Weekendz Work Company Picnic

“We’ll see if you’re still laughing when we’re through,” Bruce said, giving an ominous grin and getting some stretches in that he hadn’t bothered with for the wheelbarrow competition. “You’ll see that being a champ is about more than just luck when I crush you!” Amazingly, the idea that Teruko could tell him with a straight face that his family having a Twister champion was silly after all she’d said was actually firing him up to the point that he was putting aside his lust for pride, at least for the moment.

The moment didn’t last long, as Bruce’s mind began racing at how far “no rules Twister” could be stretched. ”I mean, I guess the limit is still what you can do in a park with witnesses and not get arrested for,” he thought to himself. Ordinarily he’d get caught up in testing those limits with his imagination, but the competitive part of him was still yelling at all the red flags being raised. “All right, just don’t blame me if I try and sweep a leg later.” Bruce meant this as a joke, but he frowned as it left his mouth, hoping nobody was going to take this as inspiration for a cheap shot. If they wanted to play dirty, Bruce could think of plenty of ways they could take advantage of his gentle nature…

… Realizing with some horror that the train of thought was starting to get his mind in the gutter again, the stuntman shook his head and centered himself again. That was a losing battle, though, when Teruko’s first move seemed to be unintentionally opening herself to some very “no-rules” play at the very start of the game. ”If this was Twister for Two I’d start testing the boundaries right now… But heck if I’m gonna get myself sued by her sister before I even get through a round. Mistakes and ‘mistakes’ can happen naturally. I should play it safe to start with.”

“If you think that distraction is enough to throw me off, you’ve got an eye-opener coming,” Bruce taunted, unfortunately admitting to a distraction that nobody else had commented upon. “Twister is like chess. It’s all about the opening move,” he commented, tapping his head with a cocky gesture that would probably never look appropriate for him, nonetheless in the context of Twister. “Right hand red…”

The stuntman took just a short step onto the mat, placing him facing the same direction as Teruko, and put his right hand on a red spot by bending his knees and squatting. In his mind, this was a safe spot that would make it easy to adapt, easy to catch himself if someone decided to just knock him over, and easy to see the action unfolding on the rest of the mat. The pose would probably be a bad idea if he had to hold it for any great length of time, but he was in good enough shape to keep it up so long as the turns moved briskly. Still smiling, Bruce kept his eyes pretty shamelessly on the bottom in front of him, planning out his strategy.
"Ha ha ha! That's what I say! Ha ha ha! You know I never stop laughing, especially when you try to make me!" Teruko boasted, always up for a good spar with her buddy, Bruce. Once he'd gotten it all out of his system, he surprised her by pausing for a moment, weighing his options. "No trying to run out the clock, okay? I know we said no rules, but we meant no boring rules, okay? That means you can't do something like waiting too long and making the other person fall down!"

She heard the sound of teeth clicking somewhere in the vicinity of her sister, who may have been planning to use that loophole.

"Ha ha! Listen to this bozo! It isn't like chess, dummy! Don't just say stuff to try and sound cool," she snickered. If whacking her on the bottom was one of the things he had considered, it would begin to look like an increasingly tantalizing option, as she begged for punishment with her bratty taunts. Instead, he went for a pretty standard opener. Nobody spoke up to blame him for where his attention was focused, either, since honestly, it was pretty hard not to look in this scenario.

Even if nobody was speaking up, Bruce would probably feel the burning eyes of someone glaring at him, though it was hard to say if that was Terumi, who would probably disapprove, or Russel, who just always seemed to be glaring a bit. "Terumi is next. Per the spin, it's right foot yellow," the man's voice spoke evenly.

The sister approached hesitantly, then took a spot next to Bruce. It seemed like she was going to crouch pretty similar to her sister, but facing him instead of away. A flash of intensity came across her eyes at the last minute, however, and she shot her leg out with a sweeping motion. It would connect with Bruce's leg and... was really just an annoying kick. He wouldn't fall over now unless he was just wholly unprepared. Panicking, she fixed the toes of her foot onto the yellow circle underneath him ending up with her lower body facing upward towards him and her leg pressed against the side of his crouching knees.

