Ivy lives in the Jordaan, where the brown cafes stay full late and a walk back to a hotel is usually short. Any of her three languages will do for the booking. Nuru and soapy sessions are what she likes, and both need a working shower and a little time. At twenty-three she is patient with a late confirmation and less patient with a guest who is not where he said he would be. The session and its content are hers to set. Soapy work with her has two parts, the first under hot water and the second on the bed with towels laid out, and two hours gives the bathroom stage all the time it wants. Cancelling after she has left the Jordaan means the whole deposit is kept, although it comes back in full if someone else books the hour that was given up. That rule rarely needs testing when the guest writes an honest time from the bar rather than a hopeful one.

Ivy decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.