Quinn in the Gilded City

That was all Quinn needed to hear. "We'll get two orders of those ribs then!" He told the waitress, assuming that Lex indeed wanted some ribs after her earlier comment.

Lex nodded at that, and then the waitress wrote that down and smiled even more brightly. "Do you want any sides or drinks to go with that?" She asked them, and behind her, Quinn could see a woman in one of those tight suits that Maylene's gang wore. It looked like she was placing an order, but not sitting down.

"I'd be happy with some water to go along with that," Quinn answered with an equally bright smile. Seeing one of Maylene's underlings, a new question popped into the curious dog boy's head, one he'd have to ask Lex once they are finished ordering.

"And, I'll have some fries and a soda." Lex chimed in, and the waitress's pen flourished as she wrote it all down for them.

"Done aaaaand done. I'll get that to the kitchen now and be back with your drinks." She told them with a smile before going on her way. All the while, the member of Maylene's gang seemed to be waiting for something.

Once the waitress was gone, the questions began. "So I understand that they are just a gang of friends and all and that their outfits were for appeal, but still, what do Maylene and her friends do?" Quinn asked Lex, "They must have some sort of business. Did you see all that gold and those important-looking papers?"

"Oh, um..." Lex seemed a little surprised at the question, and she lowered her voice a little before she began to answer. "They do have a business... like she said, it's not really legitimate. She does... 'protection'... as in, you're protected from any criminals as long as you pay her some dues. Including... her gang of criminals." She explained to him, hoping Quinn would understand it.

"Why are you whispering? It's not like they're doing a bad thing... Wait, what was that last thing?" Quinn said, only fully processing Lex's words halfway through his response, "They know being criminals is bad, right?" Now that the true nature of Maylene's gang was revealed to him, Quinn couldn't help but keep a careful watch on the gang member currently in the restaurant.

"Yeah, they know.... look, it's more complicated than it looks. They keep other criminals out of the city and give the impression that they're this big syndicate.... they're all in the pocket of the mayor, it's super weird." Lex whispered to Quinn, hoping to assuage his fears that Maylene's gang may not be trustworthy.

As she whispered, the gang member was approached by a waitress, asked a question seemingly, gave a quick answer, and then the waitress left. Moments after, Quinn and Lex's waitress came back and gave them their drinks. "Your food will be out in a bit."

"Okay! Thank you!" Quinn replied to the waitress as she gave them their drinks and updated them on their order. He waited for her to leave before replying to Lex.

"So the mayor is bad as well? How was she elected then? There's no way people would have voted for a criminal," Quinn questioned as his mind did its thing, making big leaps in logic to make stuff make sense to him, "Hm... Oh, I think I get it! It must be what I felt earlier from Maylene wasn't completely a hunting instinct she couldn't suppress, but also some sort of criminal instinct! And since there is no way the mayor is evil, she must have understood that Maylene was only doing crime out of an instinctual need to and took control of the gang to guide that crime towards other criminals! And that means Maylene won't feel like doing more crimes once I teach her to suppress those instincts!" From the look of pride and anticipation on his face and his excitedly wagging tail, it was pretty clear to Lex that Quinn felt a hundred percent confident that his conclusion was correct and was waiting for a bit of praise, congratulating him for figuring it out.

Unfortunately for Quinn, he would not receive that praise from Lex. But.... he thought that the Mayor had some control over Maylenr and kept her in check wasn't completely wrong, so Lex decided to not correct him too much, because she knew it'd be hilarious when it came time for Quinn to test his theory. "Riiiiiight..... uh, good luck trying to suppress Maylene's 'instincts'. She has her job specifically because of them.... well, just don't come crying to me when this little lesson you're going to give to Maylene goes to her bedroom. But hey, she has a really soft bed and an even softer body, it's gonna feel really good when she cuddles you like a pillow." Lex told him with a giggle, wishing she could be a fly on the wall when Maylene and Quinn meet again. "But, the Mayor isn't evil, so you got that part right."

The sarcasm that came with that first prolonged 'right' completely bypassed Quinn, so even though Lex didn't mean to praise him, he clearly took her words as if she were. "Thank you for wishing me luck! But why do you think we'll go to her bedroom for the training?" Quinn replied, "Hm... Well, I guess we could end up there if she wanted to do it in privacy."

