Canny Customers (Ka'Ri, Sithani)

Eleint 8th, night.

Though some pirates boldly make port at the Redport harbor under false colors of a merchant ship, most do their docking at Nightport under the safe cover of darkness. Here pirate ships can be unloaded of their stolen goods and their crews can slip into the crowds to seek the pleasures of shore leave. (Ships in need of long-term docking for repairs or crew recruitment are hidden in ocean caverns and warrens south of town, a maze of natural sea caves carved by the ocean under dark jagged cliffs.)

Tonight the streets seem quiet, but only a newbie would miss the ripple of excitement which writhes under the muted night noises. The smoke from cooking fires greatly reduces visibility, and the fog rolling in from the ocean cloaks ships until they break through the thick clouds to drop anchor at the docks. People on their way to and from errands which ought not be done skulk down the streets, shooting dark glances at Ka'Ri and Sithani but not interfering with them.

Ka'Ri leads them where Qiao suggested, down to the ruined pier near the burned warehouse. This place should be abandoned--there is no legitimate business to be had here--but furtive people stalk past, occasionally bumping roughly into one or both of them as they stumble through the narrow twists and turns of the alleys. Turning a corner, they see a youngish halfling woman lounging with her back against the burned wall, her dark hair glossy under the thin moonlight. She smiles at the two as they approach, her grin wide but her eyes wary.

Ka'Ri smiles internally at the people bumping into them, hoping at least one is faking their signs of inebriation for a chance at taking a purse. She knows that they are not really in any danger. Her own coin purse for this mission is well-hidden and she had Sithani leave hers back at Veshti's. She does hope that one of the younger ones bumping into her takes the fake pouch though. The one with a single gold coin and a note encouraging them to practice the trade and giving several hints on the art of pickpocketry.


She recognizes Halwan from Qiao's description and her wary appraisal of them. Time to play up her role.

"Um... er...," she began, starting and then thinking second thoughts and then starting again. "This might be a weird question and I really hope I have the right person, but I heard that you uh... offer a certain type of... intimate service to people in need."

She let her eyes look pleading and shoulder tense as to fully portray the image of the nervous john not sure if he was insulting a random girl or talking to the sex worker he was intending to.

Sithani is firmly in character as Aeglinde, looking about with an attempt to hide faked disgust at the insalubrious surroundings as she attempts to do her job as hired muscle.

Perception:

The girl relaxes quite a bit at Ka'Ri's nervousness, her eyes sparkling with warm affection. "You're cute," she observes with a smile. "Are you lonely tonight? I'm kinda lonely, too. Maybe we could fix that."

Ka'Ri pretends like it takes her a moment to understand the innuendo, trying to draw on the behaviors she's seen in Mags when the others are trading bawdy jokes. She hopes for a moment that Mags won't take offense of her using her sexuality so casually and even more that she'll be able to see Mags awake for long enough to talk again.

"Ah yes, that would be wonderful. Do we... how uh... how does this work? I've uh... never done anything like this before..."

The girl beams a smile at her shy client, winking warmly as she eases closer. "Well. Why don't you give me a little silver to keep my palm warm, sweetheart, and then we'll go up to my room and get to know each other." Sithani gets a curious glance. "Is it just you and me, baby, or is your friend coming with us?"

Ka'Ri fumbles in her outfit, palming a handful of silver from her internal pocket and then checking her outer pocket before pressing them to her palm. It's more than triple her standing rate, though it looks completely by accident. "Is it okay if she comes along? That'd probably be more interesting for her than just standing around anyways."

She says the words innocently as if she has no idea what she is implying or the innuendo she is stepping over, simply exuding the welcome relief of a nervous john being allowed to keep his security blan-guard.

Halwan giggles at the request and gives Sithani a languid look as she slips the silver in her pocket. Leaning in to Ka'Ri, she whispers playfully, "I do charge a little extra for an audience, sweetheart," she teases, touching the tip of her finger sweetly to Ka'Ri's nose.

Sithani ostentatiously ignores this, but does her best to give the impression she'd rather be anywhere than watching Ka'Ri have sex.

"Oh that makes sense," Ka'Ri responds in almost comical ignorance of Halwan's insinuation and palms out the same amount again. At the very least, even if the rest of the night was a bust, at least some nob money would be making its way to the hardworking folks on the street just trying to make a living.

Sithani makes another attempt at doing Aeglinde's job, looking for potential muggers.

Perception roll wrote:4. I can only assume Sithani is more interested in Halwan than anyone else here.

Halwan giggles at them both, pocketing the silver. "C'mon," she purrs, taking Ka'Ri's hand and leading them through a hole in the wall of the burned warehouse.

It's dark in here, but Halwan seems to know the way. She leads them around broken detritus and old bits and pieces of unwanted, valueless debris until they reach what appears to have once been an old office and which appears in much better condition than the rest of the abandoned place: the walls have been repaired of cracks and the door is solid. Opening it, Halwan leads them into the room and lights a candle, then several more.

Warm firelight causes the little office to glow with a homey feel, in spite of the location. The bed which dominates the room is wide and comfortable enough for at least four, and upholstered in blankets and pillows of rich jewel tones: pomegranate purples, crimson reds, glittering golds, and the occasional bright flash of afternoon-sky blue. Halwan produces three glasses and a bottle of wine and pours for them all, giggling again as she toasts.

Wriggling her finger for Ka'Ri to bend again, she grins, leans in slowly, and kisses her nose. "Hi," she teases, her smile exuding easy warmth. "Should we get you out of these clothes, sweetheart?"

And here we go.


