Work Text:
“Boss! I’m taking my break now!” Jill hollered to the empty bar, swinging a coat over her shoulder and patting down her pockets for cigarettes.
“Okay!” Came the muffled response as she slipped out the back door and into the alleyway behind VA-11 HALL-A. It had just rained, and the air had a strong scent of urban petrichor; a complex mix of pollutants, garbage, ozone, and strange smelling fungi. Jill had been told that Glitch City was home to all sorts of hyper specialized fungi that fed on human refuse, but she wasn’t sure if she believed that. She closed the steel door behind her, separating herself from the booming music of the bar. The bassy hum of the city took over and filled the space in her head.
She lit a cigarette.
To her, this had always been the perfect place to watch the city, provided you wanted an unbiased view of the place. The alley was illuminated in neon red, making things seem one dreamlike step away from reality. The lights cast shadows that made faces look gaunt and hollow. If you looked down you could see graffiti, broken glass, piss stains. If you looked up you could see skyscrapers rising into a low-hanging cloud of smog with a soft glowing underbelly. There was something in the air that made tired eyes itch, but nothing worse than that. Mostly it just make you self conscious about how much you were breathing.
Jill let the cigarette hang loosely in her mouth for a time after her first drag, not paying attention to the static in her head, just letting things hang. The scenery was unmoving, and the sounds of the city were calming: distant sirens, car tires cutting their way through rain slick streets, the incomprehensible shouting of intercoms, and above all else the hum of it all. It was like the air was charged. Like the city was hurtling through space and you could hear everything that was passing by around you.
She took the cigarette out of her mouth to yawn. Replaced it and took another drag. That’s when she noticed one of the less common sounds.
Someone was having sex behind the dumpster next to her. Jill paused and listened. It was at least two someones. One of them was male and completely out of breath, the other female and seemingly at the peak of ecstasy. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, and debated inching closer to satisfy her curiosity. That’s when the man yelled loud enough to be discernible.
“Yeah, YEAH, take it you little slut!”
Jill decided to stay where she was. She inhaled slowly, listening to them go at it and trying to figure out whether or not it was consensual. It was legitimately hard to tell. The girl seemed to be passionately and theatrically aroused, but she was panting and pleading for him to stop. No please, stop.
They went on for maybe another minute before the man climaxed loudly, and the girl moaned ecstatically along with him. Jill took another drag and stepped back into the vestibule as she waited for something else to happen.
Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t the man spitting, saying “This is where you belong” and stomping out of the alley, fiddling with his belt. He took no notice of Jill and she made no motion to change that. Instead, she tried to take note of his appearance.
Caucasian. Male. Brown hair. Balding. Wearing a lot of black.
In other words, completely anonymous.
Jill waited until he had turned the corner, and then stubbed out the butt of her cigarette. She took a deep breath and rounded the dumpster cautiously, trying to prepare herself for what she might see. Could she call an ambulance? Would she take time off work to ride along? Could that backfire in some subtle bureaucratic way?
There were countless people in Glitch City who belonged to a social caste that could be raped and abandoned behind a dumpster without any repercussions for the perpetrator. Jill wondered if she even had the means to help this girl. A small but well-reasoned part of her wanted to just slip back into the bar and forget what she had seen. She ignored it.
Peeking around the dumpster, she saw a young girl, no older than fourteen, fumbling around trying to get her clothes back on. Jill swore reflexively, and the girl turned around and looked up, staring at her with frozen surprise.
“Ahh, I…” Jill began.
“You scared me!” The girl said and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you work here?” She gestured at the building that she had been pinned against a moment ago.
Jill nodded dumbly.
“BTC Bar? I knew I recognized the uniform.” the girl said casually, eyeing Jill from top to bottom. “Looks good on you.” She was tying a ribbon on her collar, but she hadn’t put her skirt back on yet. At least she had put her panties on first. They were covered in polka dots and the cut made them look even more childish than the girl wearing them. Her skin was fair, almost porcelain white, and it glowed eerily in the alley’s neon floodlights.
“Are you… are you okay?” Jill felt misplaced. The little girl gave her a knowing smile.
“Me? I’m peachy, honey. Just another day on the job. Are you? You look a little flustered.” The girl looked at Jill with a bemused sort of authority, as if this was her office and Jill had just wandered in.
“Umm.”
Jill stood speechless as the girl smoothed out her blouse and bent down to put on her skirt. She shot a seductive wink over her shoulder.
“Like what you see?” She asked suggestively.
Jill blinked.
“How old are you?”
The girl stopped what she was doing and cocked her head to the side. Then she approached Jill, who took a reflexive step backward. When she stepped into the light, a few things became apparent. The neon glow made her synthetically red hair appear black, and revealed that her eyes were a glassy purple with heart-shaped irises. When she walked, Jill finally noticed her uncanny gait and the strange joints on her knees and elbows.
“Oh.” Jill said.
“Oh?”
“You’re a Lilim.”
The girl’s curious expression turned into a grin, and she giggled.
“Of course! I’m not some scared human girl out past her bedtime. Well, not unless you want me to be.”
Jill ignored that bit. Her mind was working to assemble the previous pieces.
“That’s kind of a relief but I’m still worried.”
“Why’s that?”
Wordlessly, Jill looked in the direction that the man had stomped away, and then at the girl’s skirt, which she was still adjusting.
“You said this was your job. Are you…”
“An attractive young lady who performs for people in various ways?”
“A prostitute?”
“Well yes. I feel like that’s selling it a bit short though, you know?”
“Sorry. So is that normal?”
“I’d say so. It’s the world’s oldest profession.” The girl followed Jill’s gaze. “Oh, you mean the way he left?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“He paid in advance. Told me he wanted to leave abruptly when we were done. I guess that’s what he had in mind.” The Lilim shrugged, unbothered. “Can’t argue with that. I’m happy to facilitate. We were roleplaying.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah.”
