Haze of the Future(Closed for Cherubian)

If he didn't see you before he definitely sees you now and he most certainly gives you a good eying the closer you get. His crossbow is now hanging off his belt and he is still wearing the large hat from when you first met him. From what you can see the carriage is nowhere in the nearby vicinity

"Well well, fancy seeing you again darlin. Have you been enjoying the town?" He asks slyly, adding a wink for good measure.
 
"Ahh well" I reply with a smile matching his own "it seems I have arrived at the wrong time. None of the towns rich patrons has yet dropped to my feet, smitten by my beauty, worshipping the ground I walk on and showering me with expensive gifts."

With that I turn to head for Sheila's tavern. "So it appears I will have to take up your offer for at least one night and give it another go tomorrow."
 
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Joe gives you a look of playful shock, then a smile with hidden intent.

"I'm sure everyone just needs to get to know you like I have. Working for Sheila wont be too bad, she's tough but fair." He explained. With nod and simple hand gesture he begins walking toward the bar.

Though the evening is still early you can already hear the loud and rowdy commotion emanating from within. Joe pushes his way through the crowd and gestures for you to follow. Some of the men at the entrance are already eying you down and the smell of excessive body odour and alcohol are already assaulting your senses
 
'The place could use a bit of airing' is the first thought that comes to my mind. Some open windows to let in the night breeze and such, but that would likely ruin the pub immersion so coveted by the typically male clientele woudl be my guess. Either way, they are not going to change that just for me, and so I do my best to pretend I have not noticed any of those gazes, instead trying my best to stay close behind Joe not to get lost.

Even while I do, though, I try to find the time to let my eyes wander a bit to get a better picture of the patrons. Of particular interest being whether a certain Mr Cart is already present.
 
Dm

As you venture deeper into the cave the sights and smells become more prevalent. Being the only tavern in town seems to make it the most popular place to be after a days work. There is little room to move but Joe seems to find his way through the crowd, whether on accident or purposeful you feel the unsolicited touches of several males on your way to the end bar.

As you scan the room your keen eyesight notices the large frame of Mr Cart. With a congregation of male collegues surrounding him and two female prostitutes on each knee he seemed to be quite popular.

Joe reaches the bar and calls out to the woman standing behind the counter.

"Oi Sheila take a break and come out the back with me!" Sheila turns to him with a look of annoyance.

"Wait your fucking turn Joe, can't you see I'm busy." She snaps. Sheila is a voluptuous woman seemingly in her mid-thirties, though she lacks the natural beauty you possess her generous curves and confident stance suggest that she could hold her own very well. Even the men around the bar are keeping their distance which was a strange occurrence, at least for a woman.

Joe chuckles loudly.

"I'll make it worth your time sweet cheeks" Joe throws a pouch of what you assume to be Kalinites toward her. She catches it without blinking an eye and handles the pouch in her hands, after a brief moment she nods.

"Hey Roy get over here and man the bar. I have some business to attend to." She calls out. A well built man staggers over the to bar, though his leg seems to be injured the men in the way move to give him a clear space.

"Yes maam." He responded. His voiced lacked the intelligence common to average folk but you assumed his muscle made up for it. Sheila beckons Joe with a finger and retreats through a door in the back.

"Give me a minute. Feel free to have a drink while you wait though, don't get into too much trouble." Joe explains with a wink. He then hands you a handful of Kals before following after Sheila.
 
Joe is starting to get on my nerves with his continuing display of secrecy concerning the mysterious businesses he is conducting. Or maybe this one is not just mysterious? What if he is actually trying to sell me in some evil scheme to Sheila? But then why is he actually handing out Kals instead of collecting them? I would love to learn more about this, seeing how I am supposed to work for Sheila at least tonight, but there is no way I am able to leave the bar stool without being noticed, so any investigative action will have to wait for a bit longer. Delaying is not cancelling.

So I plant my elbows onto the counter, one hand swiping up the kals into a nice pile right in front of me before I fold my lower arms over each other, and look straight at the man opposite of me, giving him a smile. And likely a nice view of my cleavage as I am slightly hunched forward.

"Roy was it, right? Think I can get a glass of fresh water here?"

I know I should continue to observe that Cart fellow, but craning my neck too obviously won't help me. So I have to wait for a better opportunity.
 
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Dm

Though most males you've met take the opportunity to openly stare down your top Roy seems completely immune to your passive charms. You can't be sure whether he is just simply loyal or just to simple to take notice.

"Sure maam, That'll be two Kal's." He states. You superior hearing allows you to eavesdrop on the conversation at the other side of the bar. A man and woman are discussing something in slightly hushed tones.

"You told me you'd have it by now. I paid good money for it." The man angrily complained. He had a similar attire to Joe but much dirtier.

"It's not easy Soren, Tarath is a fairy tale to most people I doing my best." Only the long hair and feminine looking face gave away her gender, she was wearing traveling gear much like her partner and would probably pass of as a male at the right angle.

You hear the smash of glass emanating from the back room that Joe went into, the rest of the bar seems to be so interested in their own business none of them notice, including Roy.
 
