18+ Private Eastern Brisshal Dubious Service

[Ava Starlight]

Sofia had given Ava the sage advice many years ago that all clients could be roughly separated into two groups: The pigs and the nobility. It wasn't something so benign as the money they had at their disposal. No, it was based purely on their desires and the way they conducted themselves with her. Ava tucked some of her long silver hair behind one of her pointed ears and glanced demurely at the heavily armored man taking in the sight of her with hungry eyes. Judging by the look of him, she could already tell that he fell firmly among the pigs.

It was an easy service to acquire for any that knew where to look. Those nonsense ads that seemed to be pinged out to entire servers at a time did in fact have a purpose if one understood the deeply coded words. Terrasphere was a perfect environment for such things to thrive after all. Illegal, unregulated... It practically invited the adventurous and the unsavory alike to partake. Ava was simply another piece of that vast and widespread black market.

"My, my... Is looking all you plan to do? You're paying quite a fee to be spending it all on window shopping," Ava teased with a coy little grin. The man, finally realizing the situation, smirked and stepped closer. A dark alley of Eastern Brisshal would hardly have been Ava's ideal location, but it was the best place to conduct business away from prying eyes. Hopefully they could move to a more comfortable locale soon. The evening dress that her caretakers had spent real currency to purchase in game would go to waste. Stepping closer, the man slid an arm around her waist and lightly backed her against the wall. The cold, gritty brick felt unpleasant on Ava's back, but she didn't voice a complaint. "Ah, that's a bit better. I thought you were going to-"

A hand pressed lightly to her mouth to silence her, followed by a glare from the man that said without words that this isn't what he was paying for. Ava's playfulness vanished, and she frowned behind the hand. Yes. Truly a pig. The man pulled his hand away and like magic, a quieter, more nervous Ava emerged. "What are you planning to do? Stop eyeing me like a piece of meat," she whimpered meekly. His hands wandered up her frame, one sliding her dress up to feel the bare skin of her thigh while another began grasping for her chest. "Not here... At least do that in private!" she objected, trying to push his touch away.

The man responded by forming a sigil with one of his fingers. Ava obliged by not resisting in the slightest as bands of golden light formed around her wrists. A "binding spell," she supposed. As the bands suddenly tugged, Ava grunted as she had her hands jerked behind her and tucked tightly into the small of her back. "Let me go..." she groaned, putting on a good show of struggling uselessly. That certainly seemed to excite her pig of a customer as he chuckled and pressed her harder into the wall, resuming his crude touches. Ava looked away and shut her eyes tightly, in equal measure playing her part as much as wanting this to be over so she could collect her money.

 

[Francesca Amauri]

This game was certainly an experience. Having created her avatar as a representation of herself in the real world, she didn't have much to do besides choosing some interesting masteries that seemed to suit her. With that, she methodically decided to learn the game and actually read the UI help tips and tutorial. She'd already learned how to cast a few spells and perform a few attacks by the time she decided to head into the nearest town for food.

It was on her way back from said food, where she ordered in a few monotonous words and ate quietly by herself, that she heard some commotion from an alleyway.

"Not here...At least do that in private!"

Her head turned like some sort of machine that had suddenly found a target, body following after to slowly walk towards the scene, making a point to remain quiet as she approached. She was smoking a cigarillo, ashing it to the side as she finished her approach. At her whim, without verbal components, shadowy, eldritch tentacles appeared from a pool of shadow beneath her and wrapped the man in a way that left him especially vulnerable.

"She said to let her go." She said flatly, getting the idea of what was happening here but still not pleased with his behavior. She'd run brothels in the past and clients that behaved like this one would be lucky to leave with their dignity or their manhood intact. Frankie ignored the girl for right now, focusing her icy glare on him. Confident and in control, she ignored his shouting to let him go and the threat of consequences. In response, she silenced him, a tendril wrapping around his neck to choke him before she approached, practically bringing frigid air with her in the aura around her.

