Closed A Whore, Her Dog, And a Bouncer

[Nylah Shepherd]

14 Summer 519 AV

Brega's House - Late Morning

Nylah had been living in the same room at Brega's since she first started working there, all those seasons ago. It was a simple room, with just what she needed: a bunk, a chest, a wardrobe, a small bookshelf. Nylah never owned a lot of things through the years, so it hardly changed. The only big difference was Titan, her guard hound she bought last winter, and the cage he stayed in when she couldn't have him wandering the room. He was incredibly smart, and if she accidentally kept the door open even a little bit, he would get it open and wander the entire building, startling clients.

Today, she was in her room taking a break when one of her co-workers came into her room, saying Brega wanted to talk to her. It was a little nerve-wracking; usually, Brega would send someone up to tell her when she should start her next shift. But she never needed to simply "talk". So she put her book away, and hesitantly made her way downstairs, to Brega's room. Considering she needed to talk to Nylah, she doubted she was working. She knocked on the door. "Come in."

Nylah opened the door and peered in. Brega was standing there, waiting for her. Nylah walked in, shut the door behind her and turned back to her. "You... wanted to talk to me, Madam?"

"Hello, dear." Brega gave her the warm smile Nylah was used to seeing on her face. "I have some rearranging of rooms to be done. I've got some new girls, and I'm afraid I can't keep everyone having their own rooms. Would you mind having a roommate?"

A roommate? Nylah blinked. "No, of course. It'll be an interesting change, though. Who's it going to be?"

"One of our guards, Bronwen." The answer surprised Nylah. She expected Brega would have her share a room with a fellow hooker. She knew the guard Bronwen, but not personally. A few times it was she who stepped forward and protected Nylah when a customer started giving her a rough time. Nylah wondered what she would be like as a roommate. She knew some guards were rough and didn't seem friendly, but surely Brega wouldn't pair Nylah up with someone who made her uncomfortable.

One way to find out, she thought.

[Nylah Shepherd]

14 Summer 519 AV

Brega's House - Late Morning

Nylah gave a small bow to Brega. "Thank you. I'll get my things and move immediately, then." Brega excused her, and she left the room. Back in her room, she went to Titan who was currently laying on her bed. He was a large dog, an almost fully-grown Akinva Deertalker. He took up nearly the whole bed. Nylah took a deep breath. Hopefully he wouldn't give Bronwen any issues; she didn't exactly have a good hold on Titan.

"Titan." She tried to sound authoritative. "We need to move rooms. Come here." But Titan didn't even bother acting like he listened to her. Nylan huffed, and tried again, louder. "Titan. Come!" He snored in response. So she went to the cage, where Titan's leash was hanging up on the wall. She went to Titan, and slipped it over his head. He lifted his head, and let out a soft growl of annoyance. "Don't complain to me, you aren't doing what I need you to do." Nylah responded.

As she began to lead (a very unwilling) Titan out of the room, she stopped by the cage and began to take it apart. It was easy to assemble, wooden planks with a metal frame. So with Titan's leash with one hand and the collapsed cage under another, she went to where Bronwen's room was. She may not know the guard personally, but employees learned each other's rooms so it wasn't an issue later. Though it was on the same floor, basically just down the hall, with Titan's protesting it took nearly twice as long as it should've. When she finally got to Bronwen's room, she knocked on the door with the fist clasping the leash. "Bronwen? It's Nylah, Brega said I'm going to be your roommate?"

[Bronwen]

Post withdrawn

[Nylah Shepherd]

14 Summer 519 AV

Brega's House - Late Morning

For a few moments, there was silence from the other side of the door. Nylah started feeling awkward. Was Bronwen in her room? She could’ve been out and about, maybe she was downstairs working. She looked down at Titan. He hadn’t even sat down since coming to the door. Nylah was worried that if he got too fidgety, he’d want to leave and she’d have trouble keeping him back. She wondered if Bronwen could help her with training him to obey her. That would be wonderful.

As she began to debate leaving to find Bronwen elsewhere, Nylah began hearing sounds behind the door. Shuffling, murmuring, creaking of the bed. Bronwen must’ve just woken up. Nylah felt bad about waking her, but how could she of known? It was almost noon; most people would’ve been up by now, right? Of course there were days when Nylah would pull all nighters and fall asleep late in the morning, but Brega would’ve known if Bronwen had and told her later to go to her room. She shifted her weight, adjusting her grip on Titan’s leash.

Finally, she heard what could’ve been footsteps heading for the door. A moment, then the door opened. Nylah looked up at the woman who answered; a familiar face, but at the same time a stranger’s face. Bronwen didn’t seem very stable, either. She definitely just woke up; she was standing at a slight angle, her eyes slightly narrowed and a lopsided smile spreading across her face. She stepped aside, and two people hurried out of the room past Nylah. Nylah noted that Bronwen seemed popular, wondering if she should expect to wake up to find her roommate sleeping with others. She certainly didn’t want to ruin Bronwen’s fun.

Nylah nodded politely in response to Bronwen’s greeting. ”Yep. Sorry for, um… my sudden appearance. I’m sure you were busy.” She couldn’t help but smirk. With Bronwen’s invitation, she started to head into the room. She tugged lightly on Titan’s leash, and surprisingly he immediately started for the room. But she very quickly realized he wasn’t listening to her; he continued on passed her, wandering around the room and smelling anything he could reach. As long as he didn’t piss on anything, Nylah was fine.

The room itself was… different than Nylah’s had been. It was furnished in similar ways, but with Bronwen’s unique twist. But like Bronwen had mentioned, it wasn’t as clean as Nylah kept hers. And it definitely didn’t smell fresh. But she wasn’t going to say anything about it. It wasn’t that bad, at least.

She turned back to Bronwen. ”Nylah, yeah. The dog’s Titan. I got him last winter, but I’m shyke at getting him to obey. He’s trained in general, just not to me. I’m sure he—TITAN, NO!” Titan, sniffing Bronwen’s bed, had started to raise his hind leg. Nylah lunged for him, reaching around him and pushing his rump down to the floor to prevent him from marking his territory. Titan growled at her, but luckily didn’t snap. ”Dear gods, that would’ve been terrible. I’m so sorry.” She turned back to Bronwen, hair falling in her face so she reached up to move it back. ”New place and all, I guess he wanted us to make sure we knew who was in charge.”

When Titan was sure he wasn’t going to mark the bed, Nylah let go of him and stood up again.