besides special requests, which read: "Cute, but I could easily filter that out. Wouldn't want you to get bored, though — I'll switch things up a bit, as a favor." It wasn't exactly a sentiment that was going to put you at ease, but you found yourself grinning anyway. It seemed like the master hacker was at least a little interested in messing with you personally rather than just Leaf, and that was strangely flattering. So far they hadn't been bad for business — quite the opposite. They had come in quite a few times, and every persona you were sure of had tipped well. Still, you wanted to do something that would score you at least one point in whatever strange battle you'd struck up. The odds of successfully planting a bug on them seemed unlikely, and it wasn't your style anyway. If Leaf counted getting away unscathed as a win, you could probably do the same, but in a perfect world you'd manage something a bit flashier. You started by taking steps to limit the number of strangers that would be coming in. You put a word in with the companies that delivered your ingredients about vague security concerns, making sure you'd get familiar faces there. Sending out a special discount on your mailing list would also funnel in repeat customers, which would help whether or not Panoptix saw it too. You set your reservation system to automatically reject anyone new for the next week. Tightening your digital security was probably a lost cause, but you were going to try to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible. You added a few extra cameras and set them all on a new network that was named after one of the other businesses next door. The original network got upgraded with a few different checks for who could log into it. They had to be not just in the restaurant but behind the counter, and it would also do a silent check for either your pupil or fingerprint, chosen at random. [[Whether or not it would be enough, it was the best you could do without spending a ton of money or most of your sanity.|Leaf 4-2]]

Your gambit with the mailing list worked a little //too// well — business picked up to the point you barely had time to keep an eye out for Panoptix. You got in the habit of sweeping for bugs before bed every night, but turned up absolutely nothing. No one signed on to your networks except you. Every interaction with a customer was so painfully normal that you started to wonder if it was too late for your sanity after all. The very next day, there was a small, gray plastic box tucked away inside one of your usual containers of produce. A stylized eye with circuitry around it gave you a pretty good idea of who had sent it, and left you wondering if you needed to handle the thing like it might be a bomb. You slipped on a pair of disposable gloves to pick it up, left your comm tucked behind the counter, and took it out into the narrow alley behind the restaurant to open it. Nothing happened when you opened it. It took a moment longer to steel yourself to look inside, and when you did you found a note and a tiny clear vial suspended in a foam nest. The note read: "I'm coming in sometime tomorrow. If you think you've spotted me, slip this into my drink and I'll give you a prize if you were right. If you guess wrong or don't use it, you get a penalty instead. I'll be watching." You pulled the vial free and found a small label on the lid that only said "not poison" with a little smiley face. Seemed like you had a chance to score that point you wanted, even if it wasn't exactly on your own terms. You'd spiked drinks a few times in your previous life, but you'd always been sure of what you were putting in and who was going to drink it. The idea that you might catch an innocent bystander by accident didn't sit too well with you. [[The rest of your day passed in a busy haze of cooking, serving, and contemplation; it took you a long time to fall asleep.|Leaf 4-3]]

A little bit of sleep deprivation and a lot of conflicted emotions made a rough start to your day that stimulants could only do so much for. You tried anyway, and by the time you opened for lunch service you were jittery with excess energy. It was a relief when the first half dozen people or so were all regulars. Most of them worked locally and came in multiple times a week; a few of them even knew //you// well enough to politely ask if you were doing okay. The first new face that came in set you on edge all over again, but you got some relief when they didn't order a drink. You considered doubling all your drink prices for the night, to scare people off, but that would do some things to your profit margins that you weren't ready to commit to. Lunch ended without anyone who caught your eye. No one had reserved the private room for tonight, which meant you could stay in the main room and pay that much more attention to anyone who came in. It was a good theory, but after a few hours it seemed like even your most careful, paranoid examination of everyone was going to turn up nothing. Had the whole thing been some kind of sick joke? Three people dining alone came in one after the other, which was unusual enough on its own. One man in a nice suit claimed to be waiting for someone, the next woman seemed to be a corporate engaged in some kind of angry comm exchange who barely said hello to you, and the third man enthusiastically told you a friend had recommended the place to him. Then you finally got a lucky break. A young woman in a dress with dangling chains stepped too close to the first man when her date made a grab for her, and one of her chains caught in his hair. She had it sorted out in seconds, but you spotted his hands going not to the back of his head where it would have tugged at his scalp, but the front, like he was holding his hair in place. If he was wearing a wig, there was a chance he could be Panoptix. [[You decided to empty the vial into his next drink, hoping that your guess was correct.|Leaf 4-4]] //(You decided that you couldn't risk drugging the wrong person, even if it meant losing.)// ''[Unfinished]''

It was difficult to act normal as you delivered the spiked drink, but you did your best and hurried off to another customer as fast as courtesy would allow. You spotted maybe-Panoptix taking a sip a few minutes later. He turned and caught your eye, then gave you a tiny nod. Relief flooded your body, and you spent the rest of the night so light on your feet you worried you might float away. The crowd thinned as the night wore on, but Panoptix stayed, lingering over two different desserts and another drink. Nothing alcoholic, which didn't surprise you. Presumably the professional criminal liked to keep his senses sharp when he was out in public — you always had, when you were working. You saw the last of your other guests out fifteen minutes to close, locked the door behind them and found yourself alone with Panoptix for the first time. They spared you from needing to find something to say by slipping out of their disguise. It wasn't just a wig — there were a few subtle prosthetics involved that had changed the shape of their face, and inserts in their shoes that had raised them up an extra few inches. Their shoulder-length hair was entirely white at first, but subtle strands worked through it shifted color along with their eyes and eyebrows, from a mousy brown to a vivid pink. The most dramatic change was an intangible one. Previously, there had been a man presumably stood up by their date moping at the table; now, there was a sharp, dangerous, and deeply pleased //threat// lounging back in their chair like they owned the place. "So, did something give me away, or was it a lucky guess?" They kicked one ankle up over the opposite knee, surveying you like a king watching his court. "The woman whose dress caught in your hair." You figured you might as well give him an explanation. "You had to stop your wig from slipping. Pure luck that it happened, really." "But still, a careful eye was needed to notice it and to come to the right conclusion," they countered. Their voice shifted as they spoke, not in dramatic jumps but a subtle shift higher or lower with every sentence that kept you from having any clue what their natural pitch was. Like the eyes and hair, it was an effective distraction technique on several levels. "Now, I believe I promised you a reward." With anyone else, the low purr those words had been delivered in would have been an obvious invitation. With Panoptix, you found yourself reluctant to close the distance no matter how sweet they sounded. They had to be armed with something more than their wits, every instinct you had was //sure//, but if they were, it was something so subtle you hadn't managed to catch it yet. [[Not knowing was really putting you on edge.|Leaf4-5]]

One of your hands settled near your easiest to reach knife and Panoptix quirked one eyebrow, making it flicker briefly green. "There's really no need for that, darling. If I wanted to hurt you, well." Their grin was wide enough to show you a hint of too-sharp teeth, threat and distraction both. When you shifted your gaze back down to the rest of them, there was a small gun in their hand. "I've had opportunities enough, and I haven't taken any of them." They set the gun next to their empty plates and used one to nudge it to the far side of the table. On closer inspection, you weren't even sure it //was// a gun. The barrel was oddly short, and while it looked like an old-fashioned revolver, the cylinder had been replaced by a number of vials filled with different colored fluids. Panoptix could grab it without much trouble, but you appreciated their willingness to put themself at even a slight disadvantage. You brought your hands back to your sides with a grateful nod. "So what kind of reward did you have in mind?" You were conflicted on what you wanted them to offer, enough that you weren't inclined to make any suggestions. They hummed a long note that slid down an octave, their eyes darkening from pink to burgundy in sync. "I had a few things in mind, but perhaps you'd prefer a nice, simple security upgrade for the time being? Promise I won't even leave any back doors open for myself, and I really wouldn't make that offer for just anyone." Against your better judgment, you were flattered. If they wanted to destroy your network, you had no doubt they could, but if they //secured// it, you'd feel nearly invincible — and so you agreed. You drifted back to the kitchen as they got to work, though you wound up watching them more than you got any work done. Panoptix was using some kind of custom interface that popped up in their palm with a snap of their fingers, and not a single icon was labeled. Stylish and intimidating seemed a perfect fit for them. After a few moments, they broke out laughing and looked up at you, eyes flickering to a sunny yellow. "Oh, you clever thing. //Very// sneaky tricky with the second network! I'll leave that in place for you, and I can tweak it so the signal looks weaker, like it's genuinely coming from next door." The warm glow from their praise was enough that you refocused on cleaning to hide any signs of how flustered you were. You ducked into your storage closet to grab some extra towels, and weren't surprised to find the place empty when you came back out. Your comm had a note on it with the log in information for your newly strengthened network, and a comm address. Below that was a message: "Text me if you have any trouble, or want some. I'll see //you// again sometime soon." There were two eyes and circuits at the bottom this time, one closed to make the signature into a wink. [[You weren't sure what you'd gotten yourself into, but you couldn't deny that it was thrilling.|Mercury 3]]