A tendril grabbed a wrist and steadied his hand where she grabbed it with her free hand. She looked at the hand, then at him, locking eye contact as her other hand brought the burning tobacco closer and closer to his skin. She started to see him panic, but her expression didn't change for anything. Finally, she dug it into his skin where it would have elicited a scream were he not currently being choked. The mark placed upon him, she let him go all at once and let him collapse to the ground, standing over him,

"Let that be a reminder. If I see you doing something like this again, I'll take your hands. Do you understand?" She asked clearly, but still monotone. Without a response, she reiterated her question this time with fire behind her eyes and rage in her tone, more tentacles coming to life behind her in a threatening aura of corruption and darkness, "Do you fucking understand me!?" To which he finally replied his affirmative and scurried away.

Finally, satisfied with his distance from the girl, she turned back to her and re-lit her cigarillo, continuing to smoke what little she had left of it.

"What's your name?" Delivered more like a command to provide it than a genuine question, she intently gazed into the girl's eyes to look for the truth of this situation. No doubt she was expecting to get paid for the man's advances. Still, it wasn't worth that treatment. Her girls had always been treated well and paid well, and in turn had become the best information gatherers she'd ever had.

 

[Ava Starlight]

Naturally, Ava's caretakers didn't think her customers would appreciate the convenience of a pain limiter like the one Terrasphere provided, disabling it as soon as they learned of its existence. Thus, a soft grunt turned into a gasp and a louder moan of discomfort as the bands binding her wrists pushed inexorably higher, sliding her arms into an unnaturally bent position crossed against her back. She arched her back to give herself some relief as her bindings lifted her up, holding her on the wall at the man's height. Ava's face clenched with pain as she bit her lip, her arms trembling slightly from how strict it was. Her client certainly was a pain sadist this time...

Then, a female voice spoke up, and Ava's eyes opened, her gaze moving to the fierce-looking woman that appeared behind the man. Tendrils of some shadowy substance had emerged and wrapped the man as the woman evidently came to Ava's aid. The harassed faerin blinked and watched curiously, subtly shifting her arms to be as comfortable as she could. In a display of supreme confidence, the woman ignored the man's blustering and silenced him with a wrap around his neck.

Unable to maintain his focus, the man's binding spell fell away, and Ava inhaled loudly with relief as she dropped into a seated position, her wrists freed from their painful position. His rough touch had nearly exposed her right breast, and after massaging her shoulders and elbows, she carefully slid her loose dress strap back into place. In the meantime, the woman had gotten to work branding Ava's customer and terrifying him into fleeing. She was a violent sort but not in the raging, bloody way that some of the guards were. It was colder, more intimidating. Ava found her frightening.

Still, she wasn't scary enough that Ava could completely forget her misgivings. She rose to her feet, smoothing out her dress and allowing it to cover up her pale thigh once more. Red marks circled her wrists, but her dress remained remarkably unharmed, probably because it was a digitized asset. The woman all but demanded Ava's name, and she flinched, her training kicking in at the hint of a command. It was obvious that her feelings at being "rescued" were anything but positive as she frowned and rubbed her wrists. "You just cost me a great deal of money. I'd appreciate if you didn't scare away my clients," she stated simply, reciting one of the many canned lines her caretakers had implanted in her as she avoided the question. Normally, she wouldn't have the confidence or will to talk back to anyone, much less someone as scary as this woman. It was only her training that gave her a backbone.

 

[Francesca Amauri]

Frankie's expression turned to mild disappointment as the name was not provided and instead the girl was ungrateful and focused on money. That disappointment faded into a slight smirk as she puffed on the tobacco betwixt her fingers and ashed it again, still not looking away from the gaze that held the smaller girl's eyes. She stepped forward slowly, hips moving in an almost exaggerated way as if to prove something. Really, that was just kind of how she walked. Always something to prove to somebody who didn't see enough in her.

"Oh yea? How much is 'a great deal' to you? Hm?" She'd wait for an answer, scoff lightly, then reply, "I'll double that. I'm your client now. Now tell me your name. And more importantly, tell me who taught you that this treatment was okay. Just because you're in this line of work doesn't mean you don't deserve respect or to be treated like a person. Anyone ever treated one of my girls this way I would have done far worse to him. I'll do far worse than that to the people who taught you it was okay." She kept her lecture going, spiking the cigarillo to the ground like she was taking her anger out on it, stomping it out with her heel as well.

"Paid or not, what happens between two people should be consensual. Discussed first. I kept my brothel running smoothly and kept my girls happy by following a few simple rules that are just common sense. A lesser brothel is often what puts a bad image in people's minds, something more akin to slavery. But maybe I'm being presumptuous, hm? Why don't you tell me how wrong I am while we get you something to eat, skin and bones."

