<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>This thread is going to have a bit of dark stuff in it. I won't enumerate all the things that'll be in it, since I don't know yet, but be aware that reading beyond this sentence indicates you're willing to be exposed to stuff that isn't exactly acceptable in modern society.</span>
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Near the Jewish Ghetto
A perfectly usual foggy February evening, 1792


The Venetian Ghetto had many of the hallmarks of France's. Giselle, dressed in her pants and loose shirt with a hooded cloak on overtop, had spent some of her life in ghettoes just like the one she found herself wandering through. Jews were outcasts, pushed into the grossest parts of the city. Her father had managed to pull himself and his family out of the slums, and was an educated man besides, but many of her childhood friends had been from the ghettoes. Chasing her friends around (and being chased in turn) until someone fell and scraped a knee on the cobblestones comprised many of her fondest memories. They weren't memories she enjoyed calling upon often, of course--despite her inability to forget, Giselle felt as though cherished memories were akin to the pages of a book. Exposed to the light too often, they could be damaged or tarnished. There was something special about her memories, the ones she actually enjoyed recollecting.

Her purpose tonight was altogether more dark than chasing friends about and around the bones of a city. She intended to chase, but a little blood wasn't going to call off the chase tonight. Whereas her friends would help the injured party get back on their feet... well, Giselle certainly didn't feel that sort of camaraderie with strangers.

Whores. Prostitutes. Working women with painted faces and dulled, murky eyes. Many had succumbed to Indian poppy, whiling away their waking moments in the opium dens of Venice. For those johns who made their way into the ghetto, a half-corpse for cheap was better than a livelier partner. The ghetto did not draw the most robust quality of hooker or client alike. Yawning, Giselle moved with the surety of step of a buyer, not a seller. She didn't swagger, she didn't exaggerate. Her eye was critical, and her face impassive. Despite her appearance, Giselle was not going to be mistakenly approached. Someone might look to grope her--either for their own perverse desires or in an effort to pickpocket her--but none would look upon the unadorned face of a pants-wearing woman and expect her to be For Sale.

A particularly taxing week of assignments had brought Giselle low, and she was looking to do bad things to someone. Someone who wouldn't be missed if things went too far. Cecelia was a delicious darling of a woman, but she could cry home to her brother if things went awry. Giacomo had the money to see Giselle hanged, and no level of connection to the Arcadian Order would be able to protect her. She wasn't worth that much to the Order. And Zola was cute, to be sure, but her family could whinge about the mistreatment of their daughter by the tall Frenchwoman who so frequently frequented the Drunken Duck. Well-meaning men could hunt her down and put her to the back-alley noose if need be.

No. Best not to tempt fate.

And so Giselle walked along the ghetto, looking at the women in various states of dishevelment, and looked for the appropriate flower to defile tonight.

Liao had made a habit of visiting the Venetian Ghetto every so often. It had been where she had ended in the first place after arriving into the city. Having no contacts and little money to spare, it had been obvious choice. She had had work hard to get herself out from there, but she had learned that even what most people considered nothing more than dirt could hear and see while they walked among people. And sometimes she found a diamond in the dust for a low low price of few coins or a bottle of cheap wine.

She was dressed rather casually, having loose white shirt and dark trousers that once had been black but had started lose their colour and now resembled more dark brown. Her eyes caught a woman who seemed out of place in the dirty ghetto. Well dressed, well fed and surprisingly tall for a woman. There was no chance she was from here and had no real reason to be here. A woman of her stature could get better than ghetto whore. And that peeked Liao's interest.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, Liao walked directly in front of her. Now that she was close to the mysterious woman, she looked even taller. ''Haven't seen you around here before. What are you looking for? I know these places rather well'' It was rather bold, but Liao was hoping her boldness would make the woman more talkative.

Skip. Skip. Diseased, hiding it poorly with makeup, no. Skip. Too... wide. No. Skip. Giselle had very nearly given up on her planned excursion when a certain petal floated down from the heavens and became an Oriental sort before her very eyes. Giselle looked down at the woman, observing her pants, her form underneath the shirt, and finally her face. "I'm looking for you." Boldness answered boldness. "Someone beautiful. Someone interesting. Someone foreign." French tickled the edges of her Italian, marking Giselle as a foreigner, too. Her interest in the delectable woman before her was obvious.

