5.04 - Adrienne

The quiz took a sharp spike in difficulty upward, Sabina apparently wanting her thighs to have been today's ultimate prize. Zoey obviously didn't have a problem with that, especially when she got to use them one more time before the event was over.

The milking completed, Sabina inspected her payload, seeming pleased. "It does provide double output," she mused. "Keeping well supplied won't be much of a problem, it seems."

"Hope that doesn't mean less sessions," Zoey joked.

"There's no such thing as too much of a valuable reagent," Sabina said. "Especially when you might be disappearing for days or weeks as a wayfarer. Besides, the quizzes are as much to keep you working diligently as collecting a resource."

Zoey snorted. "It's doing the job, then."

She was half tempted to stick her nose in an alchemy book and simply study until her brain was mush, if it meant she'd finally get to go inside Sabina. Her thighs had been amazing, but the slow ramping-up that Sabina was teasing her with had Zoey almost aching whenever she thought of doing more. Even if she couldn't use her pussy, she wanted to at least try Sabina's throat.

Her thoughts were wandering, so she coughed and chased them away. Hadn't she just been milked dry twice? Or even four times, technically, with the double-weapon she'd previously been wielding?

"I assume you came for lessons?" Sabina asked. "Or do you have business to take care of? You did just return from an expedition."

The two of them had cleaned up and returned downstairs to Sabina's laboratory. She had resumed whatever reagent-preparation task she'd been working on prior to Zoey's arrival.

"I've got nothing super pressing," Zoey said. "So yeah. Lessons. And I also wanted to talk more about the business."

Sabina bobbed her head. "I've handled that while you were gone. I assumed you wouldn't mind."

"Oh? Handled how?"

"The tedious administrative tasks, mostly," Sabina said. "I've found and rented a location in the red light district. The fees were moderately high, but I'm certain that won't matter, considering the profit we expect to turn."

"You've been busy." Zoey was impressed—though she supposed she should have expected Sabina to work quick. She took her professional life seriously. In fact, Zoey wasn't sure how much of a 'personal' life Sabina really had. Certainly some, as the room filled with sex toys suggested, but at the same time, she was almost always working, as far as Zoey knew.

"I also got in contact with that friend of yours," Sabina added. "Adrienne."

That part caught Zoey even more by surprise. "You did?"

"Indeed. She'll be here in an hour or two to discuss details. It's fortuitous you returned from your trip when you did—I think you'd handle the hiring process better than I."

Zoey wouldn't exactly call Adrienne a friend. They'd had a single brief interaction. Still, Delta had suggested her, and Zoey would rather hire someone who she was at least peripherally aware of, rather than going through the ordeal of finding a stranger.

Plus, considering the details to the business, Adrienne might be a perfect fit. A saleswoman for the lewd merchandise they wanted to peddle would need to be comfortable with sexual matters, and Adrienne … well, that single interaction of Zoey's had been seeing Adrienne's dress, face, and hair covered in Delta's cum, only half cleaned off, and being worn as a badge of pride. Or, Zoey's cum, seeing how Delta had been borrowing her cock for the night.

So, yeah. Adrienne wouldn't have much issues with their business. As Delta suggested, it would probably be the opposite; she might be more than eager to jump into it, simply because it excited her. Zoey wouldn't be surprised if she made an enthusiastic saleswoman, going above and beyond what was expected of her to get potions off the shelves.

Her background as an accountant was the cherry on top. Sabina could handle the paperwork and administrative tasks, having run her own business for years, but the increased volume from Zoey's eventual contributions—because she didn't intend to be a novice student forever—would be eased with Adrienne's help.

The biggest issue would of course be relocation, since Adrienne might not want to pack up and head off to Mantle, but as far as Zoey knew, people who lived in the Fractures weren't usually strictly beholden to whatever city. Civilians came down to the Fractures for the increased profit, and rarely intended to live their lives here. Even the safest cities like Treyhull weren't really safe, not by surface standards.

Plus maybe Adrienne had an adventurous spirit, and would want to trek out to Mantle simple for the experience. Relocating might even be a bonus to her.

They'd find all that out during the interview.

