• • L'Talia: Exotic Dancer • •
• At the Firey Fall Festival Frenzy •
by Neishai
Through Xerbith's eyes, G'taeo watched the proceedings that lead up to the Frenzy of later on in the day. He considered it very important to get to know his competition, and his potential mates. Meanwhile, Gero wandered the streets. He enjoyed himself for a time, looking at shops and tents full of glittering wares of all kinds and many unfamiliar foods, both steaming-hot and chilled, but found himself ducking into the doorway of a local bar when he couldn't stand the tension any longer.
Inside, the bar was dark and smoky, filled with an amalgam of rich and acrid scents: the burning of exotic tobaccos and weeds, perfume, sweat, alcohol, greasy food. Within the haze were nestled little islands of multicolored light originating from cinders, small lamps, and signs glowing like neon advertising the local brews. Around those islands were moored bobbing dark shadows. Each "boat" hummed with a thrumming motor, bubbles of conversation filling his ears. He found his way to the bar, taking all of this in on one level, but he hardly noticed, really.
As the dragons at Enzan Shi, both male and female, began to blood their kills, G'taeo ordered a drink, finding he had a terrible thirst. "The strongest you've got," he rumbled. The shot of amber liquid presented appeared about as dark as blood in the gloom, but it went down like fire.
"Don't you want something to eat with that?" the barkeep asked.
"No," he croaked. As Xerbith took to the sky with a lusty roar, he held up the glass. "Another one. Please."
The other shrugged and shook his head, catching a glance at Gero's Ryslenese regalia. Everyone knew there was a frenzy going on today, the first in the deragonray's history. The man wasn't overly surprised that there was someone here, dipping into the barrel, so he didn't pry. "Suit yourself."
There was a smallish stage on one end of the room that G'taeo did not notice until the next show began moments later. Spotlights came on, filling the room with milky light. From the fog meandered a crooning song followed a strange yet somehow alluring female alien dancer.
She seemed tall, slender, and long-legged: legs far longer than any human's. Her tail and willow-branch limbs swayed and waved, as if in the breeze. Her gauzy outfit woven from a spectrum of greens fluttered and performed at her leisure. She jumped and dove, performed both quick and silent, and excruciatingly slow acrobatics as she performed on stage.
Likewise, Xerbith performed magnificently in the air, taking not one, but two mates with him back to the ground. First, by dodging a near-impact between four females and their various suitors, he "collided" with a Flurry named Caelstath. Later, with a determined burst of speed, captured the many-hued Unovoqueruseth, despite her efforts to outdistance him.
It seemed to Gero that the girl dancing on stage knew exactly what was happening in the frenzy. One jump, braking in mid-air, seemed to mimic a move Xerbith had performed moments before. The music and the dance, the very mood seemed to reflect what he was seeing and feeling. Or perhaps it was the confusing link he felt between his dragon, the alcohol rushing through his veins, and the seductive, smoky music filling his ears and nose.
Gero accepted another drink eagerly, both smiling but with a rueful cast to his eyes. So far mating frenzies were awful, almost too much to bear. Muzzily, he wondered which would come first, a mad dash for the bathroom, or the weighty darkness of oblivion. He vaguely wondered if he should get a room.
G'taeo and Xerbith are participating in the Fiery Fall Festival Frenzy.
Returning to Ryslen