"Ha ha! Cheaters never prosper," Becky snickered. "And for that, you get a penalty!"

"No more water guns! I ban water guns!" Terumi babbled insistently. Instead of any water guns, Becky simply grabbed the girl's head and clipped a big, pink bow into her hair. "... Is this also part of your thing? What is wrong with you?"

"This is no rules Twister! Be thankful that's all I'm doing," the athletic instructor chortled. Russell interrupted with a "left foot blue". Somewhere on the other side of Terumi, Becky took the position, simply standing on the mat with one foot touching it. "You didn't even need to crouch if Russell didn't say hand, you know!" she giggled, still mocking Terumi.

"Ha ha!" Teruko laughed along. "Now lemme have another!" The next was right foot green. Complying, Teruko stretched one let behind her and felt out the correct dot, entering something like a runner's stance. In doing so, she moved her butt that much closer to Bruce's face, while also flanking him on the free side so that he now had Hotta girl legs on either side of his crouch. If that was part of a strategy to trip him, it didn't seem intentional, as she certainly would have cackled and pointed that out.

"... Is anyone concerned that none of you can check your PETs while doing this? Weren't some of you involved in some kind if activity with your navis?" Russell asked.

"Nah, not really sweating it!" Teruko called back to him.

With a frown, the big man used his spinner again. "Left hand green," was the next order.
“Hmph. The one who thinks they aren’t playing chess has already lost at chess!” Bruce declared to Teruko’s butt, just saying stuff to try and sound cool. He watched Terumi approach, giving her a confident smile while trying to analyze her strategy, an unusual look for him that might have some questioning his intentions. No matter what was going through his mind, however, it clearly wasn’t dodging a kick, as he didn’t even bother bracing for it, wobbling unsteadily and shouting as it connected. “W-what the heck! I thought we were doing teams? Wasn’t I on Terumi’s team?!”

Bruce shut up about it with a disgruntled frown, deciding raising a stink about it now wasn’t going to earn him any popularity points. His eyes scanned the position Terumi had ended up in. ”It’s for the best, anyway. A Twister amateur like this would only slow me down,” he remarked internally, buying in to his own braggadocio. “Ahem. I’m gonna let you have that one for free, but let’s call that the warning, all right? If you try it again, you’d better take me down, or you’re gonna be looking at my penalty, and you’re gonna be looking at it on your butt on the mat! And it isn’t gonna be, uh…” he trailed off, noting what Becky had done and trying to make sense of it. “It isn’t gonna be that,” he declared factually, still trying to come to terms with how he felt about that. ”Is… Is Becky trying to use a strategy to get me arrested?!” He decided it was much more likely something related to Becky’s Bloomer Wonderland, that forbidden garden he tread closer to at his own peril, and chose to leave it alone.

This was primarily because Teruko continued to give him something that was plenty interesting to look at without taking up an interest in costumes or cosplay. “I’ll give you something to sweat,” Bruce jabbed at Teruko, having so little concern for what Dare was up to that he didn’t directly respond to Russell. It seemed far more important to plan his next move. That said, the safe move here was totally obvious. He’d gotten another hand indicator, and it was right next to the right hand he’d already put on red, so he could simply have both hands down and meet the condition without risking further movement. That said, this could be a prime opportunity to make an attack. In fact…

The easy opening was right in front of him. Keeping his right hand on the same red dot, Bruce set his other hand palm up on the same spot Teruko had chosen for her foot. In that position, he scooted his hand closer to Teruko’s foot and began trying to tickle the heel, oblivious to what Terumi might think about that public display of affection. Of course, there was also a strong likelihood he could get his hand stomped on for his trouble… but not without Teruko’s foot leaving the mat!
"What are you, some kinda chessmaster now?! Bruce Chessmaster Shiner?!" Teruko further goaded Bruce, as though liking chess was something to be embarrassed about (or as if Bruce truly even cared for chess).

Terumi clearly wasn't happy about being caught in her scheme either. It was hard to tell why she would have gone that way, but it was clear the failure bothered her as much as the embarrassment of being caught. "I was going for Teruko..." she lied. It wasn't a defense that would hold up in court, that's for sure. "No one wants to see your penalty!" Terumi further complained, sounding flustered.