A few days of quiet were just what the doctor ordered after all the excitement of Panoptix. Once your mailing list offer ended, business slowed back down to its usual pace and it practically felt like a vacation. That was probably why a day of everything going wrong caught you so badly off guard. Most of it was tiny, but it was //incessant// and it culminated in you burning a meal because you got too wrapped up in an argument with someone trying to wheedle their bill down. The spike of rage when you smelled smoke must have shown on your face. The corporate immediately pushed his card over to you without another word and took a step back with his hands raised defensively. You grabbed the card, took the pan off the heat, rang him up, and sent him scurrying on his way. Whether from fear or genuine decency, the customer who now had to wait even longer for their food didn’t make any fuss about the delay. You offered them a dessert on the house anyway. The rest of the night dragged out longer than it had any business doing. A large party of fussy corporates took the private room and every single damned one of them had at least one special request for their dinner. They didn’t get any more pleasant after several drinks. At least one of those drinks wound up thrown at someone, splattering all over a wall and leaving a sticky mess. You added the cleaning fee to their bill, tapping out the numbers on your comm with sharp stabs of your finger. When you finally shut the door, inches away from the heels of your last customer for the night, you still prickled all over with restless aggression. You reined it in while you worked your way through the dishes — breaking a plate might be the last straw for this disastrous day. Hefting up all the chairs with more force than was needed helped a little, but you were starting to wonder if you needed to go out to a gym or something to burn off all your excess energy. You scrubbed at the worst of the mess in the private room but finally gave it up as a job for professionals — or at least the professional-grade solvents they had access to. Damp and cranky, you kicked the door open and spotted a familiar figure in a gray jumpsuit standing next to the counter. Mercury tugged her hood off, revealing her distinctive metal face. “This is a hell of a night to turn up unannounced,” you told her, circling around at a good distance to get behind the counter. “Might be wise to see yourself right back out again.” Mercury’s smile didn’t even falter. “And what happens if I stick around? Do I have to pour my own drinks?” She looked you over, gaze seeming to stop at your clenched fists. “Or maybe you’d like to blow off a little steam first?” You were pretty sure she was offering more than just a fight, but she was //definitely// offering the fight. [[There was no harm in mixing violence and pleasure.|Mercury 3-2F]] ''(❤)'' [[All you wanted right now was a straightforward fight.|Mercury 3-2N]]

"You sure you're up for that?" Despite the question, you were already shrugging off your apron. You hung it up and started pulling out your knives, one after the other, lining them up along on your side of the counter. Mercury's voice dropped lower, but you could hear an echo of your own eagerness in her tone. "Very sure." Her weapon removal took a moment longer than yours as she had to undo her belt and dig a thin, flat knife out of one boot. Once it was all piled on the counter, she took a few steps back and stood, spreading her hands wide in invitation. You stalked around to face off with her, but she shifted away to keep a table between the two of you. As hot as your temper was running, you weren't quite willing to throw a chair at her — if nothing else, you didn't want to be forced to replace a chair on short notice. You feinted to one side, but she didn't fall for it, dancing back around another table with a laugh. She backed herself into a corner after another round of dodging away. Instead of going to either side, you ducked down at lashed a kick at her under the table. It connected with her boot, the impact jarring enough that you could tell she'd reinforced it with something, but didn't quite knock her off balance. You tried to land another hit higher on her leg, but Mercury made it around the table before you could manage. This time when you squared off, she didn't run off. You took a swing and she blocked, but barely gave any ground. No matter how you attempted to herd her into a bad position, she just twisted away, managing to deflect your blows from angles you would have never tried yourself. After a few minutes, you realized that she had actually been luring //you// around the room, getting back to the counter. She didn't go for any of her weapons, but she used one of the stools as a launching point for a kick aimed straight at your head. Mercury on the attack was less flashy than her retreating or defending, closer to your own strictly functional style. You blocked what you could and took a few solid hits where you couldn't. There were going to be bruises, guaranteed, but you welcomed every one of them. Time seemed to slow as you wove around the room together, until finally she missed a punch and gave you a real opening. You kicked her hard on one thigh and she stumbled back against a table. With a final burst of energy, you closed the gap between you and tackled her sideways to the floor. Muscle memory had you throwing a punch at her face before you realized that might do worse things to your hand than her jaw. You pulled it at the last second, letting your knuckles brush gently along her cheek instead. It //felt// like metal, smooth and body-warm. "Can you feel through all that?" You opened your hand to curve your fingers around the side of her face. She nodded, looking up at you with blank silver eyes and a challenging smile. "Oh good," you said, leaning in to kiss her with the last remnants of your aggression. Mercury didn't hesitate to give back as good as she got, and also didn't hesitate to take advantage of your distraction to roll you both over. She didn't try to pin you down, but she kissed you so damn well that you weren't inclined to try turning the tables back. [[You eventually pulled away and suggested that you move upstairs to your bedroom.|Mercury 3-3F]] ''(❤)'' [[You broke off the kiss and gently suggested sharing a few drinks instead.|Mercury 3-3N]]

"You sure you're up for that?" Despite the question, you were already shrugging off your apron. You hung it up and started pulling out your knives, one after the other, lining them up along on your side of the counter. Mercury's voice dropped lower, but you could hear an echo of your own eagerness in her tone. "Very sure." Her weapon removal took a moment longer than yours as she had to undo her belt and dig a thin, flat knife out of one boot. Once it was all piled on the counter, she took a few steps back and stood, spreading her hands wide in invitation. You stalked around to face off with her, but she shifted away to keep a table between the two of you. As hot as your temper was running, you weren't quite willing to throw a chair at her — if nothing else, you didn't want to be forced to replace a chair on short notice. You feinted to one side, but she didn't fall for it, dancing back around another table with a laugh. She backed herself into a corner after another round of dodging away. Instead of going to either side, you ducked down at lashed a kick at her under the table. It connected with her boot, the impact jarring enough that you could tell she'd reinforced it with something, but didn't quite knock her off balance. You tried to land another hit higher on her leg, but Mercury made it around the table before you could manage. This time when you squared off, she didn't run off. You took a swing and she blocked, but barely gave any ground. No matter how you attempted to herd her into a bad position, she just twisted away, managing to deflect your blows from angles you would have never tried yourself. After a few minutes, you realized that she had actually been luring //you// around the room, getting back to the counter. She didn't go for any of her weapons, but she used one of the stools as a launching point for a kick aimed straight at your head. Mercury on the attack was less flashy than her retreating or defending, closer to your own strictly functional style. You blocked what you could and took a few solid hits where you couldn't. There were going to be bruises, guaranteed, but you welcomed every one of them. Time seemed to slow as you wove around the room together, until finally she missed a punch and gave you a real opening. You kicked her hard on one thigh and she stumbled back against a table. With a final burst of energy, you closed the gap between you and tackled her sideways to the floor. Muscle memory had you throwing a punch at her face before you realized that might do worse things to your hand than her jaw. You redirected at the last second, your fist landing on the floor next to her face with a heavy thunk despite how you pulled it. "Good call," Mercury said, breathing hard. "Might've broken something." The last of the fight drained out of you and you rolled over to one side to stretch out on the floor. "Thanks," you said, "I think I needed that." You turned your head toward her to check her over, but between the jumpsuit and the metal face, you really wouldn't have been able to tell if she //was// injured. Probably intentional. "You okay?" "Think I'll have a few bruises, but nothing worse than that. More than worth it for a decent fight." She sounded as relaxed as you were starting to feel, and her smile mirrored yours. [[You levered yourself up off the floor and suggested sharing a few drinks.|Mercury 3-3N]]

"You sure you want me to know how to get into your house?" Mercury asked. It didn't quite sound like banter and sure enough, what you could read of her expression had turned serious. "I'll close my eyes if you can guide me there." The offer was so sweet that you had to step in and give her a quick kiss. You were already getting used to the odd feeling of moving metal where your lips met. "Just promise you won't break in without warning me. I keep weapons within arm's reach and I don't hesitate if someone turns up in my bedroom at night." "Noted," Mercury said, wrapping one hand around your hip to keep you close. "I promise I'll be careful." That wasn't quite what you'd asked, but she dealt with any objections you might have had by kissing you breathless. ''[Unfinished]'' [[You saw her off into the night with one last kiss and got yourself to bed to catch at least a few hours of sleep.|No Soap 3]]

Mercury took to drinking as happily as she'd taken to fighting. You moved the lines of weapons on the counter over and replaced them with shots, then gestured for Mercury to take her pick. ''[Unfinished]'' [[You saw her off into the night with a friendly wave and got yourself to bed to catch at least a few hours of sleep.|No Soap 3]]

