destinystrings | Backdated to Saturday 11/17

Who: Rise Kujikawa, Yu Narukami, anyone else who'd be hanging around a demonic nightclub with a drag show
Where: Nyx's Nightclub
Summary: Ironically, Yu is bad at keeping his mouth shut. Unironically, Rise spends a lot of money.
Warnings: Demonic nightclub with a drag show
Rise came to a realization after a day or so of retail therapy (and evenings of thankfulness that she didn't have to commute to do it here): the government stipend here didn't amount to much, at least if you were used to smartly-saved idol salary.

Rise was smart, though. She'd left applications most of the places she shopped once she started looking at her receipts, as well as that nice-if-kinda-bland tofu place where she'd had lunch. It paid to keep your options open, or so she had learned. Plus, for some reason, with Kanzeon kicking around at the forefront of her mind all the time now, the idea of trying out for different roles suited her...

That said...a part of her wanted to go back to some kind of performing. This was probably a stupid idea - okay, definitely stupid, when she thought about it, but she was already on her way. If nothing else, she could check out this place and why Senpai seemed stupidly nervous about it. And maybe see if it was suitable to drag her friends here for a party.

Regardless, Rise entered the Taurus district in a set of her more conservative clothes - she was here on business, after all - and made her way to Nyx's, which was fortunately fairly prominent. After a few minutes of hopefully unseen-by-anyone-she-knew hesitation, she headed in, flashed the bouncer her best "I belong here, I'm a celebrity" smile, and made her way into a room full of demon dancers. And demon patrons. And...

Welp.

Steeling herself, she wandered for a bit, looking for the proprietor...and maybe whatever it was Senpai was trying to warn her away from.

Oh. Maybe it was that...

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As much as Yu hated to admit it, he was actually starting to like this.

He was still ridiculously embarrassed about it, not that anyone with sense could blame him for it. There was no way he was ever leaving the stage, despite how many guys and girls shook fists full of money at him. That didn't keep him from being a little more daring with his moves, showing off a little more leg, how flexible he was getting from all this.

...dammit, he was actually enjoying this. No wonder Izanagi hid in the back of his mind every Saturday night.

Ah well, at least he had one moment of peace; it allowed him to focus on his newest routine. Ironic that Rise would be seeing a familiar grey haired "girl" obviously drawing a lot of inspiration from a certain Shadow...

...

...

Rise recognized the outfit immediately, of course. She'd be hard-pressed not to. It's just everything else about the sight that is deeply confusing on many levels.

...she might be staring for a while. This is the sort of thing that demands 100% of a person's attention. And maybe a camera, but fortunately she hasn't figured out how to work the COMP glasses yet.

Thankfully, Yu didn't realize he had just sexually confused another member of the Investigation Team. His new routine was a lot more physically demanding, and literally ended with him in a split with his back arced backward. It was just a little painful, but the applause he was getting made it worth it.

He got up, offering a little bow as the other "ladies" entered the stage, before retreating to the back for his between-sets break.

Was that really...could guys even...?

Rise shook herself out of her impressed reverie and started looking for a way backstage. She wasn't sure if she was going to exact more teasing vengeance on her team leader, accuse him of paying too much attention to her Shadow, or ask him what his warmup routine was, but she definitely felt the need to talk to him.

Unfortunately, of course, customers aren't allowed in the back - and this included women, especially on Saturdays - so she's going to be delayed for a while trying to figure out how to charm demon staffers.

Luck was apparently on Rise's side at the moment. As she talked to the demon staff, trying to get her way into the back room, a certain head of gray poked itself out from behind, not noticing her immediately as he addressed the demon closest to the door.

"We've run out of water bottles back here, cou--"

...and then he noticed her.

Oh.

God.

"R...Rise..."

All the color literally drained from Yu's face as he felt his heart divebomb through his stomach and hit the floor.

"Senpai...how could you?" she asked in her most dramatic of melodramatic voices - the one normally reserved for daytime soap operas. "I thought I was something special...that there was a place only for me, but now..."

She forwent pretending to choke up. That would just be too over-the-top. "Now I'm not the best-looking dancer on the team anymore!"

Beat. Beat.

He was honestly waiting for her to be completely serious, to feel their social link reverse. After all, between going out with Yukiko and doing this willingly, it was more than he expected her to be able to take. Once she smiled, though, he felt like collapsing in relief. Geeze, Rise, he was the one that was supposed to be the troll here…

"Honestly, you can keep that title…" he mumbled, before shooting a glare at a demon who looked a little too interested at the implication she was a good dancer. He reached out, gasping her hand and pulling her in the back, away from the demon guards.

Why reverse a social link when you can get petty revenge through the giving of heart att--oh hey, he was dragging her into the back of the club, that was interesting.

"Ahaha...sorry, Senpai, I just couldn't help it when you looked like that...," she said, looking around in the back. Even the dressing rooms were pretty swank here. "Er...so, how do you like working here?"

Yu paused a moment, glancing around to see if Nyx was in ear shot, before answering.

"To be honest, I hated it at first," he admitted finally. "I but I stuck with it, because Nanako deserves a comfortable place to live."

He paused again, letting out a sigh. "…problem is, I've… gotten used to it."

"Haha! You caught the performing bug, huh?" she asked, kind of impressed with Yu. As usual, really. "Don't worry, even if you're dressed like a girl, I still think you're cool. Especially if you're doing it for Nanako-chan."

She looked around conspiratorially herself, lowering her voice. "Actually, I was looking for work too. They...treat you okay here, right? The demons aren't too weird?" Another glance to make sure none of them heard that.

Performing bug? Yu wasn't sure he'd call it that…

Her following question threw him for a loop for a moment, and he couldn't help but stare in shock.

"You want to work here?!" he asked, a lot louder than he intended. He already got Aqua accidentally dragged into this, he didn't need someone from home getting dragged into this. "The demons are fine… strange, but… you'd really want to work at a place like this?"

"Wellllll...it's really weird with my Shadow and all, and I've got a million questions I'd want to ask the owner first, but it's a place to start performing again, and...well, I had plans before I wound up here, you know?" she said. "I was going to go back to the production company and try to get a job again, and if not, I was going to go to another one, and..."

Once again, she cuts herself off from babbling. "I want to perform again, Senpai. This was one way to do it, and I didn't care if it was weird since I trust everyone who knows me here. If you don't think I should, I'll go sell tofu again until something else comes up, but...it was an idea, is all."

Yu stared for a moment, at a loss for words. He should have know she'd feel that way, even about a place like this. He calmed quickly at that, a small smile coming to his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be insensitive," he apologized. "This place… actually isn't that bad. I should go with you to talk to Nyx, though; she might be more open to negotiating if I'm there with you."

"You'd do that? Really?" she asked, and smiled widely. Then she laughed a little. "You're the best reference I could ask for."

Yu offered her an encouraging smile along with a thumbs up. It wasn't exactly the place he'd recommend any of his friends to work at normally, but… what was the worst that could happen?

"Let me know when you want to talk to her."

Backdated to Saturday 11/17

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