🌶️ Bejeweled

[Clairé Maarkan]

Sorted? Niftiness!
Little bemusing having a Hayan,
That was all about the cleaning, in a round-about manner,
But sure, happy to have on board and thanks for your work!

No, no concerns about the Elemental,
Not getting their due in the matter - only a matter of time really,
Rather, Mekenna having to do work and not receive immediate payment - or at least, a bit of time to see if some of the more odd Reagents she’d collected over the years were suitable,​

”Mmm?”
Paperwork? Ew. But sure, knew enough there,
And as with Cerys? Trusted, had to, because like Aeternia was Clairé going through everything herself - and if someone wanted to mess with her? Well, there was always the backup notion that antagonising an Archmage was probably a bad idea - especially given Wonky, Chaos Magic meant that a lot of the time Clairé didn’t know what was going to happen so… lets not find out, ya?!​

“Not sure to be honest?”
Had been rather more thinking about operations,
Rather than her stomach, and the notion of food threw Clairé just a little bit,

”Maybe just duck out for a snack,
Find a little food stall somewhere, rather happy that we’re on a roll here, ya’know?”​

 

[Indefinite]

Ew, paperwork. And not a helpful dorin in sight!

And remember, work was important, but so was eating properly! They weren't going to get anywhere if they were too hungry to work, after all.

Keep the momentum rolling? Sharr was actually pretty happy with that answer, from the look of things. Planning things out, they had a busy afternoon ahead of them!

"All right. We'll wrap up here, grab something quick to eat, and then go furniture shopping."

Sign on the dotted line here, and let's go find that food stall! Let's get some sign-off on the style of furnishings that would be populating the brothel!

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

All the more reason,
To have Thrashz and Erica on board!
Though tempting, all so tempting,
To ensure that Spade and Havina’s Boyz were brought in too,
For all that, well, bound to be enough Guards to keep Clairé distracted to, and always Imps!

Flushed,
All kinds of glad to have,
A means of always having someone on hand to deal,
With the ever present Need,​

Food into Shopping,
Into, sign! Swish and Flick!​

The usual É still proving to be Clairé’s mark,
Even if she’d altered, Changed the location thereof within her Name,
“Lets!
Come, you pick the place,
I’m not too fussy, so long as it’s hot I’m all for it.” Clairé beamed,
Happily rising as she sought out, well,
No; that even if Clairé remained inclined towards the opaque skirts,
That were split dangerously high across the thigh? By way of blouse?
Diaphanous as, the breezy material there in name only,
Once a whore, always a whore, and oh so proud of it at that,

Mwah~!​

 

[Indefinite]

Lunch, then!

A cursory check to see if anybody else might be available, although everybody really was quite busy with things to do - it seemed like most everybody was probably going to wind up doing something similar. Quick and simple fare, and then back to work! Idle hands, something something, there wasn't anybody at the brothel that was just kicking back and relaxing. Everybody was collaborating on getting the location open as soon as possible! They'd be alone this time, but there'd be plenty of time in future to eat together, surely.

Sharr's option of choice? Nothing like a good pork bun. Although for Clairé, there were a number of vegetarian options as well, as well as chicken if she might prefer that as well. (More like a chicken and chives blend, where the meat really wasn't the focus of the bun's stuffing.)

Something where they could basically grab a bag and go, munching away as they made their way to the furniture store.

...or, they could just find somewhere to sit. One supposed they didn't need to be in that much of a rush. Take some time to properly enjoy the food?

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

So long as the place wasn’t entirely abandoned?
Didn’t much care, and for security purposes? Thrashz and the Boyz were in charge of that,
And worst case? Really didn’t think being within a building with Mekenna and getting on her wrong side was at all advisable - couldn’t imagine being surrounded by stone and antagonising an Earth Demon to be at all ideal,

For Clairé?
Chicken and chives sounded nice,
Though she was admittedly inclined towards one of the vegetarian options for now,
Where the young woman’s meta intake increasingly was trending purely towards that of Playtime related rather than culinary,​

That for all,
There’d been a return to certain narcotic uses,
Far too much of a fan of cocaine to leave it discarded truely,
Evidently, Clairé’s health kick otherwise in the diet had largely remained intact as she’d slowly but surely trended into an imperfect vegetarian since the end of the Not-a-Plan,​

Munch and wander,
No real inclination to sit,
Could do that well enough when they’d finished up with their shopping,

Walk and Talk (and Noms!),​

 

[Indefinite]

Vegetarian! Baby bok choy, mushrooms, firm tofu, seasoned with a bit of oil, light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and white pepper. Nom!

