Utterly Mad

It was from her budding friendship with Pinky (Priscilla Arnez once upon a time) and the other friendly people among those in King's Court that Catnip learned about the city just beyond the confining walls of the refugee center gone luxary house, the business itself, and the man who owned it.

King's real name was Thomas Cheng, though no one was dumb enough to call him that to his face. King was proud of his self made moniker, proud enough to beat into a pulp anyone stupid enough to fail using it. Man or woman didn't really matter much to him, so long as they showed the proper respect. One of those respects was to use his new name when referring to him. Before the Cataclysm, King owned and operated his own bar in Pricetown. Not that he would ever admit to owning the failing place. "That was another man's bar." He'd say when asked. He would say this with a hard grin that suggested the current line of questioning was one that was best avoided if one wished to preserve their health. It usually brought up another line of questioning though, and that one was one he relished to a degree. The fact that, yes, the King had lived in Pricetown not just before the proverbial shit hit the fan, but all his life as well.

Back then, he'd been Thomas Cheng. Inheritor of his father's failing bar. Pricetown was a nowhere place before the base had been built, and was still a nowhere place after. It didn't matter that the shitsplat backwater was home to a military installation. That fact didn't matter when the fine men and women in fatigues preferred to spend their leave and their hard earned dollars at Sandoval's, the bar up the street. When the Cataclysm came, and the competition had been killed off by things that looked like gooey sandstone and screamed like dying women, Cheng believed business would get better. He was wrong of course. New people brought new business and Cheng's customer base spiked for a couple months before plummeting again. The real upturn for Cheng, was the burning of Pricetown. Despite losing the bar in the conflagration, Cheng had come striding from the smoke and ashes a rich man. In the confusion of those first months, he claimed the refugee center as his domain, "hired" a staff of desperate men and mislings, changed his name, and opened up King's Court to the public. He hired free men and women at first, but later started keeping the so much easier to exploit slaves to wait the tables, clean the floors, and ride or be ridden by King's more "lonely" clients. Business had never been better.