"So, where do we go for lunch?" asked Jason, looking half-heartedly in one of the hundreds of shop windows. Yet another combination tobacconist's and news stand. The neighborhood was rife with them. An annoyed-looking proprietor stared at him as he pressed his nose against the glass, and he realized he was acting like a tourist again and looked away.

The view in Flora's direction was decidedly better, anyway. She had dressed up before leaving the hotel room, apparently to torment him. It was working. Now she was wearing a very tight, very short latex miniskirt in an outrageous shade of purple. The latex was so thin, it was slightly translucent, and when the light hit it right, he could see little bubbles in the sweat between her ass and the skirt.

Combined with the form-fitting jacket in a matching shade of patent leather, the total effect was staggeringly loud, but very sexy. Besides a half-cup push-up bra of shiny black rubber, the tight-waisted jacket was all she wore above the waist. It revealed and exaggerated her cleavage and, combined with the bright colors, created the impression that she was an escapee from a local art school.

Jason shrugged his new bomber jacket around him, unwilling to believe that this overcast day was actually "nice spring weather," as Flora had called it. He was glad he had bought the version with a shearling lining, because it was the only thing keeping him warm. The pattern of chrome studs on the back he could have done without, but it was the only version that came with the sheepskin.

"I dunno," Flora answered absently. She was squinting in the overcast but bright daylight, looking through a tourist's guide book. "Something besides pub food. The locals could learn something about good food, you know." She shifted back and forth a bit on her stiletto heels.

"Hey," defended Jason, "that place had damn good ale. Just because you don't like fish."

"I LIKE fish," retorted Flora, "I just don't like what THEY did to it. I mean, vinegar? Eeew." She took a break from her reading to stick her tongue out petulantly at a passing gent who was admiring the view. It was not surprising, considering Flora's outfit- even in Carnaby Street, where punks and art-school types seemed to abound.

"What do you mean, you're supposed to LIKE the vinegar. YOU'RE a Brit. It's been what, twenty-four hours? And already your accent is thickening like yesterday's chowder." He smiled at his little witticism, but pecked Flora on the cheek to take the sting from his words.

She grinned and appeared ready with a riposte, when something caught her attention over Jason's shoulder.

"Mandy! Over here!" She shouted over the din of the tourist crowd and the traffic.

Mandy hurried up to them, loaded down with shopping bags. Looking quite fashionable in her shiny black mackintosh and calf-high boots, she was far better prepared for the threatening sky than either Jason or Flora. Flora looked like she ought to be freezing in her skimpy, revealing outfit, but she showed no sign of it. Perhaps she was just used to the climate. She had neglected to tell her companions what the weather was like in England, but apparently Mandy had had a better idea English weather than Jason.

"So, did you find what you were looking for?" Asked Jason.

She frowned and said, "More or less. I have to go back to the Ectomorph shop after the con for a second fitting. Oh, and I've bought you each a present."

"What, What?" Flora asked, jumping up and trying to look into Mandy's bag, like a small child.

"Oh, you'll see. Wait 'till we get back to the hotel. Hmm. I see I'm not the only one who's been shopping. New shoes, my dear?"

Flora smiled coyly through her hair at Mandy, who was walking around the younger woman, inspecting her new heels. They were sky-high, bright purple, patent leather opera pumps, matching her skirt, with the addition of half-a-dozen straps across the instep, and a wide cuff around the ankle, attached to the shoe at the back. A tiny padlock dangled from the hasp of each cuff.

"What do you think?" Asked Jason, "I picked the style, and Flora picked the color."

Mandy smiled approvingly. "I like, I like. Anything else?"

"I've been sorely tempted," said Jason, "but I'm saving my money for the convention. Every fetish and perve shop in Europe will be there, and I won't have to wear out my feet. Plus, if we see something in the dealers room we like, we can always visit their shop next week, if they're locals."

"Well," said Flora, "there was one little thing, er, pair of things, I just couldn't resist. They weren't very expensive!" She added defensively.

"So? Give. Let's see!" Mandy looked expectantly at Flora's shopping bag.

"Weeelll, since you're going to make US wait until we get back, I think I'll make YOU wait too." She put on her best "mischievous child" grin.

