1965 — Trondheim, Norway
In the seedy underbelly of Trondheim, the oldest profession on Earth was thriving. Young adults who'd lost their parents in the war and found no other way to survive turned their tricks next to widows, who wanted better lives for their children.
The hub of this trade was an old hotel. It functioned as normal, yet even if you came here without knowing the truth, it would smack you in the face soon enough—figuratively, but… perhaps literally, if you walked into the wrong room.
Here, on the second floor, a beautiful woman with blond hair and mysterious purple eyes was leaning against the wall next to a closed door. Her outfit was both practical and provocative, which was clearly the way she liked it.
All kinds of people were walking past her, from ashamed but respectable family men, to hardened criminals. Yet, for some reason, they all gave this beautiful, scantily dressed woman a wide berth.
One had to wonder whether the reason for their squeamishness was the confident look in her eyes, the daring grin on her lips, or, perhaps, the gleaming knife, twirling in her fingers.
But that was just for those who didn't recognize her… those who did simply avoided the hallway altogether. Rurik and Luna were eighteen now, and they hadn't been sitting still. Strange tales and myths were already circulating among the city's low-lives, convincing most to avoid them if possible.
Whatever the case, she stood there, undisturbed, for a full hour. Moans, screams, and groans echoed throughout the building, and the room behind her was no exception, but she paid it no mind. She simply waited patiently.
Finally, the door opened, and a tall, eighteen-ear-old man walked out. His clothes were simple, but looked unruffled, as did the rest of him. Although circumstances suggested otherwise, it didn't look like he'd just had sex—likely because he didn't.
Rurik had never resorted to paying someone to satisfy his inordinate lust, and he certainly wouldn't start now. No, this had been an experiment.
Luna looked over at him with curious excitement, happy to finally get out of here, yet mostly interested in the results. "Finally! So?! Tell me what you found out!"
Before he could answer, she suddenly groaned and rolled her eyes, "Ugh, I can't believe you didn't let me in there with you!"
Rurik snorted and shook his head. "I could barely stand being in the same room as a naked man myself, I certainly wasn't going to subject you to it!"
Unfortunately, he needed to know the effect of his ability on both men and women, so he'd hired both a male and female prostitute. As soon as they were alone with him, he started treating them like test subjects… while staying well enough away from them.
Meanwhile, he moved down the hallway, and Luna quickly caught up with him.
"Pfff!" Luna scoffed sceptically and waved her hand dismissively. "Just admit your macho male brain doesn't want me to see any other dicks besides yours!"
Slowly, Rurik's lips curled up into a smirk and he shrugged his large shoulders. "Fine. My lizard brain baulks at the idea. Do you mind?"
Luna grinned and traced one of her long nails across Rurik's muscled arms as they walked leisurely towards the exit. "No~ I kind of like your possessiveness~~ it matches my own, hehehe."
Her grin became a little more mischievous as she thoughtfully stroked her chin. "Tell me, though. What if I simply want to see them so that I can tell you how tiny they are compared to yours?"
Rurik's eyebrows twitched. Somewhere inside, that idea actually made it a little more bearable… but then he quickly slammed down on it and shook his head. "Not even then!" He raised an eyebrow playfully. "Besides, how do you know I'm not the tiny one?"
As if she'd just heard the funniest thing she'd ever heard, Luna began to giggle uncontrollably, her hands pressed against her stomach. "Hehehe, because I hear other women usually survive sex, and that would have been impossible if you were one of the smaller ones!"
Rurik cursed his own lizard brain. He knew it was petty and meaningless, but he couldn't stop his chest from slightly puffing out in pride.
But Luna quickly blew past this topic when she stopped laughing. "Anyway! Will you finally tell me what happened?! Are we a go or not?!" Her voice was full of excitement and confidence, as if she was already sure of the answer.
Fortunately, Rurik didn't have to disappoint her. With a small smile, he nodded. "It did. It works the same on both men and women, and I can control it almost perfectly now. I'll tell you the details when we're alone, but… I'd say we're good to go."
Vicious thrill spread across her face. "That's what I like to hear! This is gonna be big, my love. Soon, all of Trondheim will be ours, and then… the sky's the limit!"
Caught up in the excitement, they both grabbed the other, and pulled each other into a wild, passion-filled kiss.
Afterwards, they stepped out of the hotel, into a cold, winter evening, and onto their next step.
* * *
A few weeks later, one of Trondheim's most prestigious locations was holding an important gala. Recently, the city went through an election to determine the ruling parties in the city council.
Now, it was time for those parties to determine a mayor, and the one hosting this gala was a frontrunner. His appointment was all but guaranteed, but he wanted to see if he could convince those last few nay-sayers, and make his victory a sweep.
Yet, it was this decision that would prove his undoing…
At the event venue's service entrance, a row of temporary servers, dishwashers, and bellboys were waiting to be assigned some duty during the event. Two of these temp hires stood out—one for his size, yet amicable aura, and the other for her beauty and dominant demeanour.
They didn't even need to use Luna's ability to gain entrance to the gala. Rurik's charming smile in contrast to Luna's domineering aura had easily overwhelmed the staffer.
"Do you remember what your target looks like?" the blond half of their partnership asked the dark-haired one. Her lips curled into a half-smirk, as if she already knew the answer.
For better or worse, Rurik did not disappoint her expectations. "Of course I did," he nodded gravely, before suddenly grinning slightly. "She's a beautiful woman… I'm definitely looking forward to this."
Luna giggled, not minding his clear desires in the slightest, in fact, she shared them. "So am I," she said, with grin to match his.