"I've never really hired someone before," Zoey said, "but yeah, between the two of us, I'm sure it won't be a problem. An hour or two, you said?"

"Indeed."

"Plenty of time to get a few lessons in?"

"As soon as I finish this up," Sabina agreed. "Did you find any new reagents while you were gone?"

Zoey wrinkled her nose. "Unfortunately, no. This expedition was …" She struggled for how to put it. "I didn't find any new reagents," she settled on. She hardly mistrusted Sabina, but explaining her bizarre circumstances obviously wasn't on the table either.

Sabina didn't seem bothered. She nodded and continued with her work.

The following hour and a half passed in the typical manner. Zoey studiously attended Sabina as an assistant, occasionally being questioned or put on the spot to attempt some part of the alchemical process. She was already capable of making basic potions, and as the days passed, she was growing more and more comfortable making more advanced ones, too. She thought she might even be able to start creating her own lewd potions, rather than relying on Sabina.

She had mixed feelings on that, of course. Having Sabina make everything valuable meant they would make the most of their resources, but at the same time, Zoey wanted to be competent in her own right, and that would never happen if she gave any valuable reagents to Sabina and refused to try her own hand with them—and probably waste decent amounts of the resource in the process.

She'd probably settle for a middle ground. Let Sabina handle the bulk of the effort, but keep a portion, perhaps a quarter, for herself to mess around with, under Sabina's guidance. Her rune of alchemy wouldn't progress without challenging herself. She wondered when her next upgrade with that would come, and what it would be. Most people had to waits weeks, months, or even years for progression, but Zoey's class was broken. She'd probably get one before the week was up, and they headed for Mantle.

Soon, the chiming of a bell announced that someone had entered Sabina's storefront. Seeing how the sign was flipped close, Sabina having disregarded her previous public-facing efforts with the potential of their new business, it was almost certainly Adrienne.

Setting aside the alchemical tools and reagents they'd been using, each of them stripped off their gloves and goggles and walked out into the shelf-lined store proper.

Adrienne was, obviously, cleaned up and far better put together than their first meeting. Considering the disheveled, filthy, grinning state of the girl when they'd first been introduced, the difference was actually fairly stark; she looked like a different person. A young, cheerful professional, not the … well, unfortunately, the word that came to mind was 'cum slut', and Zoey didn't mean it in a degrading way, just—Adrienne had been a little too pleased to be caught with cum on her face to think of her in any other way.

Still, here and now, she obviously looked like any other young woman dressed up for an interview. She was taking the offer seriously, it seemed. She'd come in a short skirt—though not scandalously short—and a white blouse, which she'd left the first several buttons open on. Professional looking, if admittedly a little more eager to show off her body than some.

Mahogany ringlets framed her heart-shaped face, and she beamed at Zoey and Sabina as they walked out into the store. She'd been idly holding a briefcase with two hands, but now she shifted it to her left, then took a few steps forward and held out a hand. She exchanged handshakes with Sabina and Zoey, greeting them with a, "It's so nice to meet you, Sabina! I'll admit, this offer came as a surprise, but from what you included in your note, I have to say I'm super interested." Her eyes flicked to Zoey, and her smile took a slight turn toward 'sly', rather than simply friendly. "You find business contacts in the strangest places, sometimes. It's Zoey, right? I didn't forget?"

"It's Zoey," Zoey confirmed, amused at the brunette's words. Indeed, this 'business contact' had come from a rather unexpected encounter. That was probably doubly true from Adrienne's perspective. She'd just been on a shameless one-night fling, and now had a potential for getting into a bizarre, once-in-a-lifetime business—one that would pay outrageously well. Sex potions.

Er, had Sabina spelled that out explicitly, in whatever the 'note' was? Zoey realized she didn't exactly know how Sabina had gotten Adrienne here, and what specifically she had told her.

"This isn't super formal," Zoey said. "I don't think either of us really know how to run a job interview. So we're just gonna talk."

"Sounds fun," Adrienne said, flashing another smile. Zoey would admit she was charmed—and that the woman was far less flirty than she'd been expecting. Though of course her 'wild nights out' weren't how she carried herself in day to day situations.

"I have chairs in the back," Sabina said. "Please, follow me."