Cuffs' Office

Wait, she was supposed to be afraid? Well, after surviving the Undernet, SplashLady probably had confidence to spare, or something. "Great! Location and stuff...PhotoMan can cover that better than me. Let's head back to your office, and we can get started! And yeah, I can understand feeling that way...it CAN a little offputting at first. But don't worry, once you get started, it's actually really easy!" Or so it seemed. She hadn't done it herself, but that's how it looked for Armor and Strum. Come to think of it, it'd be her turn pretty soon...and she did say she'd do it. Hopefully everything she was saying about it was true...

"I don't think I'd want to make it a career either... but if it's for your friend's career, I suppose it's fine," Cuffs responded with a nod, then slid her mouth covering back into place. She spoke some more afterwords, but it was difficult to make out any of it due to the mask and it sounded like it was just more along the same lines, expressing willingness to help people and so forth.

Cuffs walked behind SplashLady as they headed back towards the office, pausing to cast a glance at a slouching navi dressed in purple who'd just stepped off the teleporter pad at the end of the hall. Turning her head forward again, she followed SplashLady inside. "If it will help... I am willing to pose for you," she told PhotoMan, lowering her suit again to speak only to cover her mouth once again with her hand.

"Outstanding. You can look forward to a portion of any revenues, as well as the networking," PhotoMan assured her; if he was surprised that SplashLady succeeded, he didn't show it.

The officer tilted her head, widening one eye and screwing up the other. Photoman was repelled slightly, thinking that he'd done something to agitate her, but SplashLady was able to interpret the look as curiosity. "You needn't do all that," Cuffs offered.

"No, such rewards are certainly owed to the photographer's subject. However, there is the matter of our terms. I feel like the sofa there will be a fine location for the shoot... something in white would be even better, but a black leather sofa is casual enough. You remember the details of your wardrobe, correct? " he continued, then hesitated a bit. She nodded back, although with hesitation of her own. "Good. There is one other condition, however; I feel like people would like to see a personality that runs counter to the one ordinarily attributed to you."

"I agree!" Cuffs responded with surprising enthusiasm, moving over to the chair next to him and placing one hand on the arm of his. He recoiled slightly in surprise, then blinked. "People have a lot of misconceptions about what kind of person I am! Showing them a new side will be great..."

"Yes, I'm glad you agree," he murmured, sounding slightly awkward in spite of his monotone. "A subservient Cuffs, taking on the role of the dominated rather than the dominator, will be fresh and exciting for a lot of people."

"Yes, a revision of my image! Kind, helpful, friendly... dominated?" she responded, sounding excited at first, then skeptical. "Like... what do you mean?"

PhotoMan coughed into his fist, then continued. "Well, when people picture you, they imagine you as a dominatrix due to your image."

"I suppose they do..."

"Someone who puts people in handcuffs."

"Right..."

"...Possibly a collar..."

"... C-Collar?"

"Yes. These elements together would form the truly inspiring image I'm imagining," he finished, speaking quickly as if afraid to give her a chance to let it all sink in. He sunk into his chair a bit as he noticed her fist shaking on the armrest beside him. He looked back to SplashLady for more support, staring unblinkingly.

"Yep, everyone that does this gets a cut of the proceeds. I forgot to mention that earlier." After reaffirming PhotoMan, SplashLady watched as PhotoMan proceeded to come perilously close to placing his foot in his mouth. She would've stepped in to assist in avoiding that, but...well, she wasn't entirely sure where he was going. Though, that last bit was pretty suspicious..."Um, he's not saying that you need to be in handcuffs or anything for this!" ...He wasn't, was he? "That said, though, it'd be a good idea for you to look more...submissive, I guess is the word? Like PhotoMan said, this is all about showing something completely different about you!"

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Sabrina was still enjoying herself in the hot spring. However, something in the distance piqued her interest. It was small, shiny...it sorta looked like a chip. However, as she discovered by reaching back for a certain something, there was a problem... "...Ack!"

"What's wrong, Sabrina?"

"Uh, I messed up, and put the towel too far away...I can't reach it without getting out!"

"So get out and grab it real quick, before someone else comes in!"

"But what if someone comes in right when I'm out? I mean, I'm naked, here!"

"...Listen, I'm really busy right now. Can we talk about this later?"

"I, uh...guess so. I'm not really ready to hop out yet, anyway."