"What are you gonna do, spoon my rook?" Teruko continued taunting.

"You mean fork..." Terumi grumbled, managing to decipher her sister's attempt at a chess joke.

"Fork it, spork it! Whatever! Chess isn't a fun party game so we're done talking about it!" Teruko exclaimed, sounding fired up to press another body part onto another colored circle. "This is a real game so you'd better pffft hehehehaha!"

Confused, Terumi pressed one hand onto Bruce's shoulder so she could lean around his broad torso and see what was happening. The sight seemed to give her some special amount of displeasure, but she couldn't think up a method to intervene.

"Oooh! You've done it now, nihiheheha! King to Bruce's Hand 2!" Teruko announced, then suddenly joined her sister in crouching, while keeping her hand and foot in place. The result was to smash Teruko's hand... only, it didn't work exactly as envisioning it. There was no way to get his hand with just her butt from this position, so instead his hand ended up more so wedged underneath her in an especially lewd position, grasping between her legs. If he kept tickling, it would be even more lewd. Anyway, that modification did still basically result in smashing his hand.

"No fair! You're injuring my teammate?!" Terumi asked, as if she hadn't just kicked her own teammate.

"All's fair!" Teruko chortled unabashedly.

Russell had his eyebrows raised and was watching Bruce intently; he was probably the only one here not watching the Hotta sisters. Clearing his throat, he read out the next instruction. "Left foot green," he read out.

Terumi panicked, remembering she still had to participate in the game, regardless of whatever interference. She extended her free leg past Bruce as well and under her sister's crouch, with her own butt still facing up towards Bruce. If he fell now, he would be entangled in legs.

"Right foot red," the instructor read again. Presumably, Becky took it quickly and with little nonsense. "Right hand yellow," he read next, for Teruko.

The girl complied quickly, forced to release Bruce's hand a bit, or perhaps recognizing it was best not to keep it trapped by her thighs for modesty's sake. She clapped her hand down nearby where she had put the other earlier. Now she would have a lot less freedom of movement and also be forced to stay stretched out a bit.

"Left foot green," he droned again. The green real estate around Bruce was fairly tight at this point unless he wanted to throw his leg out far.
“To try and play Twister without understanding Chess… how naïve,” Bruce chided his opponent in his best pretentious voice. The stuntman grinned as if his current attack on Teruko’s foot was some result of her underestimating the game and her opponent… then let out a yelp as he realized the weight of his miscalculation, finding his hand painfully pinned. With some urgency, he adjusted his fingers to try and at least localize the damage to the palm, the least sensitive area. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really an easy way to do so without running his fingers along some sensitive areas of Teruko’s own, especially if he wanted to make sure and keep his own hand on the mat.

Faced with a good view of each sister’s bottom, Bruce nevertheless devoted himself to trying to figure out his next move. He couldn’t put two limbs on one spot (Could he? Would anyone call him out on it? It truly didn’t seem like anyone knew the rules…) and, dubious as his “partner” had proven, he couldn’t risk vying for her same spot with his foot. That meant he had to get all the way on the other side of Teruko, and he had to do it over her practically fully extended body. Bruce trusted his flexibility, though. Keeping his hands locked on their spots, the stuntman slid his legs counterclockwise to move along the unoccupied side where Terumi wasn’t. He faced her for a moment, and then he was over Teruko, straddling his right leg on her left side as he reached his hairy left leg past her face to the green. His lower body was pressed against her back and his face was hovering just over her backside. He struggled for a bit to think of a diplomatic way to ask Teruko to avoid backing up if she didn’t want to engage in some unfortunate play, then decided it was probably most diplomatic to say nothing at all.

For what it was worth, his stability strongly depended on his right, which he had no good way to defend, and it was wide open to Terumi. If whatever possessed the sister to attack his leg before came over him again, he would probably be helpless to avoid collapsing on top of his girlfriend. "Let's see you get out of this one, Teruko! What kind of dirty trick have you got planned?" he jeered, feeling confident he at least had a leg up on her.
"Wah! What a time to play around!" Teruko protested the hand along the underside of her shorts, as though Bruce was the one that had gotten them into this public debacle. Suddenly, he was all over her, though not in any way she had previously visualized he might be throughout the course of their relationship. Before she knew it, she felt a vaguely familiar sensation on her upper back, of all places. "This is weeeird, you know that, right?" his girlfriend asked, trying to suss out if this was supposed to be a fun, teasing thing. In this position, she really had no sense of what Bruce was doing... it was difficult for her to even visualize it.

