Thanatyr
Member
Virgin Spurii-tini
Shaken or Stirred?
2739 words
Thana as Ella
Dys as Harper
Shaken or Stirred?
2739 words
Thana as Ella
Dys as Harper
Sweet smelling tobacco smoke wafted through the dim taproom, swirling through the air with the quiet chatter and the soft music playing from a string instrument quartet in the corner. Sailors of all sorts, wearing uniforms and not, sprawled in seats around a dozen or so tables and couches that lined the walls. Most were drinking, some at their tables were playing cards, while others seeked temporary reprieve from overindulgence under those same tables, cradling their addled heads.
The door leading outside to port of Concha Litus swung open briefly, only long enough for the small woman to slide gracefully into the establishment. Her bright canary yellow eyes scanned the room, mostly for those with the largest coin purses, and preened her dark head feathers back.
With a smile she took up her usual stool, empty despite the crowded room. The old keeper of this particular venue promised to keep her spot so long as she caused no trouble. Although in return he had insisted on a cut of her profits from each night. Not that the lecher ever pried into how much she really made, so long as he got what he considered a fair share.
Harper walked in from the main entrance, observing the area coolly. He had come to the conclusion that he'd be sleeping on roofs for the next three days and decided a drink was in order. If he were to recruit prostitutes for Reilly, the bar served two purposes: a higher chance of finding potential recruits and liquid fortification. The spurii made his way through the crowd to take a recently freed stool near the woman who had just entered. Initially, he paid her little mind. Harper's thoughts were preoccupied with which spirit would make him feel better about his current predicament; his involvement in illegal activity overseas had greatly limited his options both for finding work and buying alcohol.
Sterling his nerves, the male spurii gave the room another glance. The petite woman sitting nearby caught his eye. Perhaps she was a working girl. He wasn't entirely sure, though, and asking was risky. Harper really didn't want anyone pouring drinks on him as Aegle had suggested might happen if he asked and was wrong.
“I’ve got you a drink!” a loud announcement followed the sudden stein of beer that thudded onto the bar in front of the woman, yanking her from her thoughts. The well kept, although slightly soggy, sleeves on the man’s coat denoted him to be an officer of some sort from one of the passing ships.
Ella looked him over, careful to keep her face a perfect imitation of being more intrigued than annoyed. Pushing the beer back towards the laicar she almost sang the words, “no thank you, sir, it’s a bit too early for me.”
Harper's ears perked up at this and he shot the woman a sidelong glance.
“But... I got you a gift! It’s rude to not take a gift!” The man slurred through his accusation, his brow furrowing in obvious indignation at her rejection. Switching tactics, he loomed over her, unfocused eyes leering at her as he loudly spout, “go on, take the beer! Then maybe I can take something of yours...”
“Why don't you leave her alone?” Harper called over, interrupting their conversation. The spurii frowned in distaste. He'd encountered people like the pushy drunk back when he worked for Molli. Most of the time hadn't been able to do anything to help. To this day, sleazes like the drunk currently harassing the enlil woman disgusted him.
“Why don’t you fuck yourself with your mother, eh?” the man slurred loudly at the interloper. Turning back, he was confronted with a now empty stool. He frantically scanned the bar, oblivious to the small woman carefully circling out of his line of sight with one hand following the small of his back.
Ella shot Harper a smile, a momentary distraction that resulted in the inebriated sailor catching sight of her.
“Ah, there you are, whore! Now give me what’ve paid for...” he grinned sloppily, roughly grabbing her shoulders. His hands suddenly went limp, followed by the rest of him, as he fell backwards clutching at his groin, eyes rolled back in pain.
Harper smirked at this, glad the woman had so swiftly shut the annoying man up. He was also relieved the incident hadn’t devolved into a larger physical confrontation. Though, from what he’d seen, she probably was better suited for that than he was.
Satisfied that the drunken sailor was staying down, Ella dropped her hands and the fierce look in her eyes, replaced with a practiced air of innocence. Fetch the beer the man tried to insist she take, she placed it next to the whimpering sailor on the floor. She looked over to the fuming bartender, and shrugged, “I know, I know, I broke your rules. But this swine broke mine. He laid hands on me without paying what was owed. And I can’t exactly pay rent with the piss you serve, even if my landlord comes here every damn night.”
Her remark earned a scoff, and the old man turned away with a dismissive wave. This wasn’t the first time she caused a scene, Ella knew he would just demand a few coins extra tonight for ‘clean up’.
