The second I closed the door shut behind me, stepping out into the hallway with Felix's cum still dripping down my thighs and my own release coating various parts of my anatomy, I glanced to the right of me, then to the left of me.

The coast appeared clear—suspiciously clear, actually, which should have been my first warning sign that the universe was about to remind me why paranoia is a survival trait.

Nara and Willow, who'd apparently been hiding by the door the entire time, jumped at me almost instantly, giggling like school girls who'd just discovered their first romance novel.

Their hands were everywhere at once—on my chest, my arms, my hips, trailing lower with increasing boldness—as they began gossiping about me, my body, and what they'd clearly been listening to through the door with the kind of enthusiastic detail that suggested excellent hearing and zero shame.

"Oh my stars! did you hear how he sounded when—"

"And the way Felix was whimpering—"

"His cock is still dripping, look—"

"Enough!" I commanded sharply, my voice cutting through their chatter like a knife as both of them froze mid-grope, their hands pausing on my still-naked, still-dripping body. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, truly, but I need you to direct that energy toward answering my question. Where can I access the roof?"

Nara and Willow looked at each other, some silent communication passing between them, before they both pointed toward the door at the far end of the hall—the one leading to the second tier of the theater's seating area.

"Take a right onto the side balcony," Nara started, her crimson eyes twinkling with mischief.

"And up the ladder," Willow continued seamlessly, like they'd rehearsed this routine.

"The wooden one," Nara added.

"It's a bit rotten," Willow finished with a shrug.

I nodded, absorbing this information while simultaneously trying to extract myself from their wandering hands. "Great. Perfect. One more question. Do either of you have a towel I could borrow? Because I'm currently covered in enough bodily fluids to constitute a biohazard."

Willow's grin turned absolutely wicked before she stuck out her tongue—long, pointed, delightfully inhuman—and rolled it in a way that suggested exactly what she was offering.

"I've got my tongue," she purred with a wink that somehow managed to be both seductive and deeply threatening.

I stared at her for exactly three seconds, my brain processing the implications, before deciding that engaging further would only lead to situations I wasn't emotionally prepared to handle tonight.

"You know what? I'm just going to follow your directions and pretend this conversation never happened. Thank you for your help. You're both terrible and I appreciate you greatly."

I turned on my heel and began walking toward the indicated door. It wasn't long before I heard Nara's voice rise in indignation behind me. "See what you did? You scared him away with your weird tongue thing!"

"My tongue thing is not weird, it's a valuable skill—"

"It's creepy! You can't just offer to lick people clean like they're dinner plates—"

The sound of wrestling and aggressive giggling followed, and when I glanced back I saw them rolling on the floor in a tangle of limbs, bunny ears, and wine-dark skin, still arguing while simultaneously trying to pin each other.

I left the chaos behind with a fond shake of my head and made my way to the side balcony, finding the ladder exactly where they'd promised—wooden, definitely rotting in several concerning places, but still structurally sound enough to hold my weight if I was careful.

I climbed with deliberate caution, testing each rung before committing my full weight to it, then carefully stepped over the slanted tiles of the theater's roof once I reached the top.

The tiles themselves were slick with condensation from the humid underground air, and I had to move slowly to avoid slipping and tumbling to what would be a deeply embarrassing death.

After navigating several treacherous sections, I finally found Julius sitting on a relatively flat portion of the roof, his legs dangling over the edge, overlooking the underground city beyond with a wine bottle and glass in hand.

Beside him rested a pre-opened letter, the parchment fluttering slightly in the drafts that somehow reached even up here. He took a final sip from his glass, savoring it with theatrical appreciation, before pouring himself another generous serving.

I settled next to him as quietly as I could manage, but Julius still jumped like I'd fired a gun next to his ear, nearly dropping the glass and sending wine sloshing over the rim.

"Saints alive!" he yelped, one hand pressed to his chest. "Loona! What are you—" His eyes traveled down my body, taking in my complete and utter nakedness, the various fluids coating my skin, the fact that I was sitting on his roof like this were my perfectly normal state of being. "What are you doing up here... completely naked?"

