Officer's Tents (Escort)

Ship folded her hands, probably feeling pensive but not possessing the type of face that gave that emotion very clearly. "Well, my thinking is... and I'll leave this up to you, of course... if you intend to experiment, you should avoid co-workers. Unless you don't know it yourself, I would say you don't appear to be in love." Ship smiled with this point, trying to give a sincere expression and look straight into the eyes to indicate she wasn't judging her client's decision or thought process. "So, if you were to pursue that line and... it turned out there was some mistake, or she had someone else in mind... it might create some awkwardness we can avoid easily enough. I think I have some ideas... And you might be surprised! There might be more interested people on the net than you think... Your outfit is quite charming." Ship rested one hand on her cheek and turned back to fiddling with her concept.

Lyn popped her screen back on and faced Escort, her pipe drawn up in her lips. "Oi, somethin' I don't get. If you've got butterflies in your stomach because you're surrounded by all these girls, shouldn't there be someone you're keen on?" Lyn looked straight at Escort, but with much more judging than her Navi had. "I mean, if you're squirmin' around not because of love, it's gotta-"

With her eyes closed, her smile wide, and sweat running down her forehead, Ship switched Lyn to a private line, pulling her viewscreen from the Net. She did so without looking up from her pad. "Oops, looks like my operator got pulled away for something... she's in a public place just sitting around, so they might have kicked her out of the dressing room. I should have thought about it."

"-be heat, right?" Lyn unwittingly continued to herself and her Navi only. "I mean, if you're just gunning for T&A, keep workin' here and just hit the clubs for tail in your downtime!" Lyn crossed her arms and smiled, evidently thinking she'd come up with a really profound solution. "It's X plus Y plus Z where X is work, Y is play, and Z is playing it f*ckin' straight. Einstein said that."

"SORRY BUT DON'T TALK" displayed in text on her PET.

"Wha-? Oi! I'm tryin' to help on your mission, dumb*ss," Lyn growled in response.

"LEAVE IT TO ME PLEASE DON'T"

Lyn groaned, not wanting to admit that more than anything she was just getting bored waiting around. "Fine, handle your mission yourself... just don't come crying to me when you finish this dress-up party and she still ends up gettin' squat."

"I HAVE CONFIDENCE. ALSO HERE YOU GO :)"

Ship hoped that would tide her operator over, since she thought the lull in the conversation might begin to strike Escort as strange. She sent her design to Lyn so the operator could begin fetching the items in the store and applied the finishing touches to her design for Escort. "Aaand, here you go! I went ahead and plotted it all out to enter as code for the .GMO, so you should be able to just pop it in and try it on. A bit of modeling experience. I set it not to alter your body at all, only your clothes data." Ship smiled brightly and handed the package out to Escort, clearly excited to see the results. "Oh, but remember! This is just testing the water, so if you don't like it, please speak up so I can adjust, and feel free to ask questions. I've got much more up my sleeves, if we need it!"

Escort gave Lyn's inquiry much more thought than she should, probably significantly more than Ship anticipated or appreciated. "You both have a point; I don't believe I'm in love,perhaps because I've never had the confidence that allows such a concept to intrude to begin with. At the same time, I'm not simply looking for bodily intercourse. I'm hoping to find someone who could be a long-term partner," she explained. "Although..." she paused, her gloves making a quiet leather wrinkle as she flexed her fingers around her pen and book, "does your operator know of nightlife specialized for women of my persuasion? I wouldn't mind looking at suggestions; the sort of thing is hard to find..."

Realizing and was getting sidetracked, Escort straightened up and put down her items. "Thank you. I will try them on immediately," she responded, then accepted and activated the .GMO. The result looked about as nice on Ship as expected... Except for one exception. Without restrictive binding to hold them back, Escort's breasts swelled out to their full size, namely: tremendous. Each breast was nearly the size of a man's head. Although her tuxedo pants had looked slim, some deception must have been going on there too; for all her muscle tone, Escort's buttocks could never lose their "fat." Luckily, she was avoiding busting out and it held together well enough. "I should have given you some understanding of my sizes before we started, I apologize."

"It is an interesting look and I appreciate it... but I do wonder if the clothes alone will be enough. Are there not some other modifications I could make? Perhaps I should act or speak differently. I'm sure there must be some habit of mine that's making me appear unapproachable," she contemplated, frowning stoically while cracking her neck imposingly, then proceeding to write down thoughts at insane speed onto her secret notebook.

"I wonder if I could take a vacation... maybe a cruise... that seems like it would be a good way to meet someone. Or, with these clothes, I might try 'clubbing'... Which would be ironic,as I refused Dee's offer so many times. I would have just been mistaken for a bouncer."

