Continuation of a personal fiction involving Ketna, a human female, and Vazaroust, a male alien courtesan, developing a more personal connection.
*****
Ketna's awkward anonymous setup served its purpose, even if it was a bit obtuse at times. It had been a few weeks since her first few appointments, and it was reassuring that nothing irrevocable happened in that time. No one had breached the agreements or attempted anything uncouth nor had she been tracked down by anyone, leaving her much more relaxed about the whole thing, relaxed enough to even rehire the few courtesans that particularly were enjoyable.
On this day in particular, she had no such activities planned but spent her current down time in the docking city of the planet closest to their current course. The area was dense, as docking cities often were, and provided as sizable amount of interesting novelties and entertainment to engage in. Ketna and Munin had sat down at a public open seating area to quietly discuss vague current events and personal insight. While in the middle of their conversation, they were approached by a tall stranger, a Rnjaut by the look of it, Ketna was certain she had caught glimpses of him earlier as they were wandering about earlier. He approached the two at the table.
"May I speak with you for a moment, there's something I would like to know." They were polite and formal in their approach, and while alarming to be approached so specifically, nothing seemed particularly concerning for the moment. It wouldn't have been the first time they'd been approached by the odd solicitor at these docking cities. Ketna was about to answer the stranger, when Munin took the lead.
"What is that, exactly." his words were terse, almost annoyed.
This was different. Typically, Munin, rarely spoke unless directly addressed, but now he was making a point of it.
"For the lady, specifically." There was some sound of clicking, before his head turned to her general direction "You've been a client of mine, haven't you?"
Ketna studied the stranger, unsure as to what she was being addressed for. "A cli-"
"If you like, you may address the rest of your questions through me."
Again, Munin had made a point to take the conversational lead. He had rarely ever been this aggressive in conversation. Ketna tried to think of what could possibly make Munin react this way, much less, why he would voluntarily redirect the conversation to himself.
"I apologize, you are her handler, the one that paid me, correct?" The Rnjaut turned his head back to Munin.
Ketna froze, this stranger, his footfalls, the clicking.. His voice .. It couldn't be.
A thud rang from the woman's head gear making heavy contact with the table "Fuck"
Both Munin and the.. now identified stranger, paused their conversation, attention drawn by the cowled woman now face down in crossed hands on the table. It was clear enough to Munin she figured out what was going on, the stranger of course, was less privy to the complexities of the situation that was taking place, waited in quiet concern. Eventually she sighed.
"Look let's.." Her head lifted from her arms, in the process of getting up from the table altogether. "Find a more private area."
"Of course, where-ever you like." He was, quite cordial about the whole thing, following her lead as she left the table.
As much as she wanted this whole matter to go away, there was nothing that was going to help other than addressing it head on. At the very least she could maybe.. Mitigate the problem by addressing it. He had been professional and easy to do business with, before.
The trek to a new location with privacy booths was more quiet than it should have been, but it was awkward to engage in small talk with a prostitute that wasn't supposed to know who you were. The worst part, now that she knew exactly who he was, she couldn't get their encounters out of her head, and being aroused in the prospect of all of this was certainly not helpful for making clear decisions.
As they sat down, it was some relief to Ketna that Munin took the conversational lead, again.
"Vazaroust, yes? What business do you have addressing us in public like this." He glanced a moment over to Ketna before adding "And no, I'm not her Handler, just a friend."
"And how the hell did you know?" Ketna interjected.
"First of all, I do apologize for making this a bit more public than appropriate, but I did not want to pass up an opportunity to make a direct offer. It was mere chance that I was able to recognize you, and I wasn't certain it'd happen again. When I heard your voice, caught your scent, and likewise recognized the your companion, everything fell into place rather quickly."
Ketna sighed heavily, of course a blind species would pick up on that so easily. This was something to consider for future obscuring, Munin's own voice and general presence likely didn't help, it something that she should have foreseen.
"You are particularly popular and sought after, I'm certain you have no shortage of clients, so why seek her out?" Munin asked the question that was also on Ketna's mind.
Vazaroust relaxed against the bench of the booth, something about his posture read particularly smug.
"The simple answer is selfishness and novelty. To elaborate, I don't get many humans and I enjoy the novelty of fucking humans. Of the few I have had, you've been.. Far less fragile, I rarely get to pin down and rail humans as aggressively as I do you. And admittedly I do find a certain amount of intrigue to your approach, I've taken a few anonymous clients in conditions before but this by far has to be the most elaborate and I find the mystique entertaining, something I enjoy the thought of being privy to. It's exciting, you see. In addition to how generously you pay, does it really surprise you why I might specifically be interested in retaining you as a regular client?"
Ketna sat in stunned silence as Vazaroust explained. He had made a point of flagging her down because he enjoyed fucking her, on top of her existence being a fascination to him. She had to admit she enjoyed it as well, and he was definitely one of the prefered hires Munin had lined up for the occasional 'stress relief'. However, his explanation didn't help the awkward situation she was in either. This time, she spoke first.
"And what do you want, exactly."
"I would like to have you as a regular client. Not exclusive, mind you, I wouldn't ask that, just someone you can have on retainer to call on more directly. I can tell you value anonymity and I can certainly respect that. I know your health screens are clean and you can pay in cash as you have been doing before. Anything personal I might know will not be passed along and I will ensure none of this comes in contact with your personal life. I could make house calls or you can visit my place, no more having to worry about a location to rent or a name to rent it to, and you can have the confidence that I won't divulge your location to others. As long as I'm available, you can make appointments for however as quick or long as you need. Better yet, if you like, you can route additional hookups through me, allowing yourself to remain anonymous if you would like to hire additional services."
The two remained quiet, Munin waiting for his friend to respond, Ketna, still processing all that was laid out in front of her. After some time of silence, Vazaroust spoke up, again.
"Spend say.. An hour with me. You don't have to agree to any deals, and it will be at no cost to you. A free sample of the extent of experiences I can offer. You might think you know, but the settings you've provided in the past really limits exactly how I work. That and.. Consider it an apology for the awkward situation I've put you in, today. "
She remained silent for a few minutes, drumming fingers against the table. "When, exactly..."