Tarath?

The phrase that had haunted my dreams for so long. The word noone I had met before could put any meaning to. Finally a clue. Or at least the hint of a clue. Almost immediately my senses glued onto the couple, my ears straining to their limit to catch every single bit of their conversation.

As I slide off the chair and begin to subtly shift along the bar to get closer to the two, for a better look at them as well as a better chance to overhear more of what they are saying I do register the sound of breaking glass, but that is all. Register. Store away for later remembering. Whatever happened in that back room just coudl not be quite as important, at least not to me.

And so I continue to approach them while doing my best to make it look coincidental.
 
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Dm

Your movements go unnoticed and the two continue conversing as normal.

"I need more time." The woman pleaded.

"There is no more time. Give me what you know Saerah, I shall pursue this myself." Soren snapped.

"Fine." She returned. Saerah moves in closer to her male partner and uses the pretense of a kiss to hide their true intention, you notice subtle movement giving you enough information to know that something other than oral exchange was passed between them.

"Consider half your debt paid." Soren remark with a smirk on his face.

"Half? You promised me a debt in full." she exlaimed.

"You promised me results. We could settle this another way." He inferred, in the corner of your eye you see him hinting with a slight hand gesture.

"I told you, I don't do that anymore. That was a past long forgotten." she reminded him angrily.

"Well unless you can afford one of the other ladies in this fine establishment. You'll just have to get back on the horse so to speak. Meet me in my room, one hour." Before Saerah could respond he stood up and departed the bar. The woman looked back at her drink with a sigh.

Joe steps out of the back room and looks around for your location, upon spotting you he beckons you to join him.
 
Shit.

So close, so close. I can't let this go just like that, now that I finally have my very first lead to help me come to terms with those strange dreams. And so, lacking altgernatives, I choose the direct approach.

I step up to Saerah, and while I lightly place a hand on her elbow to gather her attention I bend forward to whisper in her ear. "You have an hour, so you can afford to wait for me coming back. I have to leave now, but I really need to talk to you in private."

My message delivered I straighten myself up again, about to torn and follow Joe, but not before I spend a few seconds to study her reaction.
 
Dm

After you place your hand on her shoulder you see Saerah reach into her jacket pocket, at a quick glace you see the shimmer of what might be a concealed weapon. She doesn't draw the weapon and instead looks at your with utter confusion. Just before you leave her sight she nods briefly.

You enter the room after Joe and she Sheila sweeping up what appears to be a broken glass vase of some sort.

"I hope your gonna pay for this Joe." She eyes him angirly.

"I wasn't the one that knocked it over darlin." He replies with a smirk.

"Hmph." She ignored his comment and continues sweeping.

"Leave that alone. I promise I'll pay for it, I want to introduce you to Bianca." He presents you like a game show host.

"She doesn't look like much." Sheila eyes you up and down before standing up and placing the dust pan to the side. She inspects you like a cattle master before speaking directly into your face. "This town ain't no sugar pie, the men here are rougher than course dessert outside and the woman have to be tougher. I'm not some mummy figure who'll look after you, if you wanna work here yer gonna have to look after yourself. You think you have what it takes?" On closer inspection you can see the lines of wear in Sheila's skin; faded scars and bruises tell the story of a broken past. She's not just trying to scare you, she's trying to inform you.
 
"Am I allowed to look after myself? Whatever it takes?"

I had returned her inspecting gaze in silence, tried my best to stand there unflinching while wondering about what quarrel the two had had with each other that had led to the broken glass. Not my business it would seem, bt maybe it was, or soon would become. Only Asking about it now likely wouldn't provide answers.

What I can ask about is another significant matter, though. The stance Sheila takes on the liberties themen in the bar sure would try to take with the serving girls. A brush with the hand here, a grope there, one thing leads to another and often ends in outright abuse. Would she oppose such, would she at least not mind if the girls did her best to defend themselves, or was she with the majority of the bar owners who considered their serving girl's suffering part of the service she offered and expected them to endure without fighting back?

Her next answer would be very revealing for sure.
 
Dm

"You want a little more info? I like that, you've got some smart under that cute little package. You might actually fit right in. Looking after yourself is all relative here dear, what I mean by that men only think with one thing but since you know Joe here I'd say you already know that much at least. I'm not running a bar not a whore house but I'm not so naive to know what my girls do in their off time. I've never been opposed to a girl getting a little on the side, hell I've even taken my own fair share of the pot but first and foremost this is my business and I'm only gonna be paying you to serve drinks and cleaning up after close, anything you do outside of that is your business."

She continues pacing around you to get a better look.

"I'm sure she can handle herself Sheila." Joe interceeded. Sheila stepped right up to him and grappled his crotch

"Quiet! you know nothing about women Joe and if you wanna keep that monster attached then you better remember that." She snapped at him and squeezed for good measure.

"Right you are darlin, as always" Joe squeeked out. She then turns back to you.