Ka'Ri makes her face appear to be forcing a grin as if fully taking in the beauty before her and coming to a painful self-conclusion. As she hides her face and drops down to the floor near the bed for a moment in response to that, she looks at the proffered wine doing a quick check for the most common sleep aids or poisons just in case (Perception 13+4 = 17).

If it seems safe, she takes a giant quaff, draining the entire cup as she takes a look now directly across at the seductive halfling and gives a more pained attempt at a smile. Her mouth opens as if she is to say something and then her eyes water as if she is about to cry.

She quickly rubs her eyes and tries to force another smile before that again fails, finally her head drop.

"Fuck, I really am asexual, then..." Ka'Ri said in pathetic desolation. "I thought... I thought maybe..."

Her face looks apologetic as she looks into Halwan's eyes. "It was my friends' ideas. They said it was weird that I never seemed to want to sleep with anyone. That it meant I wasn't a real man... and so I thought... I... I don't think I have the strength to come out to them right now... I know I paid you for your time, but would it be okay if we just drank wine and talked instead?"

Ka'Ri's voice is pathetic, channeling something of the trapped confusion she had felt as a young elf figuring herself out for the first time and dreading telling her parents... not that it had helped. And her eyes are pleading as if searching for some small piece of kindness in a world and a community that has been short of that.

"And Aeglinde, if you could not tell them...?" The last is almost a whisper. She knew how to channel broken and defeated so she did so here. If this didn't evoke Halwan's sympathies, she didn't know what would.

Sithani shrugs. "Sure. You're still paying me, right?"

"Thank you," Ka'Ri responded, her voice full of gratitude a solid contrast to Sithani's mercenary stance.

The wine does indeed seem wholesome, if cheap and slightly sour.

Halwan's gaze softens through this long confession, then she sits on the bed beside Ka'Ri and gives her a gentle side hug. "Oh, honey!" Giggling, she smiles at her. "It's fine to not want to play with me. Or girls. Or anyone! Who's telling you otherwise? They're silly. Course you can stay and have some wine with me!" Refilling her glass, she sips at her own. "Where you from around here, cutie? I never seen you before."

Ka'Ri leaned into the hug gratefully, letting a sad hopeful smile grow as Halwan reassured her. The person she was playing would have given the world to hear those words, so she let that be reflected onto her face.

"I'm... uh... I'm from the Sun district," she said, in apology. If she was going to play the nob-stuck son, she certainly wasn't going to play him like one who felt fully comfortable with the stark difference in wealth and the sorrow it caused. "There's... there's certain expectations on what a boy should be there. I've tried my best, but..."

She let the silence speak for her. "What about you? What's your story?"

Halwan can't help but giggle at this, her eyes widening. "Sun District? Oh, honey, if you ever need a discreet live-in girlfriend for appearances, hit me up. If I'm not available, I'll know someone who is."

Grinning, she looks up at Sithani before looking back at Ka'Ri. "Me? Oh, gosh, I'm just another slum-nobody, sweetheart. The way I like it. I sell a little bit of everything but usually the options are either love or sleep. Don't suppose you want a little euphoria to calm your nerves, cutie?"

"Euphoria," Ka'Ri asks with an expression of naive curiosity. "What's that?"

Halwan's eyes fly wider with delight. "Oh, honey. Hang on, okay?"

Reaching for a complicated looking bottle, she mixes water and a tiny spoonful of thick syrup, lights a candle, and a thin smoke slips out of the holes in the bottle and fills the room. The effect of the drug--which is only a very small amount at the moment--is a soft euphoric buzz that both relaxes the mind but sends the blood flowing faster and may cause slight physical arousal. "How's that, honey?" Halwan asks with a gentle smile.

Ka'Ri notices her libido working through her, though years of previous self-loathing in this body had taught her much about tamping it down when absolutely necessary. It took a fair bit of concentration, but she was able to play-act the confused asexual.

Ka'Ri looked around in apparent confusion. "My head... it feels foggy and my heart," Ka'Ri gives a slightly panicked check on her chest. "It's beating really fast, is that normal?"

"This feels really weird. Do people really pay to feel like this?"

She plays the straight-edge trying drugs for the first time, as if she didn't spend a time on the streets full of anger and self-loathing and a desperation to escape any way she could before finding the Osprem.

Halwan's smile is warm. "You're doing fine. And, yes, some people pay lots for euphoria. This is just a tiny bit; more does, well, more." She giggles again. "I also sell dreamdust, if you want to sleep and dream. You'll never wake up happier or better rested."

"So it just knocks you out," Ka'Ri says in performative ignorance. "I can't imagine you sell too much of that."

Ka'Ri lets herself embody the ignorant noble, the one who has lived in soft luxury and casual alcoholism enough to not get that a good night's sleep on the hard streets can sometimes be worth its weight in gold.

"Dreamdust? Oh, honey." Halwan shakes her head affectionately, reaching up to brush a piece of hair behind Ka'Ri's ears. "You wouldn't believe how fast it sells. The whole reason there's a black market for it is because the Northside merchants can't keep it in stock fast enough. I'm lucky to have any to sell tonight--I've been out for weeks."

Ka'Ri lets a variety of moods splash across her face. "Northside..." she gasps quietly as if in shock that such a thing could be on her own streets, followed by a sort of sad acknowledgment as if fully aware that there was many things her fellow nobs had their fingers in.

She nods her head sadly and takes a deep breath, before turning to Halwan in concern. As if all her other emotions and ignorances mattered less than the well-being of the kind stranger who knew their darkest secret. "That... that must have been awful. To be out of work for so long on a key-part of your earnings. Do you know what happened?"