Summer 2015

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The emcee for the night was a young man who went by the name Dee Rivers. Tall, thin, with narrow elfin features, pale skin and impossibly blue eyes. He kept his hair dyed true white, shaved on the sides and at this particular moment in time styled into a a mile high pomp. Dressed in a sleek black suit with no shirt underneath and armed with a million dollar smile he walked down the narrow catwalk onto the round stage, arms spread wide open.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he addressed the crowd packed in around the stage. "You're going to want to take a step back." He shooed at the hungry patrons who inched back. "No darlings," he tsked at them. "A much bigger step than that. Because you are in for quite the treat."

While he spoke he walked the edge of the stage until he ended up in the very center. "We're going to see a faerie fly." He clapped his hands together and down from the vaulted ceiling above spiraled two thick lengths of silk. The crowd cheered.

"Without further ado, let me introduce to you the luscious Foxy Amor!" The crowd went wild with clapped as the room went dark and a spotlight lit up the woman standing there. No one noticed when Dee slipped from the center stage to melt into the crowd.

'Foxy' was petrified not that it showed in her brilliant smile. She stood there wrapped in shimmery, sheer silks in greens and aqua, holding her large fans made of more of the diaphanous material behind her to look like wings. The music started and she no longer had time to be afraid.

She shimmied, she sashayed, she teased and taunted the crowd. She shed her layers and she used the dangling silks to swing above the heads of the crowd. They laughed, they cheered, they ooed, and aahed.

One gentleman got a little too bold and reached out to slap her on the ass and she slapped him in the face for it. No one seemed particularly bothered, like it was all a part of the show. They didn't notice the bouncer swoop in to remove the offending party, while all eyes were on Foxy and the crescendo of the act.

Down to nothing but a pair of glittery jeweled cheekies and pasties she stood between the two hanging silks and slowly looked up. The music had shifted from the lively house mix that had started the show to the somber strains of a string quartet.

She began to climb. It started with her reaching high up over her head and using the silk to pull herself up. She made it look effortless like she was as light as air. As she climbed she hooked and wrapped her limbs in the silks, gracefully inching her way up the smooth lengths.

Near the top, nearly twenty feet in the air, she stopped her ascent with the silks wrapped strategically so that she could lean backwards, back arching until she grasped her feet while slowly rotating. Wrapped like she was she was able to move and contort her body like a gymnast, turning and flipping, until she was seated like she was in a swing. She took just a moment while the music swelled to smile down at the watchful eyes.

Then the music stopped.

And she fell.

Tipped backwards in her silk swing and plummeted, silk unraveling, eyes closed and arms outspread with the stage rushing towards her.

The crowd barely had time to gasp before she suddenly stopped, held in place by the silk carefully wrapped and grasped by her legs. The top of her now very messy chignon just about brushed the stage highlighting just how calculated her move had to be.

Her lashes parted and she smiled at the crowd. They exploded with applause.

"Can I get a little help?" She asked with a cheeky smile. "I'm all tied up." The crowd wanted to surge onto the stage, but the bouncers were ready for this part of the show. They took her by the arms and helped her to her feet. After a bow to a crowd she jumped into one of their arms. "Boy I'm tired after all that!" Playing the part of the fainting princess as she was carried into the back.

————- Later, in the dressing room...

Dani found Christine in the locker room getting cleaned up at the sinks. That heavy makeup was nearly impossible to get off without some heavy duty soap and the glitter stuck around forever. The older woman remembered her own days on the stage and those nights after.

"Fabulous first show, dear, though you cut it a little close for comfort on the free fall."

Christine started at the voice behind her and her eyes darted up into the mirror. Shaking her head she went back to dabbing at the heavy green around her eyes. "I couldn't find the mark."

"We'll have to work on that. Can't have my faerie girl breaking her neck." Dani said as she left the locker room.

Christine stared at herself in the mirror for a long while before she finished removing her makeup.