"Heh... I'm almost jealous of you. Many would pay good money to get to be alone with Maylene in her bedroom." Lex said with a cheeky grin as she took a sip of her soda. As she giggled to herself about how much the Queenpin was going to rock Quinn's world, the waitress returned with two plates of ribs for the pair.

Nice and hot, meat falling off the bone, excellently seasoned, and plenty of homemade sauce to go with it all. "There you are! Let me know if you need anything else." The waitress told them with a shining smile.

At the same time, the gang member near the front was given a to-go bag, and she gave the staff a pretty pile of gold in exchange.

Oh, so the gang member was just picking up takeout... or could it be some sort of illegal transaction Quinn should be stopping? Before those thoughts could fill the dog boy's head too much, his meal arrived and took all of his attention. "Thank you! I think we are good for now," Quinn told the waitress before he dug into his ribs.

Lex dug in at the same time as him, and the waitress smiled at how earnestly they were enjoying their meals as she took her leave. It was nice and hot, fresh out of the kitchen. The meat fell straight off the bone, had a nice char that added flavor and texture, and just enough sweet and spicy barbecue sauce. It was every bit as good as anyone wanted their ribs to be.

With his mouth full of juicy meat, Quinn couldn't verbally express how much he enjoyed the fresh meal, but his happily wagging tail certainly could.

Quinn and Lex tore those ribs apart in short order, and while the meal didn't last long, it definitely hit the spot! "Daaaamn, that was good...." The Vigilante swore as she leaned back in her seat and contemplated whether she should get anything else. Trying to feel out how hungry she was

Quinn was just as content with his order of ribs as Lex was with hers and quickly noticed her contemplation. "If you're still hungry, get some more! This'll be my treat!" The dog boy told Lex before he began to gnaw happily on one of the leftover bones from the ribs.

"Hmmm... I'll pass, I don't wanna overeat. Thanks for the offer, though.... wait, what were we doing before we showed up here? Doing something for Maylene?" Lex asked, realizing that she had been completely engrossed in the ribs and forgot to pay any heed to much of anything else until just now.

"Hm... Oh, I know, we were going to the fancy mansion west of here to... do something with magic about the curse?" Quinn answered. Much like Lex, his mind had wandered from their task, so he wasn't completely sure what they were going to do at their destination.

"Oooh, right, we're supposed to get a curse breaker from Anna and get it into city hall." Lex mentioned, remembering at least the important bits of their task. "Alright, you ready to head out and meet the Merchant Queen?" She asked him, hopping up and giving herself a stretch as she recovered from almost falling into a food coma.

Quinn: 30 Willpower
80 Gold
1/4 Progress
3/5 Contacts
6 Mental Fatigue

Oh boy, if this Anna isn't an actual queen, Lex made a big mistake referring to her as one since it was now ingrained in Quinn's head that she was one. He seemed to be meeting a lot of 'royalty' on this trip to the Gilded City.

"Yeah, let's go... Did we pay for our meal yet?" Quinn answered energetically as he hopped to his feet as well, before thinking for a second and asking about the bill for their food. He did tell her that this be his treat, yet he didn't seem to have any less gold.

"Oh, nope, just drop them 7 gold, that'll cover it." Lex told Quinn, unaware that there may be an issue with Anna's title. After he paid the bill, they were back on the streets of Rollatia again and had a decent walk between them and Anna's mansion. But, a walk was a small price to pay to cure the bunny girl curse.

Quinn: 30 Willpower
73 Gold
1/4 Progress
3/5 Contacts
6 Mental Fatigue

Stepping outside of the restaurant, Quinn quickly remembered his inability to tell directions in the big city. Luckily, he also remembered that Lex had turned him in the right direction after they left the warehouse, so he quickly trotted back to its entrance before turning to where Lex had faced him and started off in that direction.

Progress (53) Fail
Encounter (74) Success, Mischievous Midara

Lex rolled her eyes and just beckoned Quinn to follow her, but because she wasn't looking in front of her a group of punky college girls sprung from a nearby alleyway and forced a series of lipstick kisses onto the Vigilante's cheeks. Lex gasped out of reflex, staying still while the college girls then made themselves scarce, pleased with the pervy reaction they forced out of her.

Quinn: 30 Willpower
73 Gold
1/4 Progress
3/5 Contacts
6 Mental Fatigue

“What was that? Were those your friends?” This innocence minded samurai puppy asked the vigilante after she had be assaulted with kisses from the college girls.