Rarity

[petal_storm]

Who: Orchid, Any
When: Several years in the future in a baaaad dystopia but not quite as bad as some.
What: Medical debt is a killer.

Some days living was a pain.

Hell, most days honestly, especially when you were delicate. She was in hospitals more than out as far back as she could remember and eventually, like most longer term need people, debt got to a point there was no way for her family to pay it back. Her father had been lost when his plane went down on a mission out of states, and the nannies she'd been left with, well...

...they found employment elsewhere when the 'care' fund was drained due to medical.

She hit eighteen somehow which meant her debt officially went on the market, and, well, a lot of businesses ran on debt contracts.

Luckily she was...interesting. Visual appeal, much less textural, meant higher end places were willing to take on her whole debt instead of several having to group together, and that was how she ended up a headliner at 'Rarity', one of the more exclusive gentlemen's clubs. They didn't ave a cover charge, they didn't sell nickel peeps, no. Rarity had a yearly membership fee that was terrifyingly high and tips were more in the high end jewelry and vehicles range than bills in stockings.

She was lucky she supposed; it was high end enough her rooms met her needs and she spent less time in the hospital but...

...just like those in lower clubs they had a high drug use and burn out rate. How not?

Drugs were cheaper than medical care honestly.

"Ilya I told you not to let anyone slip you things," Orchid sighed, petting the poor girl's hair as she rested her head on the bar. They were were a twenty four hour business but they closed every six hours for a few hours to let people rest and the like.

"Didn't..." Ilya whimpered softly. "I don't know when, or how..." But she was drugged, her friend Orchid was like a living drug test, if she wasn't drugged Orchid would be touching her skin instead of her hair.

"Water," Orchid winced, "I'm sorry. I'll check your clothing and makeup, that's the last things that were delivered to you right? How close are you to debt free?"

"Two weeks," she sobbed softly. "I was doing so well..."

Damn it all. Orchid patted her hair again, "I'm sorry. I won't send you to the hospital, nor will the bartenders okay? You just have to fake it if the boss comes in while I'm gone okay?"Please?

"Try," she agreed, shivering. God she felt nauseous and numb now...

Comments

Rarity

[code_jaeger]

Jaeger came out of his own room down the hall stumbling a bit. He was... exhausted. He still had years left on his debt. He was routinely booked by the woman he was unable to prove had put him into debt by stealing his tech, and money. Even though he'd decided he wasn't going to allow 24 hour booking.... She managed to pack just as much exhaustion and damage in lesser time limits.

"Tough night?" He sighed tiredly.

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

She touched his cheek gently as she passed, wincing, "I tried to tell the boss about her..." she had tried.

"Someone drugged Ilya. She's almost out and now drugged somehow," So pardon her for not pausing as she made a line for Ilya's room yes.

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Damn, alright. I'll bring some water and advil in a few minutes?"

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"She out at bar, I'm checking what got slipped in where." Sometimes, if they could prove it, the owner pressed charges? It didn't take time off their debt but it did make the owner happier at least?

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Ah, want me to help?"

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"If you...want? You look like you need to sit," she admitted, giving him a worried look.

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Life doesn't stop just because she was horrible." He shrugged going with her.

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"No, but stops if you collapse," she countered, sighing at him. Ilya's room was at least neat?

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"I'll be alright."

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"You fuss at me, I'm allowed to fuss at you," she sighed, running her hand just above the items on the dressing table. "How has learning bartending going?"

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Apparently I can only do that on days where she doesn't want me. I can't switch to it full time."

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

She hissed at that, more than a bit angry yes, "you make more for the boss when you tend, everyone buys from you..."

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Yeah well she bitched about it."

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"She doesn't own this place," Orchid was still very angry and...plotting, yes. "Let her bitch, not like she'll go elsewhere, obviously."

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"She and the owner are friends though."

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"I know, I'm working on that," she growled.

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Its okay. How long do you still have?"

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"....a very long time," she noted softly, wincing as she reached toward a new shirt. "One drugged spot..." She...never told him how long she had.

She never told anyone really. Given her delicate nature, well.

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"I dont' know why I still bother asking." he sniffed.

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"It would only upset people," she noted quietly. "Upset anyone who cared."

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"I told you mine..."

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"..." she sighed, a touched raggedly and used a hanger to move the shirt to a bag. "I met your time, Jaeger, before I even turned fifteen. They couldn't sell my debt until eighteen and I lived, mostly, in the hospital. I still end up there at least a few times a year here."

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"I'm so sorry..."

Re: Rarity

[petal_storm]

"It's not your fault. Our parents died, so of course the world would dismantle their estates. It was just...easier in my case."

Re: Rarity

[code_jaeger]

"Yeah...." He sighed. "It sucks."