Outfits – Helena: Blue-and-gold longcoat
Marie Rose: Maid outfit
Elise: Monochrome (Default XVV outfit)
Helena had a vested interest in the Venus Island archipelago. As a resident of the establishment, she saw the business potential it had. Unfortunately, she lacked the time to claim ownership with her responsibilities as CEO of DOATEC… But the Aristocrat did not want such an investment to go to waste, or worst… Left in the hands of a screw-up like Zack to use as his island of vanity projects (again).
Helena, however, was open to the idea of a business partner to act in her stead; a private assistant not like her servant Marie Rose or any member of her dear Shinobi Task Force, but someone with a strong business acumen and skillset to fulfill the spot as Helena's hand-chosen "heiress" to the Venus throne as well as Helena's real secretary to act the French goddess's eyes on the islands.
After running through several applications over the course of a few weeks at her desk in her Freedom Survivor office, Helena came across a striking candidate that caught her eye instantly: a young, pink-haired slender woman in her early 20s with an impressive resume already. Helena checked her bio, holding the candidate's folder in her hands:
Name: Elise
Birthday: September 3
Age: 22
Blood Type: A
Height: 5'6 (168cm)
Measurements: B94/W58/H90
Eye color: Turquoise
Hair color: Salmon pink
Hobbies: Collect stationery and get qualifications
Traits: Professional, efficient, blunt, organized, focused, mature, kind and friendly
Occupation: Former Island Owner/Leader
Helena was impressed, to say the least. A candidate after her own heart and similar to the French goddess in some ways. Helena also couldn't deny the prospect looked quite beautiful, looking up pictures of Elise in the folder that held her resume. She quickly became infatuated with the potential candidate, cursing herself for falling to another young beauty, knowing she has her boundaries with her Shinobi Task Force, in addition to patching things up with her half-sister Kokoro and keeping Marie employed (as well as not have her butt heads with the ninja, girls, aside from Ayane, whom she somehow got along with).
In fact, Helena recognized the young woman, feeling she had known her in the past as they rose through the ranks in the business world, starting their reputations. Helena remembered Elise as a colleague… a friend, at some point during her time in private school. Someone she had not been in contact with in seemingly years, as their paths took them in different directions. Helena, being the heiress to DOATEC, had to focus on inheriting the company from her father. She never knew what became of Elise until the evening she looked into her resume.
Helena's lips curled into a pleasant warm smile, feeling Elise would be the perfect candidate to take up this offer and new position, wondering how much Elise had grown since their time in school. Helena quickly scanned Elise's profile one last time to get her phone number and picked up her smartphone quickly to make the call to her long-time friend.
Helena made the call to Elise that same evening, and was quite blown away during the young woman's phone interview. Elise answered every question wtih sure-fire efficiency, showing her professional, mature, focused attitude while delivering answers that would get her hired on the spot by most other people. But Helena's standards were higher than your standard CEO, and requested to have another phone interview with the pink-haired woman. Elise agreed, feeling she was already securing her position to Helena's amusement.
"She has improved so much since those days. Helena thought.
Elise expressed her anticipation to the next interview in a calm manner, and the two women hung up, each feeling their first conversation went extremely well. It would be a couple of short days later until Helena made her follow-up call.
Helena called Elise again for the follow-up interview and Elise, being the prepared, driven and stern youngster, once again delivered more than she needed to. This time, Helena was prepared for Elise's nature, reminding her a little of herself. As the interview winded down, Elise spoke in a different manner, after giving Helena the regular questions of paid grade, responsibilities, boundaries, among other normal points of interest to ask about when given the chance, Helena noticed the quizzical tone in Elise's voice after the second lengthy interview and allowed her candidate to ask.
"Pardon me if it seems like I'm reaching… but I can't help the feeling that we may know each other. Have we met before?" Elise asked, as she twirled a strand of hair in her finger as she sat in her seat at her own home office.
Helena smiled, deciding to bait Elise into a third call for the weekend.
"We may have. I might be remembering wrong, but I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who had this feeling of… déjà vu, it seems."
Helena didn't notice, but that thick, sexy French accent of hers made Elise bite her lower lip, doing her best to suppress a moan. For what reason why, this puzzled Elise, but she continued to listen.
"Listen, it's not needed for us to keep doing this. Quite frankly, my mind is almost made up already about you… But I'd like for us to speak again sometime this weekend. Not for the job, but to remedy this newfound conundrum we appear to share. Will you have time to squeeze that in?" Helena asked, hoping for her friend to agree.
