Two hours later, outside a small chinese restaurant.

John and Cynthia smiled at each other, holding hands as they waved goodbye to the nice lady running the restaurant they had eaten dinner at. The sky was turning a bit darker, evening setting in as they strolled through town.

“So, where do you want to go next? Moonlight walk? Go home and watch some tv on the couch? Hope this time my mom won’t walk in?” he asked with a grin.

“Nah, I am taking you out of your comfort zone, we are heading into town! We, you and I, are going clubbing! Time to introduce you to some of the perks of living in the Springfield Abyss!”

John’s face soured as he leaned into her ear. “Ehm, babe, I don’t dance; I am like Sheppard, if I dance, people, or fish, die.”

Cynthia scrunched her nose, poking him in the chest. “Don’t care, you, me, club! We are going to have a drink, have fun, and when I say we are done, my love, you are going to level up that fucking skill of yours.”

John, grinning at the prospect of more sex with his girlfriend, nodded. He licked her earlobe which caused her to shudder. ”Then lead the way,” he teased her.

Cynthia did just that, starting to lead him into the city center. “I’m taking you to a club called the Seven Circles; it’s a front for a rather, tacky? Not the right word, ehm, over the top kind of place called the Inferno. The Seven Circles is more of a low key, fun bar to hang out at. And due to the fact that, unlike its Abyssal counterpart, it doesn’t charge you for entry, some of the Abyssal youth of the town like hanging out there on the weekends.”

John nodded as they walked through what looked to be a rather adult part of town; apparently the Seven Circles was located in the red light district. A place that John, till today, had never been to. Not that he wasn’t curious about the place, but, being the low confidence guy he was, he had seen no valid reason to humiliate himself by going there.

Cynthia happily tugged his hand when they finally reached the club. Cyn waved at the bouncer who with a small smile waved back and let them in. The gorilla of a man seemed friendly enough, even though his head was bald as a billiard ball.

When they walked into the club, quite a few people were already there; some were dancing. A large, ginger haired man was setting up some instruments on stage, taking extra good care of the drums. A girl in tights, a short but not overly so, black skirt and a near translucent white shirt with what looked to be a sports bra shimmering through it was helping him. When she looked up and saw Cynthia, however, she patted the big man on his back and jumped off the stage. She made a beeline to them and walked straight into Cynthia’s open arms. “Cyn! Finally left your camp, huh? Took you long enough!”

John was amused by her forwardness, taking a step back when her sneakers almost crushed his feet as she and Cynthia embraced, spinning in place in glee.

“Yeah, I decided to go and have fun tonight, take the new boytoy out for a night on the town, you know?” Cynthia responded with a wink, breaking the hug and placing her hand on John’s shoulder. “Jenny, meet John, my boyfriend. John, meet Jenny, the best bassist this side of the world, party girl, and virgin killer.” Cynthia grinned as she added that last word.

Jenny gave him a mock scowl as she looked him up and down with interest. “Hmmm, too bad, seems this one got to you first, if Cyn thinks you are interesting enough… If you want a change of pace, call me,” the rocker girl flirted with John openly in front of his girlfriend, slipping a small piece of paper into his jeans’ pocket, fingers brushing awfully close to his junk, only for Cyn to wrap her arm tightly around John.

“Don’t even think about it. I am cool with a lot of girls, but if Jenny gets her legs around you… I doubt I’d get you back.”

Jenny stuck her tongue out at Cynthia, after which she winked at John. “Not like you wouldn’t enjoy it… But I won’t bother you guys too much,” the bassist flirted and promised.

John was a bit confused but introduced himself politely; he learned that Jenny would be performing on stage later and that she had been helping the band’s drummer, Keith, out with some prep work when they came in.

“Well, I won’t keep you two lovebirds occupied anymore, have fun, enjoy the show, and you know, call me,” she blew John a kiss and flipped her hair over her shoulder, then walked back to the stage, her long strides showing off her legs very well, something neither John or Cynthia failed to notice.

John nudged Cynthia’s side when he realized she was staring. “You are drooling, babe,” he quipped, causing her to shrug.

“She puts the goods on display, it’s up to me to enjoy them, right?”

They walked a bit further into the club, past the dancefloor, when a tall, busty blonde bumped into Cynthia on purpose; Cynthia was about to make a snarky remark when she locked eyes with the one that had bumped into her. Her scowl turned into a grin when the blonde winked at her. “Hey there, hunter, come here often?”

Cynthia giggled girlishly as she shook her head. “Not as often as I would, it’s like Valhalla around here, with you around at least.” To which the large blonde laughed too.

“John, meet Brunnhild, or, as everyone calls her, Brun. She’s a valkyrie, you know, basically a Norwegian angel,” Cyn explained quickly, while John shook the tall buxom blonde’s hand. John had a hard time keeping his eyes off her, she was just that beautiful. A small pop-up showed that Hemet seemed to agree with him.

Hail Brun!

