[pre-story]By The Horns continues! Unfortunately, still no sex yet, but soon! The first draft of this one would have required a third chapter to complete the setup before we got to any action. As much as it sucks having to throw out a thousand words and start over, this version works MUCH better.
As always, if you like what you read, [redacted] Anyways, I hope you all enjoy![/pre-story]
By The Horns: Locking Horns, Part 2
As Rhuno’s hands pulled away, Nisha looked down at her hand, and the sack of coins that sat in her palm. It was heavy, surprisingly so, but it made her feel… uneasy.
Nisha’s morning had started with her running to the bathroom before she puked all over the sheets, only to find herself completely clueless as to how she’d gotten there, with almost no memory of the night before. She managed to piece together some of it, enough that Rhuno had been able to help her fill in most of the gaps as she got herself cleaned up and dressed. All the while, she’d been silently cursing herself, for not keeping better track of her drinks, for wasting a whole night making conversation when she should have been focused on making money. A whole night, with nothing to show for it, just an empty wallet and a splitting headache. Thankfully, Rhuno had a spell to ease her hangover, and his own. Oddly, though, once they’d finished discussing the events of the night before, Rhuno had gone quiet, awkwardly so. Nisha had simply taken his silence as her que to exit, but when she moved to leave, he’d stopped her, beckoned her close, and handed her the pouch.
“...What’s this for?” Nisha asked, pointedly. A horrifying thought crossed her mind, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “…You didn’t do anything to me while I was passed out, did you?”
The tauren’s eyes went wide and he frantically shook his head as he sat on the edge of the bed, naked except for the sheet draped over his thighs. “No, no, nothing like that! I, uh… I know your time is valuable, and I feel guilty having taken up so much of it. Besides, it’s not doing me much good, and I’m sure you can put it to better use.” He explained, offering an apologetic smile.
Nisha pulled the bag close and pulled open the drawstring, peering inside and sure enough, it was all gold. There was enough here to cover two all-nighters, maybe even three. On one hand, seeing a sum of gold like this, she couldn’t help but get excited. He wasn’t wrong, she could really use the money. But on the other hand, it felt… wrong. Nisha’s lips tightened, at war with herself.
“...I can’t just take your money.” She finally muttered.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got all I need-” Rhuno began
“No, I WON’T take your money.” Nisha insisted, thrusting the bag of coin back at him.
“It’s fine, I assure you, I really don’t-”
“It’s not about you!” Nisha barked, cutting him off, anger creeping into her expression. “I’m not a charity case! I’m not begging on the street corner for change! I’m not some unfortunate little girl who’s down on her luck that you can rescue from the streets with a couple hundred coins! I’m not some desperate refugee you can throw money at so you feel good about yourself! I’m a prostitute, okay? That’s my JOB. I WORK for my gold. It’s not the classiest job, but I’m damn good at it!” She grew more and more angry as she spoke, before giving the bag of coins a vigorous shake, making the gold inside jingle. “So this? This is an insult. This is pity. I don’t want your pity, and I don’t want your gold!” She finally concluded, reeling back her arm and throwing the sack of coins into the center of the tauren’s chest.
Rhuno hardly felt the impact, but his expression was definitely hurt. He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could speak, Nisha pivoted on her hoof and stormed out the door, leaving Rhuno sitting on the bed, alone.
-----
As Nisha strode into The World’s End, her glowing blue eyes once again scanned the room from beneath the hood of her cloak. What she saw was not unexpected- the usual unsavory characters that lingered in the dark corners, Kylene carrying a tray of drinks out onto the floor, Haris Pilton standing around in her sunglasses with that horrible little dog of hers, a few Azerothian travelers here and there… one of whom caught her eye. A human man with long, silky black hair and a face like a model, sitting at the bar with an ale in one hand, wearing what was basically a vest, unbuttoned and hanging open. As he spoke with Kylene, Nisha noted an enormous tattoo of a hammer on his muscular chest. A dark smirk crossed her glossy, deep purple lips. She’d spotted her first target.
She quickly shed her cloak and made her way over to the bar, checking her hair as she went to make sure it was still straight after taking off her hood (it was). She sidled up to the bar and climbed onto the stool next to the human stranger, making sure to put a little extra flourish in her movements to catch his attention as she settled into her seat…
“Well hello there, stranger.” A deep voice said from behind her.Nisha blinked in confusion, turning to see who it was, only to see Rhuno standing there, a slightly sheepish smile on his face. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Nisha narrowed her eyes at the tauren for a moment, trying to read his intentions, but having little luck. “...Alright.” she conceded, turning to face the bar again.
Rhuno quickly moved in to sit next to her, carefully shifting his bulky frame onto the stool, so as not to knock her off her seat with a careless elbow. He waved for the bartender, and ordered two drinks, one for the lady and a pitcher of ale. Sharuubo cast a curious glance at the two of them, but said nothing as he moved to pour the drinks.
