Legend of Ransera

A dedicated reveler might wish to see dawn creeping over the horizon when they quit the premises so the Velvet Cabaret rarely closed entirely. More dedicated revelers wouldn't stop until their bodies gave out with exhaustion, full of sensual pleasures. Part of Aurin's job was gauging the clientele and ushering them toward the end of their night before they got violent, violently ill, or other things inconvenient to him. As the place normally only closed in parts during slow hours to allow for cleaning, Aurin could not be in all places at all times forever and always, so he wasn't the only fixer in the place. Some would say manager, though Madame Lunaria didn't delegate authority so much as responsibility. The man with straight teeth and a crooked smile was perhaps the most senior of her lieutenants if only because he had stuck around long enough to earn her trust. Or because her cat had liked him straightaway—it was difficult to tell sometimes.

In any event, it was somewhere between the lunch rush and the evening crowd. Aurin rolled dice with a tenacious client so the courtesans could take a break before having to be on for a larger crowd. He wasn't a courtesan, but he could be entertaining and he was taking one for the team. Madame Lunaria allowed him access to a certain amount of petty cash to keep things moving smoothly, so it wouldn't be his own money he lost or won. It was dice, though, and he hadn't learned to cheat at those so it was entirely a game of chance on his side of the table, at least.

"Oh!" he exclaimed with a believable upset while the other fellow slammed his fist upon the table and then pumped it in the air, chortling. He gathered up his winnings, making noise about leaving, so Aurin clapped him on the back and said, "Well, I had better see you back tonight so I can win it back or Madame Z is liable to kick me out on my ass."

They shared a laugh as the man made his exit and Aurin surveyed the main hall. For the moment, at least, it was empty. Soon enough the early birds would come in for the evening rush. He rolled his shoulders, slowly circling his neck to release some of the tension. Stretching, cat-like, for a moment, he made his way over to the bar to peek behind and make sure everything was stocked properly for the evening to come.

He didn't really have a title, but he was the one everyone came to when there was a problem or the potential for one. His response tended to be a plan to fix whatever was wrong or about to go wrong, and he was apparently less threatening than the proprietress of the Cabaret.

"Dark liquor and dark secrets, eh, Doggo?" he asked, his smile its usual smirk, though by now Rickter was well aware he never meant anything by his teasing. If he had the smile that either made panties drop or fists swing, it was more that life just amused the hell out of him than he was judging anybody. He rather wanted and drink and a smoke himself, but he refrained from tapping Tony for something. Chances were good he would have to drink or smoke with a patron at some point today and he didn't want to be knocked for a loop. He could hold his liquor and other intoxicants better than most—he wouldn't survived the Velvet Cabaret this long otherwise—but sometimes the best way to win a battle was to avoid a battle.

"No worries, mate. Not a lot of call for rough trade last night, I don't think. Anyway, if Madame's pissed, you'll just have to do that thing with your hips she likes and all's forgiven." They often joked about Madame's proclivities, but whether the jokes were based on facts or not... "And she doesn't want her boys spreading contagion, so, you know. No harm, no foul."

He squinted at the rune. He might have known more than met the eye had he engaged one of his own, but his were secrets he didn't share and it was best to feign ignorance about such matters, lest people with lots of those marks come looking for trouble or something.

"Why do you have the Orkhan word for fuckface tattooed in glowing ink, though? Did you lose a bet?" He snickered. There had been one time when the stars had aligned, there had been enough in the way of narcotics, and his smart mouth had pissed Rickter off. The fistfight had been fun and they had just gotten wasted afterward. No harm, no foul, indeed.

"Or is it a charm to help with your little," he made a wilting gesture with his finger, "problem?" His face scrunched up in mock sympathy. "Getting old must suck."

"Mhm," was all he said to that, tucking all but his smirk into his pocket. One had to catch Rickter in just the right mood to get a proper banter and today didn't seem to be the day for it. And that was all right. If he wasn't witty, at least he was solid, the previous night's absence notwithstanding. Everyone eventually left, it seemed. Sometimes he wondered when Rickter would move on. It wasn't as though he didn't have other skills and other things going on from what he had told Aurin over the years.

Sometimes he wondered whether he ought to move on as well, get more serious about buying and selling information. If so, he was going to have to recruit a few solid courtesans first who were smart enough to filter what they heard for what was valuable and couldn't be traced back to them, and willing to work with Aurin. He liked to think they all trusted him to do his job in taking care of them. Even Rickter, who didn't really need protection from Aurin at least knew the redhead would keep things running smoothly so he didn't have to deal with anything but his own job.

Aurin glanced around the room. Things were slow, but he didn't fill the time with drink or narcotics. He had to stay sharp. It wasn't that he didn't partake while on the job; it was part of the job. But he had to be careful, and there was no point starting now. He wasn't here to have fun; he was here to make sure other people had fun.

He eyed Rickter sidelong as the man got comfortably numb before his shift properly started. As long as the customers didn't complain, Aurin wasn't going to say anything.

"So. What have you been up to outside this little world?"

Lore:
Aurin:

Business:
Attending to Customers
Avoiding Unpleasant Customer Outcomes
Understanding Personnel Needs

Acting:
Disappointment
Joviality
Leadership:
Teasing
Assessing Moods

Unarmed:
Friendly Fist-Fights

Rickter

No lores requested

Points: 8 points each, not to be used for magic

Injuries/Ailments: None

Loot: None

Notes: Snarky bastards
If Rickter's lores are wanted just hit me up and I'll edit.