• Mature • Playing the parts

[Zana]

17th Ymiden, 717

"What time is it?" Zana asked, opening the door to her room. Evidently, it was sleeping time for her as she answered in a pair of orange and white cotton pajamas. "Come in. I overslept." That was very evident by the unmade bed, the fact that she hadn't hidden the stuffed panda she slept with and her rather bleary expression.

It might well have something to do with the fact that, despite having a migraine the trial before, which had been brought on by practicing her mortalborn abilities with him, she had worked last night. She'd had clients booked, after all, so she couldn't not do so. She had, however, suggested that when they explored how her abilities could be used, they did it on a trial where she wasn't working that night. Rubbing her eyes, she gave herself a shake to wake up and smiled. "You've got papers and things?" Zana looked at Theo and grinned. "Oh good."

Motioning to the chair for him to sit, Zana smiled. "When I got off shift, I couldn't sleep, my head was pounding. Fred gave me something vile tasting and said it would knock me cold. He was not wrong." She pulled the bedclothes around until the bed looked less crumpled and then moved to her wardrobe. "We had a busy night last night. Everyone was booked up all night." Theo hadn't been there yestertrial evening, so she figured he was either with Peter, who also wasn't there, or had a night off. She suspected the former since the two of them being off on the same night was unlikely, she thought. Which meant he probably knew exactly what she'd already told him, but just in case. "Fred was fussing around me like a clucking hen over a chick, even before I told him I had a headache." She suspected that might be down to her current companion.

"What have you got there? You said you wanted to work on something with me this morning, but that looks suspiciously like you want to play lucky accountant with too much focus on the accountant, and none on the lucky." Whatever it was that Fred had given her had knocked her cold and Zana had to admit to feeling a little bleary. Still, a cup of coffee would sort that out and so she picked up the stuffed panda and threw it to Theo with a grin. "Avert your gaze if you're easily offended," she warned and changed her clothes into a white knee-length gypsy style skirt and a cropped white top which had thin string-like straps and left her midriff entirely bare. She also brushed her teeth and splashed water on her face from the bowl in her room. Then, she dragged a brush through her hair and looked at herself in the mirror. Her sigh suggested that she wasn't overly impressed, but she made sure that she didn't catch his eye in the reflection, just in case he was nervous.

"Can we work in your office?" Zana asked with a crooked half-smile. "There's coffee there and I feel vaguely embarrassed that you saw my jammies." She meant it, but at the same time she was teasing; it was a very mild and vague sort of embarrassed, rather than anything serious. "I mean, we should at least be sleeping together before you're subjected to that. You can't unsee those bad boys." Assuming he was good with that, she'd hold the door open for him and ask, trying not to sound hopeful. "You didn't just bring those papers and things to torment me into thinking it's going to be a very boring morning and in fact we're doing fun things, did you?"

Ledger Deductions

Item	Cost	Notes	TOTAL
Pajama pants	6gn 6sn	Cotton, Orange	6gn 6sn
Shirt	2gn 6sn 4cn	Cotton, Orange	9gn 2sn 4cn

Mirror, mirror, on the wall... who's the fairest one of all?

[Theo Nji'Ryn]

Theo had been working downstairs for over a break before he'd finally gone up to see what was keeping Zana. She ought to have been up and around before he'd arrived that morning, but was nowhere to be seen. It was Fred who'd told him that she might still be sleeping, so finally after waiting a half break longer, he decided that if she wasn't going to come to him, he'd have to go to her. They had work, or at least some planning to get done. He was a little concerned too in the wake of the previous trial's events in her room.

Once she opened her door and asked him what time it was, Theo shrugged and grinned just a little as he passed her in the door way. "Long past time for any decent folk to be up and about," he quipped. "But then neither of us are decent folk, if you were to ask the gossiping old crones in the market." Probably those whose husbands frequented the Lap of Luxury, in fact. "You're looking very...orange this morning," he added as he took in her mussed appearance, her lounging wear and the stuffed bear in her arms. In honesty, it wasn't a bad look though his eyes flashed indigo with amusement.

