swerval_zero | Barnes & Noble in Alexandria, Saturday Afternoon (NFB due to distance)

Barnes & Noble in Alexandria, Saturday Afternoon (NFB due to distance)

As the group entered the store, they were greeted by a crowd of women, all waiting to meet Angelica Demesnes. Large tables held copies of all her books for those who hadn't brought their own, including the brand-new Crown Diamond. Zero gleefully snatched up a copy of her very own.

((Due to Parker's connection woes, there will be no travel post. Come one, come all!))

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"Not right now, no." He shot her a quelling glance, that he knew wasn't going to work, and said, "It's a Sam thing." Which was no kind of explanation, but was as far as he was prepared to go. "I can't believe you signed up for that - did you win?"

"No," Parker pouted. "Just because I fell asleep and stopped moving was no reason to kick us out. I was still upright. Damnit."

"Awww, poor Parker." He patted her shoulder and then ducked back out of reach, just in case. "I think to qualify as dancing you have to actually be moving. Who ended up winning?"

"I have no idea, I was zonked out at Jarod's by then. Ignoring his cat." Parker made a face and swatted at his hand. "Not me, so I don't care."

"Jarod has a cat?" Jack started snickering, hard, leaning against a nearby shelf for support.

"M. Yes. Christmas present from me. She's my eyes and ears in there, when I'm not around. She reports on everything." Parker grinned. "And maybe we torment him together. When she's not complaining that I take up too much of the bed."

"A cat." Jack was still snickering. "You do know that cathouse is another word for a brothel, right?" he asked. "I've never heard of one that had an actual cat before."

"Yesssss," Parker said, looking mildly annoyed. "And the Sin doesn't have the cat, the cat has Jarod, who works and lives there. Grrr."

"Yeah, but the cat lives there, so it's actually a cathouse." It's possible Jack was far too amused by this. And possibly missing the important signs of Parker getting annoyed.

Parker whapped him on top of his head with her romance novel. "Yes, you're very very funny. Let's move on, shall we?" She rolled her eyes.

"Ow." He rubbed the top of his head and looked sadly at Parker. "What was that for?"

"Not knowing when to quit." Parker grumbled under her breath. "Blair thinks Jarod's a hooker."

Jack actually looked at her, and stopped snickering completely. "I'm sorry, Parker. I know you're not thrilled with him living there," he said sympathetically, then blinked. "Hang on, who's Blair, and why does he think Jarod's a hooker?"

"Blair Sandburg. Sophomore, I did some photography with him for that workshop. He *bounces*. He's terribly earnest. He wants hookers to be saved from 'the Life'." Parker was starting to look amused again, but only a little. "Becky somehow gave him the impression that everyone who lives at the Sin works there as a prostitute. And he wouldn't believe me when I repeated 'receptionist receptionist receptionist' at him."

"Okay. I get why you don't want people to think Jarod's a hooker, although...never mind." Jack smirked and pointedly didn't say what he was thinking, which was that Jarod would be incredibly popular and could probably make his fortune. "But why does Bouncy Blair want to stop them from being prostitutes? It's a perfectly good job," he said, genuinely baffled.

Parker glared at him half-heartedly, because she knew Jack well enough to know what he was thinking. "Mine. No sharing, profit or otherwise." She facepalmed. "Jack? I don't know what prostitution is like in the fiftieth century, but in this one, it's low-class, low-status, low-pay, and low-return. Everywhere except Fandom, it's also illegal. Becky and Miho are two of the most empowered prostitutes I've either met or heard of. Blair might be naive, but he's working from the general public's attitude that it's a dangerous and degrading job."

"Yeah, I know, no sharing. And that's ridiculous." He stared at her, not sure if she was serious or not. "Okay, some places are less than wonderful, but in my time it's a regulated industry, same as being a, a scientist or a lawyer - actually, better than being a lawyer, because nobody hates you - and it pays pretty well, depending on how good you are. It's just another job, though you can end up famous if you do it right."

"The only way you end up famous for it here is if you give someone who's already famous a blow job in a parked car, and get caught. Then they broadcast your mug shot on the evening news." Parker shrugged, then sighed. "It's legal in England and Denmark, they have a regulated sex workers industry there. But legalizing it in the U.S. is not going to happen. There's too much dislike of the idea. Even if every other 'escort' in the yellow pages is actually a sex worker."

"This time has got some serious problems." Jack shook his head. "Okay, it's not the most popular job in the universe, depending on what world you're on, but that is just stupid. At one point, I was thinking of it as a career," he offered, curious as to how she'd react to that.

Parker grinned, and rolled her eyes. "And I'm sure if you picked it up here, you'd rake in the money. Gigolos aren't any more respected, but at least people don't threaten their lives quite so often." She cocked an eyebrow. "You'd need much better self-defense skills if you were going to try it here."

"Have you been talking to Sam?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Nope, but if we're both saying the same thing, you at least have to think about it, don't you?" Parker returned the raised eyebrow. "Unless you want to hire a ninja for protection."

She grabbed a copy of Crown Diamond and said, "Ready to get these signed?"

"If it's the ninja from these books?" he laughed, following her to the signing. "Maybe."

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Barnes & Noble in Alexandria, Saturday Afternoon (NFB due to distance)

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