Arisugawa's Locket

Piano Bar

May, a cyberdoll and assistant manager of Arisugawa's Locket, was beginning to wonder if it had been a bad idea to set up the portable keyboard. Kozue Kaoru was pounding the keys, playing agressively even as Shiroi sang.

"You don't really want to know me do you?" Shiori sang angrily, "Well you'd rather overthrow me? It's all right! I can see it in your mannered, lack of manners."

"Well, that's interesting," Nabiki Tendo noted as she bussed tables while dressed in boy drag. Casually hefting the very heavy tray she asked May, "Any idea what happened?"

"I think she was dating a business woman and got dumped," May admitted. "I don't know all the details, of course."

"I'm not in the demolition business," Shiori continued, "so take your party elsewhere, because tonight I.. don't... care!" She pumped her fist defiantly, "Line them up, line them up! Knock 'em down! Knock 'em down! Words we use, to light the fuse, girls hating girls..."

"Yup, not happy at all," Nabiki noted dryly.

"Good singer though," May nodded. Someone waved for service and she shrugged as she said, "Got to go."

The twenty-something redhead was sitting at the bar, her smile rather bemused. She was wearing a police uniform, but it was clearly a cosplay version. For one it was cut rather low in the front, revealing sexy cleavage, and the skirt was very tight and short.

Beside her was a taller, brown haired woman, with a cheerful, very animated face. But while her face was young, her eyes seemed very very old, with what might be called a 'thousand yard' stare. Still, she seemed quite bright and cheerful as she waved down a bartender.

"What can I do for you?" Ryouko asked, her multicolored hair in a top knot today. She wore a slinky dress that highlighted her curves, and was barefoot as she decided to dump the heels earlier.

"Some cream soda for me," the taller woman smiled, wearing a man's trench coat over a white blouse and trousers.

"Beer," the other woman asked with a grin.

"Chase, is that really a good idea?" the woman asked.

"Oh, Doctor," Chase rolled her eyes, "It's just beer."

"Doctor?" Ryouko asked, "Doctor who?"

"Exactly," the Doctor smiled.

"Just ignore her," Chase advised Ryouko, "she just calls herself the Doctor."

Ryouko gave the Doctor a slightly wary look as she said, "I've heard of her, I think. Be right back with your drinks."

The Doctor sighed a bit, looking mildly annoyed. Chase patted her arm, "It'll take time to live down the reputation of your last couple of incarnations."

"I suppose," the Doctor admitted.

Just then Ryouko arrived with two very big mugs, much larger than anyone else seemed to have. "You helped out Jurai a few years back," she noted, "saved a friend of mine. Your drinks are on the house."

"Why, thank you," the Doctor smiled bashfully.

"See?" Chase told her, "People do appreciate what you do, Doctor. So cheer up."

"Yeah, yeah," the slightly blushing Doctor answered.

Ryouko polished the bar as she added, "Do you have your sonic screwdriver with you?"

The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully, "Yes?"

"I won't ask you to surrender it, as it's not a weapon," Ryouko conceded, "but be very careful if you use it in the bar. We've got some pretty exotic technology here and I have no idea if the sonic would hurt it or not."

"Fair enough," the Doctor agreed.

Juri Arisugawa made her rounds of the bar, smiling as she greeted familiar customers and introduced herself to newcomers. There was a okay crowd tonight, busy but not packed, and enough new faces that it kept her busy. She finally made her way around to a old friend's table, sitting down without being asked.

"Take a seat," Shiori smiled, sipping her drink.

"Thanks, don't mind if I do," Juri joked. She waved to Excel, "Could you get me my usual?"

"Yes, Arisugawa-sama!" Excel saluted then hurried off.

"I thought she stopped doing that?" Shiori noted, amused.

"She and Hyatt dust it off to annoy me, I think," Juri laughed as the girl returned with a pink colored ginger ale.

"Are you ever going to switch to a grown up drink?" Shiori mocked as she sipped her drink.

"When did you decide you want to grow up?" Juri offered with a wink.

"Ooh, not bad," Shiori conceded.

They each took a drink, even as a young woman got up on the stage and started crooning a love song. Bit of off key, but not too bad. Putting her glass down Juri gently asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's not as bad as you probably think," Shiori admitted wryly as she took another drink. "Frankly I was phenominally stupid."

