A potential (Invite)

[Roderic]

Jules was busy playing with Rice and she wasn't very good at it. Somehow, the poor chick, which wasn't a chick anymore given how much time passed, got a broken wing. I'm not even sure how that happens since they don't really even use their wings all that much. She didn't know either. Anyways, the fact she's always hanging around with Rice told me one thing. My sister needed a ******* life.

I had threatened her before and it seemed I needed to carry out said threat. Desperate times called for some sort of measure. I'm not the desperate one, but someone needed to do something. It's been a long time since Jaime was gone (good) and every night since, she's been sitting at home with a ******* chicken?

I hopped on the computer (which I hate by the way) and started typing an ad for her. I meant what I said and now that I was back home from taking care of other family problems and dilemmas, Jules could finally get my full attention like I had intended a while ago. And since neither Doc or I seemed to be having any luck with finding anyone, maybe we need to broaden our horizons.

Lesbian Lover seeking...Lover. Direct and to the point. I was rocking this advert.

Qualifications: Must be a chick (Should I use chick?). ****. I have to start over because 'chicks' is offensive. So I deleted it and started over.

Qualifications: Must be adventurous. Funny. Kind. Average height and build. Likes animals and nature. Likes to challenge people. That looked great. Right to the point. No ********. Should I add something about looks? They had to be at least a six on a scale of one to ten. No. Someone would be offended. **** people and their offended ways. Six was average. Not offensive. I decide not to add it. I hit send on the dating site and include the picture of her from my phone and wait. All night. I wait.

[Amalea]

Life had become a bit stagnant, the red-head decided as she dropped her keys onto the entry table. Her days consisted of going to work, hunting down and dispatching various pests and occasionally hanging out with people she knew. After last week’s disaster with at the Longslade facility, she knew that things would change, even if the full fallout was yet to reveal itself. There was no way the government was going to take the assault laying down and now it was just a waiting game to see what was to occur. Already, some of the humans – paladins she was sure – were beginning to make waves and try to turn the city against the vampires.

She shook her head as she changed out of her work clothes and into something more suitable for the evening. There was some hunting to be done later, but for now, the blood-thief wanted to grab some dinner and crash on the couch to eat. Digging through her kitchen, she sighed, adding grocery shopping to her list of things to do soon; there were slim pickings to be had currently. One would think, given she owned and usually operated, a catering company, that she’d keep more on hand but it had been a long week.

Finally setting on the couch with a bowl of ramen, Amalea pulled her laptop into her lap. She needed something new to do. Really, she needed to get out more and meet new people. Her problem was the how and when. Every time she tried to branch out and try somewhere new, it didn’t tend to go as planned. It wasn’t that the outings went poorly, just not as expected. Perhaps something one on one would be better… like a date.

The real question was was she ready to do so? It had been years since Reyna after all. There hadn’t been anyone since though in fairness, she hadn’t actually been looking. If Cyril wasn’t employed as Doc’s business manager…she may have taken a chance there. Alas, though, the situation was messy to begin with due to the business arrangements. Never mind what would happen if things went south. No… Cyril was definitely off limits.

Her nose wrinkled as she spent the next hour shift through personal ads on various sites between bites of ramen. Most of them reeked of desperation and the desire for a sheetmate rather than something more serious. The red-head wasn’t looking for serious in the path-to-marriage sense, but she certainly wasn’t looking for an one-night fling; just a nice night out with the possibility of others to follow.

Just as she was ready to give up she found one that could have some potential. The title was interesting; she wasn’t adverse to dating lesbians. Really, gender, species, race and the like didn’t matter to her. Everything hinged on a person’s personality. The woman was certainly cute. She had to laugh at the qualifications of adventurous and liking to challenge people – wasn’t that what she did by existing and living in this city? Everything else seemed reasonable and she found that she could check all the boxes. But would the fact she wasn’t an actual lesbian be a deal breaker?

Taking a chance, she hit the button to open a private message.

Hi!

Saw your profile and found it intriguing so figured I’d give you a poke.

Easy stuff first, I’m attaching a picture which you can’t tell in it, but I’m 5’6”.

I do love animals, nature and adventure. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can live here and not like adventure and challenges, but that’s just me.

If you’re interested, I’d love to meetup and see how things go. I should state that I’m not a straight-up lesbian, but I understand if that’s an issue and with no hard feelings, if so!

Hope to hear from you!


Her finger hovered over the send button a moment before she closed her eyes and pressed it. Worst case, the woman wasn't interested. Best, she wanted to meet up - in which case Amalea would certainly take every reasonable precaution to stay safe. But for now, it was a waiting game.