The nordic beauty was wearing a rather revealing outfit: a black shirt cut off just below her breasts, a latex glove covering her right hand and a bunch of bands in tattoo form covering her left arm. Some mismatched boots, one coming up to her knee, the other going all the way up to her thigh and a tight fitting set of pants completed the look. All in all, she showed a lot of skin, which caused John to have a bit of a problem in his pants.

“Well. Um, hi? John Newman, recent addition to the Hunters, game nerd and Cynthia’s... boyfriend,” he introduced himself after swallowing a few times.

“Nice meeting you, it was about time someone made our little huntress happy,” Brun said with a wide smile, taking a sip from the drink in her hand as she turned her attention to Cynthia. “What’s all this I keep hearing about you guys being targeted by merc’s though? The rumors make things sound pretty bad, do you need our help? You know that we never forget our friends.” Brun’s eyes turned serious for a bit, something akin to bloodlust shimmering in her eyes. “Just give us one of those pets of yours and we call it even, deal?” she added with a little wink.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think we will be fine, for now at least. If we need your clan’s help, we will call upon you, like you can always call upon us if you need a hand, or you know… need something else.” Cynthia winked playfully at Brun while John laughed a bit sheepishly.

“Awesome, done deal. I have some friends to get to, but if you are going to the dancefloor, I saw Rave there, might be nice of you to say hi,” Brun said giving a nod to John before she walked over to a group of other blondes, who seemed very familiar with each other.

“The Gjoskenholm clan has been a long time ally of us here in town, who also thinks the Order can be a bit… narrow minded, now and then. They are a fun bunch, about as open as we are. Her grandma has the best stories about the Nordic Abyss. If we hadn't found you, I would have not put it past them to help you set your first steps in the Abyss. Remember, Gjoskenholm, good,” Cyn explained to John who nodded, getting quite the good impression of the tall blonde already.

“But, she said Rave was here too… Let’s see, blonde, blonde, brunette, black, pink! There she is! Hey, hey, Rave!” Cyn just went on as she suddenly dragged John in the direction of the dancefloor, towards a black haired girl dancing awkwardly next to a girl with a great ass and hair as pink as a gumball. The black haired girl had their back turned to them while the pink haired one looked up a bit confused, then waved happily enough at them as they approached, Cyn started to lightly dance as they closed in. “John, dance, or move a bit at least, you can’t stand still on the dancefloor.”

John did so as Cynthia happily slapped Rave on the shoulder. “I should have known we would run into you tonight. There is no party girl in town like our Rave.”

“Oh, you are a lucky bunch, honestly,” Rave smiled nicely at Cynthia. “Ya see, my cousin came to visit, and she really, really, REALLY, isn’t the party type. Took me quite the effort to move her butt into something that would fit in a club… and then into the club… and then for her to stay in the club.” She nodded at the black haired girl dancing awkwardly next to her. She turned to face Cynthia when John’s face dropped.

“Oh fuck me, for the third gods damned time,” John muttered as Ellen and his eyes locked.

Don’t look at me for this one, brat.

“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Cynthia. This is John,” Cynthia introduced them as Ellen gave a sour smile.

“Hi. Ellen, Ellen Hollmey, nice to meet you, and you too, John… We keep running into each other it seems,” the awkward Hollmey joked without any humor in her voice.

John sighed and nodded. “Seems that way; made it out of the forest okay, I see?” he tried to sound friendly.

“You two know each other? You didn’t tell me you already bedded a local, you slut!” Rave joked as she poked her cousin in the side, causing her to flinch.

“We kinda met, I tried to kill him, he tried to kill me, you know, merc stuff?” Ellen tried to not let too much venom seep into her voice.

“John, is this?” Cynthia whispered into his ear, to which John nodded.

“The merc that refused to kill me, then told me to man up in the forest. That’s her.”

Cynthia then did something completely unexpected: she faced Ellen and hugged her. “Thank you for not killing this idiot twice. I know you work for the Collector, but thank you.”

Ellen waved her hand at it. “It’s fine. I think, ehm, Jane, I kinda wanna get out of here; I shouldn’t mix work and relaxation, know any other clubs we can browse some locals?” she asked with a complicated look.

“Sure, sure. Cyn, we need to catch up sometime, but as you heard, we need to go. I want all the details on your meeting with him though, he totally seems not your type!” Rave chattered as she led Ellen away from the dancefloor to the exit, waving at Cynthia once in farewell, then left.

John, not really wanting to dance either, was quick to leave the dancefloor too, with Cynthia, a small pout on her lips, following him to the bar.

They got a drink, continuing a conversation they had over dinner when a different busty blonde slipped into the bar. She was dressed a lot more conservatively, with simple jeans and a black sweater that helped conceal her sizable chest. It was a strange choice for a place like this; she wasn’t going to attract much attention while surrounded by girls flaunting every inch of their bodies, but maybe that was the point. Ironically, it did the opposite. Cynthia followed John’s gaze, and her face lit up like a christmas tree. “John, remember when I said I was in a relationship before you?”

John nodded slightly, asking her. “Why are you bringing that up now?”