"What would you call this?"

"A good start."

Audrey smiles a little. They turn a corner, and a small gazebo comes into view.

"... do you want to stop in?"

"I can take a hint."

They pass towards the gazebo. As they enter, they see that a table has been laid with tea and coffee and little shortbread squares.

Audrey takes the place with a full coffee-cup. 

Lily sits across from her and pours herself tea.

"So, you're a tea person?", asks Audrey.

"And you're a coffee person."

"Any particular blend you like?"

"Earl Grey. And you?"

"Doesn't matter to me what kind of beans, just so long as they're espresso."

"Expensive taste, hm?"

"Says the regal girl. I saw that dress you were wearing at the formal dinner just fine, thank you."

"Yes, fair enough. I would hardly go to such a thing if I didn't have some fondness for the finer things." She smiles. "And that dress of yours, with the single clasp - should I be inferring things from that?"

"...maybe a little. I've had sex with..." She pauses. "You, Hannah, Kumi, and my alt Aurica, since I got here yesterday. Before that... nada. So..."

"Sounds like the Bowers were very helpful to you." 

"Yeah. Meeting my alt who was also here for sex mattered a lot. And even if we haven't gotten along since then, I'm doing alright. I have you and Hannah."

"Who's this Hannah person?"

"She's an experienced user of the Bowers, spends a lot of her time in the Blackberry Gardens, very... energetic. Takes to walking around with nothing but a bikini bottom and her hair for modesty."

"I... see. How energetic, as you say."

"She's been really helpful as someone to talk to about my experiences and kinks. And, honestly, as my first steady partner before you. It's a friends-with-benefits kind of thing, but... I trust her."

"I wasn't trying to criticize, I was just a little taken aback by the, er... flagrant nature of this girlfriend of yours."

"She's not really my girlfriend. No romance there."

Lily's lips curve up and she takes a small sip of her tea. 

"Just sex friends, got it. Like we were before this."

"Yeah, exactly. Which makes us what, exactly, now?"