"I look for a woman who can provide me with a night's entertainment. One who won't ask questions or scoff at me. A well-tempered harlot." The somewhat dated reference to Bach's work was, admittedly, higher-brow than Giselle expected a woman in the Venetian Ghetto to get, but it still made her smirk. That was worth it, right? "And you look to me to be precisely that. Come with me." Giselle extended her hand to Liao, palm upturned, the smirk slowly transforming into something of a genuine smile. Alas, no matter what she did, Giselle's features always carried a touch of mischief.

How much would this Eastern stranger cost for her silence? Despite her affection for the Marquis de Sade, Giselle had never killed someone before, and the thought of a more permanent silence didn't occur to her. No, she'd pay for the woman to remain quiet after the fact. After what Giselle intended to do to her, the fear of death would most likely be more than present at the forefront of the woman's mind--and Giselle certainly didn't mind the thought of using fear and coercion to help maintain the secrecy required for her... predilections.

"I'm looking for you." Boldness answered boldness. "Someone beautiful. Someone interesting. Someone foreign."

Liao was surprised by how bold the mysterious woman answered back to her. Then again, her questions had been somewhat hinting even if she hadn't excatly dressed up for work. Who knew, maybe this would turn out great in the end.

"I look for a woman who can provide me with a night's entertainment. One who won't ask questions or scoff at me. A well-tempered harlot."

''Then you've met right one. I don't usually ask questions, but I'd like to know your name'' Be it real or not. ''How else I could scream it while we make love?'' she teased the woman. ''My name is Liao by the way''

"And you look to me to be precisely that. Come with me."

Without thinking, Liao offered her hand to the woman. She had a presence that instantly wanted you to obey her. Liao smiled back at her before asking. ''Are we going to your place? Here you tend to run into a risk of mites''

"Call me Mistress," Giselle answered back, without a hint of sarcasm or comedy. Once Liao took her hand, Giselle started to leave the alleyway... although she was leading the beautiful flower deeper into the Ghetto, not further away. "I don't mind the risk of mites. I live too far away as it is, and I would hate to bother my neighbors. No. We'll fuck here." She stopped before a disheveled looking flop house, the sort frequented only by streetwalkers and shiftless men looking for beer that was only half piss. Sweeping in, Liao's hand still clutched in Giselle's, the Frenchwoman quickly bartered a key and a few hours. Up the stairs into the cleanest room available, all with a speed fed solely by lust. There were a few things Giselle had with her, contained in a knapsack underneath the cloak, but mostly the fun she wanted to have was in tow behind her.

The things she wanted to do...

Only once they were upstairs and the door closed behind her did Giselle let Liao's hand go. "Price, then." Pulling the satchel of coins off her belt, Giselle bounced the heavy purse and looked over at Liao. "How much will you run me, petite fleur?" She didn't want to indicate precisely what she had in mind--surely that would increase the price. But if this little morsel agreed for a set time... well, that was clearly consent to do whatever she wanted, non? And there was rope available to Giselle precisely for the purposes of ensuring the little flower didn't try to escape on the wind...

Giselle gave another little bounce of the satchel of lira. The clink of coins hitting one another had a curious effect on people who desperately needed money. Did she? There wasn't quite the emaciated look to her, the sunkenness of features that indicated some wasting illness. Liao was quite pretty. And the thought of tears rolling down her pretty features was making a painful warmth between Giselle's legs.

"Call me Mistress,"

If it hadn't been clear already, hearing her speak those words made it crystal clear for Liao. She was definite domme, and Liao didn't mind it. While she was switch herself, it was always easier being the one submitting to one's will rather than making one submit to yours. ''Yes.. mistress'' Liao answered back and allowed Giselle to lead her.

"I don't mind the risk of mites. I live too far away as it is, and I would hate to bother my neighbors. No. We'll fuck here."

Well, she couldn't really argue against that. ''If you say so. Don't say that I didn't warn you if you get itchy after a day or two'' She'd make sure she'd have a proper bath afterwards. The house they ended up in didn't look promising, but Liao wasn't going to back away from simply fear of mites. Besides, her mistress had firm grip of her hand.

"Price, then."

''I do want to point out that I'm not like the rest of the whores out there, so I don't run myself cheap. I actually have more experience than just laying on my back and just taking it'' she looked at the pouch filled with coins. ''My price depends on what you want me to do. Simply pleasing you with my tongue will be cheapest. More advance things will require more'' She had told to ask no questions, but Liao wasn't going to buy a pig in the bag either.

