Legend of Ransera

Aurin appeared, a little bleary in the eyes. He grunted but stepped back to let Arry in. By now, they had sort of settled into a bit of an understanding. It was new and fragile still, perhaps, but they had spent more time together since Arry arrived than they had for their first meeting in Antiris. Aurin was just a bit of a curmudgeon, but if actions speak louder than words, he was certainly doing what he had promised to do. He had housed, fed, and clothed Arry without asking for anything in return, without pressuring him to do anything in particular. Lunaria would give anyone an interview on his recommendation at this point, but it was good to hear that it had gone well.

The man expressly did not lock the door after closing it behind them. It was daylight. Nobody was coming to kill him. Arry had made a joke about it and so he was proving that he wasn't afraid. He was, though, and he knew it was largely irrational but better paranoid than dead, he thought.

"No nap," he assured him, "but was thinking about it." He had been lying down but didn't want to sleep until he heard how the interview went. His schedule was funny, but he was sleeping less than usual, trying to do right by Arry.

He put the kettle on for tea not because he particularly wanted some, but for something to keep his hands busy. The breezes coming through the grills at the top of the walls kept it from getting too hot inside, and tea was calming and clarifying. Anyway, Arry seemed a little jittery or excited or both. He might like some himself. Aurin wasn't trying to make it a home, exactly, but he was trying to make it welcoming, even though he was unused to sharing his little space with anyone for more than a few hours.

"Questions, eh? All right. Fire away."

Aurin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"All right, so... courtesans are entertainers. Dance, sing, play instruments, be charming and clever in conversation... It is good to secure a small number of patrons, especially if one wants to move out of here and into their own employ. Many patrons will want private, erotic dances. Some will want sex. They have to sign contracts with Madame Lunaria, though. She won't force you into anything you absolutely don't want to do. She does look after her people, and there are people like me in the building in case things go cock-eyed... pun intended."

He leaned back against the wall since they weren't sitting down. Someone pacing around him in such a small space would make him jittery too. Best to remain standing tall, even if that meant a bit of a slouch.

"You're young and pretty and people will certainly proposition you, either directly or through Lunaria, so you will eventually have to let her know what you decide, but it can wait a while. Give you a chance to get settled in a bit, you know?"

Pausing, he tried to gauge Arry's reactions to all this. Sex held no mysteries for Aurin, but he didn't throw the kid a lifeline in order to sell him into sex slavery. Not that Lunaria would abuse him so, but there were fine lines in all of this that had to be respected.

"If you don't, you can work that into your mystique, perhaps. If you do, it won't be like a street whore, taking as many johns in a night as possible. It wouldn't be every night, even if you are young and pretty. Is this making sense? I want you to know you have choices here. Options."

"Aw, shit," he said, though he quickly laughed. It was a bit fatalistic, perhaps, or something along those lines. He walked over to the table, took the chair, and set it across from Arry, then sat down. He wasn't so close as to be up in his personal space, but this was the sort of conversation they ought to have face to face.

"All right. From here until forever, I guess, you can ask me anything. Even if you feel stupid... I'll do my best to answer so you don't have to go into anything totally unprepared. Worst thing is I might tease you, but I won't tease you in front of other people, all right?" He leaned forward, elbows to knees.

"Why don't you start by telling me what you do know, and what you have done with your mates after lights out. A lot of people say a lot of things that just aren't true, or get blown out of proportion. If you're going to be doing this, though, you need to know what's what. It likely won't be enjoyable at first, not until you get the hang of it, and not with every client, most likely. We can hope for the best for you, but ultimately it's work. It's about their pleasure though many will want you to enjoy yourself as well. But if it was focused on your pleasure, they wouldn't be paying you for it."

He paused thoughtfully. "All right, that's not entirely true. There are folks out there who would pay you for the opportunity to pleasure you, but you can't depend on that happening. And if you're nervous at first, that might not be the worst thing. They might be kinder, more patient if they know you're inexperienced. Again, not always, but we can hope for the best and work to make the best more likely to come about."

Aurin caught the sort of flinch when he laughed, and so he nodded seriously as Arry offered a halting recounting of his smattering of experience. He sighed when Arry turned away from him — at least he wasn't laying on his pallet when there was a perfectly good, unused at the moment, bed. He was quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then he started explaining things as best he could, starting where Arry had.

"Well, reaching over and helping your mate out was giving him a handjob," he said. "Kissing it was the teaser before a blowjob, I imagine. Or fellatio if you're feeling fancy. Some acts and things have fancier names. Some really don't. I know a few of them in elvish, but I can't say for certain if they are the correct words, just what I have been told." He took a breath and just started talking to Arry's back, offering clinical information to him, at least unless the lad cut him off. No, Arry was a man. So he described the male sexual response, and the female. Explained how some people were somewhere in between those and scratched the surface about what that might mean. He described many sorts of foreplay, and many things best described as sexual congress. Men and women, men and men, women and women, and other variations. He talked about pregnancy. He talked about disease. He talked about some of the ways to keep oneself safe, some of the ways Madame Lunaria demanded her employees keep themselves and their clients safe.

Most of what he described would also be described as vanilla, but he certainly mentioned some of the more common kinks, especially those likely to pertain to Arry.

"But Madame Lunaria asks about those things beforehand, to make certain everyone agrees to everything."

He ran out of steam a little from staring at Arry's back. He thought about Looking at him to be sure he was all right, but the young man had a knack for knowing when he did and it only tended to upset him.

"Hey," he finally said, reaching out a tentative hand to touch his shoulder. "Are you all right? I know it's a lot. I... do you want me to take a walk so you can have some time to think?"

Aurin took Arry's cues without embarrassing him further, at least on that account. He stretched out on the bed beside him, propping up his head and observing him, though he tried to be nonchalant about it. Anything was likely to throw his back up and make him retreat again. He was like a feral cat sometimes, which was entirely understandble given how Aurin had first found him.

"Ah, well. It can be awkward no matter which part you're playing, but being on the receiving end..." He shrugged. "It depends on the person, I suppose, and what they like and how their bodies work. If you're to be the passive partner, I suggest lubrication," and he held out his thumb, and ticked off on other fingers to follow, "breathing, and relaxation. But it's a strange sort of sensation at first, so relaxing can be difficult.

"As for why... I can't speak for anyone, really, and I wouldn't suggest polling them. They might feel attacked or judged. But some are married and the spark of romance has died out and they want to rekindle it with someone, even if it's imaginary, without ruining their marriage. Some have strong physical needs that they don't want to take care of solo. Some are just desperate to connect with someone, and it can be a connection. It might not be the one they are after, though.

"In my experience, it has been better when I knew and trusted the person, but sometimes... the body wants what the body wants. Sometimes you're just masturbating with each other's bodies, and there's nothing wrong with that if everyone's being honest about what they want. I'm sorry I laughed earlier... You've got a familiar street kid swagger and I suppose even I am sometimes surprised when you don't know a thing. I didn't mean to make you feel small. That's... actually never my intention."