Now, Celestino wasn't necessarily fond of being insulted and patronised. However attractive he found the man, there was no denying the air of authority and power he held, and that wasn't the sort of person Celestino wanted to interact with. Sure, being around someone evidently so powerful had its perks, particularly financial ones, but it also brought a greater risk, and while he was no stranger to taking a risk or two, being with someone powerful only increased the chances of being caught out. He didn't know exactly what Halzinger did, or who he was, but he knew he had to be in a position of great power if he was happy to shell out $200 for one night of sex.
But that sort of money was also impossible to turn down. It was too important to Celestino to turn away, despite the risk involved in spending more time with Hal. So, however resistant he was for those few brief seconds, he quickly accepted the offer and headed off home. It was a risk that was worth taking in the end. As the weeks passed, Celestino's payments gradually increased, which only had benefits for the people in the building he had grown to see as his family. They were fed well, kept warm and there was general positivity in their little community, all as a result of Celestino's meetings with Hal. He even went through the effort of sprucing the little shed up to make it just a little more comfortable. There wasn't very much he could do, but he did try. At first, he did it to keep Hal from moaning about it and to get more money. As time passed, he made the effort simply to put Hal in a good mood. It was no secret that he found him attractive, but as time passed, he grew to like him more than he cared to admit. Any risk he felt there was being involved with someone like Halzinger soon disappeared. Hell, the bi-weekly meetings he would insist upon, to avoid suspicion, gradually grew into weekly ones, and then almost daily if it was possible.
Not that everything was entirely perfect. Celestino's friends were growing curious about how he earned the money, his other clients were irritated he wasn't so eager to meet with them for cash, and perhaps most distressing, the building he lived in had recently been overtaken by a few humans who initially sought shelter, but soon became trouble. They didn't care to befriend their fellow humans, nor did they want to stick together and pile their resources together. All they cared about was getting drunk, causing trouble for their own amusement and generally being assholes. It wasn't rare to see Celestino with bruises after getting into fights with them, especially when he was usually high and not the best at holding back. He would often wake up, greeted by pain without any recollection about what had happened to him.
That was the situation that afternoon, having woken up in the small burned-out car to realise that he was in agony, with his arm bloody and slashed up from broken glass, and his front tooth chipped in half. Having been high when the fight occurred, he didn't really remember much of what had happened, but he could take an educated guess. His next actions would have been to get cleaned up and seek help from one of the older women in the building who had been a nurse before the Orc revolution, but, with Halzinger to meet at their usual place, he had no option but to abandon his usual routine and dash to the shed as fast as his legs could carry him.
Once there, he gave the Orc a tight-lipped smile to avoid the other seeing his chipped tooth, turning his head in order to speak without him seeing his mouth. "Sorry I'm late, had some fuckin' trouble-- not a big deal. Managed to sneak away from your wife again, then? All for little old me, huh? I'm that special~?"
