...Battle Strippers? (The Cross Fox)

@ReD

Pulsing sound and dim glow saturated this perfumed temple to fleshy indulgence. Voldegra found the place both lovely and vile. This, it thought, must be part of the attraction. Shi Mei had felt at home as soon as she entered. Pleasure halls were unfamiliar to her, but the passion here was as violent as the fighting ring, a rich tingle like pain spreading from the impact of fist against face.

Shi Mei sat against the altar where drinks were dispensed. The fox was the first Voldegra knew to call such surfaces altars, but the demon now understood that all 'bars' were altars from which libations flowed to supplicants craving the ecstasy of Hathor and Dionysos. It was a mortal delusion of this age to think these altars profane, vile though their devotion to the inebriants might be.

However, Shi Mei was not considering the drink altar. She gazed upon the gyrating flesh of a dancer, watching the tense ripple of muscle under her skin. A sensual fascination with the flexing strength of hard bodies was the closest Shi Mei felt to attraction. She was not the only fighter to serve Voldegra, but through her it gained an appreciation for the aesthetic of powerful flesh. Were this dancer not devoted to pleasure as you are devoted to pain, you would be alike.

This notion pleased Shi Mei. Then a new notion burst to life and a guttural choke of glee rose in her throat. She tapped the speech device curled around her ear to contact the fox. "Boss. Just had an idea. Can I get on stage?"

RE: Battle Strippers... (The Cross Fox)

So the fox queen of this pleasure hall wished to observe the performance. Voldegra could not yet predict her reactions, nor was it sure this would change. It was only fully comfortable with the minds of its vessels, and even in them there was much it did not understand. Shi Mei, however, was sure that Yoka would be pleased.

Shi Mei approached the nearest stage. The dancers glanced down to her as she lifted herself over the edge, then to Yoka. The fox queen showed no concern, so the dancers returned to their dance, all but for she whose pole Shi Mei stood beside. This dancer did not stop, but as she twisted and twirled around the pole she faced Shi Mei rather than the crowd. This was the dancer Shi Mei had watched.

"You’re Sumire, yes?" Shi Mei shrugged out of and pulled off her chest coverings until all she wore there was the binding garment strapped across her pectoral muscles. "Looks hard. Let me try?" She did not have the soft curve that seemed to be favored among the dancers here, but perhaps she would appeal to the patrons’ sense of variety.

Sumire tilted her head at the name. "That's what they call me, babe." Her body was a touch harder than most of the dancers. This is what caught Shi Mei’s attention. Darkish skin for a human and long deep black hair streaked with blazing red. It was difficult to tell how much was magic and how much flesh, but Shi Mei knew that her strength was real, seen in every step and sway. "Sure, you can try. No promises though." Sumire pulled her mouth into a smile, but Shi Mei saw the cruel delight in it, and thus so did Voldegra. “It's even harder than it looks."

Shi Mei took hold of the pole as Sumire backed away from it. The dancer’s face lost her smile as Shi Mei lifted herself up and swung around the shaft, climbing slightly with each turn. She stopped, gripped the pole with both hands, then swept her legs up and clasped it between her ankles. She hung upside down for a moment before flipping off the pole and falling to the stage on hands and feet with a heavy thud. Shi Mei did not rise from her crouch as she looked over to Sumire, wondering what the dancer would think of her use of the pole.

Sumire stood with crossed arms and a face with no expression Voldegra could discern. "I've seen worse. Not really dancing, though."

Shi Mei got up and turned to Sumire. "Not quite. So, I’ve tried your game. Now you try mine?"

@ReD

Shi Mei looked back to the fox, rolling her neck to display as much flexing muscle as was practical. "I was thinking. You dance like that all night, you get strong." Shi Mei's face pulled into a grin suggesting predator as much as friend. "Don't think I'm the only one here who could break a neck."

Taking hold of the pole again, Shi Mei strutted around behind the Sumire dancer. "We're both strong. I fight, you dance. So if I could dance, maybe you can fight."

Sumire smiled back. Shi Mei assured Voldegra that the dancer's smile was as fierce as her own. Sumire clasped a hand around the pole just above Shi Mei's fist. "So what? You want me to hit you and find out?"

Shi Mei let go of the pole, spreading arms wide as invitation. "Please try. I want to see how hit."

Voldegra briefly seized its vessel's throat and spoke. "Worry not, Yoka Sake. Shi Mei will cause her no harm."

Sumire began convulsing with laughter. "You're kidding me. Battle strippers? Is this actually happening?"

Shi Mei stood, still and waiting. "Seems like."

Sumire grinned, seemingly trying to suppress further spasms. "Well... good!" Her hands lunged for Shi Mei's head, a knee rising to pound into skull or gut. The dancer seemed to have some familiarity with combat.

Fortunately this clinch was an attack Shi Mei was intimately familiar with. She ducked down and reached for Sumire's knee, swept aside with inhuman speed and flipped the dancer sideways into her hands. Shi Mei set her gently down on the stage.

As the dancer swiftly climbed to her feet, Shi Mei looked down at her and nodded. "Not bad. Might have worked if I were only human. So, want me to teach you how to take me down?" Shi Mei stepped out toward the edge of the stage, spread her arms and shouted out toward the audience. "Because I've been thinking, maybe we should turn all you dancers into battle strippers! Anybody want to learn how?"

Shi Mei looked at Yoka, then at Sumire, and then at the pole. The fox queen has instructed you to 'tear the place up.' You may do so. Shi mei laid a hand on the pole and her arm bulged from its already form to an unshapely mass of bulging muscle. Her fingers closed down and there was a screeching sound of tearing metal as the pole sheared under her fist. She twisted the loose section of pole with a grinding snap as it was wrenched down from the ceiling. With a pole in hand almost as tall as she was, Shi Mei's arm shrank back into place. She tossed the improvised staff to Sumire. "Go ahead. Hit me."

Sumire snatched the pole out of the air and immediately swung it toward Shi Mei's gut.

Metal collided against flesh with a heavy thud. Shi Mei grunted, but stood unmoved. "Nice hit. Try mine." She grabbed the pole again and swung it back. Sumire's eyes widened as she was flung across the stage, rolling off into the surrounding seats as the pole impaled itself in a wall behind her. Shi Mei grinned and called out. "So, your ass beat yet?"