“... Um.” To say the least, Twin City was probably not his target audience when it came to these books. That's part of the reason he didn't have any money or couldn't make money by publishing his books here. But he couldn't exactly say that to her. Still, having people from Twin City read any of his books would be… Inconvenient to say the least. It'd be like painting a target on his back. Why did he even say he was an author, again? “Yeah, maybe I'll see if I can find a copy for you.” Hopefully that took the suspicion off and promoted her to not look for one herself.
Rune went on to talk about why Twin City was a good place to find inspiration for stories, largely because of copious amounts of drama, scandals, and (somewhat unsurprisingly) murder. Though hearing that last part did little to inspire Salem beyond motivate him to find what he came for and get out of the city sooner. “Y-you don't say… Lucky me.” Salem said, getting visibly tense for different reasons than he had been previously.
Then she revealed what was probably on the business card she slipped into Salem's back pocket; she flat out stated that she was a sex worker. Which was shocking almost solely for the fact that she didn't try to find a euphemism to spruce up the term, but as for the actual revelation itself, it… frankly made a lot of sense. Her extremely forward nature to not just Salem but just about everyone she greeted at first appeared to come across as a free spirit of a personality, but it did surprise him many times to what end she displayed her affection to everyone, especially Salem whom she barely knew. Now the behavior was understandable, and brought on a newer, less genuine meaning to her actions. Salem looked like he had the wind knocked out of his sails, as for a while he had assumed he had some sort of hidden charisma Salem himself wasn't aware of, though now he just felt like he was merely a mark for a salesperson. “A-Ah, I see.” He said, rather at a loss for words as he cleared his throat.
“But I’m quite fond of you, Salem. It might just be on the house for you if you catch me on a night off~”
“... You've got one hell of a mind for business.” Salem commented half-jokingly on the offer, caught off guard by it.“I… m-might have free time. Sometime.” Hearing something like that, even in the context of basically being a “free sample” for her services as opposed to an actual invitation for something more, was still enough to cause Salem's face to flush. He tried to turn his head at an angle to have his mask hide the redness on his face, but it was in vain.
Rune then explained that she was born and raised in the city and how she wanted to leave at the first chance she got. He didn't think he'd stumble into personal territory so quickly with his question, and it caught him a tad off guard. Especially when he, himself, was being so cagey about himself. “If you don't mind me asking, is there something stopping you from leaving?” He asked, trying to do what little he could do to be a shoulder to lean on.
As she went on with the second question, yet another surprise whalloped him. Rune confirmed that she was, in fact, one of the monsters. A barghest, to be more specific. “... You're a… a barghest, that's… huh.” Salem hadn't actually read up on barghests before. Normally he should have no idea what that was. But that word appeared in his nightmares before and he thought he had invented a new monster to write about in his horror novels. After all he spent more time writing than he did researching. Still, to hear that a barghest was actually real, then… was Salem marked to die? His dancing started to be more stiff. Especially when Rune pressed herself against him for the slower tempo of the song.
“But that's a talk for another time, perhaps…? Death is certainly not on the menu for the next millennium or so and least of all tonight while I have such an interesting companion~” Rune said, bopping noses with him once more.
“Well… you're certainly giving me a run for my money on that front..” He said, forcing a smile, hoping that it seemed genuine. He was referring to the interesting companion bit, but then there was the other thing she said that it could be applicable to.
Their dance was cut short, however, when Rune said Salem should probably get back to work. Come to think of it, the dance probably went on longer than his permitted break time. But his mind was all over the place now, and being chewed out by his boss was the least of his worries. Rune asked him to find her after work, saying he had her number on the card. As she vanished into the crowd, he reached into his back pocket to pull it out. As Salem looked it over, he felt like he was reading his own death warrant. Was what he wrote in his books about barghests true? Were there other sources online that claimed otherwise? Was he marked and doomed? He stared at the card for a good long while before slipping it back into his pocket, and trying to focus back on his duties… As much as he could, anyway.
===
Rolling Deception for fake smile with Proficiency.
Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:39 am by Game Master
» The Beach near the Harbor ~ Dragons coming.
Fri Mar 29, 2019 9:04 pm by Shogeki Tekina
» Normal Grading Thread
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» Svala Svingrior
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» Fenrir (Fenrir Hróðvitnir)
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» Rune Alba Tyche
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» Shogeki Tekina
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» Gola Jaci "s Character
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» Repeat offender, Shop lifter in the market [Mission Level 1]
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