Terumi, on the other hand, was in a much better position to visualize it; judging by her face, it seemed she didn't like what she saw. A look somewhere stuck between pouting, raging, objecting, and pulling the rule of law by threatening to sue was stuck on her face, as Bruce's behavior seemed to call something specific to mind for her. "Objection! This game has to be thrown out!" she commanded, shouting like a kid throwing a tantrum.

"What for? Because you forgot who your teammate is?" Becky joked. She had not gotten her fill of Bloomer Paradise yet and was trying to think of how to maneuver into as good a viewing position as Bruce's. Annoyingly, with Bruce positioned as he was, he was hogging the best view of said Paradise for himself.

"N-No, it's because... because Bruce has an erection!" she bellowed, apparently pointing in an accusatory way with either a toe or a finger; it was hard to keep track of the positioning.

Those in the surrounding area who weren't already gawking at the erotic looking scene turned their heads at the mention of Bruce's dilemma. Teruko laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I kinda noticed!" she murmured.

"It'd actually be weirder if he didn't right now. I might have to exile him from Bloomer Paradise," Becky scoffed.

"Really?! Is no one concerned about this? My sister- I mean, I- can't play a game of Twister with a man in a state like that! It's completely indecent!" Terumi further defended. "I know we said no rules, but that's a step too far!"

"I dunnoooo... If we didn't make any rules about it, it doesn't really matter, right? From like, a law perspective!" Teruko countered, unwilling to throw the game over something so trivial. "I mean, he's grabbing my butt right now too, so..."

Terumi was growing redder around the cheeks and ears; she shook her head furiously. "I can see all that! Bruuuuce! I won't let you have your way with my sister!" she protested vehemently. I'll lock you down before you can go any further!" It appeared that in this contest, Bruce had no allies.

Eager to move things along, Russel cleared his throat and interrupted in an authoritative voice. "Right hand green," he commanded.

Keeping her eyes locked on Bruce's, Terumi reached her hand out confidently and clasped her right hand on top of his left one, locking the fingers so that hers went through his knuckles and touched the mat. "There! Now you can't use your hand to perpetrate any more debauchery!" she smirked... But her smile twitched, and her face soon grew even redder. No one else had a clear view of what she'd done from their view, but Bruce and Terumi could clearly see they were now holding hands. "D-Don't struggle..." she muttered, growing increasingly bashful.

Becky's turn came and went rather uneventfully, with the contest's fourth wheel being asked to move her foot. She did so in a way that would allow her to creep closer to the others, almost as if she was worried she wasn't going to be underneath the Jenga tower when it finally collapsed.

"Hmmm... Right hand yellow," the event's observer spoke slowly, as though he'd realized something. It could be deep contemplation about the topic he'd brought up to Bruce earlier, or it could be that he noticed they'd run into the most difficult part of the game, in which Teruko's limbs were all occupied except for the one she needed to move. Worse, by going to a sitting position, she'd limited her mobility somewhat.

Teruko was also thinking about that, of course, but she knew a way around it: she simply had to lift her legs. In doing so, she didn't so much shove her buttocks against Bruce's waiting face, so much as uppercut him with it, to the point that he was really more-so biting it for a moment. This is one time where he would probably not appreciate the extra firmness associated with Teruko's workout routine. It seemed she got her hand where it was going, beyond Bruce but at this point, Bruce might easily either fall forward onto the cushion of her politely restive butt, or perhaps backward off the matt, due to the supreme squat-lift power of his own girlfriend's ass. "Whoopsie!" she giggled unhelpfully, as though she'd only tapped him.

The fact that Terumi wasn't letting go of his hand would only make things worse if he fell...

Either way, the game was over. "It's finished. Bruce and Terumi's team wins," he announced.

