ginnifer friedmann (acleanslate) wrote in horror_story, @ 2013-11-01 10:43:00 |
|
|||
“It has to be. That’s what keeps us out of the public eye. It’s quite the drive, but those who know of it are more than happy to make the trip.” The hall was deep and winding, the colors rich shades of red and textured with velvet, and unlike so many other brothels, it was impeccably clean. Welcoming. There might have been the occasional shady happening, but Ginnifer made damn well sure that these people (and creatures) had a comfortable, inviting place to relax if they so wished. “Being so far out keeps us undetected. Safe.”
Humans might not have been the top of the food chain, but they could be spiteful little things, and she had no doubt what would happen if their identities were left out in the open. There would be a witch hunt.
Not long after, they were standing in front of a heavy wooden door with the number ‘8’ in the middle. Ginnifer pulled out an antique, ornate key from the inside of her top, a necklace that had been hidden up until now. She and Koen both possessed skeleton keys, where each individual room had its own unique design. The two master keys opened any door, and while Jenny wouldn’t have her own key tonight, she could rest easy (not likely) knowing that Ginnifer and Koen were the only two who possessed the key to her room, as it was kept empty for occasions much like this one. It was a ‘just in case’ room, of sorts.
“The sheets are clean, as is the comforter.” While motels were infamous for letting their comforters go weeks, even months without a proper cleaning, in their line of business, they had to wash them nearly every day, if not more frequently. Cleanliness was next to godliness, after all. At least that’s what her mother always told her in her rare moments of sobriety. “It’s got its own bathroom with a working shower, if you’d like to clean up.”
It wasn’t an especially large room, but it was well maintained and inviting, and it smelled faintly of vanilla. “I’m not available during the daylight hours, but should you need anything, the other owner, Koen, will be happy to help you.”
---
Jenny didn’t even notice where Ginnifer pulled the key from to unlock the door, as she had been distracted by staring down the hall, where one of the doors had cracked open just the tiniest bit. She could have swore an eye blinked at her, but then it was shut again, and she was cracking a little smile at the matter-of-fact explanation that Ginny had offered her words. “No, I know- about the privacy thing, I mean. That makes total sense. I just mean it’s.. far out, as in cool, you know?” She’d been focusing on the passing doors, but she had noticed the lush velvet, the dark colors, the ornate designs all around her.
“It’s just really bitchin,” the blonde added in conclusion, as the door to her room was swung open, and she peered inside. “I haven’t slept on real sheets in.. months probably, this is great,” she told Ginnifer, as she quickly made her inside of the offered lodgings and started to peer around. Not big, but bigger than she’d ever been used to. It smelled better than the back of a random van, as well. Having a bed was a blessing, a clean one was a welcome bonus. She had definitely laid her head down to rest on shadier mattresses over the last year.
She had showered at too many truck stops, too. Having access to running water and own shower might as well have been as good as a birthday present, and she fought the urge to seize Ginnifer beside her in a sudden hug, mostly because she got the distinct vibe that Ginnifer was not the hugging type. “Thank you,” she told her instead, quite earnestly.
It might as well have been a four star suite, compared to what she’d been becoming accustomed to lately. Just one night, she reminded herself, it’s still all too strange.
“Is Koen.. nice?” she asked cautiously, after she had dropped her bag onto the bed and begun to open the top of it, looking for a change of clothes. She didn’t have anything completely clean left to put on by now, but if she were lucky, one night might be long enough to do a little laundry in the bathroom sink while she was there. “I wouldn’t want to bother him, he-- well, I don’t even know why you want to help me.. so I could see if, you know, he didn’t want someone he doesn’t even know bothering him. I’m not his problem”
Not that she had much plan to bother anyone, but if another owner showed up in the morning and demanded to know who the hell she was, she wanted to be sure that she wasn’t stepping on any toes. “You’ll tell him that I’m in here?”
---
Ah, of course. The lingo that always seemed to elude Ginnifer. She was born just before the turn of the century, and it seemed with every passing year, there was a slew of brand new, ridiculous phrases and words that Ginnifer just couldn’t quite seem to keep up with. And, honestly, why would she try? It all sounded so unintelligent and brash compared to the language she grew up with. It was as though the levels of class declined with each new generation.
When the girl thanked her, Ginnifer nodded gently and gestured to the armoire. “That’s empty, as well, if you’d like to hang up what belongs you have.” If they’d been stuffed in a bag for months on end, they probably could do with a little airing out.
”Is Koen.. nice?” Ginnifer almost smiled. Koen was the partner that everyone preferred to deal with. He was a warm man with a soft smile and twinkling eyes as opposed to Ginnifer’s hard, icy exterior. She wasn’t made of stone, as so many others believed, but neither did she willingly share her emotions. Koen was also human, which many found to be more approachable. “Nicer than I am,” she admitted with a careless little shrug, showing her indifference on the matter. Ginnifer didn’t mind being known as the ice queen, if it meant getting things done.
“I’ll let him know,” was all she said, giving the room one last surveying look. “Our schedules are opposites. If you need anything tonight, come to my office, and I’ll see what I can do.” Not even she knew why she was being so hospitable to this stranger. It wasn’t as though she were paying money, after all. Ginnifer was especially gracious with their clients, but that was because they kept the brothel going.
And if Jenny stayed, there would be plenty of ways for her to contribute.
“Try to get some rest, Jenny,” Ginnifer said, blue eyes meeting blue eyes. “It looks like you could use it.”
---
Despite her insistence upon staying for only one night, Jenny was quick to take up the offered armoire to place her belongings in. She’d never had something so grand, even when she’d lived in a house in Michigan. She’d have a smaller room than this, shared with four sisters, only one of them truly related to her. She’d never had extravagant things, and certainly wasn’t accustomed to the kind of grandeur that seemed to accent everything she saw. For a brothel, it was awfully classy, she had to admit. “I don’t think you’re mean,” she told Ginnifer, as she opened the armoire doors with a little shrug of her own shoulders. “Mean people don’t help other people.”
That was what she reasoned, anyway. If she were mean, she could have very easily have left Jenny to die out there, one way or another. Ginnifer was odd, her establishment even odder, but Jenny hadn’t meant to imply any callousness on her part by asking about her partner. Cold as she was, and even more than a little intimidating, Jenny already had a growing fondness for her. There was obviously more to her than what she allowed to show on the surface.
“I’ll probably just wait and talk to you, even if he is nicer,” she admitted, as she grabbed a hanger and slid her denim shirt from her tiny frame, hanging it up inside of the armoire doors instead. Her head turned, her eyes meeting Ginnifer’s for a moment, and a little smile tugging at the corner of the blonde’s lips again in response. “I’ll do my best,” she assured the older woman, feeling positive that she would have no problem getting rest just as soon as her head hit the pillow.
“I meant what I said earlier,” the blonde added, before Ginnifer could slip away from her. “You really did save my life, I think.. and now you’re letting me stay here. I really would like to repay you. I meant that. Whatever I can do, you know?”
Hell, she didn’t know what she could provide to anyone, in an oddball situation like the one that she was involved in now. But it was hard to deny that she felt obligated to Ginnifer, that she owed her help, that she felt there was some reason for their paths to have crossed. She shouldn’t have been there, and she could have just left her there, but she hadn’t. Jenny was alive, unhurt, because of it. She was sure that after tonight, somehow, she was meant to do something for the other woman in return. Evidently, she bought the idea of destiny or fate a lot more easily than she bought the supernatural talk. It was a start.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”