A Break in the Sunlight

6. Becoming Magdalene

Whoring was a lot easier than she had thought it would be. Most of the time it was over quickly anyhow. If they smelled she just breathed through her mouth. If they were ugly, she closed her eyes. Usually she'd turn on her internal log and take notes. Sometimes she'd make supplies lists. More than once she'd wished she could go Inside while she was doing it, but she was pretty sure the clients wouldn't appreciate her jacking in. None of the soldiers or miners on Firedown were applianced. It just wasn't that kind of place.

Jaren stood half-naked, looking into the mirror and touching up the khol around her eyes. Behind her reflection she could see Kaski pulling laced stockings up over her thighs while she sat on one of Indigo's pull-down bunks.

Kaski looked up, catching Jaren's gaze in the mirror and smiling lazily at her. "So did you decide on one?"

Jaren nodded, "Magdalene."

"Was that the name the guy called you last night?"

"No, that was Jezebel. It just got me thinking."

"That's right," Kaski's grin widened and she stood up, tugging at the ankle of the stockings and straightening the front of her pink vinyl mini-dress. "I knew it was something like that. One of those religion-like names."

"Exactly. That's why I like it." Jaren smiled.

"That Jezebel. He was a fine-looking piece of ass."

Jaren shrugged. "They all look the same, when you get down to it. Same basic equipment."

"Your problem, Baby–" Kaski came into the bathroom behind her and turned her around. She used a thumb to smooth the rouge on Jaren's nipples. "Is you don't enjoy your work enough."

"I suppose not. But it's different for me, I guess. It's just work."

"Not for Kaski." The other girl said with a smile, inspecting her handiwork. "It's all good for Kaski."

"Well, anyhow, that's the name I chose. So you should get used to calling me that, huh?"

"I'll still call you Babydoll, I think." Kaski licked her thumb and rubbed again, until the spot was smoothed to her satisfaction. Jaren wondered for a moment if Kaski would try and kiss her again, but the other girl had turned to arrange her hair in the mirror. She had added extensions to the already long dark mane, and turned the braids up and back in an intricate series of loops piled on her head. It was a mystery to Jaren how they managed to stay in place, especially given Kaski's profession, but she had to admit they looked remarkable, lending Kaski an even more outlandish air than usual.

Jaren pulled a blouse made from black netting on over her head, wriggling it down over her breasts. "She was a prostitute, you know. Mary Magdalene. I looked it up."

Kaski smiled and grunted her belief, and was immediately distracted with straightening her stockings. She wasn't very interested in ancient religion, or much beyond the moment, as it happened. She pulled thick bracelets over her wrists, which hid the pilot jacks embedded in the skin, and looked at Jaren in the mirror expectantly.

"You ready, Babydoll?"

Jaren looked at herself in the glass. Her blond hair was cropped short now––only just long enough to cover her biojack, and bleached almost white. She had cut it two weeks ago, when she'd first started turning tricks. The first few men kept leaning on it and pulling at it, and when one guy had rolled them sideways while going furiously at it, he'd almost removed her scalp. She'd decided it had to go.

Her eyes were heavily khol-smudged, which the men here really liked. It made the green of her irises stand out lightly even in the dimmest light. She had removed most of her jewelry, because the lime seemed to get at it, on Firedown. She still had a choker necklace tight around her neck, though. As far as clothes, she wore very little, just the black netted sleeveless, through which her rouged breasts showed, fuller and rounder than they'd been only a year ago. Under the sleeveless was the black vinyl microskirt Kaski had lent her. It was a little too big in the waist, and actually sat down around her hips, but it looked good that way. Her panties were made of the same netting in the blouse, the curve of her bottom showing under the short skirt's edge. Lastly she wore thigh-high black boots, shiny, with bitch heels. If Ellie could only see her now. She licked her lips and puckered at her reflection.

"Yeah, I'm ready"

"— Magdalene. Log.

"This is Log 1, now. I've reformatted this unit, so if you want anything before 3.59.54, go to the backup. I called the backup "Before". And this is "Magdalene". That's the name I'm going to use now.

"Kaski says using your own name can be a bad idea, 'cause it is illegal in some sectors. And just in case anyone tries to hack my head–well, I figured it'd be better to reformat. Not that there was much on the old unit. But it might not be a bad idea to keep a log. This is probably the safest place.

"We're on our way to the Spaceport. Mitchevish says the new transverter should be in by next week. But that's what he said last week. I think he's a lying bastard, but Kaski believes him, so we'll wait the extra week. We're making ends meet now, anyhow. It could be a lot worse. And screwing isn't so bad. I can see why Kaski likes it. It gives you this feeling of power. Cause you could give a shit about it, but the guy just needs it so bad.

"There's this moment where they'd just do anything for it, you know? And you could make them beg if you wanted. Some of them even like that. I kinda like that part. Well, I guess that is all for now. Catch ya later. End Log—"

All rights reserved. Copyright Jae Darcy 2016.