"Yes. I absolutely would like to speak again." Elise responded, never losing her step.
Helena nodded slightly, still smiling. "Excellent. I look forward to our next conversation. Until then, have a good evening."
Elise said her farewells, too, before they hung up. Helena put her phone on her desk, filled with glee about the upcoming reveal crossing her arms in her seat behind her desk. Just then, she noticed footsteps approaching from her right and saw Marie enter her office, carrying her evening tea and teapot on a silver tray with flowers patterned on the edges.
"Your evening tea, Lady Helena." Marie said, putting the tray on Helena's desk.
Helena nodded, giving her maid a heartfelt "Merci" before picking up the teacup with her drink in it, and gave it a few small blows before taking her first sip. She closed her eyes and sighed, loving its taste more than usual.
"Lovely, as always, Marie." The Aristocrat said.
Marie smiled and bowed with her hands crossed, taking the unusual compliment but it always made her feel good inside. It reminded her that despite the changes to Helena's private staff over time, the French beauty still valued Marie a lot.
"I do my best to please my lady!" Marie responded cheerfully.
Helena chuckled, loving seeing her maid happy. Marie saw how happy Helena was and spoke up.
"You seem happier than usual, my lady." The maid asked curiously. "Was it about your new partner?"
"They're not my partner yet." Helena said, putting her tea down to rise from her chair.
Helena stood up and turned to walk to, then look out the window behind her with her arms crossed still.
"But recent events may have led me to someone I haven't seen in a long time. If my assumptions are correct, I may be meeting an old friend soon."
Marie gasped, putting her fists close to her mouth.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" She said enthusiastically.
"Do you know what she's like now? Is she friendly? How beautiful does she look?" Marie kept asking.
Helena chuckled, waving a hand to Marie.
"Calm down, dear. I'll find out soon. She may prove to be a valuable addition to our team if I'm right." She said assuringly.
"A new member? That's exciting!" Marie replied happily.
"A new member for you to… probably take over me." Her voice trailed into sadness as her head lowered a bit.
"Marie, that's not true…" Helena said, looking at her maid.
Marie raised her head and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please!" Marie rebutted.
"With all due respect, my lady, I know how you act with those ninjas. You tend to play favorites a lot lately!" She said, leaning over with her fists on her sides and pouting.
"You've been really bad at that, you know! I know what happened with Momiji, you can't fool me!"
Helena took in Marie's words and thought about what her maid said.
The old Helena would probably snap back at her servant, doing what she could to pull rank and put Marie in her place. Hell, the old Helena would probably slap Marie without a second thought to assert herself. But since taking charge of DOATEC in rebuilding its reputation, Helena saw it as a chance to turn over a new leaf. To good something good for the world instead of what was best only for her. DOATEC's turnaround affected Helena's growth in maturity, they were almost one and the same. She felt at this point in her life, after all that had happened, it wasn't healthy to hold grudges… even to those who hurt her the most.
Helena faced Marie and approached her, stopping in front of her maid with her hands on her hips in a very intimidating pose. Marie was pretty small for her age, but she felt intimidated by Helena's presence, leaning back with a bit of a nervous look and her mouth slowly opened. She felt Helena's icy stare pierce her, wondering if she stepped out of line.
Instead, Helena closed her eyes and sighed softly, resting her shoulders a bit.
"You're right." She admitted. "I've been acting a little greedy as of late. Momiji was right to call me out at the time, and so are you. Especially being your boss, it's very unbecoming of me to play favorites. I should be doing that in my spare time."
Marie was surprised. She never thought she would ever get Helena to admit being wrong about…anything. In her mind, Lady Helena was perfect and flawless in every way. Marie wasn't supposed to think she was bad in any circumstance, it wasn't her place… or so she thought.
Helena bent over and put her hand gently on Marie's shoulder. Marie turned to look at Helena's hand, then back at her lady's face.
"I never meant to make you feel left out, Marie. It should be my job to treat you and all my employees equally… even to you and the ninjas as my private staff."
"Lady Helena… are you okay?" Marie asked, with a fist to her chest.
Helena smiled and gently rose her hand over Marie's head. Like she was asking for permission to do what she wanted to do, Marie looked up and slowly lowered Helena's hand, then looking at Helena herself and nodded. Helena nodded in response and gently patted Marie.
"I am. Even with Ayane as my girlfriend, she's still a field operative to me. I guess being around those girls caused me to lose my way for a bit. I never meant to hurt you, Marie. In fact, you're irreplaceable to me." Helena said.
The French goddess patted Marie for a bit before cupping her cheek.