Silence hung over the two for a moment, neither one really looking at the other, before Rhuno finally spoke. “...I’m sorry. I never intended to insult you. I just… you were right. I pitied you. I thought I was… above you, somehow, and looked down on you, just because of your profession. I wasn’t being honest with you, or myself. I did think you needed that coin more than I did, but that wasn’t why I was offering it to you, I was doing it because I wanted to make myself feel better. It was wrong of me, and I apologize.” He offered.
Nisha was honestly surprised. She couldn’t remember the last time a guy had actually apologized to her for anything, let alone apologized for something like offering her money. In hindsight, she did feel a little foolish about her outburst, at least, the part where she actually threw the sack of coins at him. She took a sip of her pint and sighed. “I probably overreacted a little bit, myself.” She conceded.
There was another moment of awkward silence as Rhuno took a drink of his ale, but as he set it down again, he spoke once more. “With that being said… I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with accepting charity. I mean, in that situation, I was wrong, because the charity wasn’t genuine, but, like… Everyone needs help sometimes, there’s no shame in accepting it.”
Nisha turned to face him more directly. “Charity’s not inherently bad, honestly, it’s not even that it has to be genuine charity. Most of the big charitable donors you find are doing it for themselves, anyways. The problem is the assumption that I needed it. I mean, I’m not living richly, but that’s mostly because I’ve been saving up to get out of here and move somewhere nicer. Prostitutes and other sex workers are often portrayed as desperately poor, as having gone into the profession as a last resort, but in reality, it’s a relatively easy job that can be extremely lucrative if you can attract the right clientele, and it’s a job that almost any woman can do, in a world where a lot of opportunities are closed off either because they’re women or because they’re poor, or uneducated, or the wrong race...”
“It seems like it’d be a dangerous profession to get into, though. It’s illegal in most places, so there’s always the risk of being arrested, and the job itself requires you to put yourself in a very vulnerable position with essentially strangers. What if some guy decides he doesn’t want to pay?”
“Well, the legality is a whole issue on its own. It’s tied up in the whole culture of ‘purity’ the church tries to push on everyone, you know, no sex until you’re married, sex is for procreation only, no divorces, that whole thing. It’s only in recent years that cultures have started to push back against the ‘moral values’ of the church and loosen up a little, but there’s still a long way to go, and legal prostitution is a battle that’ll have to be fought at some point. But because what we do is illegal, we can’t rely on authorities for protection, which is why so many prostitutes end up working for abusive pimps, because they offer some measure of protection, at least, in theory. For me, protection is why I started learning shadow magic in the first place. At the time, it was just general self-defense, but it’s proved quite useful in this line of work. Doesn’t matter how big and strong a guy is if I can make him pants-wettingly terrified of me with a quick spell.”
“Ahh. I hadn’t considered that-”
“Wait a sec, did you call my job ‘dangerous’ when your job is literally to jump in front of angry monsters?”
“...Fair point. But then, that brings up another question, why not adventuring? Prostitution is far from the only option, it doesn’t matter how much money you have or if you’ve never been to school in your life, as long as you can swing a weapon or cast a spell, you can find work as an adventurer. The pay’s excellent, the guilds are always desperate for recruits so they offer lots of free training, and there’s so much support and infrastructure for adventurers that there’s almost no long-term risk, there’s healers and potions available all over, and even if you fall in battle, you can be resurrected at the nearest graveyard for free…”
“Yeah, but you still get hurt, even if you can get it healed later. Personally, I’d much prefer a job where a normal day gets me an orgasm or two…” Nisha began, tipping back her pint to get the last of her drink. When she brought the pint down again, looking into the now-empty mug, her eyes suddenly widened, her expression shifting. “Wait. We’re doing it again. The thing where we get too wrapped up in conversation and I spend the whole night talking instead of working.”
Rhuno blinked in surprise, snapping out of it. “Oh. Right…” He muttered, shaking his head for a moment, before bringing his pitcher of ale to his lips and tipping it back, chugging down the remaining quarter.
“Yeah… Well, I really do appreciate the apology, but I should move on…” Nisha sighed, turning around on her stool to survey the rest of the World’s End for a moment. But then she felt the warm, calloused touch of Rhuno’s hand on her arm. She turned to look at him, curiously.
Rhuno cleared his throat. “About that… how much was it for the night, again?”
Nisha arched an eyebrow. “...100 gold. But I’m still not gonna take it if you just wanna talk all night, I don’t need charity.” She cautioned, narrowing her eyes slightly.
Rhuno gave a slightly bashful chuckle. “No, that’s… that’s not a problem for me. You’re a… a fascinating, intelligent woman, and I’d love to keep talking with you all night… but you’re also stunningly beautiful, and I would love to spend the night getting to know you more… intimately.” Rhuno explained, sapphire eyes staring deeply into Nisha’s glowing orbs, beaming with sincerity. At least, for a second or two, before his nerve failed him and he had to look away.
Nisha laughed. His dark fur may have hidden his skin, but she could definitely tell he was blushing. “Man, for such a big, tough guy, you’re awful shy.” She smiled, laying her hand on top of his as it rested on her forearm. “Same room, big guy?” She asked, her smile taking on a playful twist.
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