"Good. Talk to you later!" Click! Visual connection gone. "Sorry about that, everyone! My operator's in kind of a conundrum, but it's nothing we can't handle later! Or she could be less self-conscious, especially since there's absolutely no way anyone would see her, and she'd only be out of the hot spring for a couple of seconds..."

PhotoMan's eyes slowly lifted towards SplashLady, then to his feet, like a child that's been caught misbehaving in some frequently recurrent and warned against way. "Of course, I er... Never intended for you to be handcuffed," he continued awkwardly. SplashLady's words seemed to settle Cuffs down a bit, at least, so his own nervousness lessened. His eyes clicked slightly as they rolled back up towards SplashLady, accompanied by his stoic frown. "Let's go to that word you used: submissive. Since we are clearly not using handcuffs or collars, how would you go about making her look submissive?"

The two both stared blankly at SplashLady, both unsure of how the shoot was going to develop.

"Well, uh..." ...Dang, she was hoping he'd be able to fill in some blanks here. SplashLady's mind raced, trying to come up with any kind of answer to the question at hand. "...It's all about the poses, of course! I mean, theoretically you could have someone in handcuffs, but if their body language looks like they want to snap those cuffs in two, they wouldn't exactly look submissive, right?" Okay, now she felt like she was getting somewhere with this. "Well, it'll be easier if I demonstrate."

After making sure the door was closed, the mermaid Navi headed for the couch, stopping for a moment to roll her skirt up to above the knee, allowing the others to better see her legs. She then plopped down on one end, hands resting on the back of her head as she crossed her legs. "See how I look like this? All I'd need is a sunglasses-like visor and I'd look like no one would dare want to mess with me. But that's the opposite of what we're doing here!"

SplashLady uncrossed her legs, and scooted up so that she was sitting on the very edge of the cushion. She then proceeded to clasp her hands over her heart, and looked around shyly. "See how much more vulnerable I look right now? Like you could do anything to me? That's kinda what I mean. Just, using body language to look submissive, and not just props or something." She hopped up, letting her skirt fall back down to ankle level. "Er, did I make enough sense?"

The gears in PhotoMan's head clacked and whirred as he watched SplashLady, his eyes hanging on to her every movement as he desperately tried to avoid blinking and thus shooting photographs. "Once again, you bring inspiration to the craft, SplashLady. It is clear to me that the photo will be much better with a pose implying submission rather than the use of any props. Part of disassociating the officer here with her usual persona will be to take the shoot without using those handcuffs that people typically associate with her," he speculated, nodding enthusiastically.

"I see... The second pose does look easier to approach than the first. I feel like it might work," Cuffs agreed.

"Wonderful; all we need at this point, then, is to get you into the outfit," PhotoMan suggested, handing over a data packet. "I've taken the liberty of preparing the .GMO, which I described to you earlier. As soon as you're ready, equip it and we'll begin getting you into position for the shoot."

Nodding, Cuffs accepted the packet and took a deep breath. Before she could prepare any further, her clothes nearly evaporated, leaving her wearing only the white, lace lingerie that PhotoMan had described earlier. Her breasts heaved audibly as the outfit came off, causing her to blush more heavily. "Mina has control of .GMO activation," she explained.

"I see. Very well, I'll begin the shoot. For now, if you would, please recline across the couch. Try gripping onto the armrest with one hand and clutching the other just beside your hip... remove the symmetry in your legs by raising one knee. Ah, perfect..." PhotoMan murmured, navigating around the couch until he found the perfect spot.

"I can't really control my face or my breathing," Cuffs informed him, her chest rising and falling provocatively as her breaths quickly exited her diaphragm.

"... In this case, I think it's fine for the theme," PhotoMan informed her, keeping his all-business expression. "SplashLady, can you think of anything else we ought to do before I execute the shoot?"

...Phew. One more crisis averted. SplashLady backed up a bit, to make sure she was doing absolutely nothing to interfere with the shoot. But, she had one last thing to say. "Well, this is probably where I should say to relax and have fun...but I'm not sure if that completely applies here. Have fun, definitely, but in this case, I think it's okay if you look a little bit nervous. Ties in with the whole 'vulnerability' thing, you know? Don't look TOO nervous, though, or it'll all fall apart! I'm sure PhotoMan will catch the subtleties between the two better than me, so I'll let him direct you in that regard!"

