[RadioDust] Sugar is Sweet (and So Are You)

Chapter 2: Cravings Start Early

Alastor wasn't quite sure what to do with himself after his conversation with Angel, but he felt he should be doing something. After some time of pacing around his own room, running his mind in circles trying to figure out what was expected of him here, he was forced to concede that he simply didn't have the information necessary to make that determination. So he would have to seek someone who did. He went down to the lobby to sit at the bar with a visibly-hungover Husk and asked for his usual—gin and tonic, hold the gin.

"Husker," he ventured carefully, swirling the tonic water in his glass. His friend (though he used the term loosely) grunted in response. "Would I be right to assume you've had some experience with. Er. Filles de joie?"

"First of all, dial down the volume," Husk grumbled flatly, squeezing his head between his hands as if that might alleviate his headache. "And second, speak English."

"You know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Cocettes? Streetwalkers?" How many ways could he say it gently?

"Hookers."

"...yes."

"Sure," Husk agreed with a shrug, resting heavily against the bar. "But what's it to you? Since when d'you care about that kinda shit?"

"Oh, I don't. In so many words. But I've always been a curious sort, and since I don't have any personal experience of my own, I figure a secondhand account is better than none," Alastor explained. The two had known each other long enough that inquiries like this weren't entirely out of the ordinary, as there were plenty of things about society—mortal or demon—that Alastor had only seen at a distance. Husk, on the other hand, had seen and done quite a lot in his years and could be very helpful when he chose to be.

"Don't know what you're gonna do with it, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Whaddaya wanna know?" He groped absently along the bar for the tumbler of gin he'd withheld from Alastor's drink and tossed it back all at once, then immediately got dizzy and regretted the sudden motion. "Just. Keep it down."

"It's my understanding that escorts, like many other professionals, have regular clients," Alastor answered, lowering his voice slightly, more because he didn't want to be overheard having this particular discussion than for the sake of his friend's comfort. "But I'm not sure what sort of relationship that constitutes."

"Like you said, a professional one," Husk told him. "It's a job, and a client's a client. No matter how many times ya see 'em, that doesn't change."

"I see. So...that dynamic isn't likely to develop into something else?"

He let out a dry laugh. "Somethin' else like what? A gal doesn't date a john if that's what you're askin'." He was answering almost automatically, not bothering to question where this curiosity had come from. "I hear when a guy starts gettin' ideas like that, most 'workin' girls' are pretty quick to cut him off."

Which was exactly what Alastor was afraid of, considering what he knew of Angel Dust. But then, maybe there was a difference if the escort in question had only one patron. Maybe whatever he was getting into with Angel didn't have exactly the same rules. "In a slightly different vein, then, what about..." Even saying the word felt like an admission, like an embarrassment. But he truly needed some sort of reference point before he got into this, so he had no choice. "Sugaring. The sort of arrangement where—"

"Yeah, I know how it works," Husk said, waving him off. "Not my thing, though. Too much commitment."

Well. That was a positive thing, wasn't it? In terms of what Alastor actually wanted from his interactions with Angel? Commitment, as far as he was concerned, meant exclusivity, which his jealous tendencies certainly appreciated. "Commitment. On the part of the client, you mean?"