An awkward beat passed between them, and Jill instinctively took out her package of cigarettes. She held it out to the stranger.
“What’s this?” Came the confused response.
“Smokes. Generic brand.”
“I don’t think Lilim can smoke.”
Jill withdrew her arm and took one for herself.
“That makes sense.” She said, fishing for her lighter.
“Smooth move though. You offered it so casually. Are you looking for a hookup? Because that’s a good way to get one.”
“Uhh. Not right now.”
The Lilim gave Jill a catlike smile.
“That wasn’t a hard no, so I’ll keep asking.”
Jill said nothing. She walked back around the dumpster to her spot on the wall, and the Lilim strolled up next to her.
“So what’s your name?”
“Jill.”
“I’m Dorothy.”
Dorothy offered her hand in greeting, and Jill eyed it apprehensively for a moment before taking her hand out of her pocket and accepting the handshake. The girl’s grip was surprisingly businesslike, and warmer than she expected.
“So what now?” Jill asked. “This is the part of your job that I never hear about. Do you just go back to work?”
“Well yes. I usually take a breather first, though.” Jill nodded in acknowledgement and Dorothy continued. “Your bar’s actually close to one of the streets I usually work. Maybe I should stop in for a drink.”
“Yeah, that’d be good.”
“Will I see you if I go in there?”
“Most nights, yeah.”
“Are you supposed to be working now?”
“I’m on break.”
“Oh.”
Dorothy watched as Jill took a drag and looked up at the smog-blanketed sky. She tried to follow Jill’s gaze to maybe get some insight into what she was looking at, but couldn’t see anything besides clouds.
Eventually, she settled on watching Jill herself. The Bartender’s expression was placid, and her eyes had a certain dead-fish quality to them. Aside from that, she was unreadable to the Lilim.
After a while, Jill let out a long-winded sigh.
“Am I bothering you?” Dorothy asked.
“Nah.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Good. So… ‘not right now?’” The Lilim said in an inquiring tone. The question hung for a moment.
“...beg pardon?”
“I offered you my services and you said ‘not right now.’ That means you’re a potential customer?”
Jill gave a dry smile.
“Is this what ‘going back to work’ looks like for you?”
“No. Well, kinda. It would be easier for me if I didn’t have to hit the streets again.”
“Makes sense. I guess I’d be doing you a favour if I said yes.”
“You could look at it that way. But I promise that if you took me home, you’d get your money’s worth.”
“That’s not a very sexy way of putting it.”
“You don’t seem like you’re really looking for sexy.”
Jill grinned. She didn’t really know why.
“So you’re not selling sexy? What’re you gonna do, come over and dish out hot steamy emotional support all night long?”
“Emotional support comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes.” Dorothy said coyly. “I am very good at the hot and steamy kind, though.”
Jill stared at the Lilim, still wearing a half smile.
“Now you’re doing a good job of selling it.”
“Thanks for noticing.” The Lilim stared back with an expression so explicitly inviting that Jill had to look away. Dorothy giggled at this and inched closer to Jill, who stood a bit straighter. “So when do you get off work?” She asked bluntly.
“I’m... off at two.” Jill decided not to lie.
“I can wait for you.” The Lilim continued to attack her with thousand watt bedroom eyes. It was a struggle to stay composed.
“Umm… Do I seem like your type of client?” Jill asked.
“You’re exactly my type, honey.” Dorothy’s tone was more reassuring than suggestive. Jill tried to brush it off.
“No, I mean, do I strike you as someone who would hire an underage Lilim prostitute? Is that a vibe you’re getting?”
Dorothy made a face.
“You’re being judgy. I thought Bartenders weren’t supposed to be judgy. Besides, if I could tell who was willing to hire me at a glance I wouldn’t have to go around asking.”
“You’re saying that the demographic of people looking to hire you is diverse enough that you can’t tell?”
“You never know without asking.”
“That’s scary.”
Dorothy shrugged.
“You might be part of that Demographic. Most of them aren’t aware they like it until they try. Then they’re back for more.” She inched closer again, and Jill stiffened, waiting for the inevitable invasion of personal space, but all that Dorothy did was rest her head lightly on Jill’s arm. “I think we’d fit together nicely, Jill.”
It was an invitation, an insinuation, and it was spoken like a question. Jill got the sense that Dorothy was probing for permission, unwilling to cross the threshold until she was explicitly invited. Uncomfortably, she took a breath, staring down at the crown of the Lilim girl’s head. She looked soft and clean, and she even smelled nice despite where Jill had found her. It seemed like she was waiting for a response. Jill took another deep breath.
“No.” She said, plain and simple. She forced herself to keep it at that.
“Oh fine.” Dorothy lifted her head and backed off, letting Jill relax. A beat of silence passed and then they looked at one another. Jill knew she probably looked more stressed than the situation called for, but Dorothy’s expression was unfazed. Almost reassuring.
“So… got any particularly interesting clients?” Jill made another attempt at conversation.
“I do! But I’ll save those stories for when we’re sitting across a bartop. Your boss is probably looking for you.”
Jill took one last drag and then stubbed out her cigarette, dropping it in the beer bottle she used as an ashtray.
“Yeah. You’re probably right. Nice to meet you, Dorothy.”
“You too. And honey,” the Lilim paused dramatically as she fished a slip of paper out of her blouse and handed it to Jill, “call me if you change your mind.”
Jill raised an eyebrow. Dorothy simply winked and turned back towards the street. Jill listened until her footsteps faded into the neon night.
“As if.” muttered Jill, but she slipped the paper into her breast pocket.