"Hooow?! I must'a knocked Brucey for a loop with- uuuuuuh, I mean, I uh, got my hand on the right spot and didn't fall over," Teruko babbled.

Russel grimaced as though he didn't like some part of that answer, then shook his head. "It's over because Becky has been disqualified. Her hand left the mat to grab her PET just now," he pointed out. Sure enough, she was holding it in one hand with her finger on a button, tapping it over and over to take pictures of Terumi's bottom in tight shorts with legs splayed. "You probably ought to delete those pictures before-"

"I'll suuuuuuuuuue!" Terumi shouted, causing the crowd around them to begin dispersing, while Terumi gripped Bruce's hand tighter. With all the abuse he'd suffered just now, he could probably have a fair case for suing as well. That said, he may need to consider Terumi's protective relationship in regards to her sister and how it might affect his own status with Teruko going forward.
“’Weird’ or effective?” Bruce shouted from around Teruko’s behind, unlikely to be heard by her. What he could hear himself, however, was his partner calling for an end to the game. As much as he wanted to protest, he felt he was having to grit his teeth just to hold his stamina and poise. That said, he was forced to defend himself when he was revealed as the issue. “H-hey, that’s adrenaline! Everybody knows how I get around… adrenaline,” he grunted, tightening his lip as he felt a leg starting to slip.

In spite of his concentration, Bruce raised an eyebrow at Terumi, curious about the woman getting touchy with him as she’d just cast shame upon his erection. For once, he thought he wasn’t having to hide any reaction he had to her from Teruko’s sister, his attention still entirely captured by his task and his face obviously flushed from exertion. That said, he was certainly struggling.

As Russel called what would be the game’s final direction, Bruce’s jaw was clenched into a grin. ”This is it! In this position, there’s no way Teruko will get to it. It’s all gonna be worth it when I hear her give up or see her hit the mat. Time to face the-!“

The stuntman’s jaw shot upward from the rough hit, his face momentarily locked in a devious, triumphant grin that grew tighter by his lower teeth locking against his upper. He was thrown back and collapsed. He’d released Terumi’s hand, but not quickly enough to avoid giving her some propelling force. As if sensing his pain and taking pity, the universe was kind enough to avoid having Terumi headbutt his junk, merely depositing her so the erection she’d commented on would be prominently in front of her gaze.

Bruce writhed around a moment, clenching and working his jaw, feeling around his teeth with his tongue to make sure he still had them all. He was so caught up with this that he actually missed the winner announcement: since he’d fallen, he’d assumed he’d lost by whatever twisted rules these Twister-newbies were playing with. The stuntman decided to bury his salt and be the bigger man, rising to his feet and dusting himself off. “All right! These picnic games are getting bad for my health! How about we wrap up and enjoy that food, eh?”

The operator worked to think happy, calm thoughts and get his excitement down, heading to the picnic cloth and grabbing one of his sandwiches. He found he’d worked up a surprising hunger, and was able to tear into it in spite of the taste or lack thereof.

---

Bruce made an effort not to get into any more shenanigans during dinner, beginning to worry that he really would get sued and growing a bit self-conscious about the thought that his bodily functions might leave a lasting first impression that would spread through Teruko’s family before he got a chance to make another. In any case, it was easy for him to avoid being the center of attention as he and Teruko took turns poking fun at their Navis, neither of whom seemed to have any clear recollection of the events but neither of whom were clear-headed enough to avoid leaking some amusing details

As much as he was trying to play nice, though… playing Twister had definitely put him in a mood that no amount of fake eggs was capable of shutting down. He wondered if Teruko was feeling the same.

They hadn’t ridden here together, and Bruce wasn’t clear if she’d ridden with any of her coworkers. He made a point to catch Teruko’s eyes, shifting them over to the parking lot, then patting his legs with antsy energy… waiting to see if she’d pick up the hint he couldn’t drop right in front of her sister.
"Harrassment!" would be the last word Bruce heard before things went spinny for a while. It probably wasn't the worst way to get a concussion that Bruce "Danger" Shiner had experienced, at least.