@Ava Starlight

 

[Ava Starlight]

Ava tried to stay strong despite her instinctive fear of this powerful and fierce woman as she moved forward slowly. The woman's eyes drifted to those swaying hips. Her avatar was quite eye-catching, though Ava knew better than to ever be attracted to anyone, stranger or client. Letting personal feelings in would only invite punishment as it always did. Sometimes, she got punished even when she was being good. She backed away a little, continuing to rub her wrists as she hit the brick wall of the building again.

The woman questioned Ava's prices, and with a hint of skepticism, she stated her going rate. "300 US dollars or euros for one session with a set of house rules, 500 for unrestricted access. That man paid for the unrestricted access." Her eyes widened when the woman offered to pay double, yet they quickly narrowed in suspicion. "Hmph. Provide 60% of the commission as a downpayment if you're serious," she added, private messaging a fully encrypted payment account to the woman.

When she did so without complaint, Ava practically drooled. Her whole demeanor changed in an instant. Ava wrapped herself around one of the woman's arms and tucked her head into the woman's neck, carefully nuzzling in just the right way while she avoided misplacing her horns. "Oh my~ Wealthy mistress, you are far too kind," she purred, though a bit of fear still showed itself in the trembling of her hands. Giggling into the back of a hand, she looked up adoringly at the much taller woman. "Your escort's name is Ava Starlight, and I do hope you find me pleasing to the eye. I can assure you that I'm just as pleasing to the touch," she purred, inviting the woman to enjoy her fill by guiding her hand to Ava's disproportionately large rear.

What the woman said next confused Ava greatly, and it showed in the way that her performance broke to show visible perplexion. The woman talked about a lot of concepts that simply didn't register with the way Ava had been "raised," which in itself was a terrible thing. She recovered her facade, but it was a slow process. "Dear customer, I'm not at liberty to discuss my caretakers' identities. Surely you can understand..." She laid on the sultry parts of her Eastern European accent thick with a subtle growl. "Aren't I providing everything you need? I may be small, but my performance is not, I promise you that."

Ava tried to distract by turning a little towards the woman and swirling a finger on the woman's collar bone, smiling and rubbing her nose at the corner of the woman's jaw. "I'm not sure why you're getting so upset. My work makes me happy. Consent isn't necessary if the price is right." Spouting more rehearsed words that had been drilled into her again and again... How much of it was real? The last jab made Ava huff and glare defiantly at the woman. "How rude! I'll have you know that my proportions are anything but skin and bones. Aren't I the ideal woman?" she asked, using one hand to slide over her unnatural hourglass figure, the unnecessarily full hips and bouncy chest basically copy and pasted from a thirsty horndog's fantasy. Even her stomach slimmed to a set of abs and ribs that were downright eerie considering how much thickness she clearly had elsewhere.

 

[Francesca Amauri]

"What? Five hund- Ha! Oh, sweet girl." She smirked again, quickly paying what she'd promised, with a tip to total $1200, "You should be making a lot more than that." It was clear and kind of gross how quickly Ava switched her tune. But the trembling of her hands said plenty.

Grabbing her by the hand, she pulled her in front of her to look at her directly once more, "You've nothing to be afraid of. I bought your time, just now, not your body. Cut the shit and just relax." She paused, letting that sink in, gaze unfaltering, "You're on my time now. You wanna impress me? Be yourself." Then let her go and started to walk past her back towards the street, "Come."

"Yea, yea. Doesn't matter. I'll find 'em. There aren't many places with prices that low." Confidence in her tone once more, as if it was already a done deal, "Your performance is not relevant to me, so no." At the next line, she felt a shiver down her spine. Bloodlust. She wanted to hurt someone for putting these thoughts into her head.

In her mind, rage was building up, welling and threatening to break through the dam she'd built for her emotions to remain objective. The only time she'd really lost her cool in the past was when her girls were mistreated or when Asa cheated on her, someone betrayed her, that sort of thing. Instead, all that came out was a low growl,

"I told you to cut the shit. I wanna see what's underneath all those lies you've been made to believe. If you can't do that, you won't be getting anymore of my business." What she really wanted was to poach her, buy her out of her current position and take her for herself, one way or another. At her next question, she just blinked, "No. You look like a man created your avatar with one hand."

