Exotic Dancing. [Job][w/ Zuzu]

Zubaidah leaned on the bar, her luscious hair lying over one porcelain shoulder of her mulberry silk which complimented her violet locks. She lolled her head to one side, pushing out her sumptuous red lips with lascivious abandon. It was not that she had fallen through the dangerous veil of drink yet, instead she was admiring a delicious-looking person standing across from her barstool. The bartender was there, serving to other customers with character speed, embarrassed eyes dropping ever so often to her low-cut neckline. She playfully twiddled her hair in an absent-minded way and giggled girlishly before ordering some amber-coloured alcohol. She watched him hurry off to fetch it with a plum-cheeked vigour, his smooth muscles bulging to fill out his tight tunic. His attractiveness was certainly above average with those kind turquoise eyes and tanned skin, he must have come from a far-off land to this place, and with that exotic complexion perhaps she would come back for him later…

In the meantime, she lazily scanned the bar for potential informants and generally interesting characters who surely frequented this bar. Taking in the delicious variety that this place had to offer her grateful eyes, from sinister brokers wrapped in darker robes to upper-class socialites dancing with light silks, but her gaze naturally settled onto a man garbed in quite traditional dress. He was certainly not of her type, she was reminded too much of a certain shady ally of hers, but evoked a morbid fascination in his tentative yet bold request for a pole dancer. She had only recently become acquainted with goings-on of this gaudy bar, but it seemed some sort of a show was held at this venue each fortnight or so - more interestingly for Zubaidah, it seemed to involve a troupe of poledancers. Of course, she was of complete certainty that they had skills subpar to her mentor, Ho Lea, she was keen to study the moves of others.

Having taken an interest in this richly-dressed man, she ceased her pretend facade of a sexual woman, pushing aside the lust-filled men whose mouths were quite literally watering as they stared unashamedly at her. Needless to say, their heads hit the varnished wooden floor when faced with Zubaidah’s disinterest and disgust at their unadulterated perversion,

‘I must say that I despise useless bastards who only see women as tools to use for their own pleasure. When will these pitiful swine learn to give full worth to us… Can I truly blame them, however, it must be such a tough life to have your actions dictated by how aroused you’ve become by staring at twin peaks of fat.’ Her tone dripped with venomous sarcasm as she stepped over their fallen bodies, but reverted to her usual cheery self as she continued to converse Aseo, ‘I hope you don’t mind my intrusion! I heard that you were treating to yourself to a little performance from a poledancer, and I’ve quite the avid interest in observing them, so would it be too rude if I joined you? I can pay my fair share if you will allow it.’

With eyes wary and suspicion creeping along the paths of her mind, she replied to this bold man with a hint of fieriness at the edge of her tone, ‘I do believe you must have misheard me, deary. I’m only here to partake in the viewing of these woman’s artform, not to take part in the artform as a woman myself, I wouldn’t dare do such a thing until Ho Lea had approved of my work…’ With little effort, she veered the subject of conversation seamlessly onto a different path, restraining herself from saying crass things to this man who was unaware of her seething thoughts, as she reminded herself of her duty here - to acquire information in a certain woman who had been sighted in the now-ruined district that had been attacked by so-called bandits only a few days prior.

    ‘This bar has quite the selection of individuals, I must admit. Yet the wide variety is much more bland than I had been anticipating, as if it were a melting pot of multiple cultures mixing into an indiscernible mass of desire. Their foreign and unique complexions exhibit the same expression of lust, but there’re some who I have noticed acting with a noticeable wariness. Is there a possibility you have also come across such behaviour?’ As she said this, she noticed that there was indeed a collection of persons who displayed suspicious looks, but they were spread throughout the spacious bar with little contact between each of them. While not dismissing that they were related, she suspected that they were acting independently and were not part of a group, there were obvious inconsistencies that ruled out this option. Yet of all of these was a lone woman who was fiercely arguing with a waiter if the price of some male dancers.

    With a sneaky smile, she muttered to herself, ‘That was too easy.’