Cuffs nodded from her place on the couch; PhotoMan nodded as well, then turned towards her, framing her in his eyes using his hands as a border. "Let's begin. Hold that pose," he encouraged the officer, clicking his eyes as he dashed around the couch for dynamic angles, looking a little silly due to the confined space of the office room. He kept having to stop himself as he nearly crashed into the desk on his way to the other side of the couch.

To her credit, Cuffs was able to keep her eyes open and watch the camera, but she looked like she'd have a hard time breaking the pose even if she'd wanted to. She was barely even acting at this point... maybe she really was a submissive person all along.

At that moment, a navi came through the door. A slouching man in a purple, half-body cloak and puffy hat peeked in, watching the three of them with white, shifty eyes through his purple mask. "What is this I've walked in on?" the new navi inquired, grinning as he caught PhotoMan in a particularly awkward pose; the photographer had one hand up on the back of the couch with the other at the armrest, leaning over Cuffs for a top-down shot. He straightened up, realizing what it looked like.

"We're holding a photo shoot. I hope it's not interrupting anything," PhotoMan offered, sounding unashamed and unrepentant.

"Not at all! Tech dev has come up with some new gadgets we want to discuss with Prosecutions officers, but uh... something else came up anyways, to be honest, so I was going to schedule a meeting some other time. Can I come back in two hours when you're not busy? Or, I wouldn't mind sticking around to watch!"

"P... Please come back in a little while," Cuffs murmured, pressing one fist to her mouth out of habit.

"Sure, sure! Good luck!" he sniggered, then popped back out of the room. With a cough, PhotoMan got back to the shoot, although Cuffs was hard to get to cooperate at that point...

-----

With the shoot concluded and Cuffs back in her ordinary outfit, PhotoMan seemed pleased with the results. "A combination of SplashLady's direction and Cuffs' efforts has come together to create another great batch of photos for the portfolio. I thank you again for your cooperation, Officer," he explained. "I only wish we'd locked down the perimeter a little better, or chosen another location..." he murmured, hinting at the fact that the later portion of shots suffered due to the interruption.

"I hope that your portfolio turns out well," the Prosecutions officer spoke in a hushed whisper.

"I'm sure it will. SplashLady, here is your cut, as promised."

*SplashLady gets: DynaWave + 300z*

"Are you ready for the fourth shoot?"

Aside from the fact they should've kept the door locked while they did it, SplashLady felt all around pretty pleased about how this particular shoot went. And best of all, she didn't end up in any compromising outfits. Worked for her. Also, DynaWave was nice, though it figured how in this case, she already had BigWave. Oh well, at the very least, it was another chip entry for Sabrina.

"Kinda hard to believe we're almost done...I guess time flies when you're having fun!" Well, fun might not necessarily be the right word, but..."Let's see...all that's left is Fire...Fire...something..." A quick check of the folder refreshed the mermaid Navi's memory. "Ah, right, FireYaku! Guess we should head over to wherever she is, then! I'm ready whenever you are!"

PhotoMan looked momentarily surprised, then back to stoic. "It's good to hear that you've been enjoying yourself. I thought that with the subject of the work you might be more adverse," he commented. "As for FireYaku-"

"F-FireYaku?!" Cuffs cried out from behind the desk, causing PhotoMan to jump. She sounded strangely disturbed at the name she'd heard, for some reason. "There's no way you're going to be able to get her to pose for something like this... She's very stubborn and hates being seen as womanly. I really can't imagine anything you could do to make her agree..."

Knitting his eyebrows, PhotoMan entered deep thought. "Thank you for warning us. She is part of the Mafia's Bloodhounds, after all, so I knew the chances would be slim-"

"No, she's a good person!" Cuffs defended with surprising enthusiasm. "It's just, she's not going to want to be in a sexy photograph... You could probably trick her into it, though."

"Tricking her would be unethical and dangerous," the photographer replied skeptically. "We're going to have to think up another way..."

"Perhaps... I think I know a way. If you were to show her the photographs you took of me, there's a chance she'd feel like she... owes you. I can't explain why. Even if not, she might still be more willing," Cuffs explained.

"Very well. Thank you for the information. She's likely at her homepage... We'll have to enter and request an audience, to the best of my knowledge. Please head to these coordinates when you're ready, SplashLady," he finished, transferring over the data before disappearing in a flash.

*Coordinates.DAT received*

*SplashLady Gets: 7 PhotoMan FXP and 2 Cuffs FXP*

((Destination opening soon in Homepages))