arasaxton suggested I try La Belle Bete and A Touch of Madness, so I present this lovely ditty.
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"This almost seems tame after spending so much time in Cursed." Emi felt the need to remark on, astonished as always at how much she'd grown desensitized to thanks to her partner Gryphon.
"I know, it's weird to see so many clothes on people, though it's fun to look at all the get up these people are wearing!" Chelsey squealed with delight as she pulled Emerald further into Faerie Tales. There seemed to be a theme going on for the night, though for the life of her Emi couldn't figure it out. She's seen one huge man look like he had started to put on a bear costume and got frozen halfway between man and beast, and there was a woman on stage wearing electric blue with the most impossible looking wings ever. It made the artist in Emerald itch to try and recreate the effect. Some of those that seemed to work here were all dressed up in strange outfits but nothing really matched together.
Cursed was still closed after the attack from Jean-Claude and Jezebel, the police almost finished the paperwork that would let them reopen, and Chelsey had finally browbeat Emerald into going out to dance at a vanilla club, just for the sake of dancing. Hunter was getting married and between the stress of planning her brother's upcoming nuptuals (with her mother's help) and the anxiety over Cursed, Emerald had needed a night out to not worry about anything. A fact that probably would have been easier if Gryphon had decided to stay home as well, but her Beast was prowling through the crowds towards her even as Chelsey bounced around like Tigger on methamphetamines.
In his club, on his own turf, everyone knew to make room for Gryphon because he was the Master Dom, and it was a respectful thing to do. Here in this typical meat mill club, no one knew who he was or what he was capable of, and for a rare occassion Emerald got to see her lover lose some of his natural grace as bodies bumped into him. It was also vastly amusing to see how he handled the attention they did get from others, as they were all still dressed in more Cursed appropriate attire. Gryphon was in his usual gi style, Emerald was wearing a red off the shoulder dress and finally went without leggings or tights under it, and Chelsey was wearing her ubiquitous Chesire costume just because that was Chelsey. Though tomorrow was Halloween so it wasn't like they were all too strange to have on this kind of attire now.
"What purpose does coming here serve again?" Gryphon all but grumbled as he reached Emerald and Chelsy, handing the ladies the drinks he had gotten. In his club he had no worries about unsupervised drinks but here he didn want to even risk the chance of something being slipped into his Beauty's drink, or that of the Cheshire.
"Mainly it's a way for me to revel in your discomfort." Chelsey grinned as she said it, always the one to pull the whiskers of danger.
"Chels..." Emi laughed at her best friend and then gasped as she saw the winged woman up closer as the dancer wove through the crowd. "Oh look at her hair! I need to ask how she does that..." Emerald wanted to slip through the crowds after her but the crush of bodies prevented her from doing anything except for staying in place. "You know, for a place that's supposedly 'not full' like I keep hearing, this place is pretty freaking sardine can to me."
"We're used to having a more restrainted amount of clintelle." Gryphon's eyes glittered with humour at calling the members of Cursed restrained.
"You think any of the dancers here would mind if I asked to take their picture so I can reference some of it for later design?" Emerald asked, oblivious to the affectionately amused expression on Gryphon's face.
"Are you asking for Cursed or for your comic Toot Sweet?" Chelsey asked as Gryphon prowled around them both, not getting as much room as he was used to be still managing to convince these civilians to back away a little.
"Probably both." Emerald replied with a shrug. The high hemline of her dress shifted upwards a little with the move and Gryphon enjoyed seeing her so relaxed in such an exposing outfit, knowing how much hard work had gone into her regaining her self confidence. If she thought about it for a moment he knew she'd become embarassed again, but right now her mind was on creating more costumes instead of the exposed thigh he was drinking in.
"So what ideas have struck your fancy My Beauty?" Gryphon stepped in close behind her, pulling her to his chest so he could follow her eyeline.
"You know, one of these days I'm going to catch on that no matter how much you both promise not to make the the third wheel, I'mma be that third wheel unless Luis is here." Chelsey groused and Gryphon gave her an unamused look.
"Oh please, you couldn't be forgotten or ignored even if I duct taped your mouth shut and threw you in a closet. Besides, you're the one that dragged me out here in the first place." Emerald poked fun back at her friend, her tone amused and loving.
"Yeah well... I was hoping gloomy guts behind you would let you off your leash for a night." Chelsey taunted back. The words sounded harsh but Gryphon knew these two women well by now and recognized the playful banter as the goofing off it truly was.
"Gryphon hasn't even talked me into handcuffs yet, only ever the blind fold so we're quite some ways away from the leash stage." Emerald retorted and Gryphon found himself laughing at Chelsey's shocked expression.
"You know what, why don't we go ask one of those dancers if you can take their picture hmm?" Chelsey changed the topic rapidly, making both Emerald and Gryphon laugh again because it wasn't often that she was caught without a snappy comeback.
"So which one of these interesting specimen caught my Beauty's attention? And whom are you going to inject your newest masterpiece onto?" Gryphon nearly purred the words into Emerald's ear this time, loving the way she trembled against him for a moment.
"I think Lilith would love the hair braided flowers, and the electric blue would suit her. But that dancer has to ahve a twin running around because I also saw her in a doctor's jacket with stethoscope. That might work for Sin with Priest, though he likes to stick to his usual garb." Emerald replied, hard to hear over the noise of the music and the crowd.
"Anything your clever mind is coming up with for you my love?" he asked, pitching his voice into her ear to deliberately make her tremble again.
The blush that chased across her cheeks was a confirmation and Gryphon held her tighter against him in response. Chelsey was lost in the crowd, gone without realizing that Gryphon had held Emi in place, and he enjoyed the moment to just hold Emerald close to him while she flushed. "Ah... well I kind of like the lady behind the bar actually. Though maybe in a less see through material." the blush on her cheek was warm under his lips as he kissed her, knowing that eventually he could convince her not to make it more opaque if she truly wanted to mimic the outfit.
"Let's rejoin the Cheshire, garner what pictures you require and leave this place then." Gryphon offered the suggestion and Emerald laughed, knowing how much he detested these regular style dance clubs.
"When Hunter first brought me to Cursed I thought it was going to be a club like this. Then I saw Lilith..." Emerald confessed and Gryphon laughed softly.
"Oh we've come a long way since then my Beauty." Gryphon agreed and Emerald turned in his grip to kiss him.
"Yes we have my Beast. Now let's shake a leg before Chelsey comes back with a pet she wants to keep. I'm fairly certain Lu isn't looking for any strays." Emerald joked and Gryphon kissed her again.
The dancer with strange looking wings that had Emerald's fascination was in between the man who looked half bear and an orange eyed fellow that Gryphon didn't trust on sight when someone punched her and the whole night started to turn less pleasurable. Emerald froze in his grip, body paralyzed with immediate fear because violence had been done too much and too recently in their own lives for her to handle it well. Gryphon twisted her around so that Emerald could bury her face against his chest and Chelsey stormed back over to them even as the orange eyed fellow Gryphon had spied grabbed the attacker by the throat to hand him off to security.
Even though it was only a brief flare up it had ruined the effect of coming out tonight, draining the fun and hilarity as Emerald trembled; this time from anxiety and not anticipation. "Let's go home." Emerald mumbled into his chest and Gryphon, with Chesley helping, extracted Beauty from the crowds. It was a shame the night had to end on that note when everything had been going so well.
