Saved by Safiya the maid.

Charlotte was genuinely considering it. Sure, this guy was a random stranger in an unfamiliar place offering her ****, but that would hardly be the shadiest offer she had accepted during her long partying career. Plus, she hadn't smoked in nearly three days now, and for a wake-and-bake gal like her that was a pretty long time. The fact that this generous stranger was easy on the eyes didn't exactly hurt, either.

That didn't mean it seemed legit. Something about the stranger's body language seemed off to her, and Charlotte was finding it difficult to take him up on his offer just based on her instincts. She was a wild one, but that didn't mean that she was stupid.

Charlotte affected a gracious smile (a little sloppy given her state of mind) and shook her head. "Noooo thank you!" she said. "I'm just having fun by my little old lonesome." Immediately she knew that she had made a mistake. Admitting out loud to a guy like this that you were alone was never a good idea, even if he could see that it was the case. But she had said it, and it was too late to take it back.

"C'mon," the guy said. He held the door to his room wide open, though it definitely wouldn't stay that way if Charlotte chose to go with him. "Just come in for a quick smoke, we can have some fun. I promise." There was an edge to the look on his face, making Charlotte feel even more uncomfortable than she already was.

"Cmon, Paul, chill," came a new voice. This one was clearly feminine. Charlotte turned to see a woman that looked like she had just stepped out of some sort of soft core porno flick. The woman had bronze skin and light brown hair, offset by the white in her strange French maid's uniform. She looked like she had happened upon this sort of scene many times before, like she was becoming bored with it.

"Oh," 'Paul' said, standing up straight in the doorway. "Hey, Safiya. What're you doing here?"

The maid rolled her eyes. "Duh," she said. "I don't come down here just to see your pretty face, man. Do you have what I asked you for?"

"Yeah, uh, I'll go get it." Most of this Paul guy's bravado seemed to have disappeared as soon as this maid, whose name was apparently Safiya, had shown up. Paul left the two women alone in the hallway and returned to his room to get whatever it was that she had asked him for-- **** of some kind, Charlotte assumed based on how the guy had been talking to her when they had been alone.

"Don't worry about him," Safiya said to Charlotte. "He can be a pain but he's the only way anyone on this ship has any sort of fun, so we kinda have to put up with his shit. Besides, he's not so bad once you get to know him a little better."

"Thanks," Charlotte said. She was still having trouble keeping her balance. Apparently she hadn't been as ready for that absinthe as she had thought she was. "So what're you?" She couldn't help but stare at the new arrival's get-up, especially the sheer stockings that she wore on her legs.

Safiya laughed. "I guess I'm a maid," she said, kind of curtsying. "I usually let my partner do all the work for me, though. She seems to enjoy feeling holier-than-thou."

Paul returned from the room with a big brown bag under his arms. "I've got it," he said. "Sixty bucks."

Safiya grabbed a few twenties from some pocket of her uniform and the two exchanged what they held. The maid looked inside the bag with a hungry look in her eyes. "Thanks, Paul," she said.

"You two sure you don't want to come in for a bit?" the dealer said. "I'll smoke you guys out for free if you hang out for a little while."

Safiya shrugged, looking to her new friend Charlotte. "What do you think, girl?"