Rise of the Phoenix King (Shadowrun/Exalted)

[Erenthia]

AN:

Ah, what the hell, it's my day off. Here's something from my notes that never made the final cut. Its canonicity is in a quantum superposition of both "canon" and "not canon" at the same time. But it's definitely something that could have happened.

---

I was sitting in my office one day, doing paperwork and enjoying how boring everything was for a change when Sarah, one of Anna's younger girls, came running into my office. I was startled for a moment, but I could see on her face that she was excited rather than afraid - and in particular, she had a big goofy grin on her face.

"Miss Tanaka," she shouted, "you have to come see! Hurry!"

"Sarah...what's going on? I'm not going anywhere until you explain,"

She didn't like that, but she was apparently in too much of a hurry to argue so instead she just started talking as fast as she could.

"It's Theo!" no one at Squatter's Mall called him 'Mr. McWellan' anymore or even 'Sir' - unless they were in trouble, "He got into an argument with Anna. He wanted to start a 'Squatter's Mall After Dark' program, but Anna didn't like it. She said that wouldn't happen unless he went first and he's doing it!"

I felt my eyes widen on their own, "Wait, he's doing what?"

"A striptease or burlesque thing or I don't know but we can't miss it!"

I hesitated for exactly one second.

Then I ran.

Anna had a section of an old department store. Apparently, the girls used to service the Johns in what used to be the changing rooms, but even before Theo had gotten there Anna had made some upgrades. Sarah led me to a large open area near the back of the old department store. I saw old pipes with flimsy curtains hanging down to create a sort of "backstage" area barely the size of a walk-in closet. Well, you know, a walk-in closet for mortals. Not the garage-sized walk-in closet Theo had back in Bellevue.

All of Anna's girls were here, but they were less than half the audience. There must have been nearly a hundred women here, and more than a few guys as well. I'm sure it would have been larger, but Theo had given fewer than five minutes of warning. It kept the crowd size small and the people who missed it would be paying a drek tonne more attention to his push notifications in the future.

Then the spotlight came on.

Then the music started playing, and I could hear Theo's singing voice coming across the speakers in far more sultry tones than I'd ever heard from him before.



Theo strode out from backstage wearing nothing but a loincloth. And that included a complete lack of a jock-strap. Theo wasn't really dancing at first, so much as prancing around in tune to the music with the occasional twirl thrown in, but as he did he blessed the ladies in the audience with light touches and lascivious glances. And just as he finished making the circuit, a pole came up out of the floor near where he'd ended up. I think you can guess what happened next.

It looked like Tabitha had indeed spared no expense.

"So uh..." Robin's voice came from my left. She leaned towards Sarah and said, "I'm hittin' that"

---

Made a really stupid typo. Said "lurid" originally when I meant "lascivious"

 

[Erenthia]

Just some random thoughts I had at work today.

Spoiler: Theodore McWellan

Spoiler: Miho Tanaka

Spoiler: Tabitha McWellan