One Whore's Town

[Darkniciad]

Here's a little ( completely unedited ) snippet from the first draft of Ch. 01 of "One Whore's Town".  I'm not sure how long it will take to finish it, but the second chapter is already up to a couple thousand words, and moving along nicely.

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Betty checked her figures one last time. It had been a good night at Alice’s Kip. The new girl had certainly attracted some attention. She’d worked the whole night. Betty suspected that the poor girl would be walking bowlegged after that marathon. She was trying to prove herself, but she might have overdone it a bit. The other eleven girls had done brisk business as well.

It was a far cry from five years earlier, when she, Alice, and Cammie had arrived on their brave venture to Windsholme – which they’d nicknamed Stingy Pussy at the time. Cammie still took on a few men and the occasional woman who came in looking for sport, but Betty and Alice hadn’t made their living with their legs in the air on the regular for a couple of years. Their clothing was more often stained with ink than cum.

The old Kip was now their private residence and office space. The new Kip was a beautiful two story house with eight rooms that had real plastered walls, so men didn’t have to listen to fellas rutting in the next room. Betty was rather proud that their brothel was nicer than the Cat – where they’d first plied their trade – and even rivaled some in Fightershaven.

It was only half their business.

Lots of girls with few options had shown up over the years, and not all of them were cut out for whoring. At first, Alice had put them to work cooking and cleaning for the working girls. Some of those girls were fine cooks, and many were pretty enough to ply their bodies, but simply didn’t have the temperament. Inspiration had struck one evening as the three friends recalled the harrowing journey that had set them on the path of independence.

The assassins who had been paid to kidnap and murder them – out of revenge for a powerful man’s bruised ego – had used an eatery as a front for their hideout. Betty had suggested that they open one, having the girls cook and serve. It was Alice’s stroke of genius that made all the difference, though.

During the day, the serving girls were dressed conservatively – though their dresses still emphasized their curves and legs. At night, those same girls wore gauzy gowns with deep necklines, short hemlines, and slits up to the hip. Heaven’s Table did brisk business with men who were more keen to look than touch, for whatever reason. The food and wine were good enough to attract travelers even without the display of female flesh.

It was Cammie’s idea to only serve wine, so as not to compete with and anger the local tavern keeper.

Betty didn’t need to do the sums for the Heaven, because Hannah took care of it. She had been the first to join the three friends in the brothel, and had proved she had skills other than humping in time. After only a brief stint taking care of the day to day operations at the eatery, it was obvious she should be running things fully and permanently.

The increase in travelers – and thus coin – had earned the block of buildings at the edge of town and the people who occupied them a measure of acceptance. One other highly unusual factor had contributed to their success. As the Heaven attracted travelers, they decided to turn away local husbands and boyfriends, and instead counsel them in ways to entice their women to spread their legs with sweet, unexpected gestures. The local women no longer glared at them as if about to form a torch-wielding mob, and some were even friendly.

With the sums finished for both establishments, Betty calculated her cut of the profits, added it to her tally, and smiled as she closed the books. She’d finally reached her goal.

Alice looked up from the letter she was reading when she heard the heavy, leather cover thump shut. “You’re done already?”

“Mmm hmm. Good day at the Kip and the Heaven.”

“Don’t know how you do it,” Alice said, giving a shake of her head, and then a chuckle. “I want to pull my hair out within a couple of minutes of looking at those books.”

“I enjoy it a little. Having everything come up right is satisfying. Besides, Hannah does half the work.”

Alice nodded. “You know, I think we may need to cut her in on things instead of just paying her a salary. She’s too good to lose already, and she’s getting more savvy every day.”

“Sounds right to me. Ask Cammie when she wakes up tonight. You should probably start pushing Cammie to do a little more on this end of things, if she ever wants to strike out on her own too.”

“Too?” Alice lifted her eyebrows and asked, “So, you’re ready to set up your own place?”