While you had a number to call for the restaurant, virtually no one used it rather than text you. Your comm rang while you were sleeping and the noise startled you so badly you rolled out of bed with a knife in hand. You slapped it down on your nightstand and fumbled to answer the comm, snarling out, "Do you know what //time// it is?" by way of a greeting. "Ten minutes to four, if my watch is to be believed," the man on the other end said casually, far too awake and unrepentant for the hour. "I need to rent out your entire business for the night and I need you to help me design the most unpleasant dining experience possible." You quoted him five times what you would usually charge and added, "But don't worry, I'm more than happy to make it unpleasant on the house." That got you a startled laugh. "How terribly generous of you," he drawled. "The cost is no issue, anyway. Now, I'm going to have most of the food catered, to make sure you won't be too busy to attend to myself and my guest..." You listened attentively as the rich asshole laid out his plan to make the whole night nonstop misery for the poor woman he was bringing in. Whatever she had done to prompt this had to have been something spectacular if the revenge plan included throwing around the amount of money you'd asked for on top of the food and cost of hiring enough actors to fill the restaurant. "If all goes well, such as it is, she should have the good sense to refuse when I then propose. At that point, assuming she doesn't do it herself, I'd like you to dump a drink on me and tell me to get out. Once I'm gone, give her some dessert or drink on the house and reinforce the fact she made a good choice, doesn't deserve such a cad, etc. Is that all doable for you?" You were well past stunned into silence and it took you a long moment to recover enough to tentatively agree. "I... guess so. One condition, though— actually, two. You come back after she's gone and explain what the hell this is about, and you don't //ever// call me outside of business hours again." "Done and done," he said, cheerful in a way that you were starting to suspect was designed to irritate. "I'll send in a reservation request immediately. Thank you for your assistance." You heard a single keystroke and then your comm vibrated in your hand. Of course he'd already assumed you would agree. "Oh, and the name is Lucifer Farris." [[And with that, one of the single most powerful corporates in the city hung up on you.|Mercury 4-2]]

You suspected that all three bodyguards had complied the options from things they'd seen her do before, because she said yes to almost everything with increasing enthusiasm. The only things she turned down were orgasm denial — no surprise for someone who was so used to getting her own way — and spitting. "That's the list," you said, setting it aside. "Two more special requests that I don't think you'll mind." You held up the bondage gloves and the blindfold, and Diana nodded eagerly to both. "Just a sec, let me get these damn heels off first." She hopped up on one of the stools and looked over at Li. "Would you be a dear and take care of them for me?" she asked, all sugar-sweet. "I'm sure you wouldn't want me to trip and break an ankle, would you?" "Of course, Miss Darton," Li said, dropping to one knee in front of her and undoing the tiny clasps of her heels with a few efficient motions. You were impressed with him all over again as he didn't glance up from his task, despite the way Diana was spreading her legs to try to give him a show. The irritated roll of her eyes as Li neatly lined up her shoes and stepped back, still without looking, was so satisfying you had to turn away to hide your smile. "Li, will you be coming with me to keep an eye on things?" Diana asked, back to faux-innocence in the blink of an eye. She beckoned you over with one hand — no long nails, to your surprise, though she did have a flawless manicure — then put her arms behind her back. You were happy enough to slip the gloves onto her arms and tie the laces tight enough to make her thrust out her chest. Li's eyes were locked on Diana's face. "I'm quite sure you will be in good hands here, Miss Darton." You didn't give her much time to pout about that before you got the blindfold over her eyes. Li moved silently back to the private room, leaving the door open for you to follow. You took both of Diana's hands and started guiding her across the room at a slow pace, keeping her away from any possible obstacles. "There's a little bump in the floor here. Slide your foot forward," you told her, stepping over it yourself with muscle memory alone. She inched her toes along until she found the spot and took the last few steps into the private room with a bright smile. "Very quiet party you've got going on here," she said, tipping her head to one side like it would help her pick up any sounds. "This isn't a practical joke, right? I'm just here to have some fun." Her voice went husky on the last few words and she licked her lips. Ailene tapped you on the shoulder and you let go of Diana's hands so you could move out of the way. [[You took a second to shut the door before heading off to one side where you could watch the action.|Diana 3-3F]]

Diana gasped when Ailene grabbed her chin, and then moaned happily when she slid two fingers into her open mouth. Fero circled around behind Diana without a sound. She shrieked when he reached a hand up her skirt, but only tried to arch back against him as he yanked her flimsy excuse for panties down to her knees. With a solid yank, he tore them clean off. Diana twisted her head free from Ailene's grasp and started begging, "Please touch me, please? Or just fuck me if you want, anything's fine." She was hamming it up to the point that Ailene rolled her eyes. A quick slap to one cheek cut Diana off, and Ailene followed up by sealing a hand over her mouth. Fero was teasing his fingers under the hem of Diana's dress, but not quite where she wanted them to be given the way she kept squirming. Li waved Fero away and stepped in to take his place, rucking Diana's dress up over her hips. The sound of him unzipping his slacks was loud in the near-silence, and answered with a wave of muffled enthusiasm from Diana. Fero and Ailene helped support her as Li bent her over and kicked her legs wider. He lined himself up and grabbed a handful of Diana's hair, pulling her head back so he could speak straight into her ear. "As I said before, you're going to be in good hands, Miss Darton." Li thrust into her all at once with a sharp, precise snap of his hips. Fero laughed, low and mean, and reached over to pull the top of Diana's dress down. "Hope you're ready to get wrecked and then some, your majesty." He reached over and pinched of her nipples, adding a little twist to get her to yelp under Ailene's palm. "Go on, tell us this isn't exactly what you've wanted since day one, princess," Ailene growled. She took her hand off Diana's mouth, but slapped her again before she could get a word out. "I wouldn't even be surprised if you were wishing it was the boss' dick half the time someone's fucking you." Diana let out a breathy laugh. "Would've been even more if I'd known how //good// it was," she said, rolling her hips back to meet Li's next thrust. ''[Unfinished]'' [[Mercury 4-1]]

Knowing that you wouldn't have to run lunch service, you let yourself sleep in an extra hour to prepare for what you were already sure would be a wild day. A shocking number of people turned up in the evening, enough to fill every single chair you had and a few of the folding ones you kept for emergencies. If they were all actors, they had been masterfully organized, arriving in plausible groups at slightly faster than usual intervals. The general atmosphere was upbeat but a little tense as you served everyone from the catered meals and waited for the star of the show to arrive. With not much actual cooking to be done, you wound up on your comm texting people to pass the time. Tal was quick to reply, but only to tell you that he was about to pick up a large group for a sunset tour. Mercury took longer, but sent you a picture: the curve of her metal smile in one corner and a dramatic view of the sky and a long drop taking up most of the rest of the space. "Guess where I am," she wrote. You were tempted to send back the obvious "on a roof" but decided to play along and zoomed in to see if you could recognize any of the signs in the background. There were a few that stood out, signs that looked to be painted rather than the usual electronic ones, but they were too small for you to be able to read the names. Still, there were only a couple options for areas where anyone would bother with old fashioned signs at all. "Red light district?" you texted back, grinning when you got a second picture of a dark-gloved thumbs up with the district's distinct privacy border shimmering in the background. You proceeded to tell Mercury about the ridiculous and weird night you were in the middle of, getting mostly strings of questions marks and exclamation points in return. "Who does this guy think he is?" she finally asked. Given that he was almost half an hour late from when he was supposed to arrive and you hadn't signed any kind of NDA, you sent Lucifer Farris' name back without hesitation. In her fastest reply yet, Mercury wrote back, "I'm so, so sorry. Tell me you charged him an obscene amount." "Five times my going rate, and I'm going to dump something that will stain all over him." Mercury was clearly big on privacy, so you hesitated before adding, "Do you know him?" There was a long enough pause that you worried you'd overstepped. "I have had the misfortune to meet him, yeah. Will pay you for video of the drink thing. Gotta go now, working." Despite the sign off, she sent one last message: "If you want anything else out of him, just tell him you know me." [[With that new mystery to consider, you shifted back to waiting for the man himself to arrive.|Mercury 4-3]]