She mentioned the stack of papers gripped in his hand, and Theo nodded as he threw himself into a chair to wait. "I do. Work doesn't wait," he said as she tossed him the bear. She was right. He'd spoken with Peter the night before, but only because the man had approached him and asked how the arrangement was going. Theo had opted out of confronting his new boss about neglecting to tell him about Zana's abilities, and instead chose to tell him that they'd managed just fine except for the inevitable fatigue. Somehow Peter had seemed disappointed, as if it was a blow to his ego that neither the revelation or the experience had been too much for his newest handler.

"A game of lucky accountant sounds like much more fun that what I've got," he admitted when she asked about the papers. "I'll hold you to that later. No, this is a contract for a groom's party we'll be hosting. They'll want a number of services, but the profit margin is good. Lot's of planning though," he told her as she began to undress, and dress again. A quick grin crept back onto his face when she suggested he might rather look away. "You think I'm easily offended? If I was an untried schoolboy enjoying his first glimpse of bared flesh, I wouldn't have made it past the front door of the place," He didn't look away, but neither did he stare.

Of course his eyes betrayed his interest, had she seen or was aware of how to interpret the change. It would have been nice in fact if the stack of papers weren't there to remind him of just how much there was to do. Probably better then to do it downstairs in his office. So once she was dressed and they'd gone downstairs, Theo poured her a cup of coffee from the pot on the desk, and as usual, propped himself against the front of the desk while offering her the chair.

"A groom's party, like I said," he told her. "Six, seven men I think. The groom is very young, maybe eighteen or so and one of the hosts is his father. They want a girl to strip, some time upstairs for each of them including the future groom. Food. And other entertainment." That was the tricky part, Theo admitted. They hadn't really been specific about what they meant by 'other' entertainment. Though the father had claimed they'd like something or two on the tamer side. "I doubt that means a round of chess," he figured. "Any ideas?" They had plenty of time, it appeared. The event wasn't to take place till the following season.

[Zana]

His comment about not being an untried schoolboy caused a chuckle from her. "The way Billie tells it, you're a far cry from that," her smile was genuine and slightly amused. "You meet the Billie standard of excellence in a handler, so you can die content."

Once they'd got downstairs and she'd gulped down half a cup of coffee with thanks, Zana realized just how late it was and she apologized. Something, she recognized, she'd failed to do when he'd had to come and get her for something she'd agreed to do. Whatever it was Fred had given her to help her sleep had done the job and then some and she would not take it again, she assured him. However, the night before had been difficult because the migraine just wouldn't shift and she'd struggled to work. "I don't remember you leaving, but the curtains were drawn and I was covered up in a blanket and in bed, so thank you. I think if Peter hadn't come to get me, I'd have slept the night through, too."

A groom's party? Zana looked at him and sighed, then drank the rest of the coffee. "Alright. I'll think from the point of view of the groom, the men arranging it for him. You do the practicalities of here and maybe we can come up with something between us." They knew what the place was, knew what the conclusion was going to be. But other entertainment? Zana chuckled at his words.

"You'd be surprised what I can do with a chess set and interested partner, you know. But probably not chess, no." Leaning forward she considered, "What they want is a build up to what they're actually here for. They want foreplay and flirting, in a psychological way." Zana looked up at him, considering it

"What about a sketch of some kind?" Concentration played across her face and Zana explained. "It would need to be one of you with one of us, because it would need to be erotic enough to hold their interest but not so much that they're ready to go too soon. A bit of voyeurism into what is in their immediate future, upstairs." That would be a delicate juggling act and would depend on how many girls they were providing, for how long and so on. However, that was his job in this and she was, for whatever reason, providing ideas.

Sitting where they'd been when they first met just a few trials ago, Zana bumped her knee against his in an entirely non-sexual movement as she thought about what she was trying to say. "Maybe a series of cameo scenes depicting his first arc of marriage with his wife which, the way we depict it, will have lots of sex in it and the added bonus of no one getting tired or nagging." With a raise of her eyebrow she gave a chuckle. "Selling him the dream that his wife is someone like me, maybe even that he's someone like you. Lets tell him a story of how that would be." She waited then to see what he might think, say or do in response to that idea.

