The store was relatively empty. The evening shifts were slow, most customers tended to come in during the night. Only a single woman was browsing the shelves quietly.
Lauren stood behind the counter, leaned over, reading in one of the fetish magazines they had out on display. She was bored, like most times she worked this shift.
Absent-mindedly, she played with her long blonde hair, occasionally shifting her weight from one jeans-clad leg to the other. A simple name-tag that said "Laurie" was stuck to her dark hoodie.
"Excuse me."
She looked up at the woman who had stepped up to the counter. She was about Lauren's age, in her early to mid twenties, perhaps a bit younger. Her hair was pitch black, some strands dyed a dark purple, which together with her black lipstick and eye shadow stood in stark contrast to her pale skin. Her clothes, too, were mainly black, consisting of a black button-up shirt, purple necktie, black pantihose, short skirt, studded belt, wristcuffs and collar and finally knee-high wedge-heeled boots, zipped up and closed with buckled straps.
"Can I help you?", Lauren offered with a kind smile, adjusting her glasses.
"I hope so.", the dark woman smiled back, "I'm looking for chains and padlocks. Got anything to recommend?"
Lauren put the magazine aside and stepped around the counter, waving the customer to follow her. Standing beside her now, Lauren realized something about her. She was short. Lauren was wearing flat shoes and she still appeared to be a bit taller than the other girl, who was wearing heels. A short, cute kinda-goth girl who wasn't shy about bondage and generally seemed friendly. What were the chances that this kind of person would walk into the store when no one but her was around? She forced herself to concentrate on her job.
"Here we are." She pulled out her employee keys and opened one of the shelves that stood to the back of the store. The links rattled as she pulled out a single, thin chain. "Is this what you're looking for?"
The customer took the offered chain and inspected it, laying the one end around her wrist twice and holding it, slightly pulling at it like she was trying to make her hand slip out.
"Yeah, looks good. How long are these?"
They spent a few minutes talking about different lengths and link sizes, looked at differently-sized locks and discussed safety and usage for a brief moment. Finally, the dark-dressed girl picked some lengths of chain and a couple of small locks and they returned to the counter to complete the purchase.
"There we go.", Lauren smiled as she put the carefully packed box into a plastic bag, "Have fun."
"I'm sure I will." She got a good look at the girl's eyes when they smiled at each other again. Her iris' were red, with three black dots around the pupil. Those were not her normal eyes, of course, they had to be contacts. Lauren couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen those eyes before somewhere.
"I'll be back sometime, I'm sure." She took her bag and turned for the door, shooting Lauren a grin and a wink before heading out into the evening, her hips slightly swaying.
Blood rushed to Lauren's face.

Chips lay on the table, next to other snacks and opened bottles of beer.
Taking a break from competition, Kathy and Lisa had resolved to playing through the solo-campaign of one of their fighting games, taking turns.
Lisa, still dressed in a long shirt and panties, was sitting on the couch, legs crossed underneath her. Kathy, currently watching her friend play, was leaning against her shoulder with her back, a thin blanket over her bare legs which she had put up onto the arm rest.
"Oh, hey.", Kathy casually spoke up after a sip of beer, "Have you seen the set Lyn put up two days ago?" She held her smartphone up so Lisa could take a quick glance at one of the pictures.
"No, I didn't check. Anything good?"
Kathy browsed through the album.
"Looks like she got another model. It's Jennifer and another girl."
She stopped at one of the later pictures.
The other girl, who had short black hair, some of which was dyed purple, was sitting on a chair, dressed only in frilly black panties and a wide black collar. Her legs were tied to the legs of the chair, her arms were pulled behind her back, rope wrapping around her wrists, her arms and her torso, pressing her against the backrest. A leather blindfold covered her eyes and a bright-pink ballgag contrasted with her black lipstick.
Jenny, dressed in red lingerie, was kneeling in front of the chair, her wrists and elbows pulled together behind her back.
The next few pictures showed Jenny kissing her way up to the other model's breasts, licking and sucking on her pierced nipples.
Kathy skipped to the end, the last picture showing the two models and their photographer in plain clothes, with some text underneath.
"Apparently she's a cosplayer who has her own blog."
Lisa shot the device a quick glance.
"Oh, yeah, I saw her before. She's cute. ... And I died."
She passed the controller and got up from the couch.
"I'm getting more beer."