March 27th, 1890 — The True Hart Music Hall

Rose stood at the door to the small parlour that served as her 'office' - the door was open out onto the floor where the sounds of mediocre singing drifted along with the smell of cigar smoke and cheap gin.  There was a group of young muggle men at a table near the entrance to her office, the affects of the love potion in their drinks was obvious as the men fawned and promised the moon to them in exchange for one more kiss.  A smile played over her lips, as one man promised to take Susan 'far away from this life.'  Susan blushed prettily, pocketed his money and told him she was all his - it was all the boy wanted to hear as he promptly burst into tears and buried his head in her ample breasts. 

Laughing lightly at the ridiculousness of men - young men in particular, she headed to the bar to check on the takings.  She recognised the inhabitant of one of the tables she made a detour, grabbibg a bottle of unlaced gin as she passed.  'Mister Vainart' Rose greeted and topped up his glass for him, 'How lovely to have you back with us, which of my beauties will be having the pleasure of your company tonight?'

Christobal Vainart

  

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

Christobal was on the lookout for a model. Ideally, someone who resembled Queen Victoria, so he could get started on that painting he had been talking about with Emrys. He knew just the place to find such a lady; the True Hart Music Hall.

He was drinking at the bar, when the owner, Long Rose approached him. Perfect, he could talk business directly with her. She didn't strike him as the sort to appreciate him hiring one of her girls without consulting her first.

"Long Rose!" he greeted. "Ah yes, I am looking for a girl, but not just for tonight. You see, I need someone who resembles Queen Victoria... In her youth, before she became a fat old lady, that is. For a project I am working on."

  

Rose couldn't help but wrinkle her nose 'Surely you are not implying that any of my girls are as plain as her?' she said pretending to be affronted, more than one of her girls was exceptionally plain, they didn't do well, but they did enough.  Rose hadn't seen many pictures of the British queen, most of them had been when she was older, in her severe black dresses and white cap looking sour and miserable. She had once gone out with a clark at a book store who had thought that a muggle museum was an intersting place for the two of them to spend the afternoon.  An entire room had been filled with portraits of the monarch at various stages of her life, and in Roses opinion she had never been particularly pretty. 

She topped up Christobals glass again, 'Are you looking to be accurate or...flattering?' she asked, 'I know how you English do so love your queen.' she asked with a warm smile and a hand on her heart as though thinking fondly of the ruler.  It was teasing and she hoped, as a wizard, he wouldn't take it to heart.  'But I'm sure I can find you  a beauty that meets all of your needs.' always upselling Roses comments were full of portent about exactly what her girls could offer him, or his client.


Christobal Vainart

  

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

"You know that art always makes one's features more favourable!" Christobal replied. He personally believed that Queen Victoria had looked nice enough when she was young if her portraits were to be trusted. If only she was blonde, she would be quite pretty, by Christobal's standards. He liked women who looked homely and innocent.

"My take on the Queen won't be an accurate one, though," he continued. He leaned closed to her and explained: "It will be a charmed painting. She will be dressed all properly but when you give her a password, she will strip down for you."

  

Rose didn't comment further, after all variety was the spice of life,it was what kept her in business. 'In that case Mister Vainart' Rose said and lifted his glass and the bottle, 'Please follow me.' with a portentous look and her best salewomans smile. She led him through the tables and chairs to one of the special rooms at the back of the bar. The room contained a small table, a deep red velvet chesterfield easy chair into which Rose conveyed Christobal, and a stage. On the stage stood 3 cabinets.

When Rose poured him another drink music floated into the room from somewhere at the base of the stage. 'Lets see what's behind door number one shall we?' Rose perched on the thick arm of the chair and clapped her hands once. The door of the first cabinet opened and a girl stepped out, 'This is Lola, she is 19, only with me a week.' Meaning she had probably only been working a few nights. The petite brunette had large eyes and a pert mouth, the streets and some sort of infection in her youth had left some marks on her skin near her chin, but it didnt hide the fact that she was a passibly pretty girl, and her eyes had that doe eyed expression many men found appealing.