"Here we are, my dear!" Lucifer's voice was sugary and bright as he held the restaurant door open for a delicate-looking brunette woman in a tasteful blue cocktail dress that was far too nice for your place. Even more than usual, in fact — the rest of the crowd Lucifer had hired was dressed on the casual end of the spectrum. "It's always busy, but I'm sure the owner can squeeze us in somewhere." You could, because he had specifically requested that you leave your worst table free. In fact, since you had been encouraged to make everything as unpleasant as possible, you had sabotaged one of your tables with a small shim so it would wobble and jammed it into an awkward corner directly under a vent. Given the woman's lightweight dress, you had no doubt she would be freezing before they'd even gotten their appetizers. Lucifer Farris was and wasn't what you had expected. He was younger than you would have guessed from his voice, dark-haired and wearing what looked like an expensive black suit, but with a somewhat garish flower-patterned shirt and a checkered tie in clashing colors. As you seated them, he rambled on about a film he'd seen, gesturing so broadly that you had to step back once to avoid getting smacked in the arm. He was definitely the same man you'd spoken to earlier, but the vapid idiot version in front of you had the opposite energy from the sharp, conniving man who'd set this all up. The meal was painful to watch. Lucifer committed every possible social sin like he was working through a checklist: talking over the top of his date, ordering for her without consulting her, drinking heavily — though by his request, none of his drinks actually contained alcohol. You would never have guessed it from the way his voice got louder and his conversation subject less appropriate as the night wore on. It was hard not to admire his flawless acting, while still feeling very, very sorry for his date. He sent her food back when you brought it out, claiming it needed to be more brown on the edges. You had to grit your teeth and think about your bank account to do it, but you burnt the whole thing around the edges and brought it back for his approval. You even managed not punch him when he sniffed and said, "I suppose that will have to do." His date was mouthing apologies behind his back. She even managed to eat some of the food at the center that wasn't too close to charcoal. [[You brought out a small coffee for her and a glass of wine for Lucifer, then stepped back to watch the finale.|Mercury 4-4]]

Lucifer dropped down on one knee and pulled out a small box. His date was already shaking her head, pressed back in her seat like she could somehow phase through the wall to escape. He ignored her, like he had been all evening, and rattled off a pretty little speech, concluding with, "Would you do me the honor of marrying me?" When Lucifer tried to take her hand, she actually tucked it behind her back and looked around the room for help. You scooped up Lucifer's glass of wine, and with deep satisfaction, upended it over his head to a chorus of gasps from the actors nearby. The red wine soaked his hair and dripped down his face, staining his god-awful shirt and tie. "You've been an absolute monster to this poor woman all night," you said. "No one in their right mind would marry you if you were the last man on earth. Get up, and get //out//." Lucifer sputtered, looking from you around to the rest of the room, and then up to his date. She was teary-eyed, but straightened her back and gave him a sharp nod. "This has been one of the worst evenings of my //life//, Mister Farris. I will absolutely not marry you, and in fact I very much hope to never spend another minute in your abysmal company." Her statement was greeted with a wave of applause and a few scattered cheers. The moment was so perfect you would have rolled your eyes if you'd seen it in a film, but it was hard not be caught up in it in person. Lucifer even played his part, huffing and muttering unpleasant things as he slunk out of the restaurant with his proverbial tail between his legs. It felt very good to be able to offer the woman her choice of desserts and reassure her that she'd done a great job standing up for herself. Reality snapped back into place maybe fifteen minutes after she had left, when the facade of strangers out to dinner broke down. A few people swapped tables to chat with folks they knew, but most of them started trickling out in small groups. You started cleaning up around the stragglers and were more than happy to let them order a round of drinks on Lucifer's tab. When you got back to the counter, you found a reservation request for one and a message from him waiting on your comm: "Went home to change, for obvious reasons. Will explain as promised soon." Not really what you'd meant when you made the request, but even a belated explanation was better than none. You sent grabbed a clip of you pouring wine on Lucifer from your security footage and sent it over to Mercury, along with the date of his upcoming reservation. "In case you feel like dropping in unexpectedly," you wrote. There was no immediate response, so you finished out your night and went to bed. [[The next morning you found a few messages waiting, brief, but all very enthusiastic about your suggestion.|Leaf 5-1]]

While you were prepping for dinner service, your comm pinged with a message that didn't list a sender — not an unknown number, but absolutely nothing. The message itself was even stranger. Two squares of solid colors, one deep blue and the other a warm brown, and the text, "Which do you prefer?" Figuring that it was some kind of strange marketing stunt, you ignored it. Five minutes later, the exact same message popped up again and you dismissed it again. Because there was no number attached, your comm didn't give you any option to //block// whoever was spamming you. The next message had the same text, but came with a looping video of a blue eye blinking closed and opening to reveal a brown one and half of a sharp smile underneath. Optix, of course. You had been busy enough, and maybe a bit too paranoid, to text them, so it wasn't a shock that they had decided to take the initiative. Now that you knew who it was, you figured you should text back before they decided to do something more dramatic. [[You texted back "blue" and waited for a reply.|Leaf 5-2][$oEyes to "dark blue"]] [[You texted back "brown" and waited for a reply.|Leaf 5-2][$oEyes to "light brown"]]

Your reservation system had space for notes on your side, to let you know what you were getting in to when repeat customers sent in a request. You'd flagged Cyrill as a definite yes, so you accepted before his name even registered for you. He hadn't made any special requests, but the interesting thing was that he'd booked the entire private room for only one guest. Elia's assumption that Cyrill had offered himself up came to mind and lingered while you started prepping for the day. It was entirely possible he was only coming in for dinner, of course, but there was no denying that he'd been flirting with you last time. You mulled the idea over off and on all the way through to dinner service and the time of Cyrill's reservation. He strolled in a polite few minutes early for his reservation, dressed to the nines in a three piece charcoal suit and carrying a slim briefcase. The suit was close-fitting and extremely flattering, and Cyrill was already fit enough that he probably would have been turning heads even if he was wearing a garbage sack. His blond hair was mostly slicked back, with a few loose strands that you would place money on being intentionally disheveled. "So lovely to see you again," he said as you lead him back to the private room. Besides the slightly flirtatious tone that you were starting to suspect was his baseline, Cyrill didn't make any moves on you as he ordered his meal. Before you could turn to go, he tapped your arm to get your attention. The smile on his face was perfectly casual, as was his posture, but his deep blue eyes all but glowed with excitement as he looked up at you. You kept your own face impassive, which didn't seem to be putting him off. "I wanted to thank you," Cyrill said. "Not just for last time, though that would be well deserved. I saw that Elia came in recently?" "They did." You were impressed that Cyrill didn't seem to have any objection to the frankly obscene bill Elia had managed to run up. That, and a note of concern in his voice prompted you to give him a basic overview of their visit and what the two of you had talked about. You left in Elia's comments about taking Cyrill up on anything he offered, but didn't mention any of your own feelings on the matter. Despite that, Cyrill's expression only got more eager as you spoke. "As I said, I wanted to thank you. If there's a particular form you'd like those thanks in, I'm quite flexible and //more// than happy to accommodate you however you seen fit. Though if you'd like suggestions, I certainly have some ideas." The lingering once-over he gave you and subtle flick of his tongue over his lower lip made his point clear. [[You told him you'd love to hear what he had in mind.|No Soap 3-2F][$testCyrill to true]] ''(❤)'' [[You told him that ordinary thanks and pleasant company were enough.|No Soap 3-2N][$testCyrill to false]]

(3-2F) "Wonderful," Cyrill said. He pulled something that looked like a small comm out of his pocket and passed it over to you. "I was hoping you might be interested in helping me test a prototype. Please feel free to experiment however you like through the evening, as time permits." You clicked the screen on and were greeted with a fairly bare bones interface of text, buttons, and a few adjustable sliders. The labels were more than exciting enough to make up for the presentation. Apparently under his very nice suit, Cyrill was equipped with a broad array of the wearable sex toys he and Dorran had discussed on their first visit, and you were now holding the controls to all of them. "Any way I like, huh?" You eyed the section marked 'nipple clamps' and eased the slider up a little, keeping a close on eye Cyrill's face. The tiny arch of his back was subtle, but the startled gasp was not. He looked almost disappointed when you eased it back down. "Help me budge the table over, won't you?" Cyrill raised an eyebrow, but went along with your request. You gestured him into a different chair, on the opposite side of the table. "I don't mind the change, but I am rather curious as to why it was necessary," Cyrill said as he eased into his new seat. You pulled up the camera feed on your comm and held it up to show him the video, with his face neatly centered in the shot. "You're also closer to one of the mics now. I wouldn't want to miss any... requests you might make." "Oh, don't worry," Cyrill said, looking you square in the eyes, "I'm anything but shy." ''[Unfinished]'' <<if $fuckDiana == true>> [[???|Diana 3-1F]] <<elseif $fuckDiana == false>> [[???|Diana 3-1N]] <</if>>

"Whatever you like," Cyrill said gracefully. "I do very much appreciate you looking out for Elia, and the update on them as well. They have only been in touch sporadically as of late, and Dorran and I do tend to worry." You reached over and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. "They seemed to be fine, and in high spirits after the people chasing them left. I'm happy to keep the offer for them to hide away here open as long as you like." ''[Unfinished]'' <<if $fuckDiana == true>> [[???|Diana 3-1F]] <<elseif $fuckDiana == false>> [[???|Diana 3-1N]] <</if>>

