Chapter 5

The next two days passed quickly. Nora had a couple of live scenes practicing as a whore. The immortals were nice enough, respectful of her skill, but ultimately focused on themselves. Ariel cared about Nora—about her being the best whore she could be—in ways that her immortal clients simply did not.

The next big scene involving most of the trainees would likely be after Ariel’s initiation. Initiations were tricky. For many ephemerals they were intense experiences. The other trainees weren’t sure whether Ariel would want a celebration or would need help recovering from something traumatic.

The meta minds were firmly betting that Ariel would look for a celebration. She would complete the Becoming a Whore quest at her initiation. She had continued to surprise the experientials and meta minds alike with her resilience. Oh, they planned alternates in case Ariel had trouble, but most of the meta minds’ planning time was focused on a celebration and on quest content that Ariel’s initiation would unlock.

Scene Arielinitiationlunch Take 1

Expected Live: Ariel

Nora, Princess Aubrielle, Samantha and Susan were gathered in the formal dining room of First Front, the main brothel at the Berg’s Keep Whores Guild Hall. Florence was off stage, awaiting Ariel to emerge from Jonathan’s mage work room after her initiation. Florence would approach Ariel and ask about the celebration. If she were ready to celebrate, Florence would invite her to the surprise lunch.

Action!

“How’s she like to have done?” Samantha asked.

“I’ll find out when you do,” Princess Aubrielle said. “Just because I organized this doesn’t mean I have some magical way to know what’s going on.”

“Ya don’t?”

“There’s magic I could have used—joining a party for example—but we don’t need that today. We’ll all know when Florence and Ariel get here. We will either sit down to a celebration or find a private room and give Ariel whatever she needs.”

Samantha stared wide-eyed at the princess. Nora guessed that the idea that she knew ephemerals wealthy enough to own party magic was just sinking in.

“Ya expecting the guild master?” Nora asked, pointing as Master Kessler made her way over.

“Florence asked Ariel if she would like her to attend.” The meta minds had planned it both ways; they couldn’t simply ask Ariel’s meta which way she would eventually decide.

“Your Highness, it is a pleasure,” Master Kessler said.

“Likewise.”

“Ariel has invited me,” the guild master said. “Florence said she is also inviting Nathan Ledford. She is eager to celebrate.”

[Enter Florence Eslinger]

[Enter Ariel (immortal)]

[Enter Nathan Ledford]

[Enter Goodwench Hulda Brown]

This take is live and will fix!

Ariel was smiling when she entered the room. Her smile became even wider when she learned that Princess Aubrielle had arranged for Goodwench Brown to take time away from the lunch rush at the Roasted Pig to attend her celebration.

As they sat, Nora could tell something was making Ariel uncomfortable. “What’s got ya all twitchy, Ariel?” she asked.

Ariel blushed and looked around the table, eventually settling her gaze on Florence.

“For everyone at the table with Smell of Sex, it’s obvious that Ariel just went through an initiation. The guild master, Princess Aubrielle, and myself are feeling her excitement.”

Ariel looked down. “And I can tell. I’ll get used to it, but for now, it’s so humiliating!”

“With Ariel’s proclivities,” Florence said, “that’s not helping her settle at all.”

Master Kessler reassured Ariel, encouraging her to enjoy the affect her arousal was having on everyone else with Smell of Sex.

Nora was so turned on by the idea. She imagined coming home after a long session with clients. Not only could Ariel eat her cunt slops, but the immortal could smell exactly how dirty she was. She had to get that skill! There were so many uses. She could tell how turned on her clients were. She could revel in how dirty everyone else was. For that matter, smelling herself, knowing just what kind of a dirty mess she’d made would drive her crazy in the best ways. Her experiential was wet thinking of sharing that with Ariel. Ariel must know! She winked at Nora. The idea of Ariel knowing how turned on she was making Nora only increased the smith’s enjoyment of her fantasy.

Conversation turned to initiations. The princess had acted as sentinel for Samantha Oliver’s initiation—they had remembered the scene, fixed it in reality and everything. What a change to the quest line that was: Aubrielle had become comfortable enough with the commoners that Samantha reached out to her for help in an important magical ritual like initiation. She accepted.

A quick request from Nora’s meta to Florence confirmed that Nora needed to be thinking about how she would remember her initiation. She would need to fit that into the her timeline within four days.

The conversation about initiation was interrupted when an immortal requested a session with Ariel. The metas were even more embarrassed than the experientials. It was a complete cluster fuck. An optimization in the world tracked availability of whores in brothel spaces. Ariel was a whore; she was in a brothel; she was not with a client. Therefore, according to the optimization, she could be scheduled by an immortal client. The metas were snarky in the bug report they filed: why shouldn’t whores be able to enjoy a nice celebration in their own dining room without being expected to be able to fuck for the privilege? With some fast-paced remembering of new guild rules and procedures, they all came up with a way for their experientials to cover up for the bug. Ariel was understanding; she even went off to have a short session with the immortal.

While Ariel was away Nora talked with Susan and Hulda about life in an inn. She wondered what it would be like to have grown up in a family of whores. They were happy to fill her in.

“It’s strange—right good mind too—all of us round a table like this,” Nora said. “How much of this would we’ve been like to find in training if we didn’t have Ariel stirring things up?”

The metas scrambled at Nora’s question. This was the first time whore training happened, after all. They could remember whatever made sense. “In Berg’s Keep, it happens every year or two,” Master Kessler proposed. “We expect trainees to work closely enough to help each other out when things get difficult. Sometimes a training section will be as close as yours.”

The metas were happy enough with that answer. Ariel had done a good job of team building. She (and the ephemerals in her quest line) should be rewarded for that effort. Yet even without a successful quest, it would happen from time to time: whoring required intimacy and vulnerability. Whores developed the skill to connect to those close to them.

“Ariel helped the section become close,” Florence said. “Because of her quest, or just because of who she is, she helped everyone work together. She focused on building a team.”

“I like being part of a team like this,” Nathan said. “I would love to find a way to continue that in my career as a whore.”

“With Ariel?” Nora asked. Her experiential thought that would be amazing.

“Or you or the other trainees. I like knowing that I’m with people who understand me. I had not gotten as far as imagining particular people on the team.”

“Ya must have somethin like that in an inn, Susan. I reckon it’s right nice,” Nora said.

“Nay, not exactly. I mean family’s like to stick together right enough,” Susan said, “but being there with family isn’t gonna be the same.”

Hulda nodded. “Ain’t so bad once ya get used to it. I mean if I have to tell ma the details, it’s right humiliating sure enough. But I’ve done been whoring long enough that I’m like to get her support without embarrassing myself too much.”