Michael leaned back and heaved a sigh of relief. He groped for a wet wipe to clean off his junk while his eyes didn't leave the photo on his phone, as well as the dozen others on his personal computer screen. He asked his classmates to share their reference photos and he'd been staring at the minute variations ever since then. It had been a rough Watersday, Woodsday, and Goldsday, though it was only the afternoon of the latter.
He was obsessed. He couldn't even get aroused by looking at porn, and other women fell far short by comparison. Not that he spent most of his free time just beating his meat. Just…more than half of it. Alright, that meant most. He couldn't help it, either, even what he was doing filled him with shame like nothing ever did. He was in the wrong either way, and he was weak.
His best friend, Zak Elliot, certainly thought so based on their conversations.
Zak: Why are you even pining for Evan's leavings? That guy's a manwhore.
Michael: Like you aren't.
Zak: I admit it freely, Evan doesn't.
Zak: I admit, she's pretty, but you know what Andrews said? She didn't look like that last week.
Michael: So?
Zak: So?! It means she had some work done! That, boy, means that everything from face, skin, hips, and tits, are fake.
Michael: Doesn't look like it. Do you see any signs of work?
Zak: That photo is carefully curated. You don't really know.
Michael: Dude. I took that photo.
Zak: Even worse, then. Look, if you like her, go for it. Don't pine away.
Michael: I'm not pining! I'm just looking for the right time.
Zak: Since when did you do that? Where's the smooth criminal who's always led the way? Come on, man, make a move.
Michael: I don't have her contact deets.
Zak: So? Run into her at school. Don't you know where she works?
Michael: That's kinda stalkery.
Zak: And what you're doing is better?
Michael: I'm not harming anyone.
Zak: Really?
Zak: Look, I heard through the rumour mill that she and her gang's going to Pegasus tonight. Wanna hang there?
Michael: I'll think about it. When did you hear it?
Zak: Just a while ago. Susan heard them in phys ed, who passed it on to Martha, who passed it on to Greg. You know? Lilibeth Lawson's making waves after all. You know I saw that pic on XX?
Michael: Who the eff posted it there?!
Zak: Who cares? Lots of creeps saw it, asked for sauce and guess what, someone spilled.
Michael: Eff.
Zak: Yeah. So. Girl like that, going to Peggy? She'd be lucky if no one spikes her drink.
Michael: Peggy's bad news.
Zak: Only to newbies and the fools.
He shook his head after reading the latest messages. Pegasus Stellar was a hot place, but that meant all sorts have moved in by now. It wouldn't have been bad if she was unknown, but with the current Network fame? The only worse thing would be if someone leaked her location.
He had searched for the Xixiao post, and it only mentioned her name. First and last name, yes, but the Lawson family had many branch members, and there were a few unaffiliated surnames. Only when it was hyphenated to Daublin would it matter, but only the family heads and the scions held that name anyway. From what he found out, while she was from the main branch, she'd cut herself off.
Eff. He had to go tonight. If only to see her. If she needed help, if any of her friends needed help, he would be more than glad to provide it.
He messaged Zak.
"We're going tonight."
___________________
The blast of music nearly made Yuriko step back as soon as the club's door opened, but the four of them were quickly ushered in. The door opened up into a large space, roughly twenty to twenty-five paces to a side. There were nearly a hundred bodies gyrating to the beat of the music, while strobed lights flashed down on the dancers. The darkness of the club, lit only by pale blue strips of lights along the floors, delineating differing elevations, made the cascading light show distracting. Yuriko spread her perception aura across the floor, and revealed far more than was easily seen.
The music throbbed. The rhythm and beat made her heart race to synchronise with it, driving excitement into her blood. Her companions were the same. Flushed faces, vapid smiles, and tapping fingers.
Scarlett pushed Yuriko forward since they'd stopped at the threshold, blocking others from entering. They stepped down into the dance floor, head nodding, shoulders twitching, and toes tapping. As soon as the girls entered the fray, they began to gyrate, mimicking the pace of each and every dancer.
She couldn't really call it a dance, Yuriko mused absently while her body mimicked the others. There were no set steps, no graceful, sweeping moves. It wasn't a paired dance, or a group dance, or anything she was familiar with. It was simply bodies moving to the beat, hands thrown up high, flailing with abandon.
The release of inhibitions, of patterns, and order, was heady. Coupled with the fact that her true body was currently riding Heron, her incarnation body was quite hot and bothered. Having Scarlett, who was quite cute, grinding next to her, heated up Yuriko's senses. Her Anima perception picked up every little detail, not just of her friend, but also of the other dancers. Most were dressed provocatively, even the boys, who wore tight pants and shirts. At least, those who were proud of their bodies did so.
The ones who weren't quite as confident hid their insecurities with jewellery and other accessories. Confident grins, and smug faces. A strange scent pervaded the air: a mixture of cologne, perfume, vapours, and other aerosolised fragrances. There was even a vaguely familiar scent that tickled the back of Yuriko's nose, but in her distracted state, she couldn't quite identify it.
