The Midnight Sun

Madame Naoki nods once in transparent affirmation.

“Yes. Like I said, I treated Miss Green to dinner, and the relationship we share could be accurately described with the word ‘romantic’. She attended the funeral because she worked- works with Hasdrubal a bit. She produces the plants and herbs he uses to develop alchemical drinks and the like. She doesn’t like him very much, though, and I can understand why. She is very…”

Naoki pauses here. A lot of adjectives come to mind. Most of them are superlatives, and a lot of them are terribly lewd. She chooses to pick some that make her point.

“... Very polite, refined; very proper, as it were. Socially competent in a major way. Hasdrubal is… not. It has been a long, long time since he’s considered such things as etiquette, or common decency. You saw him. He does that sort of thing on a far more regular basis than I’d really prefer.”

From the tray, Naoki plucks another cookie, and takes a small bite, again covering her mouth to speak.

“Me? I don’t mind it too much. Most of the time, he can be trusted to sit down there in the basement, and do the work I need him to do, without exposing himself to everyone and their cousin, waving appendages everywhere. And even when he does display his… crass side, it’s usually pretty harmless.”

“However, Miss Green doesn’t find it to be so. Hasdrubal seems to have a knack for offending her delicate sensibilities in the worst ways. If you were hanging around, you must have heard her reaction to his intrusion. And like I said, I don’t blame her. ... I suppose I’m just rather jaded when it comes to waving appendages.”

Realizing what she just implied, Naoki presses her lips together in regret for a moment before continuing.

“I need to speak with him on this topic. He needs to learn, at the very least, to maintain a basic level of composure and respect when around Miss Green. What he does in his own lab is of no concern to me, but when he starts barging in and causing my date to pass out, it becomes my problem.”

“Don’t go relating this around, though, would you? What I’ve just told you equates to gossip; it’s information I trust you to keep to yourself.”

As she speaks these last few sentences, Madame Naoki’s tone drops its light, conversational air, changing to incorporate an edge of consequence. She didn’t much mind sharing these thoughts with Skarlet, but doesn’t want them spread any further.

“Ah, a hostess, then!”

Her voice perks back up, enthused that Skarlet has taken an interest in something.

“As you’re well aware, it is the duty of the wait staff to do the front end of business in the bar. They are the ones who take the orders, relate them to the cooks and the bartenders, and then ferry the goods back to the patrons. If you’re interested in doing that sort of work, well, that’s excellent. We lack a primary hostess. Plenty of regular waiters and waitresses, but nobody to run the whole show. If you take up that mantle, and do well… Well, like I said, that would be excellent.”

Madame Naoki knocks back the remainder of her hot chocolate, and wipes her mouth with a cloth from the tray.

“Would you like to have a go at that, now, perhaps? I know a bit about that sort of work; I would be happy to provide you some tips, and introduce you to those you’d be working with.”

Far below the midnight sun, in a room that had a number of runes in it, the wall would shake a bit. Anyone in the room would hear a thumping sound coming from one of the walls, of course, no one was down there. The sound would slowly grow louder and more distinct and cracks would appear in the wall.

Suddenly, a piece of stone would fly from the wall. Then an entire brick, then a row of bricks. Before long, a fairly large opening was in the wall, 12 dwarves standing in the rubble. The dwarf who appeared to be in charge would speak.

“I hope this is the right place. We dug in the direction we were supposed to and I doubt there would be any other basements this deep in the ground, but… It would be quite unfortunate if we’re at the wrong place. Oh well, start putting the door in place and remove the rubble.”

Within the next several hours the dwarves would work to clear out the rubble made by the digging as well as put a heavily reinforced metal door in place. After fitting the door in the gap and being happy with its durability, they would close the door behind them and head back off down the tunnel to wherever it lead.

After cleaning up the few dishes used in the dinner fiasco Maelik promptly turned to his 'trusted' cooking staff and gave them each a hard stare.

"I'll be leaving the kitchen in your capable hands for the day, and while I don't expect any of you to match me in my expertise given the discrepancy in age and experience but I do expect you to perform to my most basic level of satisfaction. As such I'll be returning at some point later incognito and ordering some food. If I find that it's unacceptable then all of you will have to go through my personal training course."

He then manifested a travelers hat obviously sized for a creature much smaller than him and daintily placed it on his helmet head, the visual almost causing a few of the less mature staff members to burst out into giggles.

"So don't mess up, because by my assessment only two or three of you will likely survive that experience."

With that he opened the door to the main floor of the Sun and jauntily paraded to the counter, wishing a good day to Kevin. He didn't even bother to put up his disguise, he found that Isra was quite the tolerant place and providing he didn't go nuts and try to blow the place up. So it was in his full demonic glory that he trotted out the door of the Midnight Sun like a giddy child, his little hat bouncing about on his cranium but always landing in the exact same spot.