Looking over to Harper, a lingering thought crossed her ever curious mind. Ella snatched up the beer she refused to take herself and wove through the crowd to set the stein down in front of the spurii. With a smile her words sang out, “thank you for the defense, oh White Knight. But I can handle myself. Or were you hoping to hire me, yourself?”
Harper’s face heated up at the offer, but he maintained something of a calm facade. “There’s definitely no doubt you can look after yourself,” the normally taciturn man said honestly, almost sounding impressed. “Took him down faster than I could have expected to myself, really.”
Harper hesitated for a moment. While he had seen prostitutes before, he’d never asked one for their services. He was unsure of how to offer her work without sounding like the man still blubbering on the floor.
“I guess you could say I’ve got a job offer for you, if you don’t mind a change in scenery. I know a guy who’s opening a place and looking for workers.” Harper dug the folded flyer from within his jacket, anxiously avoiding eye contact. “They’ve got better alcohol and you could work with fewer disruptions from guys like that.”
He offered Ella the paper, hoping to Serpens she didn’t pour her drink on him.
“It’s not hard to get better swill than in here,” Ella had to admit, glancing over her shoulder at the ever grumpy barkeep, “but at least I’m usually safe from having to deal with the creeps and other fun folk that find their way into port. Most nights, tonight’s just off.”
Her yellow eyes lit up as they darted to the paper he held out. Rather than taking it from the spurii, she cozied up against him, and put an arm around his shoulders. Smiling pleasantly, she spoke just loudly enough to be heard over the commotion of the bar, “so really, is that a non disclosure agreement? I’ve had to sign those a few times, but I can’t tell you who for without starting a war or two. What would dashing fellow like you need one of those for anyways?”
Leaning in even closer she nuzzled his ear, careful to note that the barkeep once again looked away, “play along, or the old fart may throw you out, or even worse, for trying to poach me. Extra revenue is hard to come by.”
Harper nodded and awkwardly wrapped an arm around her waist. “Well, my dear,” he said a bit too stiffly, “it would be better if no one knew what I was here for.”
The male spurii moved closer, mouth brushing against her ear. “The guy I work for is a lot less grumpy and probably wouldn’t cut into your profits as much.” He withdrew and smirked to cover his discomfort. His acting skills hadn’t seen too much use since he ran from Boreas, but they would have to do.
Harper’s grey-violet eyes swept over the smaller woman’s form, taking in her appearance in the soft lighting. Her eyes were rather striking. Then, mentally shaking himself out of his appraisal, he tried not to look like an awkward teen boy talking to a pretty girl.
“Do you have a name, or should I keep calling you ‘Dear’?”
“I’m so used to being called ‘girl’, ‘dear’, ‘lass’, or other less colourful words, I don’t often bother telling Johns my name,” she admitted wryly, “but you, my rather indiscreet fellow, may call me Ella. Not my full name, but that isn’t so important at the moment. What is should be getting out of sight. Follow me, we can walk and talk.”
“Your place has feather pillows? This I have to see!” Ella exclaimed loudly, drawing a few looks,. In a stage whisper she added, “just so long as they aren’t the down from an nuntius, they make me itch in less savoury places.”
“You’ll hardly notice the pillows with me.” The male spurii puffed up, before shutting his mouth and forcing a self satisfied smirk.
Grabbing Harper’s hand gently, she pulled him towards the exit.
The spurii allowed himself to be led, shoulders dropping minutely in relief. The whole encounter had gone better than expected. Once they were outside, the smirk fell from his face. Harper was just glad he didn’t have to pretend to be a sleaze anymore.
“Your patience for men without manners is saintly,” he remarked.
“Me? Oh, I’m anything but a saint, Ella burst into laughter. She held onto Harper’s shoulder to steady herself, “You never told me you were a comedian, mister. On that note, do you have a name, or shall I call you ‘mister’ from here on out?”
A crooked smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “At your service; you can call me Harper.” He looked upwards in thought, “I might be better off as a comedian than recruiting for a brothel.”
“Well then, Mr. Minstrel,” Ella had a habit of avoid people’s names or playing with the similar sounding words. She trailed her hand down Harper’s back lightly as she let him lead the way down the street.
A pleasant shiver made its way down Harper’s back at Ella’s touch. “Jokes are free, I can't afford much other entertainment at the moment.”
