59 Ash 121
Willowby Street, East End, Zaichaer
The building she had taken Anton to this time was at least not in the Knob, but it still was not upstanding enough to have been found in the West End he called home. Tucked away in the recesses far off Willowby Street was what was legally a chemist's shop. It had all the correct licenses to order, prescribe and sell any number of wholly legal drugs to a beleaguered populace. It did this through a small front office, and could have earned its owner a modest living if that were all the business that was done.
Instead, just behind the chemist's shop was an entirely unrelated lounge owned by the same man. It of course had all of the usual trappings of a lounge, the overbearing scent of smoke, calming music played semi-competently, free flowing alcohol, and the friendliest waitresses Zaichaer had ever seen. So friendly in fact, that they would gladly make a quick trip to the chemist and retrieve any prescription from the chemist's office. And if someone forgot their prescription entirely? Well that was no matter either, as there were understanding doctors on standby waiting to write one on the spot for whatever was needed.
There were no doctors, of course, merely one that checked the inventory each morning and filled out bogus prescriptions for whatever was missing in exchange for a sliver of the profits. It was a thinly veiled front, but a thin veil was all that was required. The technicality of legality was often enough to keep things running smoothly. It was often easier to exist in the narrow gaps between laws than it was to openly defy them, especially in Zaichaer.
Vanessa opened the door for Anton and led him inside the lounge. The interior was dimly lit with candles and sparsely populated. The smoke that quickly assailed the both of them was not purely tobacco though, and mixed with notes of molasses and honey. The pianist looked up from his playing when he spotted them enter, but only so he could offer a curt nod before he returned to his slow melody. "It won't be like last time. I promise." his bodyguard said as she walked him over to a rather lavish looking seating area. There were plush chairs surrounding a well made wooden table, and Vanessa dropped down onto one of the larger couches to settle in. On the table was a large water pipe with three hoses extending from the neck to allow for smoking to become even more of a social event. Around them, the tables that were full of mostly sedentary patrons. Some quietly swayed to the music with a glossy expression, while others merely enjoyed the momentary peace that came with laudanum.
Zaichaer, it seemed, was a city whose populace preferred to disconnect from it. Alcohol, morphine, and opium featured heavily here, though prescriptions could be written for anything under the sun.
Patting the spot beside her, Vanessa called to Anton, "Come on, have a seat. She should be here any second. She's always been good at dropping in unexpectedly." Vanessa had not mentioned who 'she' was, only that they were friends and Anton should meet her. While that did not narrow things down tremendously, it did at least mean that Anton was absolutely going to be meeting a criminal. "You like me? You'll be head over heels for her." Vanessa said, giving him a good natured nudge.
She had learned Carina was in Zaichaer when she had come back to her apartment to find the entire place clean and tidy, but with someone else's clothes neatly folded at the foot of the bed. That was often the only notice she received when Carina made her way to Zaichaer, and she had grown almost used to the intrusions. She had invited Carina out to catch up while being anything but sober, and now Vanessa could not actually recall if she had told Carina that Anton would be joining them...