"I'm afraid she's probably not familiar with that sort of thing..." Ship commented, giggling a little bit at the thought. "She hasn't had me for long, and doesn't really encourage those sort of social excursions as much as one might like." Ship blushed a bit at the thought of heading to a club like that with Escort... but maybe it would be a good time? It wasn't like she knew one, anyway...

Getting a bit distracted, Ship woke up and paid attention to the outfit and the gratuitous curves which had suddenly appeared on her client. "Aaaah! Aah, uuh, but I didn't change the proportions at all, gosh...!" Her eyes tracked the motion of the breasts that were filling out the jacket, bouncing momentarily within the velour fabric as they were suddenly freed. The zipper was being forced down slightly simply by their weight and size. Ship appeared to be spacing out in some sort of dreamy area, and fell into some distracted half-apologies.

The Navi continued nodding along in response to Escort's comments that weren't even questions, breaking suddenly at Escort's mention of a cruise. Ship's strange expression suddenly tightened and grew bright red as she was apparently stuck on some particular thought, so she quickly swiped her water and drained half the glass in one gulp. This seemed to have the effect of cooling her to a reasonable temperature immediately. "Well, it was never my intention to give you an outfit and send you on your way!" Ship told her with a smile, easily settling into conversation again as though she hadn't been doing anything strange.

"Since work is out, though, if you're intending to enter a relationship, clubbing could really be just the thing! Although, that outfit isn't really the best I can do if you want to go clubbing. Give me a sec and I'll come up with another one... Ooh!" Ship spoke up, placing her glass down and slapping her hands to her lap. "I just thought of something good! If we're going to try and go clubbing, now is the perfect time to practice pick-ups! You know what I mean, right? When you meet your target at the bar, you try to ease into a natural conversation and gradually smooth your way to a name, an e-mail address... or a night!" Ship said this last point peeking through her fingers with starry eyes, as though embarrassed to be saying it. "Since I'm practicing multitasking anyway, why don't we do a little roleplaying while I design another costume? I'll pretend to be a potential target at a bar, and you give me your best pick-up line! Then we can trade, and I'll show you what I would do." Ship figured she could handle two things at once, seeing as Lyn was still away dealing with her outfit... Ship tittered again, having a pretty good idea why she would be. The Navi typed away on her pad, working with redoubled enthusiasm now that she'd had a better look at the canvas she was painting on.

Escort made a puzzled expression, clearly not following any of Ship'd reactions. The pitch also seemed to be giving her problems. "A... pick-up line? Forgive my skepticism, but it's hard to imagine something like that working for me," she replied, perhaps trying to visualize herself tossing out one-liners and failing miserably. "But, I will try, if you think there's a chance it could work..."

She cleared her throat and straightened up, then placed both of her hands in her lap and closed her eyes. Next, she ran one hand through her slick hair, tilted her chin up, and gave a charming smirk. "Hey, baby... you look cold. Please, wear my jacket and let me buy you a drink," she offered, leaning back in her seat with her legs crossed. She put one hand on her suit's zipper and tugged it down with provocative slowness...

Ship blushed a bit, sitting attentively as Escort gave it her best. "Not half bad... but it does come off a bit as a man trying to hit on a woman." While she realized her client was probably just trying to make a suave maneuver in getting off the jacket, she couldn't help but think the end result was quite saucy. "Well, she does have certain womanly charms as well... Oh gosh, oh no!" Ship suddenly became aware as she was temporarily dwelling on the issue of Escort's cleavage that she hadn't designed a bra or any kind of underwear with this costume. She hadn't thought she was required to, but after seeing the way Escort suddenly filled out... it was probably best to cut this short.

"Okay, you can stop!" Ship suddenly told her client a bit too loudly. She didn't want to call attention to her mistake if she didn't have to, especially considering she was about to hand over another outfit anyway. "You're much better than you were giving yourself credit for! I felt a bit of a flutter even though it was just acting... I think with some on-site coaching, you'll be partying with the best of them." Ship was trying to downplay the fact that she was supposed to do one in return... she really didn't feel like she had a follow-up act to that.

"Oh! I've just been assuming you're looking for real-world fashion, but some Navis like to keep a classic Navigator look, like moi," Ship pointed out, gesturing at her own outfit. "Let me know if that's your preference... And I've also just been assuming you like the color black, but let me know if I've made a mistake there." Ship smiled a bit sheepishly, realizing she'd skipped some important steps on the quest to seeing her own vision come to life.

"I don't know where Lyn is... but anyway, I got an outfit ready! Please try it on. I think this one ought to make you a hit at the club. While you do, I'll do a quick net search and see if I can come up with a club that suits our class and your tastes. I should hope I'll be able to... I am a Net Navigator, after all!" Ship said with a smile, typing away and keeping her eyes on Escort in anticipation of the application of her next outfit.

