Intermission - Dalia to Adler

Dalia turned the key that locked the city up for the night. The portcullis slowly lowered, chains clinking rhythmically, and the deadbolt of the mechanism sliding into place. She closed and locked the entrance to the archives in the city’s walls.

It had been a rather slow day since Adler had shown up. There were a handful of returning citizens, so not too much for her to do there, and only two new registrations to take care of. The day had been so slow, in fact, that the majority of what she did was mindless paperwork and organization.

And when things began to be too monotonous, her mind wandered. Her mind wandered to the most interesting thing that she had seen all year: Adler.

Her mind wandered once more as she made her way towards the Fugly Duckling, the regular _tak tak tak _of her high heels on the cobble below her feet. She had taken this job in hopes to be more free with her sexuality. She was a beautiful woman and had gotten an overwhelming amount of attention from many men, who at any point in her life had usually been at least twice her age. This turned her off of men for a while and had some casual sexual relationships with women, but it was never anything more than that.

She wanted to get some and Lustidia seemed like the perfect way to do so. It was only after she moved her entire life to this remote location that she realized that she was just really, really particular about her partners. She was the only one who saw people into the city. The last documents she had seen reported that there were now just over fifteen thousand residents, not including the ones that have left the city.

One or two women caught her eye, and several men. Good looks can only get someone so far in life, though. And some of those people had been coasting for some time. Even talking with some of them wasn’t fun in the slightest. She rarely ever made it below their belt

Some of the more exotic races that came through were intriguing to her, but only in a morbid curiosity kind of way. She could get the same details just talking to her friends about how it was to be with them.

She sighed and unintentionally sped up her stride, passing under arch after arch. An orc stand owner looked up from the person he was pounding from behind and called out to her, “Hey Dalia! Where you goin’ in such a hurry? Got a date or something? I made this batch for you since we were running low on your regular order.”

Dalia slowed to a stop and looked around her. Was she already over halfway to the inn? This was a far departure from her usual methodic stroll after work ended.

“You alright, girlie?” The now concerned stall owner asked her. That didn’t stop him from thrusting into his partner bent over the counter, though.

She approached the stall, as was her daily ritual, and made a few taps on her bracelet, “Yeah, sorry, I guess I zoned out there for a while. Thanks, Cookie.”

Cookie grinned and continued to thrust. His hands moved to grab a small bag and tongs, picking up her regular lemon pastry. She bit her lip in thought as he placed it in the small bag and folded it neatly, securing it with a small branded piece of paper with an adhesive on the back that read ‘Cookie’s Cookies’.

“Actually,” she started. He looked at her in surprise and raised an eyebrow.

Dalia was too busy looking at the case of confectionaries in front of him to notice the look. What would Adler like?

“I’ll take a cinnamon bun as well, please.” She raised her gaze to see the face of someone who was still processing the information given. Even his thrusting had stopped, hips frozen against his partner’s asscheeks.

“Do…do you really have a date?” He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially.

Dalia blushed and looked in the direction of the Fugly Duckling before looking back at her friend. She nodded, embarrassed.

Cookie’s face was split in a big tusked grin and he opened his mouth in disbelief, “It finally happened?”

She nodded again.

“Well I'll be damned!” Cookie slapped the ass of his partner who moaned in response, “Best of luck, little lady!”

He delicately handed her the two sealed bags containing each pastry, gave her two thumbs up and shooed her in the direction of the inn with an excited look on his face.

“Wha- But I haven’t paid yet.”

“Go, go! You can pay me tomorrow by telling me how it went, now go get some!” Cookie resumed his thrusting and motioned with his head when she was rooted in place.

Dalia couldn’t help but smile at the kindly orc’s generosity and continued on her way.

The rest of the walk was rather uneventful until she approached the inn. The Fugly Duckling towered above her, some hallways jutting out at weird angles, some windows askew. She smiled to herself. This was as close to a home as she could get.

She pushed open the door and strode confidently into the packed hall. The eyes of those closest to her were glued almost immediately. It wasn’t uncommon for her to get many stares, lecherous or otherwise. So she continued on her way towards the bar, scanning the faces of the people around. Some of them nodded, smiled or waved in greeting. None of them were Adler.

It was only after she made it a third of the way that something was very different than usual. Every single pair of eyes were on her and the clamor had fallen to a hush. She hurried to the bar and raised a questioning eyebrow to Mia.

“What the hell is going on here today?” Dalia whispered loudly to the owner.

Mia sighed and gave the rest of the tavern a stern glare. They slowly made their way back to their own conversations.

“Adler has made a bit of a stir since he’s come here. He didn’t know the gravity of telling someone that he had a date with you later, soooo…now the whole tavern knows…” Mia trailed off a little sheepishly. “I know you like my cooking but you might want to take this date elsewhere, it's gonna be all eyes on you two if you stay here.”

Dalia smiled a frustrated smile. They put her on a weird pedestal because she was hot, yet wouldn’t put out. Though it was probably better than being called a prude and placed at the bottom of the ladder instead. She had heard the names and titles they gave her circulating around and wasn’t too fond of any one of them.

“Oh,” Dalia started, “Speaking of Adler…where is he?”

Mia said nothing, just pointed up. Dalia could believe that he already had another girl or two but it was already after 5pm and he didn’t seem like the kind of guy to stand someone up on the first date. Maybe he fell asleep or something.

Mia wordlessly slid an extra room key for room twelve to her and gave her a wink. Dalia gave her a grateful smile and walked to the stairs with a light hop to her step, twirling the key ring around her finger.

Let’s see what he’s been doing, or rather who he’s been doing…