[Roderic]

Who would have known I had so many interested people? Or that there were so many lesbians in the world? Within three hours, I had five people reply. Most of them didn't even speak English, so they didn't even get a reply. What the hell did (a/l) stand for? Or A3? What was wrong with people today? Three of the five were discarded in seconds. Anyone that spoke in riddles wasn't worth my time of night, or Jules' time of night.

The fourth was a little more promising, until she included a picture of herself showing all the things I sure as hell did not want or need to see. I had confidence that if Jules wanted to just get laid, she could at least manage that on her own. I reply with a 'thanks, but no thanks,' which leads to a battle in itself. Suddenly, I'm getting a flood of instant messages popping up on the screen and it doesn't take someone long to figure out that rejection isn't her forte. I report and block her, then move to the last one.

"This can't get any worse." I say with a shake of my head, then open the message to read:

Hi!

Saw your profile and found it intriguing so figured I’d give you a poke.

Easy stuff first, I’m attaching a picture which you can’t tell in it, but I’m 5’6”.

I do love animals, nature and adventure. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can live here and not like adventure and challenges, but that’s just me.

If you’re interested, I’d love to meetup and see how things go. I should state that I’m not a straight-up lesbian, but I understand if that’s an issue and with no hard feelings, if so!

Hope to hear from you!

She speaks English. So far so good. The picture is tactful, another point in her favor. Everything was going good, until I read she wasn't a straight up lesbian. What did that even mean?Then I remember a time when Jules told me she liked women and men. Was this a common thing? I shrug and decide they can figure it out. I mirror back what she says, only because I don't know what I'm supposed to even reply back. I should have had Dom do this.

Hi!

Thanks for the picture! I couldn't tell, but I like your picture (I don't, but I have to be nice. I'm sure Jules would like her, she is a chick). I agree about the adventure notion. It seems as if there is something new going on every week, or every night in this city. How do you feel about birds? My brother gave me a type of bird, his name is Rice.

There's no issues, I've banged both(I cross that bit out) I'm an open minded individual (much better). As for meeting up, I'm free this Friday and Saturday night. Where would you like to meet up? I hit send and then text Jules.

To: Jules
From: Ric

Message: Need to meet up with you. Which night works best? Friday or Saturday?

[Juliet]

To: Jules
From: Ric

Message: Need to meet up with you. Which night works best? Friday or Saturday?

"But the owner said that it was being placed into layaway."

The text from Roderic sat unread as Juliet held the device in her pocket, the woman wearing a bright pink dress scowling at her. It had been insisted that 'someone' in the store had placed a bridal set in layaway - something that Juliet didn't allow. Her managers knew it, her store employees knew it. Due to the fact that she preferred someone make small monthly installments after putting twenty percent down on the pieces, there was no reason to. There weren't many things that had Juliet wanting to reach across the counter and wanting to snap the neck of a customer, but being lied to? It was at the top of the very short list.

"I don't know how that's possible considering I'm the owner and I didn't authorize anything being placed into a non-existent layaway." Her patience was growing thin. The troublesome nature of it all causing her to consider just closing up for the evening, allow her employees to still be paid for the trip out to the business. The words caused the woman to sputter, a pink tinge coming to her cheeks as other customers looked at her, having overheard the argument for the past ten minutes.

"If you'd like to purchase the set, you're going to have to put a twenty percent down payment and then make monthly installments after it, or simply purchase the set outright. I don't allow my girls to simply gift the merchandise, nor do I allow no payment to be taken. You've been in here multiple times - we do not keep anything in the back so that you can pay for it over time while it is still in the building." In her pocket, she felt her phone vibrate to alert her to the unread text. "Daisy will gladly work with you. If you'll excuse me."

Her fingertips curled around the device as she turned and headed back to her office. Once it was out, her thumb tapped against the screen and she read over the words. Her eyebrow lifted. Turning her phone sideways, she typed out a response before sliding it shut.

TO: Ric
FROM: Juliet

Friday is fine. I'm going to be closing down early. Just let me know where.

She had just made it back to her desk and set her phone down when she heard "Cassie!" being called out. Daisy. The name caused her to grimace. She'd never gotten used to her alias. She doubted she ever would. "Give me a moment." The mystic sighed as she contemplated if it would be a bad thing to set a customer aflame. It was with this thought that she heard a crash behind her and noticed from the corner of her eye, saw her shadow slinking back into its proper place as it escaped away from the vase it had knocked over.

Her green eyes lifted to the ceiling as she once again contemplated closing down for the night. "I need to get out of the sales industry." She muttered and turned on her heel before plastering a fake smile upon her lips and going back out to help her employee.