She's got a smile it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky

[Theo Nji'Ryn]

"There are truly no secrets in this place," Theo shot back as they traveled downstairs together. "Is nothing sacred?" He wore the subtlest of grins in the wake of her informing him that Billie had apparent told all. Or enough. But while the term sacred ought to be interpreted loosely, the particular types of secrets he spoke of were rarely kept to anyone's self. Why would he have expected to be the exception? "I suppose I ought to be grateful that my reputation has remained intact."

It wasn't any consequence, he implied when he waved off her apology while propping himself against the desk. What she'd done had taken a great deal out of her. And if sleeping a little late was the price for perfecting one of her abilities, it was a very small price to pay. "You're welcome," Theo added when she thanked him for covering her up and dimming the lights. "I can't have one of my girls catching her death from cold, after all."

He might take her up on that later, his expression seemed to say. Somehow she was able to make a dull game of chess seem suddenly appealing. Made the imagination run wild. But back to business, and he dropped the stack of papers he'd had in his hands onto the desk. The logistics involved with the event, Theo could handle. It was all part of running a business. Making sure there was enough beer, wine and spirits behind the bar. Arranging the food, the decor. Insuring that everyone was where they ought to be, when they ought be and doing whatever it was they were assigned to do.

The entertainment though, that was different and why he'd brought Zana in. Another perspective. Fresh ideas to bounce one off the other. "A sketch?" he asked. Curious, and he frowned thoughtfully while considering it. A very erotic sketch, based on what she was describing. He grinned a little when he said, "You know I've never thought of myself as much of an exhibitionist." Of course that was before he'd been compelled to pick up the role of third wheel in a private scenario arranged for a client. He'd be willing, the remark implied, so long as there were limits to how far that might go.

[Zana]

"Thusfar." Zana responded, as she walked into his office. "Your reputation is safe, thusfar. You have two girls." Her tone was subdued, almost sad. Her face, though, told a very different story as she gave him an impish grin. "And whilst you might claim to forget that, we all know you're just avoiding the more discerning one." Whilst she was deliberately teasing him, it was certainly true that she was more likely to shatter a reputation in the description after the fact. "Billie's much more prone to being nice." Zana flung herself into the chair and grinned up at him. "Some men feel safer with nice. I understand."

Coffee, she had to admit, made her feel much more awake. He waved off her apology and her thanks, but she meant them and they were important to say. Strange and skewed as Zana's sense of right and wrong was, she had a strong one. She missed his glance entirely when she commented on the game of chess, her eyes on the papers he'd dropped down. "That's a lot of bits of paper. Is that all for organising this one thing?" It sounded difficult and rather complicated. She chuckled and shook her head. "My job seems like a lot more fun than yours, you know."

When he said that he'd never considered himself much of an exhibitionist, though, Zana laughed. "No? Ironically, I could say the same. It's not about what you show, Theo, it's about what you promise from what isn't on display." Considering how to put it, she looked at him with amusement in her eyes. "When I sat here two trials ago, when we met, you paid a lot more attention to what I was wearing than when I got dressed in front of you just now." She had no doubt that she understood why. "Now, I'm choosing to believe that this isn't because in two trials you've determined me utterly undesirable, but in fact because you spent half your time wondering if that bit of red cloth was going to move." There was a trick to keeping it there, she explained, in the stitching. She'd show him some time if he cared. After all, in his line of work one never knew when that sort of information came in handy. "Whatever this early entertainment is, you need to sell a promise. A glimpse." With pursed lips she looked him up and down and then her expression turned to a grin. "And not of you. Of whichever girl is up there." She'd be who they were looking at, Zana didn't doubt.

"Besides, it doesn't have to be you, does it? The beautiful thing about being in charge is that you put everyone exactly where you want them, after all." Thinking it through, considering it, Zana tapped her fingers against her knee, thinking as she did. "He's young. The father's there so we're catering for a number of ages." What if, she suggested, they did three or four very short sketches, each one showing "marriage", but from different perspectives.

