RFC-Mini Arc 3: New Form-05 (Patreon)

On Maxine’s recommendation, we stop outside a small, charming store with no windows on its front and the picture of a black cat on its door. It doesn’t look like much of anything. “Are you sure this is the place?”

I catch the slight blush on Maxine’s face as she exits the carriage after me. Geneva follows after her and motions to Gajin, who pulls off. “Yes. I’m…positive it’ll be to your tastes.”

“Uh-huh. If you say so.” She seems a little fidgety but I can’t imagine her plotting against me. Still, I hold an arm out to Geneva before opening the door.

We step into another world as the bright morning is swallowed by the store’s gloom. Red and yellow lanterns bathe the room in a mimicry of sunset, giving the rows of shelving an air of mystery.

An older woman is seated behind the long counter at the back of the store. She looks ready to attend a ball, dressed in an elegant purple dress with a borderline scandalous neckline. Her hair is wrapped up in a messy bun and she wears a short veil, the edge covered in what gleams like small diamonds, the veil itself not so opaque that I can’t make out the details of her face. She holds a short pipe in a black-gloved hand, thin smoke rings floating up from its glowing end. A black cat curled up on the counter opens one yellow eye to peer at us as we approach.

“Oh? If it isn’t the princess.” The woman smiles, setting down her pipe. “And friends.”

Maxine clears her throat. “Lou, this is Madame Black. She’s a frequent customer. I met her while auditing the accounts. Madame, this is Lourianne Tome, a good friend. I thought she would be interested in your…wares.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m not surprised. But everyone’s welcome at Kitty’s Lounge.”

“I’m guessing that’s Kitty?” I say, waving a hand to the cat doing an impressive job at ignoring us.

Madame Black chuckles. “No, this is Mr. Black.”

Um. Wait. If she’s Madame Black and that’s Mr. Black, does that mean—

“I’m sure we’ve got something to satisfy you.” Madame Black stands from her seat and moves from behind the corner. “We offer the most sensual delights in the Hall.”

“I’m looking for a perfume,” I say, putting my strange musings out of mind. “Something that says…eat me all night.”

Maxine chokes on air beside me as Madame Black smiles. “Trying to impress a sweetheart, then?”

“Yes. My wife.”

Aw, her reaction is rather subdued. I’m so used to other people dropping their jaws when I announce my marital status that her little hum of amusement is unusual and disappointing.

“Right this way.” She guides us through the shelves. I’m the one who’s surprised as we pass several strange objects. Leather one-pieces that look they’d show more skin than they’d cover, many of them featuring corsets that make me flashback to unhappy memories. A surprising number of restraints, ranging from metal to rope. Then there’s the tools. I can’t imagine what some of them do but one shelf has a grouping of items that have a recognizable shape. Hehe, I guess everyone can’t have the luck of being a shapeshifter.

Toward the back of the room, there’s a display showing many glass bottles. Some are simple and clear. Some are colored and blown into exotic shapes.

Madame Black puts a hand on my shoulder before I approach the shelf. “You wouldn’t want to tax your senses by standing too close. Allow me.” She steps forward, grabbing three bottles and a circular tin filled with dark beans. “Maxine, be a dear,” she says before handing her the bottles. She extends the tin to me. “Take a deep whiff.”

I oblige, letting out a hum of appreciation. “What’s that?”

“Cava beans. They make a wonderful drink when brewed correctly, too. Now, for the first one.” She grins, the gesture given a strangeness slightly obscured by her veil. “You don’t strike me as a floral girl. So, that leaves…”

She takes a small pink bottle with a round bottom from Maxine’s hands and removes the top before holding it toward me. I lean down and breathe in. A range of fruity smells hits me, like I’m walking past the fruits stands of the capital’s market without the smells of the city getting in the way. Enticing, but not what I’m going for.

Madame Black doesn’t need to hear my disapproval before pulling it away, putting on its cap and handing it to Maxine before putting the cava beans back under my nose. “I thought so. Then, next.”

The next bottle she hands me is a simple brown bottle, almost unappealing. When she uncaps it, a wave of nostalgia makes me smile. It smells of the forest. Not the one where I met my wife but it’s close enough to evoke the memory. A scent that reminds me of the clean air, mixed with wood and grass, both fresh and slightly rotting, like the debris covering the forest floor, making it a little pungent in a good way. Fills the senses.

“I’ll take that but it’s not what I’m looking for.” She redoes the top and I carefully take it from her, handing it to Geneva. “Do you have anything else like it?”

She takes me to a shelf with many other bottles done in earth tones. I take a dark green bottle that smells similar but the pungent scent of foliage is replaced by a sharper smell Madame Black calls mint and a gold bottle that adds the fruity smells from the first bottle.

Then she gives a third bottle and I’m enthralled.

This one is what she calls a musk with hints of a fragrant wood that is both enticing and relaxing. “I need to see all of these.”