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The Purple Mouse

by Everyl

"At least that one only caters to normal tastes. It's still a blight on the neighborhood, but at least they're not deviants like all the others."

- Unusual Snail, local resident of the Avenue of Enigmatic Philosophy

"Umm... yeah. That's right. No deviants there." *hurries away*

- Kenar Ashstone, visitor to the Avenue of Enigmatic Philosophy and occasional patron of the Purple Mouse

On the outside, the Purple Mouse seems out of place in the Avenue of Enigmatic Philosophy, but not in the same way as the other brothels - instead, it is strange because it's too normal. Whereas each of the other brothels openly caters to some form of unusual tastes, the Purple Mouse is strange in that it primarily caters to those interested in spending time with adult, living members of the same species and (usually) opposite sex. Even some of its patrons are unaware of everything that goes on within this establishment.

Most assume that the Purple Mouse is so named because of its size and color - it is converted from a smallish house, and the exterior is painted a deep purple color. While this is true, to an extent, the truth lies deeper - the purple color is roughly the same shade as a dark bruise, and mice are often seen as being meek and submissive. While "normal" sex is offered to those who are interested, the Purple Mouse specializes in kinkier activities - and has a large, well-stocked dungeon that belies the building's small above-ground presence.

Like many of the brothels on the Avenue of Enigmatic Philosophy, the Purple Mouse's story started out innocently enough. Chryssa Shimmercloud, the founder, was an unmarried herbalist and doctor in one of the small farming communities in the general vicinity of Nexus. When an uncle of hers from the city proper died without a wife or children, her family inherited his modest savings; they agreed to use it to buy her some property in the city, so she could earn more money to send home. She purchased the small home of a recently-deceased craftsman in Bastion. There, she set up shop as an apothecary and small-time alchemist. Some of the locals distrusted her, as she was still rather young, but she proved her competence and soon earned the trust of the community.

When it began, and brothels started popping up like dandelions in the neighborhood, Chryssa did what any reasonable apothecary in her position would do - she expanded her stock to include maiden tea, aphrodisiacs, infection-fighting medicines, and other items of interest to the booming prostitute population. While clearing space in the basement of her house to set up more lab facilities to accomodate the increased demand, she discovered a previously-hidden trapdoor behind some boxes left by the former owner; behind that door, she found a staircase leading down to a series of underground workshops for a variety of trades - leatherworking, candlemaking, and metalworking, among others. Somewhat to her surprise, the workshops had no connection to the Underground at all; as far as she could tell, her house was built on top of a sunken tower made out of a dark purple stone that she could not identify.

Chryssa had never married because of her... unusual tastes. She had always found pain to be an enjoyable sensation, often more so than sex. In her small farming-community hometown, this was far too deviant to be acceptable. Discovering this bonanza of materials necessary to make hot wax, leather whips, shackles, and other implements of torture, it occurred to her that she must not be the only person in a city the size of Nexus with unusual tastes - especially judging from some of the brothels that provided her with business. In the following weeks, she chatted with many of the prostitutes who came through her doors and learned that, indeed, she was not alone in her tastes - and there were some clients who preferred those tastes to any other. In the truest sense of Nexus capitalism, she set about converting her small home / apothecary into a brothel catering to those who not only like it rough, but prefer the "rough" to the rest of "it."

After a very busy few months, in which she married a multi-talented craftsman, cleaned up the underground network of rooms, painted the above-ground building dark purple, recruited other women with similar tastes to her own, and heavily renovated the place to give it a purple-themed dungeon decor, she opened the Purple Mouse for business. Since its beginning, the Purple Mouse has always been more subtle with its particular brand of kink than the other brothels in the neighborhood; few clients want to earn a reputation as a sadist. Several of the upstairs rooms are outfitted like a more traiditional brothel, though the beds all notably have plenty of convenient bars to tie things to, and the walls are thick and draped with tapestries - to muffle the noise. The basement rooms, on the other hand, are most definitely dungeon chambers, complete with shackles and implements of mild torture. Much to Chryssa's surprise, there were also customers who came hoping to be on the submissive end of the relationship; she soon hired a few girls who were willing to fill that role, as well.

