Empty Places and Red Faces

A couple of days passed by with nothing more than the usual singing sessions at the pub’s stage and the eventual guerrilla show.

It wasn't as if Amy’s schedule ever had much on it, but this time she was impatient.

And with this impatience eating on her, the day finally arrived.

It was a mystery if she just woke up early or if she didn't even sleep, but when Hazel woke up, there was already a pink girl waiting for him.

Her usual clothes were perfect as usual and her mannerism was full of impatience, but she was already there at the counter.

And, at the counter she waited on, after some hours of sitting down, El Democrat's bell finally rang.

Not waiting for anything more, Amy rushed to the door as fast as she could and opened it for the officer trying to stay as far as possible from the balcony's corners.

“Hello, officer!” Greeted the pink-colored girl almost jumping through the door. “What can I help you with today?”

“I’m off-duty today, so you can drop the officer.”

Her question was shrugged off by the composed woman wearing a blue plaid dress and a high crowned hat of the same color as she wasn't an officer right now.

"Lily it is then!"

The smiling answer made Lilianna show some annoyance, but she shook it off right away and changed subjects.

“By the way, I’m expecting you to cause as much chaos as possible today, got it? Singing those weird songs of yours and running around with this half dress should be enough to send one or two geezers directly to a cryo-chamber.” She continued while opening a small evil-looking smile.

“You are an evil person when you are off-duty, Lily…”

Giving shoulders to the self-proclaimed idol who finally made way, the dark-haired officer entered the pub.

It wasn't that obvious, but Amy knew how hurried to do so she was.

As she entered, the only figures in sight were the cleaner drones moving around and the resident barman, as would be expected.

Hazel stopped right away to greet her though and the black-haired woman did the same.

“Morning, officer.”

“ Good morning, Hazel. I’m off-duty today though…”

“We had this talk already! I have a show to do, so moving on.” Amy said so as if to interrupt the repetition of the earlier exchange.

As if to avoid more loss of time, even if they were early still, Amy also started to push her one-head taller companion right away.

She was sure to ignore every single word being sent to her as she did so too.

“Wait! Stop it, Amy." Lilianna was complaining while trying to put some resistance, but she was being easily overpowered.

It wasn't something to be proud of, but as a cop, Lily's body had a good deal of modifications.

She was, in some ways, below average for a worker in her area, which meant a higher lawful percentage of prosthetics, but there was a lot of machinery in her.

More than a civilian could ever have, in fact.

Many modifications meant a good deal of more resistant and dense materials woven into the biological body, and that had a cost.

To be blunter, she was, in some metrics, very very heavy.

And even so, it seemed as if Amy could simply get her up and carry her away if she wanted to.

"Where the hell do you get this strength?!”

"You are light, do not worry. I lack the time to let you lose it with Boss though... We are going now."

“Don’t be rude, little lady.” Said the muscular pub owner while he watched the scene from his workbench.

“Stop her, Hazel!”

“Don’t faint inside those things, ok? Eating inside VR is as good as nothing and I’m still to see you having breakfast...” He continues without giving much heed to Lily's calls.

“That’s not the point here!” Shouted the off-duty officer a last time before being forced inside the backroom.

Hurried as one could be, and ignoring the complaints and warning she was receiving, Amy and Lily soon arrived at the girl's room.

It was a simple door deep into the backroom facilities, but it was still what Amy called home.

Her home had very little inside of it though.

The room had plainly colored walls, a simple white bed, a writing table with an abnormal number of drawers, and a few cardboard boxes stacked on the side.

It also had two big VR machines haphazardly set in the middle of it, but that was all.

It was quite spacious for a single person and it was a suite too, but it felt somewhat empty.

“Here we are! Get in and send me that invite.” Said the room’s owner at their arrival as if nothing had happened at all only to receive a deflated answer from the slightly annoyed woman by her side.

“C’mon, can’t you be a little less hurried… I almost never get the chance to have a decent talk with someone, you know?”

As the detective was saying so, she also became weirdly aware of how empty this room was.

More than that, she also found very strange how lacking in colorfulness was this place when compared to its owner.