Their next message contained the same question, but three different locks of hair draped over the edge of a metal table. The tight framing made it impossible to see anything in the background, but you assumed they were texting you from their home, if the word "home" could reasonably be applied to whatever base of operations they worked from. You couldn't imagine that many people had gotten even such a tiny glimpse. It was hard not to feel special, though that was tempered by a growing concern over why Optix was asking your opinion on these things at all. Did it make you an accessory to a crime if you helped pick out their disguise? You brushed off the thought easily enough — even if someone found out you were involved, what were the odds anyone would catch Optix //now//? [[You picked the curly brown hair.|Leaf 5-3][$oHair to "curly brown"]] [[You picked the spiky blonde hair.|Leaf 5-3][$oHair to "spiky blonde"]] [[You picked the straight black hair.|Leaf 5-3][$oHair to "straight black"]]

Seconds after you sent your choice, you got another message reading, "Last one," and the same question. A slinky black dress hung next to a nice black suit, hangers hooked over a plain, white door that wouldn't have been out of place in virtually any house. Hair and eye color was one thing, but selecting someone's gender for the night? Presumably Optix wouldn't have asked if they weren't interested in letting you choose, but it still felt different from the other choices. Acting on a suspicion, you texted back, "Are you planning on stopping by tonight?" and got nothing but a haloed smiley face in response. That was almost certainly a yes, then. They had seemed interested in you the last time they were in, and you were starting to wonder if you weren't picking what version of Optix you wanted to be seduced by. You'd have to cross that bridge when you got to it, or didn't. It was almost equally likely that you would find an article about an impossible break-in through some large corporation's security in the news feeds tomorrow, and know what wig Optix had worn to do it. [[You told them to wear the dress.|Leaf 5-4][$oClothes to "black dress"]] [[You told them to wear the suit.|Leaf 5-4][$oClothes to "black suit"]] [[You told them, "Just come as yourself."|Leaf 5-4O][$oClothes to "charcoal suit"]]

You stayed alert as the day wore on, watching for someone with $oEyes eyes and $oHair hair. A few people caught your eye, but none of them were wearing a $oClothes, so as it inched toward closing time you still had no idea if Optix was coming in or not. ''[Unfinished]'' [[No Soap 4-1]]

No more messages came in before you had to open up shop. You stayed alert throughout the day, watching for someone with $oEyes eyes and $oHair hair, but everyone with the right coloration showed no signs of recognition and seemed to be as normal as any other customer. By the time things started winding down for the night, you were feeling somewhat disappointed. As bad an idea as getting involved with //Panoptix// was, well, it hadn't been boring to have them around. You waved goodbye to your last guests of the evening, but didn't go lock the door because you were in the middle of scrubbing a pan. Thankfully it was a metal one, because it slipped out of your hands when a voice behind you said, "Is it too late for me to order a drink, and possibly find some company to enjoy it with?" Optix was leaning casually at the counter, wearing a charcoal gray suit with subtle pinstripes. They seemed to have let your last choice override the others; despite their earlier questions, the hair they had pulled back into a loose knot was white and their eyes were a dark magenta. One of their pupils briefly displayed a heart as they winked with the other eye and despite the fact it should have been ridiculous, you found yourself charmed. You were also a little on edge, which was probably a healthy response to their presence, but did make you wonder if you shouldn't try to keep some distance between you. [[You told them you'd be happy to share a drink and some company as well.|Leaf 5-5F]] ''(❤)'' [[You agreed that they could probably stay for a drink, but just a drink.|Leaf 5-5N][$fuckOptix = false]]

You almost didn't recognize Elia when they walked into $bar late one night. Turned out their usual baggy coat of many pockets was very distinctive, but also that Elia in a slinky wine-colored gown with slits up to the thighs made for a //stunning// sight. They'd styled their unruly hair, pinning most of their hair away from their face but leaving a few delicate brown strands loose to soften their sharp jawline. Dark eyeliner and mascara made their eyes look even bigger than usual, and a vividly red lipstick turned their friendly smile into something downright devastating. Elia strolled up to the counter and gave you a quick twirl before they eased into a seat. "Evening, $name. How's your night going?" they asked, propping their chin on one hand and batting their long lashes at you. "I'm in high spirits, if you couldn't guess." "There were some subtle hints," you said. Fancy getup aside, they were all but glowing with satisfaction. "Can I ask what the occasion is?" You took a second to pour them a shot of something they'd ordered last time they were in and slid it across the counter. Elia chuckled and leaned forward, waving you closer with their free hand. "Wanted to wear the dress, mostly. A gift from Cyrill — half apology for ignoring me and half punishment for him all in one." They trailed a finger down the silky fabric of one of the straps and you noticed that they were wearing black nail polish with flecks of something iridescent to catch the light. "I can see apology, but punishment?" You managed to drag your eyes away from Elia long enough to say goodbye to a couple heading out, but they drift back. They were charismatic enough when you'd met them the first time, but tonight their charm was dialed up so high that they were magnetic. Elia held up a finger and tossed back their shot without a flinch. "It's a punishment because he picked it out and he knows I'm wearing it, but doesn't get to see me in it yet." They set the shot glass down and coyly traced the rim with one fingertip, their big, brown eyes intent on your face. "Wouldn't mind giving him some extra reasons to be sad he missed out, if you're game." [[You were more than game to help make Cyrill sorry he'd ever ignored Elia for a second.|No Soap 4-2F][$fuckElia to true]] ''(❤)'' [[You were happy to make sure they had a good night, but only as friendly company.|No Soap 4-2N][$fuckElia to false]]

Optix had already been equal parts attractive and dangerous, but the toothy grin at your response sent both metrics off the scale. "I wonder, is your interest entirely in spite of the fear, or partially because of it?" They walked around behind the counter like they owned the place, swiping one of your towels and gently drying off your hands. "Because you //are// afraid of me, at least a little, and I can't say that I don't enjoy that somewhat." "Can't deny there's some appeal in knowing you're trouble," you said. They were still holding onto your hands, and they curled one long finger around to drag across the inside of your wrist. Their eyes faded into a pale blue as they watched you carefully, testing the right amount of pressure it took to make you shiver. "And I'm mostly sure you don't want to hurt me." "Don't want to //harm// you, certainly," Optix corrected, digging one of their nails in hard enough to sting, "but I wouldn't suggest letting your guard down entirely, darling. I prefer to fight dirty." They let the towel drop and stepped in closer still, trailing a hand up along your waist. You caught their wrist as their wandering hand got too close to one of your knives. From their grin, the move had been intentional. Optix twisted free and took another grab for the knife, which was all the motivation you needed to shove them off-balance and pull out a different knife. The kitchen wasn't a large space, so Optix easily caught themself on the counter. The two of you wound up in a standoff with your knife hand braced on their shoulder and their gun, pulled seemingly out of thin air, under your jaw. Their eyes flared red-orange and they stretched up to kiss you, heedless of the blade so close to their neck. You would have sworn you could feel your pulse pounding against the muzzle of their weird gun as they kissed you, but it was anyone's guess if it was adrenaline or lust leaving you light-headed. They kissed softer than you had expected, almost coaxing you in — and then they //bit// you. You broke away with a loud curse and got a hand on your lip, shocked when it didn't come away bloody. Optix didn't move, watching you with a challenging lift of their eyebrows. "Am I playing too rough for you?" they asked, with not even the faintest hint of repentance. [["I can handle a bit of rough," you said, and leaned back in to give as good as you'd gotten.|Leaf 5-6F]] ''(❤)'' [[You nodded as you stepped back, stowing your knife away and waving them over to the other side of the counter.|Leaf 5-5N][$fuckOptix = false]] //("Would you be a bit gentler if I let you take charge?" you asked, easing your knife down onto the counter.)// ''[Unfinished]''

You kept the flat of your blade steady against Optix as you ducked your head down to bite the side of their neck, thrilling at the thought of marking them up. They arched against you with a moan, free hand twisting a handful of your shirt tight to keep you close. You jolted as they pressed their gun in harder, but it seemed to be an encouragement to stay put. "Did Leaf ever tell you about my fun little toy here?" Optix's voice was steadier than you wanted; you moved your mouth lower, tugging their clothes out of the way so you could bite them again closer to the shoulder. You pulled back long enough to ask, "Are we pretending you don't already know the answer to that?" "I was trying to be— ah— sociable," Optix said, voice catching as you dug your thumb in over one of the places you'd bitten. "But yes, I know he hasn't. Shall I explain it to you?" They got a hand in your hair and hauled your head back, forcing you to bare your neck. You shuddered at the drag of metal down your throat as they eased their gun down to rest right next to one of your collarbones. "Be my guest," you said, trying to keep your voice calm as you fought the urge to flinch away. Optix brought the gun up in front of your eyes, spinning the barrel to show off the rainbow of tiny vials. "Each one of these is a different drug — all of my own design, naturally." They tapped a light blue vial and their eyes shifted to match the exact color. "This prevents orgasm for up to three hours. The night I met Leaf, he was under the influence of an aphrodisiac, but I dosed him with this and made him suck me off." "That's pretty cruel." You didn't manage to stop the flinch this time when Optix clicked the blue vial into place and set the muzzle of the gun back under your chin. "Not that you've given me a lot of reasons to think you're nice." "Which is for the best, because I'm really not." Optix's voice shifted deeper as their grin pulled wide enough to reveal their sharp teeth. "But I'm not feeling too mean tonight, so I'll give you a choice: we can drop our weapons and go for it, or we each take a random shot first and //then// have at each other. What do you think, darling?" ''[All Unfinished]'' [[You'd come this far by picking the dangerous options, so you weren't about to stop now.|Leaf 5-7D][$fuckOptix = true]] ''(❤)'' //(You wanted to cut to the chase and fuck, not play Russian Roulette.)// ''(❤)'' [[You thought that this would be the right juncture to come to your senses and call the whole thing off.|Leaf 5-7N][$fuckOptix = false]]