"Let me be the judge of that," Juri suggested.

Shiori sighed, sitting back comfortably. "I don't know if I told you, but I've been temping lately," she reflected, "various jobs, mostly in the assistant/secretarial type. It's nice to get some variety, you know?"

"Variety?" Juri raised a eyebrow.

Shiori smiled and shrugged, "Well, you know me."

"Maybe yes, maybe no. You surprise me ocassionally," Juri noted.

"Anyway, I was temping with a woman executive, a very powerful one," Shiori noted. "She ran a dozen companies, has political influence, and is famous."

"And you're not going to say who," Juri noted.

Shiori shrugged, "I have that much discretion."

"So what happened?" Juri dropped the earlier thought.

"We worked together closely for several weeks," Shiori remembered, "she was... incredibly dynamic and charismatic. But she also seemed very alone... and had no social life, far as I could see."

"I can see where this is going," Juri noted, "late nights, you two in the office?"

"Actually, no," Shiori shook her head, "she was the perfect gentlewoman. And to be honest I was a bit too intimidated to try something."

"So what happened?" Juri asked.

"Travel office sent us on a business conference to Kyoto, and some idiot booked us in one suite," Shiori made a face. "The hotel was packed, and with the conference the hotels around us were booked solid too. I volunteered to take the sofa, but she insisted we share the bed."

"And she jumped your bones?" Shiori guessed.

"Ooh, yeah," Shiori agreed. "She kissed me, apologized, then did it again. After I told her it was all right, well... things got interesting."

"Then she dumped you?" Juri asked.

"Fired by email," Shiori made a face, "didn't even see me and had a curier send my stuff home."

"That's...," Juri looked faintly dumbstruck. "What the hell?" she finally threw up her hands in exasperation.

Shiori shrugged, "She's right, though. You can't sleep with your employees."

"It was her responsibility to set the boundries," Juri said angrilly, "hell, give me her name. I'll go bawl her out myself."

"Bad idea, Juri," Shiori shook her head, "you do NOT want this woman pissed at you." She smiled faintly, "but thanks for the offer. I appreciate it."

"Yeah," Juri patted her hand.

Alpha hurried over to one of the side tables, where a group of young women had taken their seats. The five were all different physical types, and seemed quite different, yet somehow got along. There was a lovely blonde who moved with a studied kind of grace, a tallm busty purple haired woman, a very tanned girl in skimpy shorts and t-shirt and a sexy woman with what looked like kitsune tails. The last was a tall, black haired girl with a kind of unconscious beauty to her, a sense of dangerous sexiness.

"Hazuki! Dance with me?" Meirin asked, her reddish brown hair falling around her face.

"It's a bit early for that," Hazuki tried to refuse, her blue eyes more amused than anything else.

"Oh come on!" Meirin grabbed her hand and nearly dragged her off.

"Hello," Alpha said as she dodged the two women "what can I get you?"

"Just tea, please," Fuji smiled serenely.

"Beer!" Quill beamed.

"Some wine, possibly," Yoko smiled. She looked at the others, "Soda for Hazuki and Meirin?"

"I think so," Quill and the others agreed.

"So, are all of you friends?" Alpha asked as she took down their orders.

"No, we are Hazuki-dono's harem," Fuji said serenely. A slight frown crossed her face, "Once we get her to accept the situation, anyway."

Alpha blinked, then decided she really didn't want to know. "I'll be right back," she promised, heading out to get the drinks.

To be continued...

Notes: The song Shiori is singing is Girls Hating Girls from Sarah Slean's CD Land and Sea. She's very good, strongly recommended. There is a interesting debate going on in the Doctor Who fandom if her next regeneration should be a woman, so I thought I'd try out a lady Doctor.

Our Cast: Arisugawa Juri is from Revolutionary girl Utena, Alpha is from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Ryouko is from Tenchi Muyo, Cyberdoll May is from Hand Maid May, Excel is from Excel Saga and Nabiki, is from Ranma ½.

Characters: Shiori and Kozoe are from Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Doctor is from Doctor Who, and Hazuki, Quill, Yoko, Fuji and Meirin are all from Yami To Boushi.