Munch and wander, eat and peruse, and they'd go about much of the rest of the afternoon hitting up furniture stores. Sharr wanted things to be consistent throughout the building and that meant getting something in bulk - and if they were going to do that, then they'd better make sure it looked good, you know? What was the difference between a sketchy fuck-den and a high-class brothel? Well... well, lots of things, actually, but aesthetic definitely played a pretty crucial role in it all. Bedspreads and nightstands, carpets and lighting, plenty of things to take a look at!

...

...

...

Hectic. Busy. Tiring! But they'd manage to get it done. It really was just a matter of keeping things consistent. Find what looked good, make sure it didn't clash with anything else that they'd gotten, all that sort of thing. Time passed in a flash! It'd gone on just a bit longer than Sharr had anticipated. "We'll break here for dinner, then? Did you want to swing by again after?"

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Might have (was),
A frequently coked up whore,
But she was also one that,
Put quite a lot of stock in exercise given her ballet,
And that of a healthy, increasingly vegetarian diet at that,

Could be a drugged up slut,
And a happy party girl, whilst also being,
Placing value on being fit and healthy too! Liked her vegetables, but also, really did just so crave the periodic hit of cocaine that helped ensure that the world made sense - one could only be so high on life without some added supplements after all!​

Noms!​

Shopping!
Munching away upon her meal,
Trusting in Sharr’s judgement,
That when push came to shove? Her attendant was also,
To be the Manager, and well, wanted to ensure that Sharr had her own investment within the Brothel too; important! Was!

And when an afternoon was spent,
In largely being Sharr’s enabler? There, she was all smiles,
Content, even if the wandering through the various shops was all kinds of tiring upon the feet,
“Sure! Happy enough to return this eve, rather liking the way things are headed.
Thank you for all your work, I know it’s a lot getting everything done in such a short space of time.” had rather hoped a year or so of preparation would have helped, but well, they were doing things now and Clairé? All so happy about that!​

 

[Indefinite]

A year's worth of preparation and, well, sometimes things just didn't work out. Some of the groundwork had been laid out by Natulcien but it seemed like there was a bit of a limit to what she was capable of doing in Temperance - Medonia really was just a different animal. Just how things went sometimes! The important thing was where they were now and what they were going to do.

The best laid plans of mice and men. Sometimes there really wasn't anything to be done about outside circumstances!

In any case, they had their plan! Get dinner and meet back up again at the brothel. In which case, Sharr would excuse herself - she'd grab something quick and get back to work, making sure that the Jorelite would have something once they met back up at the building. Cheers, take care!

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Always some new challenge to contend with,
And that everything so far was largely working out?
Could grump and grudge hold, or, y’know, get stuck into things!
Much, much preferring for the latter, when such negativity wasn’t going to largely get her what she so craved,

Hope for the best,
But given how Plans and Clairé largely functioned?
She’d tried to side-step things here and there for a reason,
‘Not-a-Plan’, well, sooner or later, Her Love still ended up seeing through the ruse,​

Best to just wing it,
And collect good souls to help her along the way!​

Which for now?
Nab some more food,
And then meet back at Lavender Haze!
Where as before? Simply but seeking something suitably easy-going,
With a good helping of vegetables thrown into the mix,
(Though, feeling rather snack-ish, and well, potato, definitely a vegetable! Something nice and filling sounded ideal!)

 

[Indefinite]

Dinner!

Dijon salmon with green bean pilaf. A delicious garlicky-mustardy mayo topped over baked salmon, a bit of extra for fries (potatoes! Still a vegetable, fried or not!). Roasted gnocchi and brussel sprouts in a lemon vinaigrette.

Chatting, how had everybody's day been?

Melissa had caught up with some old Enamorian friends and was continuing to gather information on who the 'bigshots' in Medonia currently were. Best to figure out who to ingratiate herself with, and who to be wary of.

Anna? Helping out in the kitchens, a bit of baking practice and experimentation, continuing her search for somewhere to set up her bakery, and doing a bit of small-time renovating in the backyard - mostly just a little workout area for herself.