She hadn’t actually meant to let the news slip that very moment, but since the cat was out of the bag, Betty answered, “I’ve saved up what I think I’ll need, and I have an idea of where I could go.”

“Good for you!” Alice said as she stood and crossed the well-worn wooden floor to her friend’s desk. She leaned down and hugged her. “So, where were you thinking?”

“There’s a town about two days from here to the east called Hard Creek. Barely more than a farming village, but it’s not far from where one of Pompeil’s men says is going to be a major trade route soon. There’s apparently some kind of melon they grow out toward the coast that’s becoming popular in the cities.”

Pompeil Harrold was a merchant of significant wealth and renown from Freeland, who had been caught up in the kidnaping plot because he was visiting the brothel when it happened. He recommended that his men seek out the services of the network of brothels the Kip was connected to, as part of the debt he felt he owed to those who had helped him escape that nightmare unscathed.

“Pomp doesn’t seem to be wrong very often. Sounds like a good idea,” Alice agreed. “Get in and established before things kick up.”

“That’s what I was thinking. I thought I might go there and have a look-see, though.”

“And borrow a couple of girls to see how stingy the women are with the pussy around there?” Alice asked – knowingly.

“I was thinking about Jan and Lana.”

Alice pursed her lips and nodded. The two girls had been working long enough for the new to wear off, but not yet long enough to have a large regular clientele. Being new again in a different place would be good for them, and for profits. “I think they might actually enjoy a change of scenery.”

“And Ghent, to watch over us?” Betty asked.

A crooked grin spread across the blonde madame’s face. “You’re sweet on him.”

Betty rolled her eyes. “Last I noticed, nobody’s been sleeping in your bed here for weeks.”

Alice actually blushed. Olan was an older widower who had built the most recent house on the block for the girls working the Heaven, when the existing accommodations had grown crowded. Something had sparked between them during that time, and he’d asked her to step out with him. Eventually, she’d started spending the night at his place, and that had evolved to practically living there.

“He’s good for you, I think,” Betty said.

Alice gave a dainty shrug and said, “He’s good to me. And he’s funny. He makes me laugh so hard I can’t breathe sometimes.”

“Ghent too,” Betty admitted. She shook her head and chuckled. “Listen to us. Two old whores acting like smitten little girls.”

“May as well enjoy it while it lasts. Take him with you. The girls too. You can use one of the wagons, and take whatever you need. When?”

Betty considered the preparations she would need to make and suggested, “A week?”

“That will give me some time to get used to the idea of dealing with these for a while,” Alice said, and then saluted the leather-bound ledgers with a raised middle finger.

[Reject Reality]

:: Cringes at the new software mucking up the formatting ::

Whelp, after so long of this forum being dormant and the website being skeletal remains, I doubt anyone is reading this, but...

I finally got some mojo going, and this has leapt from Ch. 6 at about 7k words to that chapter completed and Ch. 7 halfway done.  Not sure whether it's going to run 8 or nine chapters, but it's moving at a nice clip again.

I might finally get this one out of the WIP folder and out into the wild soon.

[Reject Reality]

And chapter 7 is done.  How many are left depends on how many words it takes to wrap up loose ends.  I'm trying to keep the chapters generally around 9.3k average.  One's over 10, some are less, but they're all somewhere in that vicinity.

[Reject Reality]

3k words into ch. 8.  The current scene is at a slow point as I navigate a difficult interaction.  About three to one musing vs. actually writing.  Once I get past this, it should be smooth sailing to the end.

Right now my boy is being too loud to think, so I'm going to wait until he chills.

[Reject Reality]

A little over halfway through chapter 8 now.  About to make a big reveal.  After that is a short time jump, and the first coda.  Then it's just the ending.  Looking like 9 chapters total.

This is a sex-lite story for the most part.  There are a few detailed scenes, ( and one that takes up most of chapter 7 ) but most of what's happening is transactional sex.  It's about whores, after all.  I'm pretty sure there will be no real sex scenes in 8 or 9.