Of course, the cries of harassment didn't stop just because of his injury; Terumi would keep going almost until he recovered. Oddly, when he came to he would find her looking oddly placated, but her frown came back once she saw Teruko run back over. She didn't look upset about her loss, but she didn't look apologetic about hitting him either. Instead, a big grin was plastered across her cheeks. "Brucey! Hey, hey, have to talked to Dare yet? Ohmygaaaawd," she cackled, clearly savoring the various tidbits she had managed to get out of Ante and Fold so far.

Teruko was agonizingly slow picking up what Bruce was putting down, but once she did, she looked hype. "Woo, gracious winner, huh? I'm down for that! Hehehe," she giggled, glancing back at the others. "Uuuh... we can probably give the others the slip, but it won't be so easy with Terumi. She's glued onto me- and you, Mr. Danger, don't think I can't see just cause I watch like this," she scolded him, pointing two fingers at the narrow squint of her eyes. "But don't worry! I got a sweet idea!"

Quickly, she jogged (her default state of movement) until she reached Becky. She whispered something for a moment, then suddenly, Becky was jogging over to Terumi. The fallout of further harassment might be fun to watch, but there was no time, as Teruko came sprinting back over towards Bruce. "Okay! We got some time! Think of this as another game where you try to be as fast and good at the same time as you can, he he he... and I promise, I won't sue you one way or another!"

For her part, Ante was out of the conversation. She was eager to let Teruko do whatever she liked as long as it let her nurse her hangover and avoid the embarrassment of any further interrogation.
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Bruce grinned at Teruko, then rubbed the back of his head, shooting a quick glance at Terumi sitting elsewhere. “Hey hey, I have been on my absolute best behavior! I haven’t been sued yet, right?” Of course, he wasn’t surprised to learn Teruko had been picked up Terumi’s strange interest in him, but he hoped she wasn’t aware of how much real estate Terumi was taking up in his own head. ”But c’mon, that’s just healthy! It’s not like I’m thinking of her instead of Teruko, just thinking about both of them! Both of them at the same time. And nobody can sue me for having a fantasy, anyway,” he defended himself in his head.

He watched Teruko jog off with single-minded focus, then rose to his feet. He reached in his pocket, pulled out his wallet and snuck a quick look inside, but didn’t find what he was looking at. “Crap. Looks like I left it at the bike,” he muttered. When Teruko came back, it was his turn to jog off, heading to his bike. “Fast, like you said!” He pointed her to head towards the changing rooms, then ran at high speed towards his bike. He had a lot of faith in Becky’s harassment ability, but not so much faith that he was going to stake his entire chance on it. He’d really been hoping that Teruko would join him back at his apartment, they’d turn on a movie for background noise, and the rest of the day would go from there… Unfortunately, he had to admit it’d be hard to sneak out like that. There was definitely some fun to be had in doing it this way, too, though, and he was going to have his fun even if it killed him.

Bruce had been in a hurry, but some instinct slowed him down. He looked at his parked motorcycle curiously, wondering what trick of the light was making it look like it was shooting sparks.

With only that warning, a flame burst from his bike. It seemed to grow cartoonishly, ballooning slightly before flying into pieces. What he’d come for whizzed past his head in the saddle compartment, still attached to the saddle, no longer attached to a vehicle. One wheel rolled limply away from the disaster site as another spun in place. The body was a twisted, flaming skeleton getting only a short, sad bit of air time before clanging noisily to the ground.

Bruce had enough presence of mind to check and make sure nobody around him seemed to be hurt, being miraculously unharmed himself. Once he had, he hurried over the still dangerously burning bike, unable to convince himself there was nothing left to salvage. He stumbled and fell down to his knees, pulling his PET out. “Dare! Dare, call the fire department here! Call the police! This is… a nightmare!”

“Hey, my day was a nightmare, Brucey Boy,” Dare muttered, in no better of a mood now that she’d endured the teasing of Bruce and his girlfriend. “What have you got?”

“My bike just exploded!” he shouted, waving his arms wildly to clarify he wasn’t exaggerating. “Crap! Craaaap…”

“Seriously?” Dare muttered, trying to appear properly sympathetic in light of her aching head. “Okay, fire department is on its way. But why the police? This isn’t the first time a bike you were on exploded, you know? You were even on it, one time!”

