Garniture la Jardiniere

After being physically dragged to the docks and practically thrown into a gondola, Caleb was no clearer on where they were going or the specifics of Eliza’s transformation. The Master collected himself in the boat long enough to ask, “So, this sabotage, it changed…” He looked her up and down, once again taking in the details of the outwardly aggressive outfit Eliza was wearing, “Your sense of style?”

The professor glanced over at him shortly before busting out laughing, “You think I need a sabotage to change how I dress? Jeeze, how pathetic do you think I am?” A bitter smirk crossed her features, “Nah, babe, it’s a bit more than that. I’m sure you can use that big brain of yours and muster an answer.”

“Babe?” Caleb managed to get out, but seeing Eliza’s eyes focus on him like a cat looks at a mouse, he rapidly refocused. “I-ur.” Normally, being around the professor was one of the most calming things. She had an openness to her that put you at ease, made you feel like no one was judging you. Now? There was a **** of intensity to her gaze, and while she wore a toothy grin, it was hard to guess what was going on behind her eyes. He tightened his grip on his umbrella, “Some sort of personality adjustment? You’re not acting like... I mean…” he froze, seeing her eyes narrow, “I’ve never seen you behave this way.”

The Blonde leaned in and put her hands on Caleb’s legs. “No, I guess you haven’t…normally. I'm all upstairs, you know?” She bit her lip, and her fingers trailed up Caleb’s thighs. “Spend so much time thinking I don’t do much doing.” Her hands were on the edge now, gripping the Master’s inner thigh and eliciting a sharp gasp from his mouth. The smell from her was a heady mixture of tobacco and something like cedar, “Always too afraid to pause and ask ‘what do I want?’ and then take it.” She punctuated the words by squeezing his thigh and then pulling away.

Caleb’s face was a bright cherry red, and seeing this, Eliza grinned and laughed again, “Oh come on, Caleb, don’t take this so seriously, I’m not.” The blonde leaned in and bat her eyelashes up at Caleb as she began to trace the outline of her curves, “All this?” Her hands roamed over her chest and she stuck it forward, emphasizing how the fabric was straining against the size of her bust, “It’s all me, baby. Just a part of me, I normally don’t have the balls to bring out to play.”

Going to speak, Caleb found a lump in his throat as blood was struggling to decide what route it wanted to take and ended up coughing instead. Smirking knowingly, Eliza gave him a sharp clap on the back as the gondola found purchase. “Like I said, babe, don’t fret about it too much.” The blonde leaned in her hand, clutching the front of his shirt as her lips grazed his ear, “Just focus on having fun and know that no matter what happens today…” She leaned back so her face was in front of his, lips centimeters away as she slowly formed the words, “You and I will not be fucking today.”

With that said, and a playful smirk on her lips, she turned and stepped off the boat, leaving Caleb breathless, unsure of when exactly he had stopped breathing. It took him a few seconds to restart his brain and recognize he should be following after her. As he stepped off the boat and got his bearings, he finally noticed they were on the restaurant island, probably one of the places he was personally least familiar with.

As he gazed round, Eliza tapped her foot impatiently, “Hey, Master, come on, we’re burning daylight!”

“Sorry!” Caleb replied almost instinctually, half jogging to catch up with the professor. As he came in line, she wrapped her arm around him and put him in a playful headlock as she walked, forcing him to throw his arm out to avoid hitting her with the open umbrella. From his hunched-over position, he turned his eyes up to the professor, “So, where exactly are we going?”

Letting Caleb right himself, Eliza bumped hips with him, “Figured we could both use a chance to take a load off, no thoughts, just some easy times,” She gave him a wink, “Know what I mean?”

“I uh,” the words from earlier in the boat came to his mind, “You and I will not be fucking today”, he shook his head, “I think I might need another hint?”

The blonde rolled her eyes as they ducked into a dark alleyway, and Caleb was surprised to find, hidden in what just appeared to be a gap between buildings was a small neon sign glowing pink that read “The Little Butterfly” and steps leading down towards a pair of dark maroon doors. Following Eliza as she walked down the steps and opened the door and Caleb was assaulted with low lights, a haze of old tobacco, and a smell intermixed between urine, smoke, and the lemon-lime of cleaning solution fighting for its life.

Caleb looked around and saw deflated booths, rickety wooden tables and chairs, a pool table, a love tester, and a dart board, along with a long wooden bar with spirits lined up behind it. Behind the bar was a fairly well-muscled female faun, with two sleeve tattoos, wearing a bartender's uniform that was partially unbuttoned and a pair of red pince-nez glasses. The master’s eyes roamed over the place and raised an eyebrow, “You brought me to a bar for our date?”

