; la douleur exquise

Joaquin was never one for crowds but he loved a party that allowed him to get drunk without too many people noticing. He had come to the opening to keep an eye on his siblings, knowing how they were prone to making asses out of themselves at public events. But he was feeling more relaxed than usual, hoping his good week would continue into a good weekend. He felt fresh in his suit and the new drink he was working on was enough to distract him from feeling like he had to be looking around constantly for any potential threats. He had been scanning the room for familiar faces when he finally spotted one he knew he would actually enjoy his time with. Joaquin ordered two more drinks from the bar and headed in Rachelle’s direction, an easy smile forming on his lips as he held out one of the glasses when she realized he was there. “Please tell me you’re not working tonight, I’d hate to have to waste how good I look in this suit on someone else,” he joked and kissed both of her cheeks before moving to stand next to her. “You look stunning as always.” He held up his drink towards her before taking a long sip. “Salut, hermosa.”

@damerachelle

Rachelle had been staring at the screen of her phone. It displayed a private instagram story picture of a sticky note with a rhymed poem written on it, along with the caption of “i just wrote this and put it on a random neighbor's doors, saying it was written by someone across the hall”. “Ісус!” the blonde muttered to herself in Ukranian, soft laughter passing her lips just before her attention was drawn upwards from the cell to the source of a rather familiar voice. “Joaquin!” she greeted the suited man cheerfully, years of speaking Italian having trained her mouth into perfect pronunciation of names from other Romance languages. The intimacy with which he greeted her would probably odd to the Western people who’d catch onto the exchange, but it was something deeply ingrained within both of their cultures and it reminded her of home. “Grazie, carino mio -” she purred out, exposing the bright pearls that were her teeth in a widespread grin while simultaneously accepting the drink “And no, I’ve cleared up my schedule for the night. Counted on you being here to entertain me, as unprofessional as that is.” she winked at the man before taking a sip of her own. 

She didn’t actually clear up her schedule solely for that. The night was perfect for her to let loose a bit and fool around and that’s what she intended to do. Her roommate had challenged her on which out of two of them could do more silly stuff for the night - and the grand prize was the winner getting to choose their living room’s new wallpaper, so she intended to win for the sake of not having batman one. For Christ’s sake, she was a Marvel lady - the only kind of wallpaper she’d be alright with was Iron man one. “Has your night been eventful so far? Because mine has. I’ve already fooled three couples into paying for the elevator ride just by standing in front of it and saying they’re supposed to cash out.”

It was fairly late by the time she’d finished her session with one of the clients, so Rachelle made sure to text Eli something among the lines of not coming home for the night ‘cause she wasn’t up for a ride from Brooklyn Heights, all the way to Midtown. Instead, she’d paid for a bed in hostel with twelve other people in the room and decided to do a quick shopping spree in a 24/7 sex shop she’d seen in front of the building. After having picked up an item or two (or ten) and got them nicely packed in a fancy pink box, she clicked her way outside of the place in those stiletto heels that she’d forgotten to take off - and as trained as she was to walk in them, it occasionally did happen that she’d slip and lose her balance. Like now. 

Luckily, she managed to recover before her nose was to kiss the floor or rather pin the woman before her onto the ground. So, she ended up flailing to regain her posture while the woman before her attempted to recover from the sudden run in. In the midst of her almost-fall, her tongue untied itself, quick reassurances spilling past her lips such as “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m fine - we’re fine, so sorry.” Unfortunately, her box did end up falling on the ground and although its contents didn’t spill all over due to a nicely tied ribbon around it, she was concerned that some appliances inside have broken. While crouching down to pick it up, she noticed the painted canvases behind the brunette, instantly feeling the need to comment on them, her little accident almost already long forgotten “Oh wow, are those yours? That’s neat.”

Katalina had spent the majority of her day in boardrooms and conference calls. She had a new client coming in who needed a new lawyer. Normally, Katalina didn’t take meetings like this but they insisted. She pulled up their file on her desktop and smiled when her door opened. She stood and walked around to greet her newest client. Kat extended her hand for them to shake and motioned for them to take a seat in front of her clear desk. She walked back and sat down herself. “So, what kind of legal assistance can I help you with?” She asked happily. 

“Well, actually-” her hands already started moving all around her lap, ever the expressive woman that she is “I have continental legal system down to the m; can’t say the same for the anglo-saxon one, which is unfortunately what I need for this.” she pushed the vibrant blue folder with multiple-pages long document further towards the woman and across the table, right where she’d lowered it just after making herself comfortable in the seat on the opposing side of the woman’s table. “I need me a fool-proof contract in English to protect myself from civil lawsuits. Particularly a Dominatrix-client kind of contract.”

In a city with no stars, the inner workings of the Greenwich Village night club more than made up for it, shimmering with golden champagne glasses that beckoned for a place more dreamlike than Drew felt as though he belonged. The entire galaxy had wedged its way into the room, proof being the sparkle that every attendee had donned, from the fringes of their clothing to the glitter of their cheeks. And Drew was grateful for their reflection on his brooding expression. He nodded in approval after the customer in front of him traded cash for the small Ziploc in his hands. Though his hand was now empty, it felt weighted from their transaction and curled to encircle those who attended parties as a break from work, rather than an added shift. Business completed, Drew returned to the drink he’d left at a high top, knowing he was supposed to sell a few more rounds before he’d head out. 

The silver fringe of her Nina Ricci Spring 2013 dress swayed left and right along with the overemphasized movement of hips, painting her to be a picture perfect imitation of Charleston dancers. Having started to wear high heels around the age of fifteen, she’d loosened up her hips quite a bit and it had come quite in handy when attracting the attention of high school boys who would’ve otherwise alienated her from their company, for she’d been an immigrant among the purebred Italians. She’d always used clothing, shoes and accessories as her tools to bend people to her will and tonight would likely be no different, if she had it her way. Since someone else had paid for her attire, she minded not spending a couple of greens on ‘good shit’ ; not that she knew anything of this shit’s quality, since she’d bought it only so there’d be less merch for the actual junkies. She didn’t mind sparing this money to throw that ziplock down the drain, really - plus it was bound to build her up different kinds of reputations in this town, depending on what kind of people she was interacting and how much she was telling them about herself and as someone who’s lived majority of her life moving from one place to another, she’d learned that it paid off, presenting herself in various ways to different people. She was a chameleon, could be whoever she wanted to be, wherever and whenever she wanted to be. 

“How many more does a lady need to add to the stack to have you in her bed?” she teased while handing the money to the other.