[CW: reference to sex/prostitution and violence]

The name 'Longbottom' would always be a curse over her head. Really, a career at the Diamond Pony seemed like a step up. Gentlemen came here. Men who actually washed. Their desires were as healthy or depraved as any other man's, but they didn't reek of cheap beer and gin, of sweat and unwashed clothes. She'd do it in a bed, not standing up or kneeling down in some dirty alley that reeked of piss, and where she could be knocked down or worse by someone who decided he didn't want to pay. She'd wear pretty clothes like Lory and live like the rich. What more could she want?

But Ruth didn't say any of that. Nobody here needed to know where she came from. "Aye ma'm," she muttered instead, pleased at how easily this was going. No questions asked. She had the job. She shrugged when the woman commented on the children. Not wares to be traded then. That difficulty was solved too. "That's alright, ma'm. Are ye leavin', then?" She watched the woman fuss over her children, and suddenly felt a need to hold her own.