They danced for a long while. Her time sense told her an hour had passed. Jenna and Nora had split off and it took a while for Yuriko to spot them, in the heady mix of people. They were at the dance floor, grinding up against a couple of young men who were grinning at them. The four were bouncing on their toes, in time with the beat. Whoever was in charge of the music had kept the same energy, the same beat, though it was different enough from each other not to bore.
Scarlett was still at Yuriko's side, but they had attracted a bevy of young men and women who were pressing up against her, though it did squish Scarlett against her bosom. She'd had enough of mindless fun though, even if her true body was still putting Heron through his paces.
She pulled at Scarlett's wrist, slowly guiding her towards the edge of the dance floor. She'd observed the rest of the club and they were headed towards the stairs to the second level. There were three floors to the place, with the center open all the way up so that even those on the uppermost floor could look down at the dances. The source of the flashing lights were close to the ceiling, and apparently, they were part of the music show, blinking on and off in time with the rhythm.
"I need a drink," Yuriko said to Scarlett, but had to repeat herself when her friend couldn't hear her. She mimed drinking a glass of water, and Scarlett nodded.
They pushed their way past the crowd to head up the stairs, ignoring the press of bodies and the accidental groping hands. Well, maybe not so accidental. Her perception could see their expressions after all. She simply used a discrete layer of Anima to prevent them from touching her, or Scarlett. She tried to keep her Anima as thin as possible, but her default state was three times as dense as normal, so she might have undershot. Thankfully, flashes of golden light, while obvious in the darkness, blended in with the myriad lights.
The stairs were a wide affair, roughly ten paces wide to the landing, then splitting off to either side to reach the first floor. The stairs then looped around to go up to the second floor afterwards. There were a bunch of people leaning over the banister, holding beer bottles and shouting at each other over the noise. The path was clear, at least, and the left hand side led directly to the bar.
"If you want alcohol, I'll need to see some ID," said the bartender, a middle-aged man wearing a monocle on his left eye. "Especially you." He nodded towards Scarlett.
"Eh! I'm already in college!" Scarlett exclaims.
"Then producing an ID wouldn't be difficult."
"Fine!" Scarlett pouted as she fished her driver's license out of her purse and flashed it to the bartender.
"Alright, what'll it be?"
"House special," Scarlett grumped.
"And you, miss?"
"The same," Yuriko said.
"Got it."
The bartender whipped up a couple of cocktails with flair, tossing and spinning the bottles while he mixed the drinks. It was only when he pushed the glasses towards them that Yuriko caught that same familiar whiff. Daemonfyre. Her eyes widened slightly and she lifted the glass up to her nose, breathing deeply. The citrusy notes were easy to ignore, and the daemonfyre whiskey that was mixed into the drink was quite obvious this close. She remembered her true body got inebriated when she drank this, but…hmmm. The amount of daemonfyre whiskey inside the glass was comparatively miniscule.
Before she could stop Scarlett, her friend drank from the glass, draining about half of the contents in one go.
"Oh, Scar…" Yuriko murmured as the petite girl turned as red as her name and her hair combined.
Yuriko took a sip, enjoying the taste as well as the bubbliness of the drink. She checked the price list, winced when she realised she just drank twenty Torries away, then reached into her purse to pay for the drinks.
"I've got it."
A masculine hand reached over and placed a fifty Torry bill on the counter. Yuriko's perception had taken notice of the young man, but in the press of bodies, she hadn't really paid much attention. She turned to look and recognised one of the art students and another young man who had a rakish look about it.
"Michael, right?" Yuriko asked. The students had introduced themselves back then, but if not for Yuriko's memory trick, she wouldn't have been able to place names and faces together.
Michael's hazel brown eyes lit up when she said his name, and he couldn't help but grin. His friend, a slender young man with dark blues eyes and brown hair, stared at Yuriko, his jaw slack.
"Yes, I'm glad you remembered me," Michael said.
Yuriko sniffed. "We'll see each other again on Watersday."
"That's true." Michael grinned.
"Thank you for that." Yuriko nodded towards the bill, while Scarlett moved around her body, staring owlishly up at the large man.
"Who're you? You look familiar," Scarlett growled.
"Oh, Michael Stonereiz. You might have seen us in the varsity field. We're Green Dolphins."
Yuriko blinked at the name, drawing a blank from Lilibeth's memories, but Scarlett recognised it, apparently.
"You guys barely made the playoff," the petite woman said bluntly.
"Yet we did," the other man said. "Zak Elliot, by the way."
"Well met."
Yuriko smiled briefly, but she noticed Zak's eyes showing signs of Aspiration. So did Michael, for that matter, and she hastily reeled in her Mien. Unfortunately, she could feel their threads latching on stubbornly. She didn't want to cause a commotion and forcibly severing the threads would do just that.
She turned to the bartender and asked, "Excuse me, do you mind showing me the bottle where the whiskey came from?"
The bartender pulled out the bottle without a word, and contrary to Yuriko's expectations, it didn't look like the same bottle as the one from Junktown. The label read, Wavestrider Whiskey, est. 410. Thankfully, it did have the brewery's address. She noted it down with her perception and captured the memory to keep it clear.
She continued to sip her drink, feeling the beginning stages of inebriation set it. Scarlett ch
atted with the boys, but both of their eyes always darted towards her instead: Michael, looking worshipful, while Zak's were filled with barely disguised lust.