“That’s just it. I’ve seen bike explosions. This was no ordinary explosion. It looked like there was… a bomb or something in it. Whatever, I really want it investigated.”

“Okay, okay. That’s rough,” Dare admitted, putting in the call.

Bruce put his PET down, brushing himself off and making his way to Teruko, scratching at his head and occasionally glancing backward at the wreckage. “Okay, uh, this looks bad. Well, it is bad. Crap, I was gonna sell that thing like tomorrow! But… this is like some kind of divine coincidence? Invention, or whatever? Look- I just won money from a contest I didn’t even enter recently. I guess something Dare was up to. Anyway, with that and my savings, I already planned to go shopping tomorrow. Was gonna surprise you with a new ride soon. I’ve gotta stay here and probably answer some questions, talk to my insurance and all that now… Sorry. But maybe we could meet up tomorrow? You can meet my bike contact and we’ll check out the new models. You know, make lemonade out of lemons. Call it a date?”

Bruce was definitely the type to recover from such an alarming incident alarmingly quickly, but this was a bit much even for that. Truth be told, he really was excited for that new bike, and he had to assume this bad luck was just to balance the good luck of his recent sweepstakes win, just like pain was the necessary balance to getting to spend a day with both Teruko and her sister and their legs.

Hopefully Teruko would answer him in the affirmative. The departments had shown up quite quickly, and he already had to answer a couple of questions. “Call you early, okay?” he’d shout as he jogged over there, unless she’d for some reason adamantly refused his invitation.
"Snek! Not a fan of my workout clothes, huh? I guess you can even get sick of brussel sprout casserole if you eat it every day!" Teruko guffawed; it might take Bruce a moment to understand what she was actually saying, given the reach of her substitution compared to the ordinary statement. "Fine, fine. I'll go throw the other stuff on."

Teruko disappeared for a bit, returning to the stall she'd used before to get dressed back. She found herself wondering if Brucr had the same idea of what this quicky entailed, if he was asking her to put stuff back on. Hmm... oh crap. She had been planning to do some car stuff with him, but he had a bike, right? That probably left few options that didn't fall straight into the realm of exhibitionism. "Shoot, he probably is starting to think I'm an exhibitionist, between that and making my sister dress up and all that," she mumbled to herself.

She felt the stall shaking, almost like there was some seismic activity. There was a sound like a transformer had blown up or something like that. "Is this one of your stunts, Bruce?" she asked the empty bathroom, as she finished pulling on the rest of her stuff, stopped to wash her hands, then ran out.

As Russel and the others ran to check what had happened, Bruce ran the opposite way, intercepting the newly redressed Teruko as she approached. "Geez, dude! You're gonna give me a heart attack, and I am in way too good of shape to be getting a heart attack," she complained, pressing her hand to her chest as she got Bruce's story. "Oh, but you're getting a new bike? That's kinda cool!" she responded with a big smile, eager to accept Bruce's positive spin on it. It's a date then! Oh, and uh, if you need to get a lawyer on this... please do not contact Terumi. It's been nice seeing my sister again, but if you put her on a case, you're locked into her for a long time. You think about that, okay?" It seemed she was pretty intent on the cautionary advice. "Cause like, there might be like a, uh, tried and true uuuuh other law friend that you wish you'd stuck with, if you switch to her just cause she looks cute in pink shorts. Alright? Good, I think you got it! Stay safe, Brucey! Oh, you dont want a ride-?"

She called after him, but he was already jogging away. Oh, now he's a jogger! She wouldn't have figured from how he told her that jogging wasn't a proper date earlier when she'd invited him that he was really into it!

At the site of the flaming bike, Russel crossed his arms, watching from a distance while Terumi ran from person to person, talking about suing somebody and whether anybody had seen a white guy with an erection run by. Becky chased after her, mostly out of curiosity. Russel rubbed his chin and spoke into his PET. "I don't think this is connected to the princess. If this sort of danger follows him, though, I may be forced to extract," he murmured, holding it close to his mouth. After placing it back into his pocket, he disappeared into the crowd.