<strong>Lace and Billy</strong><br/><br/>The night before the run, with Lace's roomate out on a date of her own, the blond girl worked hard in the kitchen, putting together a real salad and pan friend potatoes to go with the soy steaks chugging away in the auto-chef.<br/>She wasn't falling in love with Billy--well, not a whole lot--but she liked him, and she liked being with him in VR, and she was sick and tired of waiting for Mr. Right to come into her life.  The coming run was turning out to sound failry routine, but she didn't want to face down another firefight and whimper inside that she was going to die a virgin!<br/>So she'd invited him to dinner, and told him she had something to give him.  She didn't know if he realized what.  The digital maidenhead he'd sundered a few night's back could have been an aspect of her reality filter as easily as her residual self image.  He might not even know she was a virgin.<br/><br/>The house was a heavily restored old ruin from the mid 1900s, with gardens all around.  It would have been worth a lot more in a different neighborhood and with fewer spooky things abounding.  For two wizard girl's earning their way up the ladder with their arate, it was a godsend.