Mwah~, keep up the good work! And the Jorelite was free to make her way back to the brothel!

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Noms!
Poking away at her meal,
The distracted air about Clairé as,
On a Mission!

Food, as important as it was,
T’was? The betterment both of their Household,
And the tried and true method of drawing souls into the Dollhouse?
They were set in place, or in the process thereof, and well, Soon!​

Day things though!
Important!​

And Clairé’s interest there,
Ever avid too!
Melissa catching up? Niftiness!
Important truly given re-establishing themselves as The core branch of Maarkan,

Annie? Playing around Home?
Neat! Hoped was, t’was having fun too!
And glad at that that Anna was making their Home more theirs too,
With a work-out space!​

Mwah~!
All the kisses and hugs!
As once done? Back to work! Such as it was,
T’was as Clairé darted off with a grin, bubbly and all kinds of elated as she made off towards Lavender Haze! New route! Scouting as ever the various paths too to work!​

 

[Indefinite]

Back to work, back to work.

Where Sharr? Thankfully didn't have more paperwork for Clairé. At least not in the sense that it was anything that the Jorelite had to sign. Rather, there was some documentation here - floorplans and the like - that she wanted approval on. Making sure that, with the matters of the laundry and the kitchen area sorted, alongside the 'barracks' for Thrashz and his mercenaries? That all of the variables had essentially been figured out and the rest was mostly a matter of 'work areas' for the employees and the like.

Not necessarily the most interesting thing - bathrooms go here, storage goes there - but if nothing else, it felt like it'd be good to at least have Clairé up to speed on this sort of thing. Couldn't have the brothel's Madame

getting lost in her own damn building and by that I mean feel free to just make up whatever, lol

, after all!

And once that was done? Sharr had seen about arranging some more introductions as well, if Clairé wanted to meet them again in her quarters? (Or wherever, honestly, just needed to be told where to go!)

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

No distractions and errands?
On to forming a new route next time!
All about learning the most optional paths from the Manor,
To Lavender Haze, so that she knew what best suited the moment at hand whether busy, or there with a bit of time to kill!

No more paperwork?
Oh thank Aeternia! Reprieve!​

Now that,
Most definitely put a smile on the cheery young woman’s face indeed,
The sigh of relief ever palpable,​

Floor-plans? Neat!
Little more Interesting for sure,
And Important that Clairé have a vague idea,
Of what spaces within the building were for what!
Humming softly as she went through the details,
The distinction of Work and well, a different sort of Work really given that,
Laundry and Cooking and Guarding were all still oh so valuable to the operation,

From there?
More Introductions?
Sure! Why not! That even if Clairé was pretty confident,
She’d met most of The Roses (or, rather, ensured she was readily available to partake of during their festivities over the years), t’was Important too that she make sure,
That everyone on board had their means of asking Clairé any questions or the like before the Grand Opening!​

Her quarters?
Sure! Good a place as any! Let’s do it!​

 

[Indefinite]

Learning the routes! Although, the information was really only useful in the evening. No telling how crowded it would be come morning, after all - and no doubt the possibility of 'clientele' along the way differed during time of day, too! One had to wonder whether, in the evening after dinner, whether such dalliances were more or less likely to occur... but the Jorelite would have plenty of time to map out Medonia in such a fashion.

Floor plans (didn't count as paperwork, documentation), getting more and more used to the fact that she actually owned this building, and introductions!

Roses!

Might as well send up the three men who had come along, with the rest being women. And if Clairé was going to be familiar with any of the cultists, then surely it was this group, considering the Not-A-Plan? Hard to imagine that they'd have sent anybody who joined so recently that they hadn't been around for the Jorelite's binges, after all. Although, the demographic of Medonia's potential customer base had certainly been taken into consideration when determining who to send along.

A Charismean, a half-elf, a half-orc.

Claude - human, and from Charisme, not Jaedaxia, imagine that! In spite of the fact that it was still called 'Charismean' for the most part, Jaedaxia had long since overshadowed Charisme in that regard. Claude? Definitely the sort to be rather proud about where he came from.

Magha - half-elf, but interestingly enough his other half was Nairu. It made for a very interesting color scheme, a light shade of brown that usually wasn't associated with 'elf'-anything. Well, the Roses had wanted to try the 'exotic' angle, but also something relatively familiar? You know... elves, half-elves, Enamoria was full of them. But here was this exotic (not Vysstichi, that was important) elf.