Optix wasn't shy about hiding their disappointment with your answer, wiping away an imaginary tear from the corner of one of their eyes, but they followed it with a remarkably friendly smile. "I suppose not even I can be to //everyone's// taste," they said as they took a seat. "But I wouldn't say no to that drink if it's still on offer." You mixed a drink at their request, an elaborate cocktail that wound up with a sunset-like gradient and more alcohol than you would have expected someone so skinny to be able to handle. They took a delicate sip and gave you a pleased nod. "Absolutely perfect," they murmured, with a brief glance that definitely included you more than the cocktail. When you mustered up your best stern look, they held up their hands in surrender. "I suppose I was meant to behave, wasn't I? I'm afraid it's simply not my natural state, though I will try my best." ''[Unfinished]'' [[No Soap 4-1]]

Elia's flawless posture slipped as they broke into a relieved grin. "Was hoping you'd say that, because I had dinner before I came here." They glanced back at the few remaining patrons in the restaurant and asked in a whisper, "How much longer before they clear out, do you think?" "I can make it sooner rather than later," you told them. You dropped off the bills at the tables that didn't have one yet and very loudly flipped your sign from open to closed, and sure enough, everyone took the hint and made their way out in short order. With the door locked, you turned around and found Elia walking over to you, flashing a hint of surprisingly muscular thigh with each swing of their hips. When they got within arm's reach, they took your hands and guided them to the slits in their dress. "Fair warning, I'm not wearing anything except the dress," they said, tipping their head to one side with a coy smile. You took that as an invitation to let your hands wander, sliding them under the silky fabric and up along Elia's hips. Sure enough, you found nothing but bare skin even as you reached far enough to get a pleasant handful of their ass. ''[Unfinished]'' [[Mercury 5-1]]

"Well, so much for plan A, I guess," Elia said with a rueful smile. ''[Unfinished]'' [[Mercury 5-1]]

The night of Lucifer Farris' reservation came around and you spent the whole afternoon in gleeful anticipation of chaos. You had no idea what was going to happen, but given the volatile people involved, you were sure it would be something spectacular. Mercury texted you early on to say she had some business to deal that evening, but would try not to arrive too late. You promised to do your best to keep Lucifer around until she could make it. A completely different Lucifer Farris showed up, exactly on time and dressed in what might have been the same suit but with a simple white shirt and gray tie that gave him a severe look. His expression was blank as he strolled in with a bodyguard two steps behind him and gave you the smallest possible nod to acknowledge your presence. "Reservation for Farris," he said, casual and indifferent, far more like the elite corporate he was than the bizarre man who had staged the world's worst proposal. You showed him back to the private room, letting the silent, blonde guard do a sweep of the space before she deemed it acceptable for Lucifer to enter. He waved her off and she took up a position outside the door, which you closed behind her. "Don't worry, I do actually want to eat rather than simply occupy your space," Lucifer said, mustering up a faint smile and something almost like a pleasant tone of voice. "Unless you're inclined to poison me for being too much trouble last time, which I would understand but regrettably would also have to stop you from doing." "Is that a problem you have often?" You couldn't help but smile at the long-suffering sigh you got in response. "I'm fresh out of poison, so you'll have to settle for an ordinary meal tonight, I'm afraid." Lucifer inclined his head to you like a gracious lord. "I suppose I will have to endure, then." He'd clearly done his research on your restaurant, because he ordered a drink and dinner without looking at the menu. "Food first, if you would, and then explanations." [[You took it as the dismissal it was and went to work.|Mercury 5-2]]

More accurately, you let Mercury know that Lucifer had arrived and //then// got to his order. His body guard watched you intently while you poured Lucifer a drink, and again while you were preparing his food. You began to suspect his blithe comments about being poisoned might not have been a joke. "Should be able to make it in about an hour," Mercury finally replied. "Stall him if you can, but if not, just tell him I'm coming and he'll stay." You sent back an agreement, wondering yet again what sort of history the two of them had — and wondering even more if the evening was going to end in a fight. Lucifer had mellowed with food and a little alcohol in him, leaning back in his chair and favoring you with a much warmer smile when you returned. "You do quality work. I regret not being able to enjoy it properly last time." He let you gather up his dishes and added, "Bring me something lavish for dessert and then join me." There were only two other occupied tables at the moment, both of which were still mid-meal and probably wouldn't need anything too soon. You set turn your comm volume low and decided to keep an ear out in case they finished up while you were talking to Lucifer. Figuring he would probably continue to be somewhat insufferable, you added a shot to go with your slice of cake and carried everything back to the private room. Lucifer reached over for your shot as soon as you set the plates on the table, before you could even pull out your chair. You caught his wrist with one hand and took the glass with the other, tossing it back and then staring him down. He stole the cherry off the top of your cake with his free hand, grinning at your incredulous expression. "You really are trouble," you said, taking a seat and the cherry off his slice to even the score. "I'm shocked you had to go to all that effort to get someone to refuse to marry you." Lucifer swiped his finger through the whipped cream and slid it into his mouth to suck it clean. "I do have at least a few charms, and an obscene amount of money and power," he pointed out. "But in this case, Lady Izelia was not attempting to marry me of her own volition. Her parents were quite interested in a business merger and not above using their darling daughter to sweeten the offer — or trap me into it." [["So you designed a scenario where you were so awful that even greedy corporate parents wouldn't be able to overlook it?" you asked.|Mercury 5-3]]

"Precisely." Lucifer paused to take a bite of his cake and let out a pleased hum that was needlessly sexual. When you failed to respond, he huffed and took a second bite without the theatrics. "This also has the side benefit of being so scandalous it should put off the vast majority of marriage offers, at least for a few months. Does that suffice as an explanation?" You nodded slowly. "I suppose so. Interesting to know you have some compassion in there somewhere." "You consider orchestrating one of the worst nights of a woman's life to be... compassionate?" Lucifer arched an eyebrow at you. "What a novel opinion." He took another bite of his cake, but you waited for him to go for his drink before you said, "Beats the hell out of letting her marry you." You didn't get the spit take you had hoped for, but you did get to him to choke faintly and shoot you a //murderous// glare. One of your other customers started talking about leaving, so you ducked out to take care of them. The second table paid up as well, leaving you a perfect opportunity to close up for the night. You sent Mercury a quick text: "I assume my locking the door won't be a problem for you?" and got back nothing but typed-out laughter and an assurance she'd be there soon. You returned to the private room to find Lucifer slouching as casually in his seat as before. The plate in front of your seat was empty of everything but a few crumbs and Lucifer was halfway through the slice of cake now sitting in front him. He looked up at you, gray eyes wide with innocence, and asked, "Is something the matter?" When he delicately scooped up another bite of cake, you closed the gap in two strides and pinned his arm to the table. "You could have just ordered another piece," you said, letting your voice slide lower with a hint of threat. Lucifer didn't even struggle. "Oh, I would simply have hated to interrupt you," Lucifer said, so sweet it made your teeth hurt — though maybe that was just your rising urge to punch him. He kept his eyes locked on yours as he reached over to swap the fork to his free hand, and you let him go with an exasperated sigh. [[When Mercury got here, you were going to see if she wanted to help you //wreck// this bastard.|Mercury 5-4][$fuckLucifer to true]] ''(❤)'' ''[Unfinished]'' [[When Mercury got here, you were going to let her at Lucifer even if it got blood on your floor.|Mercury 5-4][$fuckLucifer to false]]