[Darkniciad]

Actually logged in as Dark.

Within a couple thousand words of finishing Ch. 8.  Now that I've worked past that part where I had a sticky spot, a couple more scenes make sense, so the first coda will be in Ch. 9.  I still think it will probably be the last chapter, but we'll see.

[Darkniciad]

Chapter 8 complete.  Trying to decide whether what follows to start Ch. 9 should be a scene, or a description in the first coda.  Getting closer by the day.

[Reject Reality]

About halfway through the normal chapter wordcount, and I haven't even finished the first coda in Ch. 9.  The epilogue may end up being it's own ( possibly short ) chapter.

[Reject Reality]

Didn't get much done this weekend.  The boy was being especially rowdy.  Got a couple of scenes finished, though.  Pretty sure this is going to be the last scene, leading up to the ending, and then the epilogue will end up being chapter 10.  As I mentioned earlier, it will probably be short compared to the other chapters.

[Reject Reality]

9 is basically done.  It needs a little something, as the end of the current scene doesn't feel like a proper chapter transition — especially when the beginning of 10 is a one year time jump.  A little shorter than all the previous chapters, but whatever is missing may very well change that.  Giving it a rest to muse it at work this week and working on that multi-chapter RR story.

If profiles actually get updated at Lush tomorrow and have the needed capabilities, that story will probably end up being my novels category for omnium.  It could probably all go under mature except it's going to delve into taboo in later chapters.  Not sure how many it will be at this point.  Just going with the flow.

[Reject Reality]

Finally got the end of 9 right.  It pushed it over 10k words.  ( Second chapter to break that barrier )

I realize that I need one more scene before the epilogue, though.  I can't tease something like this and not deliver on it.  It will also give me an opportunity to tie up some other threads in real time narrative as opposed to the recounting what happened during the epilogue.

With any luck, the boy will be cooperative this weekend, and I can pound out 10.  Then I need to let it sit a week or so while I work on other things, and get to editing.  The first four chapters have already been gone over several times, so there probably won't need to be much in the way of tweaking there, but the remaining six have all come more recently.

[Darkniciad]

That transition scene is done, and the epilogue is underway.  With my time off through the end of the year and beginning of next year, I should have it done, edited and ready to start posting before the new year.

[Darkniciad]

As I've been musing this epilogue, it's starting to feel complicated to write, and truthfully feels as if it needs to be its own story.  I don't know that it will ever get told ( as there's no larger conflict encompassing it like OWT...  At least in my head right now ) but I think that's what's causing me to struggle.

So, I've more or less decided that I'm going to move that first scene of 10 to 9, which will make it a great deal longer than any other chapter, but oh well.  I'll probably tweak the ending of that scene to make it feel just a bit more grand, and then the story will be ready for editing.

I'm in the process of submitting finished stuff as RR right now, but this is on the docket.

[Darkniciad]

I finished not a whole lot after that previous post, but it took me until January of this year to get it into editing.  I go through these long periods of drought where I can't accomplish anything.  More or less still in it.  I have scene after scene of Gates of Enchantment written in my head, but every time I sit down to put them on "paper" I manage a couple of lines...  A paragraph or two...  and then nothing.

It's frustrating as all get-out.

Despite that, it's progress.  Not long after that post above, I went into complete shut-down.  I couldn't even visualize scenes for about a year.  I'm at least having ideas for scenes and stories now, even if I can't get them written.

One Whore's Town has 6 chapters live, with three to go.  Seven should come out either Monday or Tuesday, and is more or less one giant debauched orgy. LOL  So anyone who's been reading and wishing there was more sex...  Well, it's coming.  Then for anybody who wishes there was a little more action, keep your eyes out Thursday or Friday for Chapter Eight.  That's where Josephine plays her hand.

Then early next week, it's the wrap up.