Chryssa's husband, Rian Shimmercloud, produces most of the leather and metal props, toys, and other such things that the brothel needs. He also oversees much of the daily operation of the brothel, since Chryssa herself still works as an apothecary. Most of the medicines she produces go to her own girls, including large amounts of Hero's Recovery, but she still makes plenty of money selling other brothel-oriented drugs. They also make extra money by selling Rian's creations to those who want to add some extra spice to their love lives at home. Chryssa and Rian live and do most of their work in Rian's house, near the Bridge of Ebullient Maidens, but sell exclusively from the Purple Mouse.

House Rules

The Purple Mouse only has a few ground rules, which everyone is expected to follow.

1. Permanent injuries and killing are strictly prohibited. The workers are here to make a living, and if a client refuses to recognize that, he won't continue living much longer himself.
2. You break it, you buy it. If you leave an employee with severe bruising, movement-impairing injuries, or anything else that would prevent her from working until it's healed, it costs extra. Injuries that would not entirely heal on their own, such as broken bones or lacerations that could leave scars, cost dramatically more (Hero's Recovery gets expensive after a while).
3. Strict confidentiality. The owners of the Purple Mouse and all of its employees will not share information about clients, as long as clients take care not to let word of the dungeon become too public in the wrong circles.
4. One worker per customer. It takes time to recover from a night of true pleasure, Purple Mouse-style, and it would not do to run out of work-capable employees.

Rumors

• "I hear that place is an undercover slave ring. They keep pretty girls locked up in the basement and sell them to high-paying customers. It's a wonder the Council of Entities hasn't shut it down yet."
• "That place is a cover for an assassin cult! The women who work there are all trained killers! I only barely got away with my life!"
• "That Rian guy didn't actually marry Chryssa, he enslaved her somehow. Why else would she turn her perfectly decent apothecary into a house of decadence like that? I've heard that he even tortures her and makes her brew potions to make the scars go away."

Secrets

• During the time Chryssa was renovating her home into the Purple Mouse, a cousin of hers named Hel Tripol established the Golden Bull next door. They cut a deal wherein she expanded her personal tunnel network to include a back entrance to his establishment, thus enabling customers who do not wish to be seen entering the Golden Bull to instead be seen entering a brothel with a more... traditional reputation. Most of these customers are completely unaware of what's going on in the dungeon rooms they pass on their way to the Golden Bull.
• About a third of the girls who work for the Purple Mouse are trained soldiers who quit from the Seven Hills Mercenaries to seek a more pleasureable job involving giving and receiving pleasure and pain. They're the ones who enforce the House Rules listed above. The Shimmerclouds prefer to keep this fact somewhat mysterious, but evident, knowing that it discourages true sickos from killing their employees.

Comments

I keep getting the feeling that I'm forgetting to add something... it feels somehow incomplete. Since I can't figure out what, I'll post it anyway. Maybe I'll edit it later, especially if anyone can point out something that this lacks. -Everyl

An entrance to the brothel fromThe Underground ? Remember, those basement dungeons aren't just in the ground - the entire city is built atop at least one other layer of city. They might have neighbours down there, other than The Golden Bull. It's a security/privacy issue, to be sure. -Okensha

Maybe I wasn't clear enough above, but I didn't intend for the Mouse's "dungeon" to connect to the rest of the Underground. The Underground can't occupy every cubic foot of space underneath the city, or the surface would collapse in on it. Knowing that, it's not too much of a stretch for someone to have what amounts to several connected basements underground that don't connect to any other tunnels. Maybe I should make it more clear in the text, though. I'm planning to revise a few things later, anyway. -Everyl

Heh! This reminds me of a 20s movie I heard about in which a depressed girl finds happiness and liberation working in a brothel. (Those crazy 20s ...) Everyl, I have to compliment your spelling and grammar, too. It's a sight for compulsive eyes :)
~ Shataina

Thanks! I'm kind of compulsive about grammar and spelling, too, though I'm rarely assertive enough to correct others. If you catch any mistakes in my writing, feel free to point them out; I like to learn from my mistakes. -Everyl