Eliza snickered, walking over to the bar counter, “No, no, no...” she hammered her fist twice on the wooden surface, and the faun slid her a beer that she uncapped using the edge of the bar, sending the cap flying. “I brought you to a dive. Much better than a bar. No need to keep up appearances or worry about breaking anything; you could get into a fight or just play pool. Sure, the beer might taste like piss,” She began to chug the contents of the bottle, liquid dribbling down her chin and onto her chest before she emptied its contents with a hearty “Haaah!” and then threw the bottle to the ground, causing it to shatter, the glass disappearing from the floor. “But there’s plenty of it and it’s cheap.”

Caleb had winced and dodged backward as she threw down the bottle, “Who were you planning on fighting?”

“Hmm? Well, I guess here there’s no one to fight, but back in reality…” She walked over and grabbed a pool cue, “Had one of these snapped over my back in my twenties because my game of pool with this dude ran long and his girlfriend insisted I was flirting with him.” She smirked, “Hurt like hell, but I wasn’t the one who left with a broken nose.”

It took a second for Caleb to absorb what she said, ignoring that it was strange to hear someone who looked like she did reminisce about her twenties. What she had just said ran so counter to the image of the gentle woman he had always known, “That’s…the transformation talking right? You’re pulling my leg or roleplaying, right?”

Seeing his surprise, the professor held her cue out as she cocked her hip, “Nope, like I told ya, babe, this is all me. I wasn’t always some fuddy-duddy professor.”

“You…you always talked about the ethics of ****, you made it clear you hated fighting!” Caleb felt so out of his depth right now.

“Yeah? I also took a vow to love one guy until the day we both died. That worked out great. Plus, the bitch had it coming.” Seeing Caleb’s distress, the blonde laughed, “Do you think I came out of the womb one person and stayed that way for fifty goddamn years?”

“I mean…when you put it that way…” Caleb still felt shaken by this new information Eliza was providing, but he recognized, of course, there were going to be parts of her he didn’t know. He had known her for three years in college at one point in her life. There were so many unaccounted for.

Eliza grabbed another pool cue and tossed it to Caleb, who was shaken from his thoughts as his hand snatched it from the air. The blonde cocked her head to the table, “Play a game with me, and get us both some beers.” She began to set up the table, leaving Caleb to walk to the table and ask the faun for two beers.

Handing the beer over to Eliza, she took a sip, “You know how to play eight ball?”

“I know the basics, I also know there are more complex rules for official play,” Caleb said as he opened his beer.

Eliza made a raspberry sound, “Does this look like a tournament hall to you? I’ll break.” Positioning herself low to the table, with a sharp crack, Eliza hit the cue ball, sending the bunched balls scattering and sending the 2-ball into the left side pocket, “Looks like I’m solids.” She walked around to where the cue ball was, lightly tapping Caleb’s butt with her hand on her way past.

They exchanged shots for a while before, on one of Caleb’s turn’s Eliza came behind him, her breasts pushing against his back as she whispered into his ear, “Looks like you do know what you’re doing after all.” She purred, causing Caleb’s shot to jump. “Oof, looks like a foul, sorry, babe.”

Able to collect himself enough, the master muttered, “That’s playing dirty.”

“Oh?” The blonde bat her eyelashes at him, “Can’t handle a little distraction?” Caleb went to move, but found Eliza’s hands on either side of him as he turned around. She was leaning in close, “Hey, Caleb, you know why else dives are better than bars?”

Inside, Caleb's circulatory system was drafting a list of complaints of unfair practices and demands as he struggled to keep his mind going, “I…uh…no, sorry.”

“It’s that you can make out with a stranger, and no one is gonna bat an eye at it.” With that, she reached her right hand up to tangle in his hair, and once again, Caleb found himself swimming in a haze of sweet smoke as Eliza moved to devour him.

As Caleb’s cue fell to the ground as his hands clutched the table for support, and Eliza’s words from earlier swam through his mind again. “You and I will not be fucking today,” He tried to remind himself of that, but couldn’t help but roll his hips against Eliza as she pushed her body against his, and his brain became fixated on those words.

Across the very same island, Mira sat in the cafe by herself. She had made her way there after the commotion at breakfast, hoping to find time to herself, to breathe and decompress, and to use the sabotage on Eliza. Everything from here on out wasn’t up to her; it would be up to her roommate to do the rest. Her breathing was steady, but there was sharp pain in her chest. She was anxious, incredibly so, and while she knew the reason behind it, she kept pushing it back. It was unimportant right now.

She reached into her bag and felt the Eliza Mask there. She was too far away now to feel her thoughts, but touching it relieved the worst of the sensation. Since she had bought it, she had been using it almost constantly. It’s how she knew the depths of Eliza’s depression, that only something shocking and abrupt might be enough to shake her out of it. How she knew Eliza’s mind was foggy enough to be receptive to her ministrations. How….she closed her eyes and pulled her hand away, how she knew how much the woman hated her right now.

