Ice Cream (RP)

Persephone rolls her eyes and senses a twinge in her gut that she can't identify, one that before her tattoo might have been guilt, or maybe butterflies, but it is quickly suppressed.

She opens the door and acts surprised, saying, "Oh! Viv! You have perfect timing! I was about to head down to check my mail and here you are, just arriving! Much better than mail, that's for sure. What can I say? I prefer receive a female over a male...Ha."

Her joke is corny and delivered in an odd deadpan. A socially awkward and nervous baby queer like Viv might actually laugh at how bad the joke is, thereby breaking the tension. Or perhaps she'll be put off, seeing Persephone lacking her usual causal confident charm.

She gestures for Viv to enter and feigns surprise and joy over the champagne and chocolates. She sets them on the counter, takes Viv's coat and hangs it up, and then offers her a drink, some snacks, or whatever. Once they are situated on the couch, Persephone says, "So, now you may tell me how you have been. Then we can decide how we would like to spend our evening, though I believe I have a preference."

"Well," says Max, by way of her own greeting. "You're going to have to tell me what all this is before I can say how I'm caught up in it, seein' as how I just got here."

She looks around, licking her lips in a nervous display, then lowers her voice so that none can eavesdrop. "Listen. This is my turf, but I got no clue what's goin' on here. Let me help ya out. I can go where you can't, ask what you won't. Pay ya back for helpin' me out all those years ago. I just need somethin' to go on here. Just need a little information is all. Tit for tat, eh?"

You got it bitch. Just remember I tried playing nice.

Max holds up her hands in a helpless gesture and leaves Kenedi without another word. While cooperation from the police could have proven useful, Max honestly preferred not getting tangled up with them for obvious reasons. Time to get some work done her own way.

She wracks her brain trying to think of who might be able to help and comes up with Alara. She usually haunts this area and can see and hear far beyond what a human could. She might have noticed something. As Max understood it, Alara had been a vampire since the 2000s. She was from the states and certainly had a history there that she wouldn't discuss, and Max was far too committed to professional courtesy to press about. Still, she got the impression that the vamp was hiding from something.

She doesn't bother knocking on the door to Alara's flat, the night worker wouldn't be home at this hour. Instead, she goes roaming Alara's favorite streets, where she finds men and women who blur the line between customer and victim.

Persephone analyzes how the evening is progressing thus far. In her mind, she has a task set before her to lead Viv into a state of utter devotion, so that she will be malleable and will agree to sign a contract. When she performs her analysis, however, she realizes quickly that the intimacy quotient she had in mind is underperforming; after some thought, she notices that Viv seems almost embarrassed of her outfit. Perhaps Persephone should have acknowledged its attractiveness?

At some level, Persephone is well aware that this is NOT how she would normally conduct herself on a date. Normally, she is all feelings and instinct, going on vibes and gut. Now, however, she feels like a computer, evaluating from an outside POV watching the events play out. Suddenly, she notices another effect of this difference; she has no access to her libido, either. It was one thing to fake her way through conversation using rationality and analysis, and quite another to fake sexual arousal and orgasm from a place of cold reason. Perhaps she could fool a man with some well-timed and energetically performed moans and wiggles, but surely another woman would see through that, yes? Persephone is unsure, but for the first time, even her rational self recognizes a critical shortcoming in this sigil on her back. She sees no other option at the moment, however; the date must go on. Maybe it is time to skip ahead to what Viv truly wants.

"Viv, you look amazing in that outfit. May I see?" She stands up and walks around the island. "So lovely. May I...touch?" She steps very close to Viv and, with a practiced and steady hand, slides out of her cardigan sweater and the light blouse beneath it, followed by a quick flick of the zipper on her skirt. This leaves her standing next to Viv, wearing the lingerie she had put on beneath her clothes in preparation for this moment. She wears a black lace, open-cupped demibra, which leaves her breasts supported but exposed, no panties, and a matching black-lace garter belt, which holds up her sheer black stockings. She reaches out and takes Viv into her arms and begins foreplay.

She proceeds in a somewhat robotic fashion, but she recalls exactly what she had done the last few times that seemed most effective, and she strings those actions together skillfully, weaving a well-thought out and strategic tapestry of sexual pleasure for Viviana. Nevertheless, it lacks heart and soul--it lacks true passion. Persephone hopes that Viv is so nervous, inexperienced, and excited that she won't notice.

-- Persephone --
Persephone looks at Viv with a blank expression and responds in a matter-of-fact tone, saying, "Wrong? No, not at all. Things seem to be going according to plan. And speaking of, I was hoping you'd allow me to shower you with attention and pleasure tonight. I want tonight to be all about YOU. So how about..." she walks her fingers up Viv's arm and beneath her chin, tilting it up subtly, and continues, saying, "...we go to the bedroom? I have a set of soft cuffs and chains I've been dying to use on you. You will be entirely at my mercy, unable to move at all! You'll have to just lie there and take all the pleasure I give you!" This way, Persephone thinks, Viv won't notice that Persephone is entirely unresponsive to touch or arousal. Persephone was starting to see the draw of people who like to Domme full-time; you can always retain the feeling of control.--Circe--
Circe walks out of the clinic looking at her results. She went to a private, expensive clinic so that she can have all the rapid result STI tests, of course. She breathes a sigh of relief as she sees a long row of negatives, a little green check mark next to each one. She folds up the sheet and tucks it into her backpack and pulls up a map on her phone.

She finds her way to some shops and spends an hour buying things she doesn't need and hardly wants, dropping a thousand pounds or so in the blink of an eye. Next up is the most expensive restaurant she can get in to dressed like a college kid, and she spends a good 500 more there. She considers finding the most expensive hotel she can and blowing a few thousand on all the spa services, but she begins to wonder if she is taking this too far. Mostly, she feels sad and lonely, and the extravagant spending hasn't helped as much as she was hoping.

She sends some texts to a few of her new friends that work at the coffee shop--she's becoming a regular at the shop, as well as in their little circle of friends and lovers. Apparently, a large percentage of them are queer and polyamorous and are in something that Circe is just beginning to learn about called a 'polycule'. Unfortunately, it is "date night in the 'cule", as they call it, so most of them are busy and none of the others are free at the moment. She receives several offers to chat via text, and a few more to drop everything and be available if it's an emergency, but Circe isn't comfortable with that, so she says that she's just bored, no emergency here.

She is feeling sorry for herself and resentful of Persephone as she sits at the fancy dinner table picking at her dessert and sipping her fifth glass of ridiculously expensive champagne. Ugh! She's probably having sex, like, RIGHT NOW. This is so unfair! She just kicks me out like I'm a servant or something! She doesn't care about me, or if I'm happy, or safe or... She trails off and looks down at her phone, noticing Benji's number. Huh, let's see what she thinks when I tell her where I stayed!!

She sends Benji a rapid series of texts.

- hi benji its circe :D
- so earlier you said I could maybe crash at your place
- can I still do that
- i promise not to be a pest
- if you promise not to eat me
- lol