When the door cracked open, Lucifer twisted his arm free from under your hand in the blink of an eye and had a gun out, trained on the doorway. He didn't drop it until Mercury stepped in, and then he broke into a huge smile. "My dear metal friend! So good of you to join us," Lucifer said. The seamless way he flipped from brat to threat to charming impressed you, though it did nothing to take the edge off of your irritation. Lucifer stowed his gun back under his jacket with a showy twirl that Mercury pointedly looked away from. "He hasn't been giving you too much trouble, has he?" she asked you, moving to rest one hip against the table with her back to Lucifer. "You'd think he'd know how to be a functional human being by now, but no." You glanced past Mercury to Lucifer. He didn't look offended — in fact, he looked //thrilled//. Every time you thought you'd gotten a handle on what he was after, he veered off in some strange new direction. "She acts terribly cold," Lucifer said, whispering as if Mercury wasn't right between you, "but she does love me underneath her... steely exterior, shall we say?" Mercury's mouth flattened, though she kept her posture casual. Of course, Lucifer seemed to have a unique talent for saying the worst thing possible and clearly was going to do everything in his power to keep her from ignoring him. "Maybe she knows how very much I enjoy her disdain. Not to mention that the view from this side is exquisite." You and Lucifer both catch one of Mercury's hands twitching. It's the only indication of her composure snapping, but more than enough for Lucifer to know he's managing to get under her skin. "If you keep on like this, my dear, I may have to take it as an invitation to—" Mercury turned and got a hand over his nose and mouth. Her other hand blocked him from going for his gun, which made you wonder just how violent their confrontations usually were. <<if $fuckLucifer == true>> [[Regardless, you were happy to kick back and watch it play out for the moment.|Mercury 5-5F]] ''[Unfinished]'' <<elseif $fuckLucifer == false>> [[Regardless, you were happy to kick back and watch it play out for the moment.|Mercury 5-5N]] <</if>>

''[Unfinished]'' [[No Soap 5-1]]

"Not tonight," Mercury said, all hint of teasing gone. Lucifer managed a tiny nod under her palm and let his arms drop to his sides. "Ran into some complications on the job, got a bit banged up." She gestured to one leg, which you realized she had been subtly favoring since she came in. The lean on the table had been for more than just aesthetics. Lucifer's bratty expression was wiped away like it had never been. "Not something serious enough to require medical attention, I trust?" He stood and offered Mercury his chair, shifting it over so she would be facing the door. She sank into it with the faintest wince. "I don't suppose you happen to know the names of anyone involved?" Lucifer asked, in a tone that would have passed for light except for the way he was tapping one finger over his concealed gun. "They've been dealt with," Mercury said, more like an apology than the ominous phrasing alone would have implied, "and it's just bruises. I may have to use the door rather than the window for a little while, but I expect you'll survive." Lucifer mimed writing himself a note. "Shoot anyone coming in through the window this week, check." His expression was soft and fond as he looked at Mercury; you were starting to feel like you were intruding onto something private. "Now then. Dessert, drinks? Have you had dinner? It would hardly do to let you waste away to metal and bones." "Wouldn't say no to a bite to eat, if that's not too much trouble for you, $name." Mercury brought you back into the conversation with a welcoming smile. "But definitely a drink either way, and dessert." "I can whip something up for you," you said, more than happy to take the excuse to duck out for a minute. "Unfortunately someone got the last of the cake, but I think there's at least one mousse left." Lucifer had a bite of cake offered up to her almost before you finished speaking. "I'm more than happy to share a bit to tide you over until dinner," he said, deferential almost to the point of coaxing. Mercury gave him a tiny smile and let him feed her a bite. Lucifer's eyes were wide as she took it, though the rest of his face was studiously blank. [[You escaped to the kitchen to get away from the strange tension in the room.|Mercury 5-6N]]

A reservation in Cyrill's name popped up on your comm, for //three// rather than two, and you accepted with a grin. It was possible Cyrill was trying to wine and dine a potential investor or similar, but you had a strong suspicion that he had reconciled with Elia and the three of them were coming in together to celebrate. You cleaned the private room to gleaming and stocked up on anything they had ordered before. When the night of the reservation rolled around, Dorran came in first, dressed in the strange combination of jeans with extra pockets on the legs, a black tee, and a labcoat buttoned up like a suit jacket. Cyrill and Elia followed, so close together than their hands brushed against each other. Cyrill had on one of his very flattering charcoal suits, and tonight Elia was a near match in a deep brown suit that brought out their eyes and a blue tie that was a near match for Cyrill's. "Reservation for Cyrill — you did put it in your name, right?" Dorran glanced back over her shoulder and her smile went soft when she saw Cyrill duck down to whisper something in Elia's ear. He gave Dorran a quick nod, and finished whatever probably scandalous thing he was saying to Elia. They broke out laughing and elbowed him gently in the side. When you showed them to the private room, Elia and Cyrill pulled a chair out for Dorran together and she was beaming as she took her seat. "She's the hero of the hour," Elia told you in a stage whisper. "An intern managed to break one of our prototypes the night before a bit investor meeting, and Dorran stayed up all night to get it back in working order." Dorran ducked her head. "Sure, but Cyrill was the one who calmed me down from my initial freakout, and you did all the finishing touches when I had to go get a few hours of sleep." "As always, we make an //excellent// team," Cyrill said, casually pulling a second chair out for Elia before sitting between them and Dorran. "Though that is something we have needed reminding of now and then, so I believe you should also get some portion of our thanks, $name. Perhaps you can join us later? For dessert." The offer could have been straightforward or innuendo, but Cyrill's flirtatious tone and expression made everything he said sound like the latter. ''[All Unfinished]'' <<if $fuckElia == true && $testCyrill == true>> [[Since you'd been with both him and Elia, you were very excited to see where the evening might take you.|No Soap 5-2F]] ''(❤)'' [[Despite your past involvement with them, you decided to keep things strictly platonic tonight.|No Soap 5-2N]] <<elseif $fuckElia == true && $testCyrill == false>> [[You'd been with Elia, but you were thinking this might be a good night to enjoy Cyrill's company as well.|No Soap 5-2F]] ''(❤)'' [[Despite your past involvement with Elia, you decided to keep things strictly platonic tonight.|No Soap 5-2N]] <<elseif $fuckElia == false && $testCyrill == true>> [[You'd been with Cyrill, but you were thinking this might be a good night to enjoy Elia's company as well.|No Soap 5-2F]] ''(❤)'' [[Despite your past involvement with Cyrill, you decided to keep things strictly platonic tonight.|No Soap 5-2N]] <<elseif $fuckElia == false && $testCyrill == false>> [[You had never shown interest in Elia or Cyrill, so you ignored any possible innuendo.|No Soap 5-2N]] [[Something about seeing them together piqued your interest, so you decided to go for it this time.|No Soap 5-2F]] ''(❤)'' <</if>>

The body guard jumped when you stepped out, but relaxed as soon as she saw your face and gave you a tiny nod. You could only assume that most of Lucifer's staff had at least a few run-ins with Mercury under their belts and given what you knew of her, it couldn't have gone well for them. You took your time with the food, pointedly muting all the audio feeds from the private room while you worked, and waited until everything was done to go back in. There turned out to be two mousses left, and you offered one up to Lucifer's poor body guard. She hesitated for a second, but when you put a finger to your lips and gave her a wink, she took the glass with a smile. Whatever they had gotten up to while you were out, Lucifer and Mercury had both relaxed by the time you returned, leaning in toward each other while Mercury talked about a recent job. You set down the food and hesitated, but Mercury said, "Come on, join us, unless you don't want to." "I promise I'll be on my best behavior," Lucifer added. He folded his hands in his lap, making himself the absolute picture of innocence while you set out food and drinks around the table. ''[Unfinished]'' [[No Soap 5-1]]

''[Unfinished]'' [[No Soap 4-1]]

"I'll see if I can't get everything wrapped up a bit earlier than usual tonight," you said, returning Cyrill's heated smile. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught Dorran and Elia sharing a quick high-five. Dorran jumped when you turned to take her order, but Elia only kicked back in their chair and grinned at you. ''[Unfinished]'' [[Leaf 6-1]]

"It looks like it's going to be busy tonight, so I may have to pass on that," you said. "I do appreciate the offer, and I'm happy you all came in to celebrate." You took their orders and gathered up the menus before turning to go. "Hang on one sec." Dorran knocked gently on the table to get your attention before you could leave the room. "We would seriously like if you joined us. No funny business if you're not interested, I promise. I can keep these two in line for a few hours at least." Her bright smile made for a very persuasive argument, and not just for you: Elia tossed her a quick salute and Cyrill inclined his head with only a faint hint of disappointment. Well, as long as everyone was on the same page, you had no objections to socializing. "In that case, I'll try to wrap things up early tonight," you said. ''[Unfinished]'' [[Leaf 6-1]]

