It's dangerous to go to bars alone! (For Daaharu)

Lia had her chance to laugh at Janet's reaction now. "I'm not aallowed to jo-oke w-with you?" the albino giggling a little crazily, she really was the definition of happy drunk.

It was a bit surprising when Janet hugged her, but Lia wasn't complaining. She wrapped her arms around Janet's neck and shoulder before the pair started walking forward. "Waarm and co-ozy s-sounds g-good..."

“If you want to tell jokes, you can tell jokes,” Janet replied, patting Liaâ€s shoulder. She would start walking slowly in the direction of the apartment she and her girlfriend shared, just two blocks away. With Liaâ€s arms around her neck and shoulders, Janet would take it easy, sort of dragging the blonde along down the sidewalk, making sure to veer clear of any icy patches. It took a few minutes, but they would finally stumble into the building, Janet directing her guest towards the elevator at the far corner of the lobby.

“Weâ€re up a couple of floors,” she explained. “Donâ€t worry, weâ€re almost there. And then we can get nice and comfortable and have a good chat.”

It took a long time, but the apartment finally became visible. Which was just as well, since the cold was beginning to really sting. despite how close she and her host-to-be were hugging one another. Thankfully, Janet's steering of Lia ensured the prevention of anymore ice-related missteps.

After so long out in the frosty air, the warm insulated lobby air brought a shocking warmth to Lia's reddening chilled skin. "A-almost dere...", Lia repeated the words to get the idea into her head. She stepped to the Elevator door, pressed the door. Soon enough the bell gave an inviting *ding* and the doors slid open, empty for the two. "Y-you suure in a n-nice place, Janet.", finally getting the name right. The apartment certainly put Lia's place to shame.

Not that she was jealous of course.

Janet chuckled as Lia finally got her name right. The first time or two that she had been called Jane or Janey or Janice, she had tried to gently correct her pale blonde companion—she couldnâ€t really blame her, of course, because she had only told the Canadian girl her real name at the very end of their first encounter, so she had very little time to memorize it—and Janet had it on very good authority that copious amounts of alcohol were not exactly beneficial for oneâ€s memory.

“Between Azami and I, we make enough money to afford a pretty nice place,” Janet mused. She had never really thought of her apartment as that nice, but, now that she thought about it, it was in a nice neighborhood, close to both the AFW facilities and the heart of Tokyo, and it was a pretty big place, too. She hoped that Lia would like the actual room, as they traveled up on the elevator, before getting off at one of the upper floors and hurrying down the hallway to the place that Janet called home.

She would open the door with a flourish, leading Lia into the apartment gently. Right in front was the sitting area, with a pair of sofas both facing a television in the corner of the room. In one direction was the kitchen, beside it the bedroom, and, the next door over, the bathroom. Janet would point each of these out to Lia before sitting the girl down on the sofa and waiting to see what Lia wanted to do next.

The elevator doors dinged and opened a second time, showing a well maintained carpeted hallway. Lia might be a bit slowed from the alcohol, but her brain still drew the obvious conclusion of who "Azami" was. "If she's a-as goood as you... I think yoou coould afford this no p-problem." The paycheck even for someone like Lia was sizeable, and Janet probably earned twice or triple whatever the albino did.

Once she stepped into the room, Lia took a quick once-over glance at everything as Janet pointed out everything. Her curiosity was always going, even if there were quite a few confusing feelings. She sat down on the same sofa besides Jane, after waling so much in the cold together, it wasn't like sitting beside her was going to break any personal space boundaries now. "Mmm... Sooo... I kinda... don't kn-know what t-to do now... Like... I probab-bly don't haave anny interestting stories like you do..." Well... She DID, but those stories were a bit too dark for tonight.

“Well, sheâ€s been around a little longer than I have,” Janet explained. “In AFW, I mean. So she makes a little more than I do as a base salary. Sheâ€s a little more, uh…submissive than I am, though, so I tend to get a few more bonuses for winning matches, so I think it all evens out. This was actually her place before I moved in, so now that we share the expenses, we have a lot of extra spending money.”

Once they were inside and seated, Janet would sigh and tousle Liaâ€s platinum blonde hair fondly. “No stories, huh? Well, thatâ€s okay. Iâ€m sure we can figure out stuff to do to occupy our time,” she said. Then, chuckling a little, she would ask: “Would you like me to break out the liquor?”

Hearing Janet talk about how the details of her and Azami's pay made Lia smile more than usual speak involving paycheques would. The implications pretty much confirmed Lia's first assessment that Janet was indeed a fun-seeker. Although the Lakota's definition of fun was quite different from the albino's.

Lia probably should refuse any offer for more drink at this point. Her decision making on a good day was impulsive enough, and to add in more alcohol beyond whatever number of glasses from the bar was simply a bad idea. But... "Soouunds good!" her reasoning was that they were sort of kinda maybe friends-ish, so it couldn't hurt. And it was sort of too late to not go all out tonight, she was already here after all. "Buut... I d-do wanna pay ya back for b-befoour."

Hearing that Lia approved of breaking out the liquor, Janet would smile, pat the blonde girl on the head, and say: “Be right back!” before heading over into the kitchen. After a minute or two of rummaging, she would emerge with a bottle of wine and two glasses, setting them down on the small table in front of the sofa and pouring them each a glass.

“So, you want to pay me back, huh?” Janet said, as she would carefully hand Liaâ€s glass to her. “Just how exactly do you intend to do that? Did you have a plan in mind, or were you just going to wing it?”

Lia took the glass with slightly shaky hands. And she was pretty sure that wasn't from the drinking beforehand. "Thanks..." But then Lia thought about Janet's words. How WAS she going to go about it? She sorta just said it kind of out of impulse.

"Nothing wr-rong with wiiinging it, r-right? I don't remember you plaanning too much back then..." her tone was a bit accusational, which was unusual for Lia. "Buut... I'm not as strong as you... I coouldn't do it without... yoour help." her mood returning to the normal meek Lia.

Janet shrugged as Lia responded in a voice that struck the Native American girl as just slightly accusational. “I suppose thereâ€s nothing wrong with that,” she replied, while taking a sip from her own wine glass. “You can pay me back however you want. I guess I just donâ€t know what exactly you mean to do—whatever it is, I hope you donâ€t wait too long. The anticipation is absolutely killing me, Iâ€ll have you know.”

She would chuckle, shifting herself on the couch so that she could lean against its arm, facing Lia, waiting to see what the albino girl intended to do to her. “Just tell me what you need me to do, okay?” she added.