Finally, they arrived at a small tavern where she only order a drink for herself as they sat, instructing Ava, "Sit across from me. Order whatever you want." She had plenty of gold for a newcomer thanks to paying for some from an illicit service. May as well, since the game was already illegal, right? She didn't have much else to do.

"I didn't give you my name." She remembered, "I'm Francesca Amauri, and I was once the head of The Taricani Family. People aside from those I'm very close with call me Frankie. You will also call me Frankie. I chose not to change my name in this game because I don't care if people recognize me. If the people you work for are worth anything in the US, they should know me, too. Let them know they've upset me when you get a chance, will you?" Calm, now, on the outside, as if they were just talking about the weather. By this time, her drink had arrived and she looked at Ava expectantly for her to order. If she didn't order enough, she'd order more for her.

 

[Ava Starlight]

Ava was used to being treated a certain way and so she didn't even react as the woman suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her. This was more what she was used to. Some of her customers could be charming or gracious, but her advertisement included a very obvious "no restriction" fee which tended to bring in people of a certain sort. Still, the woman's ferocity scared her. She didn't want to be hurt badly. Though the woman could say that there was nothing to be afraid of, it didn't mean that Ava could trust it. Likewise, being told to just relax felt like a trap. Either way, Ava obeyed when the woman beckoned her to follow, using all of her tricks of the trade to make the woman feel fawned over.

The woman declared that even if Ava tried to protect her caretakers, she would quickly find them. Ava found herself skeptical once again. If her caretakers didn't wish to be interfered with, there was no power in the world that could bother them. She had seen plenty of people who were "made example of," including the disobedient girls and boys, to know better. As Ava tried to put her mistress at ease, she flinched and whimpered softly as harsh words cut through her drivel. "I don't understand what lies you're talking about. I'm simply trying to be the best I can for you. What more do you want? There's nothing else, I promise," she said in an almost pleading tone, much of her composure shaken. It was almost easier when the customer simply guided her to their room or pressed her against a wall.

Ava clung to the woman's arm, hoping to somehow satisfy her confusing demands. What was she supposed to do when she didn't jump immediately to the whole reason for the transaction? She even insisted that Ava's incredibly sensual avatar was only suited for some perverted man's wet dreams. Ava looked around fervently as they entered the tavern, but before she could even try to work some charm, her client demanded that she sit. Forbidden to resist, she settled into the chair, primly resting her hands in her lap. Her eyes widened a bit as the woman suggested she order whatever she want. She allowed her gaze to drift to the selection, and the fact that it even smelled like real food brought drool to Ava's lips. The faerin fidgeted and wiped as politely as she could at her lips. "Th-then, that please, my generous mistress," she said, pointing to a tragically simple meat pie.

As she waited for the food, the woman introduced herself. The blood froze in her veins. Francesca Amauri... The former benefactor of her caretakers. If they found out Ava had upset their high mistress... She couldn't even imagine it. The poor woman was in such a state that she missed the plain fact that Frankie would have been angry because of them. Ava had been afraid before, but now she was terrified. "Ah, madam Francesca, the great and merciful, please forgive this foolish woman with more body than brains," she said, all but begging as she clasped the woman's hand in both of her own, "I didn't mean any disrespect. You can have your money back and I'll do everything I can do to please you. My body, my dignity... Anything you wish. Just please don't tell my caretakers about how gravely I insulted you. I-I..." Ava was mostly babbling at this point.

 

[Francesca Amauri]

Frankie ignored her insistence that she wasn't anything more than a sex toy, nothing flickering in her eyes except for the anger she felt towards whatever fuckheads made her this way. When she ordered a meat pie, Frankie went ahead and ordered a loaf of bread and some stew as well, just to be sure she would eat her fill and she wasn't being overly modest when presented with an opportunity to really eat.

When she turned out to be recognized, she figured it was because the branch she worked for formed when the tree that was her family dissolved into hundreds of dead leaves like a cool autumn. There was no lack of termites that wanted the trunk, too, and it was all corrupt now in all its different forms. Clearly there was a brothel, she knew of a drug ring, a smuggling ring. Everything she had her hands in was taken over by lieutenants without any gratefulness or loyalty. When it was announced that she'd be under house arrest, they figured that she couldn't do anything.