Half-orc! Maddog. He was, you know! Former brothel frequenter turned Alithean. Dockworker and general laborer turned into pile-driver, you know? Thank goodness he'd been born with good muscles, good health, good stamina.

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

Plenty of time to find,
The optimal pathing, whether seeking,
Distractions or efficiency, where depending upon the day?
They were were pieces of knowledge, of equal value given the young woman’s mood and sense of whimsy,

And once more?
Perched upon the edge of her bed,
Stretched out,
Long legs idly dangling, kicking away,
As she settled in comfortably for the furthering of the Meet & Greet of The Roses that had elected to come to Medonia with her,​

All smiles!
They were after all,
More or less ‘Her People’ given how the Gangs of Temperance had functioned,
And so? Time to do the rounds!​

That she was far,
Far better acquainted with the menfolk of The Roses?
Unquestionable! That, prior to the Not-a-Plan, Clairé had still been doing the rounds,
From the testing of Felicity through to the orgies thereof? Well, high as a kite and ever so easy, that Clairé only really remembered Erica and the portly Reginald? Well, certainly she’d had years of availability with the women too,

Toys though!
Mwah~! Hi-Hi (Hello!
As Clairé oh so cheerful there,
Of the Charismaen? Nice! Half-Elf? Hi-Hi! (Exotic!)
And Maddog, the touch of smoulder in Clairé’s eyes at the Half-Orc,
Where the Jorelite’s penchant for Greenskins’ remained tried and true over the years,​

Hi-Hi!
Welcome! Thanks for being a part of all this!
Questions, worries? Things that might need Clairé’s personal clarification thereof?!​

 

[Indefinite]

It was just, you know, supply and demand things. The Roses had seen the need to send along far more women than men, with Clairé not exactly being representative of the typical customer expected to be found in Medonia. (Although maybe she'd be particularly lucky and the typical customer was, in fact, a lazy whore who particularly liked big ugly fuckers. Fingers crossed?)

Hello hello! Greetings and so on and everybody more or less seeming to feel quite comfortable at the moment. It'd have been one thing if they'd been assigned to a stranger, but Clairé? They knew Clairé. Quite intimately!

Questions, concerns, worries?

It seemed like at least some of the information that had already been given out had been disseminated, so a few matters had already been clarified for the Alitheans, such as the fact that it was business first and foremost. Good to know for the cult members. Let's see, was there anything else?

Claude wanted to know what the policies on smoking were. Could they smoke in their work room? Could they smoke in the building at all? Should they smoke outside? Normally he wasn't too concerned but, well, now he had to care about the customer and all. Big difference between how you carried yourself personally, and how you carried yourself as an employee, right?

Magha? Very practical in wondering what they were supposed to do about contraceptives.

For Maddog? Wondering whether Clairé wanted them to be more 'generalists' or 'specialists' when it came to their work. For instance, you know, half-orc. Big. Strong. Rough. Was it safe to assume that whoever was sent his way would be capable of dealing with that, what would be the way to clarify what a customer was looking for? (And even if the obvious answer was to just ask, it felt good to make sure to understand the overall procedure. If it was taken care of by the front, then asking was just redundant, after all.)

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

All smiles!
And that the Toys,
Were a token rarity in the whole of it?
No concern there, not when she quite understood how a Brothel usually operated there,
And that Clairé’s penchant for sampling her colleagues in the downtime,

No, this, this was fiiiiiine!​

Which meant that she,
Could quite cut to the chase, no need really,
When everyone already knew everyone and t’was more,
Ensuring that peace of mind was a Thing,​

Glad at least,
That the earlier chit-chat,
Had largely also kept some of the Questions down,

”Outside, balconies, or out the back I think,
I’d rather not have it mix with the bedding?” as even if they could,
Clean it out, well, eventually the smell of smoke found its way into the walls and furniture,
And could quite do without having to replace that one,​

”The occasional I don’t mind,
Just not the making of a habit of it, y’know?” as the afterthought,
If only because of just how guilty Clairé had been with lighting up her clove blend after being railed…​

Magha?
“Have to check with Sharr on that one,
But I’m not sure there, I have birth control in pill form,
Haven’t tested it with men though, but well, I have the recipe and it didn’t specify not, so hopefully fine?” Hoped so! But well, a concern that Clairé had never had - and when all three had failed to knock her up during the Not-a-Plan? Hadn’t really factored it in admittedly. Needed to look into it further clearly!

