Chapter 4; The Club
#4 of Love
The warm water trickled over Emetia's' scales. The embattled dragoness herm would probably not be able to enjoy too many more showers. Shi groaned, what was shi going to do? Shi had just lost hir job, and hir credit cards were now maxed out. Apart from the few notes left in hir purse, shi was broke. Not to mention shi was lonely. Under the showerhead shi huddled... It wasn't fair.
Once shi was sure shi had washed all of the dried stallion juices from hir scales, shi turned the shower off. Boy that had been an interesting exit from the department store where shi had been attacked. The customers lined up at the register had looked on, shocked and appalled as the slime-coated dragoness had fled, leaving the lingering scent of stallion as shi ran.
Drying hirself shi sat down on hir bed. Shi couldn't help but admire the large number of bags shi had on the floor. Flicking through them, shi found a nice black and orange cocktail dress. Another search revealed a lovely amber necklace. I don't even go out enough to wear this! Shi gave it some thought, before putting it all on.
...
Shi stumbled out of the cab, giving the driver a wink. He had been surprisingly good fun. A gay raptor, who had an eye for hir dress â€" they had chatted for quite some time, and he had waived most of hir charge, claiming it was "his silly fault" that the trip had taken so long, even though shi did live on the other side of town.
Suddenly shi realised just where shi had taken hirself. It was a nice boulevard part of the area. Shops and clubs lined a wide low-traffic street. The pavement was lined with small trees in planters, which in turn were decorated with strings of fairy lights. Shi stumbled a little. To avoid a hangover, shi had continued to sip from a brightly coloured bottle of fizzy something a rather that tasted like strawberries. Shi had finished that bottle before shi had gotten out of the taxi, but of course, shi was still a little buzzed from the alcohol, shi'd been drinking a little all afternoon.
Taking a deep breath of the cooling air, shi sighed. Shi hadn't been "out" in quite some time. Shi wasn't even sure where shi wanted to go. Vaguely shi remembered some of the nicer places shi had been to before. One problem shi faced was fitting in. It became even more apparent when shi was out. Whilst there were many citizens as large as hir, not many were both sexes. Shi would often meet some friction whether shi was in a same sex, or a ‘hetero' club... As was the curse of being born with both sexes.
Spotting a nice ritzy little pub, shi headed over, hir thirst edging hir on. There were a few patrons in the small, brightly coloured place. The mixture of species was almost as colourful as the bottles lining the wall behind the bar. Shi smiled openly, sitting down on a barstool, shi looked up at the list of cocktails.
The bartender was a slender cougar, dressed in a nicely fitting loose black shirt.
"What can I get you ma'am?" He said with an air of confidence.
Shi hadn't had enough time to read the whole list, but shi decided to go with something familiar.
"I'll have an Illusion..." Shi grinned at him.
The guy quickly produced several bottles, splashing this and that together. He poured it into an icy looking glass and handed it to hir. Shi smiled, handing him a note in payment. Shi then stared at hir bright green cocktail. Shi always had liked Midori.
Sipping hir drink shi looked around. To hir surprise, sitting behind a table in the far corner, overlooking the street, was an old friend. Shi blushed... Looking away... Shi was shy at the best of times, how the hell was shi supposed to greet a friend like this?
"Why hello, there's a face I haven't seen in a while!" A loud male voice boomed from behind hir.
Shit. He must have noticed hir from across the room. Shi turned, facing the large bronze dragon, shi blushed, straw still in hir mouth.
"Look at you! You look gorgeous!" he said, a slight lisp barely showing in his words.
Shi tried to nod, quickly finishing hir mouthful.
"Hello Lars..." Shi smiled. "Fancy meeting you here.
The big handsome dragon just smiled back, opening his arms in a gesture.
"I know, come give me a hug!" he said.