That lead to a few missing people, just so she could prove her point that she hadn't lost as much as they thought, but they became more careful and their persistence was almost admirable.

As the girl kept babbling well past the point of making her fear known, she made a silent signal with her hand like a closing mouth for her to stop talking.

"You know those traits we receive as part of our races? I chose the red string of fate - you know, the one from Japanese mythos? - just out of curiosity. You know what it ties to?" She was looking at her hand, twisting it this way and that, slowly, as she spoke, before her eyes flicked up to meet Ava's once more, tracing the line from the red string on her finger that only she could see, "You."

"I'm not one to be mad at victims, Ava. I aim to help you. It is my belief that we are tied together for a reason, and I hate to see a pretty girl, so mistreated as you have apparently been, go to waste." Her voice remained flat, cool, with an edge to it that almost sounded menacing even as she offered her hand to someone who was drowning,

"So here's what's going to happen: you're going to tell me where you are. I'm going to have your caretakers punished appropriately, and you and all of your coworkers will be let go. All of you will be offered money to start new lives or given the opportunity to work for me in other ways. You, particularly, because of your luck in being on the other end of this string, here, will be offered a very comfortable position as my secretary, both in and out of game." Just as she finished, the food arrived and she gestured for all of it to be set down in front of her companion that she'd surely just overloaded with information.

Unable to help herself, she tore off a piece of the bread and dipped it in the stew, eating it as a nice snack, "And for the second time, call me Frankie."

 

[Ava Starlight]

Frankie gestured for Ava to fall silent, and the desperately pleading girl obeyed with a soft whimper, fearing what was to come next. She felt so weak... If she had to endure too many poor punishments, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to work. All she wanted was some food or a bit of warmth. Instead of alleviating the woman's terror, Frankie began to speak about things that Ava knew nothing about. Fearful confusion reflected in her eyes and the trembling frown on her face. Red string of fate? She'd never known anything of Japan outside of the tattered maps she sometimes scrounged from old encyclopedias. Frankie asked who her supposed red string was attached to and flinched when it pointed to Ava herself. "I don't understand..." the faerin said in a frightened voice.

Thankfully, Frankie reassured the poor escort before she had a heart attack from sheer anxiety. She wanted... to help? Ava leaned a little closer, her chest reaching the table in a gross demonstration of how much her avatar had been designed for nauseating sex appeal. Still, Ava didn't understand. Mistreated? How had she been mistreated? So much of what Frankie said just didn't make sense. Wasn't it natural for a girl to work for her food?

Frankie's proposition made Ava shrink away a little. Wasn't this the "doxxing" that her caretakers warned her about? Bad people might come to hurt her, or worse, her caretakers might find out and get so angry. She was naturally hesitant. This was all so overwhelming. Why did Frankie want to punish her caretakers? What did being a secretary mean? Was Frankie going to kidnap her? She looked more like a lost child than a highly trained escort as she tried to wrap her head around it all. With how indoctrinated she'd been from a young age, it was little wonder that Ava was so unable to comprehend the situation.

The food arrived, and Ava had a brief description. She'd never seen so much food at one time, and her eyes widened as she stared at it. Drool trickled down one corner of her mouth as she smelled it. When was the last time she'd had a hot meal or even one that wasn't stale or rotten in some way? Ava snatched up the meat pie and forgot her manners for a moment as she dug into it hungrily. "Uhhhnnn... It's so good..." she moaned happily. Even her exclamation of joy was disgustingly sexualized like it had come from a raunchy adult movie. It was sickening really how deep her "training went."

As she devoured the pie between unnecessarily sensual sighs and gasps, she glanced over at Frankie. "Mistress Frankie... I'll tell you where I am, but... why do you want to punish my caretakers? What's a secretary? Is the red string used for bondage games?" she asked in quick succession. A private message appeared in Frankie's chat with the name of a seedy club in Croatia. Ava glanced fearfully behind her as she wondered if one of her caretakers would be monitoring her chat. "I-I'm going to be punished if they find out about this," she murmured, gnawing at her lip.