(Exit to The Streets and Connecting Alleyways)

Kevin pushes himself off of the back wall of the bar, popping the last slice of a tangerine into his mouth as he does so, and heads over to fill the newcomers response. After a few moments, he slides a pint glass brimming with ale in front of Artaxerxes. "How's it going, partner? Haven't seen you around here before."

"Okay." Skarlet accepts the outfit and watches Naoki exit, she doesn't get a good look at it until she stands up and lays it out on the chair. "Here goes..."

She'd look over at the door making sure that it was closed and nobody could see in as she undressed herself. Her clothes were left folded on the desk and she sat in the chair with the hosiery in her hands and carefully puts her feet in. She then slowly slides the dark silky material up her pale legs then stands up to pull them up to her waist. Skarlet looks down to inspect that they're on properly and smooth, the material felt nice and comfortable. She then puts on the cuffs, collar and tie before picking up the black suit part while stepping into the slippers.

Bending over she puts each foot through the leg holes and pulls the suit up. As she pulls it up and the material slides over the hosiery and it hugs her bottom tightly, she must admit if feels exciting putting this outfit on. Pulling it further up past her abdomen, the fabric holds close to her body, the sheer fabric feeling like just another layer of skin. Once up to her busty chest, Skarlet tugs at the suit to pull it up more, at that moment it looks like there's not enough. She reaches down and slides her hands up the outfit a few times, making it come up higher but causing it to become tighter on her, squeezing her round booty a bit more. Now she's confident there is enough afterall and pulls it up under her arms and lifts the it up to fit her large breasts in the cups of the outfit. With a few extra tugs her nipples are safely covered and her bust has been lifted a bit, she plays with her tits a little to make sure they won't just come popping out of the outfit then looks back to check her butt, seeing now the fluffy tail attached to the suit just above her butt.

She moved around a bit, this outfit felt really comfortable and made her feel excited. She reached down for the last part, a headband with two dark bunny ears on it. The girl slips the headband on top of her head and plays with the ears a little while making sure it was situated alright and wouldn't fall off. Skarlet now had the entire ensemble on and walked toward the door, she'd look down at herself again and see how revealing it actually looked! Anxiety welled up inside her now as she placed her hand on the doorknob, she was frozen there for a few moments, unsure if she should really go out there or put her clothes back on. Finally she works up the courage and opens the door to head downstairs....

Madame Naoki had made her way down to the bar, where she had had Kevin refill her mug with hot chocolate. It is as she is taking a sip, that Skarlet comes into view down the stairs. Naoki nearly performs a spit take.

Before Skarlet comes into earshot, Naoki murmurs out of the side of her mouth to Artemis, “She actually put it on”

As Skarlet approaches, Madame Naoki leans back against the bar, and judges the fit of the outfit. As she had suspected, it fits like a glove.

“Yeah! That’s great, you look amazing!”

Leaving her mug on the edge of the bar, Naoki approaches Skarlet, and gently uses her hands to improve Skarlet’s posture as she speaks.

“Try to work up a bit of confidence, though. Hold yourself upright; pull your shoulders back, let your arms rest at your sides. Imagine, if you will, an imaginary thread, starting at the top of your head, and running all the way down through your body to your feet. Keep the thread straight and taut, keep yourself standing straight up.”

Finished with postural advice, she backs up, and gestures to the room at large with both hands.

“Now this room, this floor? This is your room. You are the leader, you direct operations. This is your show. While you were changing, I had a word with each member of the wait staff, including Kevin here and all the rest. They’re all going to answer to you, and do their best to help you ease into things, give you tips and such.”

Behind her, Kevin is eavesdropping on the conversation. At this, he nods reassuringly, and gives a thumbs up.

“I realize I’m rushing you into things, here. If you’d like to stop, now, or at any point in the future, just say so. Don’t feel obligated to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable on my account. However, I think you’ll enjoy it, and encourage you to do your best. I belieeeeeve in you, Skarlet.”

Naoki puts an undue amount of emphasis the word intentionally, for comedic effect. She had picked up that phrase from Hasdrubal, oddly enough. It seemed fitting, though, and she finds it funny enough, chuckling a bit as she takes another sip of her drink.

Artaxerxes flips a coin in Kevin's direction and takes a drink. 

"Nope, first time in Isra. I've heard that this particular side of town could use my talents. Before I started looking for work though, I had to get a drink. I've been eating rabbit stew and drinking creek water for three weeks." 

Artemis follows Madame Naoki from the office as requested, casting a curious glance at the parcel of clothing on the way out. If that outfit was what she thought it was, this should be interesting...

A few minutes later, at the bar, a slight smile creeps onto her face as her suspicions are confirmed. Artemis runs over Skarlet's newly revealed figure with a critical - and appreciative - eye. She made the outfit work pretty effectively already, although it was obviously outside of her comfort zone. With some work on her posture and movements, and more confidence, though, she'd be devastating.