New Sheoth Brothel - Pain and Pleasure

Clark spent a few more days looking around the Shivering Isles. He hadn't seen much of the place when he was here with Nelrene, and now he had the luxury of Aureal and Mazken escorts, he felt safer wandering around.

Back at the brothel, things were getting busier. There were more people around than Clark had seen before, even some in the bedrooms. Surprisingly, he found a male Mazken in one of them. He was bent over someone lying face down, doing something to her back.

As Clark walked closer, it became apparent that he was drawing on her. Half of her back was already covered with a brightly-hued scene of the Mania countryside, with big orange mushroom trees and the smaller aqua fungi that grew along the paths. Lush green grass was stalked by various creatures, such as golden-scaled Scalons, and baliwogs. The rest just had an outline sketched in.

"I'm ready to start inking the next part," he told her "This is likely to hurt."

"Of course it will," Cutter's voice responded. He hadn't realised it was her, mostly because he wasn't expecting her to have a Mania tattoo. He also hadn't seen her without her shirt before. "If it didn't hurt, it wouldn't be proper art, would it?"

He wandered around for a time down in the Den, chatting to the Mazken and their prospective customers. He was handed a glass, and a bottle of something called "Sickly Bernice's Roofwater Wine". Despite the name, it was really rather good.

The crowd was thinning, as the Mazken lured their customers up to the bedrooms near the entrance. Clark found himself following to where he'd left Cutter. She was sitting up now, and the artist was cleaning his needles and packing them away. She still hadn't put her shirt back on, and Clark could see that the only decoration on her front was two small indistinct circles around her nipples.

She beckoned him over. "Take a closer look, I don't mind."

When he did, he saw that the markings were in fact words. "Apply lips here" was inscribed around one, and "Tongue too, please" around the other.

"They're not all very bright in Crucible," Cutter told him "Some of them need all the instruction they can get."

Clark laughed. "That only helps if they can read," he reminded her.

"This will be my Dementia side, once my back is finished. The words will most likely get covered up then, and they'll have pictures to follow."

Cutter paused "You can read, can't you?"

Clark nodded.

"Then why haven't you done anything?"

"Because so far you've only invited me to read. Those instructions would say the same if you didn't want anything to happen. Or would they? This is a strange place, so I wouldn't be totally surprised to find the words changing with your mood."

"No they don't change, but it would be wonderful if they did!" Cutter was tickled by that idea. She'd have to ask the mages she knew if it was possible.

She stood up, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Is that invitation enough?"

Clark smiled and responded in kind. He almost put his arms around her to draw her closer, but he realised that her back would still be sore from the tattoing needle. so his hands found her breasts instead.

"Hey! That didn't hurt!" she complained.

"I don't want to hurt you," he replied. "And you don't really need pain to have a good time."

But she was already pulling away and starting to sulk. "You don't understand," she told him, "or maybe you do, and that's worse."

Then a though struck her, and she brightened up again. "You're denying me my pain," she exclaimed "That's a really subtle, clever, way to hurt me! This could be interesting after all!"

Cutter lay down on the bed, pulled off her skirt, and made her invitation even more clear. The rough cloth of the bedcover was harsh on her sore back, and his added weight, and some movement, would be just what she wanted.

He knelt between her spread thighs and she drew a breath of excited anticipation. But he lifted her hips and drew her onto him, raising her back off the bed, so only her shoulders touched. She wriggled, trying to get herself back into an uncomfortable position, but his grip was firm, yet gentle, and her movements just made it more enjoyable for both of them.

She pulled his head down to her breasts. "Yes, use your teeth! No, not softly like that, bite me, you fetcher!"

It's not right, Cutter thought. If it feels this good, it has to hurt.

"I need my pain! If you don't hurt me, I can't..."

But even before she could finish that, she knew she was wrong.