 

[Francesca Amauri]

Ava's confusion was enough to frustrate Frankie more, but she kept it in check for the moment. No, she would take this all out on her captors. Her 'caretakers', as they had been called so far. She smirked as the girl ate her food like she was about to orgasm, finding delight in the fact that she was going to enjoy seeing her discover true joy and happiness after freeing her.

Once Ava gave the information she demanded, she shushed her and waved her hand somewhat dismissively, "Don't worry your pretty little head about that for now. I need to be away for a moment. Just enjoy your food." And with that, her avatar went still as she removed her headset and shook free her hair, eyes steeling over as she reached for her phone.

It wasn't long before she was dialing the number, waiting for the recipient to pick up.

"Johnny."
"It's Frankie."
"No shit? How's house arrest treatin' ya?"
"Fine. Listen, I need a problem taken care of that involves travel. I need you and Bolts to go pick up some cattle. Expedited."
"Straight to business as usual."
"We'll catch up another time. I'm busy."
"Send me the address and the usual amount and we'll take care of it."
Click

"Now..." She said to herself, dialing the next number. After it rang, she heard the first question and smirked as she replied,

"Who is this?"
"Has it been so long that you've forgotten me, Vincent?"
"Whaddya want, Frankie? I'm a busy man."
"I heard what you've been into and you know how I feel about it. When I heard you moved I should have known you would try."
"Hey! You're not the head anymore! You don't have reach here!"
"Tell that to Crow when he gets there, will you?"
"..."
"Here's what's going to happen, Vince: You're going to make it easy for my boys to do what I sent them to do. You're not going to do anything to the girls or I'll make sure you live to regret it. They're going to be let go and I'm going to give you a second chance, starting with a bare stable from scratch. If I find out you treat your new stable this way, you're done. Are we clear on that?"
"This is bullshit..."
"If we're not clear-"
"Yes! Jesus, we're clear!"
"You should be more grateful, don't you think?"
"Oh, fuck you!"
"Be careful, Vince, or your home will be up for sale by next week."
Click

Finally, she put the headset back on and addressed her impromptu date, "Had to make sure the plan was settled. You'll not be getting punished at all. Period. I know Matteo put him up to it, those brothers always worked that way, but he's getting lucky as far as he should be concerned." She took a drink of the ale she'd ordered and nearly grimaced at the taste, "As for what a secretary is, it's a fancy word for assistant. You'll handle any appointments, scheduling meetings, taking notes about things, that sort of thing. We'll dress you formally for the part, you'll love it!"

 

[Ava Starlight]

Ava clamped down on her words as Frankie shushed her once again. Her head bowed slightly as she nervously glanced at Frankie. She still feared some kind of punishment even if her mistress had been surprisingly kind so far. Feeding her without Ava's "work..." Speaking kindly to her... It all felt very strange to the confused and worried young woman. Frankie's avatar went still as she commanded Ava to enjoy her food. The horned girl glanced at Frankie, then at the food, and then back at Frankie once again. Without her customer to watch her, the girl ate without the theatrics, primly enjoying small bites despite how obviously hungry she was. Her training reached to the deepest parts of her being at this point. Still, her joy showed in the way her eyes glistened from getting so much good food.

After Ava had finished about half her meal, Frankie returned. The escort squeaked and swiftly wiped her eyes, licking some stew that had gotten onto her hand with a sensual groan. Frankie reassured her that she wouldn't be punished and a chill ran down Ava's spine as she mentioned one of the head caretakers by name. What... what had she been doing just now? It calmed her heart a bit to hear that there wouldn't be punishment, but still... Had she accidentally stumbled into the grip of an incredibly strong mistress?

Frankie explained what a secretary was, and Ava nodded, paying very close attention since this was supposedly going to be her life soon. She even showed a little bit of the "real self" that Frankie had been hoping for as she perched her hands between her legs and leaned on them a bit, the pose almost childish as she listened to Frankie in wonder. "Oh... Will that really be okay, mistress? I'm very empty-headed. I might make many mistakes. My caretakers often say I am too stupid to be a good woman for too long," she said as if it was a simple truth. Still, a bit of happiness, real happiness, gleamed in her eyes at the prospect of a life where she wouldn't be aching in her joints, between her legs, or trying to massage bruises from bindings out of her body at the end of every day. Would Frankie feed her too?