'Then we have Kitty', the next door opened and Kitty appeared, dressed scantily and she had fine thin facial features, and bore a passable resemblance to the queen, save for her hair which was bright red and a shower of curls around her face. She had been with Rose for a few months, and was a decent singer as well, and knew how to hold her body to better show off her assets in her corset.

'And last but certainly not least', the last door opened and Mirium entered, 'Mirium', it wasn't her real name, but she refused to tell anyone, even Rose what her real name was. The brothel madam suspected the girl had been married, and was trying to escape the wretch here. She was stouter than the others, her curves a little more pronounced, but she had a warm kind face. She proved popular with the some gentlemen and a number of repeat customers. Rose suspected it was only a matter of time before someone made her a mistress.

'So Mister Vainart, see anything that takes your fancy?'

  

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

Christobal was soon taken to some showroom of sorts, with three cabinets, which apparently contained girls. The whole thing reminded him of that fairytale about Bluebeard and his three wives. He assumed that the cabinets were some sort of portal, through which you would be taken to each girl's working space/room. It would be somewhat creepy if Long Rose kept women in cabinets until a client picked them.

He regarded each woman carefully. He immediately crossed out Lola. She seemed sick and Christobal didn't want to catch something because of her. He always avoided the prostitutes that seemed to have a venereal disease.

The second one looked a lot like Queen Victoria. She was quite pretty, except for that red hair. The third one was pretty and curvy, but she seemed too timid. Perhaps that wasn't a bad thing, for a model for Queen Victoria, though.

"I like Mirium," Christobal asked. "How much do you charge for her, and the redhead?" In the end, he was going to pick the cheapest option.

  

Rose nodded her head and Lola left the stage looking embarassed and on the verge of tears, she would need to talk to her later. It took a particular kind of woman to do this line of work. She wasn't sure that this was for her, and perhaps she would be better poorer but working in the mills or as a scullery maid somewhere.

Kitty and Mirium, both now in full compeition for the job moved closer to Mister Vainart, preening like peacocks and trying everything in their power to 'make the sale.' While Rose allowed some girls to make thier own deals, trusting them to report their wages honestly, others Rose spoke for directly either because they hadn't earned their keep yet, or hadn't proved they could be trusted. Plenty of people got screwed in The True Hart -but it was never Rose.

'Either girl is 4 sickles to model for your project' she explained, maintaining the charade that she wasn't selling sex only company and the girls time. 'Or, for 6 sickles, you can have both.' Ever the sales woman Rose's voice was filled with promise as she explained the deal. Although Kitty shot her a look of annoyance, and Rose met her defiant gaze with an inplacable expression. Having caught her skimping on her reporting only 2 weeks before Kittys happiness with her earnings wasn't high on Rose's list of concerns. This way - if he took 1 girl Rose got her share, if he payed a little more and took both -well both girls got a pay cheqye, Rose made more, and Mister Vainart would have a very fun evening.

  

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

Christobal wasn't in the mood for a threesome and he only needed one girl for his project. Besides, he had to keep his expenses to a minimum. Emrys wouldn't appreciate learning that Christobal was squandering away his money when he had taken him in. That night's visit to the brothel was for work reasons, not leisure. Of course, Christobal was planning to enjoy the girl once he got the business part out of the way.

"I'll take the redhead," Christobal told Long Rose. He was planning to make some quick sketches of her body and then photograph her in various poses. That way, he wouldn't have to keep hiring her, unless he really couldn't work with just the photos.

  

Disappointed, but not entirely surprised. Rose nodded and with a foul look from Mirium, aimed at both of them. Kitty was left alone in the room with them. 'Kitty go and get the Green Room ready for Mister Vainart' he declared and dispatched the girl back through her cabinet, which would not magically take her to the Green Room. A spacious and well lit room whihc would provide good light for painting and a decent fireplace so that Kitty wouldn't freeze her nipples off, on what was still a relatviely chilled March day. She would need to make sure the sheets and bedding were clean and that all signs of previous use were well disguised. There would also be a decent bottle of drink set aside and if she had time to get to the seamstress to transfigure one of the working dresses into something that might pass for the queens dresses, so that, if needed, there would be something suitably 'proper' for her to wear, as well as something scandalous.