"My tip for you Bianca, if you accept my terms of agreement is the men here don't mind if you play hard to get, hell it keeps em coming back but if you hold back for too long then(pause). Well it can get ugly, in those situations you better hope you can protect yourself, or take a beating cause some men don't like being rejected for too long and some of em have enough power and money to make sure you disappear over night"
 
So if I understood Sheila correctly - hard to be entirely sure with the tough woman - it was okay if I gave a slap on the wrist of every guy trying to grope a feel with me. Or more. As long as I could handle what this would eventually lead to.

The other point she brought up, though ...

"So in short you are saying, whenever some guy develops interest in me I can mentally resign myself to ending up in the sack with him eventually, not matter how much I loathe it?"
 
Dm

"That's how its been for the last five years since I took over this joint, used to be a lot worse too. Back then, no girl could even think about saying no. If you're smart and you don't mind rolling around in the sheets then the best bet is picking the men yourself, especially the well to do ones. There are unspoken ownership rules that apply when certain individuals take interest in a girl, once that happens you'll only have to please maybe one or two and whats to say you can't enjoy it too?"
 
"Wow, great. So at least I get to choose who's whore I will become?"

This place is great. Well, ruth be told it is not very different to most larger settlements, especially the syndicate run ones. The world for the biggest part was run by men, and either you managed to climb to the top which was not too easy for a girl, or you served one of the men. And if someone happened to be as good looking as I was there were some very natural ways for that servitude.

That's just the way it is, not only here. And not that I like it particularly much. And one of the reasons for my rather unsteady lifestyle. If I get going again soon enough, noone will have enough time to work up a real interest. Allthough Sheila is right with one other thing, rolling in the sheets IS a lot of fun usually.

"So who are the big honcho's here, then, the ones to watch out for?" Or the mid level honchos, the ones easier to manipulate, but let's start at the top.
 
Dm

"Well, I don't wanna blow smoke up his arse but Joe here has quite a standing in the little community; even for a hermit." She gave Joe a dirty look but he didn't answer he just simply smiled and shrugged.

"To be honest before I give you more I'd like to even know if you want to work here. I'm not some free information center that you can squeeze what you desire."

"Give me something to prove you are genuine." she posed.
 
"All right, I will work for you tonight." I admit after a moment of thought. And since Sheila had been open and honest with me it seems only appropriate that I return the favor. This may be a dog-eta-dog world, but all the more valuable trust can be if one can come by it.

"I can't promise much more than that, though." I therefore add. "You admitted yourself, this is not the nicest place in town, so if a goood opportunity to move on presents itsellf I may be off."

With that I opely lock my eyes with hers, curious about her reaction.

"And how do I prove I am genuine? Want me to strip or some such? Joe sure would like that." That I knew as a fact.
 
Dm

"Well, there's no doubt you're packing some goods under there but we don't want Joe here to mess his pants." She threw Joe another dirty look.

"Hmmm? pick up that tray and glasses over there and walk around Joe a few times.

She points to a tray behind you.
 
"Will do"

And with that I do as i am ask. I carefully pick up that tray and start to circle Joe, who likely is smiling right now. I have no extensive experience in working as a waitress, but I do have quite the developed fully body coordination if I may say so myself, so this should not be too hard ...
 
Taking the opportunity to be cheeky Joe gives your arse a little slap. The average person would have fallen flat on their face but you extra ordinary dexterity not only keeps you on your feet but also gives you the ability to keep the tray and glasses from falling too. Sheila looks at you with open surprise.

"Well, mighty impressive. It took most of my girls months to be able to stay up."

"Told ya she was worth it." Joe adds giving you another slap for good measure, this time his hand lingers on your shapely behind much longer than necessary.

"Hmph, Joe is a pussy compared to the jungle out there." Joe shoots Sheila a nasty look at her comment.

"Go out onto the floor tonight; clean up the empty glasses and take any orders that come your way. If you survive I'll pay you for the evening and you can have the job. Good luck." She commands mockingly.
 
"Will do..."

But there is still the business with Saerah. Very important business in fact. So I am hesitant to go out there just yet.

"There is just one thing..." I begin "... I would need some time of my own tonight. Hopefully less than an hour. Of course I don't expect me to pay for that. But it is important ... I think"
 
Dm

Sheila looks at you with annoyance then readjusts her posture.

"Hmph sure why not. I only pay for the work you do; remember that." she warns before turning back around and heading further back into the back room. Joe shrugs whilst looking at you.

"Don't worry darlin, I'll keep an eye out for ya. Most of these boys are harmless but I'll be close by just in case any of em get any funny ideas. Let me know when you finish your business I'll be back here waiting."
 
Yeah sure, Joe. Like I need yousnooping around me. Well, can't tell him to leave me alone, either, that would also look suspicious.

So there's only one last thing to be clarified before I am going outside. "So no waitress uniform or anything for me to wear?"
 
Dm

Joe looks at you with an enormously large smile on his face.

"Darlin in my eyes you don't need to wear anything. As to the so called waitress thing, I think what you're wearing now will sit just fine. Say that reminds me, I don't think we ever finished the fun we started on the road. Maybe tonight we can have a little more fun, if you're up for it of course?"
 
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