On the streets of Ellaris the daylight is starting to fade, clearly announcing that the day is nearing its end and yet many people still walk through the lamp lit streets.
The Evening and night markets are prosperous in this city, this is due to the majority of the population being Elemental's of which many are nocturnal by nature. Elementals can have various affinity's like Dark and Ice that prefer the darker, cooler times of day.
The nocturnal Elemental's population combined with various other nocturnal race's who have migrated to the city create a thriving night time community.
On one of the main streets near the market district of the city, Casmir is walking alone, wearing a loose white shirt and light green trousers, his clothes are clearly expensive earning the occasional glance from passers by.
The streets in the city centre are quite wide, paved with large stone slabs on each side are three or four story terrace buildings that extend in vast rows along the streets. There are no sidewalk's along the main streets however there is the occasional parked vehicle having clearly arrived much earlier.
During the morning and early night times, vehicles are not permitted to move down the main roads because of the large amounts of people attending the morning and night markets.
In this world vehicles come in two forms, the standard steam or oil powered cheaper kind or the Qi powered kind. Most trains, planes and automobiles are of the standard variety because they are used in transporting goods and people, even in the high class city of Ellaris there are few people who use Qi powered cars for every day transportation.
Qi powered cars rely on the drivers Qi energy or expensive natural sources of Qi energy such as rare minerals and plants, this means that either the driver of the vehicle must be a powerful Qi practitioner or the owner must be very wealthy. Even standard vehicles are rare, most people cant afford them and outside of cities few places have the infrastructure, such as roads and fuel stores, to support civilian vehicular activities.
As Casmir walks among the various vehicles and people around him, he doesn't take notice of the various people around him with animalistic traits, plant-like traits and other such odd features. He has seen many different race's before and he is rarely surprised by new races.
People from the Angel race, Dark Elven race, Human race, Ivy race and even a rare Earthen Golem can all be found along the street.
Casmir actually finds the Earthen Golem's appearance quite interesting, as they are one of the Rarer species.
Walking on all fours with their heads held high, they look like small gorillas covered in sheets of identical pebbles, this particular golem has reddish brown coloured stones covering him and a black cloak covering his lower body.
Although one might think of the Earthen Golem's appearance as incredible, Casmir only found it's appearance worthy of a long glance as there are many example's of such unique race's in such a prosperous city.
One characteristic does stand out to Casmir however, the vast majority of people have a slight glow around their bodies, as if their surroundings are tinted by certain colours. This glow is commonly called an Aura and it is unique to the Elemental race and their sub-race's.
Being a city of Elemental's, the vast majority of the people along the street have an aura, around two third's of them.
After a short walk down the street, Casmir soon turns down a side alley moving away from the markets and large shops, towards the smaller private businesses.
After walking a little further down this alley he stops in front of a normal looking building with a large pair of open doors and a curtain of beads blocking ones sight into the building.
To the left of the doorway a small sign hangs by the beads reading 'Golden Flower House'.
This standard three story high terrace building is clearly too small to house a high end brothel but Casmir knows that in reality, the half a dozen terrace buildings nearby have had there walls knocked through to connect each other together. This is a common practise used to create larger properties cheaply and has the hidden benefit of being relatively secretive.
Standing in front of the door, Casmir becomes a little nervous about his plans.
'Ok, ok. Just walk in, ask the receptionist for Clara and talk to her about an.. appointment' Casmir thought to himself, it seems taking that final step isn't as easy as he thought it would be.
Suddenly, a pair of well built men turned round an ally corner nearby, clearly drunk and disorderly they laugh and shout to each other.
"HAHA! Come on, it's my treat! I know you've taken a fancy to that little blonde girl..." One of the men nearly shouts at the other.
This loud voice seemed to break through Casmir's nerves as he finally stepped int0 the Golden Flower House before the drunken men took notice of him, sparing him some embarrassment.
As Casmir made his way through the doorway he took in the large reception area, noticing three small desks nearby each with an attendant patiently waiting at them.
Casmir made his way over to the closest desk but before he could say a word, the voluptuous blonde lady behind the desk asked him a question in a seductive voice.
"Good evening young master, can I do anything to serve you..?" She said softly.
Casmir's mouth nearly stopped working as he took in the lady's generous 'assets' that were barely being held back by her black dress.
"Mhm... I-I would like to see Clara to make an... appointment if you know what I mean..." Casmir said strangely as he tried to politely look at the lady's face and not at her body.
The other two receptionist let out a low giggle as they watch the clearly inexperienced young man.
"Oh you would like to talk to Miss Clara? Certainly I can arrange that... would you like to follow me up to her office?" the lady replied as she moved from behind her desk indicating with her hands for Casmir to follow her.
" L-Lead the way young lady..." Casmir said with an awkward smile, in an attempt to flatter her.
The lady, who is clearly mature and experienced, smiles at this young man while thinking 'Ah, such a sweet young man... I hope he comes back a few times in the future..'.
After a short walk down a corridor and up a flight of stairs, the mature lady, who has revealed her name to be Florence, knocks on a door while calling out.
"Excuse me, Miss Clara we have an educated guest here looking for an appointment."
Soon afterwards a voice called out from the room.
