Robert's afternoon is less busy than he thought. He hadn't missed anything while he was gone with Amber, and his only meeting that afternoon was canceled. After texting Jane to ask when she was available, he waits a bit, doing more research on vehicles for the afternoon, and lining up appointments to go to two car lots that evening to see the options. Eventually Jane texts back that she is rather busy, and that Lucia is going to come up to go over the various options they had identified.
Shortly afterward, Lucia texts to ask if she should come up with lunch for the talk. Given how slow work is, he decides to just go down, and take his work laptop. He gets settled at the breakfast table, and after Lucia takes a sandwich to Alexia, and Amber takes lunch to Jane, they finally settle down to eat together.
"So right now we have one good orange possible, and 4 other maybes?" Robert asks. "It sounds like we need to take 2 or 3."
"That's what we had this morning. We've identified more possibilities that are new since the last time we looked at orange cards, as well as a few we skipped last time, that may be worth considering. We really need you to take a look, and see what you think." Lucia says. "The longer this goes on, the more I think Jane is right. We can't have half of the house not being part of the family. One or two skilled positions is one thing, maybe a teacher and a doctor, but if they don't have skills, they need to at least be an active participant, and that means you need to find them attractive."
"I'm going to just stop arguing about this." Robert says. "I've lived long enough to know that I'm not going to win an argument against multiple women, and that even if I could, I'd regret it."
"There is nothing wrong with having attractive girls." Amber says. "A girl should be beautiful for her Master. Choosing a girl who you cannot find beautiful is cruel."
Robert sighs and shakes his head, deciding to just go with the insanity. "I'm sure you are both right. So can you show me the new options first, and then the old options again?"
"Ok" Lucia says. "First up we have what I'm calling the cute girls."
"The cute girls?" Robert asks.
"Girls whose primary asset is being cute." Lucia says. "They don't necessarily have a skill set we would otherwise be looking for. So rather than focus on their profiles, just focus on the photo. If they aren't your type, let us know, and we can remove them. If they interest you, we will need Mistress Jane to interview them, and decide if they would be a good fit from a personality standpoint."
Robert sighs, but takes the mouse, and goes through each one carefully, clicking into the profile despite Lucia's assurances, and blowing up the photo after reading the meager information available. When he is done, they have 8 'cute' girls left, all but one of which have brown or black hair.
"I think I'm noticing a pattern here." Lucia says. "Should we filter on that in the future?"
"No." Robert says shortly. "Even if someone isn't my ideal type, it doesn't mean they don't deserve consideration."
Lucia just laughs, and says excitedly. "Next we have two new girls with skills."
She clicks on one profile, and continues. "This is the vet. She's 27, and has been out of school for a year. I was able to find the website for the vet, and it appears she has worked at her father's practice since she graduated. As best we can tell, she is single, and I think she's pretty, if you don't mind a blonde."
"I don't mind." Robert says. "Are you thinking vet for whenever we hopefully get some property?"
"Let's just say that Mistress Jane has a plan." Lucia says, still excited. "She could also help with human injuries and illnesses, it's not like what she knows about animals is totally useless when dealing with humans."
"That's fair." Robert says. "She could be a good asset to have to help win over neighbors in a rural area too. We can put her as a possible, depending on how the interview goes. Who is the other one?"
"I'm calling this one the gardener." Lucia says. "She's 24, and it says she works at a plant nursery. I did some looking around, and I think it's this one." Lucia pulls up a site for a nursery that appears to specialize in permaculture. "I don't really know what that means, but Jane says you probably would."
"It means we need to bid on her, if we are serious about getting property." Robert says. "Let's see her profile."
"I wouldn't say she's pretty." Lucia says, and then adds hopefully. "But she's cute."
"There is nothing wrong with her." Robert says. The woman on the screen is cute, with brown hair, large glasses, and slightly chubby cheeks. "I'd have guessed librarian instead of gardener though."
"I can see that." Lucia says, after turning the laptop around to look at it a bit longer. "Are we calling her a possible, along with the vet?"
"Yes." Robert says. "And the teacher from before."
"So we have 3 possibilities with skills, and 12 cute maybes..." Lucia says. "I've got to think you and Jane can find 2 or 3 out of that group that won't break the bank."