Then, Ava suddenly perked up, and her eyes went wide. She turned to look behind her at seemingly empty air. A stream of babble in a panicked foreign language escaped from the young woman as she raised her hands and waved them pleadingly. Suddenly, her avatar froze in that horrified posture, an ominous tableau of something that should not have been done. Time would pass, likely far too long from Frankie's perspective, as the minutes seemed to crawl by.

Frankie's phone rang after what seemed an eternity.

"It's Johnny. Job's done, but do you have some... investment here? Here, take a look."

The video function of the call turned on to show a seedy area in the depths of winter. Just outside the window was a wooden set up that looked sickeningly like a gallows. A young woman was out there in the elements, her hands held high above her head by chains. She dangled with her toes hanging off the ground, clearly putting stress on her shoulders and arms. Red stripes ran across her back, crusted with dried blood. The woman looked like she could be quite beautiful, especially with her naturally platinum blond hair, but the tattered white dress that had most of the back now torn away and her obviously emaciated state marred that. She looked like she barely had any muscle, and her ribs stuck out from her skin. Her head drooped weakly onto one shoulder, clearly too spent to do much more than shiver so hard that her chains rattled. An uncomfortably familiar face came from the young woman. "M-m-mistress... F-Frankie, I'm s-so sorry... P-p-please forgive me... H-help me... Frankie..." Ava whimpered, her voice grainy and weak through the phone speaker.

The video cut out and Johnny spoke again. "Must have been a screw up. I can just leave her, right? She's probably going to die anyway. And what do you want me to do with Vince and Matteo? They were spewing some crap about how you were giving them a second chance. Really didn't want you to see this girl for some reason."

 

[Francesca Amauri]

Frankie felt pleased with herself and laughed in her husky, icy tone, low and slow, as she returned to see Ava licking food from her fingers. The way she posed and perked up warmed Frankie's heart, knowing that there was plenty to be unearthed in the girl's behavior and personality. What had been surely beaten out of her would have to be coaxed back in. A challenge.

Frankie always liked a challenge.

When she perked up and began to panic, they drew somewhat of a scene from other patrons for a moment and Frankie's blood ran cold. Those dumb bastards really thought they were going to get away with it. She sat frozen for several minutes, watching the girl's avatar frozen in fear. Those minutes turned into hours later after she'd taken off her headset, hating her anxiety over a girl she'd just met. Still, what she said to the girl was true. The red string of fate meant something to her, and she aimed to make sure that she did her part in securing her a better future at her side.

Funny how life worked that way.

Finally, her phone rang and she snatched it up immediately, answering the familiar number.

"Talk to me."
"It's Johnny. Job's done, but do you have some... investment here? Here, take a look."

The sight shocked her but she didn't let it show, simply clenching her jaw and shaking her head as the girl pleaded,

"M-m-mistress... F-Frankie, I'm s-so sorry... P-p-please forgive me... H-help me... Frankie..."

"Must have been a screw up. I can just leave her, right? She's probably going to die anyway. And what do you want me to do with Vince and Matteo? They were spewing some crap about how you were giving them a second chance. Really didn't want you to see this girl for some reason."
"No. She's part of the family now. I need you to get her here."
"What? Frankie, that's not something I take care of."
"I'll triple your fee, just make sure she lives and get her on a plane here. I'll take care of her from there."
"..." Johnny looked contemplative and then looked at his partner, Crow, who approached and spoke in response. She was a small woman, but deadly in an unassuming way. One of the things she really liked about her.
"We'll do it for double if she means that much to ya. What about the dickless fuckers that did this to her?"
"Make an example of them both. Make sure the others that are captive there witness it so word gets out."
"Our pleasure. Let's do lunch soon, 'kay?"
"Expedite her delivery and come visit when you drop her off and I'll make you dinner."
"Oh hell yea, come on babe, we gotta get movin'. See you soon, Frankie."
Click

Being the good wife that she was, her dinners had become famous in the family just like her mothers own dinners had been. Fortunately, family recipes made it easy, and growing up in kitchens made it even easier. If Ava thought that food she'd eaten at the tavern was good, she'd practically orgasm with Frankie's cooking.

With the phone call concluded, she felt better, knowing that things were going to turn around for Ava and they would soon be playing Terrasphere together with a new goal in mind: protecting the vulnerable from the strong and corrupt.