This post has the following content warnings:
This post's authors also have general content warnings that might apply to the current post.
Fancy inns sometimes offer other services
Next Post »
« Previous Post
Permalink

Hiding in the middle of nowhere gets boring. Fast. Once the immediate issue with Luna was resolved, once she made a few more magic items and started to reach the limit of what intuition and swearing and experimenting could give her on how it actually works, she was getting pretty bored of gathering food every day and hunting once or twice a week in her slice of nowhere, never talking to anyone.

She goes looking for civilization, zipping along on a wooden sled she's runebound with an incredibly crude and violent 'go forward' complex. She finds civilization alright, following a river. First some domestic animals watched over by herders who watch her warily but don't move to hit her with poisoned crossbow bolts. Then farms, and that's about when she crashes the sled by accident, and just leaves the wooden wreckage there, muttering. It's just a short hike into the actual proper city, now.

The guards let her in without so much as asking for papers. Yay? (It's because she's obviously carrying powerful magic, and therefore is an adventurer. Not that she realizes this mistaken assumption)

So here's a foxgirl wearing a somewhat worn low-level witch's outfit, followed by a bag that floats on its own with the telltale glowing mark of runebinding, carrying an artful if minimalistic wooden and leather buckler that is actually inscribed, humming with subtle power, and a well-worn wooden knife in a sheath on her hip that carries similar hints of power. And is not nearly as low-key as she thinks it is.

She looks for some sort of hotel in parts of the city that are, like, quiet upper middle class? Out of the way, but still fancy enough to be safe-ish.

Total: 161
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

There is in fact such a hotel! It's named the Gilded Rose; it looks upscale, but small. Quiet and out of the way off a side street, not near the main concourses at all.

Permalink

"Like to think I'm street-smart," she mutters as part of her near-constant stream of consciousness rambling, "That's probably an overestimation. Just kept my head down in the hood. Still, I know sketch and this ain't sketch."

She stands tall (or short, at 5 feet with the ears), and heads in, trying to look confident instead of paranoid and tired.

Permalink

The woman at the desk is half-cat, and dressed in a low-cut top with matching red gloves.

She curtseys as Wynn comes in. "Welcome to the Gilded Rose." Her eyes flick over Wynn, and then she nods, as if to herself. "Would you like to stay for the night?"

Permalink

Yep there is a flicker of Wynn's eyes into her cleavage and a flicker of a wag in her tail before she resumes eye contact-

"Yeah." Confidence, confidence, no rambling, "At least for the night. Been a long couple of weeks. I don't have local money yet, but," she palms the floating pack, letting it unseal with a flicker of light, and pulls a stone square with little legs and a pair of dimly glowing lights of the runes for fire and control, "Really not feeling like going to the market right now. How about, I've got this - hot plate. Great for camp cooking, but I don't need it anymore." It took her a couple hours to make and most of that was trial and error. Surely it's worth something, though?

Permalink

The woman's eyes flicker down to the hot plate, then she offers a hand. "May I test it?"

Permalink

"Of course." She presents it with one hand. She knows it works. She made it herself. "You press this. It only has one setting and takes about ten seconds to get up to heat, and it's dangerous to touch while it's on. It doesn't cool down quickly, though. Rax it when it gets dim."

Permalink

She thumbs the switch and watches as the runes light up. After a few moments of it warming up, long enough for her to feel the heat off it, she thumbs the switch again. Her face is unreadable.

"This is acceptable in kind, though I encourage you to go to the market to make proper coin for any further stays." She puts it in a drawer behind the desk, and produces a small silver key. "Your room key. Ishaza will attend to you and provide you with anything you may need." She rings a small bell on the counter. 

Permalink

A purple-skinned, stunningly beautiful woman with goat horns and hooves comes out from a silken curtain behind the counter. She's wearing a long rich red silk dress that stops just before her hooves. She curtseys, and a gold and ruby pendant nestled in her cleavage shimmers softly. 

"At your service, my lady. It would be my honor to escort you to your room."