That morning, any time Eliza had looked at her, it had been met with revulsion and distaste; the affection, whatever had been there, was gone. It had to be worth it. She would get the VP she needed now and make it through the round, the game. It had to be worth it. If Eliza was able to avoid the worst…Mira tried to convince herself she could be happy with that. Even as the pit in her stomach grew.

She took a sip of coffee, trying to distract herself from the gaping hole in her gut. There was still more to figure out. The week wasn’t over, and both Lily and Stella were lagging behind. The agent was less concerned with the imp, despite her actions last week; Stella had made headway with the master and the rest of the harem. The fact that she was sexually adventurous also weighed in her favor. That just left Lily.

The plant girl’s date was coming up, and Mira couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t get in her own way. She understood that she had her own baggage with Caleb, but now was not the time to be sensitive to that. Maybe she should drop by the sabotage shop, something that might simplify her thinking, increase her libido, or maybe just make her more impulsive might do the trick. There were loads of options available, she was sure that if she went, she could-

“Hello.” The Bengali woman’s thoughts were interrupted by a bright, chipper voice next to her. She lifted her head and saw Noemi standing there, arms behind her back, legs together, and looking over at her. In all her planning, she hadn’t even heard the bell of the shop indicating the Chilean woman’s arrival.

Still, there was limited time, so she cleared her throat and said, “Good afternoon, Noemi. Is there something you needed? I was just about to leave, so you can have the table if you want.”

“Yeah, actually, I needed to talk to you about something.” Noemi had a smile on her face, but as Mira gauged her expression saw it didn’t reach her eyes, “I wanted to know what happened between you and Eliza.”

Mira was caught off guard but kept her expression even, “I’m sorry?”

Noemi’s expression shifted, and she sighed, “You know, Eliza was my roommate last round. And I was in a really bad spot. She didn’t know me, but she also didn’t hesitate to try and help me out. So she’s really important to me. Everyone here is, we’re practically family!” She gave a grin, but then it rapidly soured.

Swallowing, Mira unconsciously pushed her chair slightly away. There was something unsettling about the cadence that which Noemi was speaking. “Well, I agree, everyone here is important to me too.”

“I’m glad! But that’s why I need to know what you did.” Noemi’s one arm relaxed behind her back while the other swung on a tilt, and there was the sound of something hard dragging along the ground, and Mira saw in her hand a metal bat.

The agent felt a cold sweat breaking out on the back of her neck, “Noemi, I can assure you that whatever-”

Noemi cut her off, “I had an uncle, he’s in jail now. The reason is that we noticed whenever we talked about him, his son would flinch. Just a little, it wasn’t always obvious. We found out that my uncle would get drunk and hit him. And…” Noemi’s expression became complicated as she bit her lip, “And I also see it when Caleb hears my name. Less now than at the start, but still…every time” Her hand’s grip tightens on the bat handle, “So I need to know. Why does Eliza flinch at hearing your name?”

Mira held up her hand, creating a barrier between her and the other woman, “There’s no need to do anything drastic. I’m only trying to help.”

“But you won’t say what you did, so you must know it was wrong to do.” Noemi pushed, and Mira shrank back.

Mira steadied herself along the wall, “Noemi, you won’t hurt me. Like you said, we’re family, and you know Caleb wouldn’t want you to be punished for breaking the rules.”

Noemi nodded, “You’re right.” And Mira let out a sigh of relief before being sent tumbling to the ground as Noemi swung the bat directly into the table in front of her, sending it crashing into the wall and causing Mira to be sent back and rolling.

“You might not say what you did, but you did something to hurt Eliza.” Noemi stepped over Mira’s body on the ground, dragging the bat, “I want everyone to be happy, I want Caleb to be happy, and for everyone to do their best to make that happen. Because we are all family.”

A shadow took over her features as she stared down at Mira, “But anyone who hurts family, regardless of it they’re family too? Is going to be punished.” The agent stared up and saw the mix of disdain and determination in Noemi’s eyes. The same look of fervent devoted **** one might see in a cult member.

Noemi swung the bat onto her shoulder, “I just wanted to make that clear. Maybe I’m wrong, I hope I am. I think of you as a little sister, and I think you could make Caleb really happy.” Noemi frowned, “But if I see any more of this, I am not going to ignore threats to the family.” The Chilean woman took a step away and began to walk to the door, “Just wanted to make that clear.

As she exited the door, Mira was left on the ground shaking, staring at where she had been. She shakily got to her feet and brushed herself off, and then knelt down to grab her bag. Opening it, she saw the Eliza mask still safe and sound despite the tumble. Mira looked into the hollow eyes of the unmistakable features of the professor and, for the first time, allowed herself to ask, “Was it worth it?”

She knew the answer and reached up to wipe away the tears forming in her eyes as the faun workers set to cleaning things up.