"That way, it goes on longer but you don't have to worry about lots of different props or costumes because we show the same scenes but in different ways." So, the sketch itself she said, well it might be something as simple as the new wife enticing the husband to the bedroom. But from the perspective of the soon to be groom, the woman might be the seductress, begging him to come and spend a night of passion with her. "Then the friends? Well, they see their friend getting chained, the old ball and chain, getting controlled by the provider of sex. There should be nagging. The father probably sees a vixen stealing away his little boy and then we end with..."

Frowning as she thought about, Zana considered. "We could end with introducing the last perspective as being the wife's. She knows what they all think about her but really. If any of them knew the first thing about her, why are they coming to us? Or end with a joke." Raising her hands in the air, she had to admit what she suspected was very obvious. "I don't write plays."

Don't touch your lips, don't wear your hair like that, I feel your presence all around me.
Don't get too close, don't move your eyes like that. They're deep enough to drown me

[Theo Nji'Ryn]

Growing up in the Dust Quarter, Theo had developed a knack for a number of things. Learning to flee or stand firm and fight were the most obvious survival skills but sometimes the least effective ones. When you wanted to eat or find shelter and safety among others, learning how to play the part that could yield the most favorable results, was one of the most valuable ones.

Appearance, words, props, those hadn't been enough to fool the most jaded of those who lived in the most desperate of places. Unless you also happened to be the youngest of beggars with round cheeks and pleading eyes. But delivery, that was the important thing. Zana's words and teasing banter regarding the attachment he'd made with Billie compared to that he'd made with her, didn't quite make up for what was missing.

There was a reason he hadn't come to her, yet in the same way that he'd gone to Billie. And it wasn't for a lack of wanting. Billie was less complicated. Zana was more. They both knew it and their attachment needed to be developed in layers in order to attain the same sense of trust. Theo didn't say any of that. He believed he didn't need to. Instead, as she sat down in the chair, he quipped dryly. "Good things come to those who wait. I'll make it my own mandate to make it worth your while." Just thinking about how he'd do it, made Theo want to speed up the attachment process a little. But there was a stack of papers beside him that said different.

"Most, but not all," he said when she asked about the work he'd set down on the desk. "It's not just time and place," Theo explained. He'd come in already knowing something of how to run a business. Whatever old Camus had been willing to teach him back when Theo had lived with his mother, he'd taken in, absorbed it and taken in more. "It's considering the number of guests, and knowing how much alcohol they're likely to consume. The same for food and things you wouldn't normally think of like plates, napkins, linens. Some things are easy to predict and others aren't."

For instance, he told her. Planning had required asking the host which type of spirits most of the guests would prefer. Wine? Beer or liquor? "And even if you plan based on what they tell you, the guests may surprise you by drinking more wine than expected, leaving you short or pulling from the stores, and it ends up costing the Lap more of it's profits when you've got to pull more from the stores." And drinking, that was just one part of the equation, albeit a large one.

Her job might be more fun than his after all. But the perks for him weren't bad. "The fees for the girls are substantial, but spirits, wine, beer, those things often bring in more revenue than anything else. In this case, I've included wine and beer in the fee, but not liquor. If they want it, and they will, they'll need to get them from the bar. I want the girls to push those," he told Zana.

When she mentioned their first meeting however, and what she'd been wearing, how he'd responded, Theo quirked a brow curiously and asked blandly, "Am I that transparent. Or just that predictable." He was joking in part, but it would be good information to have. In his line of work, oft times playing a part was as important or more so than playing it straight. And no, it didn't have to be him and he wouldn't plan on it being him either. "It wouldn't present the right image to our guests I don't think. To have the one managing their party to be cavorting in front of them." He wouldn't plan on it but then, he reminded her, there'd been the client for Billie and the actor he'd hired, who didn't show. He'd been forced to step in then or lose the client that trial.

He liked the scenario she painted. The client and his party would as well, Theo thought and said so. On the other hand, Zana made a good point. "I don't write plays either and I'm not sure I want to dip into our profit on this event to hire someone who can." At least, not one that he'd need to pay in nels. "Know anyone?" he asked.