'If you will follow me Mister Vainart' Rose said with her own seductive smile, 'We can get you all settled.' Rose moved into her own little office come parlour, where a gentlemans chair, and snifter of brandy stood ready for him - a holding pen before Kitty could get to work. Rose had her own part to play in the seduction of her patrons, the tease, the fantasy, to play as though she was also in competition with her girls for their attention but to never sucumb. Her scandalously red tafetta dress hung to all of the right places on her figure, a stark contrast to her blue eyes and blonde hair, the 'angelic' look that made her look like an innocent in a harlots costume. 'Kitty will be ready for you in just a moment.' she said, playing with her own glass of brandy, as she invited him to sit.

  

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

Christobal followed the brothel Madam into what appeared to be her office? This was all very official for a simple night with a prostitute. Christobal hoped that it wasn't some scheme to get more money out of him.

"Are we going to sign a contract or something?" Christobal asked jokingly, though he wouldn't get it past the cunning brothel mistress. Maybe she would get him to subscribe to a brothel membership, half a galleon a month for unlimited time of felatio.

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While The True Hart was a brothel, she did try and offer services to her regulars that were a little more special - a few drinks, a place to wait away from the hoy polloi, and a chance for Rose to schmoose, secure their patronage in the here after. Her girls were clean – at least from anything sexual. A little fire whiskey now could secure more work for her girls going forward.

’Nothing specific I have planned Mister Vainart’ she smiled and topped up the whiskey, ’Unless there is anything else that the women of the true hart can do for you?’. She let out a laugh, and perched herself on the arm of the chair in which he sat, ’Unless, that is unless you would like to sign an exclusivity with one of my girls – there are some wonderful rates available.’ it was something of a joke, but if he was interested she wouldn’t miss the chance to upsell her services.

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

She did want to sell him something. Christobal was really sensitive to those social cues because a. he was a salesman himself, when it came to his works and b. he was really stingy about his money. He did waste most of it on prostitutes, alcohol and occasionally drugs, but that didn't mean that he did it happily.

"I'm a busy man," Christobal replied and leaned back in his chair and opened his legs widely. "I wouldn't have the time to spend all this time with an exclusive lady." This was a service that would be more useful to someone like Emrys, who had inherited a room full of galleons and was able to sit around all day, waiting for his genitals to be licked.

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Rose laughed ’Oh Mister Vainart, sometimes the busiest men need the most relaxation’, whether that was true or not wasn’t really Roses concern. She had more than one girl who was ‘contracted’ to spend time with some gent or other, the busier the better, busy meant they had less time to actually need entertaining. But it was clear that he wasn’t for changing his mind.

’But! Mores the pity’ she purred, topping off his whiskey and sliding from the arm of the chair. ’When you’ve finished your drink your muse shall be ready for you.’ Rose moved to the grandfather clock in the corner of her office, and moved the hour hand with Kitty’s face on it to the 12 o’clock position. The front face of the clock opened as if on a spring and through the front aspect of the clock the entry to the green room could be seen, Kitty arranged on the bed in a suggestive manner. ’Enjoy your evening Mister Vainart, and do let me know if there is anything else I can get for you.’

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Stef made this and it's beautiful!

It seemed to Christobal that she had moved the hour hand with extra theatricality, so to show him that he only had a certain time with the prostitute. Oh well. Christobal was not going to be persuaded to pay for a brothel subscription. Not when he could often find women who'd sleep with him for free. It was easy, he only had to find some desperate woman whose parents didn't love her that much and promise her the world and she'd be his.

‘‘Thank you,’’ he replied. He downed the rest of his whiskey and placed it on her desk and then he was off to enjoy his evening.