Shi slipped off hir barstool, a pang of strange relief hitting hir as he basically squished hir. Shi hadn't seen Lars since they were working together at a small electrical shop when shi had first managed to land a job. He was a kindly gay dragon, though not many were aware of it, he had a rather fearsome look about him, very chiselled as you would. Shi hadn't realised how long shi'd been clinging to him, lost in thought until;
"Are you ok Hun? Is something wrong?" The dragon was still holding hir, but had pulled back to look hir in the eyes, his face written with genuine concern.
Emetia simply shook hir head. Shi felt a little choked up... Shi wasn't used to people asking how shi felt. Or giving a shit in general. Shi couldn't talk right now.
"Aww, honey..." Lars gently guided hir to where he was sitting before, a small motion to the bartender to let him know to get another round of drinks.
As they sat, eventually shi managed to tell Lars some of what had happened. He listened intently, poking questions occasionally. Shi asked him why he was in town... He merely mentioned some sort of business trip for a client.
"So, do you think they fired you because you were â€" well â€" rubbing one out, or because you knew about their weird-assed shit?" He asked.
"Well, now I know you were only listening to the bits involving the cock!" shi poked fun at him, their conversation having lightened hir mood.
"That's not true!" He exclaimed with a guilty wink, "well, not entirely!"
They laughed. By now there was at least 4 empty glasses on the table. The dragon smiled at Emetia.
"Well, it sounds like you've had another rough patch kiddo..." He looked around, as though he was about to tell a secret... "You know what we need to do?" â€" Emetia shook hir head.
"We need to get you laid." He said softly, jovially.
"Excuse me!" Emetia exclaimed with mock indignity. "I'm quite alright, thank-you-very-much Mr Cockslut!"
They both laughed again. Lars tried to make the situation seem more serious, he grabbed Emetia's hand in his.
"Cmon, at least come to this club with me... They play good music, none of that pop-trash shit... and there are plenty of studs there." He looked pleadingly at hir; shi knew by that look, it was going to be a gay nightclub. Shi couldn't say no to that... Hir agreement making the dragon squeal quietly in excitement.
"Sweet! It can be my shout."
...
As the approached the club, hir ears perked. Shi could hear the dull thudding and thumping of the base of the place. The line was reasonably long that night, as far as shi could tell. Furs and Scalies of all types were standing, waiting to get let in. A rather large Rhinoceros was standing behind the tiger letting people through; shi suspected there was no one willing to try get around him. Judging by the grooming styles and outfits of the guys and girls in line, shi figured that the club must be some sort of mild gothic theme. At least Lars had some taste.
As they approached the back of the line, the large guard pointed at them, making them both freeze, the crowd sought of, backed away.
"You two. Here, now." His voice was deep gravel. If you were to judge a book by it's cover, he must have had a cock the size of a small person.
They didn't want to piss him off â€" shuffling to the front as quickly as they could.
"Y â€" Yes?" Lars stuttered on the word, kind of cute Emetia thought to hirself.
"Lucky door prize, you're in early." The big burly male gave a rough grin, the tiger marking the guestbook just rolled his eyes. Emetia and Lars exchanged a quick glance before making their way inside. As they did so, the rhino pinched Emetia on the rear â€" shi yelped before scurrying inside.
"I guess he liked you?" Lars said loudly.
As they pushed through the door, their ears were assaulted, the dull thumping seeming to open out and physically ‘hit' them as the full volume treble joined in. Shi wasn't used to this, bright lights, really loud guitar and a large, somewhat crowded nightclub. Emetia was amazed, everywhere there were furs and scalies. A fair few of them were paired up. Together they headed for the bar â€" Lars making a hand motion suggesting a drink, shi agreed.
Standing at the bar, they started to drink. Shortly after, a pretty looking llama male approached them, holding a drink in his paws rather daintily. Lars looked uneasy as the male sweetly walked up and held his hand out to Lars. Emetia was laughing. Not that anyone could hear of course, but shi pushed Lars towards the dance floor, giving a strong nod with hir head.
Lars was looking back sheepishly, shi could tell that he was worried for hir, but shi didn't feel shi needed company right then. Shi just sat at the bar, listening to the music.