Permalink

A flicker of nervousness in her expression - she subvocalizes "too much? frickin five-star-" and

Permalink

Woah wait up she's hot. Her eyes track all the way down her thighs and back up. "Eye. Contact. Right," another whisper-quiet mutter, "Sex world." 

"Ahem. Right. Will it be a problem if I put down a couple wards? Totally temporary."

Permalink

"Not at all, it's a common precaution. Your room is just up the stairs, if you don't mind following me?"

Ishaza gestures broadly to a narrow flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. 

Permalink

"Sure." She holds in a sigh. Don't ramble. She's fucked up somehow, hasn't she? The place is too fancy, or magic items are rarer and more expensive than she thought, or something. And she doesn't know the manners, and she's had no human contact for weeks, and she- Follows.

Permalink

Ishaza leads the way up the stairs, which just so happens to bring her voluptuous ass and thin tail right in front of Wynn's face. 

When they arrive on the top floor, she gestures to a mahogany door along one wall. "Here we are. Your key?"

Permalink

Her eyes totally track the tail and butt as they ascend, especially if the tail waves around cutely, distracted into self-deprecating thoughts as she is.

Ooh, mahogany. "Where do they get mahogany," comes the mutter. She walks forward and inserts the key, turning it in the lock and pushing into her room. (Her following-bag might bump into Ishaza unless she moves out of the way)

Permalink

Ishaza takes a sharp step back, then follows her into the room. 

It's a nice suite, with enchanted lights, a big, luxurious bed, a couch with a rug on the floor in front of it, and a spacious bathroom with a tub, sink and toilet. 

Ishaza curtseys again. "I would like to emphasize again that I'm at your disposal. You seem tired from the road; would you like a cold juice? Something more alcoholic? Food and drink is included in your stay. I could even have a meal brought up if you should like it."

She adjusts her pendant slightly. "If you would like some entertainment, I can sing, dance, and recite poetry or storytell; if you would like some care, there is a suite of beauty products in the bathroom and I would be happy to brush out your tail or massage you."

Permalink

A nice place! Huzzah! She lets out a big sigh and looks around. Lets her clawed feet sink into the rug - carefully, don't want to break it.

Luxury! That she can evidently pay for with a couple hours' enchanting!

Permalink

Something in her mental gearbox locks up for a moment at her tone and the entertainment thing, and massage-

-Right, without the internet, the equivalent of YouTube is literally a person who knows stuff. Okay, that makes sense, that's fine. Great.

Permalink

"I think I aimed a bit higher on the fanciness level than I expected," she chuckles to herself. "Whatever. Money's for spending. Or magic stuff is for spending, anyway. Dinner would be nice - got no allergies or anything, whatever's good. Have you heard of coffee, or teas that wake you up? I know it's late but it's been ages since I had any. Weeks if not ages, at least. Oh, sorry, Ishaza, right? I'm Wynn."

Permalink

She smiles. "Wynn. Yes, it's Ishaza. It's nice to be properly introduced. I know coffee; I can bring some up for you, and whatever's being served for supper. Feel free to make yourself at home; I'll be back in a few minutes."

She curtsies again, and leaves.

Permalink

"With cream and sugar! And juice too! Thanks!"

She briefly tries to inspect the lights' structure with a stool made of construct magic, but the runes are well hidden. Oh well. She flops face first on the bed instead, after settling her bag down and pulling out her handy anti poison gold chalice Just In Case.

Permalink

Ishaza returns within ten minutes, carrying a platter with steak and mashed potatoes on it, along with a glass of what looks to be pomegranate juice in her other hand. She slides out a small table from the wall in front of the couch, and sets the platter down on it. 

"I'll be right back with your coffee. Is there anything else you would like?" 

Permalink

She's put her shield and knife away by now. "Smells good! Tell me about the city when you get back? I'm from up north."

Permalink

"Certainly!"

She ducks out.

Permalink

As she passes the front desk on her way down, there's a silent conversation communicated entirely though looks and body language. 

It goes more or less like this: 

How's the client?

Permalink

Skittish

Total: 161
Posts Per Page: