City Times [ Part 2 ]

The group of people was pushing their way through the night crowds as a somewhat drunken Ragan led the way. All of the mercenaries and a majority of Emre's group were there. Elayna, Raina and Nalia were the only ones to stay behind as the rest left to explore the experience of night wonders.

The street lights were lit with what Emre assumed to be magic as the sky began to darken. The nightlife in the city was barely less than the day life. Especially in this area where taverns, hostels, brothels, and bars were not scarce. Ragan seemed to be going for a specific brothel so they could only follow.

It actually didn't take long for them to arrive even with Ragan's bumbling. The building was one of the largest ones but didn't look too expensive or too poor. The sign at the top read 'Solstice Desires' in bright red letters.

Opening the wide double door the scent of alcohol and license met his nose. The light was dim and the inside was already bustling with energy. There were tables and couches set out with a nice-looking bar off to the right. All sorts of people were walking around.

There was light laughing and even games set up in the middle of the establishment. No one was being too loud or haughty. It seemed to be a well-put-together and organized place.

Walking inside, it was already slightly humid the moment the door closed. The barkeep nodded toward the rather large group as they walked in before going back to making drinks for whoever was there currently.

At first glance, it wasn't hard to tell the difference between visitors and workers. Most workers were wearing fairly skimpy clothing. There were men and women of all shapes and sizes. Most looked as if they could be Emre and Idris's age, but there were some older.

The group managed to find an area with enough couches and tables for them all as they found some seats. Most of the seats were couches or comfortable chairs and the tables were low to the ground like coffee tables.

'This is not really what I expected.' Idris muttered into Emre's mind as they sat down.

'Humans like to play around.' Emre responded.

'How does this even work?'

'Hmm… not sure exactly…' He'd been to strip clubs in his past life, but nothing quite like this.

Quickly one of the workers came over. It was a woman with beautiful umber skin and chocolate brown eyes. Most everything aside from her breast and privates were uncovered. A dark blue silk sash was draped over her shoulders and curled around her arms to hang loosely at her hands.

"Welcome to Solstice Desires, everyone! I can see that most of you are newcomers." She greeted first as she placed a basket on the table. "I will be tending to you today if you need anything. First, these pins here will signify your preferences and openness to our workers!"

Glancing in the basket, there were dozens of circular pins. The pins were either a pink or blue color and Emre could easily begin to understand what she meant.

"Pink is for our ladies and blue is for our men! Wearing one will signify which gender you would like to approach you. You can wear both as well! If you don't wear any at all, our workers will not approach you but know you are still welcome to go to them!"

Emre was impressed with the system they had going on here. It seemed pretty sufficient to satisfy both the workers and the customers. Unlike in his world it seemed there was very little discrimination on which gender you liked. Seeing as how there was only one woman, Ola, who had joined their outing.

"Keep in mind that you are to treat our workers kindly. If you are rude to them they will be rude back!" She added on. "Now, would you guys like some food or drink?"

Everyone started ordering drinks and some general food that everyone could share since they had already eaten. They also began picking out pins from the basket once the lady left to get their drinks and meals.

Most of the mercenaries put on pink pins, including Ola. Killan and Ragan did as well while both Gerrar and Conin put on blue and pink pins. Emre and Idris didn't make moves to get a pin though. Emre just wanted to hang out this time and Idris wasn't keen on doing anything with humans.

'I didn't expect humans to make work out of something like this.' Idris commented.

'Unlike dragons, humans most often end up courting multiple different partners in their life. Love is a fickle thing for humans and it's very hard to find the right partner sometimes.' Emre responded, using terms that Idris would understand. 'In cases like this, this is merely playing around for humans. It is not courting or love.'

'Hm… I don't understand it. My mother said it took my father years of pursuit before she accepted him.'

'That can also happen with humans. This isn't something all humans do.'

Idris's brows furrowed. 'Humans are too complex.'

'Ha! I agree.'

As a person who was once human, he understood that well. He didn't have very many relationships in his lifetime. He had heard too much from the people that he hung out with about how hectic and stressful a relationship could be. As such, he had been planning to wait to find the right guy when he graduated.

He wasn't someone who slept around and preferred to be close friends first before anything occurred. He had quite a wall that people would have to climb in order to get close to him. The one person he did let through and considered his best friend ended up backstabbing him in the end. Well, less backstabbing and more murdering.

Emre hadn't really thought about it much here seeing as how he had worse things to think about. Plus there weren't any trains to hit him here.

"Ah come on, you two. You're really not going to try it out?" Ragan asked, his cheeks still quite rosy. "You gotta let loose sometimes! You're both too uptight."

Ragan then snatched a random pin out of the basket and tossed it toward Emre. Catching it, he took a look at the pink color. Rolling his eyes, he quickly threw it back.

"First of all, I'm not interested in playing around. Second of all, that's the wrong color." Emre scoffed.

"Hmph! At least drink then." Ragan responded, putting the pin away.

"Fine, I'll drink a little."

"Aha!"

Emre let out a sigh, thinking that drunk Ragan was too pushy. Of course, at least he wasn't mean or something. Leaning back in the chair, he waited for the waitress to return with their snacks and drinks. When she arrived, someone else was helping her with the drinks.

Emre ended up ordering some weak wine since he didn't want to go back on his word. It was brought back quickly. To be honest it didn't taste bad. The drink made his muscles loosen and a warm feeling spread through his body. For being one of the weaker drinks, it didn't seem that weak.

'So you like men?' Idris asked.

Emre choked on his drink and fell into a fit of coughing, almost spilling the rest of it.

"Oi! Don't chug it down!" Ragan scolded him as he aggressively patted Emre's back.

Emre sent a glare his way as he caught his breath. It wasn't his fault Idris had decided to ask him that all a sudden. He didn't know how dragons worked but his preferences weren't going to change just because he was in a new world.

'Are you okay?' Idris then asked.

'Yeah, just went down the wrong way.' Emre responded as he leaned back into the couch.

All sorts of women had begun to swarm their way seeing the pins of the group. They didn't bug Idris or Emre though seeing as how they had no visible pin. There were flushed faces everywhere, either from the drinks or the bodies of the ladies that were now pressing against the arms of their respective mercenaries.

'But, yeah. I like men.' Emre then added, answering Idris's first question.

'Hm… I never thought about it.' Idris responded as he sipped the juice that he had ordered.

'Well, you have a lot of time to figure it out.' Emre mentioned nonchalantly.

'How did you figure it out?'

Emre had been alone most of his life in Idris's mind. He wasn't sure how Emre could have figured it out, but then again he also didn't know how long Emre had been with Ragan.

'Hmm… I'm not sure?' Emre answered vaguely.

He really wasn't too sure on how it worked out in his past life either. He had dated girls in middle school, as all children do when they are growing up. Of course, it was just innocent little things where you'd pass notes in class or shyly give a note for valentines day.

In high school was when he had realized it. His guy friends would talk about girls and how hot they were and who they would want to date. There was always the subject of boobs and butts that came up occasionally in a guy friend group but whenever he was asked who'd he'd go out with, he honestly had no clue.

Overall, he realized that he wasn't attracted to women like his guy friends were after a few experiences here and there. At first, he had been afraid to come out merely because he didn't go to a large school and news traveled very fast in his small town.

In the end, he didn't really embrace it until he graduated. He went into schooling for art and also came out to his family. His family didn't really support his lifestyle but they didn't shun him or kick him out like most kids like him had to experience. He was truly lucky in that aspect.

Of course, this didn't stop the occasional fight among the family. They believed he wouldn't get a good job by going to school for art, but he knew otherwise. And he wasn't worried about his relationship status at the time. He knew if the right guy came around he would, Emre didn't care for actively looking like most did at his age.

Idris didn't ask about it anymore as the night slowly became more lively. Some people had already disappeared from the table, including Gerrar and Conin. Emre had missed where they had gone. Ragan was still at the table, enjoying his time with his arms wrapped around two different girls on either side of him.

He seemed to be telling them about his adventures as a military man and whatnot. They didn't seem that uninterested either. Anyone would be interested to hear about the endeavors of someone who has gone through battle.

Ola was currently flexing her muscles for a few ladies who seemed quite impressed with a woman of her stature. Even Emre thought it impressive as she haughtily laughed during their conversation.

Emre was content with not being the center of attention but he did gain a few winks from the few passing workers. His looks in this life were quite nice compared to his last one. He wasn't bad-looking before, but his looks now trumped. If he was in his true human form, with his long white hair and lashes he'd be nothing more than captivating.

Alas, he could not use it right now. Maybe in the future if his identity were to be let loose.

Some people also seemed interested in Idris but due to no pin, they did not approach. The pin system was pretty handy in his opinion. Idris didn't seem uncomfortable despite saying how weird this was. He just sat back drinking his juice while listening to the chatter.

As the night continued, he felt a bit tipsy but not enough to hinder his mind. Even so, the feeling only made the warm humid building feel worse than it was. I made him feel a bit itchy and gross and the intense smell was starting to make him feel icky as time went on.

"I'm going to get some air." He muttered over to Idris.

Idris's brows raised. "Do you just want to go back to the tavern?"

At his suggestion, Emre couldn't help but feel relieved as he nodded in response. The two of them stood up and started toward the door. He could hear Ragan drunkenly complain after him but the two both ignored him.

Idris opened the door and let Emre go out first. The cool wind hit his face quickly and he took in a breath of fresh air. His hot face felt soothed as they stepped out into the street and began to wander back toward the tavern. Since it was almost midnight at this point the streets were finally quieter.

"I shouldn't have agreed to drink." Emre sighed out.

Idris let out a small chuckle. "I never liked the taste."

"I don't blame you." Emre chuckled as well.

The nighttime felt more peaceful and the faint smell of food still lingered in the air from the taverns that were still open with drinking customers. Arriving back the tavern didn't take long and he actually spotted the three girls that stayed behind chatting away at a table.

Elayna noticed and waved toward them. Emre waved back but decided not to join them and went toward the stairs instead. Idris followed after him with a small dip of his head toward the girls.

Heading up to their room, Emre ended up passing the key off to Idris since he had a hard time reading it. When they entered Emre barely got his armor off before he flopped onto his stomach and immediately began to sleep.