Seth Lowell was the runt of the litter, the smallest guy in high school and college, the scrawniest PubSec recruit of his class, and now the newest rookie on the Lumina Square Criminal Investigation Squad. So, he was used to eating shit and smiling while doing it. But today…

Today was rough.

He'd been a hostage, he'd converted two enemies to the path of righteousness, and he'd almost escaped with the hostages… Almost…

Almost. That was the problem. In the end, the second enemy he'd thought he'd converted hadn't been an enemy at all- but a double agent. His Captain and Lieutenant had rode in like a cavalry charge at sunrise to save him and the hostages. And everyone. Everyone!... Seemed to enjoy the fact that he'd been the only one not in on the plan.

"Logging off for the day?" said Qingyi as Seth got up from his desk with a sigh. The green-haired android woman was an enigma to Seth. He couldn't quite figure her out.

"Yes, sir," said Seth, forcing good cheer into his own voice.

"What will you have for dinner?" said Qingyi, twirling around on her office chair, swinging pigtails thumping into everything in their path.

"I haven't decided," said Seth, controlling the tone of his voice, keeping a slit-eyed sheepish smile on his face. Carefully, carefully.

"Well, be careful of the plastic food displays," said Qingyi. "Things are never what they seem to be."

Seth's hands gripped the straps of his backpack far harder than they needed to. He laughed lightly.

"That's true! Goodnight, sir."

"Mmm," said Qingyi with a sardonic grin.

Seth walked past her and almost made it to the squadroom door before it opened in front of him and his Captain, Zhu Yuan opened it and entered, her serious face frowning at a stack of papers she seemed to be reading even as she opened the door. She sensed his presence in front of her and stopped to look up with mild surprise.

"Oh! Officer Lowell! Heading home?"

Seth saluted. "Yes, sir!"

Zhu Yuan returned the half-salute that was the privilege of command rank in casual settings. "Excellent work today, Officer Lowell. Your ignorance was an asset."

Seth stiffened in his salute as Zhu Yuan walked past him, again absorbed in her papers. He had not known her for long, but he knew Captain Zhu Yuan was not the type to insult or tease. She was being literal: his ignorance had helped the bust because of his genuine reactions to the situation around him. It had sold the entire story. Seth knew that intellectually.

But… to hear his captain say that to his face….

Fuck, man…


In near historical low spirits, Seth dressed down into his street clothes in the locker room and left the precinct, ignoring the few officers who looked at him from across the room with sparkles in their eyes and chuckles at the edge of his hearing. More of the same. More of the same.

The softly sweltering mugginess of a New Eridu evening caressed Seth's face as he exited the cold, dry air conditioning. The parking lot was mostly empty and quiet. Too late in the day for officers to be idly around, and far too early for the nightly parade of drunks and misfits. Seth crossed the lot in the solitude of his bleak mood, taking a first step onto the public street of Lumina Square.

"I've been waiting for you," said a woman's voice.

If Seth had not heard that voice so much in recent memory, he would have been unable to place it. It lacked any sort of identifying uniqueness. It could be any woman's voice. Anyone at all. But that in itself was unique… now that Seth knew what to listen for.

"Jane," he said without turning his head.

Seth didn't want to look at her. He'd spent far too much time looking at her today. Far too much time pouring his beliefs at her and thinking it was having an impact, but she'd been on his side the whole time- so he'd probably just seemed like an ernest, asinine fool to her. Spouting off all the philosophical bullshit that one could only find at the very beginning of PubSec training textbooks: like in the forwards that were only written by retired police chiefs who saw it as a stage to wax philosophical about their ended career that was rapidly sunsetting into irrelevance.

"You're blushing, Officer Lowell," said Jane, amusement obvious in her tone. "Embarrassed?"

Seth felt the blush in his cheeks, and the rush of indignant anger in the depth of his belly. "Of course, I am."

There was a slight pause before Jane responded: "Most men would lie about that, you know."

Seth turned his head and looked at the woman he knew as Jane Doe. She was an hourglass of a rat thiren woman. Her body all curves, with a soft firmness that bounced prettily when she moved. She walked towards him now, arms and hands held lightly in front of her own torso, fingers slightly undulating. Her tight shorts were unable to fully contain her thighs, some notable expanses of smooth skin having already ripped free of the constraints of her sheer tights.

"I'm not a good liar," said Seth, funneling all of his frustration into a direct gaze into Jane Doe's green eyes. And he was rewarded to see Jane's persona falter slightly before him as if he'd surprised her. Her eyes lost their half-lidded confidence for a brief moment, and her confident smirk became a small 'oh'.

But in an instant, it was all back. The sly eyes. The confident smirking smile. Her rat thiren tail twitched back and forth behind her. The street lights turned on suddenly all around them both. It was that time of night.

"Everyone has their strengths," said Jane. And then she went silent. Looking at him. Her fingers continued to undulate slightly, like she wanted to reach out and snatch something.

Seth wasn't in the mood to be played with anymore today. He was off duty. "What do you want, Jane?"

"To buy you dinner."

Seth's mouth dropped open in shock for the up-teenth time today. "Huh?!"

"To apologize for tricking you today," said Jane.

Seth blinked and tried to recover from his surprise. She wanted to buy him dinner? As an apology?

"I saved your life, Jane!" said Seth, frustrated that no one seemed to really care about that part! He wasn't just a fool! He'd saved lives!

"I remember," said Jane and her eyes widened slightly and she strutted past him, hips moving in an intoxicating way that was impossible to ignore. "But I want to more than just buy you dinner to thank you for that, Seth."

Seth blinked. Then blinked again. Staring at empty space as his mind parsed that statement over and over. "HUH?!"

He spun to see Jane Doe still confidently walking away from him. She obviously expected him to follow. And while he had decidedly mixed feelings about this- if she was offering a free dinner… He didn't make much and he didn't have any food in his apartment, anyway.

"Whats your name, Jane?" said Seth to Jane's strutting, bouncing backside. "Your real name, I mean?"

Jane looked back at him just far enough for one green eye to look at him slyly over her shoulder. Her long tail twitched along its length so that the pointed tip seemed to beckon at Seth like a finger: follow me…

The corner of Jane's mouth curled up into a playful grin.

"What do you want it to be?"