I shrugged with exaggerated casualness, as though sitting nude on rooftops were merely part of my evening routine. "Felix fell asleep after, and I got restless. Figured I'd find you, have a conversation, maybe discuss the meaning of life while covered in cum. You know, typical Thursday night activities." I gestured at the city sprawling before us. "Plus, this view seemed worth the climb. Though I have to say, that ladder is a death trap waiting to happen. You should really get that fixed before someone breaks their neck."

Julius let out a laugh—bright and genuine, the sound echoing across the rooftops—before he took another sip of his wine. "The ladder adds character," he insisted with a grin. "Besides, if someone falls to their death while trying to reach a philosophical rooftop conversation, that's just natural selection doing its job."

I looked out at the view he'd been contemplating, and my breath caught slightly at the scope of it. The underground city of the Velvet Chambers stretched before us in layers of light and shadow, the inner circle still glowing with its fluorescent brothels and bronze machinery, the mid-tier more subdued with its classy establishments and smoking patios, and the slums spreading out in darkness broken only by those sickly blue streetlamps.

Above it all, the massive cavern ceiling arced like the dome of some impossible cathedral, and for the first time, without the glow of the city to blind my sight, I could see the faint glimmer of whatever magic or machinery kept this entire city from collapsing under the weight of the earth above it.

"It's beautiful," I murmured, my tone softening into something genuine. "In a deeply depressing, 'we're all living in a hole and pretending it's normal' kind of way."

Julius hummed in agreement, swirling the wine in his glass. "That's the thing about beauty, isn't it? It exists in the most unexpected of places. In the cracks and shadows, in the spaces between what we want and what we have. It has the remarkable ability to make the unbearable bearable—to transform suffering into spectacle, desperation into performance, survival into art. And down here..." he gestured grandly at the city with his free hand, his theatrical nature reasserting itself. "...we've perfected the illusion. The alchemy of turning darkness into light—creating something that glitters and shines precisely because of what it conceals, not despite it."

He took another sip of wine, his expression distant. "But here's the truly magnificent part. Beauty doesn't care about our intentions. Whether we're lying to ourselves or others becomes irrelevant. It exists in the execution, in the unwavering commitment to the illusion. And once you recognize that beauty—once you truly see it—you can never come to erase it from your mind. You become complicit in maintaining the illusion, because the alternative is acknowledging what lies beneath. And who would choose that?"

I paused, letting the weight of those words settle. "That's... remarkably profound for someone who's been drinking alone on a roof," I observed, nudging him with my shoulder. "You okay, Julius? Because that sounded dangerously close to a deep thought, and I'm not emotionally prepared for you to get introspective on me."

He laughed again, but this time it carried an edge of something else, something real.

"Oh, I'm always having deep thoughts," he said lightly. "I just disguise them with enthusiasm and wildly irresponsible theatrics." He paused, took another drink, then set the glass down carefully beside him. "Can I tell you something? Something that's not particularly fun or theatrical?"

"Of course," I said, my voice gentling. "I mean, I'm literally naked and covered in sex fluids, so we're already past the point of maintaining social pretenses. Hit me with it."

Julius picked up the letter beside him, holding it up to catch the dim light, before his expression shifted into something resigned.

"My landlord is raising the rent," he said flatly, the words carrying none of his usual dramatic flair. "Substantially. And the truth is..." He let out a breath that deflated his frame. "I don't have enough finances to survive the week. We're basically operating on fumes and hope at this point, and hope doesn't pay the bills."

I blinked, processing this information, then felt something heavy settle in my stomach. "Wait, you're serious? Like, actually serious, not 'Julius being dramatic for effect' serious?"

"Dead serious," he confirmed, crumpling the letter slightly in his grip. "The theater, the renovations, getting everyone here—it ate through everything I had. I thought we'd have more clients by now, thought the location wouldn't matter as much as the quality of service, but..." He gestured vaguely at the empty streets below our section of the slums.

"Hold on," I said, my voice rising with incredulity. "I'm curious. What's your current inflow of clients? How many people have actually come through?"

Julius was quiet for a long moment, hesitation crossing his face, before admitting in a small voice, "None. We've had none so far."

