[Summary if you skipped the exposition chapter: we've colonised a new planet, and the lower socioeconomic classes live in a Wild-West like setting in barely terraformed lands. Virginia Curtis is a 19-year old colonist surviving with her twin brother, Eli, by working as a waitress in a saloon/brothel. She's been successfully pretending to be younger than she is to avoid having to whore herself out, but the saloon owner, Simmons, has called her out. The owner's son, Jacob, is trying to get her out of it.]
***
Tension in the Morning Glory was palpable as Virginia manned the bar. For one, she was manning the bar - Jacob or his father usually did that. Thankfully, the only customers were Jo and Benji, a couple of early bird regulars. If the unusual sight of Virginia at the bar got them thinking, they hid it well. The Simmons pair were in the back office, and despite Bennie's best efforts to cover it up, every now and then a burst of raised voices drifted into the main room.
A door slammed shut somewhere, followed by unnerving silence. A few seconds stretched into eternity, and the office door opened to let Jacob into the room. Without a word, he took his customary place behind the bar. Virginia stood awkwardly, not sure what to say, not daring to ask the question burning a hole in her brain.
"I bought you six months," Jacob murmured, "but you've got to..."
He pinched the bridge of his nose, a deep sigh seeming to deflate him. Virginia was already mentally sorting through her and Eli's meagre possessions to identify the few she could afford to carry if they had to run.
"You don't have to
do
anything with anyone," Jacob continued, "but you have to... advertise."
Virginia cocked her head. "Advertise?"
"I convinced him that having an unattainable girl made the service look more exclusive - if you can fuck any girl, why bother paying? It's a shaky argument, but he agreed to try for six months, to see if you can drum up more business this way." Jacob turned to look at Virginia directly. "You'll need to dress nice, look nice, get them all hot and bothered, and send them upstairs to the girls to seal the deal."
Blood drained from Virginia's face. "I'm sorry," Jacob whispered, "it's the best I could do."
"No," she breathed. She stepped towards him and put her hand over his on the bar. "Thank you. You have no idea what he was going to make me do... just, thank you."
"Well, he's stormed off," Jacob said, turning his hand to intertwine his fingers with Virginia's, "so hopefully he'll have cooled down by the time he comes back. But just in case..." Jacob cleared his throat, uncomfortable, and looked sideways at Virginia. "Just in case he does pop back in today, could you borrow something from one of the girls?"
"Oh." Virginia glanced up at the banister. Kitty was looking down at them, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. Virginia hurriedly untangled her hand from Jacob's and stepped away, then brushed invisible crumbs from her apron. "Um, okay. I'll ask them."
***
"It's a good thing you refuse to join us up here," Kitty said as she stepped back to admire her work, "or you'd give us serious competition."
Virginia sighed and brushed her hands down her skirt, trying to smooth the fabric into lengthening. The back of her skirt wasn't too bad, reaching just past her knees, but the asymmetrical front barely covered the top of her thighs. The garters holding up her stockings were on full display, and every step she took gave anyone not standing at full height - so, most of the customers downstairs... - a look between her legs.
"How am I supposed to serve drinks in this thing? I can barely breathe, let alone move!"
Virginia twisted to look at herself in the mirror and winced as the corset around her waist dug into her skin. She shifted her hips instead to face her whole body forwards, and grimaced at her reflection. Her chest was on full display, her forced upright posture pushing her breasts forwards and up.
Kitty shrugged, busy touching up her makeup in the corner. "I think you look fine. Just remember to use your legs to bend down, not your back."
Virginia sighed one last time, then gathered her courage and headed downstairs. Jacob glanced up and froze, his mouth hanging open for a brief second before he collected himself. Joining him behind the bar, Virginia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "What do you think?"
Seconds stretched interminably and Virginia looked up, trying to read Jacob's expression. A storm she couldn't interpret brewed behind his eyes. "You look...," he started, and she looked away. He stepped towards her and reached a hand up, before letting it drop back down, unsure how to touch her now. "You look beautiful."
Beautiful
wasn't quite the word Virginia would have used - slutty, whorish, trampy, even ridiculous, but not beautiful - so she glanced back at him suspiciously, but his features had calmed and all she could see now was sincerity. She smiled tentatively and bowed her head in thanks.
Unsurprisingly, her change of attire was noticed, and after a few hours Virginia's jaw ached from grinding her teeth through the lewd comments and wandering hands. That pain joined her ribs and back from straining against the corset all evening.
The evening was drawing to a close, and Jacob rang the last call bell. The room remained busier than it normally was this close to closing, no doubt thanks to Virginia's new look, and several men approached the bar to order their last drinks.
The door swung open, and Jacob shouted from behind the bar. "Sorry mate, just rang last call, we're closing."
Heavy boots thudded as the newcomer walked across the room. A man walked confidently through the saloon, followed by two hulking silhouettes. Murmurs followed in his wake, quickly turning to hushed silence. "That's Jesse Morton..." Virginia just about overheard someone saying as they nudged their neighbour.
Virginia shuddered. Jesse 'the Demon' Morton was infamous round these parts. You didn't earn a nickname - let alone one like
the Demon
- unless you'd done something noteworthy... and Jesse had done many. Rumour has it he'd come over on the very first liveship. Of course, that would make him both insanely rich and powerful, and every single other member of that ship was now part of the planetary government in some way, living in the comfort of the major cities.
Nobody really knew why Jesse chose to live the way he did, out in the midlands with the lowest classes of society. Some believed he'd been shunned by his peers, his violent and ruthless tendencies too uncouth for their brand new regime; others thought he'd voluntarily chosen this life, that he got off on power. Either way, he could do whatever he wanted out here and nobody would care... and if they did, there was no trouble he couldn't get out of by throwing money and influence at it. Looking at him now, Virginia could believe the rumours. He walked as if he owned the place.
Jesse sat down at the table Virginia had just cleared, his two companions silently hovering behind him, their eyes constantly scanning the crowd. "Whiskey. Triple," Jesse said.