A haggler? Fine. "I want to do everything to you," Giselle replied, stepping closer and towering over the delicate woman. "You will be responsible for my pleasure. I will tie you in rope, you will lie upon the bed with your head over the edge, and you will bring me to climax with your tongue. Once you have completed this task, however long it may take, I will then straddle your bound form and do as I please to you. Playing with your body, your breasts, stroking along your neck." There was a clinical distance to her description, but Giselle's voice had started to take on a huskier tone. Desire was starting to bleed in. And she was purposefully leaving out the contents of her knapsack... those were extras she intended to use on Liao, irrespective of the whore's desires.

This was about Giselle, after all. The wanted to hear the little bitch squirm and scream and cry. Oh God in Heaven, to hear her weep would be the toe-curling finale to this otherwise unimpressive week!

"Tell me your price, and strip. I'm tired of looking at your clothes."

"You will be responsible for my pleasure. I will tie you in rope, you will lie upon the bed with your head over the edge, and you will bring me to climax with your tongue. Once you have completed this task, however long it may take, I will then straddle your bound form and do as I please to you. Playing with your body, your breasts, stroking along your neck."

Getting tied up was something Liao enjoyed, provided that it was someone she knew. Her however she did not. ''How can I know that you don't screw me over and leave with the money once you've had your share?'' Liao asked, knowing that she was starting to push boundaries of what they had talked about earlier. She just wanted to be sure that her ass was covered, figuratively. But if everything went alright, the woman could become a regular client of hers.

"Tell me your price, and strip. I'm tired of looking at your clothes."

Pleased with the answer she provided, Liao started stripping in front of Giselle, first slowly removing her shirt and then turning to show her bare back as she started stripping her pants off, revealing her butt. ''I'll take half of what is in that pouch'' she said, looking over her shoulder and winking at her.

"I don't care much about money," Giselle offered with a shrug. "Robbing you would stop me from ever enjoying you again, and compared to the joy of your company? It's hardly worth it." That answer seemed adequate enough, and so Liao started to pull her clothing off. There was flawless skin underneath, that beautiful shade of white with just a hint of yellow. Liao's little coquettish look over her shoulder brought the smirk back to the Frenchwoman's lips, and she went about separating half the coins from her satchel. Altogether it was a good sum, perhaps twice what she might've charged on a regular night given the denomination of the coins. Giselle had no way of knowing that, nor did she really care. It wasn't her money, after all.

Setting the coins down on the shoddy wooden dresser by the door, Giselle took off her cloak and hung it from a convenient hook nearby. Then she began to get undressed. There was something extremely meticulous to the way she disrobed, with great care put into folding her clothing, pulling her boots off in just the right way, putting the knapsack on the dresser as well. It didn't take all that much longer, but it was certainly a strange level of orderliness for someone in the Ghetto.

Naked, Giselle moved behind Liao and traced her fingers along the sides of her body, feeling the smooth skin and supple flesh. Her eyes closed, and Giselle leaned forward to kiss Liao's neck, not bothering to brush the luscious hair out of the way. Fingers moved from hips along the pelvis along to Liao's bush, and then gently drifted upwards to feel the heat of her abdomen, the little divot of her belly button, and then the crest of her ribcage. Another kiss, this one moving from the side of Liao's neck to the base of her spine. "Tell me, petite fleur," Giselle murmured into her hired woman's skin, interrupting herself with another kiss along Liao's right shoulder, "do you have a preference? Do you want me to play with you first, or are you desperate to feel the tight cords around your arms, your legs--" another interruption as she kissed right at the terminus of shoulder and forearm, "--and be forced to drown beneath me?"

"Robbing you would stop me from ever enjoying you again, and compared to the joy of your company? It's hardly worth it."

She had said again. That was promising even if they hadn't even gotten to the down and dirty part. And judging from the amount of money she was ready to spent on Liao just to make her accept her terms, made Liao happy inside. She could gain a lot of more money from Giselle which would help her getting better place to sleep, prettier clothes to wear and generally rise in the ranks to woo even richer people.

As Liao watched Giselle undress, her suspicions were confirmed. No one in the ghetto would spent that much time and effort in clothing themselves as well as taking care of them. She had lovely slender body, a nice change to the usual fat men Liao served.

"Tell me, petite fleur," Giselle murmured into her hired woman's skin, interrupting herself with another kiss along Liao's right shoulder, "do you have a preference? Do you want me to play with you first, or are you desperate to feel the tight cords around your arms, your legs--" another interruption as she kissed right at the terminus of shoulder and forearm, "--and be forced to drown beneath me?"

Liao purred softly as Giselle's hands explored her body and her lips met up with her skin. She was rather gentle for a person who preferred their partner to be tied. ''Mmm... I wouldn't mind you playing with me a bit more'' she said closing her eyes and letting Giselle taking the lead.