Mandy gave her a stern look. "Fine. If that's the way you want it. You know you'll have to pay for this little disobedience later, don't you?" Jason rolled his eyes skyward. "And what are YOU looking gaga at?" Mandy gave Jason a perturbed stare. Jason looked back, his innocent smile clearly saying, who me?'.

Mandy gave up. "Oh! You two! I'm starving. Let's find something."

".to eat," finished Flora and Jason in unison.

Mandy peered around the block, evidently looking for a promising eatery. "You too?" She said.

"We were just debating what to have when you walked up," answered Flora.

"Well, I don't see much here, and I don't fancy the hotel food. What's your little book say?"

"Not much. Looks like a lot of tourist traps, if you ask me."

"Flora and I passed an ice-cream shop about a block back." Jason offered helpfully.

Flora and Mandy looked at each other. Wide grins broke out. "Chocolate Oblivion!" They cried in unison. They each grabbed an arm of a bewildered looking Jason and hurried back the way he and Flora had come.

-=O=-

"Oh, God," moaned Jason, "that was wonderful." He leaned back in the chair, holding his stomach. ".but I feel like the Goodyear blimp," he added.

Flora and Mandy exchanged looks, and broke out in another fit of giggles. The giggles had started about half-way through their chocolate orgy, and they had hardly said a word since. Jason was trying to be patient, but he kept getting the impression that he was on the receiving end of an inside joke. It didn't help that the giggles seemed uncharacteristic for the usually cool Mandy.

"Oh Jesus, this is good fudge," Mandy finally said clearly. She and Flora had been devouring a mound of Rocky Road under rivers of hot fudge. "Not Hot Fudge Topping," Mandy had read off the shops sign, "but real melted fudge! These people definitely have the right idea!"

The two soda jerks, one a boy, the other a young woman and apparently the manager, had been ogling the trio since they had sat down, the boy trying not to be obvious as he alternately stared at Flora and Mandy. When Mandy had doffed her mac, revealing her tightly-laced, metallic silver, kid leather body suit, you could almost hear the boy's jaw crack as it hit the counter. Jason had watched in curious amusement when Flora had gone up to ask the woman for a glass of water, and a long whispered conversation had ensued between her and the young lady at the end of the counter.

"So what was that all about," Jason asked when she got back.

"She wanted to know where she could find a skirt just like this one," replied Flora, looking quite satisfied with herself.

"Not in purple, I hope," said Mandy.

"What's wrong with purple?" Countered Flora. "Aside from the incredibly loud shade you picked," replied Mandy, "nothing. but you never seemed to want bright colors before- black used to be good enough until now." She was regarding Flora with thoughtful eyes.

"That's because I never bought something just for wearing out in public before," Flora said. "I mean, EVERYONE wears black rubber or leather at the convention, right? I just wanted to be. different, that's all."

"You want to be different, eh?" asked Mandy in an odd tone, staring intently into Flora's eyes. "But you ARE different, my little slut, and you know it, don't you?" She had lowered her voice to a deep and throaty purr, and Jason doubted that the two behind the counter could hear. It would probably have been too much for their perspiring young minds anyhow, he thought. Mandy was still talking in low tones to Flora. "You are better than they are, aren't you? You are more. valuable, because you are mine."

Flora's eyes grew a little wider, but she didn't break Mandy's gaze. She licked her lips. She began to look distracted, as if listening to Mandy's little speech was the most important thing in the world. Mandy's voice continued in a softly spoken, unbroken torrent of words.

"You have experienced both heaven and hell, while they fumble through their dreary lives like mice in a maze." Her voice had taken on a monotonous, almost hypnotic quality. Jason had never heard her speak this way before. The hair rose on the back of his neck. Something's happening here, he thought. He had the good sense not to interrupt with any questions.

"You live your life for pleasure, because you wish to, isn't that right?" Flora's eyelids were drooping, Jason noticed.

"Mm-hmm," answered Flora. The air between the three of them was charged with energy, and Jason shivered, despite the warm jacket he still wore. Flora seemed fascinated with Mandy's face in a dreamy sort of way, while at the same time, she appeared distracted, as if listening to unheard music.

"What do you live for?" asked Mandy.

"Pleasure," murmured Flora.

"Why do you live this way?" insisted Mandy.

"Because I wish to," replied Flora, her voice sounding almost drugged with happiness now. Jason was entranced.