A Fishy Business

[adeckfullofcards]

Running away to a circus just wasn't really an option any more. Cirque De Soliel and all those Vegas-style shows certainly weren't made for amateurs. However, there were other, less glamorous options.

Le’Rogue Revue was one of them.

It was fashioned after the old shows of vaudeville, with a kicker: it was mostly about burlesque. Attractive men, women, and well, just about whatever else there was in this big old world was welcome to display themselves and their talents to the world. Any act would do, so long as it kept with the overall theme: sensual entertainment.

That didn't mean, of course, one had to do anything off the wall. Bianca didn’t like a gaudy display, and since she was the owner, she called the shots. Really it was more about fun than anything else. The performers were happy people, a collection of outcasts and people who preferred to be strangers in strange lands (or counties, at least).

The set up was usually a small, dive sort of place, decorated to the nines once the group made its way in there, replacing any curtain their own sumptuous red velvet. They always brought a little bit of class to a place, even if it wasn't the classiest place (which is never was).

Currently there were a handful of performers, including: one woman who did a tantalizing strip tease while swinging from rope to silken rope, a wall of man who could flex and cause a crowd of women to swoon, and a rather petite (more than petite) a child-like woman who could sing and dance and tell a joke from here to hell.

At the moment, the three mentioned were getting ready back stage, three other acts had already gone on. Only last week they'd lost their mermaid, well, she'd considered herself a mermaid anyway, Andrea, who decided she wanted to stop traveling and get married. The show lost not only a show stopping act, but also a crew chief that had been working with them for years. The crew chief was easier to replace than a mermaid, who had also left behind a 5,000 gallon tank that traveled with them, but that no one else could use. Andrea's departure had left a hole in the group, but there had been rumors that Bianca had hired some unusual fare to replace Andrea.

“Do you think it’s another mermaid?” Paul, the strong man said, as he admired his well oiled physique.

“Maybe, I mean, who else is gonna use that thing? She’s gotta hire someone to use it. That or she’ll sell it and try to make up the difference in some new act.” Tina, the rope dancer shrugged as she finished applying her lipstick.

A brassy voice sounded from behind a lacy black privacy screen. “It was silly to spend all that money on that thing anyway, if you ask me. Could have gotten her a kiddie pool for cheaper and let her flip her tail around in that, least then we wouldn’t be stuck with the thing.” The other two gave a slight laugh and finished getting ready. Tina was the next act up and so she was out the door with a wave her costume, a mix of colored silk scarves, flowing behind her as she left leaving the dressing room to the last two.

Comments

[bprd_fishman]

The journey to find himself had, thus far, been more difficult than Abe had expected. For all that the BPRD had kept him in a gilded cage they had also sheltered him from the hardships of the world. He had his food, shelter, and entertainment provided for him free of charge, and even his companionship was government funded. Abe had thought his appearance would be the greatest barrier to participating in human society but even obtaining a boiled egg had required a great deal of pleading. At least Liz understood how to get a job.

He'd considered selling his psychometric services, perhaps as a detective, but that was what the BPRD had done. They'd used him for his abilities and ignored the rest of him. He was not yet that desperate. There had to be some niche that would provide for his sort of person.

And as luck would have it, one appeared.

Hello--no, please, it's all right. I'm sorry if my appearance frightens you. I'm looking for a job and I heard you had an opening. I'm not much for burlesque yet, but I'm sure I can learn.

...

Yes, those are indeed gills. I could recite poetry...but no, that doesn't seem your crowd's sort of entertainment. Not that I am insulting your group! You seem very elegant, I just want to match up to your standards. Um. Physical talents. Well, I can do this with my limbs.

...

Um. Are you all right?

So they'd given him the job. Mermaid and contortionist, playing up his otherwordly nature. At his request they'd allowed him a skintight outfit and a full-face mask that hid the majority of his unusual body, letting the audience assume that his webbed hands were simply ornate gloves. There was some irony to the fact that he was a icytho sapien playing the part of a human who was playing the part of a sea monster.

He donned his costume in private. The outfit wasn't ready yet, what with the performance occurring tonight, but she'd let him borrow a serpentine mask left over from an older act. He stepped out into the back stage area, fingers twitching with nervousness.