[Zana]

Good things came to those who waited? Zana chuckled and slowly leaned back in her chair, gazing at him up and down. He had a solid ego, she had to give him that. "I will endeavor to perform to the same mandate," she replied with a wicked grin at him. "Unfortunately, that doesn't make you special. I always have that mandate. Comes with the job." Zana could not help the smile she turned in his direction. Their relationship had to be, by its very definition, somewhat more complex and Zana knew that. However, teasing him was one thing, but he had to know that she understood what was happening and why. "It's worth taking time to do it right."

Then, he explained about the need to organise everything down to the alcohol and Zana raised an eyebrow. "That wouldn't have occurred to me. So, if you want the girls to push liquor, have a man working the bar where the free things are and have the liquor on trays carried by girls?" Zana wondered about that, but it seemed to make sense. Mostly, though, the logistics and management of events like this made her brain hurt. "Definitely, without doubt, I have a better job."

When Theo asked if he was that transparent, though, Zana laughed. "No. You're just that male. Besides," she admitted with a grin, "When we met, you were new here. Even though it's only been a few trials, you've become acclimatized to the undressed code." Zana's eyes turned to his, then, with a more serious look than was her usual. "Plus, right now you're reminding yourself of the unique and complex nature of being a handler for a mortalborn whore. Then, you weren't." She smiled, her expression showing her absolute certainty in her next words. "By the time I'm able to assess your performance, and you mine, you'd watch me undress more avidly. Hungrily, even." There was no doubting it, if Theo's ego was robust well, so was hers. "I guarantee it."

He didn't write plays, nor did she. Yet, he didn't want to pull someone in who did which Zana could understand. "Well, between us we can do it, I'm sure. Lets not think of it as a play, but a scene for a client. Or for three clients, in fact. One wants to be a new husband whose wife is seducing him, begging him to ravish her because he's all she can think about. The second client wants to live out the fantasy of bedding his nagging wife, that kind of thing." Shrugging slightly Zana looked at him. "I can't write a play, but I can do that on demand. Would that work?"

Give a little passion to a stranger,
Take his soul away

[Theo Nji'Ryn]

It was worth taking the time to do it right, she said, and Theo grinned. Though there was no denying it was a something of a wolfish grin. "Like expensive brandy or fine wine, and not," he added, "a shot of whiskey." Savored slowly and fully, that was. Lingered over, not rushed. But then the conversation was beginning to take a turn, which meant that the work laying beside him on the desk would go forgotten. Theo would be the last one to complain. But Peter would be the first.

He'd have argued her point about her job being the better one. But when it came to needing to consider every last detail down to the linens and candles for any given event, she'd made a very good one. Still, Zana's suggestion was a good one. "Get the expensive stuff out on the floor in plain sight, and sell more of it," he considered. "Good." He'd barely finished scribbling a note on a sheet of paper when she remarked that he wasn't transparent or predictable either one of them, so much as he was male. Theo shook his head, grinned a little and turned his attention back to her.

He didn't have to question the guarantee that she made him, or even deny it. He couldn't, because she was right. But if Theo's ego was a healthy one, so was hers. His silence in fact was enough to encourage hers further along those lines. "So you're saying, basically," Theo considered then, "that instead of a script to fit the scene, the participants should improvise instead?" Improvise, of course, within the boundaries of the scenario they'd been given. If she could do it, and was paired up with a man who also could? "Then problem solved," he told her, straightened his papers and slipped them back into the leather folder he'd been carrying.

[Incubus]

Zana

Knowledge
Business Management: Sex sells
Cosmetology: Dressing to draw attention
Cosmetology: How to keep clothing in place
Cosmetology: Consider what clothing shows and what it promises
Seduction: The importance of a good build up
Seduction: Keep them wondering, keep them entertained
Socialization: What do grooms parties want?
Socialization: Looking at the bigger picture of a whole event

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Points: 15

Theo

Knowledge
Acting: Erotic sketches as part of a grooms party
Acting: Supporting roles
Acting: Props are important, but meaning is vital
Business Management: Hosting events
Business Management: Variety for grooms parties
Business Management: Supply and demand
Logistics: Organizing supplies for events
Logistics: Considering supply and demand in the stocking of the bar
Socialization: Considering all age ranges for events

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Points: 15

Comments: If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know.