I stared at him. Actually stared, my mouth falling open in disbelief. "None? As in zero? As in you opened a brothel in the most competitive industry in the underground and haven't had a single client walk through your doors?" I shook my head, laughing despite the seriousness of the situation. "Julius, I say this with all the affection in my heart but gods above, you are a horrible businessman."

He pouted, his bottom lip jutting out in a way that would have been adorable if the situation wasn't so dire. "I thought word of mouth would spread on its own! I thought the location gave us character!"

"The location gives us murder bunnies and structural damage," I countered, though my tone was more teasing than accusatory. "But listen—this is fixable. All you need is some renovations to make the exterior less 'about to collapse' and more 'charmingly rustic,' and then you need advertisements. Lots of them. Posters, word of mouth, maybe bribe some guards to recommend us to their friends." I waved my hand dismissively. "It's basic marketing. You have to let people know you exist before they can give you money."

"And how exactly do you propose we pay for those renovations and advertisements?" Julius asked, gesturing at himself with mocking despair. "We're nearly broke, Loona. We can't afford materials, can't afford to hire help, can barely afford the wine I'm currently drinking to cope with our impending financial doom."

I was quiet for a moment, my mind already churning through possibilities, schemes forming and discarding themselves with rapid-fire efficiency. "I'll find a way," I said finally, my voice carrying conviction I absolutely didn't feel but was willing to fake until I figured something out. "Trust me. I've gotten myself this far on spite and terrible decisions—I can get us a little further."

A long moment of silence passed between us, comfortable despite the heavy topics we'd just discussed, before I found myself leaning in closer to Julius, my body shifting from casual to deliberately suggestive.

I let my voice drop into that lower register, the one I used when I wanted someone's full attention, then trailed my finger along his thigh.

"Speaking of things I'm curious about," I purred, my eyes tracking up to meet his with mischievous intent, "would you be a dear and show me what's behind that door in the basement? The one you very conveniently dismissed earlier?"

Julius perked up immediately, his entire demeanor shifting as a slow, predatory smirk spread across his face. His hazelnut eyes darkened with something that made my pulse quicken before he leaned in close enough that I could smell the wine on his breath.

"Oh, you want to see that, do you?" He took a final, deliberate sip of his wine, draining the glass with theatrical flair before pouring himself the last of the bottle. "Let me finish this real quick. Meet me on the balcony below. I'll show you exactly what we keep down there."

I nodded, excitement and apprehension warring in my chest, before I stood with deliberate slowness, dusting off my thighs and ass even though I was still covered in fluids that dusting would do nothing to address. I stalked back toward the ladder with Julius's eyes tracking my movements, and carefully descended to the side balcony below.

The cool air hit my skin as I stepped onto the wooden platform, making me shiver slightly. I rested my forearms on the railing before closing my eyes and letting out a long, heavy sigh.

The events of the day were finally catching up to me—exhaustion, satisfaction, concern about our finances, the weight of everything that had happened and everything still to come pressing down on my shoulders like a physical burden.

And in that very instant, my sigh became two.

I froze. Actually froze, every muscle in my body going rigid, because that second sigh hadn't come from me. My eyes snapped open as I glanced up, following the sound.

What I saw made my heart stop entirely.

Stretching between my balcony and the building beyond was a collapsed section of wall, creating an unintentional bridge of rubble and broken stone, and past that stood another building—a brothel, based on the faded signage and the general aesthetic of "we serve sex here and aren't subtle about it."

And standing on the side balcony of that opposite building, staring directly at me, was Elvina.

Her dark hair was down in a wild rush around her shoulders, no longer styled or controlled, just hanging in tangles that suggested she'd been through hell. Her dress—the same one from the match—was torn in several places, stained with things I didn't want to identify, hanging off her frame like it had given up on maintaining dignity.

But it was her emerald eyes that really captured my attention, wide and glaring with shock so profound it transcended mere surprise and entered the realm of existential crisis.

We stared at each other across the gap, two figures on opposite balconies, the silence stretching so long and heavy it felt like the world itself was holding its breath to see what would happen next.

And I, standing there completely naked and covered in cum, could only think one thing in that moment.

Well, this is going to be awkward.

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