"Definitely, as long as the interviews go ok." Robert says. "I guess you ladies can keep going through the reds, and hopefully find us some good options. Until we get through Saturday's auction though, I'm going to stay out of that."
"That's fine." Lucia says. "We have our list for Saturday, I'll type it up, and send you and Jane a link for your phones during the auction. Do you want to put the cute maybes in a particular order?"
"We can do that during the interviews." Robert says. "I just hope the possibles go up for auction first, so that we can fall back on the maybes at the end if we need to. Otherwise we may have no choice but to bid on a maybe if they are going cheaply, just to make sure we end up with people on our list. On a different note, we need to go shopping tonight, both for a car, and for furniture. Are you all coming?"
"I think we should." Lucia says. "We can all help with the test drive, with that many seats it'll be nice to have someone in each row, to make sure we test everything."
"Good idea." Robert says. "Amber, do you feel comfortable going?"
"I go where my Master wants me to go." Amber says, and Robert sighs and drops it.
"What about Alexia?" Robert asks.
"I don't see why she can't come." Lucia says. "Maybe check with Mistress Jane first."
The evening rolls around, and Jane agrees that Alexia should come.
"We need to pick up furniture after we get a van." Jane says. "She can help us load, and unload, and she's the one that knows exactly what we need."
The group piles into the car and heads to the car lot. There are two options, one of which is cheaper but much more plain, and the other of which is nicer, and more expensive.
"Let's test drive them both." Jane says. "Girls, try a few different seats. We are stuck with whatever we pick for years, so I need honest feedback."
The first van was a bit loud and bumpy, and the bench seats were just not comfortable. The second was a little better, with individual seats, much less road noise, and better headroom. Robert and Jane take a few minutes to confer.
"The first one kind of sucks." Robert says, "But the second is really expensive."
"They are both expensive, but if we are going to buy, we should buy the decent one." Jane says. "No point half-assing this."
"You are right." Robert says.
"I've moved the cash around so we don't need to worry about a loan." Jane says. "Let's just pay and get out of here, I don't want to be here all night."
They manage to get out after just an hour of paperwork.
"Lucia and I are going to take our car, we have a few errands to run for tomorrow, and then we will get dinner." Jane says. "Alexia, direct Robert to the furniture store that has what you need. I expect perfect behavior from you, young lady. Amber, if you observe any behavior that I would not approve of, you are to text me immediately. Robert is too nice sometimes."
"Yes, Mistress." Amber says, having realized that Jane was the disciplinarian.
Jane and Lucia hop into the car, and head towards the sex shop.
"I can't wait to get home." Lucia says. "I hate wearing a collar."
"I know." Jane says. "And I hate that you have to wear something you hate so much. Collars can be fun, but not when the person hates wearing it."
A few minutes later they pull into the local sex shop.
"You've never been into one of these, right?" Jane asks.
"I haven't." Lucia says.
"Have your ID card ready, and stay near me. If anyone addresses you, I'll respond. Make sure you address me as Mistress." Jane says. "Hopefully the store is just about empty, and we can get in and out fast."
The pair get out of the car, and Jane leads the way inside. The employee at the counter looks up, and begins to speak, but stops for a moment when she sees the collar on Lucia's neck. "Is she a concubine?" She asks.
"Yes." Jane says. "Do you need to see her ID?"
The woman sighs, and says. "I guess? I have no idea what the rules are going to be moving forward, but she's definitely young enough to ID."
Jane holds out her hand, and Lucia provides her ID. Walking over, she hands it to the employee.
"18 on the dot." The employee says. "Your husband must be happy."
"I think he's very satisfied." Jane says. "Don't you, Lucia?"
Lucia blushes, and responds quietly. "Yes, Mistress."
"She's cute." The employee says. "So what brings you in?"
"I need to punish another one of my girls." Jane says. "I'm thinking of going with a humiliation based punishment, maybe putting animal ears and a tail on her, and treating her like an animal for a day."
"Sounds fun." The employee says, staring at Lucia. "Not this one, though? I can't imagine her misbehaving."
"She can be a handful when she wants to be." Jane says with a smile. "But she's not the one getting punished this time."