And of Maddog?
“Personal preference, up to you,
I’d rather not dictate heavily, I mean, you’re here because you want to be,
And I’ll ensure everyone has a liveable wage and regular meals no matter what, soooo, y’know, I’m easy?” and it wasn’t as if Maddog as a Half-Orc was going to miss out on Clairé’s attentions given the opportunity,​

The grass was green,
The sky was blue, water was wet,
And Clairé was a rampant whore who liked fucking Orcs. Some things just were,​

 

[Indefinite]

Par for the course, then, as far as Claude was concerned. A little inconvenient, but it was for the sake of the customer, yeah? The Charismean would figure it out on his end, the important thing was to have the idea of what the tolerance for it was. If nothing else, it didn't seem unreasonable to ask Sharr whether or not a smoke break could be incorporated into his work.

Magha didn't really get a solution, but at least now Clairé was informed of the problem, so that was something. Granted, you'd think that a customer who came to a place like this would have their own protections in place, but the half-elf was all about further shielding the business from potential liability. And, you know, save his own neck at that. Hadn't been a problem for the Roses, everybody was there to have fun after all, but you never knew when you were interacting with customers - random people off the street that they were.

As for Maddog, it seemed like the sort of thing to just bring up with Sharr, then. As ever, the optimal pairing was one that suited both the customer as well as the worker's tastes. Worst-case scenario? It was just a matter of communication, surely. Ideally those sorts of compromises would happen as little as possible, and if they ever did, Maddog would at least gets a heads-up about it.

Followup questions?

"Are customers allowed to bring in alcohol or narcotics with them?" Claude asked. "Say they want to spice things up a bit that way. They allowed that sort of thing, or is it contraband?"

"Is it possible for us to put together some sort of blacklist on customers?" Magha also wanted to know. "Ones that are too clingy, or problematic in other ways - some get a blanket ban on the facility, others aren't to be routed to certain workers?"

Maddog? Content for now! Good vibes being in Clairé's presence again, her predilections no doubt well-known.

 

[Clairé Maarkan]

That Clairé didn’t really,
Have all the answers? Rather true to form,
Where her considerations by and large tended to trend towards how they affected Her,
Rather than those about her; selfish to a fault and now, well,
It certainly wasn’t uncharacteristic of Clairé at all (alas!),

Only to shrug,
“I can’t promise fertility things mind,
But health, protection against disease and the like?
You’ll definitely not have to worry any about that particular aspect of protection.” Clairé but added, figuring that it was the priority - at least - from her viewpoint, than the worry of any Little Magha’s running about Medonia,​

Elf fertility things,
Just how big was the risk anyway?!​

Humming softly,
As Clairé lazed upon the end of the bed,
Thoughtful as the questions only served to continue?
“Umm, sure? I mean, if someone has a bad trip,
I’d rather we not have to deal with that kind of nonsense.” Biting down upon her bottom lip,
Uncertain, but well, it was people bring their own - or Clairé having to supply, and the latter was probably going to be safer in the long run in adding distribution to her list of offerings,

Black List?
“A do not serve list sounds good,
I don’t want anyone who works with us to be uncomfortable,
So no, we have Thrashz and the Boyz for anyone that’s not welcome within Lavender Haze,
There’s plenty of Brothels within Medonia. They can become someone elses’ problem as far as I’m concerned.”​

 

[Indefinite]

That was the sort of policy that might be worth keeping an eye on. Obviously, if everybody managed to have fun and there weren't any problems? Then good! But if there was ever an 'incident' that resulted from something like that? Well, there'd probably need to be some revisiting. After all, never mind what happened to the customer - what if brothel property was damaged or one of the workers got hurt? Nobody wanted to be liable for that sort of thing!

Everything in moderation, use common sense. Just, there really were some people without sense out there...

As for the idea of a 'do not serve' list? That was probably good sense. And the security to back it up!

With that, it seemed like they were content enough for now. And, well, communication was key, right? If there were any issues then it was just a matter of bringing them up! Was there anything that the Jorelite wanted to ask of them in kind?