The Final Test, Part Five

The next day, as the halls of the academy gradually emptied out in the evening while students trained and teachers worked in their offices, Rin walked out of the Academy with her white head of hair, courtesy of Xhez, eager to see what exactly Kate had been talking about. She felt excited at the prospect of some new potential customers, though she did avoid getting her hopes too high. Finding women who were into other women was one thing, finding one who was also desperate enough to pay for a woman's services was another matter entirely, after all.

Still, she did walk with confidence, strutting her way through Libera's streets. The spot Kate had told her about was located in the southern portion of the city, which Rin had long since learned was inhabited by the less well-off members of society.

[Hope it's not too shady,] Rin thought. [Though, if it is, I guess all that training is gonna come in handy.]

As the colorful nature of the architecture around her dimmed slightly, Rin looked from one building to the next, trying to spot the place Kate had described.

[What was it again?] Rin asked herself. [Uh, I think she said it looked like a house, but the front door...]

She didn't fully remember up until she saw it. On one of these buildings, there was a heart-shaped symbol next to a black front door, drawn in blue chalk.

[Okay, here goes nothing.]

Taking a deep breath and injecting some bravery into her own system, Rin tapped her left hand's knuckles against the door a few times.

Quickly, there was some shuffling behind it. Rin waited a bit and the door then opened.

A young, very thin boy wearing a black hoodie walked out, his eyes scanning Rin curiously.

"Hey," Rin quickly spoke up, raising a hand. "Name's Triss."

Once again, he looked Rin up and down. Apparently, doing so gave him some sort of clue as to who she was, as he just nodded and hummed out:

"Mhm."

[... How exactly did Kate describe me?]

With that awkward pause out of the way, though, he stepped aside and let Rin through. Given the somewhat sketchy nature of this part of the city, Rin's guard was up from the moment she stepped inside.

However, what she found was only strange in how quaint it was.

[Wait, so this is actually just someone's house?] She wondered as she looked around at the homely look of this place. A few couches, some paintings on the walls, the smell of cooked meat in the air, and a few young men and women, about four in total, gathered around what appeared to be the living room, simply relaxing.

[Huh,] Rin thought. [I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't really it.]

One of them, a boy with rabbit ears on his head, stood up and smiled.

"Ah," he said, as he looked Rin up and down, "you must be Triss."

[... Okay, seriously, did Kate just describe me as "a girl with a huge rack" or something? I mean, yeah, my boobs are pretty big, but come on.]

"Yeah, nice to meet ya," Rin replied politely. "Is Kate around?"

[Sure would feel a little better having someone I know here.]

"She should be here in a few minutes," the boy replied. "Name's John. That fine lady over there is Natalie," he said, pointing at a middle-aged woman with fox ears, "this is Bernard," he added, gesturing at the man who'd let Rin into the building. "Welcome to the club," he said with a wide, charming smile as he gestured at the living room. "Make yourself comfortable. We've got some dinner just about ready in a bit."

"Oh, uh, thanks," Rin replied.

"Actually," one girl, a human who Rin quickly noticed was missing an eye, spoke up, "let me go check in on that."

"Please do, Vix," John replied before he sat down next to the spot where she'd been. The charismatic-looking man crossed his legs and asked, "so, Triss... To address the golem in the room here, are you actually...?"

[Oh... She told them that?]

That caught Rin off-guard, but if Kate did tell them that, she figured it meant they'd be okay with it.

"A prostitute?" Rin asked light-heartedly, chuckling. "Yes, I am."

His face quickly turned excited, though not in the lustful way that Rin might have expected. Instead, he seemed almost relieved.

"I see," he nodded. "Don't worry, I don't think anyone here minds that one bit. You are just as valuable a member of society as anyone else."

Rin blinked.

That... was not a response she expected.

"Really," Natalie said, standing up and walking toward Rin. The woman placed a hand gently on Rin's left shoulder. "It's okay. Your profession means nothing to us, only the value of your character."

Again, Rin blinked.

[What the hell is going on right now?]

---

A few minutes later, Rin was in the middle of dinner with these people. Kate had arrived and was seated next to her at the kitchen table.

"So, Triss," John began, "if you don't mind, could you tell us how you began your time with this... profession? You don't have to, we're just curious is all."

Rin nodded as she cut into some fried yariko meat.

"Uh..." She started off, trying to think of how she should go about saying this. "I used to live in Cradle, with my family," she stated, "my dad used to provide for everyone, but, he passed away. Then, my brother stepped up to do the same, but, he ended up the same way. It was left up to me to make ends meet, and, well, yeah... This is how I did it, this is how I'm doing it."

This was one of those moments where the best lie was one that had truth mixed in. Rin didn't want to let them know too much about her actual self, but she could give these facts away without revealing who she actually was, so she did.

John nodded and gave a sympathetic expression as he heard that.

"I understand where you're coming from," he said. "I used to trade death's kiss for that same reason. I had to make ends meet."

Rin almost arched a brow. She had no clue what "death's kiss" was. However, she stopped herself.

[This might be something someone from Cradle would definitely know about,] she thought, and nodded.

"Damn. That's tough."

"Indeed," John replied before he glanced over at the girl with the fox ears. Prompted by his look, she began speaking as well.

"Like many other beastborn, I was a slave in Cradle until I escaped and came here," Natalie said. "I met quite a few different people. Some I would call friends, others who have become my new family."

"That's nice," Rin replied with a smile. "I'm happy for you."

"I've been nothing but a peasant all my life," the girl who was missing an eye, Vix, then added, and Rin looked toward her. "John, however, helped me put a roof over my head. And, now I have new people who I can call family as well."

[... What exactly is going on here?]

Apparently, Rin's confusion was easy to see, as John laughed heartily and then said:

"Okay, okay, I suppose we should just get to it. Kate told us that you were perhaps interested in taking part in our festivities, is that true?"

"Uh, yeah," Rin replied, glad that they finally got to that topic.

"Well, first things first, let me tell you who we are exactly," John said, a warm smile on his face. "We here are all members of a group known as The Scorned. Let me tell you a little bit about us."

The instant Rin heard that, she froze.

[... Scorned?]