Burlesque

[Jessika Claire]

Outside of the building, cars flew by, honking and screeching. There was quite a bit of commotion going on outside, but the inside was no less busy. People sat at tables, most already with two or three drinks in their systems. The bartender handled his orders without breaking a sweat, and the waitresses carried trays with twenty or more drinks at a single time without problem. Up on the stage, the showgirls danced around in 4-inch heels and beautiful outfits, singing along to pre-recorded music. All of them-the bartenders, waitresses, dancers-worked like this from 8 in the morning 'til 4 the next day without complaint. How could they? They lived and breathed this. The show biz was their calling and their cage. There was no escape.

Annette sat at the bar in the back, wearing a tiny, strapless black dress that ended mid-thigh, chunky black heels on her feet. In her hand was a glass of some fruity drink someone had bought her, but the man had long since moved on to another woman. This place was trashy, she thought to herself. She brushed her blonde hair back and eyed the people in the room. Everywhere she looked, there were people selling themselves. Even the dancers on stage wouldn't hesitate to accept money for a kiss. But no matter how many times she tried to convince herself this place was a dump, she came every week without fail. She closed her blue eyes and listened to the music playing. She wanted to be one of the girls up on that stage, dancing her life away. But she could sing. She had a voice that made birds stop, a voice that commanded attention, a voice that could make money. But stuck in law school, that voice would be wasted.She finished her drink and stood, making her way to the stage as the girls stopped dancing. She would make herself known.

Her voice would be heard.

 

[Jalein Draconian]

He would be in the back of the bar, misty blue eyes stared forward at the girls whose black heels danced through and through upon the metal stage. Each of their feet treaded across the steel their eyes upon the crowd that they were there to entertain each drunk man screaming up at each of the girls as they trotted across the stage. Though his eyes rested upon the female in the back the one he had seen everyday since he had begun stopping by this specific bar. She seemed to be longing for the chance to place her feet upon the steel stage he could see it swirling in those eyes of hers. He watched her raise from the seat she was in and make her way forward those black heels clicking along the concrete floor as she walked forward. He breathed a light chuckle wondering just as well how this might play out.

He curled his fingers around the handle of his glass, rising it from its position on the table to his lips. He lifted his hand from the position on his lap to fix his suit his misty blue eyes now shooting to rest the front of the stage on the girl that had now just made her way to the front. He allowed a small chuckle to leave his lips watching the woman stand there and the dancing women came to a halt. He raised his hand up to the security that moved forward to grip the wrists of the new woman. The security pulled back resting back to their positions in the club, he smirked lightly and waited for the girl to begin her show.

 

[Jessika Claire]

Annette nodded her head to the man who had stopped the security. Not that it had mattered. She would have jumped onto the stage no matter what. She got up and whispered a few worlds in the drummer's ear, slipping a few dollars into the pocket of his shirt. She dragged a microphone to the center of the stage. At this point, a hushed silence fell over the crowd and everyone had their eyes on her. She closed her blue eyes and waited as the music started, upbeat and playful. She gave the crowd a grin. A kiss on the hand may be quite continental. She started, blowing a kiss to a man sitting in the front, who winked back at her. But diamonds are a girl's best friend. Her song went on for a few minutes, and when she finished, the showgirls stared at her with their mouths wide open. None of them could sing like she could. It brought a new layer of talent for the club, a new way to bring in customers.She stepped off the stage and back to the bar, even though the manager and the showgirls demanded she stay with them. Trashy, she had to remind herself. Trashy. Shallow. Disgusting. Annette let a smirk grace her lips and took another drink, joining the man she'd seen earlier. She gave him a smile. "Enjoying yourself so far?"

 

[Jalein Draconian]

He laughed lightly as the woman took her feet upon the stage heels clicking upon the metal of the stage, he watched the paper slip into the pocket of the drummer that sat beneath the heavy beat of the bass drum. He watched her beautiful lips part and the sound of her voice to fill the club, it was beautiful and it was a sound he hadn't heard in a while since the last woman to step through the door of the club. He allowed a smile to leave his lips as the woman walked up taking a seat across from him and speaking her voice just as low and beautiful as it was upon the stage and this caused him to slip back and rested against the back of the chair. He raised his hand upwards and clapped the two of them together with a light laughter "congratulations girl you are one of the best singers to step through that door in a while." He rummaged his hands through his pockets and pulled a card from his pocket sliding it across the table to the woman, "I am not the man that managers this club I own them all and I would be happy if you took a place among my showgirls"

 

[Jessika Claire]

Annette looked down at the card, treating it like poison. She didn't touch it. If she did, then she would become just as corrupted and shallow as the people in the club. "That's very nice of you..." she said quietly. She looked back up at the stage, where the showgirls took over the audience's attention again, although many of them didn't get as big of a response. Trashy. She said to herself once again. Did she really want to be a part of this zoo, where for the showgirls, the stage was their cage. But as she looked up at the stage, she felt the pull again to be up there controlling the audience. The surge of power that she felt. She could make everyone cheer or make everyone silent. "No. I don't want to join them." she started to say. "I want to make this place better. I can train them to sing." Annette looked him in the eye. "This place is disgusting, but it doesn't have to be."

 

[Jalein Draconian]

He laughed lightly at the woman's words leaning forward to rest his elbows upon the wood table, his eyes slipped to rest upon her own as she spoke simply about training the girls, he slipped his chin upon the two balled up fists watching her for a moment eyes watching her yet still before slipping closed. He allowed his smile to cross his face no hidden meaning behind it but there it was piece by piece slipped majestically upon those pink lips before he himself spoke small words slipping forth to the woman. "Tell me Annette dear, what is it you seek here?" He moved his hand from the table to trail to the metal stage his eyes focusing upon the metal of the stage rather than the show girls that danced their way down the stage hips swaying hypnotically to draw in the male customers, allowing their eyes to flow over the curves, and beauty of each of the dancing girls..it was a tactic most of his clubs used but here was a girl that brought another talent to the table one that could make these clubs less…..sexually orientated.


It was in that moment that he let a few more words slip forth from those lips to fall upon her ears, "you long to have your feet resting upon the cold steel of that stage, to allow those words of beauty to slip forth to the ears of the men and woman that come to sit upon the wooden chairs of this bar. Yet you offer me the chance to train my girls to sing, you do know that you won't get any stage time with that job." His misty blue eyes seemed caught up with this girl she had peaked his interest quite a bit allowing his hand to come rest upon his chin finger tapping at his cheek one by one his mind shot over the different possibilities and yet for once he went out of his way on a wager. He rose from the chair he stood upon his eyes trailing over the bar before coming to rest upon her, his black dress like shoes clicking as he stepped to around her behind her to be exact, he bent down so his lips rested close to her ear. "You have three months, I will shut down this bar for three months you are manager make it better."


He turned on his feet and had begun walking away stopping a few feet off from the girl lips formed into that charming smile, his hands slipping within the confines of his dark pants and a chuckle leaving his lips. "There is one catch to this little chance..game of ours, in three months I will make the grand reopening of this place if you have made it better I want you to sing for the club, but you don't make it better and I don't draw in at least the same amount of business as before I want you to come sing personally for the bar I run. That is the only way I will allow you this opportunity to prove things to be done the way you believe they should be done.." He turned upon the balls of his shoes again to rest his blue eyes upon hers. "Do we have a deal?"