"I like the way I earn my living and I don't think one man will be able to fulfill me on his own," Dove said. "But if I go with you. How long will it take us to get to this place?"

"Then from a purely practical point of view it makes more sense to work with rich men than poor ones. They have more money to spend on their pleasure, and you have the fine features to make an excellent living," Marcus says, appealing to her more practical side. "Then you may find a man who you can devote yourself to completely, and who will devote himself to you in return." He finds it impossible to look directly at Dove as he speaks, and he is blushing to the tips of his delicately pointed ears. "We are several days travel from my home. But there are things we must do here first, and we may have some business in the area outside of town to attend to before we can leave. We hope that your information will be able to help us determine that."

"You have paid for my time," Dove said. "I will help you as well as I can."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:11, Fri 07 Dec 2007.

Marcus finally looks directly at her again. "And the rest?" he asks, raising an eyebrow slightly. He pauses and says, "You are right. I have paid for some of your time. Will you at least travel with us while we are in the Pashin area? That way you can see what sort of people we are, and can decide if you wish to spend your time among people like us or with these sort of people," he says, sweeping an arm to indicate the rough peasantry of Pashin. "If you wish a proper job, then you can act temporarily as a handmaid to Lady Gina over there," indicating Gina with a slight incline of his head. "She is a lady of rank as well as wisdom. She is also very independant, and will be able to teach you of the many ways a woman can make her own way in the world."

Dove looked back at Gina and turned back to Marcus.

“I will travel with you while you are here,” Dove said. “For as long as your money lasts. But I don’t think Gina wants a handmaiden. I think she wants to be the queen of this den of foxes.”

Marcus looks pleased by her agreement. "Then that is settled. And if Lady Gina does not require a handmaiden, then I could use a guide, or someone to carry torches so that I may keep my hands free for my weapons. We will think of something." He thinks for a moment, then adds, "How much of your time did the money purchase? I only ask so that I know how long we have to impress you. I wouldn't like to see you disappear after only a few hours together."

[Private to GM: I'm not sure what a courtesan would charge. Based on the standard wages listings I assume it would be a few steel per day. But I am not sure. Just want to check so I can anticipate having her around for either a few hours, or a couple of weeks.]

Dove smiled at Marcus again.

"That depends,” she said. “I cost 2 steel per hour or 10 steel per day. But if you want me for the whole day, you also pay my expenses.”

Marcus nods his head slightly in acceptance. "So you will be with us for a couple of days at least. That's good. Hopefully we can show you a different way of life, or at least one away from here." He thinks for a moment, but comes up blank. "What expenses are you likely to have?" he asks in mystification.

"Food, lodging, bath," Dove said. "Things like that. Something to wear if we're going someplace where this outfit wouldn't be appropriate."

"Oh. Of course, that will be no problem. Do you have any cold weather clothing? We were outside the town walkign through snow, and here you are wearing very little. As for lodgings, I suppose you can stay in my room. You will be completely safe, I assure you."

“What you see is what you get,” Dove said. “This is all I have.”

“And I’m looking forward to sharing your bed.”

Marcus raises an eyebrow again at her simple statement. "See what I mean? The living here is hard and poor. You can make more money coming back to my homeland with me." And he then says in a more amused tone, "And you may have the bed. I will sleep in my camp roll on the floor."

"Spoilsport," Dove said and slapped Marcus on the stomach.

Marcus laughs heartily at her words, and gives her arm a gentle squeeze. He has a strong feeling that it will be a long night, and that he will have to spend some considerable effort fighting off her advances. He also secretly wonders just how strong his resistance really is.

[OOC: Anything else we need to cover in this thread?]

Havin settled the terms of their aquaintance, Marcus now turns to finding out a bit about the girl, so that he can judge what she may know and maybe how trustworthy she is. "Does paying for your time include finding out about you? How did you come to be in this place at this time doing what you do?"

[Private to GM: Pretty much done. I had originally wanted to find out about her background, so I will ask that now. Then I will be finished.]

"This is my home," Dove said. "And it pays the bills."

Marcus smiles slightly at this simple but unhelpful answer. "I really meant that I want to find out a bit about you. Will you tell me about yourself? If not, then I won't push you. But if I am to try to convince you to change your life then I really would prefer to know what brings you to this point in your life."

"I just told you," Dove said. "To pay the bills. And I enjoy doing what I do. Is there anything else you'd like to know about me?"

Marcus stifles his frustration. He tries one last time, "Let me rephrase that. Can you tell me about your past, other than the details of your current career?"

”My past is a life long story of boring everyday life,” Dove said. “I was born, I grew up, and here I am. My present is much more enjoyable than my past.”

Marcus nods slightly, accepting defeat graciously. He decides that Dove has the right to hide her past from him, as she has no reason to trust him with her life story. He also decides that she may have dark secrets which led her originally to her current profession, regardless of how much she claims to enjoy it now. He contents himself to adding quietly, "And hopefully your future is more enjoyable than your present."

"One must always hope for a better future," Dove said.

"But sometimes one must do more than hope. Sometimes one must act to provide a better future."

[Private to GM: I think that is about where the conversation would die. We can merge back into the main thread again here.]

"But sometimes what you have is better than risking losing everything," Dove said.