"You can let the guest in, I will take it from here." Miss Clara replies in a slightly uninterested tone.
Florence opened the door and gestured for Casmir to enter before gently shutting the door behind him.
As Casmir entered the room he notices that it appears to be an office room, a few bookcases and desks were scattered about the room as half a dozen lamps illuminate it.
In a corner of the room with an unlit fireplace were a pair of fine sofas, a young lady was laying down on one of them.
The lady, Clara, is very beautiful with a slim figure, clear pale white skin and beautiful dark red hair. She sat up on her sofa with a book in one hand and a pen in the other, clearly she was just writing something.
"Come sit down young master... what name may I call you by..?" Clara said with a slightly cold face yet still smiling, she was obviously uninterested in conversing with the unknown Casmir.
Casmir walked over to the sofa and sat down, oblivious to Clara's cold demeanour as he glanced at her beautiful appearance.
She had a pleasant face and small breast's but anyone that described her would call her seductive, her ass was plump and perfectly shaped and her eyes were filled with a yearning designed to entice any one into doing her bidding.
"Ahem... my name is Casmir, Casmir Sing... my mother, Gloria Sing, recommended me..." Casmir said realising that he should identify himself.
Clara's face seems to ease as she heard his background, her smile also become more natural and less forced.
"Ahh Miss Gloria's son. I'm familiar with your mother, she taught me for a short while when I was younger." Clara said with a reminiscent smile on her face.
"How is.. I mean... How can I help you today?" Clara said holding back her reminiscing, realising that it would be inappropriate.
Casmir started to sweat lightly as he recalled what his mother told him to do when he meets with Clara.
"..I was hoping to book an appointment for a first time.. education.. from a Lady in your house..." he said.
Clara smiled, clearly expecting this.
Young men from higher class families are often sent here for 'education' on certain matters.
The Golden Flower house, as a high end brothel, offered many specialist services and an 'education' is one of the most common special services they provide and not just to young men. Sexual experience and knowledge is not commonplace, especially in a city with such a diverse population as many interracial partnerships require specialised knowledge.
Clara got up from her sofa and walked over to her desk.
"You're quite lucky, Miss Rose is available tonight. She is one of our most favoured teachers... of course I assume you are happy with a Human teacher..?" Clara said suggestively.
Casmir was quite shocked as he realised what she was suggesting, it hadn't even crossed his mind about having a non-human partner. While he was aware that there were many other species that human's could mate with he had just assumed that this brothel, which was tailored for humans, only had human women.
Noticing Casmir's strange and shocked expression Clara teased him.
"Oh? The young master already has certain idea's about women...well.. we have a lovely half-angel available... or perhaps an Elemental...?" She suggested.
Casmir's face flushed red before he quickly corrected Clara.
"No! No... no thank you, Miss Rose will be f-fine..." Casmir's said awkwardly.
Clara walked over to Casmir with a pen and a piece of paper, placing it in front of Casmir on a table.
"This is a small document with pricing and other options on it, I will quickly go let Rose know that she has a student today. Please look over the document in case there are any specialities you require.... Oh and our standard appointment time is 2 hours, of course you are welcome to stay the night if you like..." She said teasingly as she left the room.
Casmir let out a sigh of relief as she left while adjusting his trousers after a certain 'pressure' had built up inside of him.
'She is such a tease.. no wonder she's here to tend to guest's... There's no way anyone could leave without some form of relief after talking to her...' he thought.
After a moment, Casmir brought his attention to the document in front of him. He assumed it was more of a short contract to protect the brothel but after he read a small section of it, he started blushing and his mouth widened until it could fit a whole apple inside of it.
The document did contain a contract but it also contained a large variety of optional choices for the educational experience....
Truthfully, the reason Casmir came here was not simply for pleasure, the Golden Flower House offered a comprehensive tutoring session that includes tutoring about sexual health, male/female anatomy, inter-racial relationships, the sexual experience and what Casmir was most interested in, a guide to relationships and courting, in other words, seduction.
Parents would often tutor their children about these things themselves or let them naturally learn about them but others would send their children to places like this, sometimes because of embarrassment, laziness or even a lack of experience on their part.
Casmir's mother, Gloria, has taught her son about the more technical biological information and given him a broader description of the sexual experience but she herself would die of embarrassment if she had to teach Casmir the specifics, which is one reason why she recommended this place to Casmir on his 16th birthday.
People were much more accepting of brothels and sexual experience in the Republic, especially because of the current climate.
As Casmir read the document, he picked up a pen to answer a few questions and sign at the bottom, yet his eyes remained glued to the selection of specialities written on the document.
Masochism, Interracial intercourse, Homosexuality, Roleplay, sexual health, herbal stimulants....
An assortment of kinks and sex related subjects that one could be taught were listed, Casmir was aware of many of them, some would make him blush, others would cause him to be confused but most would arose him to differing degrees.
Of course, for the moment the only extra subject that he was debating about was female psychology, he naively believed this could help him understand Elena's opinion of him and advance his pursuit of her.
After debating it for a minute or two, Casmir selected the female psychology subject as an extra and placed the pen back down on the table.
Now with nothing to do, Casmir's thoughts started to wander.
He thought about the lady he would likely spend the night with or the seductive figure of Clara with her dark red hair....