You got a comm message after the restaurant closed, from the non-number that could only be Optix. "Invite Leaf over if you want to have some fun. I'll take care of the rest." A few seconds later a second message came in: "To clarify, whatever sort of fun you're up for is fine. He's quite pleasant even as simple dinner company, if something more... involved doesn't appeal." <<nobr>> <<if $fuckLeaf == true>> You had certainly had a //very// pleasant time with Leaf before, and the thought of seeing him again appealed enough to keep you from trying to talk Optix out of it — not that you suspected that would be an easy task. <<elseif $fuckLeaf == false>> You'd enjoyed having Leaf around in the past, even if you'd never gotten more intimately involved, so it probably wasn't worth the bother of attempting to talk Optix out of the idea. <</if>> <<if $fuckOptix == true>> Your time with Optix had been... well, definitely not boring. They were probably one of the more dangerous people you'd gone to bed with, but the thrill was undeniable. <<elseif $fuckOptix == false>> Optix themself scared you a little. Probably more than a little, if you were being honest, but so far they hadn't done you any serious harm, and they definitely weren't boring to have around. <</if>> <<if $fuckLeaf == true && $fuckOptix == true>> The thought of the two of them together didn't exactly leave you cold either, nor did the thought of being in the middle of them. <<elseif $fuckLeaf == false && $fuckOptix == false>> Even if you probably weren't interested in more, their company would make for an interesting night for sure. <<else>> No matter how the night turned out, you were sure the combination of the two wouldn't be boring. <</if>> <</nobr>> You sent back an agreement and asked Leaf if he'd like to drop by, then debated whether or not to plan on closing down for the night in question. By the time Leaf had agreed, the decision had been taken out of your hands. The private room was booked under the name "Guess who?" for the date you'd sent Leaf, with a price triple your going rate paid for in advance. Your social media pages had been updated to list you as being closed that night for "cybersecurity upgrades". [[You couldn't help but chuckle as you smiled fondly at your comm. It was good to be kept on your toes.|Leaf 6-2]]

Lunch service was bustling, with a few customers even mentioning they stopped in earlier since you were going to be closed that night. It did your ego a world of good, and kept you from dwelling on what your evening might bring. Everything went smoothly and you even had time to catch a quick shower after you cleaned up from lunch. <<nobr>> Leaf strolled in almost fifteen minutes early, dressed to the nines in a classy black suit and green tie. <<if $fuckLeaf == true>> His face lit up when he saw the empty room and he came around the counter to greet you, taking your hand and pressing a gentle kiss to the back of it. "I take it this is meant to be a private celebration, but what's the occasion?" he asked. <<elseif $fuckLeaf == false>> He looked a little surprised to see the room empty, but he gave you a friendly smile and a wave. "It was kind of you to have invited me, but can I ask what the occasion is?" <</if>> <</nobr>> The door didn't chime when Optix walked in, so you got to watch Leaf's whole body jolt when they said, "Good evening, $name, Leaf. I hope I haven't kept you waiting //too// terribly long." Leaf had a look on his face not unlike a customer who'd just tossed back a couple shots on an empty stomach and were startled at how quickly it had hit them. With no wig or obvious prosthetics, Optix seemed to be content to just be themself tonight. They were actually the most dressed down you'd ever seen them, wearing some sinfully tight jeans and a white button-down shirt. Their hair was up in a loose bun that faded through all the shades of the rainbow as they made their way to the counter and perched on the seat closest to Leaf. "Optix, hi," Leaf said, a little breathlessly. He took one step toward Optix, hesitated, and then went for it when Optix curled on finger to beckon him over and sat next to them. "I'm guessing this was your idea, then?" "I may have been the one to suggest we could both enjoy a night in your lovely company, yes." Optix let out a coquettish laugh that slid down an octave, and Leaf shuddered. "But of course, I'll let our generous host have the final say in what we're doing tonight."<<nobr>> <<if $fuckLeaf == true>> They grabbed Leaf's chin and made him look at you, whispering in his ear, "I saw you two together, you know. I'm not sure how well you'll hold up against both of us at once." <<elseif $fuckOptix == false && $fuckLeaf == false>> They rested their head on Leaf's shoulder and tucked an arm around his waist to pull him close. "I know you haven't gone for either of us in the past, but what about a two for one special, hm?" <<elseif $fuckOptix == true && $fuckLeaf == false>> They set one finger to Leaf's lips and leaned in close enough almost to kiss him. "?They <<verb "was" "were">> surprisingly rough when we were together. Think you could survive us both?" <</if>> <</nobr>> Leaf and Optix both watched you, eager in their own ways. You weren't surprised at how far gone Leaf was; he and Optix clearly had quite the history. Optix seemed to have their usual air of smug amusement in place, but there was no ignoring the heat in their eyes. ''[All Unfinished]'' [[You told Optix that you wanted to watch him work Leaf over, but only watch.|Leaf 6-3W]] ''(❤)'' (You told Optix that you wanted to help him wreck Leaf, hands on.|Leaf 6-3F) ''(❤)'' [[You weren't interested and decided to call a stop to things before they went any further.|Leaf 6-3N]]

''[Unfinished]'' [[End]]

"Ah, well.<<nobr>> <<if $fuckLeaf == false && $fuckOptix == false>> I suspected not, but I do hope you aren't too offended by the attempt," <<elseif $fuckLeaf == true && $fuckOptix == false>> I certainly can't be to everyone's taste, even with Leaf here as a sweet accompaniment. I hope you don't mind me trying anyway," <<elseif $fuckLeaf == false && $fuckOptix == true>> Perhaps I'll have to drop by alone some other time, provided you're not put off by tonight's attempt," <<elseif $fuckLeaf == true && $fuckOptix == true>> The both of us together can be a bit much to handle, I suppose. I'm sure you don't mind the attempt, at least," <</if>> Optix said, resting their chin on one hand and fluttering their eyelashes at you as their eyes shifted through several pastel shades. "Drinks, dinner, general merriment? I think I've at least indirectly promised you a security upgrade, though I could do that remotely if you insist." <</nobr>> "I certainly wasn't planning to kick you to the curb for making a pass at me — you're far less of an asshole about it than most.," you said, shooting them both a smile. "Besides, I'd be down far too many customers if I made a habit of that." You got them drinks and started in on dinner for all three of you, at Leaf's insistence that you join them. ''[Unfinished]'' [[End]]

<<nobr>> <<if $extraText == "fast">> "Yes, //?sir//!" Leaf scrambled to obey, peeling his tight shirt off over his head all in one go. His shoes got kicked off to either side and his socks went flying after them, but he had to slow down a bit to ease out of his very snug jeans. The black briefs he had on underneath looked silky, but they got shoved down with as little fanfare as the rest. <<elseif $extraText == "slow">> "Whatever you want, $name." Leaf teased his shirt up a little at a time with one hand, trailing the other over the bare skin he revealed. After he finally pulled it off, he dropped it to the floor and kept his arms up, giving you a nice, showy stretch. He didn't try anything fancy with his shoes and socks, toeing them off and nudging them to the side. <br><br> The tight jeans would have been slow for him to get out of under any circumstances, but Leaf made the process significantly longer. You swore you heard each individual tooth of the zipper click down as you leaned forward, watching with bated breath. His silky black briefs got less fanfare than the rest as his patience seemed to be wearing thin. <<else>> ''(You have found an error. Please let the author know! Code: Leaf 2-7 strip speed.)'' <</if>> <</nobr>> When Leaf started to sink to his knees, you held up a hand to stop him. "No, let me take a look at you first. Maybe give me a little spin." He was as happy to obey that command as the rest, though he did look a touch flustered as he turned in a slow circle for you. As much as he'd turned your head — and not a few others' — while fully dressed, he was even more of a sight to behold without the clothes in the way. With his strong jaw, broad shoulders, and thick thighs covered in dark brown hair, he wouldn't have been out of place on any number of billboards or advertisements. But here he was, standing naked in your restaurant and waiting on your every word. "Fuck, you're gorgeous," you said, softer than you'd really meant it to come out. "And I'm all yours tonight," Leaf said, locking eyes with you as he finally sank to his knees in front of you. ----❤︎---- [[You checked and double-checked the cameras outside before escorting a sleepy, disheveled Leaf out to his cab and heading to bed.|Diana 1-1]] <<set $extraText to "none">>

You've reached the end! I'd love any feedback, but especially: - Any errors you ran into - Anything that didn't make sense (response to choices, etc.) - Choices you wish you'd had! - Which unfinished scenes you'd most like to see finished Thank you for playing!

The player's name is ?Mx. $name, and ?their pronouns are ?they/?them. $name's restaurant's is called $bar. Does this all look correct, ?sir? ''[[Yes! I'm ready to begin.|Intro 2]]'' ''No, something's not quite right:'' <<link 'I want to change my pronouns.'>> <<pronouns>> <</link>> [[(Then click here to see pronoun changes.)|Confirmation Page]] I want to change my name: <<textbox "$name" $name>> \ <<button "Confirm">> <<set $name to $name.trim()>> <<if $name is "">> <<replace "#name-error">>Please enter a name!<</replace>> <<else>> <<goto "Confirmation Page">> <</if>> <</button>>    \ <span id="name-error"></span> I want to change the restaurant's name: <<textbox "$bar" $bar>> \ <<button "Confirm">> <<set $bar to $bar.trim()>> <<if $bar is "">> <<replace "#name-error">>Please enter a name!<</replace>> <<else>> <<goto "Confirmation Page">> <</if>> <</button>>    \ <span id="name-error"></span>

Custom pronouns macro by Chapel, available at Github: https://github.com/ChapelR/custom-macros-for-sugarcube-2

Made by: [[Raecchi|https://raecchi.tumblr.com/]]

(Camp NaNoWriMo 2021)