[Dorian] Gretel's little secret

@Doriangrey


Gretel walked up to the gates of the Salon. It was a lovely place, its gardens always in full bloom. Manboy did an excellent job tending them. It was strange not to see him outside as he was apt to be but she supposed he did have other work there. She'd seen him on occasion running other errands and sometimes she didn't see him at all. He probably had work to do inside the salon as well, though she had no idea what that could be. The purpose of the salon had never been much of an interest of hers before. She'd assumed it was a literary salon. Dorian Grey did seem like the kind of host she would expect of one. But they'd turned Scarlet away; it was a place of 'adult conversation' they'd said, or something of the sort. It had made Gretel suspicious of the whole place, so why had she come here again?

She'd heard that people could stay there from time to time, that it was a place where you could get a room, and that they would be discreet. Gretel had been looking for exactly that. She wanted a place she could sing without having to make anyone else suffer her voice. She wasn't sure if her voice would be good or bad, as she was too embarrassed to do it around even Scarlet or Hansel. But maybe here she could find her voice, and if it was horrible, then maybe she could fix it? I didn't matter much as she didn't want to sing for anyone else. It was something she wanted to do for herself.

When she entered the Salon, she saw only Dorian. He was an impressive man, to say the least. Gretel found him intimidating, even more so than she normally found others. There was something about him, the way he held himself was bold; he was a force to be reckoned with. Gretel swallowed hard, marching right up to the man and did what she did every time someone made her nervous. She acted rudely. "I need a room." She demanded.

"A room?" Dorian's eyebrow quirked up.

He'd seen Gretel around town, but she'd more often than not had a grenade or two in her hand and nothing nice to say. Now she was standing before him with the most adorably flustered expression and he wanted nothing more than to understand what brought her to him.

"All right - I can't say I've ever really turned a pretty girl away." Dorian smiled broadly. "Male or female?"

The hell? Since when do rooms have genders?  Gretel stared at him with narrowed eyes trying to gauge what he meant. She didn't want to seem like she didn't understand least she be kicked out like Scarlet was. After an awkward moment of silence, she still hadn't managed to figure it out.

"I don't like flowery rooms if that's what you mean." She did actually like flowery rooms, but she certainly didn't want to give off a childlike impression to this man.

Dorian offered her a placating smile as he tried to understand her response. "No, darling. I meant what type of partner you wanted in the room. A man or a woman."

He paused. "Of course, I will absolutely keep your visit here as discrete as possible and there is no judgement passed at any time. Just in case you were concerned. I only want to ensure your visit here is as fulfilling as possible."

Everything that came out of his mouth was strange. Gretel had heard this place was discrete, but she didn't understand why a literary salon needed to be. "No partner. I just want a quiet room to myself with some musical instruments or a way to reproduce music." She whispered the words. Embarrassed to even have to utter them but this is why she'd come here in the first place. So no one would know what she'd been up too.

Dorian leaned in to catch her whisper. Musical instruments? "Music? I- ah, I don't think I can fulfill a solo request if you want the band to come up. Although I'm sure they'd have other plans-"

He lit up after a moment. "What about a karaoke machine? I can't move it, but I'm more than happy to give the Caporegime of the Grimm Family private use of the room, if that pleases you."

Gretel was taken aback a little by his smile. She wasn't used to people smiling at her and especially not so genuinely. If only Hansel were here. Why had she left him at home? She had no one to hide behind here. She took a step back and nodded slightly. "That would be fine." She waited for him to lead the way.

Dorian placed his hand gingerly on the small of Gretel's back to lead her towards the rear of the first floor. He wasn't focused on her as he tried to mentally shuffle half a dozen rooms to make her request possible. "Right this way, pet."

Gretel was acutely aware of the hand touching her back. She didn't like being this close to anyone that wasn't Hansel. "Remove your hands if you don't want to lose them!" She was prepared to back that up. Everyone had been to handsy with her later. With her fainting with Soh and Axel carrying her around after he broke her leg, she decided to add a knife to her satchel. Grenades were great, but they weren't as finessable as she'd like.

Dorian had been so preoccupied with rearranging the salon to meet her request, he almost hadn't heard her. But the bark of "lose them!" made him startle and step away.

"My apologies, Miss Grimm. My mind was elsewhere." He cleared his throat and made a small looping hand motion in the air, sending a flurry of activity around them as his servants and staff raced to rearrange the salon to his liking. He knew they listened in on more than they should, but at least they listened. "Please follow me."

He folded his hands behind his back and headed for a large set of doors on the far side of the main room. The only thing that set them apart from the rest of the decor were the door handles themselves - a pair of large golden trebel clefs.

At least he listened. Gretel felt a bit better after he removed his hand. She followed after him as many people moved around them; too many people. Would this place be able to keep her visiting a secret with all the people around? Just as she was beginning to doubt whether she should have come here at all, Dorian opened up the door to a magnificent room.

The karaoke room was deceptively large, with several stages under brilliant disco balls and numerous viewing areas including some sunken ones with large plush couches and recently abandoned drinks. Dorian made a mental note to have whoever missed that whipped.

"So, choose whatever stage you'd like, my dear. The room is yours."

Dorian paused as he started towards the door. "Ah, I'm sorry. How long were you intending on making use of the room? I'm not asking to rush you or anything, of course. I'm just curious as to when we would be able to lock up tonight. This room is cleaned thoroughly every day, after all."

Gretel looked at the room with wide eyes. She'd never seen something like it before. This place was definitely more than a literary salon. If only they had something like this in her empty mansion. It made her wonder what other kinds of magic this place held.

Dorian's voice brought Gretel out of her awe. She hadn't even thought about how long she had wanted to stay. "uh... Just a couple of hours... I think."

"That sounds perfectly fine." Dorian approached one of the boxy karaoke machines and quickly instructed Gretel on it's operation and how to choose songs with the little remote control.

"If you would like some company - perfectly platonic, mind you, just press the little blue button there. Have fun."