"Well, I do have some experience with acting the part of a flirt. I just never thought it would be useful in a practical situation," Escort chuckled lightly (and briefly). "And yes, I prefer to keep the outer world clothing style... with toe exception of when I must dress as a masked martial artist, of course. Black is simply my favorite color." Certainly not hard to believe.

"You have another outfit? I would be happy to try it on," she agreed. Once it was activated, Ship got a look at yet another aspect of Escort that had been hard to anticipate: the ludicrous, tight-packed muscle structure of her body. This became apparent now that her legs and arms were out. "I wore something like this recently, come to think of it, under another persona," she mused. "I wad in a gambling den at the time. Thinking on it... Nevermind," she finished, deciding against finishing her thoughts.

"As I recall, the men and women both seemed to appreciate the wardrobe. Perhaps a dress is the most effective option," Escort agreed. "As I am the driver, I feel as if it is my duty to find our destination. In the mean time, you should demonstrate a pick-up line so that I can learn more about how to craft them properly. In previous experience, conversing normally was the hardest element."

Ship beamed in response, although she was wondering what experience Escort had acting as a flirt that she didn't think qualified her to do so in a social setting. Her eyes popped a bit as she got a better look at Escort's physique. She'd already had a hint of it, again only from the neck, and she had some experience with fit physiques from seeing Lyn... but Escort clearly had another thing going entirely. Ship was inwardly thankful that Escort turned out to be so stacked after all, or she really might be stuck entirely in the man zone.

Surprise aside, Ship thought the outfit she'd chosen was on-the-money. Although she would have liked more detail, she was happy to hear Escort had worn something like this before. Maybe she'd hit pretty close to her clients tastes? Ship was beginning to think she might have a future in this, and gave herself a silent pat on the back.

Still, casual conversation with Escort was a little dull, Ship ultimately decided. She was sure this was going to be the time for juicy girl talk, but Escort even reacted receiving a fancy new party dress (that she apparently liked) based on its "effectiveness." Then again, that wasn't entirely fair... that kind of thing was why Ship had been requested in the first place, and Escort did seem serious about her intention to improve.

... Maybe a bit more serious and focused than Ship might have wanted. "Oh, you didn't forget about that, huh?" Ship asked, smiling sheepishly. "Well, you know, we've been conversing rather normally this whole time, so...!" Sensing she wasn't going to get out of it that way, Ship coughed into her fist and prepared herself.

The Navi rose stiffly to her non-feet and stepped back a bit, evidently attempting to pick up the role fresh when she turned around. The Navi turned on her heels and moved over to sit down close to Escort again. "Excuse me, is this seat taken? I was about to order a drink and was surprised to find such a fetching Navi to share it with. Care to join me?" Ship batted her eyelashes in a girly cliche while complementing her target and finished with a bright smile on her folded hands.

"Pfahaaahooo!" a voice suddenly blared in Ship's ears from nowhere. "What a f*ckin' weak pickup! 'Fetching?'" Lyn spoke on her private channel to her Navi. "What, are you trying to pick up a doberman in a dog pageant?"

Ship grew pouty, puffing her cheeks out a bit as her operator taunted. Looking for quick vindication, Ship fiddled around with some camera controls...

"F*ckin' hell! That's almost as bad as that 'I'm gonna make you love me' sh*t you pulled when we met earlier." Lyn was doubled over laughing... and wearing a full frilly maid costume, complete with the typical black dress and white apron, short white gloves, a frilled headband, lacy white stockings... and with lacy white panties clad around her tight butt, as both Ship and Escort could see. Without telling her, Ship had connected to one of the room cameras designed to share photos from inside the booth to friends around the world, squarely behind the doubled-over operator.

Lyn was shaking her tail for the camera without even realizing it for a moment, before she suddenly cried out in surprise at what she was seeing in her camera. The cry was much like one stubbing their toe, and would likely have alarmed any nearby attendants if they hadn't been on a long smoke break due to the low customer activity. "Wha-whaddya think yer doin'?!" Lyn desperately turned back and forth, apparently trying to find on the angle which would look most decent in the hijacked camera. The swishing skirt finally came to a stop as Lyn faced the screen with her tan face face full of blood mixed from anger and humiliation.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd actually try the whole thing on!" Ship said between uncharacteristically chortling laughs. "And you look pretty good but... aaah!" Ship squealed and covered her face with her hands, blushing as she peaked through them again. "I feel like I'm getting a once-in-a-lifetime experience here!" The Navi hid her face and wiped at it as though trying to get tears of laughter, although her hand was moving closer to the mouth...

