Marlena felt lightheaded. To say the evening had escalated would be an understatement but in fairness her earlier predictions of how tonight would go had no included knocking back gin with a possible harlot. Would she have avoided this had she known?

Lena knew herself enough to know that she very emphatically would not have done that.

“Er,” she said cleverly, cursing herself that the mind she had always been so proud of seemed to have filled itself with entirely inappropriate answers. How long had it been since she had first kissed Begonia and yet she could still recall the soft press of her lips and how that had made her feel? Was it that memory that had swayed her into coming inside the pub with a woman she ought to know better than to associate with.

Lena couldn’t stop the flush that burned up her neck, displaying an embarrassing lack of control she wondered if she would ever learn.

“What do you like to do?” She asked, deflection her only weapon remaining.

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MJ: still raising the graphics bar as of 2022