Business & Pleasure

originally posted June 16, 2005

Vesutto of Venna is becoming impatient.

I met him at The Braided Whip Tavern in the Teiban Sul District today. It is a favorite of mine. Modeled after the famed Chatka & Curla, tables are at the edges of the interior, accessed by winding stairs to the very roof of the place. In the center of the main floor, visible by every table in the establishment, is a large dancing circle filled with sand. I’ve permitted Emily to dance there in the past in exchange for meals and other accommodations.

“When will it be ready?” he asked.

I have been working on a one act play that will receive an exclusive run in several Vennan dinner theaters over the coming months. It should prove lucrative, both from the fee for it’s exclusive, if temporary, rights and for the percentage of profit I will receive during its run. Vesutto, I know, stands to profit handsomely as well. He has spoken both of running it at more than one theater simultaneously to accommodate demand and of creating greater demand by showing it at only one theater, forcing patrons to wait several hands and, perhaps, pay premium prices to gain admission. Apparently, the stir over ‘Merchant of Ko-ro-ba’ at the Great Theater of Pentilicus Tallux has created a buzz some 200 pasangs north in sleepy Venna.

“I would rather not rush it, friend.” I told him. “It is close, however.”

I told him it would take a day, perhaps two, to complete it. And wouldn’t he like to while away some time at the Boarding House as I did? Perhaps he would like to sample sultry Nirah, the vixen who so wantonly tempted the crowds after the play. Maybe he would like something a little more exotic? Wouldn’t he be surprised to see the former free woman, Portia, naked, collared and shackled for his pleasure? Spirited Evona, timid beauty on the stage would scandalize him in person, I promised. Kawena, too, she of tanned breasts and wet lips was also a popular choice for fellows frequenting the bordello. He would not find a more eager whore in his travels than Sana and, yes, she was the one just as eager as Nirah to stir the pot of lust that night at the theater. And oh, by the way, you have not met Vulo I informed him. I know of no better dancer within the four corners of Gor. Any of them, I told him, would make him forget about his commitments elsewhere every moment he spent in their arms.

He has decided to wait, that he might personally carry the document back with him to Venna. Somehow, I am not surprised. The red door whores of the Anbar, chattel of the Poet, will see that he is quite happy to wait.