"You've been with me through a lot ever since I started taking control with DOATEC. I'll never get rid of you. You're a good maid, and a dependable ally."
"But… But I still lost Honoka…" Marie said.
"We'll get her back, I swear. But you've been there to help Kokoro, I've seen how friendly you two have been. I'm so grateful someone is here to keep her company when the ninja girls and I are busy. And I love how you're getting along with Ayane, I can't be jealous of that. Marie… thank you for being at my side. Don't ever think you're anything less, my dear."
Marie's lips grew into a heartfelt smile.
"Lady Helena…" was all she could say before Helena moved to give Marie a gentle kiss on the forehead. Marie blushed, gasping at the last action Helena would ever do, covering her mouth.
Helena still smiled and kneeled down. "Besides, you're the only other European around here. I'd feel alone if I didn't have another person from our part of the world, my little Swedish servant."
Marie nodded rapidly, agreeing before Helena took her petite hands into her own. Marie felt how warm her lady's grasp was. She didn't realize how warm Helena could feel, despite her small hands were enveloped by Helena's completely.
"Even with this potential addition, I'll do my best to make sure I treat everyone the same. Understand I'll likely hold Ayane to a higher priority, but not by much. No more favorites, I swear."
"Lady Helena… I don't know what to say." Marie admitted.
"You don't have to say much. Just being here, committed to your duties is all I can ask for. You're doing your part to keep things running here. Besides… what would I do without my movie cuddle buddy?" Helena asked.
Marie gasped, before exclaiming, "You remembered?!"
Helena nodded, replying, "Of course! I'm not a mindless robot… I just don't show my heart to many people that often. But being with the ninja girls and having Kokoro back is making me think I should be a little more appreciative."
Marie hopped in place, before unconsciously hugging Helena around the neck. Helena smiled and hugged Marie's waist gently. Even though Marie's maid outfit was pretty big, Helena still wrapped her arms successfully.
Marie sighed, repeating, "You remembered." with closed eyes.
Helena closed her eyes and said, "You're so cute, Marie."
Marie blushed, putting her mouth on Helena's shoulders.
"Don't say that. I'm not cute." She muffled.
Helena chuckled. "Why not? I'm always surrounded by cute girls in here, and that includes you!" She exclaimed lovingly.
Marie moved her head down Helena's shoulder until her face was buried.
"My lady, stop saying that! I'm not cute!" She replied embarrassingly, still muffled.
"That's what you think." Helena said.
They kept hugging until Marie got tired of standing, so Marie got on her knees to hold Helena around the waist, resting her head on Helena's chest with a closed-eye smile to feel that warm heartbeat she remembered from their movie night. Helena still smiled and held Marie, swaying side to side lightly as her precious maid remained in her grasp. She gave Marie another kiss on the head before repeating, "My little cuddle buddy."
Meanwhile, Elise had her eyes closed while rubbed her lips in her seat, before biting the lower one again before letting out a soft moan. Her other hand rested on her skirt. She would've put her hand between her legs if it weren't for her skirt, as she rubbed her thighs together as Helena's voice echoed in her mind.
"Mmmmm… That voice… that accent… it must be you." The business woman said.
"But why… do I feel so hot? We last met in school years ago!" She said confusingly.
Elise groped her right breast as she continued to rub her lips and thighs, moaning as her body filled with goosebumps. She had a rough idea of who her potential employer and partner could be while she panted, making her busty chest heave as her nipples hardened under her big black bra.
"Is it her?... That blonde woman… who runs DOATEC?" She asked herself in a husky voice.
"The one who runs… that Dead or Alive combat sport? Can it be her? After this long… that's where you ended up?" She kept asking as she fought off the small amount of sexual lust inside.
Elise looked up to Helena, only knowing her as the figurehead of Dead or Alive. She thought Helena was professional… But also authoritative… stern… cold… but oh so sexy. She knew of her French accent; it made her feel things that she resented. But Elise had to know… was Helena the same woman on the phone and running DOATEC as she was back then? Elise promised to get her answer in their next call.
"This weekend… I'll find out. Helena… Lady Helena… Is that how you want to be addressed?... It's been so long." Elise said with a smile.
Once Elise finally got herself under control, she started jotting down the things she remembered from their phone conversations in her small booklet. Above all else, she listed down one major note:
"– Find out why I'm so attracted to her… to Helena Douglas"
This lust Elise was experiencing like never before… She felt she was going to obsess over it, but the business woman felt she was on the right trail. Elise was looking forward to getting her answer… and more than she anticipated.
To be continued...