“A sense of humor is often better than a plump wallet to most women. Women who aren’t looking for something to line their own purses, that is. So tell me, is this related to that flyer that found it’s way to the bar a few weeks back? The old bag tore it up before I could get a proper look for an address.”
“Just a help wanted ad.” He tugged another copy out of a jacket pocket. “I followed it, to the address looking for work myself --not the kind you do-- and my new boss is too busy to recruit for himself. He's an ambitious fellow, but seemed a bit less slimy than the bartender back there.”
Usually, Harper wasn't so forthcoming, but his prospects at having a place to stay and food depended on this. There was some truth in his earlier statement, he didn't have much else going for him besides his supposed sense of humor.
“So what you’re saying is, you can’t pay for my time tonight?” Ella pouted playfully drawing out of his embrace. Before he could react with one hand she snatched the flyer free, and with the other she snaked her grip around his waist and pulled herself close so that they were hip to hip. In the dim light she read the parchment carefully, then handed it back. Looking up, as she often found herself doing due to her short stature, her pout gave way to a genuine smile.
“Well, tell me a joke as we go to this place. Then we’ll call it even.”
Harper opened his mouth to protest that he could reimburse her for the time she could have spent working, but stopped himself. He could hardly afford to feed himself for the next week, let alone buy Ella’s time. Her offer was much more tempting than digging in his pockets.
“Alright,” he agreed a little uneasily, hands flexing unconsciously at her waist, unsure where exactly to put them. Joke telling wasn’t exactly one of his strong suits. The recruiter shifted uncomfortably and his eyes darted down to the delicate hand resting on his hip. “I’m not usually an entertainer, but you seem to find me amusing enough.”
An awkward pause followed.
“I used to be a kitchen boy, but thought I’d take up comedy when the customers kept saying food I prepared tasted funny.” Harper inwardly groaned at the truly terrible joke, looking away from the smaller woman. “You know, when I told the customers that, they told me if I made that my living, I’d starve.”
“Well, you are on the skinny side Mr. Harper,” Ella had to concede with a laugh, “however I think I have you beat on the ‘do you weigh less than a wet noodle’ contest. Something about my... metabolism I think the doctor last told me. Must be why even teenagers can even stand head and shoulder over me.”
Harper smirked at that.
“But, I have learned in this business that being on the smaller side can bring in a steady flow of clients. Clients who have tastes that don’t always match up to what other girls can offer. Then there’s the hitters, and because of that I needed the bar as just a safe haven for my practices. Well, not safe, but you get the idea, right?” Any somber reflections washed away with a flicker of a cheshire smile that crossed her face, exposing her pearly white sharp teeth, this was a realization she had come to years ago.
The male spurii’s eyes traveled Ella’s form almost against his will. Her petite frame was --the usually taciturn man shook his head to clear away that kind of thought. “...yes... you can freely advertise your service and the bartender doesn't let anyone disturb your work because it cuts into his profit.” Harper frowned in distaste at that. It bothered him to see another person treated like a commodity; it was too reminiscent of his previous employers for comfort.
“The only thing I could really offer is a chance to bargain for keeping more of your pay.”
“And on that note, I do hope that you’re not planning anything... untowards. I might be small, but I’ve learned of many places men, and women, dislike being hit hard.”
Her thumb pressed against his back, into the tender flesh above his kidney, “If you get my drift, that is.”
The wanted criminal stiffened. “I think that would make recruiting you rather difficult,” he grumbled. Harper took a half step forward to escape her touch and twisted so that he was facing Ella.
The former henchman was not quick to fight, preferring to keep comfortable distances from others. Therefore, threats made him uneasy. Despite his earlier behavior, Harper was not above restraining the small woman with a Serpens spell to escape this uncomfortable situation. He could look for people to recruit elsewhere if things got hairy.
“Though I think I should be the one worried for their safety in this case.” Harper bristled, resembling an offended cat.
“At least I know you’re good at protecting yourself, and that we have an understanding!” Ella had to stop herself from laughing yet again. While a funny sight, she knew such reactions hid a past the man would likely not want dredged up.
“Sorry if I offended, Mr Harper, I only wanto ensure that we had a proper accord.”
Still grinning earnestly Ella began walking the direction they had been travelling, glancing back over her shoulder only to ask, as a coy double entendre, “Coming?”
Harper felt his face heat up at Ella’s teasing, but relaxed some nonetheless. He caught up to her, relieved that he had managed to help ensure his place of employment would stay afloat.
“Yeah, yeah,” the flustered man grumbled. “On my way.”