"Sh*t! What if Escort's operator saw that?!" For a moment, Lyn's eyebrows tensed over watery eyes in a very unusual expression for her. Her teeth ground together, searching for her pipe but failing to find it. "A-and you! You'd better not have been checkin' me out!" Lyn was directly speaking to Escort here, as though if she were to bark loudly enough at everyone who had just seen her it would all just go away. "I'd double check what she has you put on, toouuuoooooaaaagh!!" Her bark once again broke into an embarrassed cry of despair. "Freeeakiiing aaaaaaaugh!" Lyn cried and clawed at her face as though hers was the last pair of eyes that needed gouging to complete the dark rite of memory erasure.

Ship closed out the window, still laughing and, truth be told, looking a bit drooly. Realizing this was not a good image of her at all, Ship quickly downed her remaining water and tried to explain. "She lost a bet, you see, and she's always giving me a hard time.... This was just good-natured revenge, you see! Nothing strange!" More than anything, Ship was worried her little joke was going to get her thrown out right as she was on the verge of seeing a breakthrough. "Please don't think worse of me!" Ship made an apologetic expression that would look like an attempt at the "puppy-dog eyes" defense on anyone else... but was actually just her natural apologetic expression.

Escort seemed fairly absorbed in the act, looking as if she was nearly ready to respond, when Lyn burst in. She watched with a blank frown, trying to figure out how Lyn could look do different between outfits, then defied Lyn's wishes by clearly being absorbed looking at the operator's fanny. Furthermore, she was furiously writing, perhaps without realizing it (certainly without realizing how much it was going to aggravate Lyn). "So... she's dressed that way as a prank? That makes sense. It's a very pretty costume, though... I wouldn't mind wearing it..." she mused. The fact that she was giving the idea some thought showed how little she understood about club-appropriate fashions.

Escort found herself chuckling as well, although thankfully not drooling. "Sorry, I was just think that the two of you are both so precious. My friend, Dee, would have enjoyed this exchange tremendously," she explained. "I wish that my operator could apologize in person for peeking on yours, but I'm afraid that many of us have been asked to keep our operator's identity a secret."

"All of that aside, I think I understand the basic gist: try to act womanly and offer a drink. Seems simple enough. If it's alright with you, I would like to head to a place called Wunderbar, a net location based on the NetVegas club of the same name. I believe the high energy setting would help my efforts," she explained. "When we arrive, I would prefer to remain on audio link with you. You can continue to monitor my progress and provide instructions directly into my earpiece. I will simply listen and will not reply. You can remain in an outside location where you can listen and communicate without being spotted, which would be awkward for both of us. Does that sound agreeable?"

Ship smiled in response to Escort's words, but Lyn didn't take as well to being called "precious." She was now sitting on her bench as though guarding her behind, certain that there was no way Ship could get more embarrassing footage of her to spread in that position. The operator opened up her communication line one more time: "If I find out that f*ckin' diary of yours is some crazy Net-magic way to send photos to your friends later, Escort, I'm gonna find your operator and beat the livin' sh*t out of him or her or it or whatever!"

Ship had to wonder what was up with Escort's book as well, but she understood it was probably pushing the lines of good manners to ask. She wouldn't pry into it if she could help it... "That's kind of interesting about the Neo-Shogun, though, you know? I think some people have this idea, no offense, that the Neo-Shogun Empire isn't really doing anything on the Net, but it sounds like its members live very different lives from the average citizen."

Ship listened to Escort's plan and smiled, happy that Escort had a place in mind after all. "Sounds like a idea, I'll be happy to help." Truth be told, "happy" was stretching it a bit. Ship had, after all, been hoping she would be able to enjoy the bar with her new friend... but if this is what it took to help a fellow girl find love, so be it. "Just lead the way. Oh, but I feel I should ask... if I'm going to be outside, how am I going to know the situation inside from just an audio link? Are you going to describe the situation on private channel?" Ship was secretly hoping Escort would realize she'd made a mistake and be forced to allow her to tag along inside.

"Many of the elements that make my life secretive were actually present before I joined the Shogunate, to be honest. Dee makes trouble wherever she goes... and sometimes those troubles follow her," Escort sighed, resting her head on her fist. "She's quite a handful... At any rate, my thinking was that you would simply instruct from outside, while listening to my dialogue and that of the other navi. There are some elements of risk involved with your entry. The first is that you will be less capable of instructing me. The second is that it's a mildly adult environment with simulated alcohol. It might not be good for a young girl such as you or your operator to become involved with such a place... Although I don't think any laws or even club rules would deny you entry."

"Let's take a drive and see how it looks when we get there. I've only been there once and it was quite some time ago..." Escort finished, snapping her fingers. The limousine began to move on its own at a luxurious, slow, and smooth roll, presumably towards a portal that would lead them to NetVegas.

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