Chapter Fifty-Four - Stripping

Chapter Fifty-Four - Stripping "Strip," Jane said. I stared at her, then crossed my arms. "No," I replied. Jane pouted. It didn't do much. "C'mon, this is a fitting. You won't be fitting into this one without taking a few layers off... all layers off." I was in the back of Jane's shop at fuck-off o'clock in the morning. It was Saturday the... 21st I think. Now, I was supposed to start my week-long 'Operation Do Nothing' today. That would be the sensible thing to do. Gather a week's worth of intel while wearing PJs and eating pizza and maybe occasionally get some practice in for this or that. But I knew myself. I wouldn't be able to endure a week of wondering about the event at the restaurant tonight. So, I had to get it over with. Plus, there was another advantage to getting it over with. I'd be able to better predict the week's events with Miss Ojou from a Save done after the meeting. It wouldn't provide a point of comparison though... Urgh. No. I wasn't going to lose a week of my time just to stalk the woman. It wasn't worth it. Sighing, I started to undress for Jane. There might have been some nice sexual tension in that if I wasn't so pent up with stress instead of something more fun. I kept my panties on, even when Jane pouted extra hard. "Hurry up," I said. "There's no hurrying perfection!" Jane said. "And girl, them tiddies are per--" "Jane," I said, warning her off. "Fiiiine!" she said before moving to a wheeled rack in the corner. "This, my dearest Beanstalk, is your garment for the evening. A Jane original... ish. I stole design elements from like, seven others." I couldn't help but smile a little. "Okay, first, put this on." Jane handed me a... sock? A single fishnet thigh-high sock, with a band near the top. "You lost one," I said. "Nah. We're going for asymmetry here. Remember, in fashion and looks, symmetry is king." She looked me right in the eye. "But style is queen. Put on the fishnet." I did so... over my sock. I didn't mind fishnets so much--I loved squish. Squish was proof that there was good in the world--but they were real annoying when it came to hooking onto things. Almost like that's what nets were meant to do. When I stood back up, Jane was handing me a dress on a hanger. It was made of a dark, leathery material. Long, with narrow straps over the shoulders and a deep V-neck. There was a slit open along one side, exposing the left leg up to the upper thigh. I discovered a zipper on the back and slid it down, then squeezed into it. It required some help from Jane, tugging it up past my hips, but once It was on and zipped up at the back the dress wasn't too uncomfortable. It was tight enough around the waist that it was a little restrictive, but then Jane pulled up a full-length mirror. Yeah, okay, she had something going on. The dress was tight-tight around the middle. It was a damned good thing I'd been working out so much because the middle was basically like a corset. "Going to suck if I have to fight in this," I said. "It's this cool faux-suede material," Jane said. "It's stretchy!" I tugged at the skirt a little, and yeah, there was some give. "Is this the whole thing?" I asked. It was nice. The skirt fell to just a few inches from my ankle, and other than the cleavage and exposed shoulder, and the slit along the leg, it wasn't nearly as showy as what I expected from Jane. "Nope! Put these on." Jane tossed me a pair of tight leather gloves. The fingers were cut out and resewn. Nice. I tugged them on, then looked up as Jane approached with a coat. It was... not much of a coat, actually. Shoulders and a large hood, and arms, but not much else. The back of it would barely cover me down to the bottom of my shoulder blades and the 'front' was just a strap to hold it in place. "Is that armoured?" I asked. Jane snorted. "Yeah. Shoulder armour." "Yeah?" Jane stared at me. "Pauldrons are hot, but they're useless. I mean, no, they look good, so that's important, but that's all they do." I poked at the pauldrons. They were made of two bits of metal, painted a flat black. They seemed pretty solid. "This could stop a blow," I said. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from novelhall. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "Beanstalk... if I shot you in the shoulder, would you live?" "Yes?" "Then you don't need your shoulders armoured." What kind of logic was that? "Got these off some corp's oversupply. No one wears them because they're too clunky and like... why wear armour over your shoulders? Literally anywhere else would be a better place for the weight. But it does look good!" I shrugged the coat on. It had clasps around the wrists and a buckle at the front to keep the arms together. The shoulder armour sat a little loose until Jane came in and adjusted something at the back. Jane handed me my mask, and I slid it on, then I tugged up the hood and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked... good. One part someone about to attend a nice evening, one part someone about to do some casual terrorism. All parts kinda hot. "Damn," I said. "I know," Jane said. Her reflection looked way too proud of herself. "You'll have to do some squats or something though. You've got the potential for a nice ass and yet this things flat as fuck." I sighed. "Thanks, Jane. Here I was just thinking that I was looking pretty good. Wouldn't want that without a nice dose of dysmorphia." "Oh, come off it, you're like a seven without my fashion and an easy eight with it." I rolled my eyes, making sure that Jane saw it. "Thanks Jane, you really know how to butter a girl up." "Mhm! Now get that mask off. We're doing some makeup." That wasn't a terrible idea. I sat down at a small station that Jane had in her 'room' area and she helped with my lashes, dabbed some foundation on to mask any imperfections on my skin, then went crazy with the eyeliner and shadow. "Your skin's nice," Jane said. "I moisturize," I said. "And... got a pretty hefty dose of healing magic. Plus D-rank stuff." "I need to spend time near one of those portals," Jane said. "Shit's expensive though." "Hmm, no, we wouldn't want that from you. You're a menace enough as it is," I said. "I can't imagine you with magic on top of it all." Jane grinned at me. Her face was very close. "Yeah, but I'd be so much more badass if I could fling fireballs around." "You're not nearly angry enough for that," I said. Jane blinked. "Angry?" Ah, right... I sat up, pressed a kiss against Jane's cheek which had her jumping back, then I stood and adjusted the coat. "I think I'll be off, then. Thanks, Jane." Jane touched her cheek and... was she flushed? Oh, I needed to get augs with a camera to get pics of that. "You're welcome, Beanstalk. You owe me for this one, though!" "You owe me for that gig yesterday," I pointed out. "Uh-huh, and you were supposed to take pictures and didn't." I winced. I'd... forgotten. "Next time. I'm aiming to buy some better cyberware that might help with that." "Sure, sure. Good luck. Lemme know how it goes. Oh, boots are by the door. You'd look better in pumps but I can't imagine fighting in those." I headed out, taking a back-route out of Jane's shop. I had strapped my revolver to my exposed thigh and had my sword, in a new belt, hanging off my right hip. I got looks as I walked by. People backed up, which was... interesting. Usually people just ignored me, or at most checked me out. Now I was seen as dangerous, I think. I moved past an intersection where two cops were hanging out, leaning against their car. They stood up straighter, one of them reached down to touch his gun. I met his eye and stared until the light turned and I was able to cross. Yeah, Jane really nailed this look. Now, to see if it would work on Miss Ojou and that fancy restaurant of hers. Le Sémaphore was smack in the middle of City Centre. I wasn't going to ride a cheap gig-taxi there. It stung, but I called a more discreet taxi service, asked them if they accepted payments in cash, and then told them where to pick me up. I set my Save ten minutes later, on the car ride over. It was three hours to the meeting, which was just about an eternity to figure it all out. *** Art of MC in her nice dress by Yodogama below!