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It had seemed somehow unsporting - in some vague way - to try and reserve the bathroom at the 7-Eleven if Todd was not working. Perhaps to some onlookers responding to a promise of special bathroom privileges with exorbitant "tips" of both cash and free food looked like bribery in the right light, and Elaine was both aware of this and unabashed. All's fair in love and war, and if anything could be called strategic territory demanding vigorous defensive positioning, it was one of the only 24 hour bathrooms in this chunk of the city.

Still, it was not a contract she had opened with anyone but Todd, and so, if he was not at work, she was generally willing to simply take her chances. This ought to change, she thought.

It was suspiciously peaceful on this particular night - thank God, she thought, since it being non-peaceful now meant some sort of obligation to her personally - and thus it seemed like the ideal time to start opening negotiations with the other key graveyard employee. Particularly as, when she arrived, the bathroom was occupied.

Elaine - a familiar sight in the wee hours of the morning by this time - in what might have been called businesswear had the bottom layer not consisted of a pleather bandage dress, beamed a smile at the goth girl at the counter, her heels dangling from her fingertips in defiance of the No Shoes No Service policy. "You are so cute," she said. "Have I said that before?"

"Much better taste in TV than Doodlebear, too," she said, gesturing at said grainy footage. Perhaps referring to the local news as good taste in TV would be weird for anyone else, but Morgan had undoubtedly seen enough Raw Time to get that this was a low bar to clear.

"And yeah, I'll definitely be stocking up. Just, you know. Waiting on the facilities." She beamed again, quite amicably and quite unmoved by Morgan's cold response. "Haven't had to do that in a while," she added conversationally, maneuvering for an opening. "Doodlebear and I have an Arrangement. He's cute too. Great cheekbones. Have you two got a, uh--" she wiggled her eyebrows, making a little circle gesture of her hands as if to encompass the two of them in a Now Kiss.

Elaine wrinkled her nose. Someone in her profession ought to know better than to judge a book by its cover, but still, she assessed them, vomitless or no, and decided that it might be a good idea to let the bathroom air out a bit before darting in.

She was, in any case, mildly enjoying antagonizing Morgan, in the unfortunate way that she did enjoy mildly antagonizing people sometimes. "You're too good for him," she commiserated, not actually sure if this was true but working on the general supposition that every woman was too good for every man, a creed by which she lived her life. "But so am I, so that's not why I asked. Luckily I don't plan on touching anyone," she continued, flashing the kind of dazzling smile that can only be bought with good money - a trait possibly shared by certain other parts of her body, which were, as usual, notably on display. "But I can probably grease the wheels on the getting paid part."

"If that's what you wanna call me, I'm not opposed. I've definitely got those," she said cheerfully, spreading her arms and giving a little wiggle. She was strapped into that dress to within an inch of her life and with a shape that suggested some sort of corsetry going on beneath, but said money bags were of a size and heft to respond anyway, undulating in a hypnotic sort of way.

She did not, in fact, have money bags in the literal sense. But she was willing to spend money where it counted - tits, teeth, prescription dog food, and a clean bathroom.

"Doodlebear and I have an arrangement, like I said. He lets me call ahead and reserve the bathroom. He does it out of the kindness of his blessed little heart," she added indulgently, as if speaking of a child or an adorable animal. "But I am prepared to meet you in the middle if your heart is both less blessed and less kind."

She hesitated, and then, with a certain primness, stepped back into her heels before delivering Morgan fingerguns, as if she had been done a favor rather than the cashier simply standing there and observing the empty bathroom, and braving the situation.

When she emerged, it was with something of a show of drying her hands, as if to prove that she had, in fact, minimum standards of hygiene.

"Yeah," she said, with a certain grimness. "I'll definitely call ahead next time. You'll be glad. I don't even s**t in public bathrooms and I haven't puked in one since my senior year." She pulled a fairly fat stack of cash out of an interior pocket in her jacket.

It would be best if Morgan and Todd did not compare their relative tips. She was aware she was lowballing, but also, she reasoned, Morgan's customer service was lacking in comparison. So it was that she slid only a ten across the counter this time, which considering Morgan hadn't actually done anything yet, was actually a fairly generous advance on future small favors.

"Sometimes I stop at that Indian takeaway cart on the way home," she added magnanimously. "I'll bring you samosas next time, if you're here."

She patted the bill on the counter as if releasing a fostered pet into the arms of its forever home, and then turned to go. But she paused at the door, turning back to add: "Don't tell Todd you call me Moneybags. He calls me Boss Lady, and I like it." She said this with a certain lewdness of expression, before going cheerfully back into the night.