The DJ mentioned something about "make some noise"... to Emetia's amazements, the lights changed from purple to a deep version of red and orange, she was almost caught off guard by the sudden surge of people to the room... The whole place was going mental! Then shi saw why... Up on the stage there was a band... So they did live entertainment here? Interesting. The band kicked out a really heavy opening â€" some variation of aggressive thrash metal.
Shi laughed as shi caught a glimpse of Lars and that llama... the dirty bugger had his claws wrapped firmly on the llama's ass, and they were pashing off to the side of the dance floor. Shi felt a pang of hir old loneliness returning. For some reason, shi didn't want to find someone on a dance floor, or in a club. How could a connection be made when you couldn't even hear each other? Besides, if shi knew Lars, he was going to just "tap that" and call it a one night stand. Oh well, I might as well. Shi got up from the bar, moving a little closer shi tried to join in at the edge of the crowd.
It was soon apparent there was no "hanging around at the edge". The hall was huge, and the crowd was mental. Shi was soon lost in the sea of pressing bodies, trying to make sense of it as shi vaguely bounced along to the beat.
Suddenly, the band cut away to a thrumming base riff and drum solo, the lights going out as the whole hall shuddered at the breakdown. It was dark, shi could see all the furs bringing out their glowing paraphernalia. A lizard girl right next to hir putting on a long chain of bracelets that glowed brightly. Shi was even more disoriented now. In the darkness and the noise, it was like some sort of insane, primal orgy.
Suddenly, hir blood ran cold. Something was wrong. No one else seemed phased, but shi could feel hir scales tingling softly, coldly. If there were magic in the world, shi was sure that shi was experiencing the feeling. Shi felt a fur bump into hir, shi turned â€" they had melted back into the mosh of screaming, jumping, dancing furs. What was going on? Some of the bartenders were looking up at the roof. Shi followed there gaze. There shi saw what was making hir feel weird.
"What the fuck?!" Shi didn't even hear hir own words. On the ceiling was a vortex of some sort. It's shape marked out by a strangely luminescent marking... shi was positive it was some sort of demonic marking. Shi looked around, desperately trying to find Lars. It was his stupid idea to come here.. this crazy demon worshipping night club! Shi stopped. Before hir, the crowd was thinner... shi could see they were watching a girl dance to the music. Shi had beautiful glow paint on her body, coating hir underarms, and splattered on hir legs... her scales were so dark, she blended into the dark room, her blood-red glow paint the only thing visible.
Suddenly, the girl stopped, her eyes opening and looking directly at Emetia.
A vision flashed before hir eyes.
Shi couldn't breathe; the girl came a little closer. Another powerful shudder slammed the room. What was this spell? Was it even the band anymore?
Another vision flashed before hir eyes. Emetia blacked out for a moment.
The girl was standing right before hir now.
Emetia's eyes opened wide in horror as the black began to fade from the girls scales, seeming to soak up into her horns... what shi had thought was paint stopped glowing...
A soft, white claw reached out and grabbed Emetia. Suddenly, the noises of the club were muted... dulled... it was as though someone had put a cone of thick glass around them. Emetia noted that the crowd was still dancing, the lights were still moving around...
"Do you believe in fate?" the white dragon stood there, holding hir hand... It seemed like all the warmth in the world was passing through that link... Shi felt like hir whole body had turned to lead.
The only thing shi could hear was the dragonesses' sweet voice.
"You, you're ... you..." Emetia was unable to speak.
The white dragoness... Dragoness Herm... Smiled.
"Yes..." Emetia felt a tear run down hir cheek at the dragoness's words
"Me."
Suddenly, the lights in the club seemed to fade even more... Emetia began to panic as shi felt hirself lose hir footing.
"Don't worry love... I'm here." A whisper in hir ear was the last thing shi heard.
Emetia fainted.
...
((( sorry for the bad editing, i'm really drunk right now as i submit)