All these details were very suspicious to Lilianna, but most of what Amy did had the same effect on her.

It was hard to ask her anything, especially when the overly simple bedroom somehow had two of the most advanced VR devices on the market.

Getting her hands on one of those would need asking for a favor from her few relatives or from someone related to them, so she was somewhat at Amy's mercy here.

Probing too much in this situation would be weird, so she decided to focus on her depressive social life instead.

“You can have all the time of the world to talk with Boss later, but each second we lose here is one less second I get new fans, you see?”

“Do you understand you’re going to enter by a favor, right? I’m even starting to ask myself if it’s a good idea…”]

The whole dynamic was somewhat weird with the person wanting to join being the unrelated one and with the invitee seeing ready to leave right away.

A weird dynamic wouldn’t stop Amy though.

“What about this then...” The pink idol said as if ready to make her the best offer in the world. “We get in, I do my presentation, and then… I also help you with getting a nice rich fiancee as part of the package.”

Instead of the happy response she was waiting for though, all she got was a dry laugh and an even drier answer.

“Ha! You know I should know every single person attending this thing, right? And I’m pretty sure they don’t like me very much, especially the ones who tried to aim for me…”

“Well, you are a straight-up cop being invited into the family party of an anti-government faction cooperate leader. They should like you a lot actually or you would never be able to join.”

“I think it’s more of something… Wait! What did you just say?”

Lily had only noticed what exactly was said partway through her answer but her surprise became obvious when Amy’s words clicked. The idol's response skimmed away from the answer though.

“I said that they should already like you since you got an invite, you see? And with your looks and my skills, you can probably hook whoever you want.”

It was hard to guess if Amy hadn’t noticed the problem or if she was just deflecting the question as her voice and movements hinted at a genuine answer.

It was even more so when what she continued with only seemed to be her usual random tangents.

“Actually, it will not do much if you target someone who is into guys with this strategy, so not everyone, I guess. Well, if you really want to… I should be able to manage actually.” finished the proudly chest-puffed girl.

“You’re just changing subjects now, aren’t you?”

“Am I?” Plainly answered the frilly girl. “I am just worried as a friend, you see? Such a good-looking lady should not stay single after her…”

“Don’t say anything more or I’m leaving!”

There was a sudden surge in energy in the officer’s voice as she glared down at the talking idol.

“Sensitive subject? Sorry...” She apologized as this one was her fault and hers alone.

Amy’s expression seemed to be genuine enough and the hand scratching the back of her head only emphasized this much, but it lasted little.

She soon went back to normal and returned to her earlier subject though.

“I can still help you bewitch a few men if you want to, you see? Maybe even change their preferences and all. I assure you your assets can manage this much with my support.”

“Just for reference, what exactly would you do if I actually asked you to link me with someone who likes guys?”

“Trade secret.” Were the words that abruptly answered the question confusing the female officer only to be followed by an answer that helped nothing. “I would let you choose between focusing on yourself or on the guy though.”

“I’m not sure if it’s scary or just weird…”

This last phrase came just as Amy finished the connection of the devices and turned away with a somewhat troubled expression covering her face.

“It is usually better to not think about it and I do not find acting on it as something good, but if it is a request...”

“Maybe it’s for the best that we drop this subject… And we should dive already too.”

“Roger that!”

With a signal given and an energetic response from Amy, they both took their seats. “Wait!”

As the devices started to glow in preparation for boot, the process had to be halted though as Lily called for a stop.

“Huh? What is the problem?” Asked Amy while getting up from her seat with a mix of confusion and a small tint of worry in her eyes.

But the fidgety woman looking to nowhere that had called her soon dismissed these worried.

“Did something…?”

“Not too connected with the business, slightly tanned, muscular, not bald, and, this one is optional but would be good, a decently refined guy, ok?”

All these words came without the officer even stopping to breathe and she just plopped herself back to her chair when she was done.

It all left Amy confused for a moment, but her face was soon covered by the smuggest of all smiles as she got it.

“Heheheh... Roget that, Lily!”

She also took her seat after that and the process on both machines resumed.

It took a little longer since these machines had a slower and less invasive method, but in due time, they both were in their lobbies.